We would like to invite you to enjoy photos of joyful working time with the monastic community. In Plum Village, we prefer to see work as a chance to practice meditation and call it mindful service.
“Our work can be a wonderful means for us to express our deepest aspirations and can be a source of great nourishment, peace, joy, transformation, and healing… What we do with our lives and whether we are mindful or not determines how much peace and joy we create. If we bring our awareness to every moment, if we practice mindfulness in everything we do, our work can help us realize our ideal of living in harmony with others and of cultivating understanding and compassion.” (Work – Thich Nhat Hanh)
Starting a day with a peaceful sunlit morning. 
Do you remember to smile to yourself and your beloved one? “Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand-new hours are before me. I vow to live fully each moment And to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.” 
Father Sun is always there for us, bringing warmth and vitality to life. 
“The deers take refuge in the forests, the birds in the clouds of the sky…” During this time of confinement, our animal friends appear more often. 
Planting with joy brings fresh, organic vegetables, which means we need to buy less and reduces our carbon footprint. 
“Watering the garden in the historical dimension, is continuing the current of life…” 
“…Clouds and snow are in this stream of water, on their way from high mountains to the ocean.” 
Working joyfully together, nourishing the sisterhood… 
… and brotherhood. Our long-term lay friends, working in the Happy Farm, gather to practice listening to the bell and sharings before working. 
The sister wrote “Happy” on the trolley to remind them about the conditions of happiness they have – healthy bodies to work and the presence of each other. 
Some little friends visit our garden. We move them out of the vegetables but keep them safe. 
Almost all the vegetables that we eat are from our garden. 
Yummy!!! 
From the Happy Farm of Son Ha temple, supplying fresh lettuce to the three hamlets. 
Taking care of the garden is taking care of our minds. 
Every year, we receive gifts from Mother Earth. Besides the fruits we also cook dishes from grape leaves and mulberry leaves. 
Two years ago, we had a very successful retreat for picking plums. Now, the plums are still green and they miss our friends. 
Breathing in, breathing out, I’m fresh as a flower. 
The desk of one member of the website team. Working with computers a lot can drain our vital energy. So like our sister you can also invite nature to your desk to offer freshness. You can download “a mindfulness bell” to sound every fifteen minutes so that you can have a breathing break and stretch your body to release tension. (For more resources on how to enjoy your work, please read the chapter “Thirty ways to reduce stress at work” in the book “Work” by Thich Nhat Hanh). 
The transportation board at New Hamlet usually used to communicate the sisters’ movements. Now our movements are in the virtual world. This is the way we connect and offer support to our friends during this time of confinement. 
“Peace in oneself, peace in the world.”
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