7-Day New Year's Practice: Day 3 Metta For All Beings

Let's build on our open-heartedness and share it with our planet and with all beings. Metta or loving-kindness practice is a way to cultivate friendliness towards ourselves and others, including those close to us, those who need help, and even those we haven't met. In this practice we expand our friendliness from ourselves outward to all beings, cultivating a deeper sense of connection, compassion and unconditional love.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to day three of seven days of guided meditation.

This is Salima and I'm so happy that you are here with me today to bring in the new year.

Today I would love to build upon what we have been doing over the past few days and in particular look at the quality of our relationships.

And when I say relationships I'm not necessarily talking about how we are with people and giving us strategies on how to deal with people.

I'm talking about how to deal with the emotions that come up within us when we are interacting with people.

So one of the things that I would love to do is to expand what we started yesterday,

Which was the idea or the concept of metta and the practice of metta,

Which is loving kindness or gentleness or friendliness,

Which can be practiced as we did yesterday with ourselves or towards ourselves.

So bringing in that gentleness and that kindness towards ourselves.

We can also do this towards others,

Whether they are present or not.

And so this is a beautiful practice that we can use to cultivate a feeling of greater connection,

That we can use to cultivate a sense of greater peace,

That we can use in the sense that we may not be able to forgive someone or we may not be able to see eye to eye with somebody.

We may not be able to get past something that has happened and we may feel as though we're holding a grudge.

And this gives us some practice to begin to release some of that harshness.

So as we practice today,

We'll build on what we started yesterday.

Some of this may feel a little familiar.

So allow yourself to find a position that feels comfortable for now.

Keeping your back straight.

Feel free to take a deep breath.

Bring your shoulders all the way up as you're breathing in.

And on the exhale,

Release the shoulders,

Feeling the shoulders coming to rest a little closer to the ground.

Remember you can do one of these resetting breaths anytime you wish during our practice today.

Feeling the support of whatever is below you,

Whatever surface you're resting against.

Feeling this body sitting.

Becoming mindful of this body as if it's not our body.

Just a body sitting here,

Feeling the breath coming and going.

Sensing how the mind is.

So becoming mindful of the mind.

Is it busy?

Does it feel sluggish?

Is it restless?

Is it happy?

Unhappy?

What's the feeling there right now?

If there's any part of us that doesn't feel happy,

Perhaps we're holding on to something that happened earlier today.

Perhaps we're holding on to something that we feel badly about.

Perhaps we're holding on to something that was challenging or difficult for us.

Maybe it was last week,

Maybe it was five minutes ago.

Feel free to,

As we did a few days ago,

Bring in a happy memory,

Happy feeling.

Something that you did that was good,

Kind,

Wholesome,

Beautiful,

Thoughtful,

Helpful.

Something that you did from the goodness of your own heart,

Perhaps without being asked.

Feel that goodness,

That sweetness in the heart.

Breathing in,

May I be happy.

Exhaling,

Feeling peaceful.

Feeling free from suffering.

Breathing in,

Feeling happy.

May I be happy.

Breathing out,

Feeling peaceful.

May I be peaceful.

May I be free from suffering.

Building on what we started yesterday with this metta or loving kindness or friendliness,

Gentleness towards ourself.

May I be happy.

May I be peaceful.

May I be free from suffering.

We can now take this feeling if we've become really good at bringing in loving kindness to bring metta towards ourselves.

We can expand this to a loved one.

Someone who we care about a great deal.

Someone who doesn't bring any negative feelings into the mind or the heart when we think about them or remember them.

This could be a child.

It could be a partner.

Could be a parent.

A sibling,

A colleague,

A friend.

Anybody who's close to us who we love dearly.

Perhaps this person needs assistance.

Perhaps they're ill or suffering in some way.

Just bring them to mind.

Seeing them happy.

Seeing them smiling as though they had just heard the best news of the day.

Maybe the best news of the year already.

Feel how much joy comes into your heart when you see them lit up.

When you see them so happy.

You can use their name in your mind.

May this person be happy.

Really feel how happy they are and notice how that gives you a sense of happiness too.

May they be peaceful.

May they not require anything.

May they be truly peaceful.

