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Happy Hour: Radiating Our Goodness

Introduction

Okay, got it. So formally, hello, and welcome to Happy Hour. It is so nice at the beginning with our informal start to welcome ourselves and each other to the space. It always warms my heart when folks say hi and type it in the chats, along with the weather report from the different places in the world you are.

For today's practice, I'd like to invite us to explore metta^[1] in the form of radiating metta. There are many different ways to practice cultivating goodness, cultivating care, cultivating friendliness, and cultivating loving-kindness for ourselves and others. There are many phrases that we use as skillful means, and yet sometimes phrases can be helpful and sometimes they may not be. It's nice to have facility with either using phrases—like May I be well, may I be happy, may I be safe, whatever phrases you use, the simple ones or the traditional form—or just sitting in the state, sitting in the feeling of metta and radiating.

Sometimes what happens for many practitioners is that phrases are used as support at the beginning to prime the heart. It could happen sometimes during some sits or some retreats that phrases then seem heavy. The phrases naturally drop away, and one just wants to sit with the feeling of metta, the feeling of friendliness, the feeling of kindness. So there is no one-size-fits-all, is what I'm trying to communicate here. Some people love phrases; it helps them stay grounded and stay with the feeling. Some people don't like phrases; they seem like distractions. Some people like them, and then they drop away as they use them to prime the heart.

The invitation today is that we will start, as always, with settling into the breath with the body. With awareness of body and breath, just to settle and arrive. This being Friday for those who are joining live, perhaps after a long week of activity for you, I'll include a lot of silence at the beginning for us to settle. Then maybe we'll conjure up some of the phrases just for a little while to prime the heart, and then we'll drop them. We will see what happens if you drop them and just sit with the feeling of friendliness, radiating friendliness.

Radiating friendliness, goodwill—even if it feels like work, it's not yours to generate. Imagine that it's just there. There is this sun shining in your heart. It's above and beyond you; it's something bigger than you, this sense of goodwill and friendliness that is just there.

I think that's enough for setting the frame. Let's practice together.

Guided Meditation

I invite you to land. Land in your body. Land with your breath, with your in-breath. And just as importantly, with the entirety of your out-breath, cleansing, releasing.

Greeting yourself at your own door, at the door of your awareness. Ah, as if you're coming home after a long trip. You're tired, it's been a long week perhaps. Hello, dear. Hello, dear. Welcome, welcome home. Welcome home to your own body. Especially if you've spent time away from your body, worrying, thinking in your head. Welcome yourself.

Ah, it's nice to be back in this body. It's a turtle back cozily in its shell. Ah, this home, this body. Breathing the body, greeting yourself in the body from the inside, with each breath.

Maybe dropping in, Hello. Hello, dear. Hello, [your name]. Hi. Welcome home. With each breath.

And if thoughts, plans, or worries from the past or the future arise in this moment, giving your heart to being present here with the body. And asking the thought to come back later. Thank you for visiting. Please come back later. I'll wait for you. Now I'm giving my heart to itself in the simplicity of just sitting and being breathed at my home. In my home. Inside my home, my body.

Having arrived home after a long trip, landing in the body with the breaths.

Putting down whatever is not needed in this moment. Whatever is extra. If worrying is arising, it's extra. Self-judgment, definitely extra. Comparing yourself, it's extra.

Being simple, simply breathing. As best as you're able to, showing up in this moment, in this body.

And dropping in the question in this moment, as if you were dropping a pebble into a lake, letting it reverberate. Dropping the question into your body, not answering it from your head. Dropping it in: Why am I here? What is my highest intention in this practice, in this moment of my humanity? What is my highest intention? Why am I here? Why am I practicing in this moment?

Connecting with whatever arises, on whatever level it arises. Breathing with it, breathing into it. Recognizing its goodness. Your goodness. The beauty of the inner goodness.

Letting your goodness shine. This goodness, this intention, whatever it is. Whether it's for you, for others. I want to be kinder. I want to be happier. I want to be gentle. I'm here to serve. I want to connect more deeply. Whatever it might be, let this goodness, this intention for wholesomeness, for goodness... let it shine. Let it shine.

Appreciate its goodness. Knowing that any goodness you wish for yourself will impact others.

Letting the wholesomeness, the goodness continue to shine. As if there is a bright sun shining in the middle of your chest, the proverbial heart center. It's shining. It's this goodness, it's this wish. This wish-fulfilling jewel shining, whispering into the world. Shining its light into the world. More goodness, happiness, ease, love, peace, service, kindness.

Noticing that the rays of the sun touch you, warm you up first. Bring you ease and peace, goodness. Ah, they shine upon you first. And they shine outward unto the world.

