“While washing dishes, you might be thinking about the tea you’re going to drink afterwards, and so try to get them out of the way as quickly as possible in order to sit and drink tea. But that means that you are incapable of living during the time you are washing the dishes. When you are washing the dishes, washing the dishes must be the most important thing in your life. Just as when you’re drinking tea, drinking tea must be the most important thing in your life.”
More from Thich Nhat Hanh
“The moment you understand the importance of loving yourself, you will stop hurting others.”
“When we know that birth and death are together always, we are no longer afraid of dying.”
“When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look…”
“If you want to know your own mind, there is only one way: to observe and recognize…”