Cattāri Brahmavihārā

The title of the post was the phrase I worked with today and it proved to be surprisingly effective at wiping away my own feelings of guilt, shame and harsh self-judgement. I simply began the session by trying to recall occasions where I felt loving-kindness in the body (in my case it is usually a feeling of warmth that wells up from the center of my chest) and then holding that feeling as I recited “May I be filled with loving-kindness”.  I then went onto to the pervasion of my benefactor, kalyana-mitta, etc… with the same.

I suppose the most interesting aspect of today’s practice was simply the vivid reminder that I got when doing the practice for myself of just how cruel and unkind I can be to yours truly. I would never in a thousand years imagine treating someone with the same severity I do myself but I guess that’s precisely why we need to do this practice over and over again. It’s simply too easy to forget to treat ourselves and everyone else with care and kindness.