“How To Love” Thich Nhat Hsnh 2015 Parallax Press Berkeiey, California
“True love is made of four elements: loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. If your love contains these elements, it will be healing and transforming and it will have the element of holiness in it. True love has the power to heal and transform any situation and bring deep meaning to our lives.”
ABOUT MINDFULNESS
While there is no universal definition of “mindfulness,” Thich Nhat Hanh often describes it as “being aware of what is happening inside and around you in the present moment.”
Thay’s key teaching is that, through mindfulness, we can learn to live happily in the present moment — as a way to truly develop peace, both in one’s self and in the world. We see mindfulness as a part of a path, beyond a tool or technique, that requires training and practice. It can be talked about in words but its true transformative power is felt only when experienced firsthand.
The Plum Village tradition uses the five Mindfulness Trainings, a concrete expression of Buddhist teachings, to bring an ethical and spiritual dimension to decision making. mindfulness is also applied to all aspects of life including sitting, walking, eating, speaking, listening, emailing and working.
Thich: True love is generated from within. For true love to be there, you need to feel complete in yourself, not needing something from outside. True love is like the sun shining with its own light & offering that light to everyone.
THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF TRUE LOVE: True love is made of four elements; loving kindness, compassion, joy & equanimity. If your love contains these elements, it will be healing & transforming & it will have the element of holiness in it. True love has the power to heal & transform any situation& bring deep meaning to our lives.
Understanding someone’s suffering is the best gift you can give another person.
Understanding is love’s other name. If you don’t understand, you can’t love.
Recognizing true love: True love gives us beauty, freshness, solidity, freedom and peace. True love includes a feeling of deep joy that we are alive. If we don’t feel this way when we feel love, then it’s not true love.
Love is organic: Love is a living, breathing thing. There is no need to force it to grow in a particular direction. If we start by being easy & gentle with ourselves, we will find it is just there inside of us; solid and healing.
FEAR keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive & our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones.
Every breath we take, every step we make can be filled with peace, joy and serenity.
BECAUSE OF YOUR SMILE, YOU MAKE LIFE MORE BEAUTIFUL.
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
“Thich Nhat Hanh was a VietnameseThien Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet and teacher, who founded the Plum Tradition, historically recognized as the main inspiration for engaged Buddhism. Know as the ‘father of mindfulness’. Nhat Hanh was a major influence on Western practices of Buddhism