Something We All Can Practice
Not everyone enjoys meditating, but loving-kindness meditation is a practice of self-care. We live in a world where being “busy” “always on” and “constantly productive” has taken its toll. People realize now that breaks, naps or opportunities to reset and rest are crucial to our continued productivity and our mental health and well-being.
Self Care is Not Selfish
I love meditation. Several years ago I began a deepening meditation class. Since then I have really learned how to sit with the process of going deeper into my body and learning how to sit still. Many of the first times I meditated, it was hard to sit with the discomfort showing up in my body and stay with it. Not moving physically, but just noticing how it felt was very challenging.
Soon after I started my meditation practice, I attended a longer meditation day retreat. It was 8 hours in total. Not all of it was sitting meditation, we also did movements, had lunch, and listened to some interesting guided discussion. However, I was agitated throughout this long day because I was cold while I was trying to meditate.
Pushing Myself
Soon after I read a book into my practice called Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield. I began to understand that certain experiences are all part of the process. The quieting and calming of the mind will kick up things whether real or created to distract and deter you. Part of what you are working on each day is the “being” part. The noticing and accepting of these distractions.
While I was noticing, but hadn’t gone deeper just to be with it. I was trying to make it go away. It’s interesting to me how this “being” part can help you during the rest of your life. Of course, the point isn’t to be meditating all the time. But rather bring what we learn while we are meditating to our lives and our day-to-day existence. The goal is to help it guide us through the irritations and distractions we have throughout our day.
A Recent Addition
More recently, I have incorporated the metta practice, or the practice of loving kindness into my weekly meditation. During this loving-kindness meditation, we offer a wish or a blessing to someone we love, to a familiar stranger, to ourselves, and to someone we have a difficult relationship.
The phrase I repeat for these four people as I am saying this meditation is: “May I be safe. May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I live with ease.”
Incorporating these Learnings with Keynote Speaking
A few weeks ago, I got permission to do a short Loving-Kindness meditation for a large government all-staff event where I was keynoting. It was incredible to witness 350 people’s eyes closed, grounded, and leaning into a few minutes of loving-kindness meditation. I heard afterward that people enjoyed that brief touch with meditation. Even in a public setting.
There is definitely an incorrect stereotype of people who meditate. What they look like, how it has to be done and where, etc. Meditation can be incorporated anytime, anywhere. It has such incredible benefits not the least of which is just acknowledging your breath, noticing a moment in time, and being more present in your life. I am enjoying it so much, having permission to share this new love of meditation in my professional work.
If you are interested in learning more about loving kindness for your company or association I’d love to share what I know.
