Day 6 Loving kindness meditation
Keywords: Loving kindness, happiness
Time: 15 minutes
Goal: To learn loving kindness meditation.
During Covid we have seen so much kindness emerging. Interestingly practising kindness is one of the most direct routes to happiness. There is a lot of research on how Acts of kindness and adopting an attitude of kindness increases our sense of wellbeing. Most spiritual traditions have recognised this over the years. We know from research that kind people tend to be more satisfied with their relationships and with their lives in general.
We all have a natural capacity for kindness, some more than others, as you will have seen from yesterdays exercise and this crisis has highlighted how important the role of kindness is. Kindness is good for our wellbeing and good for our society. We can learn to develop it through loving kindness meditation. This involves mentally sending goodwill, kindness and warmth towards others.
The more we mentally send kindness the more connected we feel to others, to our loved ones, to our acquaintances and our communities. At a time when we are experiencing a lot of difficult emotional states, anxiety, worry, frustration even anger it can be very good for us to focus on Loving kindness. So todays exercise is a simple meditation inspired by the American psych Dan Siegal. This can be done on its own or can be done as part of a mindfulness program. I have recommended a couple on my website. I use these meditations a lot with clients who are struggling emotionally as it can help integrate the brain. Research on Buddhist monks has shown that meditation on compassion can produce powerful changes in our brains.
Meditations such as this help us to react positively to others and feel better about ourselves and paradoxically increase our happiness.
I will bring you through a meditation, you can just listen and repeat the phrases silently in your own mind. As you repeat the phrases try and feel the sensation of an open heart. You may want to learn it so that you can do this easily. The transcript is on the website. This is inspired by the work of Dan Siegel.
May all living things be happy
May all living things be healthy
May all living things be safe
And may all living things flourish and thrive
May I be happy
And live with meaning connection and equanimity
And a playful grateful and joyful heart.
May I be healthy
And have a body that gives me energy and flexibility…
Strength and stability.
May I be safe
And protected from all sorts of inner and outer harm
And may I flourish and thrive
And live with the ease of well-being.
May I and all others be happy
And live with meaning connection and equanimity
And a playful grateful and joyful heart.
May i and all others be healthy
And have a body that gives energy and flexibility…
Strength and stability.
May I and all others be safe
And protected from all sorts of inner and outer harm
And may I and all others flourish and thrive
And live with the ease of well-being