Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese monk and Zen master. In this very short text it proposes to introduce us, guide and strengthen the path of mindfulness and meditation. Another Tibetan illuminated sophrologist or trader who spends his time to smile and nod, you say? Maybe yes. Certainly not. Always it is that I read this book with the desire to learn what the concept of mindfulness covered. From a rather Cartesian and Epicurean natural, I was animated by the curiosity to learn more at a time of life when many of us seek another route on this not very long quiet river.
What have I found? A simple text, fluid, colorful, cheerful and efficient. Exactly what is meant to be a guide. He talks to us of this essential and universal about what Mindfulness. "Mindfulness is the miracle by which we can fully live every moment of life ..." you can read on page 4 of coverage. Mindfulness is not an intuitive concept. It is not a psycho-intellectual activity that we decide to have here and there, as we decided to do sport one day and the next day the music. It is a vision impalpable, serene will, a physiological attitude, an essential discipline of the soul and the internal behavior that can live deeply the present moment. Everything is there. This is not new. Great thinkers, poets and philosophers Western (Pascal, Ronsard, Hegel ...) have discussed, based on ancient texts that were already talking about (the famous "Carpe Diem"). Mindfulness, I discovered through this book, so would the Eastern version of the "here and now" to a degree of sophistication and higher thinking.
What is it? Simply keep a conscious awareness (ie clear) this reality. Being deeply and truly, at every moment, in harmonious tune with our actions and our thoughts. As the author says "When we wash dishes, wash the dishes. That's it!" Mindfulness, we unconsciously practice when we perform activities under our desires or passions. We are in 150% because we appreciate what you are doing at that moment precisely. These are not necessarily very complicated or sophisticated things. This may simply be to enjoy his favorite fruit juice in the evening of a long hot day, or admire the heavenly brightness of a full moon night sitting in a lounge chair. In these moments, we are transported in wonder of inner happiness, in full awareness of what is precisely going through. All the challenge of the Full Consciousness therefore is to integrate this harmonious state of mind in all things in life, including the most mundane or the most boring, like washing dishes.
The first implication is that we must discipline themselves to do only one thing at a time, and therefore act and live in a sequential rhythm, a task after another. Mindfulness is antithetical to the multitasking so alienating our modern lives. It requires calm and moderation. How to get there? The tool to achieve this is a conscious meditation, serene encounter with reality, and the method to develop this inner capacity is conscious breathing. It's that simple. Breathing is the central function of the functioning of our body, essential and almost unconscious in nature. Getting used in these selected moments of meditative relaxation, to become aware of our breathing, to listen, to control the phaser, the harmonization is to perceive our inner, calm our thoughts, regenerate our mental and thus advancing slowly but surely on the way to full consciousness. This may sound extremely simple well but Thich Nhat Hanh gives the irreversible truly feel that this technique is a powerful absolute and irresistibly invites us to adopt it.
From a practical standpoint, this guide offers us all the advice necessary and sufficient to practice meditation and conscious breathing. It offers in its last part excercices various practical, simple and effective, helping us to integrate these techniques into our lives every day. Previously Thich Nhat Hanh takes time to expose ourselves oriental concepts underlying this philosophy of life, such as interdependence, impermanence, compassion and universal harmony. He reviewed a didactic way and perfectly understandable to the uninitiated like me all these mysterious objects of the mind that are the Dharmas, and other sutras or Bodhisattva. He feeds us with simple and strong statements that seem to be the obvious, but reading them you realize that you had forgotten the reach and power.
What more? Those of you that are already on the way will probably draw from a useful boost of energy and will. Those who like me are still on the starting line will be able to find practical and methodological explanations they need to advance. Those who are still skeptical or skeptical may find it - may be- the spark that lit a potentially beneficial awareness.
A small book then, but that may well be the cause of a big miraculous butterfly effect in your mindfulness ...
