Dear friends,
As I do lately, I woke up later than I expected. I thought I’d missed my meditation group, and greeted the day with profanity.
I had forgotten that we were meeting at 9, and so I made it after all, with a full cup of hot tea. Susan Kraft, who originally organized the meditation group for the month of October 2020, led a Metta meditation.
Metta is the cultivation of loving kindness. The practice radiates outward, from the self to others, and ultimately to all living beings.
The words and phrases that Susan chose today were these:
May we be safe and protected.
May we be healthy and strong.
May we be generous and wise.
May we be happy and free.
To spend twenty minutes visualizing this — for oneself, the people you love most, those you barely know, and even those you find most challenging — is time well spent. With generosity and wisdom, I have forgiven myself for the false start to the day and the year. The benefits will redound to everyone around me.
Loving kindness is a variety of unilateral disarmament. It is courageous and it is the surest path to peace.
with love,
L