The Prayer of Loving Kindness
May you be happy, as I wish to be happy
May you know peace, as I wish to know peace
May you be safe from inner and outer harm, as I wish to be safe
May you be free from suffering as I wish to be free.
Everyone is troubled by difficult emotional pressures. Although most do not develop skills to help deal with these pressures. This weeks meditation exercise was on loving-kindness. By practicing such meditation one can eliminate negative and destructive emotions and begin to reduce these emotional pressures.
The meditation begins with you thinking of someone close to you, some one you love very much, think of this feeling of love and now turn this love towards yourself. This practice is so one can develop a loving acceptance of oneself. Moving onward into the meditation you then visualize a loved on who is suffering you focus on this person as you breath in taking in their suffering into your heart, as you breath out you breath out happiness and wholeness to this loved one. Next you will expand your focus to people around you, those that are neutral, breath in their suffering and breath out peace and wellness. Finally embrace your enemies, taking in their suffering and breathing out peace for them.
I have been practicing this exercise two times a day for the past week. I start and end my day with this meditation. In the beginning of the week I struggled with staying focused, the sound of the ocean waves relaxed me too much and I would drift off to sleep, but the more I do it the more I am getting from it. Each time I feel I gain something new. I have found that the same meditation can be done by reciting the above prayer. The same concept is put into play by first reciting the prayer towards yourself, and then to a love one and then to a neutral person, and then towards a difficult person. I seem to stay focused better with this prayer than the guided meditation that is listen too. I still have many negative and destructive feelings towards certain people but with the help of these exercise, I am learning how to let them go and developing a more balanced and healthy life.
I certainly would recommend and encourage this meditation, because it is important to attempt to let go of the negative emotions...they really are not good for anything. The more I do this exercise the more I understand how unproductive these negative feeling are. It is important to understand that this is a exercise that will take time, patience, and dedication before you are able to master it. But the person that puts an effort into this practice will succeed and will gradually free their minds of negative emotions and anger towards others.
Understanding that the mind needs to be exercised as often and as intensively as the physical body. Just as you will not immediately begin a physical exercise regimen with running a marathon, most people will not be able to begin their mental workouts with an hour session. You can start with 5 or 10 minutes and grow from there. What is important and has been proven through research studies is that by continual practice you are on a road to a healthier and happier life. Those that persevere will be rewarded.
I have found that you may need to try different guided meditations, until you find the one that works best for you. Youtube had many good loving-kindness meditations videos. I encourage you to try different ones to help you find the one that will be most beneficial for you. Below are links to a couple that I really enjoyed.
Laurie
Hi Laurie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post, it was very uplifting and I truly love, love, love the prayer. I’ve printed several copies to have around the house, at work, in my purse. I’m going to incorporate this prayer in my meditation sessions and when I need that extra reminder to be loving and kind. I agree with you wholeheartedly, negative emotions and feelings only end up hurting you. It is, however, difficult to get over the negative feelings. It does take time, practice, dedication and the will to be free of the negativity.
Thanks for the links, I’ll check them out.
Hi Laurie,
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed reading your post and I do agree with you that it is important to let go of negative emotions to flourish the psycho-spiritual. I also agree that this specific meditation seemed too long. I will try to listen to the ones you posted. Thank you.
Ivonne
Hi Laurie-
ReplyDeleteThe world would be such a better place if we all practiced loving kindness. Squashing the negative and destructive emotions you talk about are a great way to start. Unfortunally I don’t know many people who would take the time to embrace their enemies, taking on their suffering and breathing out peace for them. Other than in Sunday school and at home I do not recall teachers or mentors every mentioning or explaining such exercises. I wonder if parents would allow this type of meditation at nap time for youngsters or at recess for grade school children. I think children have softer hearts than adults and would grow up kinder to each other if they practice this type of mental fitness. This could possibly help with the issue of bulling in the school.
Good luck with tackling your own negative feelings toward others. I believe you will succeed.
Robin
Hi Laurie,
ReplyDeleteYour blog is so wonderful and thought provoking. Loving-kindness is one thing that i want to master. If the world showed more loving kindness, we would not have wars. But alas, the ego takes over and moves loving kindness to the side. i have always looked at the word EGO as an acroynm meaning: Easing God Out. Looking at it this way has always helped me to keep my ego in check. Much Love.
Peace
Yahimba