“Mindfulness is an act of hospitality. A way of learning to treat ourselves with kindness and care that slowly begins to percolate into the deepest recesses of our being, while gradually offering us the possibility of relating to others in the same manner.”
~ Saki F. Santorelli
With so much suffering and ongoing tragedies in the world, I have been teaching and engaging in mindfulness practices to cultivate more peace, love, compassion and awareness.
I love that there are so many nurturing mindfulness exercises including the body scan, sitting, walking, eating and guided meditations and the practice I find most helpful in these times, the loving kindness meditation. Each of these exercises connects us to ourselves and the present moment, and designates time in our day to pause and reflect.
Mindfulness is such a wonderful gift to give yourself and is the easiest path to connecting authentically with yourself and opening up space to listen to our own insight and wisdom. Mindfulness simply means paying attention on purpose and the more attention we bring to our lives the more present we become, and our experiences are more enriched as a result.
As Thich Nhat Hanh writes, “Mindfulness is the energy that helps us recognize the conditions of happiness that are already present in our lives.”
Every moment you can touch the miracle of being alive through your breath, your awareness, and your deep appreciation of this moment! Mindfulness is the vehicle then to connect to this miracle of being alive and is a foundation of self-nurturing.
With so much trauma that we may experience personally or vicariously through the media’s coverage of what seems like daily tragedies, finding ways to nurture ourselves becomes more and more essential. Finding ways to cultivate more compassion for ourselves and the world then becomes an act of love and healing. Opening to more compassion and kindness toward ourselves allows us to be present to what arises instead of living in denial or rejecting parts of ourselves.
I find the loving kindness meditation to be a very powerful self-nurturing tool that can transform stress, grief, and overwhelm. What I love about loving kindness or metta meditation is that we begin with ourselves. We send aspirations for our safety, happiness and peace out into the world before moving on to others, reinforcing that we must fill up before nurturing and caring for others.
I invite you to repeat these loving kindness phrases breathing in and out with each aspiration:
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be free of suffering and root of all suffering.
May I practice compassion and forgiveness.
May I be at peace.
May I live life with ease.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be free of suffering and root of all suffering.
May you practice compassion and forgiveness.
May you be at peace.
May you live life with ease.
May we be safe.
May we be happy.
May we be free of suffering and root of all suffering.
May we practice compassion and forgiveness.
May we be at peace.
May we live life with ease.
By simply repeating the following aspirations to yourself, either out loud or in your mind, you can bring mindfulness and loving kindness into this moment. Sometimes practicing the loving kindness meditation is my most empowering option to bring more compassion and loving kindness into the present moment. I have been choosing loving kindness daily to cope with the ongoing tragedies in the world and am deeply grateful for this nurturing practice.
Please give yourself the gift of mindfulness and the loving kindness meditation and take a few moments to pause:
- Repeat these loving kindness phrases to yourself, and notice how you feel.
- Imagine practicing this loving kindness meditation as an act of love and kindness for yourself and those you love each day.
- Reflect on other aspirations or phrases that would help you cultivate more loving kindness.
- Create your own loving kindness meditation to include in your self-nurturing practice.
The beauty of the loving kindness meditation is that it begins with yourself and highlights how essential it is to nurture yourself in order to give to others. Once you nurture yourself with loving kindness you are then able to extend those aspirations to someone you love, then someone who you feel neutral about or have not yet met and then someone who challenges you. I love ending with loving kindness aspirations for all of us so I connect to a deep sense of interconnection.
Starting with loving kindness toward yourself fuels your compassion and kindness, which supports you in sharing more love and compassion in the world bringing forgiveness and wholeness to our relationships. The ripple effects of loving kindness are endless in the world and offer you the nourishment so needed in these challenging times.
May you find practicing mindfulness and the loving kindness meditation deeply nurturing as you continue to nurture peace in the world from the inside out!
Sending you so much peace, love and gratitude,
Kelley Grimes, M.S.W.
Counselor, Author & Speaker
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Love this and the loving kindness to sell is so important to move closer to inner peace so we experience live light and the feeling of freedom I am taking the loving kindness phrases to sleep tonight thank you xxoo
Moving closer to inner peace and experiencing love, light and freedom is so transformative Suzie! I love that you are taking the loving kindness phrases with you to sleep! Thank you so much for your comment.
