Tea Mind, Be Kind

Sunday, December 31, 2006

LAST ENTRY OF 2006, NEW BLOG ADDRESS, NEW YEAR, NEW LIFE, NEW TIMES AHEAD...

A tea to greet the New Year: White Chocolate Ginger Tea... From SBS Teas...

"White chocolate melded with spicy sweet ginger is an awesome combination, to tantalize and stimulate your senses.

Ingredients:
Black tea, cocoa bits, almond brittle candy, milk granules, chocolate chips, ginger and intense natural flavors. This blend contains caffeine.

Ginger: Gets the blood moving to keep you moving. Warms from the center of your being..."

"To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go."

Mary Oliver, "In Blackwater Woods"

I am indulging myself tonight, New Year's Eve, in the last entry of this blog which completes the basis for the book Tea Mind, Be Kind, the first in a series of books, due out this spring, by having a tea I have previously reviewed and dearly love, White Chocolate Ginger tea. It is my own form of decadence to celebrate the passing of the old year!

This has been a year of many endings and beginnings, good times and hard times, as all years will have, and I have seen death, new marriage, a waning of a life due to a 2 year battle with cancer, and much more. There have been many endings. I have loved that which is mortal and there have been many letting gos, and more yet to come. Just like the end of a year, the passing of people, places, and things from our lives makes us soft, and melancholy, vulnerable and sad, while still, on the horizon, a new year dawns, new people will come into our lives, unimaginable joys will arise, soft tender times will envelop us in a loving gentle peace, and we will cry our tears and sing praise to the glory days.

This tea work has taught me so much. A good cup of tea, a time of contemplation and renewal, time to nurture oneself to face the time ahead, time to gather with friends or meditate alone over the gentle steam rising to our nostrils as we sip the tea and allow our senses to be awakened and snapped back into the reality of the moment, this moment, the only moment that exists.

And so with the passing of the old year and the coming of the new, with all that has happened and all that might happen, we must always remember that all that we really have, all that we really know, is this moment, this one precious moment. In another poem by Mary Oliver she asks, "What will you do with your one wild and precious life?" This quote has always moved me very deeply and so I ask each of you, as I ask myself, "What will you do with this one wild and precious moment?" The past has passed. The future is unknown, and the future will be infinitely more fulfilling if it is built on moments well spent. May each moment of the new year be lived fully and with love, and grace, with peace, and joy, and with the ability to let go when those difficult letting go times come.

One final note. This blog will remain right here in cyberspace where it has been, but by the time you read this the url teamindbekind.com will have been pointed to it's new blogspace on blogspot. The reason for this is that as much as I love this blog here, this service has had repeated difficulties, delays, and been difficult to view, either loading very slowly, or not at all, and often only coming up if the page were refreshed which many people did not know or think to do. Still, in a year's time there have been nearly 11,000 visits to this blog and I am so grateful that so many people have found and loved the work. I thank each of you who have left kind comments and written to me via e-mail. You can look forward to the book based on this blog due out in a few short months, and I really appreciate your passing the word along about the coming book and the continuing blog. I thank you with all my heart for the support I have felt here this past year.

Henceforth you can reach this blog, the first year's journey, anytime, by using the address teamindbekind.blogdrive.com, and the url teamindbekind.com will take you to the new blog, starting tomorrow, January 1, 2007. All things pass, and new things begin. So too with this blog!

I wish you a new year filled with gentle peace, with love, with tender joy, and with the ability to let go when the times come that make it necessary, and to revel in each moment for all it might be, and as always, to have a good cup of tea at hand.

I can't end without thanking SBS Teas for being my sponsor for this blog (as well as the new one) and for the Tea Mind, Be Kind list at Yahoo. They have been a continuing support and inspiration, and better tea I have never tasted!

Warm Regards and Deepest Blessings to all ~ Namastè...

Maitri

Posted at 11:29 pm by maitri
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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

NAPPING HALF THE DAY ~ BEING KIND TO YOURSELF...

A tea that will teach you to be kind to yourself: Green Rooibos Haiku... From SBS Teas...

"Fulfill your longings
island tropics in a cup
Your caffeine free escape...

This amazing blend of healthful Green Rooibos, brings together a tropical sensation from the Florida Keys. Excellent hot or over ice.

Ingredients:
Organic green rooibos, papaya pieces, mango bits, peach pieces, orange peels, calendula and natural flavorings. This blend contains NO caffeine."

"Napped half the day;
no one
punished me."

Haiku Master Issa, 1763-1827

I have always been a nappish person, but like the regular napper would lay down for perhaps an hour, tops. That changed 5 years ago when I went on two more important medications that I take with lunch that may be anywhere between 1:00 and 3:00 and by the time I've eaten and the medication takes hold -- KAPOW-- it's like hitting a brick wall and I can't keep my eyes open.

