Daily Loving Kindness

Here is a bit of advice from the book One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the 12 Steps by Kevin Griffin.

For Addicts and Alcoholics [read: Everyone, as we are all addicted to something], I think it’s probably most important that we practice metta [loving-kindness] in our daily lives. Developing a loving and compassionate heart, learning to react with kindness rather than judgement or anger is critical both to our sobriety [read: mindful presence in your life] as well as to our serenity…

Making a habit of bringing lovingkindness and compassion to mind in daily life can shift our entire outlook. And this is a practice – a real practice. It requires first noticing when our thoughts are angry or judgmental toward someone; then consciously shifting our focus to the other person and how we might view them and their behavior differently…

We have all been there; can we feel compassion for someone stuck in their suffering?

This is a wonderful practice that you can do as you walk down the street or in the market. You can notice how you are reacting to the different people that come your way. What feeling tone arises when you see the next person: attraction, aversion, or do you feel nothing toward them and choose to ignore them? When you sense that feeling tone arising, you know that there is a judgmental storyline that has been created in a fraction of a second.

Drop any storyline and look past the feeling tone and see if you can recognize this person as another human being that is suffering just as you are. Then, in your mind (not usually out loud), you can make the wish that they will be well and happy.

As Kevin Griffin says, “It can shift your entire outlook.”