Metta for Mother's Day: May 12 - 18

Today I celebrate my mom and all the people that have nurtured and loved us whether they are mothers or not. Before I was known, my being took shape beneath my mother's heart. The sound of her heartbeat was the first music to surround me.  Her eyes were the first to recognize me. Her love is a constant presence and an anchor. She was my first teacher and continues to hold me in her heart. Thanks, Mom. I love you.

Practice

The earth is our first mother. From her we receive the gifts of food, air, and shelter. Find a place and settle in this day. Scan your body for places of tightness and gripping. Can you relax those places and allow the earth to support you more fully as gravity holds you? Breathe in light, peace, and life. Breathe out heaviness, worry, and fear. Thus connected to the earth, linger a few moments until you begin to feel less burdened and lighter.

Call to mind your mother, beloved relative, or persons who first loved and cared for you. They formed within you the template of love.  They nurtured you to become the person you are now. See their faces and hear their voices as their love continues to surround you and echo in your heart. Allow gratitude to swell from within. Let it spill out in memory and thanksgiving. Offer loving kindness.

Strengthened by this source, call to mind siblings, playmates, teachers, neighbors, coaches, and others who filled your early days with joy and discovery and friendship. See their faces and hear their voices as their love continues to surround you and echo in your heart. Allow gratitude to swell from within. Let it spill out in memory and thanksgiving. Offer loving kindness.

Allow this river of connection to flow out even further. Call to mind mentors, colleagues, wise men and women, closest friends, and others who celebrated your achievements, stood with you in life's hardest moments, and encouraged your dreams. See their faces and hear their voices as their love continues to surround you and echo in your heart. Allow gratitude to swell from within. Let it spill out in memory and thanksgiving. Offer loving kindness.

Imagine love radiating from your heart like a lighthouse shining to the furthest corners of the earth. This love shines in the past to encompass ancestors and to future generations. It shines beyond time to loved ones no longer physically with us. It shines to saints and buddhas, spiritual guides and all beings that share this life with us. See their faces and hear their voices as their love continues to surround you and echo in your heart. Allow gratitude to swell from within. Let it spill out in memory and thanksgiving. Offer loving kindness.

Place your hand on your heart. There was a time before knowing, before remembering, before understanding when you were simply held by loving arms. Return to the experience of simply being and rest in the present moment. Envision your own face and hear the voice within as love continues to surround you and echo in your heart. Allow gratitude to swell from within. Let it spill out in memory and thanksgiving. Offer loving kindness.

When you are ready, enter into the rest of the day. Let your words and actions shimmer with the love you just practiced.