For nearly 5 years now, as my doctor worked on all different kinds of medications in different doses to which I had different peculiar side effects, I would be knocked out and sleep 2-3 hours. Then, having slept I would be up half the night working. And as I never "sleep in" as in "sleep till noon" because I have a dog that tries to be as polite as he can but when he can't stand it anymore HE HAS TO GO OUT and NOW! So I'm usually up between 8 and 9 even if I've been up until 3 a.m. the "night" before, and on it goes.

Of late the whole cycle seemed to have regulated itself somewhat so that I do nap mostly about an hour and a half, but just about the time it felt like everything was falling into place I am coming, I believe, to the end of the peri-menopausal stage (which has been a challenge at the best of times) and about to enter the full blown "Pause," which I don't see as a bad thing but when I hit my cycle each month I can barely keep my eyes open.

The whole point of discussing this is that one of the most peculiar things, and I experience this a lot as different aspects of my life seem to alarm people no end -- barely leaving the house, all kinds of crazy hours, working nearly round the clock when I'm up -- is that people have been terribly alarmed by the napping, especially when I sleep for 2 or 3 hours ( 3 is actually rare). I have gotten comments that ranged from joking to downright rude, as if the nap had no other purpose but to aggravate people, which I assure you is not the case. And so feeling guilty due to people's reactions I tried not to nap, tried setting an alarm, tried all kinds of things but my body said, "Unh-unh. Lay down. Go to sleep. Let us do what we need to do inside of you. Be kinder to yourself." I was uneasy and a bit shocked by the whole thing but finally I gave in and now most people who know me know my routine. I turn my phone off when I nap. I am simply not reachable then, and somehow, though some people still get aggravated, the world seems to go on without me just fine.

As I have lived through these years and finally come to a place of comfort with it all, I have begun to ponder people's need for speed, need to fit in with society like clones or Stepford Wives, living a kind of life expected of them rather than one that their body is naturally allowed to assume, one they would be happier and more at peace with. My life gives me peace. When I flow gently with it's natural rhythms I can get more work accomplished, feel in sync with my life and days, make better decisions, and am coming, more and more, to a clarity about what life is, and what my role in it is meant to be.

There are some of us whose lives worked out a little differently than most, both by nature and/or nurture, and we spend most of our lives either apologizing for not being able to live like everyone else, baffled, perplexed, feeling like something was wrong with us (Never mind the conditions, diagnoses, medications, doctors and whatnots, we are who we are and we deal with it all as best we can and that becomes, for us, the norm.) and it makes for a very painful and isolating existence. We who are disabled in some way live life learning how to find peace, acceptance, understanding, and making of ourselves something productive, something that we can be proud of and one day I finally let go of people's misconceptions, criticisms and whatnot, and just started being me, whatever the heck that was. And I love my odd little life. And I am happy.

I feel the need to say that this is not just about napping. Napping is a metaphor for the deeper purpose of this piece as certainly I realize that many people have work schedules out in the world out of necessity and come home to families to care for and whatnot and an occasional nap would be a luxury at best. What I am, more to the point, getting at, is that it seems most people feel that taking care of themselves, in whatever way that happens or that they need, is selfish, is not "what most people do," and they will keep on keeping on pushing themselves beyond all reasonable limits, eating junk food on the fly (and yes, I like and eat my share of junk food, but for some in this over-pressurized world, that's all that many eat!). What I am suggesting is that you take a look at your life and take a kind of inventory. Look at the things you are doing because you must, and put a keen eye on those things you can really see that you are doing because you "think you are supposed to" or are doing because you are trying to fit into what society considers the norm. In fact you don't need to be disabled some way to be different, and I think more people than we realize through their lives always feeling like the square peg trying to fit in the round hole. I say look for a different hole, a square one, one that fits who you really are, and it will change your life.

This is where I come to tea. We can all have a cup of tea. And perhaps we will all find different times of the day for tea time. I got a call from a dear friend this week who had a baby nine months ago and sounded weary and frustrated at not being able to get her writing done. I told her about another dear friend who, once her little girl was put to bed claimed an hour for herself in the bath.

Women (and all parents of course but this mostly still falls on the shoulders of women, working or no...) can't help but deal with this when their children are young. But you can make a cup of tea, take a book, your journal, whatever, make a big bubblebath, light candles and sink into the water and sip your tea and read your book or write or just soak and float. And perhaps the busy person can take time in their workaday world for a massage or something relaxing and rejuvenating, not just once a week, but something that fits into their schedule, if only for an hour. My mother always said, "If you want something done, give it to a busy person." If we can find the time to get things done, we can find the time NOT to get things done. Whether it's on the way home from work, on your lunch hour, or after the kids go to bed, or like I did when my children were young, I set the alarm, got up at 5 a.m., made coffee and had time to read and think and write before the day began. There is no one right way to do this, but it's important to find a way that works for you, and look at that balance sheet: absolutely MUST do vs. really don't need to do, and use the latter newly found time as your nurturing time.

