Buddha Speak

Have you ever noticed out of the blue suddenly feeling hostile?  It was a gorgeous day, nothing had gone wrong and no one had challenged me over anything.  But I was feeling hostile.  So I asked myself, “Why are you feeling this way?”  I thought maybe I had stuffed away a bad experience from the week.  Or maybe some memory from my past had crept through the brain synapses to trigger a bad memory.  We all have bad memories hanging out in our biological cells.  Nope, couldn’t bring anything to mind.

So then I thought to myself, maybe someone is thinking hostile thoughts about me.  My naïve self wanted to reject that thought as being highly unlikely since I’m such a nice person.  My shadow self said “Yes!  That’s it!  Bad juju is coming down the pike and headed right toward us!”  Who could it be?

I am a firm believer in the power of thought.  I actually liken it to prayer.  I think this mind energy comes from the part of the brain that most of us don’t much use; you know… the other 97%.  It’s a powerful tool and I believe that the craziness in the world is due to the fact that most humans don’t cultivate this part of the brain in positive and compassionate ways but rather let it grow dark and mean and hostile.  But I digress.

So if someone somewhere in the world is thinking hostile thoughts about me, what can I do?  Simple.  I can say the 2500 year old prayer that Buddha taught called Loving Kindness.  Regardless of a face or a body or even a memory of hostility, I say 5 times over:

May you be filled with loving kindness;

May you be filled with peace;

May you be well;

May you be happy.

 I send this prayer, this mantra, into the universe and let it permeate all that is hostile and mean.  And then I say it again 5 times over to myself:

May I be filled with loving kindness;

May I be filled with peace;

May I be well;

May I be happy.

I am aware that the hostility in me is gone.  It is now time for me to reward myself with a bowl of vanilla ice cream.  Life is good.