Thay asks the retreatants to write about their practice of stopping in daily life. If the practice is maintained every day, it helps us to be fully alive, to be free and happy. The practice is not to means to an end, it is the end itself.
Our civilization carries us in its frantic race. If we want to live our life authentically, we must know how to practice stopping. There is no freedom without stopping; and there is no happiness without freedom. One single in-breath is enough to practice stopping. It is a practice of resurrection that brings about pleasure and joy.
The collective energy of the Sangha offers the support and the energy that are needed in order to transform the simple act of cooking into a celebration of life.
Stopping frees us from our worries about the future or the past. We become masters of ourselves, fully responsible for our feelings and our behaviors, liberated from our past suffering.

This talk was given by Thay in the New Hamlet of Plum Village, on November 30th, 2003.