On a few occasions, our teacher<\/a> has led a loving kindness meditation with a bit of a twist. Instead of diving in and sending kind phrases to ourselves, we first visualize some being who loves us unconditionally, and imagine ourselves receiving the phrases from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s easy\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those soft brown eyes that look at me so lovingly. The wagging tails that greet me any time I walk in the door. My furry friends who cuddle close when I read a book, and who sit with me when I meditate. They regularly show me the everyday joys in the simple things, like fresh snow, finding sticks, and meeting friends old and new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I feel that love radiating to me, I find that it\u2019s easier to accept the loving kindness phrases for myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I find, as Jane Siberry sings<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything reminds me of my dog<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s even easier to direct the phrases to others, with meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you remind me of my dog The kindness I get from my dogs extends further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beautiful things remind me, too And so my loving kindness practice extends beyond my little self and into the universe, as inspired by my dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May all beings be safe. The loving kindness practice normally starts by directing kind phrases towards ourselves, then branching out to a benefactor, neutral person, difficult person, and then all beings. Like many people, I find directing phrases of kindness towards myself to be difficult. Like Carol, I have a vocal self-critic who likes remind me of my many failings, … Continue reading “Everything reminds me of my dog \u2013 with Andrea G”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-happiness-2015"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4507,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions\/4507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20140525_105348.jpg?resize=225%2C300&ssl=1\")
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![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/1075699_420197238095301_1594193846_n.jpg?resize=199%2C300&ssl=1\")
\n
We\u2019ll probably git along little doggie git along
Git along little doggie\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/DSCN3398.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1\")
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Sunsets remind me of my dog<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20131101_173833.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1\")
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May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings live with ease.<\/em>
\u2014 Andrea G (and Savanna and Reece too!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"