This post will be relatively short. I just want to share something I read from Thich Nhat Hanh.
Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and others. (From Peace is Every Step)
He goes on to talk about how we can choose to be more aware of connecting with peace, joy, and serenity. “We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment,” he writes.
We sometimes feel that our situations — our current experiences of life — are holding us back or even forcing us into boredom (at least) or despair (at worst). I believe Thich Nhat Hanh would tell us that we are asleep. We need to wake up to the realization that the present is “…the only moment there is for us to be alive.”
Questions to Prompt Your Sharing
What has your experience been related to the thoughts above? Have you experienced the feeling that you are trapped by your circumstances?
Perhaps you have had, at some point, the pleasure of living in the present moment. What was that like? Has it happened more than once? Can you “make” it happen?
Links for You to Explore
The short article “24 Hours” by Thich Nhat Hanh
About Thich Nhat Hanh: Wikipedia
Parallax Press is a nonprofit publisher founded by Thich Nhat Hanh.
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