The Arc Of Our Lives

View your life, from birth to your eventual death, through the tender lens of lovingkindness (metta). The Happy Hour series is dedicated to the cultivation of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity, gratitude, forgiveness... and other heart practices. This IMC talk was recorded on 7 Jan 2022.

Transcript

Let's land,

Let's arrive,

Let's arrive in this body.

Ah,

Let's arrive.

Letting go of all the words.

Letting go,

Letting go of the words,

Letting go of any thoughts.

Just arriving in the body and the tender sensations of this body sitting,

This amazing miracle of life.

Pulsating,

Breathing,

Blood flowing through the organs,

Listening,

Sensing,

Just this amazing body.

Ah,

Inhabiting it fully,

Arriving in it fully.

My body,

Wow,

So incredible to have a body,

Wow.

So much works so well,

Even if there may be challenges in the body.

So much of it works so amazingly,

Wow.

Dropping in,

Dropping in the weight internally to your belly,

Dropping in,

Dropping in,

Dropping in.

Letting,

Letting the breath be breathed on its own,

The lower abdomen.

And with each breath,

Landing,

Landing more deeply,

Arriving more fully into the present moment.

Just taking a moment of refuge,

Taking refuge in the breath and the body,

And as much silence,

Inner silence as is available.

And if thoughts arise,

It's okay,

They will,

They do,

Not a problem,

Not a problem.

Gently smiling at the thoughts,

Saying,

Thank you,

Thank you so much,

Please come back later.

Not now,

Come back later.

Letting the body the breath,

Relaxing the body.

Be the center of your joyful attention.

Letting the body the breath,

Relaxing the body.

Ah,

Be the center of your joyful attention.

Letting the body the breath,

Relaxing the body.

Letting the body the breath,

Relaxing the body.

Just being breathed,

Just being breathed.

The breath in the abdomen,

Calming,

Soothing.

Letting the body the breath,

In the abdomen,

Calming,

Soothing.

Just here now.

Deliciously here,

In the body,

Embodied.

Being in the body can help expand our vision,

Not being in our heads.

So come,

Come back to the body.

.

.

.

.

Spending another minute or two just arriving.

With the breath,

With the body,

Before we turn,

Open our hearts to Metta.

.

And now I would like to invite us,

As if we were watching a movie of our lives,

Still staying embodied.

Feeling the breath,

Feeling the feet on the floor,

Our hands,

Our bottom on the cushion.

Not getting heady,

But staying embodied,

And yet,

In this movie theater,

We see with our heart,

Not with our head,

With our heart.

With our bodies,

We perceive the arc of our lives.

The arc.

The arc having been born.

The arc,

The arc,

The arc,

The arc,

The arc,

The arc.

The sweet,

Sweet newborn,

Finding themselves in the world.

Maybe a little smile,

Feeling of tenderness arises.

Feeling of tenderness.

This being,

This being who is me,

And yet not me.

This precious child.

.

.

As if you were a newborn,

Or was she he they loved,

Or challenging,

Challenges you with none of that.

If those come up,

Please drop them.

Not the door we're entering tonight,

But as if you were that newborn,

Embodied,

Wow.

In this amazing,

Miraculous world,

Mystery,

Wow,

Incredible.

Everything new,

Everything fresh.

The sun,

Clouds,

The green grass,

Butterflies,

Water.

Now bowing to that little newborn,

And now let's move forward in time for the purpose of this practice.

Of course,

Life is so uncertain,

And we don't know what is going to happen when,

And how long our lives might be.

We could be ahead by a bus and die tomorrow.

And yet for the purpose of this practice,

This visualization,

Let's imagine ourselves perhaps years from now.

So there's a sense of spaciousness,

Perspective,

Looking,

Looking at the world from the perspective of,

Let's suppose,

A life well lived by that.

Whatever needs to happen,

Needed to happen,

Did happen,

Or not.

Just that a state of peace and equanimity,

Letting go.

