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Beneficial acts when done with "intent" indicates a self-other mindset.The act, though prima facia beneficial, is often more ego, "I am doing a beneficial act because I want the reward from the act." It is a act of selfishness in the guise of a beneficial act.
A Beneficial act performed without expectation of reward, the selfless act, is the act generating true reward, the reward neither sought nor expected.
It will be interesting to see how some of the crew here reflect and or expand upon this.

Peace to all

Thus have I heard...

"Wherever self is, virtue cannot exist"

So when it comes to carrying out a beneficial act .... just do it and be done with it before the self-generating ego gets wind of it and puts a spanner in the works, that is, depleting the merits/karma which may come from performing such an act.

In a nutshell : Just do it because you are in a position to do so without any expectations.

@marcitko said:
Hi August,
Welcome to the boards!
I love to practice and find great benefit in practicing metta.
I've developed a routine where I practice metta during my commute to work, in addition to other parts of the day. That way, I find my commute is time well spent, something I look forward to, and something that sets me up for an as pleasant and beneficial work day as possible.
Before difficult or challenging events, I previously thought that preparation is primary. Now I realize that yes, some preparation is in order, but preparing the mind and emotional state is even more important. With a better state of mind and emotional state, the whole event goes much better. Here, metta is my primary preparation practice. Wishing well both myself and whomever I am to interact with and whatever project we are working on.
I find that I can always do metta intellectually (via thoughts) but access actual metta (a friendly, positive, compassionate, loving state of mind/emotion) only sometimes.
Hence, I continue to practice.
What are your thoughts, experiences, and applications of metta?
Wishing you all the very best,
Marcitko

Wow thanks everyone for your kind and detailed replies! I will take them one by one I hope that is copacetic

Yes I wholeheartedly agree that tuning one's emotional registers into lovingkindness makes everything go smoother!

Buddha Shakyamuni said of the benefits of metta, "one's mind concentrates easily" ... in my experience I like to phrase this as "one's mind is very flexible, quick to creativity."

Because I find in my personal experience when my emotional state is that of a loving and joyful quality, good ideas are easy to form.

The love we talk about is not the "Love You" nor the "Love Me" one way love.
It is the "Love All" love. It is the love that embraces self and others and all else.
It says, "I love and appreciate my life; I love and appreciate your life; I love and appreciate all life; equally.
This is the all embracing love, compassion and mercy. Such love does not always sound to the ears as live or compassion or mercy.
When a child does something he or she was told not to do and, say a vase is broken, if the parent responds with anger, "You broke my vase, now you will be punished.", though the parent may love the child, those words of anger are not coming from love.
Now, under the same scenario, the parent is upset, but chooses to not act out in anger, but, instead approaches the child and says, "You were told to be careful, yet you were recless. As a result, the vase is broken. It can not be unbroken. Of course You should be more careful. You will clean it up. But what else have we learned that we many not break more vases?"
In the first, the child learns to not upset ther parent, that is it.
In the second, while not a necessarily perfect example, the child is given the tools to evaluate the action, the causuality, and reflect to gain from the experience an understanding beyond , "You break, I punish". It is a reflection of the "Love All".
To love others without love of self is of slander self.
To love self without love of others is slander others.
Neither is good or healthy.
To live self with a love that enables love of others, the "Love All" is the Middle Way.
It is not the way of the selfish or the coward. It is the way of the truely brave.

Peace to all

@august said:
Hi everybody

Buddha Shakyamuni spoke about the benefits of a lovingmind and in fact, Maitreya will attain complete unsurpassed awakening through the practice of metta or lovingkindness!

I would love to discuss metta with you.

As we know discussion is a circle of ideas. Some of us float or focus these discussion towards an ideal internally and externally.

This is where metta has many forms all of them having components of friendliness, loving kindness and care or compassion towards others, animals and even our material surroundings.

Maitreya manifests even now in the preliminaries of this unfolding. In its purest form which we can attain to in the human realm, we have to practice. Refocus and practice some more. The longer we focus and discipline the more we can project these perfect qualities.