Dear Friends,
Welcome to this loving-kindness meditation.
Which is designed to be listened to alone.
As you sit on your chair or cushion.
Or in a group setting.
Where a time is fixed and where a group of people hear on InsideTimer.
Log in to meditate together.
May it bring you to a place of loving awareness.
And help you to spread love and kindness wherever you go.
It's only right that we would begin a session like this by coming to ourselves.
Bringing mind and body together in the same place.
Taking a little time to relax.
And becoming aware of our presence in the here and in the now.
So close your eyes if that feels comfortable.
Relax.
Let the shoulders drop.
If you feel tension anywhere in your body.
Allow that part of your body to relax.
Relax your face.
Loosen any tightness that you might feel in your face or in your jaw.
Relax your hands.
Relax your entire body right down to your feet.
Wriggle your toes and let them too relax.
For these few moments,
Take it easy.
And realise that as you sit in this room,
All is well in the here and in the now.
There is nothing to do.
Nowhere to go except to be here.
We'll have a minute or two of gentle music.
As you relax and simply allow your awareness to turn to your breathing in.
And you're breathing out.
Welcome back.
The procedure in a loving-kindness meditation is that we first of all send loving thoughts to ourselves.
We then extend these kind wishes to someone we love and care about.
The third stage is to widen the circle further.
And take into our hearts people we come across in our day-to-day lives.
We next widen the circle further still.
To include as best we can people that we find a little difficult.
People whose presence causes us upset.
People whose words and actions disturb our peace of mind.
And finally.
.
.
We look out over this beautiful blue planet which we inhabit.
We look out into the farthest reaches of space.
And we send thoughts of loving-kindness to all living beings,
Wherever they may be.
We will take a little time to concentrate on our own thoughts and our concerns.
We will think of people we know and love.
Who are in need of our prayers.
And we will call to mind world situations that need our attention.
In a private listening situation,
We'll send these thoughts and prayers out into the universe ourselves.
In a group listening,
We will share these concerns on the chat.
So that together we can support one another in loving concern and kindness.
So let us begin by drawing our attention to ourselves.
Our history.
Our hopes,
Our dreams,
And our fears.
Here we are in this time and place.
And reassured by the fact that we have come this far.
Let's release any fear that we may have concerning the future.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I be safe.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.
May I be free from pain and fear.
May I find mental and physical peace.
May I have clarity and vision.
May I feel calm and serene.
May I be resilient.
May I be patient and wise.
May I feel confident and strong.
May I be free from suffering.
Let's repeat those thoughts in relation to ourselves.
May I be well.
Safe.
Healthy.
May I live with ease.
May I be free from pain and fear.
May I achieve mental and physical peace.
May I have clarity and vision.
And feel calm and serene.
May I be resilient.
Patient.
Wise.
May you feel confident and strong.
May I be free from suffering.
Next,
We remember someone we love dearly.
Picture the person in your mind's eye.
If you have a photograph of them near at hand.
Look at that photograph.
And just call the person lovingly to mind.
As if they were with us just now.
May this person that I love be well.
May they be happy.
May they be safe.
May they be healthy!
May they live with ease.
May they be free from pain and fear.
May they find mental and physical peace.
May they have clarity and vision.
May they feel calm and serene.
May they be resilient.
May they be patient and wise.
May they feel confident and strong.
May this person that I love,
May they be free from suffering.
And we'll repeat those loving kindness expressions in relation to this person that we love.
May they be well.
May they be happy and safe.
May they be healthy and live with ease.
May they be free from pain and fear.
Where they find mental and physical peace.
May they have clarity and vision.
May they feel calm and serene.
May they be resilient!
Patient and wise.
May they feel confident and strong.
And above all,
May they be free from suffering.
Much of the happiness in our lives comes from the fact that we are surrounded by people whom we know only vaguely.
Yet these people provide support for us.
Without which our lives would be so much more difficult.
So let's call to mind one or two people in this category.
We give thanks for their existence and we wish them well.
As we say,
May they be well.
May they be happy.
May these people be safe.
May they be healthy.
May they live with ease.
May they be free from pain and fear.
May they find mental and physical peace.
May they have clarity and vision.
May they feel calm and serene.
May they be resilient.
May they be patient and wise.
May they feel confident and strong.
May they be free from suffering.
And again,
These loving kindness tarts.
For people who help to keep the wheels of our lives turning.
May they be well.
May they be happy.
Way to be safe.
May they be healthy!
And may they live with ease.
May they be free from pain.
Free from fear.
May they find mental and physical peace.
Feeling clarity and vision.
And feeling calm and serene.
May they be resilient.
May they be patient.
May they be wise.
May they feel confident and strong.
May they be free from suffering.
Now,
None of us can hope to get through life without being confronted by people we find troublesome.
These are people who make life difficult.
There may be people we have to work with day after day.
They may even be people in the media or in the public eye.
It's not easy to send out thoughts of loving kindness to the difficult people.
But they need it even more than others.
So we bring them into our concerns.
And we extend loving-kindness wishes to them,
Hoping that somehow,
Someday.
Some time.
They will come around.
And may they learn that their own peace and happiness.
Comes from spreading peace and happiness.
May these difficult people be well.
May they be happy.
May they be safe.
May they be healthy.
May they live with ease.
May they be free from pain and fear.
May they find mental and physical peace.
May they have clarity and vision.
May they feel calm and serene.
May they be patient.
And wise.
May they feel confident and strong.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from causing suffering.
And now we have an opportunity to think of our own concerns and our worries.
And we send these concerns out into the universe.
In the form of thoughts and prayers.
We may have family and friends who are ill.
We may be ill ourselves.
We may know people who have been bereaved.
We may have concerns about the planet.
And the state of relationships in our world.
Whatever these worries are.
Now is an opportunity to feel these concerns in our hearts.
And express a wish that they'll be remedied.
The musical interlude that follows will give you an opportunity to reflect lovingly on these concerns.
Or share them with your people or the chat.
If you happen to be listening to this meditation in a group setting.
And now we send out words of loving kindness across this beautiful planet.
And into the furthest reaches of this amazing universe.
We try to imagine all beings,
Wherever they may be.
May they be safe.
May they be protected from harm.
Violence and fear.
May all beings,
Wherever they may be,
It'd be safe.
May they be protected from harm.
From violence and from fear.
And finally,
To end our reflection.
We have the well-known metal student.
These are the Buddha's words on loving kindness.
This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness.
And who knows the path of peace.
Let them be able and upright.
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited.
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm and wise and skilful.
Not proud or demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove.
Wishing in gladness and in safety.
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be.
Whether they are weak or strong.
Omitting none.
The great or the mighty,
Medium,
Short or small.
The seen and the unseen.
Those living near and far away.
Those born and to be born.
May all beings be at ease.
That don't deceive another.
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life her child.
Her only child.
So with a boundless heart.
Should one cherish all living beings.
Radiating kindness over the entire world.
Spreading upwards to the skies and downwards to the depths.
Outwards and unbounded.
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking.
Seated or lying down.
Free from drowsiness.
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views.
The pure hearted one.
Having clarity of vision.
Being freed from all sense desires.
Is not born again into this world.
Namaste.
