Have you ever met someone who has changed the course of your life and deepened you as a human being? For me Thich Nhat Hanh is one of those people. His impact continues to ripple through me forever altering my life. Yes, this monk through the humble simplicity of his being and by witnessing his actions and his teachings has shown me the path of love.
Love often has felt vague and empty to me, like ways one should be, mere words. Nothing in all my learning as truly settled in. Being with Thich Nhat Hanh I felt love embodied, flowing through his words, his being and his actions in ways that awe struck and moved me. He felt like a mountain solid with unwavering integrity and presence and vast and clear like the open, blue sky. The balance, groundedness, presence and love he is is forever etched in my being and will beneficially direct my life.
His ability to love and embrace all human beings and situations is the exalted expression of love. It touched me so deeply to be with him. I sat riveted hearing his responses to people and the stories he shared. What struck me powerfully was his loving, unbiased receptivity to horrific experiences people had committed. He would receive and hear another calmly, without reaction and respond with practical, heartfelt insight and wisdom. At times I found myself in tears, moved by the depth of his compassion and ability to love.
You know that quick that happens automatically to most of us where we judge, categorize and energetically either reject or like something or someone? How beautiful, spacious and refreshing it is to experience this automatic response not operating in Thich Nhat Hanh. His openness engenders trust and safety. His presence creates a whole other atmosphere and reality where love flourishes. I drank that in deeply and found myself feeling nurtured, healed, restored, opened and inspired by who he is.
I pray to be that open hearted and to truly know and live the reality that we are all one, that one persons suffering is our own. I know life is a mirror and to shut down to another's pain is to shut down to and fear my own. What I witnessed in Thich Nhat Hanh was an intimacy and presence with each person and the true ability to hear from love, compassion and equanimity, rather than taking on someone's suffering or being a martyr. I experienced in him that there is never anything to reject or avoid. He lives the knowing that we are all connected. I am eternally grateful to have seen this wisdom in action and have been shown another ground to live from.
Being around Thich Nhat Hanh allowed painful places in me and stuck perspectives to release that I didn’t even know I was holding onto. I felt such relief and forgiven for mistakes and poor judgments I had made in my life. Nothing more needed to be said or explained. His depth and ability to understand another and compassionately see the roots of one's circumstances is freedom.
As I was sitting right in front of him for an hour and a half receiving his teachings and imbibing his presence, many times he looked directly into my eyes. For one of the first times in my life I felt what love was. I felt a wall of fear around my heart and a protection in my body release that I have felt throughout my life when relating to people. I felt loved for simply being, no reason, no attraction, desire, agenda or need. The depth! So rare and what a treasure. I experienced the delight and pure bliss of simply being love with another. Something I will never forget and has profoundly impacted my being forever informing the way I see and live.
We have been taught whether we are conscious of it or not to love for reasons. I invite you to love simply for the sake of love. It is so freeing, fulfilling and our true nature. I feel more confidence in moving from courage, trust, groundedness and presence no matter the circumstances for Thich Nhat Hanh showed
me that possibility.
I have a profound respect for Thich Nhat Hanh, for who he is and what he has actualized. I realize, for me, he is a living, breathing example of what I value, love and aspire to become. For all of us there are people like this who can make this kind of difference in our lives. They are on our path no matter our interests, values and passions. I invite you, if you do not have someone like that in your life, to open to it. It is catalytic and profoundly transformational. We truly are not alone.
Again, here are the websites to hear and download Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings for free: http://tnhaudio.org/ and http:/pvom.org/.
Thank you for your time and attention, many blessings this holiday season for you and your loved ones.
Love,
Lisa
Lisa Hartnett, D.C.
Fulfilled Living Wellness Center 503 D Street, Ste. 7 • San Rafael, CA 415-457-0155
About Me
- Helping Hands
- From a young age, I have always been inquisitive about life and its deeper meaning. At the age of twenty-two, my questions began to be answered. I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and bedridden for a year. Life, as I then knew and understood it, crumbled. This opened me to alternative ways of healing. Thus began my path of personal healing, Network Chiropractic and facilitating others in their healing. I now lead a vibrant and healthy life practicing Network Chiropractic, Embodiment Sessions and Songs from the Cells. I also travel throughout the East Bay, the South Bay and Marin helping animals and their caregivers through communication and healing. I am passionate about helping people and animals heal, and empowering them to know and experience their inherent healing power.