thich nhat hanh peace is every step poem

To walk through the world, with a sense of peace in the heart and belly, feeling simple happiness beneath the worries of the day, touching the earth and being touched by the earth, seeing and encountering without constricting the awareness, secure enough to know ourselves, where we are, what we are part of. But to keep that net of awareness open, spread wide, to witness the magical moment, to watch it dance for its instant in the sun, and then to allow it to drift past, that is the gentle work of the meditator. The reflex is to collapse the awareness with each small encounter, like a fisherman with a net, trying to ensnare and possess the world. It is not an easy thing to move through a garden or down the sidewalk without becoming attached to the thousand things we see or think. Resting mind, allowing mind, welcoming heart. The most You Are Here Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment Mindfulness is not an evasion or an escape, he explains. We are dropping the purpose and destination from our stride. Peace Is Every Step The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life In this book Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how to make positive use of the very situations in our daily life that usually pressure and antagonise us. It encourages a full, easy flow of the breath.īut, in walking meditation, we are not marching from point A to point B. This allows the body to move in its natural fluidity without growing stiff. Walking meditation invites us to move, to interact with our environment - but with a sense of presence, with full awareness, with resting mind. Often we imagine a very stern notion of what meditation is, and it involves sitting rigidly still. Reading these words I can almost hear Thich Nhat Hanh's gentle voice offering these suggestions to us as we engage in walking meditation. This doesn't feel entirely like a 'poem' to me it's more like rhythmic, chant-like set of instructions. Something for us today by Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen monk, peace activist, author, meditation teacher.

from Call Me by My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh, by Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich nhat hanh peace is every step poem