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Happy Hour: Showing Up at the Party of Humanity with Goodwill

Introduction

Great. So hello and welcome everyone. Welcome to Happy Hour. Lovely to be with you, lovely to see you.

First, I would like to make an announcement. The happy announcement is that Happy Hour is going to be continuing to be offered five days a week. With Diana stepping away as the co-leader for Tuesdays and Thursdays, Liz Powell has accepted our invitation to step in as a co-leader and take over Tuesday and Thursday.

Those of you who are on the Happy Hour Google Groups have already received a note earlier today (thank you for sending that out, Neil) with some background about Liz. You've probably already met her at Happy Hour; she's been a regular sub. She's a lovely, deep practitioner, deeply dedicated to service at IMC and IRC, and we are just absolutely delighted that she will be stepping in to support the sangha^[1]. She's excited to be supporting all to cultivate these beautiful qualities of the heart. So please give her a warm welcome when she comes in, in the chat as well as in the Google Groups—a warm, metta-filled^[2] welcome. We're just absolutely delighted that she'll be supporting Happy Hour.

So with that important announcement out of the way, I'm going to invite us to start meditating together, and the theme will be introduced during the meditation. Let's sit together.

Guided Meditation

Arriving. Picking our seat. Taking our seat on this Earth. Picking our seat in this moment, however it shows up. It's not a mistake; it's not a problem. This is what is presenting itself. This opportunity for being alive, for learning, for growing, for cultivating, for serving. Opening our heart to whatever is present right now, and relaxing around it.

Relaxing our heart, our body.

Calming, soothing, settling the heart.

Just this breath. Just this in-breath, just this out-breath.

Thoughts, preoccupations: "Not now. Thank you, please come back later, not now. I'm giving my heart to itself, with the breath, in the body."

It might be helpful to feel a particular part of the body, maybe the hands, or your feet, or your abdomen, to help get settled.

The simplicity of just sitting and being breathed.

Release, release. Smilingly.

"Thank you, not now."

I am doing my best. I am doing my best. Take heart.

I invite you to imagine you are at this gathering, this party. This convivial gathering of beings, the many beings. Many beings. Those who are born, have passed away. Those who are alive, and those who haven't been born yet. You're in this gathering, this communion, this party of beings past, present, and future.

Perhaps you're dancing with those who have passed away. You may know them, you may not know them. Other people, other beings in this world who are alive. You may know them, you may not know them. And those who are not born yet, people to come. This amazing, fabulous party.

You talk with some people, you sit down with some people. Maybe you chat, maybe you talk about something tender. Maybe you cry together, and then laugh together. Your lives are intertwining. You realize your life is intertwined with all these beings at this party in more ways. You realize that you, this being who is you, this moment in time, this one being in one dimension. This moment, now. But intertwined, interconnected in ways you cannot even imagine. Doing your part, doing your dance. The dance that only you can do. Only you. Your uniqueness. You are needed at this party.

Come as you are. Show up as you are. Wearing only your goodness, your goodwill. Your appreciation for yourself and for everyone else at this party.

Perhaps as you meet with those from the past, some appreciation for them, gratitude. Those in the present, alive in this world, metta, goodwill. "May you be safe. Dear beings, may you be happy. May you be healthy. May you have ease. Just as I wish it for myself, I wish the same for you. May all of us have well-being."

And those who are not born yet, wishing them all the goodness in the world. They'll have their own challenges surely, just as you have yours in this generation and those in the past. Celebrating that we are all intertwined. We are in this together. Sharing metta for yourself or others—past, present, future—any way that works for you.

Leaning into any aspect of this image that works best for you. And definitely seeing yourself as the heart of the party. And you are part of this, of course you are. You're a human being, you're not separate. As much as sometimes you might seem or feel, you're not separate. That's a delusion.

"May all beings be well. May my love be of service." With each breath, stay embodied. Share your metta. With each breath.

The thread of our life, in this fabric of humanity, intertwined with all the other threads. This important thread. Every single one important, unique, doing our part. Intertwined. May all beings, all threads, be well, be free, including myself. Taking your place, taking your seat.

Bringing this sit to a close, acknowledging our place in all of humanity. I am alive, I am here. And sharing our goodness, the cultivation of our practice, however it was in this sit, without judgment, offering our goodness to all beings everywhere. To serve everyone, my own awakening and everybody else's. May all beings be well. May all beings be free, including myself.

