Inviting Positive “Seeds” into your life
We each have many kinds of “seeds” lying deep in our consciousness. Those we water are the ones that sprout, come up into our awareness, and manifest outwardly.
So in our own consciousness there is hell, and there is also paradise. We are capable of being compassionate, understanding, and joyful. If we pay attention only to the negative things in us, especially the suffering of past hurts, we are wallowing in our sorrows and not getting any positive nourishment.
We can practice appropriate attention, watering the wholesome qualities in us by touching the positive things that are always available inside and around us. That is good food for our mind.
One way of taking care of our suffering is to invite a seed of the opposite nature to come up. As nothing exists without its opposite, if you have a seed of arrogance, you have also a seed of compassion. Every one of us has a seed of compassion.
If you practice mindfulness of compassion every day, the seed of compassion in you will become strong. You need only concentrate on it and it will come up as a powerful zone of energy.
Naturally, when compassion comes up, arrogance goes down. You don’t have to fight it or push it down. We can selectively water the good seeds and refrain from watering the negative seeds. This doesn’t mean we ignore our suffering; it just means that we allow the positive seeds that are naturally there to get attention and nourishment.
What is Metta Meditation?
In metta meditation, we direct lovingkindness toward ourselves and then, in a sequence of expansion, towards somebody we love already. Somebody we are neutral towards. Somebody we have difficulty with. And ultimately toward all beings everywhere without distinction.
The main difference between metta and vipassana is that metta is a concentration practice, while vipassana is an insight practice.
In metta practice you are choosing a particular object of meditation, which is the metta phrase, such as “May I be happy.” You hold the phrase in your heart just the way you’d hold something fragile and precious in your hand. As you cherish each phrase, distractions inevitably arise.
When distracted, you drop the distractions as quickly as possible and come back to the phrase, the chosen object of meditation.
The most powerful insight that comes from metta practice is the sense of nonseparateness. That insight comes through opening one’s heart and from being inclusive rather than exclusive.
During metta meditation, people are amazed to find out that they have a capacity for lovingkindness, both for themselves and for others. Due to our past conditioning, many of us do not trust our capacity to love.
Guided Meditation Transcript
Let’s practice Metta meditation and cultivate understanding, love, and compassion by looking deeply, first for ourselves and then for others.
In order to be helpful and truly beneficial for others, we need to love and accept ourselves first. To accept ourselves means to see and love ourselves as we are. Without constantly trying to compare ourselves to others, desires to change or modify something about ourselves.
This is the root of our suffering. So if we are unhappy, how can we possibly help other people?
Yes, you’re different from other people. You are not better or worse. You are unique.
You don’t have some things that other people have, and that’s okay! By constantly wanting and clinging, you forget to live here and now. Nothing will be enough for you.
So please, write down a letter of appreciation to yourself. No negativity! Just positive things. There is always something that you can be happy about. You are breathing. You are alive. You can read this text.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I live with ease.
Give yourself some slack. You deserve it!
Try to meditate on it, contemplate on “getting to know yourself better” for 10 minutes. After you feel comfortable and relaxed, imagine a person who you know, who is close to you, and who is suffering right now. Just think about the problems that a person has. And truly wish that person happiness by repeating:
May You be happy,
May You be healthy,
May You be safe,
May You live with ease.
Now think about your family, or a group of close friends, or your coworkers. Please think about the problems they have. Send them happiness.
May You be happy,
May You be healthy,
May You be safe,
May You live with ease.
Keep sending happiness to more and more people until you cover the whole universe.
