4 love mantras, according to Thich Nhat Hanh

Love mantras are affirmations that invoke understanding and mutual support between two people who love each other. These are simple phrases, which, however, help strengthen the emotional bond in a powerful way.

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Zen master who has reflected deeply on love. His best known work is True Love. A practice for awakening the heart (True love: a practice to awaken the heart). This book contains valuable teachings and also includes four essential love mantras to strengthen different emotional relationships.

For Thich Nhat Hanh, love should be a source of joy and not suffering. However, It is a feeling that demands commitments and promotes personal evolution through them. Love mantras are a way to remember those basic pacts of every relationship.

“True love is made up of understanding”.

-Thich Nhat Hanh-

Although love mantras are particularly applicable to couples, they also have an impact on any type of emotional relationship. They point towards the essence of the feeling loving, in which those involved support each other and accept each other. These are the four mantras that Thich Nhat Hanh proposes.

1. I know you are here and that makes me very happy

The first gift What you can do to someone you love is to recognize their existence and presence.. That is why the first of the love mantras tells us about recognition. It is expressed in two statements. The first: “I know you are here.” It involves making the other understand that we are attentive to their existence.

The second statement states: “And that makes me very happy.” So it is not enough to just focus attention on the other, but it must be accompanied by a feeling of approval and satisfaction. It is a way to remind ourselves and others of the importance of their presence. .

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Master Thich Nhat Hanh recommends remembering this mantra every day, at least twice. Once for ourselves, without saying it. And again saying it to that special person whom we love in our lives, because he makes us happy.

2. I am here for you, one of the essential love mantras

The second of the love mantras is the complement of the previous one. It basically means making a presence in the life of another. If you are attentive to another person’s feelings and needs, it is important to let them know through words or attitudes.

There are many ways to say “I am here for you.” Every gesture and every action that means support and respect is a way of expressing it.. This implies that we know the other enough to detect the moments when they need our presence.

It also involves corresponding to their gestures and words. Value what it gives us. Likewise, it is always good to say it in words at the right time. If someone you love says “I am here,” many worries and burdens end up being relieved.

3. I know you are suffering and you can count on me

In the language of love it is very important to let the other know that we are not by their side only when everything is going well. It is also necessary that Let us develop enough sensitivity to detect suffering in those we love..

Just by having another person notice that we are suffering, it already makes a great contribution to us. The recognition of this discomfort is a way of validating what we feel and to express respect for it. Therefore, it is a way of reaffirming the being of the other.

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No one has the obligation to be responsible for the suffering of another, but you can offer your listening, your understanding and a word of encouragement. It is not always easy to understand the reasons that the other has to suffer, but just being there and not questioning it is enough..

4. I am suffering and I need help

Master Thich Nhat Hanh points out that this is the most difficult of all love mantras. It means overcoming pride and fear. It also means not letting ourselves be carried away by false autonomy and being able to trust others when we need it.

No matter how much someone knows us, they will not always realize that we are suffering. Nor is it possible for me to always be able to know the magnitude of that suffering. Expressing it is a way to facilitate comprehension and understanding.. This mantra announces that we are in a particular situation and we need the support of others.

In this case it is best to express it in words, otherwise it can lead to misunderstandings.. Much better if the person is able to express how the other can help them. In this way, the discomfort or the reason for suffering is limited and thus prevented from spreading and contaminating the bond of love.