Whenever you're ready,
Find a comfortable seat.
Start to allow your breath to slow into a more intentional,
Rhythmic,
Maybe closer to equal,
Inhale and exhale,
Drawing your inhale in through the nose and exhaling out through pursed lips like you're blowing out through a straw.
If it's safe and relaxing for you,
Gently close your eyes or soften and lower your gaze,
Noticing the loving kindness and support of the earth below your feet or your sit bones,
The barely there pulse of the energy that connects and animates all living things.
Let's start by taking an internal weather report.
What's the weather like in your mind today?
What's the weather like in your body?
No judgment,
Just notice.
Perhaps move one or both hands over your heart and give yourself a little gratitude for making this time today to turn inward and slow down.
Maybe imagine a golden ball of light and warmth emanating from your hands into your heart and spreading through your whole body into a great big orb of love and protection,
Extending in all directions around you.
And let it sit there,
Holding you inside it like a perfect secret hideout of golden serenity.
Now imagine a moment in time,
Either recently or long ago,
When you felt fully present and happy.
What did that look like?
Who was there?
What did it feel like?
Was there a temperature?
Was there a fragrance?
If it starts to bring a smile to your face,
Feel into that movement of grinning ear to ear and notice if there's any change in sensation physically,
Mentally,
Or emotionally to remember and hold that love and joy in your body.
In your mind or out loud with me,
Repeat these words.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be free from suffering.
May I be well.
May I be at peace.
May I be joyful.
Now imagine a beloved friend or family member,
Either related or chosen family.
Can you take a tiny bubble from your glowing,
Golden,
Loving,
Joyful orb and send it out to them through space and time?
Can you wrap them in loving kindness?
Again in your mind or out loud with me,
Repeat these words.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be well.
May you be at peace.
May you be joyful.
Now think of someone you know,
But not necessarily someone you're very close with.
Maybe somebody neutral,
Someone you see regularly in passing around town,
But aren't necessarily close to.
Can you take a glimmer of that golden orb of loving kindness and send it out to them?
Can you wrap them in compassion?
Can you connect to their humanity?
What about someone in your life with whom you have maybe some tension or maybe a less than awesome relationship?
Without necessarily changing anything about your dynamic or forgiving them for anything,
Can you also wish them well all the same?
Can you take another glimmer of that golden orb of loving kindness and send it to them?
Imagine wrapping them in that golden orb.
Now what about allowing your golden orb to expand from a bubble of love and compassion from just around you and separately around your beloveds,
Your acquaintances,
And even those people who you have some friction with?
And can you combine those orbs?
Can you allow them to expand around your entire neighborhood,
Your entire community,
Your city,
Your state,
Your country,
The continent,
The whole world,
The whole galaxy and beyond?
Can you send loving kindness and compassion everywhere in all directions?
In your mind or out loud,
Repeat with me,
May all beings be filled with loving kindness.
May all beings be free from suffering.
May all beings be well.
May all be at peace.
May all be joyful.
Start to come back into your body,
Back to a comfortable,
Natural breath.
Notice the sensation in your fingers and your toes.
Feel your sit bones or your feet where they touch the earth below you.
Whenever you're ready,
Gently blink your eyes back open and come back to the present moment,
Here in this moment,
Here in this space.
Gently look around,
Make your eyes wide and find three things in the room that are golden and allow each one in turn to connect to the golden light that always lives inside you,
That's always available to you when you need.
All you have to do is slow down,
Breathe and allow it to arise.
