Bookshelf: Present Moment, Wonderful Moment

While I continue to energize myself (as I did this past weekend camping and photographing the vineyards and wineries my wife and I stopped by--one of which is seen above) for my longest, most challenging annual long distance “run,” the school year, I have gone back once again to a slim volume that I like to re-read on occasion. Further prompted by another reading I am currently doing, I went into my attic bookshelves and pulled Present Moment, Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living by Thich Nhat Hanh. (Thich Nhat Hanh is a teacher, author and peace activist whose most familiar American writings are likely the two books he wrote regarding some perceived similarities between the Buddha and Jesus.)

In his book Present Moment, Wonderful Moment Hanh offers some suggestions for increasing mindfulness in every day living by preparing, and explaining, forty-nine short, practical verses. One example of the short gathas, or "mindfulness verses" would be this one, suggested for use upon waking up and starting each day:

Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hour are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.

My own faith background as a Roman Catholic is chock-full of “prayers” designed for repetition at different points during the day, week and mass “celebration,” but few seem as proactively compassionate as most of these. Rather than focusing on one’s request for forgiveness, these tiny gatha seem to be written with the intent of establishing right behavior as a way of building compassion in both the reciter, as well as those they may encounter during the day.

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!