In the back of this book Thich Nhat Hanh is described as, "a Vietnamese Buddhist Zen master, poet, scholar, and peace activist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..." He died in January of 2022 at 95.
I'm not sure when I first read Peace is Every Step, which his most famous work (and the one I read first), but every book of his I've read of his since is that mantra, repeated like... a mantra. This book isn't self help for negotiation or public speaking or manipulation. It's about mindful communication.
Mindfulness is mental presence. It's the opposite of the scattered monkey mind. It's the opposite of anxiety, worry, and sorrow. It's peace. When we're mindful, we are focused on the here and now; what's actually happening. We are breathing, standing, sitting, chewing, listening, walking. We are in a state of experience rather than planning or reflecting. A lot of peoples' default state is planning or reflecting, rather than experiencing. There is a lot of irony in that, as all our planning has been for this moment, and all our reflection will be of this moment. It’s the only thing we have to experience—our sitting, breathing, eating, listening, walking. And those experiences are inherently peaceful.
The Art of Communicating reminds us that every person suffers, including ourselves, and we should listen to that suffering in order to transform it through our understanding of it. Deeply listening is a good start. Most people are aware when someone is waiting their turn to tell their story or experience rather than actually listening to us. We might feel like we're not talking to anybody at all. But, as Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us, this is just an understandable lack of skill from others, and we can still exercise our own deep listening, and hopefully show them how beneficial that can be.
One section of the book that really struck me is called "Our Communication is Our Continuation".
It expounds on the idea that your actions—and your thoughts, because they lead to actions—are what continue to ripple out into the world after you die. The same way you remember the actions of your past loved ones, people will remember what you've done and how you've made them feel. You leave an imprint on the world with everything you do.
He writes,
"Our communication is what we put out into the world and what remains after we have left it."
"We are like the cloud that produces the rain. Through the rain, the cloud continues to affect the crops, the trees, and the rivers, even after the cloud is no longer floating there in the sky. Likewise, everything we produce in terms of thought, speech, and action continues even after our bodies disintegrate. The cloud is there in the cornfield and in the river. When this body disintegrates, our words, thoughts, and physical actions continue to have an effect. Our thoughts, speech, and actions are our real continuation."
Your energy permeates the universe forever! And you are the culmination of many energies!
It's all just one thing that appears to be many!
I think Thich Nhat Hanh has written so many books because he wants us all to have constant reminders to be present/mindful. The days while reading his books are always incredibly peaceful because mindfulness itself is top of mind. Every bell, every bird, every breath is a reminder to return to the here and now. He gave us so many books so we'd never be short on a reminder to be present and compassionate. He watered many many seeds of compassion, left behind words that would keep feeding the plants after he was gone, and has reintegrated with a more compassionate Earth than the one that was here when he was born.
I'm incredibly thankful for that!