I wrote the letter below on March 9, 2003, ten days before the
invasion of Iraq. It is the most widely read text I have written,
having been published in the leading newspapers across the world and
all over the Internet: close to 500 million people have read it.
The war is now entering its 6th year, and over 4,000 American soldiers have lost their lives, together with an indefinite number of Iraqis. According to the CNN (March 24, 2008), "estimates of the Iraqi death toll range from about 80,000 to the hundreds of thousands, with another 2 million forced to leave the country and 2.5 million displaced within Iraq, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees”.
In nearly all languages there is some sort of saying to the
effect of "Nobody likes a gossip".
Although there is nothing wrong with talking about other people, it is how we talk about them that really matters. It is so easy to fall into a pattern of unconscious criticism when describing the actions of others, especially when they are not there. Here is a beautiful little story to illustrate the power and importance of how we talk about other people.
This is a 5 Step Compassion Exercise. It can be practiced anywhere, at any time. It is not dangerous. It will not embarass you.
This is one of thirty exercises that can be found in ReSurfacing®:Techniques for Exploring Consciousness, by Harry Palmer.
Do you sometimes lose control of your emotional equilibrium because you feel you're being victimized by circumstances that are out of your control? If so, you'll likely find this story to be of help.
The Role of Breath
This is a transcription from a talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh during a retreat
with five hundred people in Hong Kong on 15 May 2007 (apologies for any
inaccuracies of mine -- Editor)In order to answer what happens us when we die, we need to answer another question what happens when we are alive?
What is happening now to us? In English we say we are but its proper to say we are becoming because things are becoming. Were not the same person in two consecutive minutes.
"I Am that I Am.” As you speak this proclamation you reconnect with the Sacred Circle of
Life, you voice a powerful prayer of your unique existence, which is the essence of Divine Breath. With this first tender movement of awareness, you breathe for that which inspires you, for that which gives you life. You become pure ceremony re-enacting the greatness and emptiness of All That Is. You breathe from the deepest stillness, from the darkest void. You enter as the "Word of God”, a bare speck of divine sound uttered in deafening silence. You are spoken into being. Woven through earth and time into a human form of biology, you are a love song, a divine whim, hurled out from profound immobility into eons and eons of change and evolution.
Breathwork helps you to relax and de-stress, it can iron out the nervous tension and worry of the daily grind and busy modern lives. It can help you to bring lasting peace, calm and clarity to troubled, often frantic busy lives. It will help you in re-establishing your true direction to achieve your fullest potential.