It happens this way …
While the Internet can be maddeningly time-consuming, it can also be surprisingly miraculous. Last Sunday evening as hummingbirds zipped around the yard and the hum of the neighbor’s air conditioner provided white noise, I was guided to an interview Oprah Winfrey conducted five years ago with Thích Nhất Hạnh. I can’t remember how I found it. I’d like to think it found me.
Among other topics, they spoke about the monk’s relationship to Martin Luther King, Jr., his practice of meditating every moment of every day, and the gift of compassionate listening. About three minutes before the end of their engaging conversation, Hạnh offered the best relationship advice I ever heard. He explained four mantras that can heal and deepen our connection to our loved ones immediately.
Here is a brief synopsis of what he suggested. Perhaps you’ll be motivated to go to the video to hear his enlightened words in his own sweet voice.
1. Darling, I’m here for you.
When you love someone, the best thing you can offer him or her is your presence. How can you love if you are not present? And this means your true presence, unencumbered with thoughts of the past or the future.
2. Darling, I know you are there and I am so happy because you are truly there.
You recognize the presence of your beloved one as something very precious. To be loved is to be recognized as existing.
These two mantras by themselves can bring happiness right away. You can even practice them over the phone!
3. Darling, I know you suffer. That is why I’m here for you.
Before you can do anything, your very presence can bring relief. This requires compassionate listening, not trying to fix the beloved.
The fourth mantra is the hardest because it’s about your suffering and your belief it has been caused by your beloved. You would prefer to go to your room, close the door, and suffer alone, and you want to punish him or her for having made you suffer. This mantra helps to overcome that.
4. Darling, I suffer. Please help me.
You go to him or her and, if you can bring yourself to say this mantra, you will suffer less right away.
What simple words. What healing possibilities!
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