The Art of Communicating: Mastering Life's Most Important Skill Through Mindfulness, Personal Growth, and Effective Interpersonal Relations with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

by Thich Nhat Hanh

When anger is there, we should handle it with tenderness because our anger is us. We shouldn’t do violence to our anger. Doing violence to our anger is doing violence to ourselves.

When you cook potatoes, you have to maintain the fire underneath for at least fifteen or twenty minutes. The same is true of the practice of mindfulness when it embraces anger. It will take a while, because the anger takes a while to cook.

Suppressing anger can be dangerous. It will explode if it is ignored. Anger, like all strong emotions, wants to express itself. So how do we handle it? The best thing is to go home to ourselves and take care of our anger.

We are like the person whose house is on fire who goes chasing after the arsonist instead of going home to put out the fire. Meanwhile, the house continues to burn.

when understanding arises, compassion comes, and it’s possible to use loving speech without having to make a lot of effort.

¿desde dónde vemos al otro?

A doctor who doesn’t see the nature of the sickness can’t help the patient. A psychotherapist who doesn’t understand a patient’s suffering can’t help.

If we’re not able to listen to our colleagues with a free heart, if we only consider and support ideas that we already know and agree with, we’re harming our work environment.