| ALL ABOUT LIVING IN THE NOW |
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'Washing dishes to wash dishes.' from The miracle of mindfullness By Thich Nhat Hanh.
Hi everyone, I read this passage and it inspired me, so I wanted to
share it with you. Please read and contemplate. I hope you can all see
the meaning behind it.
The Essential Discipline - Washing dishes to wash dishes
While washing the dishes one should only be washing the dishes, which
means that while washing the dishes one should be completely aware of
the fact that one is washing dishes. At first glance, that might seem
silly: why put so much stress on a simple thing? But that's precisely
the point. The fact that I am standing there and washing these bowls is
a wondrous reality. I'm being completely myself, following my breath,
conscious of my presence, and conscious of my thoughts and actions.
There's no way I can be tossed around mindlessly like a bottle slapped
here and there on the waves.
The cup in my hands
If while washing the dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that
awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they
were a nuisance, than we are not "washing the dishes to wash the
dishes." What's more, we are not alive during the time we are washing
the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the
miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can't wash dishes,
the chances are we won't be able to drink our tea either. While
drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things,
barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the
future - and we are incapable of actually living one minute of our life.
As the blog title suggests, its all about living in the NOW.
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| Posted: 3/22/2008 at 21:24 | Read 67 times | 1 comment | Leave Comment |
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