I've always wanted to read one of these Zen &<> books, and when I saw this one was by Thich Nhat Hanh, I decided to give it a try—and I'm so glad I did. It's always a pleasure to read anything written by Thich Nhat Hanh. Fortunately, I also got the audio version from my public library, which turned out to be a major treat as it included a recording of Thich Nhat Hanh Meditations at the end.

The approach this book proposes to saving the planet (and by extension, ourselves) is by disrupting the autopilot mode that most of us operate on during much of our daily lives. It poses the question, what if even some of us learned to live each moment deeply, to look into our fears instead of running away from them regardless of our walk of life or beliefs? If we just took a few minutes of calming breaths some of the time before speaking or acting under the strong influence of anger or hurt?

This is from the audio (a poem that is recited).

Waking up this morning I smile,
24 hours are for me
I want to live them deeply, whole heartedly
and learn how to look at people around me with the eyes of compassion.