Posted by desolationrower on March 28, 2009, at 19:30:19
In reply to Re: How do you process anger? » desolationrower, posted by Kath on March 23, 2009, at 11:44:50
> I've never heard of metta meditation. What is it?
>
> thx Kathhi, this is the process, although i'm sure there are better descriptions out there. initially, thinking about someone you love, and focusing on the positive, caring, compassionate, etc. feeling toward taht person. when you can cultivate that emotion easily, move on to someone you have some positive feeling toward, although less intense, such as friend, or dog; try to cultivate the same feeling toward them. Then, a neutral person, such as coworker. Then, move on to someone you dislike; it doesn't mean reenvisioning them without their habit of being bitchy or something, just having a positive feeling toward them despite their flaws. Finally think of someone who is on your shitlist, who hurt you badly, etc. Bring up the feeling of kindness, and keep both it and the person in mind together, to develope feeling of compassion toward this person (and every other person, through overcoming the negative feelings this person causes).
in some ways, it is the opposite of what happens when you dwell and are obsessed with some bad experience in your past. if i can borrow a concept from zen, which i'm sure is doing violence to the actual concepts, one can think of the scars one has the same way distractions are thought of in zazen practice: the weeds to be pulled up, or the weights in a weight room. zen talks about 'beginners mind' that you don't because immune to distractions, and if you did, zazen woudl stop being useful practice. you need some thing to work against to gain strength/experience. making our own use of the harms that have happened, instead of letting the negative feeling happen to us. subverting the harm to our own use: using it to improve our mind and soul and to be better able to deal with such in the future.
-d/r
poster:desolationrower
thread:886382
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20090328/msgs/887453.html