EXERCISE: Difficult Aspects of Oneself As an alternative to choosing a difficult person, you can experiment with directing metta toward a difficult aspect of yourself. There may be physical or emotional aspects of yourself you have struggled with, denied, avoided, been at war with. Sit quietly, sending yourself metta. After some time, turn your att

Significantly, when we do metta practice, we begin by directing metta toward ourselves. This is the essential foundation for being able to offer genuine love to others. When we truly love ourselves, we want to take care of others, because that is what is most enriching, or nourishing, for us. When we have a genuine inner life, we are intimate with

Metta, which can be translated from Pali as “love” or “lovingkindness,” is the first of the brahma-viharas, the “heavenly abodes.” The others—compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity—grow out of metta, which supports and extends these states.

We see that all beings want to be happy, and that this impulse unites us.

The Pali word metta has two root meanings. One is the word for “gentle.” Metta is likened to a gentle rain that falls upon the earth. This rain does not select and choose—“I’ll rain here, and I’ll avoid that place over there.” Rather, it simply falls without discrimination. The other root meaning for metta is “friend.” To understand the power or th

true friendship.

Using our sexual energy in a way that harms ourselves or others, and then expecting to know transcendent love in another arena, is mindless. Every aspect of our lives is connected to every other aspect of our lives. This truth is the basis for an awakened life.

The great Indian teacher Nisargadatta Maharaj once

“May I be healthy,” “May I be healed,” “May I make a friend of my body,” or “May I embody my love and understanding.”