METTA...LOVING KINDNESS?!

In an earlier blog I mentioned research by Ms. Fredrickson and her colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that involved one group receiving training in metta meditation while a control group did not.  The metta meditation really seemed to help that group feel better and be more positively connected to others.  This type of meditation has also been used to successfully treat people with Borderline Personality Disorder, a disorder that is difficult to treat based in part on the negative and unstable relationships these people tend to have.  

So, what is this metta?  Metta is described as an attitude that recognizes and respects all sentient beings [all living things capable of having feelings] and wishes them well.  It requires that we recognize that all sentient beings are united in their desire to find fulfillment and escape suffering.  This then allows us to feel friendly, compassionate and even loving to others.   

The practice of developing metta involves first cultivating this attitude and experience of life towards ourselves.  Then toward family members and good friends.  Next toward neutral people and then toward difficult [hard to like] people.  The final practice involves feeling this loving kindness toward people who do very bad things.  It seems that when we withhold our kindness towards anyone, it becomes a weight or burden for us to carry.  I may have mentioned the following story in another blog.  However, since it concerns carrying things I will repeat it.  Two monks were walking down a muddy dirt road and saw a very nicely dressed woman standing  on the side of the road.  She would get her dress muddy if she had to cross the road  One of the monks went over and carried her to the other side.  Five hours later, the other monk asked why he did that.  The monk who carried her stated that he had carried her for 30 seconds while the other monk had carried her for 5 hours.

Here's wishing all of us the joys of letting go of our burdens that keep us from experiencing metta.