Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Bring the Earth your love and happiness.
The Earth will be safe
when we feel safe in ourselves.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Years ago, I was filled with excitement as I carried my copy of “Seven Story Mountain” by Thomas Merton into Central Park. One of those moments when you feel alive and filled with wonder. The sun was like water creeping around the leaves, gently caressing my skin with tangible warmth. Ever complimented with the soft cool breeze and orchestrated dance with the shade.
I sat on the corner bench, taking only small breaks from the pages and world Thomas shared, to take deep breaths of nature, as if was the perfect dressing to my meal. This book.
I was moved to tears reading Thomas sitting on the same very corner in years past, a spot he visited on occasion. Not tears from sadness or pain; awakening with humility from universal connectivity. I had to stop and touch the ground, as if for in and eternal moment there was no separation, we were One.
Imagine, for just a moment when I reached the later part of his life to find he was good friends with one of my greatest inspirations and heroes, Thich Nhat Hanh. Be open, listen deeply past the noise of the day, and the connections will be revealed.
It is difficult to give rightness to what happens in a moment, when you find two people who filled me with such inspiration, where friends and in the moments you discovered this, you did so in the very spot one of them came for his own, quiet awakenings.