“Love’s an hourglass…”

“Love’s an hourglass, it goes out wide and comes in closer,” “Amnesty is Granted” by Sammy Hagar.

*side note right up top: this is on the Meat Loaf Album, Welcome to the Neighborhood, so my assumption was that it was, like most of Meat’s songs, written by the prolific and incomparable Jim Steinman. Whoops! #themoreyouknow 

For the month of November, I was presented with the opportunity to participate in a metta meditation. For those unfamiliar, it is one of many, many, many types of meditation. One practices loving kindness by sending love and healing vibes to oneself first, and fanning it out to others. The order, roughly, is to self, to family and loved ones, to acquaintances, to strangers, and to those whom we mightn’t fancy, or are in conflict with. (Ahem, that’s to put it mildly, but hey! a yogi’s gotta do what a yogi’s gotta do). 

Eventually, it becomes a flowy boomerang. Love goes out wide to whomever you can possibly think of, including: the mail carrier, frontline workers, the GOP, the barista who makes you your usual, and everyone in between. It comes back to self. “It goes out wide, and comes in closer.”

You silently repeat mantras such as: May I  live with ease, may I be happy, may I be free from pain. Of course, for the grammarians among us, we change the verbiage to: May you live with ease, etc..

Place your hand on your heart to feel that connection. 

Although the hourglass has a finite amount of sand, “let’s start again right now.” Flip it over, dig deep and find that inner well (ha! I mistakenly typed will, so let’s ponder that. My keyboarding teacher in high school pitied me most likely, and gifted me a D-.) 

It starts with me. Love fans out wide, and comes in closer. It brings us closer to ourselves, with a capital O, since aren’t we all one anyway? 

If this resonated with you, please feel free to comment below or drop me an email. Until our mats unfurl again, be well.

-M