"The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers."
"A summer breeze can be very refreshing; but if we try to put it in a tin can so we can have it entirely to ourselves, the breeze will die. Our beloved is the same. He is like a breeze, a cloud, a flower. If you imprison him in a tin can, he will die. Yet many people do just that. They rob their loved one of his liberty, until he can no longer be himself. They live to satisfy themselves and use their loved one to help them fulfill that. That is not loving; it is destroying."
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Source: Thich Nhat Hanh (2005). “Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living”, p.90, Parallax Press
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