February 1, 2011

Dear One,

This weekend I went to a Buddhist retreat. The subject:

Kindness is Enough

I want to share with you that my experience was simply transformational / transcendent. Studying the Pathwork Emmanuel, and having taken almost every training offered to me, there has been a piece of the puzzle missing. I can give concepts....i can give quotes, I have a very clear and focused map of consciousness that allows me to be present in the moment most of the time..... I know that when I am not, it is because my suffering is noticeably attached to the mind's expectation and demand that the circumstance, this moment, be different than it is.

This Sunday I saw, felt, and experienced what was missing. KINDNESS.

Emmanuel keeps saying "Fall in love with yourself"..... Yesterday, we practiced how to be kind to ourselves....how to open and keep opening our hearts to ourselves, and beyond. This had nothing to do with thought, with concepts.....only with the willingness to open our hearts to ourselves and to keep opening our hearts a little more....to we all sat in the oneness.

I offer you this Buddhist Loving Kindness Meditation as a Valentine's gift. Make yourself comfortable...follow your own intuition on how to do this. This is the first step in being kind to yourself. Now begin to breathe deeply. (You might even want to record this Metta Suttra and let your voice inform you.)

"This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness, And who knows the path of peace:

Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways,
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!

Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will. Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down

Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world."

Are you willing to radiate kindness, are you willing to give up your fixed views of right and wrong? Are you willing to embrace yourself?

I am. Please join me in this practice every morning and evening......and let us connect in this transformational practice during the month of February. And be prepared to fall in love with yourself.

Barbara
barbaraazzara@gmail.com