I wrote last week about drawing on steadiness as a form of subtle activism. Another quality that is sorely needed within our human family is the expression of kindness. Here in the United States, we’ve had an unfortunate shift toward a lack of civility toward one another, and it seems that there is a lessening of kindness in many places on the planet. This lack of kindness, and an accompanying lack of care, extends to our other-than-human earth-kin and to the planet in general.
Kindness and care are expressions of the heart more than the head. They are heart-centered responses and it’s possible to strengthen the tendency to express kindness and care when we offer ourselves practices that orient to heart perception and intelligence. I’ve written about this a lot and continue to return to it because of its central role in helping us to be with one another in more compassionate ways.
Drawing on a combination of information from HeartMath (www.heartmath.org) and other sources, I’ve spent a good bit of time orienting to my “heart brain” and to checking in with what my heart thinks about various issues. How often the heart perceives things differently from how the head brain understands them and how helpful it can be to have both perspectives available!
For this week’s practice, following is a brief meditation for you to play with. It’s focused on generating kindness, remembering that the qualities we generate in ourselves—the frequencies with which we resonate—affect not only our personal life but also have an impact on the information field that is our collective human consciousness.
- Begin by settling into that place in you that is your natural internal landing place. Notice the steadiness that is always there—it is the part of you that is never disturbed.
- Notice how your body settles into the support under you and how you may settle even a bit more into yourself.
- Take a moment to feel the quality of support you receive from the environment around you. You are in an ongoing reciprocal relationship with the energies all around you, where the qualities you emanate from inside your experience touch the environment and the qualities in the environment touch you.
- Now, notice what you experience as you take a few moments to breathe in and out through your heart, bringing your awareness to your heart’s awareness, too your “heart brain”. Simply notice the quality of your experience as you orient to your heart.
- Next, bring to mind the frequency, tone, and quality of kindness. If it helps you to connect with the living presence of kindness, allow an image or symbol to arise, or hear a sound that embodies kindness for you, or perhaps a sensation in your body. In whatever way you connect with kindness, allow it to become more alive for you and in you right now.
- Now, focusing in your heart space, begin to more consciously resonate with the frequency of kindness, the living presence of kindness, experiencing the heart-based qualities that arise as you connect more deeply with it.
- Allow this quality to fill your whole body and notice the sensations you experience as you resonate with kindness. Also allow your thoughts and emotions to fill with the quality of kindness. Spend a bit of time resonating with the qualities of kindness and offer it to yourself with your whole heart.
- Next, imagine that the frequency kindness you have generated flows out of your heart into the environment around you and, from there, into our field of collective human consciousness. The kindness you offer touches people you will never know and supports expressions of kindness in ways you will never hear about.
- Remember that this is a form of subtle activism, above and beyond the benefits you personally receive from resonating with the frequency of kindness. The few moments you may spend doing this practice offers a powerful and meaningful gift to all of us.
- When you’re ready, reorient yourself and move into whatever is next for you, and hold the intention that you will continue to resonate with kindness throughout your day and/or night.
As with all these practices, there’s no right or wrong way to do this one. There’s only your experience and discoveries of what works best for you. Please remember to bring along curiosity as your constant companion and to pat gently on the head any judgments that may arise, allowing them to move on through without your having to do anything with or about them.