If you have your teatime late at night it is good to have a soothing tea with no caffeine and rooibos is a perfect choice. It is soothing and relaxing and actually a gentle sleep aid, and I am having, as I write, the tea that I had last night and fell in love with, this wonderful Green Rooibos Haiku. What an amazing tea. Soothing, deeply flavorful, the complex flavors melding together creating surprise and delight, the kind that then makes your whole body relax, and sigh, and changes the whole tenor of your day (or night). The next time I place a tea order this will definitely be on my list of must have teas.

And so I will close here. I will sip my tea and almost feel the warm gentle island breeze on my cheek. I will knit and read and write and have a soft gentle evening ahead of me.

Take time. Make time. Be kind to yourself. It will change your life.

Maitri

Posted at 07:54 pm by maitri
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Saturday, December 09, 2006

LIVING A QUIET LIFE & THE IMPORTANCE OF TEATIME...

So aromatic it scents the whole room!: Rooibos Pear and Honey ... From SBS Teas...

"Delicious as a dessert treat or anytime of the day and night. Sumptuous sweet pear and smooth honey unite in a lovely tryst of smooth sweet devotion to your cup. Be prepared to stun your guests and taste buds with this decadent tea!"

"In the evening I go up in the desert where you can see the world all around -- far away. The hours I spend each evening watching the sun go down -- and just enjoying it -- and every day I go out and watch it again. I draw some and there is a little painting and so the days go by."

In a letter from Georgia O'Keefe to her friend Anita Politzer, 1929

The last few weeks have been something out of the ordinary for me, pleasurable and unsettling all at the same time. People come and go in your life and life goes on. What this has meant for me is a clearer vision of who I am and what my life really is. And so when I read the above quote by Georgia O'Keefe, one of my favorite painters, I sighed, and relaxed and realized that yes, we live our little lives and the days go by and they are filled with shining moments.

I believe Georgia would have understood my life, a life some feel peculiar at best. Coming close to living the life of an anchorite, my life is for the most part homebound, and made up of contemplation, nature, animals, the sacred, prayer. As a writer and a fiber artist, living in a small cottage of a place with parrots and finches and doves, 3 beautiful beta fish and my sweet dog Moe, I spend whole days in silence, days when there is no tv, no music, no phone, just the chattering of the birds.

I fill the feeders outside all around with seed for the wild birds and the occasional squirrel, stray cat and whomever else comes around gets fed as well. My outings are in my own garden, and at midnight to look at the full moon, or gaze at the stars. The few times I go out into the real world are for necessities or to babysit my precious grandbaby, but mostly, here, I live quietly alone among my hundreds of books, and fiber everywhere, and now a cottage full of plants brought in just in time before winter frost, and my tiny galley sized kitchen looks more like a potting shed than a kitchen these days as I clean up, repot and feed all of the plants just brought back indoors, as well as repot the African Violets, my loves, growing like topsy and blooming again.

Comes that special time of day when the light is slanting on the horizon and a little chime goes off in my head, "It's tea time." And so the kettle goes on and I begin to search through my many teas to see what tea best suits the day, the time, the mood. This has been a hard week and I needed something soothing. I find rooibos teas one of the most soothing teas and often have a cup of rooibos at bedtime. The other evening as I sifted through bags of teas in my tea cabinet, I came across one I had not tried yet, the Rooibos Pear and Honey, and simply opening the bag I let out a deep sigh and felt tension melting out of my body. Succulent sweet pear redolent of honey, so strong that the next morning, with a bit of tea left in my cup from the night before, the whole room smelled of honey and pears. This is one of the most flavorful teas I have ever had.

And so I sat here having brewed my tea, and watched the sky turn it's eventide colors, mesmerized, breathing in the silence deeply as the birds inside began to quiet down and the wildlings were gone for the night. Moe was asleep belly and paws up on the couch and I was surrounded by stacks of books and fiber projects all around me. I held the oversized vintage Stangl mug with a pale pink tulip and scalloped green leaves up to my nose and just breathed in the lovely, fragrant tea, and the first sip came almost as a shock it was so full of flavor, my tastebuds exploded delightedly and I sank deeply into my chair with a smile. Finally, settling in with tea, and the silence, and letting even my own thoughts fade away, I had a contemplative time with my tea, a tea meditation as I do most early evenings, and I let the cares and worries and pain and frustrations of the weeks pass from my body and I looked silently around my little room to all that is here.

