Connecting with the Kindness Around You

Since birth until today you are surrounded by the kindness and care of other people. In this Meditation you connect with that radiance of care so you can relax into the natural openness of your heart.

Transcript

Taking a few moments to settle down with your body.

And your breath,

Making a gesture of welcoming.

And imagine your consciousness to be a network of glowing threads going into all directions.

And follow some of these threads into the past of your life.

Take into your childhood.

And right there,

From the beginning,

From the time of your birth,

Other people took care of you.

Other people contributed to your life.

And what I invite you to do is to imagine these people in front of you,

Like in a picture,

Together,

But alive.

And we are looking not for perfect people,

Just acknowledging what people gave you.

And we start with your family,

Where you were born into.

Your parents,

And your sisters and brothers,

And uncles and aunts,

And people who came to the house of your parents,

Friends,

Neighbors.

And see these people there in front of you,

Smiling.

We are not denying that also harm was done.

But now,

In this moment,

We acknowledge the gifts,

The attention,

The care.

And you don't need to be precise.

Maybe your mind into evilly goes to some of the people who have been kind to you.

So feel and see them there in front of you,

Smiling.

And whatever they gave to you,

Translated into that radiance of kindness,

Of warmth,

Of care.

When you were born,

You didn't know anything.

You couldn't do anything.

Everything needed to be taught to you by others.

How to walk and how to talk,

How to go to the toilet and dress,

How to eat.

If your mind wanders,

Just come back to the body and to the breath.

To these people there,

Maybe some faces appear you have forgotten.

Maybe someone working in a shop where you used to go as a child.

Maybe some friends of your brother.

Maybe someone living in the street where you lived.

Maybe someone you used to know.

Just see them there.

You don't need to concentrate.

Just take it lightly,

Playfully.

And the next group of people we add is the friends you have had from childhood until today.

Some of them short time,

Some of them a few years.

Maybe some of them almost your whole life.

Feel the friends.

You don't need to go one by one.

Just allow your mind to come up with some images.

Your first love.

The joy and the support.

The warmth,

The care of your friends.

In kindergarten,

In school,

As a teenager,

As a young adult and now.

And see them there,

Smiling at you with your family.

Seeing that smile in your whole body,

From the toes to the top of your head.

The next group of people we add is all the teachers we have had.

In kindergarten maybe you don't remember the people,

But there have been people who supported you,

Helped you,

Who taught you in school.

And here we even remember the teachers we didn't like and acknowledge that we have learned from them.

And see them there,

Just smiling.

So many teachers,

Not only in school,

People who taught you how to do things,

How to do your hobbies,

How to run,

How to ride,

How to drive a car in university.

Then in the different jobs when you came you didn't know how to do things.

People had to explain,

People had to tell you,

Or you learned from just watching them.

Nothing we know comes from nowhere,

Comes through others.

And now we add them all there with our friends and our family.

And we translate what they have given to us into that smile,

Into that glow of care,

Which is bathing our whole body,

Like sitting in the sun,

In the morning sun after a dark night.

The next group of people I invite you to add is all spiritual teachers in the widest sense.

And that's people you have met,

Or people you have just heard about or read about or you saw them in a video or listened to a recording.

So here artists,

Philosopher,

Writers,

Poets,

Masters,

Therapists,

Psychologists,

Scientists,

Male and female.

And just add them there with your friends and your family and the teachers of school.

And it could be that's already now a few hundreds of people looking at you smiling,

Radiating care.

So the next group of people we add is somewhat bigger,

And that is all the strangers who have been contributing to your life directly.

And that also starting with the moment you were born.

There was a midwife probably,

Doctors.

And then from then,

From the first day,

There were smiles in your life.

Kindness in shops,

In buses,

In public spaces.

All the people who have served you,

Who stepped aside and opened the door.

There have been exceptional moments of kindness by strangers.

And there is that kind of daily kindness,

The daily decency between people.

So add all these moments,

All these people to the family,

To the friends and to your teachers.

Look at this and feel a glow of care.

The last group is the biggest one.

And that is all the people who have contributed to your life,

People you have not even met.

The people who grew the food you ate.

The people who made the clothes you wear.

The people who built the buildings you use.

Add them to your friends and your family,

Your teachers and the strangers who you have met.

And all of them smile.

Just translate what they have contributed to your life into that smile,

Into that care,

Into that radiance which is bathing your whole body,

From the toes to the top of your head.

Feeling the network of relation.

Feeling how from the time of your birth and even before in the room of your mother you have been showered by care throughout your life until this moment.

And it will continue like that.

It will just continue.

And breathing,

Being in your body.

Bathing.

In the care of the universe.

Without denying the pain.

But even that,

Even the difficult people,

Even the people you wish they wouldn't have been in your life.

Even that there could be a hunch that even that can be seen as care.

And then I invite you to let them go.

All of them.

And the glow of care stays.

Timeless presence.

Timeless care.

This universe is a safe place.

This is a safe place.

This is a safe place.

Reviews

Thank you - this leaves me feeling full of love 🙏🏼

Lovely, I especially appreciated the glow of care present in my life. Thank you, Stephan.

A lovely experience of travelling through my life which everyone should do. Beautiful. A new perspective for me but really an essential one. Grateful thanks to everyone as well as to Stephen!😄❤️

I feel the warmth of all the love I just received. Thank you

Thank you so, so much. I am grateful to have found you, a stranger who has come into my life and begins to feel like a friend, a fellow journier on the path

This meditation made me genuinely smile for most of the time. Thank you

Love this concept. Really reminds me to be grateful for all the input others have given to me in my life☺

Lovely session, very powerful and something I’m amazed I’ve not discovered before. Thank you.

Beautiful reminder of all the love and care we have received all of our life to get us to this moment 🙏🏼 So lovely, thank you ☸️🕉💓

Such a beautiful message, and such a beautiful feeling. Thank you

Absolutely beautiful

Thank you, Stephan. Quite powerful, and at the same time gentle.

Beautiful.Thank you Stephan once again I feel nurtured and my field of awareness feels expanded and enriched by your meditation.

Ohhh...! The effect of this meditation was profound. I wept with the sense of joy and care in my body. Thank you so very much. Comforting and enriching.💝

Lovely. I love how we go through the threads of time and realzie how many ppl have been kind to me, since birth, each in their own way. Some big, some small. But how many countless acts of kindness have helped bring me here, right here. Then it makes the painful memories (and some painful things in the present) a lot more bearable and not as painful. I have been loved. I am loved. I have been helped and propped and supported by countless ppl. Thank you 🙏🏻. It is good to remember these things when times are hard

A wonderful meditative practice ❤️

I felt a lot of resistance to this meditation, although intellectually I love the idea of seeing all beings as being of benefit to me. I am not yet ready to forgive everyone. Stephen's voice is so soothing and hypnotic. A favorite of mine here on Insight Timer. Thank you.🙏

I really appreciate your guidance. It is so eloquent and subtle. The tone of your voice beautifully contributing. This is a wonderful meditation for feeling the extensive interconnectedness of our lives and feeling gratitude. Please add more meditations.

Excelent 🙏🏽 Thank you very much!

Love this very helpful at this time in my life 🙏🏻💚