Book Review: You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment

Reviewed by Phuong

You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese and wonderfully peaceful Buddhist monk, was one of the reasons that I had first picked up this book. He was also one of the first to be politically active in the community. While Buddhism typically strays away from that, Hanh talked about how his upbringing in the Vietnamese War influenced his approach to intertwining Buddhist practices to living in our ever-evolving society. He’s someone that I would have loved to have met and had a conversation with.

You Are Here is a book that helped introduce a few different ways of being into my (generally anxious) thinking. Guidance through how to be more present, to find stillness underneath the faster tidings of the world, and finding the growth in our past to now are a few of the standout messages that stuck with me. I definitely recommend the book to anyone looking for a little bit of gentleness in their lives. It’s a simple read that I find to be quite grounding.