How to use beads from Seeds of Kindness

How to use these beads

Strings of beads been used since about 300 BC and are found in almost all religions. They are most often used to count prayers or mantras. They incorporate the tactile into prayer, fingers touching beads. They give the busy mind a useful way to help during prayer, by focusing on the beads rather than on the hard chair you’re sitting on or the fly buzzing around you.

In all traditions prayer beads also serve as reminders of that which is sacred within our everyday lives. A smooth round seed, a small beautiful stone, a piece of pretty glass -- what better to remind us of the sacred? Something small and lovely that we can hold or look at while we pray or meditate, or something that we pass by, glance at, and allow to remind us to breathe . . . pray . . . express gratitude . . . if just for a moment.

Seeds of Kindness beads are made for holding during meditation or prayer and for giving as gifts of compassion and loving kindness. Prayer beads are often chosen and used for specific reasons and during specific transitions. They might represent blessings for a new baby, blessings for a marriage, prayers during an illness, comfort during grief, or support during any important event or transition. They can also more generally symbolize love being with oneself or with a friend through all experiences, through all times.

If you choose a strand of beads to give as a gift for a friend, hold them while you think of your friend or pray for their well being. If you wish, practice loving-kindness meditation for your friend while holding the beads. Explain to your friend in your own words (or use any of the words from this website) how your loving wishes come with these beads. We have found recipients deeply touched when we share with them that every bead represents a prayer for them, and when we share with them what some of our prayers were as we made or meditated on their beads.

What else might you do with these kindness beads? One recipient of a strand of beads put hers on a decorative hook on her wall. We almost always have a strand of beads lying on our bedside tables. People often carry beads in their pockets or purses during trips to a doctor’s office or a lawyer’s office. Others have wrapped their beads around a Buddha’s shoulders or around another favorite piece of statuary. Do with them whatever is right for you.