There is a labyrinth where I often go to take a moment to pause and reflect when the world starts getting a bit too much, a bit too loud. I am grateful for the quiet and solace that can be felt there. Last time I went, this rock was there; a reminder.

The rock, which is about the size of my outstretched hand, is battered and cracked. Our experience of rocks is that they are steady, long-lasting things. We can look at mountains and feel a sense of stolid eternity; their scale of time is measured in eons, we humans tend to count minutes. Who knows how many miles this small fragment travelled to be in this spot, or how long it took, or when it will travel again, yet

Here, now, the rock sits, steady and grounded.

Someone painted “loving kindness” on it. There is no way to know whether the painter was was in need of a reminder or was saying a prayer, but I was grateful to happen upon it. Loving Kindness is part of the practice of “metta” in Buddhism. It is very similar to the idea of “Love Your Neighbor” or “treat others as you would wish to be treated.” The idea is to cultivate care, friendliness and goodwill toward one’s self and others, all the expansive qualities of the heart; it is also an antidote to aversions and hatred. While initially, we might sit quietly, with hand on heart, inhale love toward self, and with the exhale, send out compassion and love to others, eventually, it becomes a mindset and a heart space from which to approach life.

Loving Kindness becomes a practice in action.

Like most practices, it is easy to say it, and challenging to do it. How often do we extend gentleness and compassion toward ourselves (even toward our raving inner critic)? We think it’s easy to extend care or a helping hand toward those we like, but can we do it without expectation or “strings?” How easy is it to extend friendliness or encouragement to those about whom we feel neutral, let alone those we’d consider adversaries? Does our heart have the capacity to extend goodwill toward all beings?

This small rock has a big impact because it is an invitation, a reminder, of two things:

May we be steady and grounded, regardless of the “hard knocks” of life.

Loving. Kindness. May we practice and be a symbol of both … always.