This is my current phone background! It’s not my photo; it’s one I found on an inspirational wallpaper app. I have a few of those apps installed and they allow us to share the wallpapers with others through a share button and there’s even an option to send some of them right here to WordPress!

I think most of us are kind and loving anyway, in general but there’s always room to evolve right?! I think so!

😀

To me, the most important thing is to be kind & loving with sentient beings including ourself (yup, it’s a word! It’s used to refer to us in general as opposed to a specific group of people) but it’s also important to be patient with inanimate objects like the cash register at work. Lol Just earlier today I got pissed at it and cursed it. Not that it’s wrong to the object itself but it generates negative energy to allow ourself to get angry with something as dumb as an object not operating as it should. And if we allow it to happen too frequently it can become a habit. 

It’s not good to repress our unpleasant emotions and they are not wrong to experience or express. But we can practice lovingkindness so we have less angry occasions and more inner peace in general.

One way is when we feel angry, acknowledge it, know it’s ok, take a few breaths, mindfully, then let or attempt to let go of the negativity. We can even visualize all the tension, distress, negativity leaving the body with each exhale. It can become a very positive habit. Again, it’s not about repression of unpleasant emotions.

We can also cultivate a more peaceful attitude by giving thanks for whatever or whoever we are angry at. The cash register for example, it can be a big pain in the balls for sure but imagine what we would do without it! I don’t have to imagine! Years ago the thing broke! And my coworker and me were stuck having to use a calculator, pen & paper, and our own math skills (mine sucks!). It was hellish having a broken cash register on a hot busy day at an ice cream store!

So the cash register really does serve a great purpose. Why focus on the bad?

And if the person or thing or whatever just really seems to have nothing good to focus on, give thanks for this opportunity  to practice love & patience.Difficult situations and people are great teachers and reminders.

Also, I got pissed at this phone I’m using while trying to write this very post! Lol (I’m not in a pissy mood today, I promise!) Then I realized the irony and took my own suggestions to heart.

I took a few deep (as deep as I can, it’s hot and hard to breathe) breaths and decided to be thankful for my phone which is a blessing even with the problems it can bring.

Also, we can engage in a guided lovingkindness meditation session. There are so many on YouTube, some as short as fifteen minutes or less (like the one I will share below) and others over a half hour long. Not everyone wants to take the time for a full meditation practice and we don’t have to to practice lovingkindness.

We have so many opportunities to practice throughout each and every day. It can be as simple as wishing the best (even if just in our heads) for each person, insect, animal we look at. Even the ones we do not know or ones we dont have very positive opinions or affection for. 

We can practice love and patience in every single encounter or at least some for a start.

We don’t have to express it out loud necessarily if we dont want to and we dont even have to actually feel the lovingkindness always; it’s about intention until eventually we feel it frequently without trying.

“Fake it til you make it!”

I am naturally this way but still have space to evolve and find this practice so very beautiful and peaceful.  

LovingKindness meditation – mobile

LovingKindness meditation – desktop

Remember just like you, just like me, every living sentient being wants to avoid suffering and wants inner peace even if that being cannot express or even think it consciously.

Animals, insects, our friends and family, our annoying neighbors, our coworkers, troubled people, addicted people, homeless people, stray animals, people with mental illness, financially rich people, insects that seem repulsive or annoying …..all can experience pleasure and pain, suffering, love and loss, fear and peace…if we wont focus on the good in them then still let us remember again and again that we are all alike in the most fundamental or essential ways. 

I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are!

❤

Much love & light, always,

Xoxo Kim