Now looking at the clouds from that perspective,

Of the end of life.

Again,

Not knowing what it will be like,

But just for the sake of this guided imagery for a moment.

Clouds,

Sun,

Maybe sunset,

Trees,

Butterflies,

Whatever images of nature soothe and calm you.

Maybe it's the ocean.

Maybe gratitude arises,

Thank you.

Wow,

This miracle that I was a part of.

Maybe even saying goodbye to the body.

This miracle that was my body.

This body that is me and also not me.

This being that I am.

This is me and also not me.

This being is so much more magnificent.

With so many dimensions.

Maybe a sense of warmth,

Tenderness arises for this being.

Who is you and not you?

Parting,

Parting.

Thank you,

Goodbye world.

Now bowing,

Bowing,

Staying embodied,

Feeling your body,

Your heart.

Your feet,

Your hands,

Your bottom on the cushion.

Bowing to this image.

Now letting your vision be expansive.

Including all these versions of yourself.

So many versions.

So many ups and downs between the moment of birth,

Moment of death,

And this moment here.

So many moments of joy,

Bliss,

So many challenges,

So much growth.

It's just all beautiful.

Beautiful.

Mysterious.

Unique.

Letting your heart inviting perhaps,

Inviting gently.

Your heart to include all of these beings,

All these slices of this being.

Through time.

The old movies,

There would be reels,

All these different images,

These slices of life.

You don't have to think about them all,

Just letting your heart open up.

Oh sweetheart,

This being,

This being owes me.

Loving,

Unconditionally offering love,

Good will.

Unconditionally offering love,

Good will.

To all their beauty,

Their divinity,

Their Buddha nature,

Their foibles,

All their mistakes,

All their pain,

Their sorrows.

Unconditionally loving it all.

Not picking and choosing.

Thank you.

Maybe appreciation,

Gratitude arises for this being who is you,

Doing their best.

Be warm,

Good will,

Love.

As if you're expanding your arms,

Stretching wide,

Far and wide.

Loving this being.

Even what seems unlovable at times.

Loving that too,

Loving that,

Especially that.

Because often what appears to us as unlovable really is suffering,

Really is dukkha.

Especially loving that.

Thank you.

And maybe one of the images of the real comes up in the moment in time,

Maybe,

Maybe not,

That attracts you,

Attracts your heart specially,

Wanting,

Calling to be loved,

To be held unconditionally in love.

Maybe it was a time when you went through challenging time,

Valiantly courageously,

Or anything at all.

Loving that feeling of unconditional love and acceptance.

Thank you.

And now bowing to that image.

Coming back to this body,

This moment in time that is also one tableau,

An image out of this real,

This movie real of this life.

This expansiveness of vision,

Including loving yourself unconditionally for whatever is arising in this moment.

This being who is you.

And also not you.

An expression of beauty,

Goodness,

The divine Buddha nature,

Whatever words we like to give it.

To love and to be loved.

By so many dimensions of this here,

This being.

As if we're looking into a mirror,

Mirror looking into a mirror,

Passing back and forth.

Infinitude,

Loving this being and being loved.

Stretching into infinity all these images in the present moment.

So many dimensions.

And as we bring this sitting to a close,

Maybe in your mind's eye,

Bowing to yourself,

Your divinity bows to you,

You too.

You bow to your inner Buddha.

Who is bowing to whom?

Thank you.

Keep going,

Keep loving.

May all beings,

Including ourselves,

Open up our hearts with full love,

Unconditional love to ourselves,

To our own inner goodness.

May all beings be free.

Thank you.

Reviews

A beautiful calming and centering meditation. Thank you 🙏

Calming and soothing. Wise and gentle words, good amount of silence. Warm, soft voice. Short breath meditation then guided self-metta visualisation. Recommended especially for those times when we need to reconnect with self-love. 🙏

Wow! So healing, and exactly what I needed today. Thank you. 🙏🏻❤️