Day 15: Loving Kindness

We see many great leaders who’ve sacrificed so much for the greater good that it can seem like in order to be of service you must be perfectly selfless. Yet if you look closer you’ll discover that this simply isn’t the case.

Yes, great leaders give of themselves, but they also feed themselves. The Buddha and Gandhi both did deep inner work for years before they served others. And while Mother Teresa helped many sick people, she didn’t do so but putting herself down or wearing herself out. Her work fed her and she was willing to receive that nourishment.

Yes great people work hard and they sometimes do so tirelessly, but compassion for others never comes from an empty well, a place of guilt, or from a fear of not being enough.

Instead it comes from a deep fullness that wells from the core of your being. It comes from a sense of connection to your own heart and the hearts of others. It comes from the understanding that every human life has value.

Compassion begins not with the world around you, but inside your own heart. Which is why today’s challenge is all about showing yourself compassion so that you can create happiness for yourself and show kindness to others.

1. Practice: Watch this video or listen to this audio that explains and guides you through how to do a loving kindness meditation. If you’re not a video/audio kind of person you can use the wrtten instructions found on my website – http://unexecutive.com/meditation

2. Reflect: Once you’ve tried this loving kindness meditation reflect on your experience:

How did you feel before the meditation and afterwards?
Did you like or dislike the phrases?
Did you feel guilty about wishing happiness for yourself? And if so why?
Is this something you’d like to do regularly? Why or why not?

3. Share: Finally please share your experience.

  • Blog – Write a post about what it was like to do the meditation.
    Write about how you do or don’t express loving kindness to yourself.
    Or write about whether you see this practice as selfish or not.
  • Post – Using the #30dayhappy or by posting in our Facebook Group share one thing you learned from doing the meditation or one thing you found hard about it.
  • Comment – Have you done this kind of meditation before? Did you like it or not? Let me know by sharing your experience in the comments below