Dharma explorations by Stephanie Noble

From over fifteen years of sharing her understanding of Buddhist concepts

  • Sending Loving Kindness to Difficult People

    Most people struggle at first with sending metta (loving kindness) to difficult people. Who is a difficult person? It could be someone very close to you who causes you personal torment, so that even though you care for them, your feelings are very conflicted. Or it could be someone you don’t know personally who you…

  • Medical Metta – My Hospital Stay

    (Image info: Painting by artist Leslie Johnson as her way of sending metta during my surgery.) Last week I spent three days in the hospital having a total hip replacement. There were many opportunities for sending metta! In pre-op there were two children who were, like me, being prepped for surgery, and both were absolutely…

  • Why practice metta meditation?

    Sending metta (loving kindness) to ourselves and others has value whether or not you believe that it is effective! If you feel resistant to the idea of ‘transmitting loving energy,’ rest assured that this practice doesn’t rely on beliefs of any kind to be valuable. The practice itself shifts our relationships with people in our…

  • Sending Metta – Joys and Challenges

    Metta or loving kindness can range from simple well wishing to all out radiant healing light-energy. It’s all good. But let’s stay with simple well wishing for now. In the last post we started with sending metta to ourselves. “May I be well. May I be happy. May I be free from harm.” Or similar…

  • Introduction to Metta

    Last month I focused on being fully present in the moment. Rooted in this moment, we are capable of much more than we ever would have imagined. We are able to be with whatever is happening in our current situation in a more open accepting way. We are better able to stay in the present…