Maybe it's a part of this message of goodness, friendliness, happiness, love, and care. Maybe for a moment, the whisper becomes more audible: May all beings... may all beings everywhere, including myself, may all beings everywhere, including this being, be safe from inner and outer harm.

Letting this light, the sun, radiate. Ah, this message, this whisper, this light, this wish of safety. Knowing the world isn't safe always, we know that, and yet it's a wish. It's an intention, it's a goodwill that we share freely, freely.

And maybe the second phrase of metta becomes audible now: May all beings everywhere, including this being that is me, may all beings everywhere be happy, joyous, filled with happiness. May their hearts sing with joy, with gladness, with contentment. Letting your inner goodness, inner sun shine brightly. Resting with its goodness.

The third metta phrase: May all beings everywhere, including me myself, enjoy physical well-being. May their bodies, may my body, be healthy and strong. Again, knowing that it may not always be possible. You may not be fully healthy right now, but it's okay. Sharing this as an intention, as a wish. It's the generosity of your heart, as an inclination. May all beings have this goodness, including me, all of us, all of us beings on this planet and beyond. Feeling in your bones the goodness, the generosity of this wish, spread far and wide.

And maybe now the fourth metta phrase, the whisper of it that's been shining, becomes audible in your mind, in your heart more so: May all beings everywhere, including myself, have ease. May their lives unfold with ease. May I meet this moment with ease.

You're welcome to consider hearing the whisper of the phrases, or whatever version of them you like, or let the shining of your inner goodness, inner wish for happiness, health, safety, love, and ease to radiate through the world. Shared with all beings in silence. You decide what's best for you.

Whatever you choose, let it be easeful. Let your body relax, resting in the goodness of metta.

If at any point the light might feel dim, reconnect with your wish, with your intention. Why are you here? Why are you practicing? What is your highest intention as a human in your life? Reconnect. Reconnect with the beauty, with the sacredness of the sun shining within you.

And for the last moments of this practice, feeling your body embodied, sitting a little more upright perhaps. Ah, breathing in and out. The goodness of your intentions more fully, letting them shine into the world, unto yourself, unto your fellow practitioners in the Zoom room, on YouTube, across time and space.

And if any judgments have arisen—No, I failed, I was distracted, not good enough—let this shine, let the sun of your goodness shine on that too, with kindness, with friendliness. Shining on yourself, thanking yourself. Thank you. Thank you, dear, for showing up as best as you were able to in this moment, for aligning your actions with your intentions. Showing up. Thank you.

May the goodness, may your collective goodness, expressed, shared, cultivated further, more deeply via cause and condition for awakening, full freedom of all beings everywhere, including ourselves. May all beings be happy. May all beings be free.

Thank you. Thank you for your practice.

Reflections and Q&A

So this practice we explored at the beginning coming home to our bodies, embodiment, welcoming ourselves home. And then we connected with our intention, with our highest intention. And through that, allowing this intention—whatever it might be for goodness, or happiness, for peace, for love, for joy, for health—allowing it to permeate through the world. Allowing it to permeate and to actually see that this inner goodness, this inner wish, is not so separate perhaps from metta, this wish of goodness for the world. Because when we allow our most beautiful intentions, our aspirations, to shine in the world, they serve the world. It's as if we're wishing the world well: everyone well, safety and happiness, health and ease. So seeing that those are not too far away. And then dropping them if we wanted to, dropping the phrases and being with the permeating of metta.

A lot of different things we explored, and I wonder what you noticed. What was alive for you in this practice? I would love to hear your reflections, your insights in service of awakening, both for yourself to be held witness, and also in service of community. You can raise your Zoom hand, because your physical hand I may not see, and/or type in chat. I've just changed the settings: if you type them publicly, I'll say your name as I read out the chat; if it's just to me, I will read the reflection but not your name.

So what did you discover? Sharing for the benefit of all beings. Dear sangha^[2], was there a part which particularly spoke to you or was new for you? Or a part that didn't work for you, and you have questions about, How do I work with this? Or maybe how you feel now compared to the beginning when you arrived at Happy Hour. I can tell you I feel a lot more calm and rested than I felt. I was pretty tired when I arrived. It had been a long day, a long week. I'm rested now. I feel happier.

Yay! Sarah, please.

Sarah: I really liked it when you were saying, coming up, being at home, being in your home in your body. It brought tears to my eyes because sometimes I feel alone, and that helped me feel like I'm not alone because I have this body, I have a place to be. So I really liked that. Thank you.

Nikki: Beautiful. I am so touched. My body's resonating with what you said. Happy making. Yay, home in our bodies. Yeah, nice.

Bill says, The idea of connecting with highest intention appeals to me, but I frequently wish for a change now. Need to be patient. Nice, nice. Thank you. Yes, and one thing to say about that is yes, the need for patience, the practice of patience. And the highest intention is an aspiration. It's something that we keep waking up to, waking up every day, working towards little by little by little. So yes, patience.

