Metta physical

I give thanks for the rich variety of pain my body has been experiencing over the last bunch of consecutive days we like to call a week. Seriously? Well, kind of... because my consciousness can't take all of it in at once so I'm only aware of each bit separately, and for me if physical pain is going to be more or less constant then I'd rather a change of venue now and then.

I give thanks for trying to apply the same principle to the various emotional distresses and disappointments that have beset me in the corresponding period but I have to report it's a distressingly disappointing project! I give thanks for understanding the bunch of consecutive days we called the week before were so unusually pleasing, the cold hard edges of reality I've bumped into since were bound to catch me with my defences down and seem unreasonably sharp.

I give thanks for a watching a bubble spiral in my morning cup of tea, for the promising blue of the sky, and thinking of all the people set for sunny Sunday pleasures, for a wry smile reading my daily horoscope the planets are auspiciously aligned for all manner of delights for me too. I give thanks apparently my prospects for love are apparently excellent - that's good, I'd like to be more loving and often when you're hurting it's not the easiest thing.

I give thanks for the deep concentration required to apply myself to applying paint when I'm feeling sore and sad...for being able to contort my body into the various bizarre positions to paint in a small room with large unmovable objects...for remembering to leave soft edges when I have to leave the job for rest. 

I give thanks for virtual communication (you don't have to brush your hair!) and for an absorbing and rather moving documentary about film maker Ken Loach. You don't have to know his films to enjoy it, but enjoying well filmed things will enhance your appreciation... I give thanks for a much needed nap...

I give thanks for remembering my metta, focussing especially on folk I know who've struggled with stuff this week, and remembering to remember myself in this. There are lots of different words used to express these feelings of loving kindness but the feelings are still the same...

May you be free from enmity and danger
May you be free from mental anguish
May you be free from physical suffering
May you take care of yourself happily