I am a great admirer of the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh who died on January 22, 2022. For years, I have owned his book, Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life and have periodically revisited it. After his death recently, I decided to order several more of his books and they arrived today. They include Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames; Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm; and The Art of Communicating. Those choices should give you a bit of a window into where I could use some guidance these days.

I don’t think of myself as an angry or fearful person or even someone who needs lots of guidance on communicating in general, but I do have a few places where I stumble. I want to develop a stronger internal locus of control (as I was taught to describe it when studying Psychology.) That basically means not allowing myself to get thrown off by external forces like events and people. I truly would like to gain greater peace in my life and so I’m going to explore these teachings for guidance.

I also recognize that I want to grow old gracefully and I might need a little help to do that well. I want to bring peace and presence to my interactions with others, not anxiety and distraction. I tend to be a Be Here Now sort of person, but want to develop a more consistent practice of mindfulness. I know Thich Nhat Hanh is a very able teacher and I look forward to benefiting from his deep wisdom.

On that note, I’ll bide you good night. I am now looking forward to a warm bath before heading to bed and watching a little television. That will surely bring me some peace.

I’ll be checking in again tomorrow.