Metta

Metta is usually translated as loving-kindness, which has the unfortunate effect of making it sound like a mood. It is better understood as an action: the deliberate offering of a wish, whether or not any warm feeling accompanies it.

The traditional order of recipients — yourself, someone you love, someone neutral, someone difficult, all beings — is a difficulty gradient. Each step is meant to be done only as far as it can be done honestly, and stopping at the edge is part of the instruction rather than a failure of it.