this is one I need to do more often!
- Sit in a quiet place where you can be alone for a while. The bath is a nice, soothing place to start, a church or temple, your regular meditation spot, or bed.
- Think of someone you love wholly & deeply: a child, a spouse, a parent, a god. Cultivate your feelings of love so that you feel filled with it.
- Now, think of someone you should be loving a whole lot more than you do: a child, a parent, a co-worker, a politician, or a stranger on the freeway. Try to feel the same love that you felt for the first for the second.
Extra credit: think of whole groups of people (or beings) as the loved.
Bonus extra credit: think of yourself as the loved.
2 responses so far ↓
1 John // May 24, 2007 at 8:08 am
Miko, thank you for posting this. I’ve done this in the past, with great benefit. Maybe it’s time for me to pull this out again.
One thought occurred to me–I don’t love myself anywhere near as much as I love most others (I’m not kind to myself at all, in fact). What would it be like to apply this to oneself? Is this selfish, or could it lead to an overly self-centered mindset?
2 Miko // May 25, 2007 at 9:49 am
I’m my own harshest critic. I think most people are. I let other people get away with things I would never allow myself to. But I still have a pretty healthy ego. It’s interesting how I can be so harsh on myself and yet still believe that I’m superior to most people :-p But in terms of “love” I know that I often don’t love myself the way I love other people. Turning this meditation to myself is one of the hardest meditations I do.
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