Lovingkindness

Photo by Abhishek Koli on Unsplash

Inspiration

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and a richness to life that nothing else can bring.”

-- Oscar Wilde

Reflection

How’s your heart doing?

Practice

When’s the last time you felt really, really good? Set a timer for 2-5 minutes. Close your eyes and bring that memory to mind. What do you see, hear, feel? Focus on the sensations of pleasure, ease, joy, etc. and simply breathe into it.

Go Deeper

Author and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg talks about the importance of actively loving ourselves in her book Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection. In this article, Salzberg reminds us: “It's not just that we need to be careful of naked people offering us their shirts because we will be disappointed. Those naked people will often be wanting to do the generous, caring thing, but find themselves despairing because they know they just don't have what it takes to make a sustained effort to make a difference. There is hollowness on both sides, giving and receiving.” Cultivating our inner love reservoir is essential for being able to sustainably love others.

For more exercises to cultivate self-compassion, check out expert Dr. Kristin Neff’s Guided Meditations and Exercises. Practices range from 5 to 24 minutes.