How to Love: Thich Nhat Hanh

Entender el sufrimiento de alguien es el mejor regalo que puede dar a otra persona. La comprensión es otro nombre del amor. Si no entiendes, no se puede amar.

How to Love: Thich Nhat Hanh

If you pour a handful of salt into a cup of water, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you pour the salt into a river, people can continue to draw the water to cook, wash, and drink. The river is immense, and it has the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. 

When our hearts are small, our understanding and compassion are limited, and we suffer. We can’t accept or tolerate others and their shortcomings, and we demand that they change. But when our hearts expand, these same things don’t make us suffer anymore. We have a lot of understanding and compassion and can embrace others. We accept others as they are, and then they have a chance to transform.

How to Love: Thich Nhat Hanh

Amar sin saber cómo, normalmente hiere a la persona a la que pretendemos amar. Para saber cómo amar tenemos que entender a esa persona. Para entenderla, tenemos que escucharla.

How to Love: Thich Nhat Hanh

In a deep relationship, there’s no longer a boundary between you and the other person. You are her and she is you. Your suffering is her suffering. Your understanding of your own suffering helps your loved one to suffer less. Suffering and happiness are no longer individual matters. What happens to your loved one happens to you. What happens to you happens to your loved one.

[…]

You can no longer say, “That’s your problem.”