A sound stops everything. Three breaths. Then you carry on from exactly where you were.
When
Whenever you choose to sound it — or whenever any bell rings.
How
Sound the bell, or let a phone or a clock be the bell.
Stop, mid-sentence if you're mid-sentence. That's the point.
Let go of whatever your hands are doing, and take three breaths. No more.
Pick the sentence back up.
Now
begin
1:00
In, and out. Three times.
After
Plum Village, the community around Thich Nhat Hanh, where any bell is the signal and everyone stops together. Their guidance is honest: a bell kept alone tends to fade. One shared holds.