The Buddha taught a path of awakened living, but how does that manifest in today’s world of constant connectivity and widespread suffering?

How do we keep our hearts open without being defined or hardened by the pain that surrounds us, whether personal, collective, or historical? How do we navigate the paradox of holding both pain and joy, without mistaking suffering for punishment or personal failure? Can we infuse our compassion with wisdom and perspective to find the agency to take meaningful action in our communities?

In her new series, Engaged Compassion, Sharon delves into these questions and more, engaging in candid conversations with a diverse group of teachers, activists, and changemakers.

For the second episode in the series, Sharon speaks with Valarie Kaur, making her third appearance on the Metta Hour.

Valarie is a renowned social justice leader, lawyer, award-winning filmmaker, faith leader, mother, and best-selling author of See No Stranger, Sage Warrior, and World of Wonder. She leads the Revolutionary Love Project, building a movement to reclaim love as a force for justice. A daughter of Punjabi Sikh farmers in California, Valarie earned degrees at Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School, and Yale Law School and holds several honorary doctorates. She lives in LA in a multi-generational family.

Please note this conversation contains discussion of gun violence and ICE brutality.

In this conversation, Valarie and Sharon speak about:

• Valarie’s Revolutionary Bus Tour
• Embodying a world we want to live in
• Engagement over Escapism
• Wisdom from Angela Harrelson
• Valerie’s recent time in Minneapolis
• Redefining what it is to be a “neighbor”
• Reclaiming the best of our ancestral wisdom
• Shifting from either/our to both/and
• Breathing to alchemize suffering
• A future that leaves no one behind
• Love as our birthright
• How to love opponents without giving in
• The importance of humanizing the enemy
• The whole world is our family
• We don’t go to battle alone
• Community care versus self-care
• Different forms of resistance
• Mai Bhago and the 40 Liberated Ones

Additional Resources

The episode closes with a guided meditation led by Valarie.

Learn more about Valarie’s work right here. Here most recent book, Sage Warrior, is coming out in paperback on April 14th, 2026.

You can listen to Valarie’s first appearance on the Metta Hour in Episode 126, recorded in 2020 and her second appearance, Episode 218, recorded in 2023.

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For episode 282, Elisha Goldstein, PhD, returns to the Metta Hour to speak with Sharon about his new book, Tiny Shifts: How Emotional Health Transforms Stress, Relationships, and Longevity.

Elisha Goldstein is a clinical psychologist, bestselling author, and the co-founder of The Center for Mindful Living and Psychotherapy in Los Angeles. For over two decades, he has helped people break free from the conditioning that keeps them stuck in cycles of stress and overwhelm, uncovering how emotional health naturally transforms stress, relationships, and longevity. Elisha is the author of several books, including Uncovering Happiness, and The Now Effect, as well as hosting The Emotional Longevity Podcast.

In this conversation, Sharon and Elisha speak about:

• Living in a culture of overwhelm
• David Foster Wallace’s fish story
• Insight alone doesn’t create change
• Underlying conditioning of chronic stress
• Realizing our natural intelligence
• The challenge of practicing wisdom
• How tiny shifts create lasting change
• Interrupting stress patterns
• Emotional regulation and impulse control
• The 4R method: Recognize, Release, Refocus, Reinforce
• How emotional health supports longevity
• Listening to the body’s signals
• Reclaiming our attention

This episode closes with a guided meditation led by Elisha.

Learn more about Elisha’s new book Tiny Shifts: How Emotional Health Transforms Stress, Relationships, and Longevity and his other offerings, by visiting his website right here. You can listen to Elisha’s first appearance on the Metta Hour from 2018 right here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Buddha taught a path of awakened living, but how does that manifest in today’s world of constant connectivity and widespread suffering?

How do we keep our hearts open without being defined or hardened by the pain that surrounds us, whether personal, collective, or historical? How do we navigate the paradox of holding both pain and joy, without mistaking suffering for punishment or personal failure? Can we infuse our compassion with wisdom and perspective to find the agency to take meaningful action in our communities? In her new series, Engaged Compassion, Sharon delves into these questions and more, engaging in candid conversations with a diverse group of teachers, activists, and changemakers.

