M15 Ep023: Boost positive emotions and empathy with this simple method

Mindful15: Stress Management | Mindfulness | Meditation

Would you like to experience more love, joy, gratitude, contentment, hope, pride, interest, amusement, and awe? Try some loving-kindness meditation. Listen to the podcast: ? Or, read the blog: Did you know that loving-kindness meditation can lead to increases in daily experience of positive emotions? Studies show people who practice loving-kindness meditation experience more positive emotions and better life satisfaction (1, 2). There’s actually a solid body of research supporting the benefits of loving-kindness meditation. It activates empathy-processing in the brain (3, 4), increases compassion (5), improves empathy (6), and increases social connection (2), among other things. Loving-kindness meditation is known by many other names: goodwill meditation, compassion meditation, and metta meditation, among others. It is the practice of wishing unconditional feelings of goodwill and wellbeing to yourself and others. In the classic form of this practice, you begin by wishing happiness for yourself, then people you care about, people you’re neutral about, people you dislike, and finally all beings, everywhere. You wish them true happiness, a happiness that comes from within. True happiness never infringes on the happiness of others, so all people can experience true happiness without causing harm. It may feel odd sending goodwill to people you dislike, some of whom may have caused you harm. But, put this in perspective. A truly happy, satisfied person acts kindly toward others. The world would be a better place if all of us were truly happy. Some people have great difficulty sending goodwill to themselves. They feel they don’t deserve to be happy, or they feel that it’s selfish to wish happiness on themselves. But, the practice asserts all beings, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done, deserve happiness and well-being, and that includes you. It’s not selfish to wish happiness for yourself, because if you’re truly happy, you’ll treat other people better. Your true happiness benefits everyone. To help make it easier to wish yourself well, today’s meditation offers a slight variation on the classic metta meditation. You’ll begin by sending goodwill to those you love before sending it to yourself. Please join me for a little loving-kindness The following is a 12-minute guided loving-kindness meditation. Before you go If you enjoyed this lesson, please share it using the social media buttons you see below, or click here to tell your friends. To subscribe to our lessons, use one of these links: Email (you’ll get free extras) | iTunes | Stitcher | YouTube | Google Play | Blubrry | Libsyn | Blogger | facebook | iHeartRADIO | Spotify (search for Mindful15) Sources Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pe, J., & Finkel, S. M. (2008, November). Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources [Electronic version]. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1045-1062. http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-14857-004 Kok, B. E., Cohn, M. A., Catalino, L. I., Vacharkulksemsuk, T., Algoe, S. B., Brantley, M., & Fredrickson, B. L. How positive emotions build physical health: Perceived positive social connections account for the upward spiral between positive emotions and vagal tone. Psychological Science, 24(7), 1123-1132. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23649562 Hutcherson, C. A., Seppala, E. M., & Gross, J. J. (2015, March). The neural correlates of social connection. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 15(1), 1-14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24984693 Hofmann, S. G., Grossman, P., & Hinton, D. E. (2011, November). Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: Potential for psychological interventions. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(7), 1126-1132. http://www.pnei-it.com/1/upload/loving_kindness_and_compassion_meditation_prew...