Recognizing others with compassion practice.
Let yourself settle into the sensations in your body.
Let me say this again.
Let yourself settle into the sensations in your body.
Follow the natural rhythm of your in-breath and out-breath.
Now remember emotions you felt during your childhood.
Sentiments of feeling left out,
Disrespected,
Ashamed,
Or regarded as someone whose feelings are not important.
In your mind's eye,
Hold yourself,
The child you were,
With tenderness and wish yourself well.
Say gently to yourself,
May I be protected and safe physically and emotionally.
May I receive the understanding and care I need to feel whole.
Say that again.
May I receive the understanding and care I need to feel whole,
Worthy,
And loved.
May I be free from suffering of shame and disregard.
Say that again.
May I be free from the suffering of shame and disregard.
And may I experience a feeling of ease again.
Allow your breath to wash through you like a limitless,
Luminous river connecting you with all of life.
Then imagine yourself wishing others well,
First those that had been abandoned or uncared for as little children.
Stay with that feeling for a while.
Extend your love particularly to those with predicaments similar to yours.
Those whose health is compromised,
Those who have lost income or safety,
Those who are alone or isolated,
Or those who are feeling the suffering of the world.
Express your selfishness to these others.
May we all experience that we are connected.
Say that again.
May we all feel that we are connected.
May we all be suffused with the field of loving awareness.
May we all remember that we are free.
Now let us transition to wishing well to those who also experienced family pain.
In your mind's eye,
See all those others who are suffering in divided and blended families,
Parents,
Children,
Grandparents,
Step-parents.
In your mind's eye,
See all those who are suffering in families that stay together yet that are deeply unhappy.
Approach their pain with an open heart.
With an inhalation,
Tend to your own hurting heart.
And with an exhalation,
Tend to the hearts of the innumerable others who are hurting in a similar way.
Feel the rawness of your heart and the hearts of these others.
And imagine the river of luminous,
Limitless breath flow through ever so gently.
Stay with that for a while.
Then let us extend our compassion to others who suffered painful childhoods.
In your mind's eye,
See all those children who feel safe.
Say that again.
In your mind's eye,
See all those children who feel unsafe physically or emotionally,
Who feel alone,
Alienated or misunderstood,
Who feel unprotected in their environment,
Who feel not accepted in their differentness,
Whether because of the place in their family,
The color of their skin,
Their class or religion.
Hold all those children in your heart and say silently to yourself,
Maybe all feel taken care of,
Maybe all be safe and protected,
Maybe all be tended to and loved,
Maybe all live with ease.
And again,
Imagine the river of luminous,
Limitless breath flowing through so gently in its flow of loving awareness,
Holding these innumerable children safe and secure,
Loved and free.
Stay with this breath for a while,
Connecting inhale to exhale and exhale to inhale,
Connecting us all.
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