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Thich Nhat Hanh's hugging meditation

I saw a clip on TikTok of someone referring to this, that person didn't get the framing of this quite right, and I'm glad I went researching to find out more about this practice.

The video clip had a moment which described the middle portion of this practice as imagining the person you are hugging was gone, so that you can then come back to being joyful they are present as you hug them.

From my brief googling it is an extrapolation from what Thich Nhat Hanh said:

Step One

The first thing to do is to make yourself available. Breathe in and out, and come back to the present moment, so you are really there. Then go to the person you want to hug and bow to them. If they have practiced mindfulness, then they will do their best to abandon the things that are possessing them and make themselves available to you. They will smile and bow, and you will know that they are available. Now hugging is possible.

Stand facing each other with your palms joined, breathing in and out three times. You can say silently:

Breathing in, I know that life is precious in this moment.

Breathing out, I cherish this moment of life.

Step Two

Take the person in your arms. While hugging, breathe consciously and hug with all your body, spirit, and heart. While you hold the other person, they become real, and you also become real. You can say silently something like this:

Breathing in, my loved one is in my arms. Breathing out, I am so happy.

Breathing in, they are alive. Breathing out, it is so precious to be alive together.

Breathing in, it is so wonderful to have them in my arms. Breathing out, I am very happy.

You may then release the other person and bow to each other to show thanks.

That feeling when a technology thing breaks in the house, and at first you worry that it's your fault, then discover it isn't your fault but you aren't sure why it happened?

Yeah, that feeling is very mixed

On Tyranny

A short read which should really be required reading for the world right now.

Here are a few passages I highlighted from the book.

These two excepts came from the Prologue of the book:

Since the American colonies declared their independence from a British monarchy that the Founders deemed "tyrannical," European history has seen three major democratic moments: after the First World War in 1918, after the Second World War in 1945, and after the end of communism in 1989.

Fascists rejected reason in the name of will, denying objective truth in favor of a glorious myth articulated by leaders who claimed to give voice to the people.

From Chapter 1 "Do not obey in advance":

Crucially, people who were not Nazis looked on with interest and amusement.

From Chapter 3 "Beware the one-party state":

The American abolitionist Wendell Phillips did in fact say that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." He added that "the manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day or it is rotten."

From Chapter 5 "Remember professional ethics":

If lawyers had followed the norm of no execution without trial, if doctors had accepted the rule of no surgery without consent, if businessmen had endorsed the prohibition of slavery, if bureaucrats had refused to handle paperwork involving murder, then the Nazi regime would have been much harder pressed to carry out the atrocities by which we remember it.

This section is largely reminding that the Nazi atrocities relied on professionals bending to the evil acts of others to either support directly or at least not impede. The government machine we see happening in DC is the system working as it resists the changes the government is undergoing.

From Chapter 7 "Be reflective if you must be armed":

Yet we make a great mistake if we imagine that the Soviet NKVD or the Nazi SS acted without support. Without the assistance of regular police forces, and sometimes regular soldiers, they could not have killed on such a large scale.

This section largely says "look, if you're going to get a gun, don't lose perspective." But again, similar to the above, it's a reminder that secret police rely on the support of local law enforcement. Which makes the local PD and Sheriff departments refusal to help with ICE etc. are critical resistance elements.

Chapter 10 "Believe in truth":

Post-truth is pre-fascism.

Chapter 14 "Establish a private life":

What the great political thinker Hannah Arendt meant by totalitarianism was not an all-powerful state, but the erasure of the difference between private and public life.

Chapter 17 "Listen for dangerous words":

The way to destroy all rules, he explained, was to focus on the idea of the exception. A Nazi leader outmaneuvers his opponents by manufacturing a general conviction that the present moment is exceptional, and then transforming that state of exception into a permanent emergency. Citizens then trade real freedom for fake safety.

Home Alone 1 and 2

It's hard for me to explain why, but I found myself greatly disliking the second movie's decision to further rely on slapstick and painful moments with the thieves. I haven't watched Home Alone 2 in a long time and so the rewatch today made me realize how far it trails the first in my overall enjoyment.

I realize they're kid movies and may as well be cartoons, but the painful moments definitely hit harder (no pun intended) and are less entertaining for me in the second movie than the first's, which I still find largely enjoyable and nostalgic.

The Wager - DNF

I finally gave in on trying to read The Wager. I think it is a me-thing and not a commentary on the book. It's an interesting fictionalized telling of a historical event based on journals and other historic records.

I am about 45% of the way through and I just... lost motivation to keep going on it. It's well reviewed and many people enjoy it, so it's not a universal experience with the book, but I just have decided to, well, abandon ship.

The Princess Bride (1987) - 5 of 5 Dread Pirate Roberts

The Silverfish of Tomorrow

Woke up thinking about one of the futuristic items from my childhood, the Sunraycer, which was a solar powered electric vehicle which showed the promise of the future.

Running Man (2025) - 2 or 5 Hunters

An especially important and poignant commentary on society and modern entertainment, but nothing particularly life changing as far as movies go.