Hair Braiding Meditation
By Polly Trout
May I be filled with lovingkindness. May I be well. May I be peaceful and at ease. May I be happy.
May my daughter, who wants a billion tiny little braids this morning, be filled with lovingkindness. May she be well. May she be peaceful and at ease going to school with a billion tiny little braids.
May her best friend, who got a billion tiny little braids put in her hair at Club Med Ixtapa last week, be filled with lovingkindness. Also her mother, may she be peaceful and at ease. And the woman the mother hired to do all that cornrowing, may she be well. May she be happy.
May I be filled with lovingkindness as I put in these billion tiny little braids. May I be peaceful and transcend greed. Also, may I go to Club Med Ixtapa next season, when the beach will be even more inspiring due to my newly enlightened and greed-free state. May I be happy.
May my coworkers be filled with lovingkindness as they wonder why I am late for work as I make these billion tiny braids. May they be peaceful and at ease.
May my daughter not notice that these braids are not nearly as cute as her friend’s braids that got done professionally in Ixtapa, or if she does notice, may she be peaceful and at ease about that, please for God’s sake.
May my toddler, currently trying to vie for my attention as I make these tiny braids for her big sister, be filled with lovingkindness. May she be peaceful and at ease.
May my mother, who did this for me when I was five, be filled with lovingkindness. May she be peaceful and at ease. I wonder why I never thanked her for that.
May I remember this day sitting with my daughter, braiding her hair, late for work again, peaceful and at ease, happy.
ETA: Their web site seems to be down today but here's a description at another site:
http://www.udsp.org/~udsp03/agencies/access.html