New Year's Resolution 2018: How It Involves Tea

My new year's resolution for 2018 involves tea - and all other aspects of my life.  My guiding word for the year will be mindfulness.  You have probably heard of mindfulness, but may not have thought about how it could relate to your love of drinking tea.  This article, How to Be Mindful With a Cup of Tea lays out the connection beautifully.

The definition of mindfulness that I found with a quick online search is as follows:

mind·ful·ness

ˈmīn(d)f(ə)lnəs/

noun

1. 1.

   the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.

   
   

   "their mindfulness of the wider [tea] tradition"
2. 2.

   a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

In 2018, I will try to follow and journal about my interest in tea and my experiences with mindful tea drinking here on this blog.  This will, I hope, result in regular reviews of my tea drinking experiences, my thoughts on various tea-related books that I have read, and my ongoing creating of tea-themed DIY projects.  In sum, I will be blogging about the same things I have touched on in the past - but with greater attention to and focus on detail in the coming year.

I hope you will continue to visit and share your thoughts and reactions with me!

Words of Wisdom from Thich Nhat Hanh

You must be completely awake in the present to enjoy the tea.

Only in the awareness of the present,
can your hands feel the pleasant warmth of the cup.

Only in the present, can you savor the aroma,
taste the sweetness,
appreciate the delicacy.

If you are ruminating about the past,
or worrying about the future,
you will completely miss the experience of enjoying the cup of tea.

You will look down at the cup,
and the tea will be gone.

Life is like that.

If you are not fully present,
you will look around and it will be gone.

You will have missed the feel,
the aroma,
the delicacy and beauty of life.

It will seem to be speeding past you.

The past is finished. Learn from it and let it go.

The future is not even here yet.
Plan for it,
but do not waste your time worrying about it.

Worrying is worthless.

When you stop ruminating about what has already happened,
when you stop worrying about what might never happen,
then you will be in the present moment.

Then you will begin to experience joy in life.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

A Proper Cup of Tea

Once you learn to hold both pain and joy, once you learn to walk this tightrope, then you can "make a proper cup of tea." I was reminded of this thought by a gorgeous blog post over at a blog called "Transactions With Beauty."  The author quotes wise luminaries such as: Pema Chodron, Joseph Campbell, and Thich Nhat Hanh to make her point. And she illustrates the blog post with her beautiful photography. It is well worth a look.