Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield

Ep. 319 – All In This Together Series #7: The Blessings of Loving Kindness, Stories and Guided Meditation for Protection

Mar 25, 2026
Stories and a guided meditation explore loving kindness as a protective, heart-opening practice. Reflections cover forgiveness in family life, the origins and stepwise practice of metta, and how kindness applies to technology and daily struggles. Listeners hear traditional blessings of metta, group reflections on long-term practice, and practical guidance for extending compassion to self and all beings.
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INSIGHT

Metta Origin Explains Its Fear-Reducing Power

  • Loving-kindness (metta) was taught by the Buddha as a practice to dispel fear for monks afraid in the jungle.
  • Jack Kornfield links that origin to modern fears like watching the news and says metta tends and cares for our hearts.
ADVICE

Start Metta With The Easy Then Expand

  • Start metta progressively: begin with someone easy then expand to neutral and difficult people.
  • Jack Kornfield emphasizes you should not begin with people you dislike but open the heart stepwise through a practiced sequence.
ANECDOTE

Neutral Gardener Became A Heart Connection

  • Jack describes practicing metta for a neutral gardener during a retreat and how repeatedly wishing him well changed Jack's felt relation to him.
  • He realized that naming a neutral person invites them into the heart and transforms how you encounter them.
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