My friends, the enemy

I think most of us here have had bad things happen to us from time to time throughout our lives; some of us have had troubles with family, some with friends – many with both. I think most of us have had our ups and downs with society with it's views and stereotypes of us I am sure. So, the question comes up on how to deal with it?

Recently, I have been lucky enough to have met some people in this community that have read some of my blogs that I put up in order to lay a foundation, so to speak, of who I am and where I am coming from, and they have left me some very nice comments and e-mails lending encouragement and friendship. Some of it caused me to rethink how I was handling some things.

So anyway, I was reading a couple of days ago and I came across a little article on the Dalai Lama. Now you overly religious types, don’t make a sign of the cross and walk away. Remember that Buddhism is not a religion, but a philosophy. There are Catholic Buddhists, Christian Buddhists and maybe, although I haven’t met one, maybe there are even Muslim Buddhists, but I digress. The article was mainly on compassion and empathy for those that do us wrong. For those of you who don’t know, the Dalai Lama lives in exile from his home due to the Communist Chinese coming in and taking over. Every day he does this meditation for those he calls, “My friends, the enemy.”

Basically what he does is visual imagery. Try it: get comfortable and close your eyes – visualize your friends around you (Notice who comes into mind). Then imagine that an enemy or someone that has done you wrong is in front of you. Visualize all of his or her negative, angry feelings as smoke billowing around you but not choking or hurting you. Visualize sending him or her good will and kindness as glowing light. Imagine the person surrounded by beautiful light. Believe it or not, your perception of this person will change over time. More importantly, you will feel better. I guess it is somewhat akin to praying for your enemies that is talked about in the Bible.

As I did my run today, I felt good. I have been doing this meditation as well as praying for “My friends, my enemies” for about 3 days now and I felt lighter of heart and happier overall. Funny, I actually ran further than normal and didn’t kill myself doing it.

Have a good one everyone!