Happy New Year to all my dear friends who read me!!
We hope that this 2007 has just begun the bearer of great news and that at least one of the many dreams that everyone keeps in the drawer is realized.
If we look at the world, coming out of our narrow personal, more alive the hope is that some of the many conflicts that afflict the planet to be resolved and that peace reigns everywhere.
Maybe that's why we must begin by bringing peace to ourselves, because as claimed by the Monaco Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist who put ethics and social commitment, if we are not able to love and take care of ourselves we can not be of great help to others, nor can we be bearers of a message of peace.
Since 1982 Thich Nhat Hanh founded the Plum Village in France, a community of monks and lay where he lives by teaching the art of reconciliation and understanding in everyday life.
One of meditations drawn from the songs and recitations of the Plum Village was published in a small pamphlet with the significant title: Steps to Peace, edited by friends of "A Time for Peace" during a visit to Florence in the spring of 2003 by Thich Nhat Hanh. I appreciated the text of the meditation of love and I began to practice focusing on myself, the next step was to replace "I" with "you", then "he" and finally "all". The suggestion of the book is to begin from a person we love, then a person who is dear to us, then someone to whom we are neutral and finally those who have brought suffering.
The most challenging step is the last, but the feeling is that a lightweight, try to believe .... here comes the text, try to do this meditation, the results are better than you can possibly imagine, still a wish for a happy 2007!!
Meditation
love that I can be at peace, happy and light in body and mind.
May I be safe and free from harm.
May I be free from anger, grief, fear and anxiety.
May I look at myself with eyes of understanding and love.
May I recognize and tap the seeds of peace and happiness in me.
that I may learn to identify and understand the root causes of anger, greed and delusion in me.
May I learn every day to nourish the seeds of joy in me.
That I may live healthy, stable and free.
May I be free from attachment and aversion, but not indifferent.