Amidst too much of everything, books and fiber everywhere, and looms and knitting needles, and my precious spoolknitters in every shape and size and spindles with their fiber attached as I spin my yarns, and yarns in baskets nearby as I make a hat, jars full of colored pencils, paintbrushes, sketchbook on the arm of my oversized chair filled with too many pillows that are just right, and the old rattan chair with frazzled places where Henry, my grey parrot, likes to sit and unravel pieces for that brief moment before I catch him doing it, and tossled vintage quilts here and there, a bright fuschia Christmas Cactus blooming madly, and knowing that there are paperwhites to be potted for inside and bulbs to be planted outside, I felt a deep sense of fulfilment as I sipped this delectable tea. What more could a person want? And the tea made the moment perfect.

And so as with O'Keefe I make my daily rounds, I drink in the fragrance of flowers blooming and tea perfuming the air, and now, as I write this, Henry sits on my shoulder and Moe sits by my side, his velvet soft nose brushing against my knee to make certain that all is well before he goes to his favorite spot on the couch, and Henry and I will carry on here, as I nuzzle his grey feathers and kiss his beak, and reach, once more, for yet another sip of this wonderful tea as the dove coos to his mate and silence falls upon the room once again, and I feel peace return as the last curtain of night falls...

Maitri

Posted at 11:27 am by maitri
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Sunday, December 03, 2006

A TEA TO LIFT THE SPIRITS...

A tea to lift the spirits: Hepsabaugh Berry Tisane ... From SBS Teas...

"Bring your favorite dolly and have a tea party! What better blend to have but our flavorful fruit melange with hibiscus blossoms, elderberries, grapes, bilberries, citrus peel and natural raspberry-cherry flavor. Deep berry flavor! Kids and adults both love this tasty brew! Wonderful hot, chilled or frozen as a sorbet. Gorgeous deep red color."

" I'll tell you how the sun rose a ribbon at a time."

Emily Dickinson

I made this ravishing tea as the sun rose, and the sky was the amazing unimaginable colors of early morning, pink, blues, the layover of one color into the next, and then I brewed this early morning tisane, needing something to bring me into this world and out of the place that a dream will sometimes take you, to a land you need most urgently to leave. But I wanted to be able to go back to sleep so I chose a lovely fruity tisane I had not tried yet, and I was nearly dumbstruck at the aroma, the color, a deep cherrry red, the color of red wine. And the fragrance of berries that filled the air brightened all of my senses and brought me back into the world of light. I held my oversized mug in both hands as I watched the kaleidoscopic changing of the sky's colors and a tiny chickadee feeding at the kitchen window feeder. I leaned back against the kitchen counter so as not to frighten the wee small bird away, and my whole body relaxed.

I have come late to the joy of tisanes. I had had black teas and flavored teas and herbal teas in my time, but never true tisanes, all fruit, and juicy as biting into the ripest berries, sweetened by the sun with a bit of tartness quickly swept away by layers and layers of flavor. This is a very complex tea, soothing, and if you like berry teas you should not miss this one.

I went back to sleep and rose again and as the day went along I decided, having brewed a large pot, to try it iced! Oh, what a heavenly treat iced. I was thinking it would make incredible popsicles! I did feel like a little girl at a tea party, and wished I could set up a tiny table with dishes and dolls and my dog and know, in that place of lost dreams, that the world was an innocent place where nothing would ever go wrong. The child's mind before it becomes cluttered with the world's doings and the sometimes harsh realities of life.

I am a dollmaker. I have a wee tiny teaset sent to me by one of my dearest friends. I think I shall have a dolly tea party and pour droplets of this tea into acorn top sized cups. Even if, as the tea disappears, it is I who have drunk it down with a giggle and full of delight, it shall be a wonderful way to turn a rainy, grey, cold Sunday into a day of delight. Tea does that. So do dolls, and knitting, and watching the sun rise, a ribbon at a time.

Maitri

Posted at 01:51 pm by maitri
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Friday, December 01, 2006

THINGS TO BE GRATEFUL FOR...

A tea for thanks-giving: Pumpkin Cream Spice Tea - LE ... From SBS Teas...

"Pumpkin Cream Spice and everything nice! Curl up with a tasty cuppa tea that has the taste and scent of autumn pumpkin. Perfect for a blustery fall afternoon, or snuggle down evening at home. Delicious iced and hot! Add a dash of cream for instant heaven. This is the real deal, back from last year and here only through the holidays! - Limited Edition

Ingredients: Black tea, hibiscus, rosehips, almond, rooibos, vanilla pieces, cinnamon, apple pieces, calendula, elder blossom, triacetin and natural flavors. This blend contains caffeine."

"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action."

W.J. Cameron

And so we have all just celebrated Thanksgiving Day, those of us who do, that is, and for me, as with so many others, the holidays bring joy and gladness as well as fear, tension and a number of weeks fraught with anxiety. In this world, today, many people's response is, "What is there to be thankful for?"

