Hello and welcome.
My name is Shelly.
I'm so glad you're here.
Today we are going to practice metta.
Metta is the Pali word,
Either meaning positive energy,
But most commonly known as loving kindness.
This traditional practice has been used for thousands of years.
And by cultivating this practice,
It allows us to remember that while our lives naturally center around ourselves,
When we practice metta,
We begin to see that we were all interconnected.
Interconnectedness is this state of having all the different parts relate to one another.
It creates this interdependence of all life.
We rely on one another.
We rely on knowing that if you're happy,
Perhaps you'll be sad another day,
That you will be full from the food knowing that you will be hungry again.
This cycle of opposites we rely upon.
And I like the teachings of the Buddha.
When he says,
There is no permanent entity within us.
There is only a stream of being.
There is always a lot of input and output.
The input and the output happen in every second.
And we should learn how to look at life as streams of being,
Not as separate entities.
So for example,
Looking at a flower,
A flower,
You can see that it is made of many elements that we can call non flower elements.
When you touch the flower,
You touch the cloud.
You cannot remove the cloud from the flower because if you could remove the cloud from the flower,
The flower would collapse right away.
You know very well that without the clouds,
There would be no rain and no water for the flower to grow.
So cloud is part of the flower.
And if you send the element cloud back to the sky,
There will be no flower.
Cloud is a non flower element,
Just like the sunshine.
You can touch the sunshine here.
If you send back the element of the sunshine,
The flower will vanish because sunshine is another non flower element.
And earth and gardener,
If you continue,
You will see a multitude of non flower elements in the flower.
In fact,
A flower is made only with non flower elements.
It does not have a separate self.
It cannot exist by herself alone.
It has to have this inter be with everything else that is called a non flower and that is inter being just like humans.
You cannot be,
You can only inter be.
So it will reveal more of the reality than the word to be.
You cannot be by yourself alone,
You have to inter be with everything else.
And so now we will begin this meta practice to connect us to all beings,
And mostly to ourselves,
To invigorate feelings of joy,
Joy,
Trust,
Love,
Gratitude,
And happiness.
We might even find us in more appreciation and compassion.
You can practice this any time of day,
When you wake in the morning,
When you're cooking your breakfast in line at the grocery store and traffic,
Even at work.
And so we're going to do this practice three times and I will guide you three times because we will be thinking of others and then ourselves.
So let's get settled.
Take your upright,
Dignified seated position.
And I invite you to begin settling in spine tall,
Relaxed,
Yet alert.
Just breathe.
You're here now in this moment.
There's nowhere to go.
Nothing to do,
But just rest in a kind awareness.
Just breathe and feel your anchor connected to the seat beneath you.
I invite you to think of an acquaintance or stranger in your mind's eye.
See this person in front of you.
Send them a bright white light glow to surround them.
And then you can glow to surround them.
A fellow human being just like you.
Repeat these phrases to yourself as we send this meta to them.
This person has a body and mind just like me.
This person wants to be happy just like me.
This person has hopes and dreams just like me.
This person has experienced pain,
Suffering,
And loneliness just like me.
This person has been hurt and angry just like me.
This person has worries just like me.
This person has fear and is scared at times just like me.
This person is learning about life just like me.
This person will die just like me.
This person this person wants to be kind and caring just like me.
This person wants to be content with life just like me.
May you live at ease.
May you be healthy.
May you be happy.
And now rest.
Breathe.
Remember the connection of the seat beneath you anchoring you.
And I invite you now to think of a friend or a family member in your mind's eye.
See this person in front of you as you send a bright white light glow surrounding them.
A fellow human being just like you.
And we repeat these phrases of Metta to them.
This person has a body and mind just like me.
This person wants to be happy just like me.
This person has hopes and dreams just like me.
This person has experienced pain,
Suffering,
And loneliness just like me.
This person has been hurt and angry just like me.
This person has worries just like me.
This person has fear and is scared at times just like me.
This person is learning about life just like me.
This person will die just like me.
This person wants to be kind and caring just like me.
This person wants to be content with life just like me.
May you live at ease.
May you be healthy.
May you be happy.
And now rest.
Breathe.
Reconnect to the seat beneath you.
Here.
Now.
And now we will shift to ourselves.
Imagine this white glow surrounding you in a protective bubble.
Breathe.
You are safe and surrounded in an unconditional love.
As you say these Metta phrases to yourself.
May I rest in the presence of this glowing light.
Grounded.
Content.
Happy.
May I be happy.
May I be free from suffering.
May I be healthy.
May I rest in the awareness of humanity.
In myself.
And may I live with ease.
May it be so.
Rest.
Feel those words wash over you like a love bubble of protection.
And when you are ready,
Open your eyes and come back into your space,
Knowing that you are fully supported and loved just for being you.
Namaste.