For the inaugural episode, Sharon’s speaks with longtime friend and colleague, Jerry Colonna—a renowned coach, writer, and speaker who specializes in leadership, business, and the practice of radical self-inquiry. Jerry is the Co-founder and CEO of Reboot.io, a company inspired by the belief that work need not destroy us. He is also the author of two books: "Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up" (2019) and "Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong" (2023). For more than two decades, Jerry has championed the idea that work should be non-violent to the self, the community, and the planet. This marks his third appearance on the Metta Hour Podcast.

In this conversation, Sharon and Jerry speak about:

• Suffering and the end of suffering
• The Four Noble Truths
• Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel
• Holding many things at once
• Where resilience comes from
• How generosity can appear in extreme loss
• Jerry’s time in India after an earthquake
• The dynamics of hope and fear
• How we actually “get over loss”
• Misunderstanding karma
• Control veiled as “magical thinking”
• How unworthiness leads to isolation
• Compassion is not hierarchical
• The Dalai Lama winning a Grammy
• Suffering versus Extra Suffering
• Facing our helplessness
• The fixation with fixing things
• Finding fuel for the long haul
• Facing our nihilism

Additional Resources

You can learn more about Jerry’s work and his organization Reboot.io right here. This episode is also being release on the Reboot Podcast, which can be found right here. You can listen to Jerry’s first appearance on the Metta Hour in Episode 102, recorded in 2019 and his second appearance, Episode 229, recorded in 2023.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 280 of the Metta Hour, we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Insight Meditation Society, which opened doors on Valentine’s Day in 1976.

Today, IMS is one of the Western world’s oldest and most respected meditation retreat centers, dedicated to providing a spiritual refuge for all who seek freedom of mind and heart. The Retreat Center offers a range of silent meditation courses, ranging from a weekend to three months. IMS Online offers retreats, sanghas, dharma talks, courses, and other programming to support your practice from our virtual meditation hall. IMS also has two adjacent retreat facilities – the Retreat Center and the Forest Refuge – that are set among almost 400 secluded wooded acres in the quiet country of central Massachusetts.

In this episode, Sharon presents a special episode from the archives of IMS history featuring her teacher Dipa Ma. Originally recorded in October of 1984, when Dipa Ma was visiting IMS, this dharma talk was given as part of the 1984 three-month retreat. Through an interpreter, Dipa Ma shares the story of how we came to meditation following tremendous loss. She reflects on her early years of practice under the tutelage of Anagarika Munindra and how she gradually began teaching meditation. She also takes questions from the audience about her practice from the attending three-month retreatants.

Resources

A full transcript of this episode is available right here.

To learn more about the Insight Mediation Society, click here.

To learn more about Dipa Ma, click here.

To learn more about the Dharma Seed archive, click here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 279, Jack Kornfield returns to the Metta Hour to talk about his new book, “All in This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World.”

Jack trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma, and India and has taught worldwide since 1974. He is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practices to the West. He is the cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and of Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. He holds a PhD in clinical psychology and has written more than fifteen books, including The Wise Heart, A Path with Heart, and more.

In this conversation, Sharon and Jack speak about:

• The impetus for Jack’s new book
• The universe is made of stories
• Beginner’s Mind as the goal of practice
• Ajahn Chah’s squirrel story
• How repetition factors into storytelling
• Trusting the gifts of interconnectedness
• Ram Dass as the great public neurotic
• The glance of mercy
• The Bodhisattva Vow
• Envisioning generosity to change the world
• Working with our expectations
• Despair is not the end of the story
• Mindful Service as a source of happiness
• The Insight Meditation Society's 50th anniversary
• The founding of IMS told by Jack
• How the Dharma evolves across cultures

This episode closes with a guided meditation from Jack. Learn more about Jack’s many offerings right here and get yourself a copy of his new book All in This Together.

Join the IMS 50th anniversary online celebration on February 14th, 2026! Learn more and register right here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 278, Sharon sits down with author and friend, Parvati Markus, the editor of the new Ram Dass book, “There is No Other: The Way to Harmony and Wholeness.”

Parvati is a developmental editor who has been midwifing non-fiction books and memoirs since her first efforts with Ram Dass’s classic Be Here Now. She serves on the Board of Advisors for the Love Serve Remember Foundation and has helped with many other spiritual organizations and events. Parvati is also the author of numerous books, including Whisper in the Heart and Love Everyone. This is Parvati’s first appearance on the Metta Hour.

