This book is thought provoking and inspiring. It helped me to see wonder in the most mundane areas of societal life, and showed me that any situation that comes your way can be approached with mindfulness.

The Layout

The layout of the book consists of 6 main themes, they include:

1. Life in Vietnam
2. War and Exile
3. The Blossoming of Plum Village
4. At Home in the World
5. I Have Arrived
6. About Thich Nhat Hanh

The themes mentioned above act like chapters throughout the book and are notions of experience from Thich Nhat Hanh. Each one of these themes includes a short story of an encounter that profoundly changed and morphed his reality towards greater enlightenment, lessons are learnt, even if it does not appear to be obvious at first. The reader (you - at some point I hope) is taken on an epic pilgrimage through a monks life.

What is the Book About?

Well, the book is about a remarkable life who through "mindfulness meditation" managed to do so much for so many. The enlightenment gained from these experiences made him look at things differently finding joy in the most unusual of places. Hanh refers to walking meditation a lot throughout the book, which has now become a practice that I have tried to incorporate into my own life. Hanh uses his skills developed over time to express his ideas to the reader, his honest laid back approach to storytelling has you wanting to read more.

My Top 10 Stories (Out of 86) Accompanied by a Quote

Closing the Door

Ever thought about how you close a door when you leave a room? Mindfulness can be incorporated into every aspect of our daily lives. Next time you close a door behind you, think consciously about how to do so and what that message conveys to the rest of the world in that moment. The way you close a door may be noticed by some and ignored by others.

"With the energy of mindfulness, every action in our daily life can become pleasurable".

Washing Dishes

I know from experience that, the thought of doing the plates or dishes seems to hold weight in our minds and is easy to dismiss as not a priority. In the grand scheme of things, this appears to be true. Hanh talks about the idea that doing the dishes is unpleasant can only occur when you aren't doing them. Sometimes you just have to push through that heavy thought to get them done. What you might find while doing them though, is that the warm water and the moment of cleaning can become quite pleasant and therapeutic.

"Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred".

Hermitage in the Wind

We all have bad days, and sometimes no matter what we do to try and change the trajectory of the day, it only seems to go one way. In this passage, Hanh delves into the fact we sometimes need to know internally that we should cut our loses and head home. Whether thats to our four-walled home or to our home within, we need to find peace in ourselves that the sun will rise again tomorrow and we can try once more. As Hanh says, "Go home and take refuge in yourself".

"Our six senses are windows to the mind... Shut the windows, shut the door, and make a fire".

Mr. Mounet and the Cedar Trees

Close friends can feel more like your family than your blood relatives. We can choose our friends, but we can't choose our family. We're all aware of this fact, but the existence of both gives balance to our lives and we can be grateful in moments of joy or despair, with whoever we may be with at the time.

"In difficult moments you can invite the image of your friend to come up into your consciousness, and the two of you can breathe together. You will feel better right away".

Whether a loved one, a friend or family member, is with us still or not, we can at least hold their image in our minds and find comfort in the present moment to get us through another day here on planet earth.

An Old Tree Produces New Blossoms

We should listen to old trees more often, they hold knowledge on things that will most likely be lost with them, lost to the depths of time, when they eventually go and have had their moment here, by that point, it will have been too late to have started listening. Old trees that do produce new flowers even now, have my upmost respect. If you haven't worked out what i'm referring to yet, it's the older generations of people who are in their late 70's and 80's. There is always another story to tell from them, on times gone by, if you listen carefully enough, you yourself may even learn a thing or two.

Cherish old trees, ask about their roots, new blossoms can crop up from anywhere, when the young and the old come together they can pass on wisdom and knowledge from both sides of ones experience to each other. Hanh talks about how biologically he is getting older and older, but he feels that in some way he is getting younger and younger. Everyday he wakes up, he is presented with a new insight, like that of an old tree producing new flowers, he continues to grow. With patience good things come to those who wait, once the seed has been sown and the work has been done.

"Our practice is to cultivate good seeds in the soil of our mind, knowing that they will mature and bloom in their own time".

The Bell

A bell, a call for action. What a bell does well, is that it gets your attention. This attention can be used to bring our mind back to our body. With today's pace and the sheer amount of visual stimulation and distraction on offer, it can become an anxious and overwhelming minefield of booby traps, that can lead the mind astray. With mindfulness we can take the time out of our busy schedules to remind ourselves that we do have a body and it shouldn't be neglected. Hanh says that "our true home is in the present moment". He goes on to say, "When we breathe in, we say, silently "Listen, Listen", and when we breathe out, we say, "This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home".

