Consuming and suffering

I found a very short article this morning that is a report on a talk given by the wonderful teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh. Here's something he said:

We try to cover up the suffering in us by way of consuming. We turn on the television, we talk on the phone. We get on the internet. We read the pages of a novel... Many of the items we consume every day are highly toxic because they are filled with "anger, violence, and despair."

To consume in order to cover up our suffering does not work. We need a spiritual practice to go deep into our suffering.

And here's a little basic exercise he recommends:

You say to yourself: "Breathing in, I know this is my in-breath. Breathing out, I know this is my out-breath."

What a simple, focused way of cultivating awareness!