The Power Of Compassion

This is a time of year when it can be helpful to remember compassion - for ourselves and others. There have been some exciting findings in the field of compassion, with evidence that compassion for self and others can make people more resilient to stress and strengthen the immune response.

So, as we move into a season of holidays and the inevitable stress that can come with that I invite you to try one of my favorite meditations - a loving kindness meditation. 

This is a really powerful meditation for not only feeling compassion and love for yourself and your loved ones, but also people that you harbor negative feelings toward. I experienced this profoundly one winter when I felt a strong feeling of anger towards one of my professors. He had made a decision that I felt created additional unnecessary stress and I was so angry with him that I felt it viscerally, with my intestines in knots after reading his e-mail. For a couple days I couldn't sit in his class without fuming. 

And then I tried this meditation. It worked immediately. The anger I'd been holding dissipated. It didn't mean that I agreed with him, or even liked him. But it meant that I could sit in his class again and learn from him, rather than being distracted by my resentment. 

I invite you to try this exercise for yourself. Here's a link to a guided version of the meditation, or you can use the text below. 

Breath in golden light, breath out tension.

Focus your attention on your body. Smile as broadly as you can. Feel your heart grow bigger as you smile. Imagine yourself experiencing complete physical and emotional wellness and inner peace. Imagine feeling perfect love for yourself, thanking yourself for all that you are, knowing that you are just right—just as you are. Focus on this feeling of inner peace, and imagine that you are surrounded by beautiful golden light and say:

May I be happy. May I be safe. May I be healthy, peaceful, and strong. May I give and receive appreciation today. I love myself so dearly.

Bask in feelings of warmth and self-compassion for a few moments. If your attention drifts, gently redirect it back to these feelings of loving kindness. Let these feelings envelop you.

Begin to shift your focus to the beloved people and/or animals in your life. Visualize your closest family members, partner, best friends, and beloved pets. Feel your gratitude and love for them. See them all standing in front of you, with perfect wellness and inner peace, surrounded in that beautiful golden light and say:

May my loved ones be happy. May my loved ones be safe. May my loved ones be healthy, peaceful, and strong. May my loved ones give and receive appreciation today. I love my beloved ones so dearly. Bask in feelings of warmth and compassion for a few moments. If your attention drifts, gently redirect it back to these feelings of loving kindness. Let these feelings envelop you.

Begin to widen your focus to include the people you interact with regularly, your friends, neighbors, collegues, teachers, healthcare providers, postal carriers and other acquanitences. Feel your gratitude for these individuals and the contributions they make to your life. See them all standing in front of you, with perfect wellness and inner peace, surrounded in that beautiful golden light and say:

May the people in my network be happy. May the people in my network be safe. May the peope in my network be healthy, peaceful, and strong. May the peope in my network give and receive appreciation today. I love the peope in my network so dearly.

Bask in feelings of warmth and compassion for a few moments. If your attention drifts, gently redirect it back to these feelings of loving kindness. Let these feelings envelop you.

Now, zoom out your focus, and see youself, your loved ones, and your aquantances, all surrounded by the same golden light. Continue to zoom out, seeing all the people in your community, people you may recognize but don’t know. Continue to zoom out, envisioning all the people and animals in your city, in your state, in your country, in the world. Imagine all these living beings with perfect wellness and inner peace, surrounded by the beautiful golden light and say:

May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be healthy, peaceful, and strong. May all beings give and receive appreciation today. I love all beings so dearly.

Bask in feelings of warmth and compassion for a few moments. If your attention drifts, gently redirect it back to these feelings of loving kindness. Let these feelings envelop you. Breath in golden light, breath out tension.