"When the mind is not with the body, you are not really there, alive. We are truly alive only when our mind is with our body".

A Relaxing Bus Ride

Nowadays I very rarely use public transport and usually drive everywhere I can, if it's not in biking or walking distance of course. Some bus rides in the past have definitely been relaxing and can be a nice place to sit and reflect as the driver takes you through the city or over the hills and down country lanes. You can learn a lot about yourself and about others on these types of journeys, by just sitting there comfortably and observing the people around you, you'll quickly get a sense of what each persons story is in the present moment. Remembering not to be quick to judge others, but to observe with empathy. This passage in the book brings attention to the notion that habit energies can bear weight on our lives and can be passed on from previous generations.

"If we do not liberate our ancestors, we will be in bondage all our lives, and we will transmit our negative habit energies to our children and grandchildren".

Coach JV a warrior of the new age, always says this before every post he uploads to the internet. "What you repeatedly do gets ingrained in your subconscious mind, what gets ingrained in your subconscious mind becomes an unconscious activity".

Olive Trees

I love olives, they seem to be an acquired taste, I've talked to many people in the past about olives and it seems to be a love or hate relationship with these types of foods. It seems to be the same with the likes of mushrooms, pistachio nuts, and avocado, but I digress. In this encounter Hanh talks about how the olive trees are known to the natives to be robust beneath the surface, even when the above-ground structure of the tree is dead, from frosts, fires and disease. This passage is similar to that of the one titled "An Old Tree Produces New Blossoms". Where Olive Trees differs from the former, is in the fact that Hanh attempts to demonstrate that we are all one of the same tree, collectively as humans we are connected, we are brothers and sisters. Above the surface it appears we are all from different roots and our differences divide us into separate trunks, but yet we are made from the same source of stardust.

"If you are siblings of the same parents, you are part of the same tree. You have the same roots, the same father and mother".

Our Two Hands

I've always found our hands to be very interesting tools, I can end up looking at the structure of the hand for ages, the human body is amazing. When thinking about how we mobilise our fingers, an electrical impulse or signal is sent from our brain which tells our hand to move. It's truly fascinating stuff. In this one page anecdote Hanh refers to how subconsciously, if one hand gets hurt the other steps in to help ease the pain. Which, when reading between the lines you can see that it is a metaphor for helping your fellow man, when they are hurt or in need of assistance.  

"My left hand never fights my right hand. Both hands enjoy harmony and understanding. When one hand suffers, they both suffer; when one hand is happy, they are both happy".

Life Is Our True Home

As I write this the autumn colours of the trees outside are beautiful. Oranges, light greens, dark greens and yellows, there is so much beauty in the world when we take the time to really look at it. Learning the ways of the body can help us understand the ways of the mind. When tension is released in the shoulders and the pelvic floor muscles, there is very little tension now for the body to cultivate the feelings of angst. When our physical bodily environment through interception and proprioception are aligned, wherever we go, we can establish our true home in the present moment.

"Home is not something to hope for, but to cultivate. There is no way home; home is the way".

The Buddha said, "You have to make the present moment into the most wonderful moment of your life".

How the Book Influenced Me

• It helped me to relax, reading a passage or two from this book a day, kept me grounded and reminded me of what was important in life.
• Weirdly enough reading about mindfulness made me feel calm and collected, it brought me back to the present moment. Hanhs words gave me an ASMR effect to the body, allowing tension to seep away.
• The book demonstrates the power of storytelling, and how one persons experience in a subject can be appreciated and related to by the reader, books like these that document moments, hold great importance to people and can help change lives forever.
• This book inspired me to continue being curious in lifes wonders.

Who Should Read it?

• Someone feeling lost in the world, needing some meaning in their life.
• Someone experiencing anxiety, depression or any mental health state.
• Someone who is spiritually connected, who wants to ground themselves a little more.
• I think everyone should take the time to read this book, for me it acts as a calming book for me to pick up now and again, if I am feeling overwhelmed with stress.

Summary & Notes

I think i've given you enough to think about, whether you'll go out and find it or order it yourself is up to you. But I would highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a book to bring them back to the present moment, and this book sure does just that!