In Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Art of Communicating, Hanh mentions many habits that can improve one’s own life. Two of the various habits that stood out to me were peaceful language and mindful breathing which I attempted to practice for a week. Throughout the week I learned how changing one’s own habits can be, but also the benefits from changing habits. Ever since I was little I have been told to watch my language by adults, whether that be my parents, grandparents, teachers, or my older cousins. During those years I was also being taught right versus wrong and other rules kids learn. Therefore, watching my language became another rule for me to abide by. Consequently, that made me not think about why watching my language can be significant.
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On the first day, during the morning, peaceful language was easy to use. In fact, I did not use any vulgarity during the morning. Unfortunately, that turned around when it came time to eat lunch with my friends. I was sitting with my friends having conversation at a table in Marketplace. During conversations with my friends they normally use curse words, so just like any other typical day, they used curse words during our conversations. Hearing the not peaceful language did not phase me in the slightest amount. What drew my attention to the curse words was when I finally said one out loud in the conversation. None of my friends acknowledged that I said a curse word, because they consider curse words normal to use as well. Normally when I use curse words, I do not think twice about them, but once I said “fuck”, I froze for a millisecond. In my head I was thinking “Oh crap, I can’t use vulgar language”. I thought that by making a mistake once, I would be more aware of my choice of language and have a higher tendency to avoid such mistakes, but I was wrong. It turned out that most of the time throughout the week I was using curse words. Sometimes I did not even realize I was using them until after I was done speaking. There was not an entire day where I did not go without using a curse …show more content…
Therefore, if someone finds herself unsatisfying, changing herself will be a difficult task. In order to change herself, one must be in communication with herself. Hanh states in his book that, “Mindful breathing is a means of communication. It promotes communication between the mind and the body” (17). I decided to try mindful breathing because I felt that being in communication with yourself is important. If you are not in good communication with yourself then how are you supposed to know what you are suffering from, or what you are celebrating? I felt that it would be beneficial for me to understand myself better, which is why I chose to try mindful
On the first day, during the morning, peaceful language was easy to use. In fact, I did not use any vulgarity during the morning. Unfortunately, that turned around when it came time to eat lunch with my friends. I was sitting with my friends having conversation at a table in Marketplace. During conversations with my friends they normally use curse words, so just like any other typical day, they used curse words during our conversations. Hearing the not peaceful language did not phase me in the slightest amount. What drew my attention to the curse words was when I finally said one out loud in the conversation. None of my friends acknowledged that I said a curse word, because they consider curse words normal to use as well. Normally when I use curse words, I do not think twice about them, but once I said “fuck”, I froze for a millisecond. In my head I was thinking “Oh crap, I can’t use vulgar language”. I thought that by making a mistake once, I would be more aware of my choice of language and have a higher tendency to avoid such mistakes, but I was wrong. It turned out that most of the time throughout the week I was using curse words. Sometimes I did not even realize I was using them until after I was done speaking. There was not an entire day where I did not go without using a curse …show more content…
Therefore, if someone finds herself unsatisfying, changing herself will be a difficult task. In order to change herself, one must be in communication with herself. Hanh states in his book that, “Mindful breathing is a means of communication. It promotes communication between the mind and the body” (17). I decided to try mindful breathing because I felt that being in communication with yourself is important. If you are not in good communication with yourself then how are you supposed to know what you are suffering from, or what you are celebrating? I felt that it would be beneficial for me to understand myself better, which is why I chose to try mindful