For episode 284, devon and nico hase return to the Metta Hour to speak with Sharon about their new book, This Messy, Gorgeous Love: A Buddhist Guide to Lasting Partnership.

devon and nico serve as guiding teachers of the online dharma community Refuge of Belonging. They teach at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock, and other centers, offer online and in-person retreats, and speak with students in one-on-one sessions. Their first book How Not to Be a Hot Mess, came out in 2020 and their 2026 release, This Messy, Gorgeous Love, is now available in paperback and audiobook formats. This is devon and nico’s second appearance on the Metta Hour.

In this conversation, devon, nico and Sharon speak about:

• The motivation for the new book
• After the “happily ever after”
• Approaching relationship as practice
• The healing of deep listening
• Common myths of relationships
• Buddhist personality types
• Dukkha (suffering) in a relationship
• Impermanence informing connection
• Forgiveness practice
• Different conflict styles
• Learning how to repair after rupture
• Making room for play and joy
• Supporting each other’s joy
• devon & nico's three-year retreat

This episode closes with a guided appreciation practice led by devon. Learn more about devon and nico’s new book, This Messy, Gorgeous Love, and other offerings by visiting their website right here.

Join Nico and Sharon virtually on May 9th, 2026 for a daylong teaching The Fire That Sustains.

You can hear devon and nico’s first appearance on Ep. 142 of the Metta Hour Podcast.

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 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.

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

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.