Thich Nhat Hanh on awareness: “… Around us, life bursts forth with miracles—a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of all beings …” 

sunrise beach heart awareness thich nhat hanh

Heart centered awareness or awareness that is centered in the heart is naturally soft, gentle, and prone to compassion. It can be said that it is the mind at rest, attention that is immersed in equanimity, love that is like a calm pool of water reflecting all that is around. Sinking into silence or being in solitude brings out, or deepens, such awareness.

Scroll down past Hafiz’s poem to the section Heart Centered Awareness for further remarks on this topic.

And, here’s Hafiz on such awareness:

Beauty Radiated in Eternity

Beauty radiated in eternity
With its light;
Love was born
And set the worlds alight.

sky sun ablaze heart awareness hafiz

It revealed itself to angels
Who knew not how to love;
It turned shyly towards man
And set fire to his heart.

Reason ventured to light
Its own flame and wear the crown,
But Your radiance
Turned the world
Of reason upside down.

world upside down heart awareness hafiz

Others got pleasure
As was their fate.
My heart was
Towards sadness inclined;
For me, sorrow was destined.

Beauty yearned to see itself;
It turned to man to sing its praise.

beauty heart centered awareness hafiz

Hafiz wrote this song
Drunk with Love,
From a heart
Carrying a happy secret.

~ Hafiz

=== ==== ===

Poetry Chaikhana (attribution at the bottom of this post), a web-portal for sacred poetry from around the world, offers a brief and very pertinent commentary on such …

Heart Centered Awareness

In states of deep spiritual communion, when the agitations of the mind are at rest and the attention is not seeking outward distractions, awareness settles into the heart. 

This is not to say that one is not aware of the outside world; rather, all of the world seems somehow gathered into the heart. It is as if the heart has expanded to encompass everything. Looking deeper still, you find that everything has always been held in the heart.

On a subtle physical level, you feel a warmth spreading across your chest and glowing in the palms of your hands. Often, you will feel an accompanying unlocking of tension and warmth in the belly, as well.

And you find that you are seated in supreme rest at the center of the heart, touching everything without the need to reach out to do so. It is an experience of expansiveness without movement, of absolute contentment and interconnection. 

This is the seat of the heart praised by poets and mystics throughout the centuries. It is the particular focus of Christian and Sufi mystics.

 

 

Thay’s opening Quote from: Thich Nhat Hanh: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters Series), Edited by Ellsberg, Robert. (p. 37). Orbis Books. Kindle Edition.
All Italicized text under the heading Heart Centered Awareness is excerpted from Poetry Chaikhana’s Theme on Heart.
Hafiz’s poem from Islamic Mystical Poetry: Sufi Verse from the early Mystics to Rumi, Edited with Translation and Introduction by Mahmood Jamal (Penguin Classics) Kindle Edition …. found via Poetry Chaikhana
Images (edited and logo added): Featured and 1) Colorful dawn over the sea by zoomteam, 4) Waterfall in deep rain forest jungle. (Huay Mae Kamin Waterfall in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand) by casanowe1 – all  purchased from depositphotos, for use only on our website/social channels (these images are not permitted to be shared separate from this post). … 2) Dramatic sunrise over Dyffryn Ogwen by Hefin Owen, CC BY-SA 2.0, 3) Canyon by Christophe Schindler from Pixabay
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