May I Be Happy

In this meditation you are invited to connect with the warmth of a friendship and from there your are gently guided to a place of radical self-acceptance. From resting in the open heart, sharing your love happens naturally and without effort.

Transcript

Take a few moments to connect with your body and your breath in an easygoing way without any pressure.

Just noticing.

Filling your whole body with kind presence,

With the warmth of being yourself.

And then I invite you to bring your mind to a close friend you have a warm relationship with.

Invite this friend to be here in front of you.

And feel her presence.

Say quietly his or her name.

And open to the warmth and kindness in your relationship.

Hear the voice of your friend,

His or her laughter.

And imagine,

Feel how it is to meet this friend after a time of separation.

The delight,

The warmth,

The joy to look in each other's eyes,

To recognize each other.

And feel that warmth in your heart.

If it supports you,

You can imagine a soft light.

Like your heart opening like a flower,

Softness spreading.

And if your mind wanders,

Then gently come back to the body,

To the breath and to the presence of your friend.

And feel the presence,

The warmth of your friend in your whole body.

And maybe you can support that opening,

Support that warmth by wishing the friend well.

May you be happy.

May you feel safe.

May you feel,

May you know how beautiful you are.

May you feel whole and complete.

May you be at peace.

Your heart opening like a flower.

And feel how that wish for well-being,

Oh may you be happy.

How this wish is radiating from your heart,

From your body.

And see your friend receiving and accepting your love from your heart,

From your belly.

And then let your friend go.

And direct that same loving kindness,

That same space of friendliness towards yourself.

Make a space for yourself in your heart.

Your heart opens like a flower,

Warmth and softness spreading towards yourself.

Your breath supporting and helping to bring care and kindness.

And maybe you can support that opening by saying to yourself,

I am a human being and I have feelings and I care about my feelings.

I care about myself.

Open to a field of unconditional friendliness,

Particular towards the aspects of yourself.

The areas in your body with which you are hard and judgemental.

If you meet resistance,

Just let it be,

Maybe softening around the edges.

I am a human being and I have feelings and I care about my feelings.

I care about myself.

And again if it supports you,

You can imagine a soft light spreading from your heart.

Your heart opening like a flower towards yourself.

And maybe you can support that space of self-compassion,

Of self-acceptance with wishing yourself well.

May I be happy.

May I feel safe.

May I feel whole and complete.

May I recognize how beautiful and unique and just right I am.

May I be in peace.

May I be kind to myself.

May I come home.

And now imagine your consciousness like a network of glowing strings going into all directions.

And follow one of these strings into the past,

Into a time where you struggled,

Where it was very difficult for you.

And that could be just a few months or years back.

It could be you as a young adult or as a teenager or as a child.

And just follow your intuition into an area where life was difficult,

Very difficult for you.

And see yourself back then.

Look at yourself back then.

Back then as a child,

As a teenager or as a young adult.

And look at yourself back then.

Reaching out in your heart with loving kindness.

Wishing yourself well back then.

What did you need back then?

And see yourself now whispering,

Whispering yourself into the air back then.

I love you.

Your heart opens like a flower to yourself back then.

Wishing yourself well.

May you feel safe.

May you feel how wonderful you are.

How beautiful,

How just right.

You are a human being.

You are a human being and you have feelings.

And I care about your feelings.

I care about myself back then.

May you feel healed and complete,

Safe and in peace.

And see yourself back then receiving.

What happens back then when you receive?

What you give now?

What happens with that little girl?

With that teenager?

With that young adult?

See yourself back then being so happy that you are not ashamed now about yourself back then.

See yourself being happy that you are not ashamed now.

And then let go of that.

And then let go of that.

Girl or boy,

Teenager.

Being here in this moment.

Knowing that all that is also here.

The wounds and the scars.

And the possibility to love.

To heal.

To be whole.

It's also here.

It belongs together.

Breathing.

Opening.

Just letting be.

In a space of unconditional friendliness.

Of harmlessness.

With yourself.

And with that,

With everyone.

With that,

With everyone.

With that,

With everyone.

Reviews

A lot of (self) love in this meditation. Peaceful 🙏

I have needed this medication all my adult life 🙏💕

.. heel bijzonder.. kwamen veel emoties los.. helend.. 💛🙏🏼

This really affected me. Such a wonderful experience. Thank you so much.

A beautifully guided meditation. Stephen begins with developing our loving kindness for a very dear person in our life and then he directs that metta to you. I felt so much goodness and love for my friend and gradually felt it for myself.
He has an eight part talk and meditation called “Smile at Fear” which I found on the Meridian Trust Buddhist site and highly recommend.

Feeling so loved with this meditation!!! Namaste. Beautiful

What an absolutely wonderful meditation! Thank you!

Thank you Stephen 🙏🏼 So tender and beautiful. I will use this over and over to help me develop much missed love and care for myself. A gem of a meditation. Thank you 💙🙏🏼

One of the most powerful heart opening meditations I have ever done. So amazing ❤️❤️

This meditation had a profound impact on me, especially the part near the end visiting myself as a young mother of 23 years with a young baby as well as a 2 1/2 year old, feeling totally overwhelmed with my life and in deep depression. I was able to give myself deep love ❤️ and understanding. Healing tears fell. My heartfelt gratitude to you. I will visit this meditation again for healing in other areas. 💕💕💕

Love your meditations. They make me more accepting and at ease with myself as I am

I really love this teacher Stephan. Thank you so much

Unexpectedly sweet and beautiful. Therapeutic as well. Thank you 🙏

Thank you. Stirred up things, but understand the lesson though.

Inspires calm and self-friendship. Thank you.

Lovely! I often struggle to sense my heart space during meditation. I’m beginning to feel it and here I certainly could, could also feel a softening too! Thank you. 🙏🌱

Very healing, thank you!

Beautiful. Thank you.🙏

Well I have to say I wasn’t expecting to bawl through parts of this, but got closer to the inner child that felt so scared and alone than ever before. She’s going to be ok. Thank you 🙏🏼

Enjoyable meditation on kindness for others self and younger self