Meditate on Compassion

~Went to a meditation day on Saturday

~Went to a meditation day on Saturday

went to meditation class and have felt more compassion for people lately and thought more about why they are like they are

I was listening to a dharma talk by Thich Nhat Hahn today. He spoke of understanding leading to compassion. My experience in life resonates with this.

Continuing to deepen my understanding, of myself, others, and our world.

The strugle continues and possibly will for some time. I had a glimmer of understanding with this person last weeekend which is good. Because when I can begin to understand, I can begin to offer compassion.

There is a character at my work that has becoming exceedingly difficult to bear. She appears to like to stir things up, or needs lots of attention. Who knows. My perceptions are frequently wrong.

However she has caused me to suffer at work. I am working with understanding her, but this gets shoved away by my emotional responses. At best at times she is a reminder for me to breathe. To pause and see where I am.

Yesterday on my way to work at 5am. Arrghh. I was tired from sleeping poorly and unsure of what the day would hold.

Passing a gas station I saw a man waking up in the bed of a pickup truck. Suddenly I was grateful.

Every one of us suffers. Every creature on earth suffers. Realizing this I must water the seeds of compassion in me.

I’m still doing this meditation daily. It’s quick and easy and it has really been powerful for me.

If I have any problems interacting with anyone I just add them to the list and say Metta for them for a while and my interactions and feelings become more positive.

I’ve gone from not even liking my mom (because she knew how to push all my buttons and there was so much history and resentment on my side) to genuinely loving her. In fact I told her that I loved her recently and my family doesn’t ever say that!

I highly recommend this practice. It’s really easy and gentle, and it works where you need it. I know someone else who started doing Metta and found that it helped her to be less reactive and needy. She used to need a lot of feedback from other people and wanted their opinions all the time to feel better. That need has really lessened since she’s done Metta.

I did it.

I don’t know if I’m finding the phrases more meaningful exactly, but there is a depth to the experience of meditating on the 3 mantras. I think this is mainly because it’s become habitual enough that when I need solace or balance I often have these thoughts come to me out of nowhere. I think that’s a cool thing because it’s hardest to meditate when things are crazy or scary or awful.

I find that this meditation can bring me a sense of well-being at any time. That’s a big change from when I started doing it.

I’m not exactly ‘done’, I’ll keep doing it, but I’m done with the 6 weeks test. I’ve tried it and I like it.