Hi, I'm Andy and welcome to Radio Headspace and a Thursday morning.

Thought today we talk a little bit about the interconnectedness of life.

I don't know how much you think about that, the idea that none of us are truly separate,

not just from the people around us, but from everything around us.

I remember being in the monastery and every morning we would have to go through a set of,

you could think of it as chanting or prayers or recollections, reflections, however you

like to think about that stuff in your mind.

But the beginning of it was always the same and it was this is for the benefit of all sentient

beings.

To begin with that has a really big impact on the mind, it's like wow all sentient beings

and not just all humans but everything in the world, all living beings.

There's a real sense of the mind expanding and us feeling more connected with the world,

but then something interesting happens after a while.

It almost becomes, I don't know, almost like wrote, you know, you're just saying it

but maybe you're not really feeling it.

So I remember going to my teacher and explaining this and he said you're sure that's common,

you know.

What I'm trying to do in this situation is to think of somebody really close to you.

Think of someone who you very easily can conjure up that feeling and think it's in their

benefits.

So when you do the practice, yes it benefits the world, but if that feels too big, just

focus on that one person.

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