This is episode 1,699.

Welcome to the Daily Meditation Podcast.

I'm Mary Macley and I honor you for being here as you get ready to slow down and connect to the best part of who you are as you meditate.

In today's episode, we continue along with our series on love.

And this is a series with a focus on love. And this is a series with a focus on love that you have for those people who are familiar

in your lives, family members, friends, neighbors.

It's not about romantic love.

It's about the affection you feel for even things in your life that are familiar.

Maybe your favorite comfortable sweater or a scent that reminds you of home or of happy memories.

And these are features in your life that make up the very fabric of your life. And we've been following along with the insight of C.S. Lewis in his book, Four Loves. And the first love he talks about is this familiar love.

He says that this familiar love

builds the foundation for love in your life.

And this is from chapter three of his book, The Four Loves, and it's titled Affection.

Before I guide you in today's meditation technique, which is a breathing technique,

one of the most powerful techniques you could do to instantly calm your mind and body.

I will share with you first some insight from C.S. Lewis's book.

So as he talks about affection, he mentions that affection has its own criteria.

He says its objects have to be familiar.

We can sometimes point to the very day and hour when we fell in love or began a new friendship.

But I doubt if we'll ever catch affection beginning.

To become aware of it is to become aware that it has already been going on for some time.

To use the old term of affection is significant.

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