A Review of Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh

If you have borderline personality disorder (BPD) and have experience with dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), you have no doubt learned how basic mindfulness skills can help to reduce symptoms and improve your quality of life. DBT does not provide in-depth instruction in mindfulness, however, so if you are interested in learning more about making mindfulness a part of your everyday life, this book is the place to start.

Mindfulness skills are a key component of DBT, so many people with BPD are at least somewhat familiar with the practice of mindfulness (i.e., the practice of being aware of and compassionate toward one's present moment experiences). The DBT skills training modules give an excellent introduction to mindfulness, and even offer some exercises to practice mindfulness skills.

Perhaps you've been introduced to mindfulness through DBT or otherwise, and are looking to expand and deepen your practice. Or maybe you want to understand how to integrate mindfulness into your daily life. If so, Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh (Bantam, 1992) is an excellent place to start.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, has created a volume of work that makes mindfulness accessible to people of any spiritual tradition or skill set. It's remarkable that a book that is such an easy, quick read (it is a very small 160 page book made up of very brief chapters), can also be so affecting and wise.

The goal of Peace Is Every Step is to introduce novices to the practice of mindfulness in everyday activities. The idea here is that mindfulness is not just about formal practice (i.e., practicing through sitting meditation), but that engaging in your daily activities mindfully can completely alter your experience of them.

Take, for example, Hanh's description of "mindful dishwashing." Dishwashing is probably something that you just try to get through--it is another task that has to get done in the course of the day. But consider the actual experience of washing dishes--the warm water, the lovely smell of the dish soap, the silky feel of a clean dish in your hands. A little mindfulness in the course of dishwashing can help you to immerse yourself in all the wonderful properties of dishwashing that you probably miss every day. Imagine a whole life lived more mindfully in this way.

Thich Nhat Hanh's book is a masterpiece, and has been life-altering for many people. I am hard pressed to think of any way that this book could be improved--even the language of the book, Hanh's simple but elegant writing, conveys a feeling of peace. If you are interested incorporating mindfulness into your life, start here.