Mindfulness as a Foundation for Wellness-Part 2
(To go back to part 1, click HERE)
SOURCE in the public domain HERE
Also on the ‘Talks at Goggle’ channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijnt-eXukwk&list=PLV7Diz4DTv4nv-RTpS-0QuDNHUh0b1OLP&index=1&t=6049s
Here is the continuation of the transcription of Thich Nhat Hanh’s talk at Google Headquarters of September 2011. This is what the great Zen teacher wanted most to convey to folks working at one of the world’s most dynamic and innovative tech companies. We can say, therefore, that it is Thich Nhat Hanh’s heartfelt message to us who live in a busy, hectic, and constantly changing world driven by the ubiquitous advanced technology that plays a crucial role in everything today. Special thanks to my research assistant Christine Atchison for helping me out in this.
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[1] The Practice of Mindful Walking in Daily Life (15:24)
Mindfulness allows us to be alive and to touch the wonders of life inside of us and around us and many of these wonders have the power to heal, to nourish. And you don’t have to go to a temple in order to practice mindfulness; walking from the parking lot to your office, you might enjoy the practice of mindful walking, you might like to enjoy every step. Touching the wonders of life, that is something that all of us can do.
Years ago, we offered a retreat for a congressman from Washington, DC. They have a hectic life and they need to practice mindfulness in order to release the tension, to relax and to be in touch with life. Many years after the retreat they continue to practice mindful walking and several of them wrote to us to say that from the office where they work to the place where they cast their vote, they always practice mindful walk[ing] and stop all thinking, just walk. They say that they survive that hectic life just by mindful walk[ing].
So from the parking lot to your office, you
might like to do like that—you stop all your thinking and you enjoy every step.
Walk in such a way that every step can bring you freedom, can bring you
solidity, freedom, and healing. Many of us even practice mindful walking to
heal ourselves. When you breathe in mindfully and focus your attention on your
breath, when you make a step mindfully and focus your attention on your step, you
release the past, you release the future, you release all your projects because
your mind has only one object -- that is your in-breath or your step. One
in-breath or one step can set you free, free from the worries and the
uncertainty about the future, free from the regret and the sorrow concerning
the past. The past may be a prison, the future may be a prison if you are
subjected to regret, sorrow, fear, uncertainty. But when you focus your
attention on your in-breath, you release everything. So, one breath, one
in-breath, sets you free. One step, made in mindfulness, sets you free. And
when you are free your body has regained its power to heal itself and your mind
also. (19:42).
[2] Four Helpful
Mindfulness Practices and How They Help Us to Love Better (19:43)
Pebble
Meditation – The First Pebble: a Flower (Beauty)
I have said in the beginning that when you
love someone you would like to offer him or her the best you have. The best,
the most precious thing you have is your presence. But your presence may have a
high quality. You are fresh, you are free, you are solid, you are happy. And
the practice of mindfulness helps you to maintain your freshness, to cultivate
more peace, more solidity. There is a practice called pebble meditation. There
are four pebbles, and the practice goes like this: the first pebble represents
a flower—breathing in I see myself as a flower; breathing out I feel fresh. The
human me is a kind of flower. If we don’t know how to practice and then we will
lose our freshness and we do not have much to offer the person we love. So,
practicing mindful breathing or walking and restor[ing] your freshness, your
floweriness, is something possible. Releasing the worries, the fear, the anger,
and restor[ing] your freshness is something we can do while sitting or walking.
But you can practice breathing in “I see myself as a flower,” you don’t have to
imagine yourself as a flower because the human body, the human being, is very
beautiful. It is a real flower. Look at a child: look at her face, her tiny
hand, his tiny foot is a real flower. It’s beautiful when the child sleeps,
it’s beautiful when the child is awake and play[ing] and we are born as flowers
and it is possible for us to preserve our floweriness, our freshness, our
beauty. (22:31).
The Second
Pebble: a Mountain (Stability)
The second pebble: breathing in I see
myself as a mountain. A mountain represents stability and solidity. A person
cannot be happy unless she has some stability, he has some stability. And the
practice of mindful breathing, mindful sitting, mindful walking can always help
us to contemplate more stability and solidity. And our solidity, our stability,
is something we can offer to the person we love. If you are too unstable, if
you are not solid, you are not happy and you cannot, and the other person suffers
also because of that. So contemplating stability and solidity is something you
can do.
The Third
Pebble: Still Water (Right Perception)
Breathing in I see myself as still water,
breathing out I reflect things as they truly are. When you are calm you are not
victims of wrong perceptions, you are not victims of anger and fear because you
are calm enough—you don’t imagine things. So, breathing in, breathing out,
practicing walking, you can contemplate peace, calmness, tranquility. A person
who does not have enough peace in himself, herself, cannot be a happy person.
So contemplating peace in oneself is something we can do with the practice of
mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful sitting. And when you have peace in
you, you have something to offer him or her [the one you love].
The Fourth
Pebble: Space (Freedom)
Breathing in I see myself as space, breathing out I feel free. If you do not have enough space in the heart (we have so many worries and fear and anger), we are not happy. And that is why the practice is to bring more space into our heart and around us. A person cannot be a happy person unless she has some freedom, some space in herself or around her. So, to love means to offer space. And if you do not have space in you how can you offer your beloved one with space? That is why the practice of mindfulness—whether that is mindfulness of breathing or walking, working, or eating—always helps us cultivate these values, these energies. We can cultivate our beauty, our freshness; We can cultivate more our stability and solidity, we can cultivate more the energy of peace, calmness, and we can always cultivate more the element of freedom in us. So, when you look at your beloved one and you say ‘darling, I’m here for you’ that is a great gift because your presence has an element of freshness, of stability, of peace, and of freedom—the best kind of gift you can make to him or to her. (27:07).
[Gong rings. Then
silence until 27:40.]
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