The Little Flower

There are three things I learned from the Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh. These are compassionate listening, interbeing (inter-are), and Mindfulness.

Thích Nhất Hạnh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet, and teacher. Thích Nhất Hạnh is the founder of the famous Plum Village Tradition located in Dordogne, southern France.

First, compassionate listening, according to Thích Nhất Hạnh, "It is a kind of listening that relieves the suffering of another person; it is also called deep listening." This sounds basic to us working in contact centers; however, compassionate listening differs from active listening. Active listening is listening to that prepares an individual to defuse and seek a solution to a problem. On the other hand, empathetic listening is a kind of listening that can help relieve another person's suffering. Furthermore, it is a way to listen to another's grief or pain to reduce their feelings of sorrow.

The teacher (Thích Nhất Hạnh) said, "You have one purpose to help them empty her heart. You are helping the other person to suffer less and help them to transform their wrong perception."

Second, interbeing is a word coined and pioneered by Thích Nhất Hạnh as he explained that there is an interconnectedness of all things in the universe. As the teacher (Thích Nhất Hạnh) explained this, he said, "A sheet of paper, for example, is an interbeing as it is connected with a cloud through a chain of relationships. "Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper," this relationship of existence is what he calls inter-are, to inter-are means to co-exist. "Everything is connected to everything else." We cannot be on an island to exist alone. There must be another being to share this island with. Mathematicians call this a binary relation, a set of ones and zeros elements. Furthermore, the binary relationship of elements satisfied the law of reflexivity, namely, xRx, where the symbol R designates the binary relationship of interbeing.

Third, Mindfulness, according to the teacher (Thích Nhất Hạnh) he said that: "Mindfulness is the capacity to be aware of what is going on, and what is there. the object of your Mindfulness can be anything." You're always mindful of something. You can look at the sky, breathe in, and say: "Breathing in, I am aware of the blue sky."

Mindfulness helps us to recognize the condition of happiness in our lives. By being in the moment and cherishing the lush of the moment, we can see what it means to be fully alive. A wise philosopher taught me, "I am my body, but I am more than my body." Furthermore, "Mindfulness shows us what is happening in our bodies, emotions, minds, and the world. Through Mindfulness, we avoid harming ourselves and others."

"Peace in the world starts with peace in oneself. If everyone lives mindfully, everyone will be healthier, feel more fulfilled in their daily lives, and there will be more peace." - Thích Nhất Hạnh-

P.S. The writer dedicates this essay in memory of Thích Nhất Hạnh, who passed away on January 22, 2022, at age 95, Từ Hiếu Pagoda, Hue, Vietnam.

"I have a disciple in Vietnam who wants to build a stupa for my ashes when I die. He and others want to put a plaque with the words, "Here lies my beloved teacher." I told them not to waste the temple land...I suggested that if they still insist on building a stupa, they have the plaque say, I am not in here. But if people don't get it, they could add a second plaque; I am not out there. If still, people don't understand, then you can write on the third and last plaque, I may be found in your way of breathing and walking."- Thích Nhất Hạnh-