Yes, we live in a war torn world with poverty, soldiers dying in wars as well as the peoples of the towns and villages that they fight in who have nothing to do with the hatred. In India, like so many other countries, children are begging in the streets and starving. All over the world people are suffering and many have chosen to grow bitter and sour and not celebrate at all. And although there were a few difficulties and challenges in my own Thanksgiving celebration, and though we have just lost one family member and another is close to dying, and though there is very little money for gift giving, there is love, and amidst what seemed like insurmountable complications there is peace. And it is our task to give thanks so that we might receive it back, and pass around the globe a tender act of gratitude and acceptance, loving-kindness and tolerance. As Cameron said, Thanksgiving is a word of action.

For me, the most amazing acts of giving thanks are sharing from an open heart the simple things that one might offer another. Inviting a friend for tea, or taking a thermos of tea to an elderly neighbor, and bouquet of what might still be found in the late fall garden, perhaps some fresh baked goodies, and taking the time to sit with them and share the thing we have in limitless supply, our time. A cup of tea is a cup of friendship, and I can think of no tea more appropriate at this time of year than this incredible Pumpkin Cream Spice Tea from SBS Teas. (Their link above will take you right to that page for ordering.) I in fact had it on Thanksgiving Day and have been trying to find time to write about it for days. It is truly delectable. It is pumpkin pie in a cup. For me, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is pumpkin pie time, and as it is my favorite kind of pie, I relish this pumpkin pie time of year, and there could be no more perfect tea to go with it (or even alone) than this one.

Too, I think people don't celebrate a day of Thanks-giving, wherever they are in the world, because they feel lost and alone and feel that they have nothing real to celebrate. No family, no money, perhaps few friends, a job they are not happy in, and if life is viewed in this way it is no wonder that so many people are depressed on the holiday. This is a day for giving thanks, not for celebrating the pilgrim's feast. This is the day to look at your own life and see how very much there really is to be thankful for.

Among the things that I am thankful for are my 11 year old "puppy," Moses, a lab-doby mix from the Humane Society. I have been going through some hard times but he is always right here at my side, laying his velvet soft nose on me and looking up at me with loving eyes. And yes, I live in a house full of birds and my newest addition is a pair of diamond doves. They are very tiny, the male coos softly, they are domestic doves suitable for homes, and soon, along with a tiny beautiful pair of zebra finches who are working their nest and mating, we will have babies in the house at Christmas. I can't imagine a more delightful time. My version of the Biblical story is, "And unto us a bird (or 7!) are born..." The doves will have two tiny perfect eggs and they are wonderful parents whose babies are precious past belief. And I think no house should be without Zebra Finches. They are the merriest, most cheerful little beings in the world.

I am thankful, in fact, that though I live alone, meaning no other human companion, I am never really alone. I am awakened by Moe hopping about and putting his nose on me and saying, "It's time to go OUT!" and as soon as my feet hit the floor Henry the grey parrot starts in with, "Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning." He calls every bird in the room by name and tells them good morning as well, and before you know it, every bird on the place is peeping and cheeping and talking and carrying on while I get Moe out to the potty and get all of the birds fresh food and water, as well as my 3 beautiful Beta Fish. My little animal family brings life, liveliness and love to this little cottage and brings me joy untold. I am grateful for them.

I am filled with gratitude for my 3 beautiful children and grandbaby. For the rest of my family and friends. For a dear friend that helped me enormously through a rough patch recently. I am grateful for anyone who offers me a kind smile as I go for my mail or to the grocery store or anywhere else I might go in the world. It is not easy for me to leave my house to go out into the world hence the kindness of strangers if a gift beyond measure. Remember that. A smile, a kind gesture, to a stranger that you pass briefly and will likely never see again, can make a difference in their life that will echo through their days. Perhaps a moment of kindness when they've had very little of it. Even meeting someone eye to eye with a smile as you pass them with your cart in the grocery store, not even stopping to say a word, is a lovely feeling, and makes, of this disjointed, fractured world a kinder place to be. Love breeds love, kindness breeds kindness, and giving thanks, starting with the smallest things, begins to make one more grateful for a great many things in their lives and once the ball is rolling, the smallest things become glorified and fill our lives with more and more uplifting moments.

One need not feel alone at the holidays either. There are soup kitchens to work in, places to volunteer, and if we are not in touch with our family of origin we can create our own family of friends. Don't wait to be invited, invite some friends over yourself, make it a potluck, make your own kind of holiday. Just because it wasn't the traditional holiday your family experienced when you were young doesn't mean it isn't just as wonderful, your own way, today. And if your holidays were not happy when you were young, it's never too late to start new traditions now.

