Through my eyes

Nhat Hanh taught that you don't have to spend years on a mountaintop to benefit from Buddhist wisdom. Instead, he says, "Just become aware of your breath, and through that come into the present moment, where everyday activities can take on a joyful, miraculous quality. If you are mindful, or fully present in the here and now, anxiety disappears and a sense of timelessness takes hold, allowing your highest qualities, such as kindness and compassion, to emerge."

For those reading this, it may come as some kind of mumbo-jumbo but for those that practice meditation, prayer or yoga know that Nhat Hanh's teachings deliver the truth.

Nhat Hanh's book,Being Peace,is a splendid introductory text for anyone interested in Buddhism. One particularly serene and worthwhile section of the book elaborates fourteen "mindfulness trainings." These trainings represent the core substance of theOrder of Interbeing, an order of Zen founded byNhat Hanh himself for both lay persons and monks.

Here are some interesting insights into mindfulness.

Don't ever take any set of ideas too seriously, including these. Inflexible obsessions with particular worldviews lead to suffering, and our goal is to reduce suffering, so we'll just set rigid mentalities aside. The ideas we study and practice are tools for insight and understanding, not something to tussle over.

The views that you hold right now Loosen your grip on them. If we are too attached to particular perceptions and opinions, we'll fail to adequately open up to the thoughts and lives of others. Our knowledge is not the capital-T Truth. Truth is the flowing river, the warm sun, the llama that just spit in your eye. Our primary goal is to constantly be in touch with the world surrounding us, always ready to learn from it.

No one - not even our own children - will ever be forced to think like we do because that will lead to suffering, and as we've said, we're not about that life. Create your own world; choose for yourself what to revere and what to incinerate. The only thing we'll ever do is help an extremist brother, with kind discussion, to calm down a little bit.

Got suffering Be with it.Suffering, in ourselves and in others, is not to be avoided. Rather, it should be countenanced, studied, and felt. Understanding the nature of suffering can allow us to discern an escape hatch; tasting suffering teaches us to transfigure it or let it fall away.

Real happiness = peacefulness, reliability of character, freedom, and compassion. Wealth and fame don't bring happiness, and we won't seek them; nor will we seek sensual pleasure. We aim to live in a basic way and share what we have with those who need help.

We're not mad. If we do get mad, we wish to be mindful of our anger, to see beyond it to the source of the feeling, and to change ourselves at a fundamental level. If we're angry, we will remain quiet, breathe, take a walk, and embrace our feelings. If someone upsets us, we will seek to understand them.

Be here now, we will try to leave the past behind us and not contemplate the future. We will avoid desire, anger, and jealousy.Mindful breathingwill anchor us.Mindfulness of what is immediately before us is the key to life's celestial nectar. We're all about that.

As we head firmly into the New Year, we continue to carry out our New Year's resolutions for 2019. We are challenged to be more resilient and super awake as the new years dawns upon us. May your 2019 resolutions bear fruit.