In this conversation, Parvati and Sharon speak about:

• How Parvati found her path
• Meeting Neem Karoli Baba
• Ram Dass and Parvati’s friendship
• Parvati’s contribution to “Be Here Now”
• The inspiration for “There is No Other”
• Moving past “us” and “them”
• Balancing real life & spiritual life
• Substituting noticing for judging
• Neem Karoli Baba’s directive of service
• Ram Dass learning to accept help
• Moving from Role to Soul
• How to be here now in times of difficulty
• Community as the future Buddha
• Joseph Goldstein’s fateful meeting with Ram Dass
• What is Loving Awareness
• Ram Dass’s final public appearance

This episode closes with a guided meditation from Ram Dass that invites us to let go of the heaviness of confusion and our rigid models of who we are and how it is.

Learn more about Parvati’s many book projects right here and get yourself a copy of Ram Dass’s new book “There is No Other” right here in hardcover, ebook and audiobook formats.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 277, we are continuing a new series on the Metta Hour, centered on kids, in honor of Sharon’s first children’s book, Kind Karl, released on December 9th!

Written with Jason Gruhl, this illustrated picture book is for 4-8 year-olds and is a children’s adaptation of Sharon’s beloved book Lovingkindness.

For this podcast series, Sharon speaks with educators, caregivers, and researchers about the ways meditation, mindfulness, and lovingkindness can impact children of all ages and the family systems that support them. For the sixth episode of the series, Sharon speaks with Richie J. Davidson.

Richie is the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds. He is best known for his groundbreaking work studying emotion and the brain. A friend and confidante of the Dalai Lama, he is a highly sought-after expert and speaker, leading conversations on well-being on international stages such as the World Economic Forum, where he serves on the Global Council on Mental Health.

In this conversation, Sharon and Richie speak about:

• Richie’s pillars for human flourishing
• Free Kindness Curriculum app
• How to nurture enduring traits
• Lovingkindness as a training
• Our whole being is malleable
• Flourishing is contagious
• Temporary states vs lasting traits
• We are born to be kind
• The Born to Flourish book, coming in March
• Changing our narratives
• Affective Neuroscience
• Six basic emotional styles
• Evolving the K-12 education space
• Supporting Healthcare providers
• Community as contemplative intervention
• What is Contemplative Neuroscience?

The conversation closes with a guided meditation led by Richie. To learn more about Riche’s work or his different books, you can visit his website and access the free Healthy Minds Kindness Curriculum right here in English or Spanish.

You can learn more about Sharon’s brand-new children’s book, Kind Karl, right here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 276, we are continuing a new series on the Metta Hour, centered on kids, in honor of Sharon’s first children’s book, Kind Karl, released on December 9th!

Written with Jason Gruhl, this illustrated picture book is for 4-8 year-olds and is a children’s adaptation of Sharon’s beloved book Lovingkindness.

In this podcast series, Sharon speaks with educators, caregivers, and researchers about the ways meditation, mindfulness, and lovingkindness can impact children of all ages and the family systems that support them.

For the fifth episode of the series, Sharon speaks with Sumi Loundon Kim. Sumi is the Buddhist chaplain at Yale University. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, she is the founding teacher of Buddhist Families of Durham (NC). She is the author of Blue Jean Buddha; The Buddha’s Apprentices; Sitting Together and of the children's book Goodnight Love: A Bedtime Meditation Story.

In this conversation, Sumi and Sharon speak about:

• Sumi’s early life in Zen community
• Sumi’s first visit to IMS at age 16
• The value of spiritual practice during adolescence
• Teaching meditation to kids through song
• Benefits of group practice for parents and kids
• Working with the five senses
• Implicit learning, leading by example
• Nurturing kindness in self-talk
• Creating a home as a sanctuary
• Designated device-free family time
• Meditation for college students
• Social connection promoting self-regulation
• Psychological fluency
• A bedtime meditation for kids: “Goodnight Love”

Get a copy of Sumi’s book “Goodnight Love” right here.

You can learn more about Sharon’s brand-new children’s book, Kind Karl, right here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.