Silence (Thich Nhat Hanh) — Part 2

This is the second part of my notes and quotes from the book Silence by Thich Nhat Hanh:

• In focusing on that contact with the earth, we stop being dragged around by our thoughts and begin to experience our body and our environment in a wholly different way.
• If you want to create a more collegial, harmonious atmosphere in your workplace or community, don’t start by trying to change other people. Your first priority should be to find your own quiet space inside so you can learn more about yourself.
• Nonthinking is an art, and like any art, it requires patience and practice. Reclaiming your attention and bringing your mind and body back together for even just ten breaths can be very difficult at first. But with continued practice, you can reclaim your ability to be present and learn just to be.
• Finding a few minutes to sit quietly is the easiest way to start training yourself to let go of your habitual thinking.
• When you sit quietly, you can observe how your thoughts rush in, and you can practice not ruminating on them and instead let them just come and go as you focus on your breath and on the silence inside.
• Not talking, by itself, already can bring a significant degree of peace.
• You may find that when you make it your priority to follow the path of happiness, you also become more successful in your work.
• It’s often the case that when people are happier and more peaceful, the quality of their work improves.
• Stopping brings body and mind together, back to the here and now. Only by stopping can you realize calm and concentration, and encounter life. By sitting quietly, stopping the activities of body and mind, and being silent within, you become more solid and concentrated, and your mind becomes clearer.
• Begin by stopping the physical running around you do with your body. When your body is still, when you don’t need to pay attention to any activity other than your breathing, it will be much easier for your mind to let go of its own habitual running, although this can take some time and some practice.
• When we release our ideas, thoughts, and concepts, we make space for our true mind. Our true mind is silent of all words and all notions, and is so much vaster than limited mental constructs. Only when the ocean is calm and quiet can we see the moon reflected in it.
• Conscious, intentional quiet is noble silence.
• Vo Ngon Thong, one of the founders of Vietnamese Zen Buddhism, wrote, “Don’t ask me anything more. My essence is wordless.” To practice mindfulness of our speech, we have to be able to practice silence.
• If we listen from the mind of silence, every birdsong and every whispering of the pine branches in the wind will speak to us.
• A fast for our consciousness Many cultures practice fasting for a specific period of time for religious holidays, for initiation rituals, or for other reasons. Other people fast for health reasons. This is worth doing not only for our body but for our consciousness as well. Every day we take in a multitude of words, images, and sounds, and we need some time to stop ingesting all those things and let our mind rest. A day without the sensory food of e-mail, videos, books, and conversations is a chance to clear our mind and release the fear, anxiety, and suffering that can enter our consciousness and accumulate there.
• If you decide to do just one solitary activity in true silence, whether it’s being in the car, making breakfast, or walking around the block, you will be giving yourself a break from the constant stream of stimuli.
• … that moment of complete and total stopping and opening to the powerful, healing, miraculous ocean called silence.
• To manifest our true nature, we need to bring a stop to the constant internal conversation that takes up all the space in us. We can start by turning off Radio NST for little moments each day, in order to give that mental space over to joy instead.
• … the easiest way to free ourselves from the endless wheel of nonstop thinking is by learning the practice of mindful breathing. We breathe all the time, but we rarely pay attention to our breathing. We rarely enjoy our breathing.
• A mindful breath is the treat you get to enjoy when you’re giving all your attention to your in-breath and out-breath for the full length of that inhalation and exhalation. If you pay attention as you breathe, it’s as though all the cells in your brain and in the rest of your body are singing the same song.
• Waking up this morning I smile.  Twenty-four brand-new hours are before me. I vow to live them deeply and learn to look at everything around me with the eyes of compassion.
• People say “time is money.” But time is much more than money. Time is life.
• So quieting your body and mind and sitting just to be with yourself is an act of revolution.
• People say it is a miracle to walk on air, on water, or on fire. But for me, walking peacefully on Earth is the real miracle.
• Let yourself become one with the action.
• Being able to stop and be aware of the present moment is part of the definition of happiness. It is not possible to be happy in the future. This is not a matter of belief; this is a matter of experience.
• Real solitude comes from a stable heart that does not get carried away by the pull of the crowd, nor by sorrows about the past, worries about the future, or excitement or stress about the present.
• It’s okay to make a wish, to have an aim. But we shouldn’t allow it to become something that prevents us from living happily in the here and the now.

See the first part of my notes on this book here. Also, check the Four Nutriments We Consume as discussed from the book.