Reflections

Thank you all. Thank you for your practice and exploring this image, this practice with me. Using different perceptions, perspectives can be quite opening, especially when caught in our little problems or big problems, just opening it up. "Oh yeah, wow, I am part of humanity: past, present, future. Contributing. How can I show up as best as possible?" Opening our perspective, our perception.

As we engage in small groups together, the question I'd like to invite us to practice with—really breakout groups or breakthrough groups... these breakout rooms or breakthrough rooms is where we can have these conversations, or hold space. And some of the people you're in the party with, in this imaginary party with, guess what? Some of those people are present in different parts of the world and are going to join you in these breakout rooms. So you're going to dance with them, you're going to appreciate their uniqueness, and you're going to bring your own uniqueness and wish them well, and they wish you well.

So showing up. And the prompt is, if you'd like to share something about this meditation practice, if there was an aha moment, a challenge—and there's no right or wrong. Maybe you just fell asleep, and that's perfectly fine. Show up as you are. Show up as you are, with your full humanity, with your beautiful full humanity, with your melody. Care for yourselves, take care of each other.

Let's go in reverse alphabetical order. Make sure you just share for maybe a minute or a few sentences, and leave space for others. Leave space for others to share without asking questions, without directing the group. Really just show up with what you want to share and then step back, let somebody else share. And you can also hold silence with metta. It's just a great opportunity to practice together. Okay, I've created the breakout rooms, and I'm going to open them up. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other. Here we go.

[Breakout rooms occur]

Okay, the rooms are closed, everybody's back. Welcome back everyone. We've got a few minutes for maybe just one or two reflections. You can type them in chat or raise your Zoom hand. Especially if you haven't spoken recently, I'd love to hear from folks who may not have spoken, just balancing the voices a bit. So what did you notice? What came up, either during the meditation or in the small groups?

Aurora: I'm daring myself to speak today. I read this Rumi poem this morning that just came up and reminded me of this exercise somehow. So this is just a little bit of it: "On every trip have only one objective, to meet those who are friends inside presence. If you stay home keep the same purpose, to meet the innermost presence as it lives in people." I don't know, I just felt like, in my group, I felt my group members' goodness. It felt really sweet.

Nikki: That feels really sweet. Thanks for sharing. Yeah, beautiful. Your experience is the sweetness inspired by the Rumi poem translation and the meditation. Thank you. Abraham, be our last reflection.

Abraham: I really liked your direction to see our uniqueness in a vast field of beings, whether we knew them or didn't. As you know, and a lot of people might not, I've been losing my hearing, and I used to be quite a musician and an actor, and very extroverted and involved with people. I've been struggling with, "I should just retire to a room." I just like what my friends are saying to me about the joy that I bring, and the friendship I have, and how friendly I am, and it warms my heart. Frankly, I would rather be a super friendly human being than a really great musician. So I just really like that emphasis on seeing ourselves, and taking in something, and having that to offer to others. So I liked it. Thanks.

Nikki: Ah, thank you Abraham. Thank you so much for sharing that. I couldn't have said it any more beautifully than you just did. To paraphrase you, I think you said something like, "I'd rather have metta, I'd rather be known for my goodness and kindness and goodwill, than be a great musician and just be known for that." Beautiful. I feel moved. Thank you so much for sharing that.

It reminds me—I see people are giving thumbs up and hearts, it's quite lovely—it reminds me of a quote by an African-American woman poet. "People won't remember what you say, but how you make them feel." That's what's remembered. It's the author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. I have these associations, but I can't remember her name, drawing a blank. Anybody in chat? Maya Angelou^[3]. I actually went to see her, many years ago when she came to Berkeley. It was quite powerful. So yes, people remember how you make them feel, and we remember how we make others feel, and vice versa. Beautiful.

So, celebrating metta. Thank you all, thank you for engaging with this practice and showing up to the party of humanity with your metta, with your goodwill. Nothing else needed. Just wear that cloak, that's all that's needed. So thank you all. Thank you for your practice, for your cultivation, for your showing up. May all beings be well, may all beings be free, including ourselves.

Thanks everyone, be well.