High on Happiness

Posts Tagged ‘Loving kindness’

I talked with a friend of mine tonight who’s on the edge of the massive Tennessee flood.  She’s escaped the worst of it, but she told me tales about the widespread devastation in the region.

Another friend told me her dear aunt, who had who kept her informed of all the goings-on in the family, had passed away three weeks ago.  And no one had thought to tell her.

Times of sorrow, trial, disappointment and loss come to us all.  They ride the globe in dark bands, touching individuals, nations, regions.

They keep us from being too full of ourselves.  They remind us not to take for granted the good times, to be genuinely appreciative of the blessings we’re privileged to enjoy.  They engender our compassion and stir us to reach out with thoughts and acts of loving kindness.

Loving kindness is a balm that flows from the open heart of the giver and soothes the recipient, uniting them in their shared humanity.  It bridges all the space created by the artificial boundaries of status, gender, age, race . . . all the superficial distinctions we create to delude ourselves into thinking that we’re somehow superior to our neighbor.

It transcends other artificial distinctions, too; it’s heedless of time or space.  Thoughts of loving kindness instantly touch others’ hearts, whether we’re able to communicate them on the material plane or not.  That’s the magic of them, the seeming miracle.

Focus your attention on your heart and feel it radiating waves of kindness outward—enveloping you yourself in compassion, for you require it too, and then flowing to those near you, your circle of family, and friends.  Imagine it reaching out to your broader social circle, and enveloping strangers and even those with whom you currently feel at odds.  Feel it spreading out across your nation, your continent, your hemisphere and then circling the globe.  This is the practice of loving kindness meditation.  And while it may sound like woo-woo to some, its effects are measurable and profound.

Help yourself to a few quiet moments of it today.  Practice it daily and your world will change.  I promise.

Another grand holiday comes to a close here in the States, our annual celebration of Thanksgiving.   In its traditional form, it’s a time when we gather together with family to share an enormous turkey dinner, complete with side dishes galore and pumpkin pie for desert, to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and football games on TV, and in keeping with the theme of the day, to give thanks for our blessings.

The variations on the meal and activities are countless, of course.  While millions travel to be with family—often crossing hundreds of miles–other millions spend the day with friends, and still others spend the day alone.  And as is the case with most big holidays, the reality often doesn’t meet the expectations.

Old family patterns ignite squabbles and irritations.  Or you were too exhausted from your travels to really enjoy the gathering.  If you end up making do with friends when you really wanted to go home, or spent the day alone, a little hollowness may be filling your heart.

Still, for most of us, regardless of where we spent the day, it was graced with at least a few moments of genuine gratitude as we turned our attention to the things for which we truly are thankful.  And the luckiest among us felt thankful all day long.

However your day unfolded, and whether you celebrated it as a holiday or not, a beautiful way to bring it to a close, to settle it in glowing peace, is to perform a loving kindness meditation at its end.

This gentle ritual allows you to wrap yourself and everyone else in thoughts of well-being, acceptance and unconditional love.  You can find a brief description of it here, and beautiful, more detailed instructions here.  Give yourself the gift of it.  It makes of every day a day of thanksgiving and peace.