"Love is complicated. It’s sticky. It’s bliss and it’s a mix of emotions. It’s not easy.”
― Dominic Riccitello

Is there any emotion more complicated than love? Over the course of a long lifetime, I’ve learned a thing or two about love… and I’ll bet you have too!

This past week, we celebrated Valentine’s Day, except perhaps, not everyone was celebrating. In the midst of flowers, chocolates & balloons, what else might we find living alongside love?

You see, love seldom travels alone. It’s usually accompanied by some other emotion. Sometimes it’s joy, like when your young grandchild climbs into your lap, storybook at the ready, and your heart nearly explodes with joy as you feel the depth of your love for this tiny person.

Sometimes love is accompanied by anger or frustration. If you’ve been in a long-term relationship or you have adult children, you understand. When the people we love don’t behave in ways we prefer, boy, do we get mad! A dear friend once shared with me that she was so mad at her husband, the sight of him calmly sipping a glass of water sent her into a rage. How dare he be so calm when she felt so angry! Familiar?

If you’ve ever loved deeply, you already know that love is often accompanied by loneliness & loss. The heart that has loved deeply shatters with indescribable pain when faced with the loss of those we hold most dear. Yes, a heart can truly be broken.

So what’s to be done? Do we close down our hearts so as not to feel the roller coaster of emotions? Many people do. But when we build a fortress around the heart to avoid anger & loss, the walls we create don’t allow joy to sneak through either. It’s the pendulum of life… gain & loss, pleasure & pain, celebration & despair. One never exists without the other.

Can we build resilience in our hearts to weather the ups & downs of love? One of the ways I keep my heart open is with a practice known as Metta, or loving kindness.

Metta is the sharing of kindness & positive energy with others & with oneself. It is often done through meditation. Will you let me show you how?

In this How to Meditate video, I guide you through a loving kindness meditation with a series of phrases that cultivate kind, positive energy which is then directed to others & self. Even if you’ve never meditated, you can listen & follow this simple guided practice.

Use this Loving Kindness meditation often, whenever love feels joyful, or complicated or absent. For no matter what life throws our way, it can never extinguish the flame of loving kindness we carry in our hearts. Even if your flame feels like more of a flicker than a furnace, practicing loving kindness keeps the flame alive. For your convenience, you can access the Metta phrases by clicking here.

If you have an interest in exploring mediation more fully, you can download the Insight Timer app. It’s free & with thousands of meditations, it's what I use every single day.

Every Midlife Yoga class includes a few moments of meditation & quiet reflection. Please join us & find your way home to your heart...

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Until next time,

~ Rosemary