July Highly Recommended Read
This month’s recommended book is How to Love by Thich Nhat Hanh. Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist.
It is essentially a pamphlet: small enough to fit into a coat pocket. The book came out in 2015 and I was lucky enough to come upon it then.
It is one of my top three books of all time as it contains so much wisdom in very little prose. I have shared this book with more 1:1 clients than I can possibly count and worked through it with a number of them. In my life, I have read it in relation to my relationship with my father, my current partner and also colleagues, past and present, who stretched my concept and practice of love.
Here are three great reasons why you may want to check out this book.
3 Reasons to read How to Love by Thich Nhat Hanh
1. This book focuses on the practice of love, not just the concept of it
The book is full of one-page mini-essays related to the practice of love. To give you an example, here are three that really resonated when I first came upon the book.
- So long as we reject ourselves and cause our bodies and minds hard, there is little point in talking about love and bringing it to others.
- To love someone else we have to grasp that love requires knowing the person and how to love them or else we may wound them.
- The most precious inheritance we give to children and others is our own happiness.
2. The short format inviting many creative uses
As I mentioned above, this is a pocketbook with over 100 perspectives.
One can read any of its pages before starting a day or end it. Each page can be a mantra, a practice, a challenge or an invitation into practice.
It can be read with others to invite reflection or stimulate dialogue.
I have used it with people at work.
2. Additional practices
At the end of the book, you will find additional practices for nourishing love.
They are all based on the principle that all beings and relationships are living systems that change and demand our presence and attention.
Our retreats help individuals develop greater love of self
Our core mission at Make Time Count is to support individuals and groups in genuine thriving. We do this using mind, heart, body and spirit integration.
When these four parts come together conflict grows small and people flourish. Using methodologies grounded in the neurobiology of safety we have developed and adopted for integration, we can help you move towards greater internal alignment, healthy balance, and more flow.
We offer two different access points into the work through our retreats:
- the inside-out Align retreat where we focus on our core, and
- the outside-in Grid retreat where we focus on our environment and life practices.
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The retreats are truly a time to focus on yourself. Reflect, recharge, renew and meet like minded people. It encourages you to make time for yourself. – Chris
