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If you abandon the present moment, you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.
Nhat Hanh
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Being present in the moment is essential for truly experiencing life.

This quote by Nhat Hanh emphasizes the importance of mindfulness and living in the present. Abandoning the present moment means missing out on the richness of our daily experiences, leading to a shallow existence where we fail to appreciate the beauty and depth of life as it unfolds.

Themes

MindfulnessPresentLifeExperienceDeeply

In practice

Example use cases

Using this quote during a mindfulness workshop to emphasize the importance of presence.

More from Nhat Hanh

Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation that helps realise your ideal of compassion.
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I have lost my smile, but don't worry. The dandelion has it.
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I realize that many elements of the Buddhist teaching can be found in Christianity, Judaism, Islam. I think if Buddhism can help, it is the concrete methods of practice.
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Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life.
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The therapist does not treat patients by simply giving them another set of beliefs. He or she tries to help them see which kinds of ideas and beliefs have led to their suffering. Many patients want to get rid of their painful feelings, but they do not want to get rid of their beliefs, the viewpoints that are the very roots of their feelings.
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Scientists tell us that we have enough technology to save our planet. . . . Yet we don't take advantage of this new technology. . . . The technological has to work hand-in-hand with the spiritual. Our spiritual life is the element that can bring about the energies of peace, calm, brotherhood, understanding, and compassion. Without that, our planet doesn't stand a chance.
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A little wisdom, now and then

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