One of the things that most inhibits metta from growing is grasping at it.
Metta is like a cat; if you get too excited that a cat has decided to come and sit on your lap, and try to grab it, pin it down, or restrain it, it’ll run away.
One of the most effective ways to counter this tendency is to practise giving any metta you’ve cultivated away! Just imagine you could take the felt sense of metta and give it directly to the person or people you’re cultivating metta for, so they can feel all that goodness and experience the benefits.
If the metta actually decreases, you can celebrate your success; you’re not feeling it anymore because you’ve successfully given it to your metta target - how wonderful! But often what happens is that the metta is immediately replaced with more metta, that comes from the authentic selfless desire to give to another. However, this only works if you’re really willing to let it go; this practice is a chance to experiment with that view.
Duration: 21:30