So in this practice of the metta bhavana,
Cultivation of loving kindness,
What we're doing is rather than trying to make something happen,
We're just acknowledging what's already here,
What we're already feeling,
Giving space to that,
And then bringing it into relationship with our intentions.
And particularly with this practice,
Our deep heart wish to be well and our deep heart wish for others to be well,
Even if the other is just one other person on the planet to begin with.
So in the first few breaths of this practice,
We can just notice what happens when we remember that intention.
How is it to come into relationship with the part of us that wants wellness?
The part that wants to be free from suffering,
To be happy,
To be in touch with our goodness and the goodness of others.
And if you'd like,
You could bring in self-touch if you know that works for you,
Or maybe you haven't tried it before and you want to give it a go.
So I'm placing my hand on my heart.
It's a way of letting this part know that I'm here and I'm listening.
And I'm also placing another hand on the belly,
Because these are two places where I feel a lot.
So I'm just supporting them a bit with the self-touch.
You might want the hands to be in other places,
So just play around with this,
See what happens,
How it is.
What's it like to soften into ourselves?
Meet ourselves with grace,
Tenderness,
Care?
Daring to dream that it's possible to love ourselves fully,
Unconditionally,
To be a friend to ourselves.
And if there's any suffering that's here right now,
Maybe physical,
Emotional,
Mental suffering of any kind,
The invitation is just to appreciate that that's here.
This is a moment of suffering.
This is what the Buddha was pointing to.
And just see if there's any sense of relief in simply allowing that to be here without trying to get rid of it or correct it or make something else happen.
This is here,
This is part of what being human is about.
And we can be here with that.
We can hold ourselves tenderly within the context of our suffering right now.
Feel free to hang out with yourself for as long as you want.
We don't ever really let go of ourselves in this practice.
In a way,
We just widen the circle of concern.
So there's an invitation to invite a good friend into the space of your meditation.
You might even imagine them walking into the room,
Coming and sitting next to you,
Maybe placing a hand on your shoulder,
Giving you a hug.
So we're just noticing what it's like initially to be in this person's presence.
How they make us feel.
Letting that in.
And then the invitation is to bring this intention for wellness into the relational field between you and this other person.
What's it like to remember that we also want them to be well,
To be happy,
To be free from suffering?
You might even imagine saying this to your friend.
Oh,
I really want what's best for you.
I really care.
I really love you.
What's that like?
Or seeing in our own capacity to feel kindness,
Friendliness towards our friend.
And trusting that that has an effect.
So if you find yourself drifting off,
That's perfectly natural.
In fact,
Distraction can often be our nervous system's natural way of protecting us from something that might be a little bit harder to be with.
So we can appreciate the integrity of that strategy.
And we can also learn what supports us to come back to presence and availability.
So it may be that you need to move the body a bit or take a deeper breath.
Reconnect with the earth.
Have a little look around.
Grab something soft to hold in your hands.
And then when you're ready,
Coming back to the intention of the practice,
We're going to expand the circle a little bit further now to include someone in our lives who we have enough of a sense of that we can bring them into the meditation,
But maybe we don't really know them that well.
We don't really have a sense of whether we like them or not.
They're just kind of there.
A neighbor,
Bus driver,
Barista,
Colleague,
Fellow sangha member,
Friend of a friend.
Just noticing what it's like to remember this person.
Again,
You could imagine them in the space with you.
So they've got a whole life of their own.
They're probably having feelings about the world the way that we have feelings about the world.
Joys,
Anxieties.
What's it like to also want the best for this person or at least to be in touch with an intention to want the best for this person?
How is that?
Here there's also an invitation to lean into the possibility of trusting that even the people we don't know,
We don't have much to do with,
We still have an effect on how we relate to them,
How we hold them in our hearts,
If we even ever consider them.
We might even have a profound effect on people we just have a little bit to do with,
Depending on the strength of our presence,
Our availability,
Our care.
So let's just really take that on board.
How is that?
So we're going to stretch a little bit further now,
If you're up for it.
The invitation is to bring to mind someone who you're finding a bit difficult.
Maybe it's just that noisy neighbor,
That annoying person at work,
That friend who won't listen.
Even they just want to be well,
And we can also want that for them or at least remember our intention to want that for them and see how that feels.
What does that do for you to remember that?
What do we come up against ourselves when we remember that person who rubs us the wrong way?
And we meet that part of ourselves with love,
Curiosity,
Compassion.
What if everybody did this?
At least try to love our enemies.
So there's an invitation now to extend even beyond individuals to include all beings everywhere.
We can just start with our immediate circle of influence,
People in our lives,
Family,
Friends,
Colleagues,
Neighbors,
Appreciating all the things they do to try and be happy and well.
We can wish that for them as well,
How is that?
What would it be like to relate to everyone like future Buddhas?
Treating each other on the basis of our potential and then just allowing that to ripple out in whatever way works for you.
8 billion people sharing this little rock,
All the animals,
All the beings known and unknown to us,
Maybe even beyond our world.
May they all be well,
May they all be happy,
May they all be free from suffering,
May they all become Buddhas.
All of life marching towards Buddhahood.
May it be so.
May the whole world wake up.
In a moment,
I'll be ringing a bell to mark the end of this practice.
And we can just start to emerge in our own way.
We're just starting to soften any effort we're making and resting back,
Absorbing the benefits of the practice.