And may this person be free from suffering.

May they be happy and really feeling and sensing the joy it gives you when you sense their happiness.

May they be happy.

May they be peaceful.

May they be free from suffering.

May this person be happy,

Peaceful,

And free from suffering.

Take a few moments to recognize what's called sympathetic joy.

As close as we can get to the real thing,

Because it's a rare thing,

That sympathetic joy.

But as close as we can get,

Feeling happy when we sense the happiness of others,

When we sense the safety,

The security,

The peacefulness in their heart,

The freedom in their heart.

This is a very beautiful gift that we can give to ourselves as well as somebody else.

Expanding this even further to build on the metta that we're sharing with one individual,

We can take this beyond that individual and we may see a group of people.

It could be a community,

It could be a whole family,

It could be a whole country or the whole world.

So we'll start with a group.

Maybe it's our immediate family or our immediate connections,

Our closest inner circle.

May all of us be happy.

Include yourself.

May all of us be happy.

Think of the best qualities of your dear loved ones.

May all of us be peaceful.

How does it feel when everybody's okay?

May all of us be free from suffering.

May we all be happy.

May we all be peaceful and may we all be free from suffering.

Feel as though there's a light radiating out from you and filling the space that you're in and inviting those loved ones into this light,

Feeling them infected by it,

Infected in a good way by it.

Feel them as though they're breathing in this light and immediately feeling happy,

Peaceful and free from suffering.

May all of us in this group be happy.

May all of us in this group be peaceful.

May all of us in this group be free from suffering.

Taking a few deep breaths for yourself,

Coming back to yourself and feeling the safety,

Secure security,

Happiness,

Joy,

Peace,

The freedom amongst your closest loved ones.

Seeing happy faces,

Smiles,

Laughter,

Joy and noticing the joy that enters your heart when you sense this.

Now we take it beyond beyond.

So we take it to all beings.

May all beings,

And this means not just human beings,

But all kinds of living things,

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be peaceful.

May all beings be free from suffering.

Just allow what's coming up to come up.

You might see valleys full of beautiful trees.

You might see birds flying in the sky.

You might see people in other parts of the world.

You might see the animals in the zoo.

All beings,

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be peaceful.

May all beings be free from suffering.

It might be a departed soul.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be peaceful.

May all beings be free from suffering.

Feel the power in those words and the intention behind them.

Feel your heart open.

Feel the sense of friendliness,

That metta,

That loving kindness to all beings irrespective of their background,

Their story,

Their history,

Their experience,

Their actions,

Their words.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be peaceful.

May all beings be free from suffering.

And now comes perhaps the most difficult part.

There may be someone who has challenged us.

There may be somebody who we dislike.

There might be someone who we have a disagreement with.

There might be someone who's hurt us.

Maybe even intentionally.

Let's see if we've really been able to do this and we've only been doing it for a short while.

But if we wish to,

And this is optional,

We can bring that person into this light.

May this person also,

Even this person,

May this person also be happy.

May this person be peaceful.

May this person be free from suffering.

See if your heart can welcome that,

Can be gentle enough and kind enough to wish even an enemy happiness,

Peace,

And freedom from suffering.

May this individual be happy,

Peaceful,

And free from suffering.

And take a few moments and come back to yourself.

Feel this body sitting in the chair,

Breathing.

Feel what it's like to have this open heart.

Feel free to put your hands together,

Palms together,

Up to your chest for our final intention.

May I be happy.

May I be peaceful.

May I be free from suffering.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be peaceful.

May all beings be free from suffering.

And may all beings,

Near or far,

Large or small,

Seen or unseen,

Known or unknown,

May all living things,

May each and every being,

Whatever kind of being there may be,

Share and benefit from the merits of our practice today.

Thank you again for joining.

I look forward to our meditation again tomorrow.

And in the meantime,

Be kind,

Be gentle,

Be good to yourselves and all those around you.

Namaste.

Reviews

May you be safe, live with ease

Namaste 🙏🏼

This series is extremely helpful right now as we are facing challenging times. Thank you 🙏🏼💜

I love this series!

Very glad you have included Metta. Thank you so much! 😊🌎❤✌