Let yourself think of someone you care about. Picture them, remember them, see them in your mind's eye or hold them in your heart. Imagine their happiest moment as a child. Then begin to wish them well: "May you be joyful. May you remember that child of spirit that was born in you. May your joy increase. May the causes for happiness and joy grow stronger in your life." Then imagine this person wishing the same for you.
Instructions begin with dissolving: guidance for disengaging from contact, soothing and steadying the mind. Instructions end with consolidating: determining what I want to move forward with in the future, and what’s been learned or left behind.
In meditation we’re stepping back from sense consciousness, dipping beneath it to find something deeper, balanced and bearing value. This is where the wealth of our life lies, and it naturally comes forth when we disengage from sense data.
