After taking a positive psychology course, I learned about loving-kindness meditation, which is a type of meditation that focuses on valuing your connections with people. It is a traditional type of meditation that has been around in other cultures. Studies have shown that this type of meditation is beneficial for enhancing your wellbeing and generation of your own positive emotions. This type of meditation uses phrases (or guided meditation) that I will discuss later to help make you more aware of your life’s joyful experiences.
Before I go into further details about this meditation, I want to ensure everybody understands the definition of “love” in this circumstance. While people see love as a romantic connection or an unconditional bond with your family members, this definition focuses on human connection in general. Love is considered a “micro-moment transaction” of positive emotions between two people. Sharing a smile with someone, asking someone about their day, thanking someone for their services, and making eye contact is what these “moments” are. This phenomenon is called “positivity resonance” and refers to the connection we share with other people. Positivity Resonance implies that people can share positive emotions that merely intensify the benefits of them.
Loving-Kindness meditation relates to this new definition of “love” and “positivity resonance” in many ways. First of all, meditation forces you to think about the positive experiences you have with people making you value them even more. Second of all, meditation enhances all positive emotions making it easier to connect with others and feel joyful about your life. Finally, this type of meditation makes you aware of your situation. You can understand the importance of spending time with people instead of being in complete isolation the entire time. For me, loving-kindness meditation makes me more open about forgiveness, sharing experiences with others, and forces me out of my bubble of being an introvert to spread my communication bubble to more than my friends and family.
It is essential to find a location in which you are comfortable. If you are sitting on a chair, move to the back of the chair, and maintain a good posture. Before beginning meditation, I want to emphasize that you should not expect a tremendous benefit from meditating. It needs to turn into a daily habit to have the most substantial profit in your life, but thinking about these connections can help you. Deal with the feeling and then progress without spending too much time being absorbed by your opinion. One technique my course mentioned was that you should bring awareness to your breathing techniques, especially your heart region. I like to pay attention to the parts of my body that move when I breathe and then picture my heart’s beating in my chest.
The phrases that will be used in this exercise are “may [you] feel safe,” “may [you] feel happy,” “may [you] feel healthy,” and “may [you] feel at ease.” In place of you, you can put either your friend’s name, a family member’s name, or think of everybody and group them all. It is vital to visualize everyone’s happiness, positive events, and fun experiences you have had with them. Think about how authentic your care is and be grateful for each person who has entered your life. Some people spend too much time blaming other people or living in a state of hatred for that person, but that is not how to live. Feel gratitude for all the lessons people have taught you and understand that it happens to shape every person to be better.
When you finish meditation for any time, you can spare in your day reflect on the way you felt before and after meditating. Does this feeling make you want to do anything? For me, it makes me want to experience more positive connections with people. What was it like for you? I found it valuable to reflect on the relationships I have had with a HUMAN BEING. Sometimes we do not appreciate that each human being encompasses life itself, and feeling this new idea of “love” with that person gives me reasons to live.
Studies have shown that this type of meditation enhances happiness and gratitude, which acts as a foundation for healthy well-being. It works to warm people up to connect with others, enabling you to connect with more people and intensify the benefits from positive resonance. You will notice that it reduces stress and inflammation throughout your entire body. I would recommend this type of meditation as I find it more valuable to complete daily to maintain my happiness as much as possible. Love 2.0’s website has guided meditation practices that can start you off on your meditative journey.
