Lisa Marie Rankin:

Hello, beautiful souls, and welcome to a very special episode of The Goddess School Podcast. I am so honored to be with you here today on Christmas Day. So this is a day filled with traditions, gatherings, and really the collective energy of generosity and love. Now for many time, it is a sacred time of celebration. And yet, even if you don't align with its religious origins, Christmas really offers us this profound opportunity to reflect on something universal, the spirit of love, compassion, and connection. These are all qualities that I think that we need more than ever. So today, I wanted to take a moment to explore the idea of Christ consciousness. This is a concept that transcends religion, and it really points us to our highest expression of humanity.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

Then I'm going to guide you through a loving kindness meditation to help you embody the spirit of Christmas. So, first, what is Christ consciousness? Christ consciousness isn't about dogma or doctrine. It is a state of being, a way of embodying unconditional love, compassion, forgiveness, and divine wisdom. It's about rising above our egoic limitations and really connecting the part of ourselves that knows that we are divine, that others are divine, and that we are all deeply interconnected. In many ways, Christ consciousness is an invitation to live with an open heart and a clear mind, to see the divine in ourselves and to see the divine in others. Sometimes we can recognize it in ourselves, but we have to remember that others have that divine spark within them as well. Christ consciousness reminds us that acts of kindness, generosity, and love are sacred. And when we give from the heart, when we open our heart, we become vessels for something so much greater.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

No matter what your spiritual path looks like, Christ consciousness reminds us that love is the ultimate truth. It calls us to expand beyond our small fearful selves and live in a way that honors the divine spark in everyone we meet. To me, this is the spirit of Christmas. One of the most beautiful ways I believe that we can start to cultivate Christ consciousness is through a lovingkindness meditation. Now this type of meditation is also known as Medbhavana. It's deeply rooted in the Buddhist tradition. It's the practice of cultivating an attitude of unconditional love and compassion for oneself in all beings. Now, of course, we can do this in our everyday by being kind to people, by being present with the people we're talking about, by looking at our judgments, by being generous, not just with our money, but also with our time.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

So we do this every day, and our loving kindness meditation is a practice. It's really that focus of how we can open and expand our heart. And even to the people that we find it challenging to do so. And that's practically why we really need to practice because we don't wanna just open our hearts to the people that agree with everything we say and the people who are nice to us, but the practice is really about opening our hearts to everyone. As we walk a spiritual path or embark on a personal growth journey, which I know many of my listeners are doing, it's often our natural tendency, and it's mine included, to want to turn inward. We work on cultivating wisdom, discernment, and equanimity, all of these qualities that can help us navigate life with clarity and balance. Now for sure, these are vital practices. However, if we're not careful, this inner work can sometimes become too me focused, me centered.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

I need to cultivate a sense of calm, equanimity. Right? That's something that I feel like I've said to myself. But we also need to open up our hearts because true growth, true wholeness comes from balancing this inward journey with of wisdom with an outward expansion of love, of compassion. It's just not enough to sharpen the mind and steady our spirit. We also need to open our hearts to recognize that we are all interconnected. And that's really the other side of the coin when we are in a practice. We're cultivating that sense of inner wisdom, but we also need to cultivate that sense of external love and compassion. In the Buddhist tradition, they would say it's the 2 wings of a bird.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

There's wisdom on one side and compassion on the other, and we need both to really step into a full, more vibrant way of living. And that's why today's practice of lovingkindness is so powerful. It gently shifts our focus outward inviting us to embody the spirit of connection in generosity, embody Christ consciousness. And in doing so, we're not only gonna embrace our wisdom of the mind but also compassion of the heart. So as we move into this meditation together, I invite you to bring the spirit of Christmas into your heart. Let it soften any edges, expand your sense of connection, and remind you of the infinite well that flows through you. Alright, beautiful ones. Let's get started.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

So you can take a moment for this meditation. It's only about 10 minutes or so. So find a comfortable spot, and you can take a moment to pause it if you need to. And then close your eyes. And sit up tall, stacking shoulders over hips, and let the shoulders relax downward, and then opening up the heart space. And you can take a deep breath to let the belly fill up, and then a full complete exhale. Taking a few more deep breaths, and let your breath be a guide back to the present moment, Back to the wisdom of your body and back to the generosity of your heart. And feel yourself settled into the present moment, into a place of ease.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

Now I want you to bring to mind someone whom it is easy for you to love, where there's not a complicated relationship. And often this could be child, maybe a grandparent or a pet, but someone who it is very easy for you to love. And you can picture their face in your mind's eye and picture them happy and smiling, and picture them doing something that they love to do. And feel it in your heart. And you really want this person to be happy and to have a beautiful, meaningful life and the opportunity to do the things they love, and recognizing that if you could remove obstacles in their way, you would do so. Really sensing how your body is reacting as you visualize this person is if you could beam love to this person right from your heart space. Now we're going to offer this person a blessing. You can repeat these words after me either silently or out loud, your choice.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

See if you can can continue to visualize this person in your mind as you are offering them this blessing.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May you be happy.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May you be healthy.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May you be safe,

Lisa Marie Rankin:

and may you live with ease. Let these words sink into your being. Recognize anything that's appearing in your body as you offer this blessing. Next, think of someone neutral, someone whom you have neither positive nor negative feelings towards. It could be someone you see on your commute or at the grocery store. You don't need to overthink it. Whoever comes to mind, that's your person. Picture that person in your mind's eye, happy and content.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

And even though you don't know them well or at all, you still want them to be happy. You want them to have a purposeful, meaningful, pleasurable life. So picture that person enjoying themselves. Now we'll offer that person the same blessing.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May you be happy.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May you be healthy.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May you be safe,

Lisa Marie Rankin:

and may you live with ease. And letting your heart open and expand as if it was just beaming love and kindness. Next, you are going to picture someone you find challenging or difficult. Someone who your relationship might be categorized as it's complicated, or it could just be someone you don't agree with. You can picture this person in your mind's eye. This might feel difficult initially, but remember, this practice is about expanding your heart. It's a practice. And since we all have the divine spark and we all wanna be happy, you'll offer this more difficult person the same blessing.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

So picturing this person in your mind's eye, picturing them happy and at ease. Maybe if they were happy and at ease, they wouldn't be so difficult. So this is an opportunity to extend our compassion, to wish them the best. And so you'll offer them the same blessing.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May you be happy.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May you be healthy.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May you be safe.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

And may you live with ease. I'm taking a moment just to let this felt sense of love grow throughout your entire body. Finally, we're gonna extend this blessing to the entire world, to everyone, to all sentient beings, and this includes yourself as well. So take a moment to visualize that in however way makes sense to you. Perhaps it's you with a family or community, or maybe you visualize the Earth. But we're going to send this blessing out to every living being. And wouldn't that be such a beautiful world if we were all extending this love, compassion, this blessing to everyone.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May we all be happy.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May we all be healthy. May we all be safe? May we all live with ease? May all sentient beings be free from suffering? Feeling their heart space beam out love to everyone, to the entire world, recognizing how it fails to embody Christ consciousness. You can take a deep breath in. Let it out. You can start to give your legs a little bit of a rub. Maybe give your arms a squeeze as you slowly bring your awareness back and slowly begin to open your eyes. You can carry the spirit of this meditation with you as you move through the rest of your day. Thank you so much for joining me for this loving kindness practice and letting me be a part of your Christmas day.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

Merry Christmas. May you be happy.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

May you be healthy, and may you live with these.

Lisa Marie Rankin:

Be well, beautiful ones.