Loving-Kindness is the Key to Everything

Every day, I do a loving-kindness meditation, and it feels good. But what is “loving-kindness” and what distinguishes it from regular kindness? And how is it, as the title of this post promises, the key to Everything?

Loving-Kindness Meditation

Every morning, I practice a loving-kindness, or Buhddist mettā meditation. The words are always evolving in order to maintain their meaning for me. Here is a shortened version of my current mettā meditation. Note that it starts with love for oneself, often the most difficult part to get through. But, just as you can’t make a meal for a friend if you haven’t cultivated any food to have in your own kitchen, you need to cultivate self-love in order to authentically project love to others.

This version incorporates thoughts of loving-kindness for the people in the Bahamas who are suffering from the effects of Hurricane Dorian. It’s important to back up your thoughts of love with actions of love, so I have included links to ways for you to send material aid to the Bahamas.

a wall, a prayer & some advice

Wall

I open my eyes and I am just standing here

And once again, maybe always, I am pushing against a wall

There have been walls before

A series of walls

I can’t go back because the path disappeared behind me

So I have to push ahead past this wall or I’ll die here

Prayer

May I give and receive only loving-kindness today, in harmony with the Universe.

How to Deal with Difficult People

Love them. People are like dogs. Even the ones who bark you want to pet and rub their bellies.

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Here’s something:

Thoughts on Love and Compassion

Let’s say you’re in a room doing something, perhaps meditating on universal loving kindness, perhaps just writing a blog post, and there’s a puppy right outside the door crying. And let’s say that you know this puppy and you know that all she wants is for somebody to pet her.

How the Earth Got Fixed

On Tes’russ, there is but one sentient life form, the uss. There are, however a vast number of diverse organisms that form a complex, interdependent ecological matrix. One of those organisms is the creeky spider. It’s not a spider in the Earth sense of the species, but it looks enough like a small yellow, white and orange spider that humans mistook it for one when they first came across it. It makes a creeky sound when it walks, thus its name. Nobody on Earth paid enough attention to realize that the creeky spider was spearheading an alien invasion.