A meditation for when you’re worried about someone or something you love

When you become a parent, you not only bring forth a gorgeous miracle into the world, but you also open up to the vulnerability of loving another very deeply.  This paves the way for loads of joy and openness, and it also creates the potential for the deep pain of seeing someone you love unhappy or suffering in some way.  On the other hand, it may be another loved one, perhaps your own parent, partner, relative or friend that you care about deeply whom you would dearly love to help. For some of us, the worry can be related to our country or our planet.

Naturally our first port of call is to do what is needed on a practical level; therapies, medicine, herbal remedies, meetings at the school, talking, listening and comforting them, joining groups, seeking advice, doing research. This can be exhausting and sometimes our other responsibilities need to go on hold while we attend to these time and energy consuming tasks.

Something that many of us forget to tap into is the power of meditation and the magic of positive thinking.  Aside from doing what I can on a practical level, when it comes to my special needs son, I find one of the most powerful ways I can help him is to clear my own energy of what is being triggered for me by what’s happening and then to harness all the positive energy I can and bring this into the situation through the incredible power of meditation.  Here’s how I do it.

1. First I tap into how I feel about the situation. Write in my journal any feelings, thoughts, and generally have a rant about it.  I try and clear as much as I can.  If there are people involved who are frustrating or making me angry, write letters to them – not to send these are to be destroyed- but they are for your emotional release and resolution only.

2. Then I take myself into meditation where my power to effect change is limitless.  Here I might do the following:

a) Start with some deep abdominal breathing to relax and centre myself (at the moment, my favourite breathing technique is 4 counts on the inbreath, 8 counts on the outbreath).

b) Remind myself mentally of the power of meditation and my creative, spiritual self. Then tap into where I might feel that in my body.  Usually for me it’s a light at the centre of my body that swirls around and through the rest of my body and energy field.  Take some time to breathe into this part of me and really feel it there.

c) Take a moment to acknowledge where my pain is sitting in my body in relation to this problem, then take that light into those stuck places and use it to clarify and uplift those emotions.  I take as long as I need to do this.  (The more you practise this technique the more effective it will become for you).

d) Once I feel clear of that emotional residue, I sit with the powerful light for a few moments and feel the upliftment, beauty, strength and love in this light.

e) Once I have this very firmly established within myself I send it to the person or situation I am worried about.  I do this for as long as feels necessary.  Then I ground, return and open my eyes.  At times I will gain insights about what to do on a practical level as well.

You can return to this meditation each day while the problem is going on. To me, it is the fastest, most effective, healing and empowering way to help another.

I would love to hear how you go with this!

With warmest wishes

Lisa Forde

Founder & Principal – Australian Centre for Meditation and Mindfulness