We are ending our morning service these days with the Song of Lovingkindness which goes like this:
May you dwell in the heart.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be healed.
May you be at peace.
This is accompanied by a drum beat that sounds like a human heartbeat.
Anything we do regularly infuses us with its healing spirit. During the day, any day and especially during days that bring a lot of challenge or worry, you can bring to mind this wonderful song. Singing it can return you to the practice of lovingkindness. Kindness is not an emotion so much as a grounding from which to act. We practice with it. It colors our choices. Knowing that if you’re greatly stirred up, you’re more liable to act from knee-jerk reactivity that causes harm or regret. No matter what the spirit of reactivity prompts you to do, you always have a choice in how to respond. The kindness practice of metta as expressed in this song, is medicine for any case of suffering.