Begin by finding a comfortable posture,
Coming into a relaxed sense of alignment and balance with your heart area open.
And beginning with two or three full complete breaths,
Really filling up your lungs and exhaling completely,
Releasing anything you've been carrying,
Letting your breath and your body settle into a natural stillness.
Now calling to mind someone in your life who loves you or loved you unconditionally.
This could be a person in your life or a pet,
And if you have trouble thinking of someone,
It's fine to imagine such a person,
To imagine such an unconditional love,
Bathing in that heartfelt affection,
Affection for you.
If you're picturing a person or a pet,
It might help to think of a particular person or think of a particular moment when your heart just swelled with the warmth of the affection you felt in that moment,
And let yourself fully be there experiencing that love,
And then letting go of the memory and just continuing to bask in the feeling of that affection.
You might picture this love as a column of liquid light flowing from the top of your head down through your whole body,
And with each breath drawing that light deeper into you until all of you,
All of your cells glow with the light of that love,
Pouring yourself into this life,
Into your day,
Into your body as an act of love.
And now with this warm glow of love,
Having activated your heart,
Whisper to yourself or hear it whisper to you on the wind,
May I be safe and protected and free from inner and outer harm.
May I be happy and contented.
May I be healthy and whole to whatever degree possible.
May I experience ease of wellbeing.
Offering yourself this kindness is a way of tuning your instrument before you take it out into the world.
And now expanding the field of this loving kindness to others,
Starting with a person who is easy to love,
Holding them sweetly in your heart and wishing them well.
May they be safe and protected and free from inner and outer harm.
May they be happy and contented.
May they be healthy and whole.
May they experience ease of wellbeing.
And now expanding the field of your love to someone for whom you feel more neutral.
This might be someone in the circle of your life who you see regularly,
But perhaps don't know their name,
A store clerk,
Someone you've passed on the street and bringing this person into your heart and wishing that they too may be safe and protected and free from inner and outer harm.
May this person be happy and contented.
May they be healthy and whole to whatever degree possible.
May they experience ease of wellbeing.
And now expanding the field of your loving kindness to include someone who may feel a little problematic in your life.
If you're doing this meditation for the first time,
There's no need to pick the most difficult person.
Start with someone you feel comfortable with,
But perhaps not inclined to offer your goodwill towards.
And let the field of loving kindness in your heart expand,
Knowing that this person too wishes to be happy.
May they be safe and protected and free from inner and outer harm.
May they be happy and contented.
May they be healthy and whole to whatever degree possible.
May they experience ease of wellbeing.
With each concentric circle,
Feeling the field of your loving kindness expand,
Feeling its boundlessness.
There is no limit to your love,
To your goodwill.
Now extending your loving kindness as far as it wishes to go.
This might be to animals,
To trees in your environment,
To your neighborhood,
To the landscape around you.
It could include those who are imprisoned or hospitalized.
So without forcing anything,
Letting the field of your loving kindness expand as far as it naturally wishes to go.
May all of these beings near and far be safe and protected and free from inner and outer harm.
May they be happy and contented.
May they be healthy and whole.
May they experience ease of wellbeing.
May the planet itself,
The beautiful earth,
Be safe and free and protected from harm.
May she be happy and contented.
May she be healthy and whole.
May the planet experience ease of wellbeing.
May she delight in her existence.
If you enjoy this practice,
You might invite these simple phrases into your day as you walk down the street,
When you see a stranger,
When you see a bird on a branch,
When you pass a tree,
When you see someone waiting for a bus,
You might wish that that person,
That being may experience ease of wellbeing.
The more you practice loving kindness,
The more you will notice that this love in your heart is your natural state,
That it takes much more effort to resist this natural love at the core of our being than it does to simply release it.
May you delight in this life.
Be well,
My friend.
