A Love Meditation

Yes, I meditate.  Several of these blogs have been about it.  The techniques, the times, the practice.  This one is one of the content.

I found a way to recharge not my mind, nor even my body, but my heart.  It is a meditation of appreciation for the love I have had in my life and the love I have now.

With a background of soothing music, I relax my body, and let my mind remember all the moments of love I have experienced through my life.  These are both moments of love I have received and love I have given.

As I remember each experience, I allow myself to feel the feelings.  The warmth, or excitement, or comfort, or understanding, or peace, or fun.  These layers of emotion I visualize as descending down, like layers of sunlight, soaking into me.   Sometimes, I visualize the really wonderful emotions as slow and sweet syrup, soaking into every part of me.  At other emotional memories, it is like a feather light touch which support my entire body; like being nestled in the arms and wings of an angel.

Each memory brings with it it's own unique combination of these feelings.  Each reinforces and reassures my heart that if they can happen once, they can happen again.  That I even have the capacity to love and be loved so much means that I can be and will be loved and love even more in the future.

For example:

One summer at Camp, I was working on the support staff, and after our duties were done, we usually had the mid afternoons and nights fairly free.  I liked quite a few of the staff, and even was a little attracted to the girl who ran the Cocoon (the camp store).  But, I really had no intentions to pursue anyone.

I remember one of the female support staff (not the Cocoon girl) asked if she could talk with me in the tree chapel (a very large tree used for devotions, etc.)  I followed her out there and she was hemming and hawing and I really did not know what she was trying to say to me, but I just listened.  She finally said, "Steve, I think I love you!"  I fell off of the tree limb on was on.   This was the first time in my life I ever heard that.  I was so shocked!  But, I felt wonderful.  Really wonderful.   I remember saying that we would see where this goes, but that I did not know her that well, but was more than willing to learn more about her.

While recalling this memory, I felt the same sense of shock and awe that I did then.  The same surprise that someone would even think that of me, let alone say it out loud.  It was a delicious feeling, and a great addition to my meditation.

There was another situation in High School when I was in band when one of my friends was freaking out because she had not completed her math work, but had band, and then a meeting before her class so that she did not know when she would finish her homework.  Because we treated our instrument cubbyholes as lockers, her homework was just there, behind her instrument case.  When she left for her meeting, and I was in the band room, I took out her homework and finished it for her and put it back in her folder.

I never heard, nor asked what happened when she went to math class.  I still don't know.   However, the feeling of being able to help her out, especially anonymously, was just a great sense of joy for me.  I would even say it was love, though back then, I would never have labeled it as such.

I would strongly encourage everyone to try recalling loving moments in your life.  It will recharge your heart, and spirit at the least, and give you ideas for how to love and be loved for the future.