Drinking Orange Juice

Thich Nhat Hanh shares how to turn your morning glass of O.J. into a little ritual of mindfulness.

Thich Nhat Hanh22 May 2020
Photo by Patrick Assalé.

To really enjoy a glass of orange juice, you have to be there one hundred percent mind and body together. If you are there, mind and body firmly established in the present moment, then a glass of orange juice will become a real thing for you. You are real; therefore, the juice is real. And there life is real. Life exists. Life is deep during the time you drink your orange juice.

Mindfulness is the capacity of being there body and mind united.

There is a kind of energy that helps you to be there body and mind together. That energy is called mindfulness. Mindfulness is the capacity of being there body and mind united. When you drink your orange juice, drink mindfully and you will enjoy your juice because you are really there one hundred per cent.

Excerpted from “Rest in the River.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022) was a renowned Zen teacher and poet, the founder of the Engaged Buddhist movement, and the founder of nine monastic communities, including Plum Village Monastery in France. He was also the author of At Home in the World, The Other Shore, and more than a hundred other books that have sold millions of copies worldwide.