On Saturday I had the joy and delight of sitting in tea ceremony with Linh Le and nine others who like me were curious. This was my second time attending one of Linh’s beautiful tea ceremony events. We slow down for a couple of hours and sip tea in silence. There is something so simple and utterly satisfying in that for me. Beyond satisfying, life giving.
Sit. Sip. Sit. Sip.
When I wrote my book, Mama Needs a Refill: Finding Light in the Midst of Madness I intentionally called the chapters, sips. The idea being we are busy; we don’t make the time for long chapters.
On Saturday our fearless tea ceremony leader offered advice she had received in the past, “don’t lift the kettle until you have a still heart.” Wow. In the simple act of making my morning tea I am being invited to be present to the ritual in front of me and to turn down the volume of all the other thoughts and activities firing off in my brain.
At the end of the ceremony, I asked Linh to tell us more about the “intentional beautiful spilling I noticed when she prepared our tea.” She smiled, “Life is messy.” And how right she is. When the hot water trickled down the side of her tea pot or landed on the bamboo mat missing the cup, I didn’t want to wipe it up. Abandoning my perfection tendencies, my fix and clean it all up proclivity, I found beauty in the spilled water, joy in the abundant tea.
The next day, I sat in my own backyard pouring tea for myself on the chilly December 31st morning. I had to remind myself that winter had already left her imprint and the deck table where I poured my tea, was messy, full of pine needles, leave and wet from nature’s kiss. Only wiping a portion of the table to make space for my cup and tea pot, I used the towel to give my self a dry seat at the table. Settling in to the newness of sitting in my backyard on a winter’s day, I sipped my hot tea and warmed inside and out. Relaxing just a little more exactly like I invite the attendees of my retreats to do before a meditation or my clients to do at the beginning of our phone sessions—I let the dust settle with my breath, I sunk back into the chair. Then I looked up. Waiting for me in the blue sky was one singular cloud in the shape of an anchor. I blinked my eyes. In the next look up the anchor was morphing into wings. I sat. I starred up at the sky some more. I found my breath. And not sure how many breaths later something happened in the sky that I hadn’t seen in a while. An eagle flew by. I blinked again. Not a dream.
When I lived in Japan in the early 1990’s, I learned that dreaming of an eagle on New Years Day in your sleep, is the best good omen, lucky, blessed sign anyone can receive. Even better, my dream was real and I was witnessing a thing of beauty and strength. The cloud continued to change shapes from anchor to angel to an undecipherable messy thing of beauty.
This morning, New Year’s Day, I pulled out another tea pot from my abundant collection and I headed to the back deck again. More sitting. More pouring. Not another eagle but Stellar Jays, not one, like usual but three. And yes squirrels, always squirrels. Why had I not sat outside in the deck with my morning tea in other winters?
It didn’t matter I was here now.
My intention is to enter 2024 with a still heart. Sipping slowly.
What if we all entered 2024 with a still heart? What if we didn’t compare ourselves to last year and we cleared our mind to pay attention to what is standing right before us? Or waiting for us when we look up? What if we walked into our day, the year, with unconditional love and radical compassion towards ourselves, each other, our world.
We don’t have to live our best lives every day, some days we need naps, Netflix and hot bubble baths. What if THAT IS living our best life? What if we put down the big agenda, and tucked little love notes into our coat pocket as we stepped outside? Let’s breathe in the cool air and listen to the bird song. Let’s remember this…You are enough as is. And yes, you can keep growing, striving and moving forward, without being so hard on yourself.
Sit. Sip. Sit. Sip.
It is in the sitting that we allow our bodies to rest and our minds to let off steam. It is in the sipping that we taste what matters.
Pour for yourself in 2024 the things that you care about, treat time like a treasure and honor the simple beauty of life unfolding one day in succession, not racing ahead. May you discover the joy and delight of allowing, being and witnessing as you set down doing until you are ready. And only then, look up, get up and move at the pace of loving guidance.
Cheers, Jenny
