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Washing Feet
The peace and joy
of one toe
is peace and joy
for my whole body.
A gatha to cultivate mindfulness and a nurturing relationship to our body.
Touching the Earth
Earth brings us to life
and nourishes us.
Earth takes us back again,
We are born and we die with every breath.
A gatha to cultivate mindfulness of our relationship to life and the earth in every moment.
Brushing Your Teeth
Brushing my teeth and rinsing my mouth,
I vow to speak purely and lovingly
When my mouth is fragrant with right speech,
a flower blooms in the garden of my heart.
A short vow for right speech.
Shoulder Care
Breathing in, become aware of your shoulders. Breathing out, allow any tension in your shoulders to flow out into the floor. As you breathe in, send your love to your shoulders, and as your breathe out, smile with gratitude to them. Breathing in and out, be aware that you may have allowed a lot of tension and stress to accumulate in your shoulders. With each out breath, allow the tension to leave your shoulders, feeling them relax more and more deeply. Send them your tenderness and care, knowing that you do not want to put too much strain on them but that you want to live in a way that will allow them to be relaxed and at ease.
Guidance for bringing ease to our shoulders.
The Five Contemplations
This food is the gift of the whole universe: the Earth, the sky, and much loving work.
May we live and eat in mindfulness so that we are worthy to receive this food.
May we transform our unskillful states of mind, and learn to eat in moderation.
May we take only food that nourishes us and prevents illness.
We accept this food in order to realize the way of understanding and love.
Thich Nhat Hanh's five contemplations for mealtime.
Mindful Consumption
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I vow to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society. I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and for the transformation of society. I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant, or to ingest food or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films, and conversations. I am aware that to damage my body or my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society, and future generations. I will work to transform violence, fear, anger, and confusion in myself and in society by practicing mindful eating for myself and for society.
A vow for mindful and healthful consumption for the good of ourselves, our families, and our society.
The Wallet Reminder
When we are angry, we are not lucid. In that moment, we may say and do harmful things if we do not know how to practice mindfulness and protect ourselves and others. When we are hurt and overcome by our painful feeling, we are also not lucid. We have the tendency to blame and to condemn the person we think has hurt us.
But there are times when we are lucid and calm. We must take those opportunities to compose a peace note. We write on a piece of paper. "Dear one, I suffer and I want you to know it." We write these words down, and we slip the paper into our wallet. We are suffering, we feel hurt, but out of pride we don't want to tell our beloved one. We lock ourselves in our room and say, I don't need you, why should I need you? I am fine, don't bother me. But now we have already written our peace note: "Dear one, I suffer and I want you to know it." We write this peace note ahead of time so that when the time comes we can just pull it out and read it or we can simply hand it to our beloved one to read. We acknowledge our suffering and we open the door for communication, for peace and reconciliation.
On another piece of paper we write: "Dear one, I am doing my best. Please help." We keep this piece of paper in our wallet. When we are carried away by our anger, by our irritation, we can pull this piece of paper out and read it to ourselves and to the one we are angry at. It means, I am aware of my anger. I am doing my best to practice, to calm myself, to embrace my anger, and to look deeply into the roots of my anger. I don't want to speak or act out of my anger and irritation, and I need your support, I need your help. These are words of love. These are words of peace.
Thich Nhat Hanh with a calming spiritual practice to tame anger.
Hello There
There is a strong energy in every one of us called habit energy. Vasana is the Sanskrit word for habit energy. Every one of us has habit energies that push us to say and do things we don't want to say or do. These habit energies damage us and our relationships to other people. Intellectually we know that saying or doing a certain thing will cause a lot of suffering, and yet we say or do it. And once you say or do something the damage is done. Then you regret it. You beat your chest and pull your hair. You say: "I am not going to say or do that thing again." But though you say this with sincerity, the next time the situation presents itself, you say and do the same thing. This is the power of habit energy that your parents and ancestors may have transmitted to you.
Mindful breathing can help you recognize habit energy when it emerges. You don't have to fight that energy; you only have to recognize it as yours and smile at it. That is enough. "Hello there, my habit energy. I know you're there, but you cannot do anything to me." You smile at it, and then you are free. This is a wonderful protection.
Thich Nhat Hanh on transforming bad energy habits.
Thich Nhat Hanh in Call Me by My True Names
Waking up this morning, I see the blue sky.
I join my hands in thanks
for the many wonders of life;
for having twenty-four brand-new hours before me.
Waking up this morning, I see the blue sky
Thich Nhat Hanh in Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living
Our partner is a flower. If we take care of her well, she will grow beautifully. If we take care of her poorly, she will wither. To help a flower grow well, we must understand her nature. How much water does she need? How much sunshine? We look deeply into ourselves to see our true nature, and we look into the other person to see her nature.
Our partner is a flower
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