The loving kindness meditation allows us to explore our emotional life, with all our different habits and patterns, in some depth. With that greater awareness, we can choose to develop positive emotional states rather than feeling that we are just victims of our emotions or that they are somehow beyond our control. The basic principle of the practice is that we choose our emotions by dwelling on them. So we can either dwell on anxiety, discontent or ill-will, rehearsing our grievances with the world, or we can choose to focus on feelings of kindness and love. However, changing our emotional patterns can take time and we need to be patient with ourselves in this practice, not expecting too much too soon. The image of growing a seed of love and kindness within our hearts is appropriate here – we need to create the conditions for that seed to grow over time.
Some Benefits of Loving Kindness Meditation
People who practice the loving kindness meditation regularly over a period of months and years often notice some of the following benefits –
increased self-esteem
greater emotional resourcefulness
improved relationships with those around them
changes in old or destructive emotional patterns
more contentment and richness in life generally
Other Resources
Aside from the drop-in meditation classes and courses we run at the Buddhist Centre, you may want to take advantage of the following resources to support your meditation practice.
The Heart by Vessantara – a short book in the ‘Art of Meditation’ series exploring the loving kindness meditation.
Change your Mind by Paramananda – a very readable introduction to meditation generally.
Kindly Awareness meditation CD – 2 different lead-throughs of the loving kindness meditation.
All of these are usually available in the Buddhist Centre shop, along with meditation mats, stools and cushions.
The loving kindness meditation allows us to explore our emotional life, with all our different habits and patterns, in some depth. With that greater awareness, we can choose to develop positive emotional states rather than feeling that we are just victims of our emotions or that they are somehow beyond our control. The basic principle of the practice is that we choose our emotions by dwelling on them. So we can either dwell on anxiety, discontent or ill-will, rehearsing our grievances with the world, or we can choose to focus on feelings of kindness and love. However, changing our emotional patterns can take time and we need to be patient with ourselves in this practice, not expecting too much too soon. The image of growing a seed of love and kindness within our hearts is appropriate here – we need to create the conditions for that seed to grow over time.