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Dwelling Happily in the Present Moment
Practicing mindfulness is to recognize what is happening in the present moment, so that we know where we are, what we are doing, and how we are feeling; mindfulness is the heart of Buddhist practice and the source of happiness. A five-day retreat requires turning off the phone, maintaining silence, eating meals, washing dishes, walking meditation, sitting meditation… all must be practiced with mindful breathing to nourish joy, solidity, and liberation from anxiety and fear.
Thay Thich Nhat Hanh first attained realization in America in 1962 at Princeton and wrote A Rose for Your Pocket as an acknowledgment of his first insight: mindfulness is the condition for happiness to be present right away, without needing to seek in the future. The Buddha also taught in the Discourse to the Layperson that the phrase dwelling happily in the present moment is repeated five times, affirming that happiness can be attained right in the present moment.
Main steps of practice
- Breathing in, know you are breathing in; breathing out, know you are breathing out; smile, do not worry
- Walking meditation: each breath is linked with each step to dwell in “I have arrived, I am home – I have arrived, I am home”
- Sitting meditation: back straight, eyes half-closed, return to the breath whenever the mind is distracted
- Eating and washing dishes in silence, chewing each bite thirty times to nourish insight and gratitude
- Maintaining collective silence so the mind can settle, generating the energy of mindfulness and concentration, opening the path for insight