Forrest says, When you had us drop in the question at first, I was squeezing, trying to figure out the answer, but then I realized it was very pleasant to treat the question itself as my meditation object. Could you say more about how to use questions?

Oh, lovely. I love that question, Forrest, that's fantastic. So the way that you actually use the question, What is my highest intention?, is that how you used it first? I wonder if you would say a little more just so that I'm a little more clear about how you used it as an object.

Forrest: Yeah, it was when you had us ask what our highest intention was, which I know I've also been doing since Gil Fronsdal^[3] introduced that. And then I switched to just keeping that question as my object of focus, but not thinking about it. Just keeping the question continuously as my object of focus, which was interesting. I don't know if that was how you can work with it.

Nikki: Yeah, so the question actually being What is my highest intention? in that way. Ah, beautiful. I love that. That's a beautiful way to use the inquiry, it's kind of like dropping it in. So you can use it that way. And sometimes I've used another way to work with this, which is to repeat it—intention—to repeat it multiple times. Dropping it once, see what arises, maybe nothing arises. Dropping it again, and see what arises. Sometimes different things arise as you drop it in. You might drop it in, and an intention can come up: Oh, I want to be happy. I'm here because I'm tired. I'm just exhausted. Okay, that's great. Oh, because I want to serve. Different layers can come up. That's another way you can work with dropping in the question, seeing what arises. And sometimes, just as you were saying, nothing might arise. So you work with this as, Oh, my highest intention, it is sacred to actually be asking this question. What a beautiful question to be asking, and that's how you ended up working with it. Lovely. Thank you for that. What a gift. Beautiful.

Stephanie says, Oh, same here, Sarah. Oh, I love that, Stephanie too, that's great.

And I see Claire's hand is up. Let's make it brief because I realize it's 6:49. So yes, tell me, what's up, Claire?

Claire: Yeah, I had two totally contradictory experiences. It was very funny when you talked about speaking versus non-speaking. I was originally trained to practice by focusing on a thought or a visual, anything, and letting go of all my thinking altogether, and that's the way I prefer. So I thought I was going with what you were saying and saying, Oh god, yeah, I'm gonna go back to what I know because it really works for me. And then you started to talk, and you talked about the door and coming back home. And it was so helpful to me! This doesn't make sense! I just said to myself, No talking, but because I tend to be out of the world a lot, I like to interact with people. Yeah, and I forget to come back to myself.

Nikki: I love it. I love it, Claire, and this is what it's doing for me.

Claire: Great. I love it. I love it. I hear it, so it's like, Okay, it's quiet silence. Yes, that's what I mean. But oh wow, this talking actually, the guidance is so helpful because I forget.

Nikki: Beautiful. Thank you, Claire, that's lovely. It's heartwarming. And Kenneth, I wonder, would it be okay to come back to you after the groups? I see your hand is up. Yes? Okay, great. Because it's 6:50. I want to make sure we have time for the groups. This is around the time we transition. So when we come back from the groups, Kenneth, you're up, so I would love to hear from you.

Small Groups and Conclusion

So the invitation now is, as we go into the small groups, a lot of times what comes up for practice is comparing mind. We compare ourselves: less than, greater than, bigger than. My sun is bigger, their intention is bigger. What if we drop all that? My practice is better, theirs is better. Just dropping all that. What if we just drop all that?

So I want to invite us today to a slightly different flavor of showing up for each other, with each other. Of course, with metta, we start as always with 15 seconds of silent metta for one another, for each other. But this sense of just showing up as if with beginner's eyes. As if you're a first-time practitioner, you've just shown up, you're a Martian or you're a baby, you've just shown up on this Earth. You're just, Ah, here are other babies. See what that feels like. Okay. Alright, let's try this out. And the rooms are open. Enjoy.

[Break for groups]

Okay, hi everyone. Everyone's back, and we seem to have just one minute left. Is Kenneth here? I think Kenneth had to leave. Okay, can't hear from Kenneth. But does anybody have any quick comments to make, one comment to make, something you noticed about this new way of being in the group perhaps? A different way? Going once, going twice... okay, gone.

Alright, since it's 7:00, let's wrap up. I trust that I'll stay a couple of minutes extra today if anybody has any questions or comments. It's the Friday special, so I'll stay a couple of minutes... it's like, you know, at IMC^[4] I would sometimes stay late so that people can ask questions or just hang out a little bit. So maybe I'll just stay a few minutes extra afterwards.

But let's formally close our beautiful session of practice together. Thank you for showing up for your practice, for yourself, and for all beings everywhere. May all beings be well. May all beings be happy.