"Our own happiness can change history and it does." -Sharon Salzberg
Today, we practice metta. If you can guide yourself using this template, please do. Remember it is the practice that changes us, not the reading about or thinking about the practice. If you have one minute, if you have five minutes, if you have thirty minutes, please practice. If you can say these phrases before you rise out of bed each morning, it will make a difference. If you also can say them before you fall asleep at night, it will make a difference. If it is better for you or more easeful for you to be guided, there are many great guided lovingkindness meditations available online. Here is one.
Today, we practice lovingkindness for a beloved:
Set up your space. If you have a meditation spot, that is good. If you don't, make sure you clear an area of easy distractions, or things that will pull you away from the practice. Take up your comfortable meditation posture. Be comfortable but steadfast. Close the eyes if that is possible and if that is comfortable. Let yourself acknowledge that you have taken your posture for meditation. Notice your breath and the state of your body and mind in this moment. And then open your heart to one beloved, an uncomplicated one if possible. Picture the beloved in your mind and heart. This can be a friend, a parent, a teacher, a lover, a child, a pet, a tree, a rock. It should be easy to feel uncomplicated affection for this being. And it should be a particular being for this pass.
You can send unformed love and affection to this being for a bit, and then begin with the phrases, these phrases or phrases that suit you more comfortably:
May [this being] be safe and protected;
May [this being] be peaceful;
May [this being] live with kindness and with ease.
Repeat the phrases while envisioning the beloved for the time period that you have set aside.
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