Mindfulness Man

LOVING KINDNESS PART 2

A short introduction on loving kindness and then straight into a 20 minutes guided meditation.
This is part 2 in the series. Please listen to part 1 first and then come back to listen to this deeper practice.
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LOVING KINDNESS PART 1

This Loving Kindness practice- is said to be the antidote to fear and it is, you can’t have a heart filled with love and be afraid at the same time.
The Buddha taught it to his monks, who were afraid to live in the forest.
It is protective, we feel surrounded by a powerful force, we feel a faith from this, that as long as we keep centred in our hearts, we can handle whatever comes our way.

Bodyscan

The bodyscan is a deeply relaxing practice which greatly helps to reduce stress and increase mindfulness of the body.
In this guided meditation we lay down on the back and feel the life in the body as it manifests in myriad sensations.

Mindfulness in an uncertain world

We need mindfulness it seems more than ever as the world seems to grow more anxious each day in response to the uncertain and often quite frightening times.
"Don't Know Mind"
Something a Buddhist monk once taught me to respond to uncertain situations.
We need to value "Don't Know Mind" as it enables us to befriend the moment, to sit and learn to settle with not knowing the future.

Mindfulness of thinking

There is a space in your life from which everything emerges
You yourself came from it,
It is your true home,
It’s still here, seemingly sleeping
The sparkling essence of all things.
 
In meditation we find this sacred space,
It’s the quiet place of the infinite  power.
 
In between stimulus and response, we find this space.
Stimulus gives birth to response...but who are we in between.
Who is this peaceful one watching all of this?
Most minds don’t see this space or even know it exists. It is the mind that sees this space that can stop its habitual reactions and act from this space, mindfully...  choosing the appropriate response.
 

Bearing with discomfort

One of the benefits of mindfulness is to be able to stand in situations of discomfort, to be able to wait in discomfort and not be moved by it.
To be able to feel discomfort and investigate it, to dissect it into easily manageable, smaller sensations.
Is pain, discomfort, anxiety, really the solid, immovable block of something that we perceive it to be….or is it tiny occurrences, apparently joined together, constantly changing, look and see…nothing to believe here, this path is experiential.

Letting go of the weight of life

Learn to drop identification with worry...but see it first. See it’s parasitic game and learn t become free.

Smiling when we awaken

People struggle with meditation because they judge the mind for doing what a mind does, wander.
We need to let go of this and even celebrate the seeing of the wandering mind as that is a moment of mindfulness.