Welcome to this week’s Takeaway Tuesday and the last one for 2023. Yes, there is another Tuesday in this month, but for that Takeaway Tuesday I’ll be revealing the books I recommended most often in 2023. Hmmm which ones will they be?
So to end this year’s batch of reviews, I’m focusing on one of the books which had a long-lasting impact on me: The Art Of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh.
I received it as a 2022 Christmas present, read it in January of this year and think about it all the time.
The author, Thich Nhat Hanh, was a Buddhist Zen master. His activism, teachings, books and poetry had such impact that Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
For this book he focuses on a mindfulness approach to help us answer life’s deepest questions.
I love the way he distills those deep questions into concepts and practices which are understandable while still respecting the thoughts and feelings it takes to even come to these questions.
His approach is based on Buddhism, yet he also brings in Christianity, science and philosophy to help illustrate and inform The Art Of Living.
These insights are parsed into small sections that can stand on their own, so the book can certainly be used as a daily devotional. I often find that if I just casually flip through the pages, I’ll land on a message which really aligns to whatever I’m dealing with that day, giving me an extra boost to move in a direction which best serves me and my circle.
I do recommend first reading the book from beginning to end though. He covers some Buddhist concepts which do build on each other, so it helps to have some basic familiarity with those before randomly selecting passages.
Here’s one of my favorite passages (which doesn’t need any context). It’s found on page 159:
When you are facing a great challenge or difficulty in your life, it may not be easy to get in touch with these simple joys. You may find yourself wondering, “What is the meaning of it all?” You may ask this when you are sick, or when a loved one is sick or passing away, or when you are overwhelmed by despair and life seems to have lost all its meaning.
There is always something we can do to nourish our happiness and take care of ourselves. Even if, in a given moment, we cannot touch deep well-being, perhaps we can increase our happiness by just five or ten percent. That is already something. To meditate is not only to discover the meaning of life, but to also heal and nourish ourselves.
The author spends quite a bit of the book discussing how we can face those challenges he mentions in this passage.
In fact, I’d say my top takeaway from this book has been that a challenge, and ultimately that suffering, is not something to fear or avoid, but can be beautiful and meaningful.
Reading this in January absolutely helped me embrace the challenges I faced just a few months later and to support those close to me who had challenges of their own.
The Art Of Living is a beautiful spiritual and philosophical book. I do hope you read it and once you do, please let me know your top takeaway!
