Guided Love Meditation | How To Love | Thich Nhat Hahn

This is a meditation on love. What it is to love. Your capacity to love another depends first most on your capacity to love yourself. Once you've done that work, or as you do that work, use this meditation. This follows the Buddhist 4 elements of love as explained by Thich Nhat Hahn.

Transcript

You are listening to a meditation from Sound Science Soul.

This is a meditation on love.

What it is to love.

Your capacity to love another depends first most on your capacity to love yourself.

How you treat yourself.

How you take care of yourself.

The expectations or standards you project to others on how they should love you.

Thich Nhat Hanh explains that according to Buddhism,

True love within ourselves,

Within everyone and everything has four elements.

The first element is loving kindness.

To bring joy and kindness to the person you love.

This requires understanding,

Looking deeply at those you love.

If you can't understand,

You can't love.

This takes time,

Being attentive,

Observing.

The second element of love is compassion.

The desire to ease the pain of another and the ability to do so.

This requires attention to understanding their suffering and helping them to change.

Often it helps to ask,

How can I see this differently?

To see their viewpoint.

The third element is joy.

If there is no joy in love,

It is not true love.

Love brings joy to both.

The fourth element is freedom.

Non-attachment.

Can love you bring freedom to the person you love?

The person you love feels free,

Not only outside,

But inside,

In their heart.

They are allowed to be themselves.

If our love is only a wish to possess,

It is not love.

You either act out of fear or out of love.

Love doesn't have obligations,

But fear does.

Love has no expectations,

But fear does.

Love is kind,

Fear is not.

Love is unconditional.

Fear has conditions.

When you learn to practice love and compassion,

Joy and freedom,

You then know how to heal,

Anger,

Sadness,

Hatred,

Regret,

Shame,

Insecurity,

Loneliness,

And attachment.

Let's begin our meditation.

Sit comfortably or lie down if you prefer.

You may sit cross-legged,

Your hands on your lap or knees.

The first two fingers can be touching your thumbs and resting on your knees.

Begin with three breaths to bring your body into a state of greater calm.

Inhaling through the nose as deep as you like,

Holding,

And then releasing the breath fully and much longer than the inhale.

This will engage your parasympathetic nervous system.

Breathe in,

Hold,

And breathe out,

Slowly,

Steadily,

Completely expelling the breath.

Then breathe in,

Hold,

And breathe out,

Slowly,

A steady stream of air,

Completely releasing.

One last time,

Breathe in,

Hold,

And then breathe out,

Releasing the air completely from your lungs and relax completely.

Thinking of the four elements of love,

Bring to mind someone you love,

Someone you want to love more,

Someone you want to truly love.

Hold them in your mind and you can even imagine feeling them in your heart or connecting your hearts together.

Think of loving kindness.

How can you be kind to them today?

How can you bring more joy and kindness to them today?

Do you usually speak to them kindly?

If not,

Can you start?

Choosing your words carefully and observing how your words affect them.

Can you observe today who they are,

What they enjoy,

And understand them a bit more and what they need and want in order to help them feel more joy and express more kindness towards them?

While holding this person in mind,

Repeat these words after me as a message you are sending to them.

May you experience kindness.

May you have a good life.

May you know unconditional love.

May you love yourself totally,

Now and always.

May you know you are worthy.

May you completely accept yourself as is.

May you see your magnificence.

May you know you deserve joy and kindness.

Think of compassion while holding this person in mind.

How can you practice compassion towards them?

How can you help them heal?

To be more free of pain?

And no change?

Do you understand their suffering and how it has impacted their life?

If not,

How can you seek to understand it more?

Can you understand why they have made the choices they have?

Even if they have caused pain or even hurt you?

Can you forgive them?

While holding them in these thoughts in mind,

Repeat these words as a message to them.

May you feel forgiven.

May you heal.

May you be free of pain.

May you love and accept all parts of yourself exactly as you are.

When you are mistakes,

Times of feeling foolish.

When you have been hurtful or harmed another.

When you've acted out of fear or selfishness or pain.

May you forgive all past experiences and release old habits.

May you know your past does not define you.

May you not feel limited by your past.

May you know you deserve to happily move forward in life.

May you know you are perfect and whole exactly as you are.

May you know you are good enough.

May you know you deserve happiness.

May you know you deserve compassion.

While holding them in mind,

Think of joy.

How can you help them see they deserve joy?

What brings them joy?

How can you be a part of introducing joy into their life today and every day?

How can you help them find joy in spite of any challenging outside circumstances?

While holding them in your mind and contemplating these thoughts,

Repeat these words as a message to them.

May you feel joy.

May you love life.

May you love being you.

May you know you are a harmonious being.

May you feel great.

May you speak and think positively.

May you see there is a solution to every problem.

May you feel at one with all.

May you listen to your intuition.

May you allow others to be themselves.

Releasing yourself from pain caused by others.

May you allow your whole being to shine brightly.

May you know you deserve joy.

Now think of freedom.

How can you help them feel more free today and every day?

What does freedom look like to them?

What prevents their freedom?

How can you help them become their most authentic self?

How can you accept them and love them just as they are?

How are you preventing their freedom and how can you let it go?

Can you help them accept themselves and step into the truest version of themselves?

While considering these thoughts and holding them in mind,

Repeat these words as a message to them.

May you be free to be you.

May you let go of the need for any situation you are holding onto that prevents you from freedom.

May you trust the innate intelligence within you.

May you know limitless love.

May you be part of a world where it is safe to love.

May you rise above limitations.

May you know you have a right to the life you desire.

May you release your fears.

May you be at peace.

May you know you always have choice.

May you know you have the power to change and make change happen.

May you know freedom.

May you know you deserve freedom.

Sit with these thoughts and feelings as long as needed,

Contemplating those you love and how you can love them more unconditionally.

Because your true nature is harmony and love,

So can you release fear and limitations and those in your life more deeply,

Kindly,

And unconditionally.

Reviews

🙏🏻

Everyone needs to hear this. Thank you 🫶🏼✨️🐈‍⬛️

Very nice meditation focusing on love. 🙏🏼

So many wonderful things to ask for another🙏🏽

Truly wonderful and peaceful and insightful

Thank you so much. Highly highly highly recommend.

🙏🏼

Very nice meditation. I found it so peaceful and powerful. Thank you 🙏🏻 Namaste

Always Grateful ☺️

Absolutely lovely meditation full of wonderful affirmations to keep throughout the day

Thank you ✨💫🙏🏻🤍

A bit wordy but good

So beautiful! Thank you ❤️ 🙏

Just a wonderful way to start the day 🙏

🙏

Very helpful thank you ☺️

Beautiful

What a beautiful and harmonious meditation 😍

Loved the messaging, music, and pace. I felt a little abrupt ending and wish the music played longer after she stopped speaking

A wise and kind meditation, full of support to deeply love and care for oneself and the ones we love. Namaste 🤓🙏🏻