This is a review and my interpretation of the book Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh. I will talk about the 3 sections of the book and what I learned from them. I highly recommend this book for someone looking for inner peace. I will not cover every meditation or analogy in the book so if this is something you are interested in reading you can purchase the book from amazon below.
About the Author: Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–2022) was a Vietnamese Buddhist Zen Master, poet, and peace activist and one of the most revered and influential spiritual teachers in the world. Born in 1926, he became a Zen Buddhist monk at the age of sixteen. His work for peace and reconciliation during the war in Vietnam moved Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. In Vietnam, Thich Nhat Hanh founded Van Hanh Buddhist University and the School of Youth for Social Service, a corps of Buddhist peace workers. Exiled as a result of his work for peace, he continued his humanitarian efforts, rescuing boat people and helping to resettle refugees. In 1982 he established Plum Village France, the largest Buddhist monastery in Europe and the hub of the international Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism. Over seven decades of teaching, he published a hundred books, which have been translated into more than forty languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide.
About the book: This book is broken up into 3 different parts, Part One has to do with the self (individual), Part Two is about emotion and how we interact with others (small group), the Third and final part is about the universe (all). As you can see we start small in this book and constantly grow bigger. Thich Nhat Hanh describes this book as "a book of reminders in the rush of modern life, we lose touch with the peace in everylife." This is so true, Thich Nhat Hanh provides throughout the book multiple different types of mediation and different locations to do them.
This book has been very beneficial to me and I believe it would be to anyone who is striving to achieve greater peace and serenity in their life.
There are too many examples to cover in this book that have caused me to slow down my life and enjoy every day, but I will provide a few.
I love the stories that he tells, for instance: There was this driver who learned to love meditating but when he got to the city he could no longer hear the bells ringing as a signal to practice mindful breathing. Thich Nhat Hanh told him to use the street lights or whenever he hit the brakes or anything as a trigger to practice mindful breathing. This has been eye opening to me because we can create greater peace without taking extra time out of our day. Whenever we get stuck in traffic or waiting at lights instead of getting angry we can use this time to practice breathing mindfully.
Thich Nhat Hanh in Part One describes each day as "Every morning we have 24 brand new hours to live" what an incredible gift this is that we all take for granted. I know I have taken this gift for granted and have not even lived in the moment for quite some time (at least 7 years). After reading this book I find myself looking at the sky, the sea, smelling the flowers, looking at anything and everything that is happening in the world around me and thoroughly enjoying it. I have also found by practicing daily mindfulness my inner voice has gotten quieter, my life happier, and I care less of what people think of me. All I want to do is enjoy the moment and live happily. Now there are times when I forget to live mindfully as no one is perfect all the time. But all I have to do is look toward the sky, go for a walk, or just think about what is going on around me and the mindfulness sets in.
The best meditation from section one I believe is "Breathing in I calm my body, Breathing out I smile, dwelling in the present moment I know this is a wonderful moment, breathing in I calm my body." These words are said internally when breathing in and out. By smiling we automatically lift our moods, use the muscles in our face, and can impact someone else positively. That is the power of a smile. Thich Nhat Hanh describes happiness as "If we are not aware of being happy then we are not happy."
In Part Two of this book it discusses facing our emotions head on to fully understand them and be able to move past them. Thich Nhat Hanh says ""If we face our unpleasant feelings with care, affection, and nonviolence, we can transform them to the kind of energy that is healthy, that has the capacity to nourish us. By the work of mindful observation our unpleasant feelings can illuminate so much for us, offering us insight and understanding into ourselves and society." This is one step that needs to be taken to achieve peace. If we are controlled by our emotions and worrying about the past and/or future how can we live mindfully and presently. This section also offers a great idea of having a "safe space" a space where anyone can go to and it is a quiet space for reflection and breathing. I think this is a wonderful idea because no one could enter the space unless they were calm or going to work on their breathing. This is great for relationships, children, and practicing meditation/mindfulness.
Part 3 simply discusses that everything is apart of everything. The best example of this is a piece of paper. That piece of paper has the sun, water, wind, people, earth, etc... When we learn that everything has everything in it, we can appreciate everything in the world. Once we can appreciate the world a little more we can be peaceful to it and everything in it.
There are too many examples and meditations to cover that are in this book. I give this book
5 out of 5 rating.
The reason for this rating is that, 1 it is a short book (can keep the attention). 2 the guided meditations can be used immediately. 3 it broadened my horizon and opened me up to a new world of possibility. 4 it is applicable to today. 5 there were a lot of good analogies and stories throughout the book.
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