Metta is so Meta
It’s Sunday and that means my second visit to Kripalu is drawing to an end. Interestingly, the first and last time I visited Kripalu preceded great change as well. While I was here, my mom, who had been living with us at the time, was back in Illinois in search of a new home to move back to there. Also, Andrea was in the process of leaving her prior employer whom we refer to, not fondly at all, as the fascists. Here I am, preparing to leave my former employer as well, whom I don’t view as fascists but I do maintain that people leave their boss and not their employer and my soon to be boss was not my people. Here’s the part of the journal entry where Anne Lamott recommends you give that person a small penis so they don’t come forth and sue you (because who wants to own up to that?). Only that person did not have a penis so let's make them virtually unrecognizable by saying that their eyelashes were sparse and non-existent so we’ll refer to them as Maybelline*
While at Kripalu, I attended a lecture on Metta Meditation. Not to be confused with Meta. Metta can be translated from Pali as “love” or “loving kindness” and as a meditation it involves sending well wishes to yourself, benefactor, friend, neutral person and enemy (or a person with whom you’ve had conflict). There are variations on this, some conclude with all beings. Obviously, the loved one is the easiest person to send well wishes too. In her book, Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, Sharon Salzberg recommends the following well-wishes:
May I be free from danger;
May I have mental happiness;
May I have physical happiness;
May I have ease of well-being
But you can come up with whatever works for you. When you’re thinking of others, you say “you”, and I find it easy to get behind the first one because I usually refrain from wishing harm to others even if I think they're a first class shit. But happiness and ease? I'm gonna need to keep working on this metta thing. Salzberg points out that seeing the goodness in someone doesn’t mean ignoring their difficult qualities but rather focusing on the positive. When I think about “all beings”, I picture Donald Trump and to be honest, I don't know him well enough to identify his good qualities so I try to picture him maybe holding his newborn child or maybe even picturing Donald himself as a tiny tike. This is beginning to remind me of Anne Lamott’s 2003 essay titled, Loving Bush: Day 2, so you should totally read that as it’s stuck with me for 14 years. Anyway, if we want happiness for ourselves, we have to want it for Maybelline and Donald Trump.
The in between time is closing and tomorrow I begin a new adventure. Today the universe plated up the Five of Cups, which can represent loss and bereavement, and crows that lined my morning walk at Kripalu this morning. I'm going to miss the network of friends from my old employer. May they be free from danger; May they have mental happiness; May they have physical happiness; May they have ease of well-being. Even Maybelline.
*You’re so vain. I bet you think this post is about you…
While at Kripalu, I attended a lecture on Metta Meditation. Not to be confused with Meta. Metta can be translated from Pali as “love” or “loving kindness” and as a meditation it involves sending well wishes to yourself, benefactor, friend, neutral person and enemy (or a person with whom you’ve had conflict). There are variations on this, some conclude with all beings. Obviously, the loved one is the easiest person to send well wishes too. In her book, Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, Sharon Salzberg recommends the following well-wishes:
May I be free from danger;
May I have mental happiness;
May I have physical happiness;
May I have ease of well-being
But you can come up with whatever works for you. When you’re thinking of others, you say “you”, and I find it easy to get behind the first one because I usually refrain from wishing harm to others even if I think they're a first class shit. But happiness and ease? I'm gonna need to keep working on this metta thing. Salzberg points out that seeing the goodness in someone doesn’t mean ignoring their difficult qualities but rather focusing on the positive. When I think about “all beings”, I picture Donald Trump and to be honest, I don't know him well enough to identify his good qualities so I try to picture him maybe holding his newborn child or maybe even picturing Donald himself as a tiny tike. This is beginning to remind me of Anne Lamott’s 2003 essay titled, Loving Bush: Day 2, so you should totally read that as it’s stuck with me for 14 years. Anyway, if we want happiness for ourselves, we have to want it for Maybelline and Donald Trump.
The in between time is closing and tomorrow I begin a new adventure. Today the universe plated up the Five of Cups, which can represent loss and bereavement, and crows that lined my morning walk at Kripalu this morning. I'm going to miss the network of friends from my old employer. May they be free from danger; May they have mental happiness; May they have physical happiness; May they have ease of well-being. Even Maybelline.
*You’re so vain. I bet you think this post is about you…