Simple Compassion/Loving Kindness Meditation – 30 Days

This experiment involves practicing a compassion, or loving kindness (LK) meditation, 10 minutes once a day for 30 days.

Compassion and loving kindness meditations have been shown to help improve mood, positive sense of self and enhance empathy. The focus is on benevolent, loving or kind energy toward yourself and others. There are many variations of this practice. This is a simple one to try. LK practices help activate the left frontal lobe and specific brain regions associated with compassion and empathy.

Instructions:
Start simply by sitting in a comfortable quiet spot. Repeat the phrases: May I be safe. May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I be free and live with ease.

You can experiment with similar statements that resonate with you, directed towards yourself first, then over time extending these feelings towards family members, then to friends and eventually even to strangers and those people you may dislike.

Choose the time of day that you will do your practice and write it into your calendar with a notification. Set an alert on our phone so that you don’t forget! Try to stick to the same time each day. This helps create a habit and reduces mental effort to do your practice.