Tag: Mindfulness

Letter 2

This is the second in a series of ten letters written by Thich Nhat Hahn expressing his love of Earth. We hope you find comfort and stirring reminders in his words. 

Ten Love Letters to the Earth

by Thich Nhat Hahn

II

Your Wonder, Beauty and Creativity

Dear Mother Earth,

Each morning when I wake up you offer me twenty-four brand new hours to cherish and enjoy your beauty. You gave birth to every miraculous form of life. Your children include the clear lake, the green pine, the pink cloud, the snowcapped mountain top, the fragrant forest, the white crane, the golden deer, the extraordinary caterpillar, and every brilliant mathematician, skilled artisan, and gifted architect. You are the greatest mathematician, the most accomplished artisan, and the most talented architect of all. The simple branch of cherry blossoms, the shell of a snail, and the wing of a bat all bear witness to this amazing truth. My deep wish is to live in such a way that I am awake to each of your wonders and nourished by your beauty. I cherish your precious creativity and I smile to this gift of life.

We humans have talented artists, but how can our paintings compare to your masterpiece of the four seasons? How could we ever paint such a compelling dawn or create a more radiant dusk? We have great composers, but how can our music compare to your celestial harmony with the sun and planets—or to the sound of the rising tide? We have great heroes and heroines who have endured wars, hardship, and dangerous voyages, but how can their bravery compare to your great forbearance and patience along your hazardous journey of eons? We have many great love stories, but who among us has love as immense as your own, embracing all beings without discrimination?

Dear Mother, you have given birth to countless buddhas, saints, and enlightened beings. Shakyamuni Buddha is a child of yours. Jesus Christ is the son of God, and yet he is also the son of Man, a child of the Earth, your child. Mother Mary is also a daughter of the Earth. The Prophet Mohammed is also your child. Moses is your child. So too are all the bodhisattvas. You are also mother to eminent thinkers and scientists who have made great discoveries, investigating and understanding not only our own solar system and Milky Way, but even the most distant galaxies. It’s through these talented children that you are deepening your communication with the cosmos. Knowing that you have given birth to so many great beings, I know that you aren’t mere inert matter, but living spirit. It’s because you’re endowed with the capacity of awakening that all your children are too. Each one of us carries within ourself the seed of awakening, the ability to live in harmony with our deepest wisdom—the wisdom of interbeing.

But there are times when we have not done so well. There are times when we have not loved you enough; times when we have forgotten your true nature; and times when we have discriminated and treated you as something other than ourself. There have even been times when, through ignorance and unskillfulness, we have underestimated, exploited, wounded, and polluted you. That is why I make the deep vow today, with gratitude and love in my heart, to cherish and protect your beauty, and to embody your wondrous consciousness in my own life. I vow to follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before me, to live with awakening and compassion, and so be worthy of calling myself your child.

Pebble Meditation

This is a guided breathing awareness meditation with pebble visualization for relaxation and insight. You can choose any intention or focus area ahead of listening to the recording. If you’re at a loss for what that may look like, you could consider ideas such as “I intend to see clearly my next steps.”, ”I intend to live with more joy.”, “I intend to release blocks around my self expression.”, or perhaps “I intend to connect authentically with others.” These are starting points, but feel free to move with any intention or theme. What you choose ahead will guide you best as you know you need.

For the exercise, gather paper and pen. Write your intention out on the paper and speak it aloud or in your head three times. Prepare yourself to sit comfortably in a chair, keep the paper and pen close by to make notes after listening to the recording. Start the recording and close your eyes. ✨🙏🏼✨

Link to Recording:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vvgPWyNmeniiNV-2tS5oEfWDG4jpnu9M/view?usp=drivesdk

(This recording has sounds not too far off in the background. With the spirit of mindful awareness, if you find yourself distracted by the background sounds, let that be, and gently guide yourself to focus on the sound of my voice. If you find your mind wandering, practice in the same way, with gentle guidance back to the voice.)

Begin

“ A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.”

Emily Dickinson

What are you bringing to life with your words? Does what you’re saying match what you want to hear yourself saying? Take a moment, pause, and listen. Are you speaking from a place of not having what you want or from the place of having it all worked out?

What would it feel like to try on reality as you want and pretend it’s happening now? You may have to get into the world of make believe that was probably natural to you in childhood. Take anything that’s presenting in your life now and look carefully at how you think and speak about the topic. Does your thought and speech support the status quo or the desired result?

Example:

You want a sense of community at work.

From the place of not having what you want you may think and say:

“No one makes an effort to speak to each other. We sit at our desks and keep to ourselves.”

From the ideal scenario you may say:

“It’s so easy to connect with my coworkers. We are thoughtful about professional and personal needs. I’m so grateful that we all work well together.”

It may seem odd to say something you don’t currently see happening. Take it as a game or experiment if that’s the case and see if it shifts. Either way, you can revel in ideals for a moment or two.

Simple

One thing to ask yourself as you go through the next days and make choices about your activities:

Will this be nourishing to me or to someone else ?

That is not to compare and suggest that one of those is in greater standing than the other, but simply to check in with yourself and notice your choices. Is the next thing you’re going to choose nourishing in some way to someone? If the answer is no and you proceed, how does that unfold? If the answer is yes and you proceed, how does that unfold?

Let yourself notice how nourishing choices show up in your life.