Have a Walk-Meditation in a Book

Peace is Every Step is not a book on meditation: it is a meditation on its own. The sheer experience of walking and listening to the calming pace and the gentle voice of the narrator (Edoardo Ballerini) was powerful enough to induce a state of increased awareness for me.

His teaching about practicing smiling has been a life-changer. Since reading it, I've added the practice into all my daily meditations — whether they are sitting or walking meditation: every time we remember to smile our mood changes instantly. This soft smile is a tiny bud growing inside us that can make us happier at any moment just by connecting with it.

Walking and listening to this gentle gem was like walking trough a fractal.

That was the level of magic that “Peace Is Every Step” has on me. Has, not “had” because It gave me a beautiful glowing feeling, its effect lasting for many days.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching about smiling made me even more conscious of my inner power. I am a Laughter Yoga Teacher. Laughter is my superpower. A teachable one.

But laughing might be hard sometimes. Smiling, on the other hand, is so subtle that does require nothing more than the intention. And a memory. A vacation when we were children. The night when we stayed around the camp fire talking with our crush. The smell of a newborn baby. The thought of our beloved cat waiting for us at home. Anything we can use to make our lips curl up a little by themselves.

When I see someone smile, I know immediately that he or she is dwelling in awareness. This half-smile, how many artists have labored to bring it to the lips of countless statues and paintings? I am sure the same smile must have been on the faces of the sculptors and painters as they worked. Can you imagine an angry painter giving birth to such a smile? Mona Lisa’s smile is light, just a hint of a smile. Yet even a smile like that is enough to relax all the muscles in our face, to banish all worries and fatigue. A tiny bud of a smile on our lips nourishes awareness and calms us miraculously. It returns to us the peace we thought we had lost. (Thich Nhat Hanh — Peace Is Every Step)

This gentle practice of smiling is so powerful in its simplicity that has the potential to take us trough the challenges this dreaded pandeming brought to us.

Maybe this is all we need to feel better: to smile. And Nature.

I`ll let you with this gentle reminder that the dandelion is one member of our community of friends.

I have lost my smile,

but don’t worry.

The dandelion has it.

It is easy to forget to smile. It is easy to feel overwhelmed.

But dont forget:

If you have lost your smile and yet are still capable of seeing that a dandelion is keeping it for you, the situation is not too bad. You still have enough mindfulness to see that the smile is there. You only need to breathe consciously one or two times and you will recover your smile. The dandelion is one member of your community of friends. It is there, quite faithful, keeping your smile for you. (Thich Nhat Hanh — Peace Is Every Step)

Thank you for reading until the end.