The Loving Kindness Meditation
I was recently privileged to attend a meditation with the Venerable Bhante Sujatha. Metta bhavana, commonly known as the loving-kindness meditation, comes from the Buddhist tradition but it can be practiced by anyone to develop compassion, to promote healing and to get connected with the Power of Love that already lives inside. The almost immediate benefit of the practice and the simplicity of its application provide a powerful tool for people in recovery. This is something that you can do anywhere at any time without any outside direction or resources.
I have seen several versions of this meditation but never distilled quite so purely. This one cuts to the chase with just three short statements. You could call it a prayer or an affirmation, maybe even at first it’s more like a declaration of intent. The directions are very simple, aloud or silently, breathe and repeat:
I am well.
I am happy.
I am peaceful.
That sounds pretty easy right? In fact it might sound a little too easy. You can almost hear some people rolling their eyes the first time through; maybe because the suggestions seem so broad and basic. Or maybe because it’s hard to imagine that anything of real value could be so obvious and simple. But once we get past the words themselves and into the practice we begin to recognize the challenge. For some reason those words can feel a little phony. They’re very nice words, beautiful words really, not in any way over done or exaggerated. Why are they so hard to believe? Why would such fundamental ideas be so hard to swallow? And yet somehow they are… at least for me they were. They felt like chalk in my mouth. I wasn’t feeling all that well or happy at the time. I wasn’t feeling very peaceful. That’s what makes the statements so challenging – at first they almost feel like lies. That’s really the core of the problem isn’t it? We’ve been telling ourselves the bad stuff for so long that we can barely even recognize the Truth. We walk around so involved in the lies we tell ourselves. We’re so willing to accept what’s wrong with us and what’s wrong with our lives, so busy thinking about what we don’t have and what we don’t want, so engrossed in the current drama or crisis that it starts to define us. How many words does it take to explain what you don’t like about your current situation? How many thoughts run through your head each day rehashing and lamenting the past or worrying about the future? Why is it so easy for us to believe in the pain? And yet somehow these three sentences, these nine healing words sound false…
The explanation is pretty simple. We believe what we tell ourselves. It’s almost like we hypnotize ourselves with the lie of suffering until it feels perfectly natural. It actually starts to feel comfortable, we get used to it and eventually the lie feels like the truth. The only way to change the story in your head is to start telling a new one. That’s the solution. It’s simple — but simple doesn’t always mean easy. It might take some practice but it does work. Those two words, I AM, are so very powerful. Think of all the time we’ve wasted telling ourselves destructive stories and affirming everything that we do not want in our lives. Isn’t worth taking the time to tell yourself about something that you do want? What would happen if you started to turn the story around? What if you claimed healing in your life? What if you finally recognized your connection with the Source of Truth? What if you made a conscious decision to love yourself? What if the list of things that you could be started to grow and you found out that you are in fact well, happy and peaceful… It might take a while to believe but that’s okay. Almost everything worthwhile takes time. Give it a try. Give it some time, and let me know what happens.
You can help BREAK THE STIGMA by sharing your story directly on the Heroes in Recovery page and letting them know that Marta sent you. OR you can contact me through email [marta@heroesinrecovery.com] with your information and I can help you through the process.