I have so much to be grateful for. My plants and flowers, the books that are everywhere in my studio that serves as my home, the fiber everywhere that I spin into yarn to do my fiber work, friends to talk with on the phone. Make a list. Start as small as possible. A freshly sharpened pencil can bring great satisfaction. Good eggs and toast for breakfast are a great pleasure. Cleaning your house, filling the outdoor feeders for the wildlings, cleaning and putting the fall garden to bed and dreaming in the seed catalogs for the year ahead, those are things that make the heart feel very full. Perhaps a bright pink ball of yarn and new pair of knitting needles, and once again, a velvet soft puppy's nose to kiss when you feel sad.

And for me, sitting right beside me, is another cup of this delectable Pumpkin Cream Spice Tea that makes every day a celebration. This tea is something to be grateful for. Thanksgiving is not just a day, it is a way of life, it is action. Where will you begin?

Maitri

Posted at 11:18 am by maitri
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Monday, November 13, 2006

HAVING EVERYTHING, OR HAVING A GOOD CUP OF TEA?

A cup of tea full of everything: Gingerbread Cream Tea - LE ... From SBS Teas...

"We didn't think it was possible to improve on the perfection of last year's Gingerbread tea, but the tea Genie has outdone herself again. Gets the blood moving to keep you moving. Warms from the center of your being; ginger and spice with a smooth creamy note. Perfect alone or pop those flavors with some cream and sugar! If you love our other holiday teas, you will find this yet another you must have in your tea repertoire!

This is a LE-Limited Edition Tea only available through the holidays, be sure to stock up on yours today!"

"There must be more to life than having everything."

Maurice Sendak

There must be more to life... Indeed.

As I sit in my little cottage, birds chirping, singing, and talking all around me, a dog at my side, and holding a doll in my hands that I am making, my steaming cup of tea beside me, I think, in an inside out version of Sendak's quote, that the reason I am so happy and at peace here is that I don't have "everything" in the world's terms. I have a darling little 12 year old mini-mini van that is a very peculiar shade of green that's bleached out by the sun and whose paint job is going funky with a license plate that says WABISABI, and I love that little PeaMobile with all my heart. My vehicle is wabi sabi as surely my whole life is, and coming to terms with all of that, all of ME, all of my life, is worth more than gold. And I wonder, I truly wonder, if the wealthy who do have everything are ever as happy as I am with a grey parrot singing and talking and a soft velvet nose resting on my toes as I have my cup of tea...

A couple of nights ago I had the most wonderful soothing tea, the Gingerbread Cream, Limited Edition mentioned above. It was like comfort in a cup. It spoke of holidays and gingerbread boys with icing on the top. It spoke of roaring fires in a fireplace with snow falling softly outside the frosty windowpanes, it spoke of sugar and spice and everything nice with a dollop of cream to boot! This is a comfort tea. It has everything.

And so I sit, as I type this, with Henry, my grey parrot, on my forearm, bobbing up and down with the movement of my typing, and I lean down and give him a kiss on the beak and smile at this darling bird, my soul mate, and I want to make more of this divine tea right now. I wish I had some gingerbread cookies to go with it, happy little boys with icing faces. This tea brings me joy and the delight of walking into a house where warm gingerbread cookies are cooling on a rack and the whole house is redolent of fragrant spices. It is the simple pleasures, after all, that bring the most contentment, and an inner peace

Look for joy in the simple things in life. Realize that you have everything there is to have in this very moment and appreciate it all. Look into your cup of tea and realize that we have everything in each and every moment that we need, if only we have eyes to see. Tomorrow we may have more and that will be perfect too. But for today we have our tea, perhaps a parrot on our shoulder, a dog at our side, and I can't imagine wanting anything more.

Blessings to each and every one of you as the holiday season approaches, and always...

Maitri

Posted at 03:56 pm by maitri
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Saturday, October 28, 2006

A TEA TO BLAZE A TRAIL OF DESIRE ~ LET THE RIVER RUN...

{This piece is dedicated to my father-in-law, Arthur Kolb, who
passed from the world this week, and has blazed his own
trail of stars to the heavens, and beyond...)

A tea to blaze a trail of desire! : Gypsy Ambrosia, Flavored Tisane Blend ...

"Our most popular premium blend without caffeine!

gypsy, noun: One inclined to a nomadic, unconventional way of life.

ambrosia, noun: 1. Greek & Roman Mythology. The food of the gods, thought to confer immortality.
2. Something with an especially delicious flavor or fragrance.

This astonishing blend is certainly these things and more! This is a wildly eclectic, unconventional yet beautiful blend of rose, lemon grass, organic rooibos enveloped in rich luscious ripe peach flavors with a creamy vanilla boost, give this blend a mystery all of its own!"

From SBS Teas

"We the great and small
Stand on a star
And blaze a trail of desire
Through the dark'ning dawn..."

