The Art of Tea

 

Tea is such a calming, centering ritual.  Take time as you sip your tea to appreciate the essence of this act. Thich Nhat Hanh tells us to “drink our tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world resolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.”

When you take time for tea be mindfully present in each act.  If you are the preparer bring awareness to each element of this task.  Pour the water into the kettle with reverence, heat it with patience, and pour it into the tea pot with love.  Each step in this process is a gift to you and to those who partake of this beverage.  Serve the tea to the table with grace that you bring to any sacred act.  Your energy is present in the water, the kettle, the tea, and the tea pot.  As the tea is poured into the cup hold the pot gently and still allowing the cup to receive with the same energy it was created.

As the receiver, accept the offered tea.  Feel the cup in your hands.  Absorb the warmth as an act of love that nourishes your body, mind, and spirit.  Breathe in the aroma of the drink, hold the cup in your hands and slowly bring the cup to your lips.  Sip the tea tasting it with your tongue and feeling its warm glow in your mouth as you swallow it down your throat.

So often when you drink your tea with friends or alone you are not aware of the tea, yourself, or of the friends.  Engaging in the art of your tea ritual you can enter a meditative state and can practice being truly present with yourself, your tea and your friends.  You can be happily in the moment despite all your fears and worries.  Sitting there relaxed without the need to speak brings you more deeply and intimately into the moment.  In that moment there are only you and the tea converging.  The art of your tea ritual has brought you into the mindful presence of the moment. 

  

2016 Election

The RNC is over the DNC is winding down and the inevitable has happened; we the public have been left with no real choice; Trump the lump and Hillary the shillary.  Both candidates frighten me; the shillary much less so than the lump.

    

In moments of crisis and tragedy we are challenged to change, to grow, and to surrender.  Surrender does not mean to give up but to adapt to the circumstances that we are facing and implement new ways of dealing with the changes that we encounter. 

In the upcoming election I believe that even though we may not have a real choice in our presidential candidates and that the primaries, the Electoral College, and the addition of “super delegates” are rigged and part of the illusion that the USA is a democracy we still hold the power within ourselves to change.  The practice of meditation, of right thought, right action, and mindfulness can create a change in the consciousness that will affect our world for the better.   

This change occurs by the ripple effect.  As we practice we lift our own consciousness.  As we do this our inner perception as well as our outer awareness changes.  We become centered in love and compassionate action and we then view life events from a 360 degree perspective.  There is no right or wrong there is only the best way. 

We do not condone wrong action; we stand for and practice right action. In doing this we are responsible for our actions, we stand against the exploitation of others while we maintain right thinking and right action through how we chose to live.  This is how we will make lasting change for ourselves and for generations to come.  

This election I will do something I have never done before.  I am voting a straight Democratic ticket; not for the people but for the party which I feel will be more representative of values I hold.  It is not a vote of my choice but a vote for the lesser of two evils; not a good way to vote but the only choice I am given.  In the meantime follow my posts about the power of meditation, mindfulness, right action, and creating a groundswell of change from the roots up.  In the end this is the only way we can effectively create change; we must change our consciousness. When we are left with poor choice it is time to learn how to create a different and better way of being.

Meeting The Muse while composing a poem

 

Stillness leads us to the temple within.  Poetry can lead there also.  A well crafted poem takes us out of the world while it also puts us totally into it.  The poem gives distance and involvement at the same time; we become the witness to life’s process.

A Rainy Day
I’m taking this rainy day off
Quiet as a feather floating lazily to the ground
Though I barely move I travel a great distance
In the thundering stillness
The temple door opens

 

In this poem I step out of my daily routine and become still.  In that stillness I barely move and quiet as a feather float lazily to the ground.  In the thundering stillness the temple doors within open and I am invited to explore…