Summary Of You Are Here By Thich Nhat Hanh

Have you ever thought about if you are living your life to your fullest potential? Did you know that in Buddhism, practicing mindfulness is the key to transforming our lives to be better than it was before? In the book, You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh, talks a great about mindfulness and how it is “not an evasion or an escape,” but “it means being here, present, and totally alive. It is true freedom—and without this freedom, there is no happiness.” (Hanh, back cover) Usually somewhere along the lines, people just want to be happy in life, and in order to achieve true happiness, a person must work for it. Throughout the book, Hanh exemplifies what it is like to practice Buddhism and how to maximize ones practice to improve on all different aspects

I really enjoy how he explains that Buddhism practices are there to help your mind be at ease with what is going on around you even in times of despair. Life is beautiful, and we need to be in control our own thoughts and feelings so that we can exercise our mind and maximize it to its fullest potential. Throughout You Are Here, he uses metaphors to develop compassion with others and to better the relationship we have with ourselves as well. Hanh explains:

When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason argument. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change. (Hanh

He mentioned that “flowers use compost to grow healthy and strong” (Hanh 120) to point out that we can use our own compost, our junk, our baggage, our past experiences and regrets, to build something really beautiful in our own lives. All of those experiences are what makes us unique and compassionate and allows us to move forward and learn. If you never experience pain and suffering, then you never grow. He also talks about using your pain to show compassion to others, and to be there for the people you love. This is sometimes hard to do because people can be cruel and do nothing but wrong doing, so being able to accept people regardless of past mistakes will in turn release you from hate and stress on yourself. We could all use more love, compassion, openness, and gentleness in our lives and it is good to be reminded of that when we