I spent the evening of Boxing Day (Dec. 26) at a women’s transitional center, where other SIMS members and I host a monthly dinner. We gather at the center with the dishes we’ve agreed to bring, and serve a potluck-style dinner to the residents and staff.

Each month, this convivial dinner ranks among my very favorite social events, and December was no exception. On Boxing Day, we exceeded ourselves—hard to do, because everyone puts heart and soul into what they bring—with a savory pot of beef bourguignon, an array of vegetable dishes, a candle-studded centerpiece of Christmas greenery, and my own contribution of homemade gingerbread cookies.

Last month, for the November dinner, a fellow SIMS member had made and brought a beautiful braided loaf of challah bread. Knowing that a blessing is usually made over this bread as it is broken during a Jewish Shabbat dinner, she had suggested that we offer some kind of blessing or short meditation along with her loaf. And so I had led the dinner party in a Buddhist metta meditation that night.

On Boxing Day, I was delighted when two of the center residents separately asked me to lead a metta meditation again, and so I did. I could see that, like me, they had quickly come to appreciate the simple power of this heart-opening practice, taught long ago by the Buddha to his disciples.

And so I offer a metta meditation to you, if you’d like to try it. The verses are taught slightly differently by different dharma teachers. The version below is very close to one taught by Sharon Salzberg, who probably has done more than anyone to popularize the practice. Metta, a Pali word, is often translated as “loving-kindness,” and the meditation practice is meant to cultivate an attitude of loving-kindness toward everyone you encounter, including yourself.

First, turn your attention to yourself, and then say (to yourself, not out loud):

May I be safe and protected.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be peaceful and joyful.
May I have ease and well-being.

Next, turn your attention to a mentor, and say (to yourself, not out loud):

May you be safe and protected.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be peaceful and joyful.
May you have ease and well-being.

Next, turn your attention to a person or group who is(are) dear to you, and say (to yourself, not out loud):

May you be safe and protected.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be peaceful and joyful.
May you have ease and well-being.

Next, turn your attention to someone you encountered recently, but don’t know personally (e.g., a grocery checkout clerk, or fellow bus rider)—and say (to yourself, not out loud):

May you be safe and protected.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be peaceful and joyful.
May you have ease and well-being.

Next, if you’re feeling relaxed and open-hearted, turn your attention to someone who is difficult for you in some way, and say (to yourself, not out loud):

May you be safe and protected.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be peaceful and joyful.
May you have ease and well-being.

Finally, turn your attention to all beings, seen and unseen, in all realms, seen and unseen, and say (to yourself, not out loud):

May all beings be safe and protected.
May all beings be healthy and strong.
May all beings be peaceful and joyful.
May all beings have ease and well-being.

As we were leaving the center at the end of the evening, another SIMS member and I talked about we've both come to rely on metta practice in stressful situations such as driving in heavy traffic or waiting in a traffic jam. For example, I turn my attention to other drivers—especially those I might otherwise form a judgment about—and say: "May you be happy; may you be safe and protected." If I'm waiting in a traffic jam with an accident ahead, I turn my attention to the unknown people who may have been hurt in the accident, and say: "May you be safe and protected; may you be healthy and strong."

Sharon Salzberg suggests the easiest metta practice of all: as you walk down the street, simply turn your attention to each being you encounter, and say to each one (in your mind, not aloud), "May you be happy!"

She also shows a photo of Burmese monks holding a metta banner.

So perhaps if we practice metta long enough, one day we all will be happy!