The Art of Communicating: Mastering Life's Most Important Skill Through Mindfulness, Personal Growth, and Effective Interpersonal Relations with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
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Everything we consume acts either to heal us or to poison us.
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what we consume with our eyes, our ears, our noses, our tongues, and our bodies is also food.
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The conversations going on around us, and those we participate in, are also food. Are we consuming and creating the kind of food that...
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We can think about our communication in terms of nourishment and consumption.
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Mindfulness requires letting go of judgment, returning to an awareness of the breath and the body, and bringing your full attention to what is in you and around you. This helps you notice whether the thought you just produced is healthy or unhealthy, compassionate or unkind.
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Mindfulness is full awareness of the present moment.
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So next time you hold the phone, look at it and remember that its purpose is to help you communicate with compassion.
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Focusing on the breath, we notice what we’re feeling in the present moment.
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Freedom is
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the most precious thing there is. It is the foundation of happiness, and it is available to us with each conscious breath.
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When we stop talking and thinking and we listen mindfully to ourselves, one thing we will notice is our greater capacity and opportunities for joy.
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Home is the here and the now, where all the wonders of life are already available, where the wonder that is your body is available.
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Stay there and breathe until you’re sure you have arrived one hundred percent.
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We consume
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not because we need to consume but because we’re afraid of encountering the suffering inside us.
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Understanding suffering always brings compassion. If we don’t understand suffering, we don’t understand happiness.
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When we suffer less, when we have compassion for ourselves, we can more easily understand the suffering of another person and of the world. Then our communication with others will be based on the desire to understand rather than the desire to prove ourselves right or
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make ourselves feel better.
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When we listen with compassion, we don’t get caught in judgment.
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What you say, what you write, should convey only compassion and understanding.
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Your words can inspire confidence
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and openness in anoth...
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It’s possible for us to use Right Speech, the speech of compassion, tolerance,
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and forgiveness, several times a day. It doesn’t cost anything and it’s very healing.
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Ten Bodhisattva Trainings for Right Speech:       1. Tell the truth. Don’t lie or turn the truth upside down.       2. Don’t exaggerate.       3. Be consistent. This means no double-talk: speaking about something in one way to one person and in an opposite way to another for selfish or manipulative reasons.       4. Use peaceful language. Don’t use insulting or violent words, cruel speech, verbal abuse, or condemnation.
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they tell the “truth” in a violent and attacking way.
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Don’t think that if you hear or read something that inspires you, you should then repeat it word for word.
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To love means to be aware of the presence of your beloved one and to recognize that presence as something very precious to you.
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you have the right to suffer twenty-four hours but not more. There’s a deadline. The deadline is twenty-four hours, and you have to practice the fourth mantra before the deadline.
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“This is a happy moment.”
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“You are partly right.”
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I have weaknesses in me, and I have strengths in me. If you praise me, I shouldn’t get too puffed up and ignore the fact that in me there are also challenges. When you criticize me, I shouldn’t get lost in that and ignore the positive things.
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“Darling, you are only partly right, because I also have good things in me.”
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If you want to send an e-mail or call someone on the phone, you might want to recite the following verse to yourself before you begin to type or to dial the number: Words can travel thousands of miles. May my words create mutual understanding and love. May they be as beautiful as gems, as lovely as flowers.
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If you want to save the planet, if you want to transform society, you need a strong community. Technology is not enough.
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You don’t need to say or do anything in order to
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be acting. To produce a thought is to act.
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Every one of us has a wounded child within who needs our care and love. But we run away from our inner child because we’re afraid of the suffering.
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Flower watering is simply showing appreciation for the others in your family or work community.
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In the second part of the practice, participants express regret for anything they have done to hurt others. It does not take more than one thoughtless phrase to hurt someone.
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“Breathing in, I know that life is precious in this moment. Breathing out, I cherish this moment of life.”
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Hugging is a deep practice. You need to be totally present to do it correctly.