Nov 12, 2025: mindful practice
As part of writing the blueprint page, when I thought of inspiration, the first thing that sprung to mind was thich nhat hanh. More than any author, thich nhat hahn has changed how I process the world around me. Within me.
The way he approaches the ideas of meditation, mindfulness, and mindful practice are easy to latch onto and incorporate, almost immediately. A few quick examples......
How can I process my anger? Through mindful practice. See the feeling, understand the feeling, love the feeling, let the feeling flitter away. Watch the anger go with it. Over and over. Thousands of times. Infinity times.
How can I live a healthier life? Through mindful practice. Instead of eating whatever mindless fast food is easiest, consider the origin. Consider the preparation. Help your mind see that this apple is from a tree, which is from a seed, that took root on earth, as it speeds through the galaxy, expanding out across the universe, this apple is everything. I am this apple. I am everything. I am nothing. This apple is not an apple.
All of this to say, about two weeks ago I went digging through the books I have packed away to make room for cards and other crap, on a mission to find any thich nhat hahn book to read. As I drifted away from my happiest and healthiest self, reading took a back seat, and whatever book I found first of his was going to help me get back on the reading rainbow train.
His books have a few built in advantages on my be less dumb mission:
- Short
- Easy to read
- Mindful practice
As luck would have it, the first book I found was living buddah, living christ.
When eeeeeeeemma was baptized in April, it wasn't received with universal applause, and of the dozen or so of us that attended, half were comfortable in the environment, and the other were not. For me, it fit like a glove.
Now, I do not, nor will I ever (god willing, lol) - claim any religion. Or call myself religious. Most of it is laughable. Specifically.........another time maybe. Read the room 🎙unclejimmy.
Plus, the technology, and presentation, what is this 19.........settle down ⚒️tullyelly. Not the time for that either.
The truth is that the fundamental idea of a place to go for quiet reflection speaks to me and I prayed in a church for the first time in decades. Perhaps with the most sincerity of my entire life. I noticed how okay I was with that. I also noticed how difficult it was for some to be present in the moment. Present without judgement. Present with a child's curiosity.
Mindful practice. Be where you are. Be 🪶theabbott.
Fast forward to last week - I'd read the book here and there, and while I thought it was a stroke of luck to find a book that would help me to connect with eeeeeeeemma's religious experience, I was just chipping away at it. It wasn't really mindful practice.
Then Thursday hit.
Now I had a mission. I needed to get this book into eeeeeeeemma's hands to help her on her journey. Whether she liked it or not (typically, my book recommendations or gifts are met with an eye roll, hi dad, lol). Anywho, I ripped through it in one shot as soon as I was able.
Okay, that's a lie, I made this dumb thing right smack in the middle of the day I finished reading this book. Brought to you by buddha I suppose.
Now I really wanted to share with her how thich nhat hahn tied the idea of meditation, and mindful practice, to the idea of prayer, as well as buddhist breathing exercises to connecting with the holy spirit, let alone his connection of buddha to jesus himself - I knew it could be of great benefit to her. If nothing else, I could hand her a book holding the thing that helped me the most, framed in a way that connects to the world that she is just starting to understand.
My favorite realization out of living buddah, living christ is that it is not about separating yourself as a buddhist, or as a catholic, or as a bucks fan. Instead, the beauty of it all rests in recognizing that my search for peace, is the same search for peace that eeeeeeeemma is drawn to. Two paths to one shared consciousness.
During her initial ER visit, eeeeeeeemma was asked what were some things that lead her to the idea of self-harm and she said "what's the point?". thich nhat hahn taught me to dig deeper when I find myself asking that very same question.
What's the point IS the point.
Since we are here, let's knock out two other ideas that have been bouncing around upstairs and let's frame them as the buddha on one shoulder chirping in my ear vs the devil on the other shoulder doing just the same.
First, the devil. The introduction on zero by jean grae & quelle chris gives me chills every time I hear it. Mostly because that can be me, and also because encountering it at work, I saw years of mindful practice wither away and die.
An individual coming into a corporation
Walking into the data center
Turning the power switch off
All the machines immediately power down
Because that's what happens,
The human infrastructure goes offline and stops working
Humans, not unlike machines in a data center, have sensors
In our cases, a threat sensor called the limbic system
And when there's a threat, they basically go into protective mode
And you can see it when you walk around, people are very guarded
They parse every word that comes out of their mouth
They're watching your every action
There's something called fear conditioning,
Which is exactly the same thing
That person's image gets imprinted on the brain,
In the brain, of the other individual that they've threatened
Your brain would maintain an image of that
'Cause it was a great threat to your survival
All you need is the mere presence of that individual to set off the limbic
system
A cascade of events, it could be passing them in the hallway,
It could be them coming to a meeting
Where you have to be there with them
The fact of the matter is, the minute that person shows up,
The meeting becomes completely unproductive
Everybody is focused on the threat, not on the work
And it's the same thing: it's like having a room full of equipment,
When none of it is working suddenly
These people are so, so damaging
I was gone within a year or two of running across someone like this, and I wasn't alone. In the end, you know how many fucks I gave? zero.
Then on the other shoulder we have our better angels. Let's check in with our hero, del the funky homosapien, and explore magnetizing:
🎙️ handsome-boy-modeling-school 🎙️
It's the chorus here for me:
Magnetizing, magnificent mind set
Whenever I'm next, the shit you haven't tried yet
Live shit, magnetizing, peep what I'm advertising
My alliance got your third eye cryin
Followed by this excerpt:
You can achieve the hypnotic state
By saying those things in your mind
To yourself that is said to you on the recording
And then give yourself certain suggestions
That will change your attitude towards crude
The two lessons I take from this? Be a magnatizing force. Use that magnatizing force in concert with mindful practice to process the world around you. These two things combined will help to positively shape any environment you exist within.
More to the point, ditch the zero and get with the hero.
TL;DR: I made eeeeeeeemma scrambled eggs for breakfast today and she left for her first day back at school carrying living buddha, living christ.
She embodies a magnetizing force.
“mindful practice”; Nov 12, 2025.
Day 26, Living Buddha, Living Christ
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