I remember once, a lady came from Paris to interview the sisters of the New Hamlet. I think it was the magazine Elle that sent her. The person spoke to the Sisters, but that day, I came to visit. She took the opportunity to interview me. She wanted me to talk about meditation, mindfulness, and such things.

But I thought offering a practice exercise would be much more useful. So, I proposed this as a practice. Madam, this evening, after dinner, when your husband turns on the TV, you can practice taking a deep breath. And you calm your body. And with a smile, you can address him and say, "Darling, could you turn off the TV? I have something to discuss with you." With loving speech, you will address him like that, with a smile.

Perhaps he is a bit irritated. He expects an argument, things like that. A quarrel, a dispute, something like that. And after he turns off the TV, you continue to smile and say: "Darling, why are we not happy together as a couple? It seems we have everything. Your salary, it's not bad at all. And mine, it's also very good. We have a beautiful house, two cars, a bank account. But why aren't we happy? Can we have a few minutes to think about it? We started very well. There was happiness, but why is there no more happiness now? Can we discuss heart to heart to find the reason, to pave a way?"

This is meditation. True meditation. And usually, we blame the other person for our suffering. But both are responsible. They do not know how to nourish love and happiness, they do not know how to handle suffering and help the other person handle suffering.

And Madam, if you want the sharing to be useful and good, you must say something like: "I have made mistakes. I have thought, spoken, and acted in ways that have harmed our happiness, that have harmed our love." It is important to return to oneself to look deeply. And if we can recognize our way of thinking, reacting, speaking, then we can tell the other person that we regret thinking like that, acting like that, which is not for the benefit of our love, our happiness. And if you are sincere, Madam, with mindfulness, if you can express your desire to start anew, to make a fresh beginning, then he will join you.

This is an exercise we can do in every household. We start by turning off the TV and having a Dharma sharing. We can use everyday language. We do not have to use Buddhist terms. But it must be a sharing, a deep looking directed towards our own situation. And Madam, you can initiate this sharing. I do not know if the journalist wrote this, but I thought it might be something useful for the readers of the magazine. It is because when both are suffering, they no longer look at each other, they look in the same direction, which is the television.

Paragraphe 1: But as true lovers, the direction you look is love. And you have this practice to be able to nourish your love and to help each other manage the suffering within you, within him, within her, and in the world. It is because people suffer around us. And we must offer our support so that they suffer less. It is a possible thing.