May You Know Love
And a traditional Loving Kindness Meditation
Hello. I’m glad you are here.
It has been fun to look at people’s photos of the Northern Lights from all around the world this weekend. We don’t always see the beauty that surrounds us. The pictures are also a great reminder that beauty connects us.
We all want the same thing—to love and be loved. It’s Mother’s Day in the United States. This day holds different meanings for each of us. It has a way of making some people feel loved, and some feel left out, lonely, or even unworthy. It might help to remind yourself that this one day is not a true barometer of your connection to love. If you are part of a celebration, that is wonderful —soak it in. But if that is missing from your life remember that love that is all around you. Love is an experience that you can create, not something you have to wait to be given.
Love is not always where we think it is. Taking care of yourself is a form of love. Walking in the park, disconnecting from your phone, breathing fresh air, feeling the warm sun on your skin, noticing the colors of spring, and hearing the birds sing, is a wonderful and accessible act of loving yourself. Whenever I engage in an act of caring for myself, whether it’s going to a yoga class, having a walk in nature, meditating, or something else, I always feel better for having done it.
Yes, it’s also true that love is based on connections with others. We have endless connections with others. We depend upon one another. Someone designed the chair you are sitting in. Someone else designed the fabric. Yet another had the materials ready. Someone built it. Someone set up a store to sell it to you. Someone paved the road to get it to you. Someone directed the traffic while the road was being built. You get the idea. We are all more connected than we realize. We are never truly alone.
We have little interactions with people we barely know but encounter daily—the mail carrier, coworker, and barista. We might meet the gaze of the people sitting next to us in traffic, on the subway or in a waiting room. I met a lot of neighbors at the park where I took the photo above. It is part of the richness of life.
So many people are essential to our lives yet we never meet them. Love and connection are everywhere. And lest you forget, you are essential to others too.
Love is an active practice. Sending well wishes silently or aloud is a meaningful beginning to inviting more love into our lives. Practicing the most traditional Loving Kindness Meditation is a fitting exercise for today. It helps us realize the connections that are already in place.
The audio meditation below is for everybody this week.
Loving Kindness Meditation
May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you be free from pain. May you live with ease. May you know love.
And may you find magic in the everyday.
xx Page