Love this Kelly. I use much of what you wrote with my clients. Such important work and you articulate it beautifully. Thank you.
Thank you so much Laura! How wonderful that you are using mindfulness and loving kindness with your clients – more ripple effects in a world that so desperately needs love and kindness. I am so grateful for your comment!
Everything begins with us and how we treat and relate to ourselves. When we are practicing loving kindness to ourselves we cannot turn into someone who harms others. This meditation should be taught in schools.
I totally agree Rachel and love your idea about teaching loving kindness in schools. Thank you so much for your comment!
Thank you! Clear, compassionate and necessary in these times.
Thank you so much Meghan! More love, compassion, and kindness is definitely necessary in these times. I really appreciate your comment!
I Love This Kelley! Thank you for sharing this. One of my mantras is “Peace. Calm. Clarity.” –
Thank you Crystal! Peace and calm definitely lead to clarity. Thank you so much for sharing your mantra!
Thank you Kelley. I agree, mindfulness is a healing tool that bring us back to the present when tragedy strikes. I also have been practicing more mindfulness this year and teach my clients these same tools to bring them back to the now.
What a gift mindfulness is to bring us back to the present moment. How wonderful that you find the practices nurturing and teach them to your clients. We definitely create a more peaceful world the more loving kindness and compassion we cultivate. Thank you so much for your comment Lisa!
Thank you, Kelley for this thoughtful, mindful read. It was a great pause in my morning! I’m fascinated today by the idea of miracles, this word keeps showing up for me today. Let’s see how it all unfolds!
xoxo
I really appreciate your comment Krystal and that you paused to receive the gift of mindfulness and loving kindness! I believe miracles are all around us. When we pause and connect to the present moment we can then recognize and receive them. I hope you embrace all the miracles that continue to show up in your day! Thank you!
I love doing the metta meditation. I’ve also been doing one on “Ahimsa” (no harm to anyone in thought, word or deed) every day for the last week or so. It helps me keep my tendency to react when my buttons pushed in check.
Metta meditation is such a powerful practice for sure Barb as is holding the intention to do no harm. I love your awareness of how transformative this intention is when you get triggered. May we all be guided toward more peaceful and loving action! Thank you so much for your comment!
What a beautiful timely post Kelley! I too find that loving kindness meditation and practices always bring me back to my heart center, the connection to divine love. Been doing this practice a lot lately with everything going on in the world. Much love <3
Returning to our heart center in these challenging times is always the best choice for creating more love and kindness in the world. I am so grateful for your comment Debra and being love in all that you do!
This came to me at exactly the right time. I’ve been looking for ways to support our kids in Florida and perhaps have not paid enough attention to my own energy. I am making progress — I noticed a bit sooner this time. Thanks for an important post.
Thank you so much for your comment Andrea and sharing that you recognize how supporting your own energy allows you to support others at this difficult time. How wonderful that you had this awareness sooner! Thank you!
There are so many ways that a ripple effect of love can affect our lives. Through creation and time we were born into love. Somewhere along the way we lost some of that. It has been a slow process for some but with more and more people spreading the light we will all find our way back. We always need to remember to love ourselves first. That message never gets old. For within that our light shines from the inside and permeates to the outside world in turn creating that ripple effect. I thoroughly appreciate your entire blog.
Heather I love that you said our light shines from the inside and permeates to the outside world creating that ripple effect! You and I are fully aligned in this purpose. Thank you so much for your insightful comment!
This is an absolutely beautiful post, Kelley. Saki F. Santorelli’s words “Mindfulness is an act of hospitality” really resonate with me, as do your words of wisdom about integrating mindfulness into each moment. Yes, happiness is already here for us, we just need the awareness – the mindfulness – to notice. Thank you, Kelley!
I love both of the quotes too Reba and the reminder of how truly nurturing mindfulness practices are in our lives. May we all treat ourselves with loving kindness so we can spread that in the world! Thank you so much!
Kindness and especially loving kindness does begin in my soul home, the place inside me that wants to be able to spread it far and wide from my heart center. Keep up this great work you are doing to spread the word. We certainly always can use encouragement. Brightest Blessings & Heaps of Kindness.
I love that you understand that loving kindness begins in your soul home and spreads far and wide from your heart center. We all have the power to make so many ripple effects with our love and light at a time where this empowerment is so needed. Thank you so much for your kind comment and being part of the solution in the world!