We are often on some kind of autopilot, going through the motions in our work, in our relationships, being more connected to the fears and insecurities in our minds than to the actual actions we’re busy taking.
“First, let us light the torch of our awareness and learn again how to drink tea, eat, wash dishes, walk, sit, drive, and work in awareness. We do not have to be swept along by circumstances. We are not just a leaf or a log in a rushing river. With awareness, each of our daily acts takes on a new meaning, and we discover that we are more than machines, that our activities are not just mindless repetitions. We find that life is a miracle, the universe is a miracle, and we too are a miracle.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
“Each time you look at a tangerine, you can see deeply into it. You can see everything in the universe in one tangerine. When you peel it and smell it, it’s wonderful. You can take your time eating a tangerine and be very happy.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
“If we’re not mindful, it’s not tea that we’re drinking but our own illusions and afflictions. If the tea becomes real, we become real. When we are able to truly meet the tea, at that very moment we are truly alive.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
“Peace, happiness and joy is possible in the time that I drink my tea.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
If we are not mindful then it’s not really the tea that we are drinking, we don’t even really taste it because while we’re mindlessly lifting a cup to our mouth we’re still much more involved with our inner illusions and afflictions than with the contents of this cup.
My favourite line of his is, “…when the tea becomes real, we become real…” because in that moment we have stepped out of our patterns and into presence, potentially making ourselves available to what this moment presents to us.
This is of course not just about tea but about everything we do. We so easily siphon off our energy to the future or the past where we have no agency at all, leaving us with less energy to apply ourselves right here in the moment where we are creating the future.
A few guiding mantras:
- Slow down. Savor the tea, the moment.
- Be present. Don’t get lost in past or future anxieties.
- Engage your senses. See, smell, taste, touch – be fully present.
- Find peace in the now. Every moment holds the potential for joy.
Put your hands around a cup of tea or coffee, and open yourself to the full experience.
When the tea becomes real, you become real.
– pierre –
Today’s LIVE meditation is: Come to your senses.
(image credit: shutterstock)