Carly Simon, "Let The River Run"

{The above link will take you to a page
where you can hear this incredible song
and sing with it and blaze your own
trail of desire while you drink your tea.}

It is a blazing bright Saturday afternoon in October, one that sparkles like the stars in the dark of night, and I am filled with a thrilling exultation as I sip this tea and play Carly Simon's Let The River Run over and over and over again. It is like a mantra to me now. I play it in the morning when I need the lift to blaze my own trail of stars in whatever way I can. The tea simply bursts with flavor and the music sets one's spirits soaring with a staunch determination and a heart full of desire to do what one can to work as hard as possible, in our own way, to make the world a better place. There's never been a greater need. What are we waiting for?

My father-in-law, Arthur Kolb, (and even though my husband Kevin and I are now divorced, we are still family to one another and his dear father will always have been my father-in-law...) died on Wednesday after a long life. A courageous man who fought in WWII and worked hard all of his life, raised three sons and was a devout Catholic. He is standing on a star and blazing a trail even as I write this. I can see him at the height of his powers, in his Army uniform -- his service was something of great pride to him. I love you Art, wherever you are on your journey to the great beyond.

Simon writes in this powerful, triumphal song,

"It's asking for the taking.
Trembling, shaking.
Oh, my heart is aching."

And this week my heart has been aching, for the death of Art, for the pain the family is feeling, and I want to stand up and sing him to the stars. He is no longer in pain and suffering, he has transcended all that is known on this earth. With tears in my eyes and a heart that is aching I raise my cup of this ambroisal tea, and, too deeply moved to speak, and with tears running down my cheeks, I smile through my tears to feel the Earth move as another spirit is set free.

And death reminds us how very important Life is, and how we must not waste a single moment. Not a single opportunity to love, to create, to care, to offer compassion to every soul that we can reach out to, to remember that we are on this Earth journey to both learn lessons and make of this world a better place. I know my father-in-law did that. It will be my great quest for the rest of my days, come what may.

Let the river run. We will bend and shift and turn and follow the swift current of life, sometimes holding on by our fingernails, and at other times soaring even as we sit in a chair, hold a lover's hand, kiss a grandbaby as you hold him in your arms, watch your children with pride, help an elderly neighbor, and never forget why you are here, and make it count, and never forget it for a moment.

"Let the river run,
Let all the dreamers
Wake the nation.
Come, the New Jerusalem."

Carly Simon, "Let The River Run"

It's time now. Raise your cup of tea and sing with everything you've got in you. It's time to wake the nation. Come the New Jerusalem.

Maitri

Posted at 02:44 pm by maitri
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Friday, October 06, 2006

AS SUMMER MOVES INTO AUTUMN, THE LAST OF THE SUMMER MOON TEA ~ MOON TIMES ~ FULL MOONS...

A Deeply Flavorful Tea When I Am Sorely In Need of Replenishment, Renewal, Release: Summer Moon Tea, Flavored Black Tea ...

"Late nights, warm breezes, fresh flowers growing in your garden. Something different is awaiting you. Opposites attract and we offer you this limited edition summer tea. Ripe juicy papaya, magnificent sweet mango. Combined with a surprise finish that will leave you wondering while gazing up at the summer moon. Delicious hot or iced! A tempting and necessary treat day or night! This is another in our summer 2006 Limited Edition Teas. There are VERY limited quantities available of this special blend. Be sure to get yours today." From SBS Teas.

"Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody"

Mark Twain

This tea is so good that as soon as I tasted it I went, instead of straight to update this blog, to place my monthly tea order with SBS Teas and ordered a pound of it. It is a limited supply tea and there is still some left but I shall be revelling in it for many months to come...

And how very true was Twain in his statement. We each of us have all of the elements of the earth inside of our bodies ~ bones, salt water, more... ~ and we will, upon occasion, come upon those dark times, and perhaps it is not that we try not to show them to anyone, but perhaps these are the times that we go underground. I know I do. And this is a very deep time for me.

I am coming into my Moon Time, and it is the final phase of what will be the monthly moontimes at all for me. I am perimenopausal, and I find that I go deep within myself at these times, even more so than the powerful inward pull of the regular month's cycles I have had all of my life. My periods were always long and hard, and now that I am approaching menopause they are not easy but they are different, and I go far deeper inside myself when this time arrives. I enter the dark side of the moon for comfort. I become very quiet. I commune with no one. I read and write and draw and paint and knit and do other fiber work, but I am very, very quiet while doing it. Tides and time are changing inside of my body, and even more in my life, as time passes, and Cronehood approaches, and I am ready to take on the mantle of the Crone. This requires much preparation.

Today I was very, very quiet. I sat down to answer e-mail and couldn't look at it. I deleted all the junk mail, saved that which needed to be saved, anwered a rare few, and then did my work, some little here on the computer, and I spent most of the day drawing and sketching and painting and reading in my big comfort chair ~ oversized, worn, and full of pillows. I didn't want to speak to anyone, communion with my animals was enough, and even they sensed the change and were quieter than usual. It's a funny thing how as the full moon approaches, all of Nature's creatures feel the shift.

