I’m Breathing and I’m Happy Thich Nhat Hanh Part 2

Over the years, a friend has asked, “Are you happy?” And each time I’ve told him that I’m content. I haven’t been able to say “happy.” That word had brought up memories of young family life, activities I enjoyed (jazz dance class), friends I’d known a long time. It brought up sounds: sea gulls’ cries at the beach, a burst of laughter, a guitar in a coffee house. I held onto that old view of happiness until recently when my view and I changed.

In “A Flower, Mindful Breathing, Beauty” I wrote of meeting Thich Nhat Hanh in his writing for a second time. This same friend (the one questioning me) who gave me my first book, Pocket Classic Thich Nhat Hanh, now gave me a second, Be Free Where You Are. In both, Thich Nhat Hanh writes simply and beautifully of real happiness. Finding his sentences too long for me to practice, I now have a short, easy phrase to remind me of his teaching.

One day as I was scrubbing three burned pots, repeating, “I’m breathing and I'm happy,” I heard a bird’s melodious song. I didn’t recognize the bird, and by its third repetition, I was easing through a noisy door to the porch. Tiptoeing to a half-solid door advantageous for bird watching, I rested my fingers on an edge and slowly moved my face to the screen. I saw a drongo, a little green bee-eater—but not my singer. What happened then was, at first, unbelievable—my entire body flooded with happiness as I stood in silent wonderment.

Recovered from my momentarily overwhelming experience, I now stooped to check the phone wires and smiled to find my singer, a myna, making different but equally enjoyable calls and whistles.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s realization is, “If we are not happy, … we can’t share … happiness with others, even those we love, those who live under the same roof. If we are … happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit … .”*

* Pocket Classic Thich Nhat Hanh