Let Compassion Open Your Heart

This gentle practice helps you embrace the fact that you are inherently worthy of love.

BY SHARON SALZBERG

We tend to focus all our love on the people we care about—yet, to connect more deeply with others, we must turn toward the one person we keep on the shortest leash: ourselves. We often reject other people’s care or attention when we believe we don’t deserve it. This practice reminds us that there’s nothing special we must do to deserve love. You are worthy of love simply because you exist.

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Begin to imagine you’re encircled by people who love you. As you sit comfortably with your eyes open or a soft gaze, imagine yourself in the center of a circle made up of the most loving beings you’ve met. There may be some people in your circle who you’ve never met, but who have inspired you. Maybe they exist now, or they’ve existed historically, or even mythically. 2 that express what you most wish for yourself, not just for today but in an enduring way. For example: May I be safe, happy, and healthy. May I live with ease of heart. 3

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sharon Salzberg is a worldrenowned meditation teacher and is the New York Times bestselling author of Real Love and Real Happiness, Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, as well as the forthcoming Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom (Macmillan, April 2023).

Receive the love of those who love you. Feel your heart receiving the energy, attention, care, and regard of all of these beings in your circle of love. Silently repeat phrases of loving-kindness

Notice how you feel when you receive love. All kinds of different emotions may arise. You may feel gratitude and awe, or you might feel uncertain or shy. Whatever emotion may arise, just let it wash through you. Your touchstone is those phrases of lovingkindness: May I be safe, happy, and healthy, or whatever phrases you’ve chosen. 4

Open yourself up to receiving love. Imagine that your skin is porous and this warm, loving energy is coming in. There’s nothing special that you need to do to deserve this kind of acknowledgment or care. It’s available to you simply because you exist. 5

Send loving care to the people in your circle. Allow loving-kindness and compassion and care to flow right back out to the circle and then toward all beings everywhere, so that what you receive, you transform into giving. These qualities can become part of you, and part of what you express and return to the world. When you feel ready, you can lift your gaze to end the session.