There is a deeper shift happening inside of me than I have ever known, and with each moontime, I go deeper and become one with all the women that have come before me. This tea empowers me. All the women who came before me reach back to take my hand as I reach back to take the hand of the woman behind me. We are an unbroken circle. Perhaps this whole book and my entire life are about a woman learning how to come into her own power and then pass it on to heal and help others.

Tonight I found the most profoundly beautiful website as I was doing the research for this piece. It is Native American and the site is The Walkan Circle, "Indian Women" ...

"The honor of the people lies in the moccasin tracks of the woman.
Walk the good road....
Be dutiful, respectful, gentle and modest my daughter...
Be strong with the warm, strong heart of the earth.
No people goes down until their women are weak and dishonored, or dead upon the ground.
Be strong and sing the strength of the Great Powers within you, all around you."

WARRIORWOMAN HAS FULLY AWAKENED

This woman has been kind, gentle, and has such love.
All of this has been given with the blessing of the Great Spirit above.
But Great Spirit gave her something else and she didn't know it,
The Great Spirit gave her the blessing of being a Warriorwoman as
Now her light is lit!

This Warriorwoman has come fully alive today,
She is no longer anyone's slave or prey.
She is taking back her life today,
And those who know who she truly is, can stay.
No longer will she live the lives of others,
She will give back the blame and responsibilities of others where
It belongs,

For she also has the Bear and Wolf inside her,
Which is now so very powerful and uniquely strong.
The Warriorwoman now knows what road she must follow,
For others it will be too hard to swallow.
Her life was taken from her unknowingly many years ago,
And this Warriorwoman is taking back her life before the next winds
Blow.

Oh Sister Moon you give me the strength,
As a Warriorwoman to conquer what's on my path,
High above and way beneath,
And the much needed strength to take on the wrath.
This Warriorwoman is fully awakened and is taking a stand,
Taking the problems by the horns with my hand,
I will conquer that is all there,
All and who comes as they dare.

Warriorwoman has fully awakened,
And many will see that they have mistaken,
Of robbing her of her life, they as a thief,
Warriorwoman will conquer! And have no grief!
This warriorwoman will protect her people, her son, and those who
Need her.

If anyone hurts them, look out!
They will hear a GGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRR,
As they run and shout!
This Warriorwoman is taking back her life,
Taking back the respect that was taken from her throughout the years
Ever so slow.

This Warriorwoman is removing pain and hurt from within the heart
Caused by the knife,
From all those who are both family and foe.
I am claiming what's mine, and my dignity,

From those who live in this society of vanity.
I am claiming back in full my heritage,
And as a Warriorwoman I am going to clean up many years of carnage.
For now standing in front of you,
You see this Warriorwoman, you see me.
Someone special has taught me to be free.

From this day forward for me, no more slavery.
Gentleness, kindness, and love is part of me, and so is my dignity.
This in NOT WEAKNESS, as other believe,
But this strength is within me and you.
I will listen to the Spirits and grow,
I will travel in the whispering winds as they blow.
All the work I now do will be for Our People and all nations,
I will protect and guide the future generations.

Now it is time for me to travel on my new path,
As a Warriorwoman conquering all wrath.
If you ever see me and want to meet me,
Please come, and I will also teach and share with you how to be

Free.

And so I sit here in awe, barely knowing what to say or how to follow those deep, deep words. I believe it best that I sit with my tea and go back to wordless pursuits. Drawing and painting, thinking and dreaming, not running from my body but feeling it, as we feel the Earth's changes we feel the changes inside of our bodies as well. A deep empowerment is entering my body and with it comes tremendous responsibility...

"Oh Sister Moon you give me the strength,
As a Warriorwoman to conquer what's on my path,
High above and way beneath,
And the much needed strength to take on the wrath.
This Warriorwoman is fully awakened and is taking a stand,
Taking the problems by the horns with my hand..."

This Summer Moon tea will help me remember, will help me ride the tides of this Moontime inside of my body, and flowing out around me into the world. Past menopause and into Cronehood we surely do become Warrior Women, and I feel the spirit growing strong within me everyday.

Ride the Moon. Bodysurf the tidal waves. Drink your tea.

Maitri

Posted at 11:36 pm by maitri
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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

THE WAY OF TEA ~ OR ~ BECOMING YOUR OWN TEACHER...

A Delectable Tea For A Cozy Evening: Chocolate Berry, Flavored Black Tea ...

"Fine China black tea, black currants, organic rooibos flavored with vanilla, chocolate nibs, cocoa pieces, orange peels, apples, yogurt pieces, almond bits and natural flavors. This blend contains caffeine, trace amounts of dairy. Gluten free, no trans fats. " From SBS Teas.

"If anyone wishes to enter the Way of Tea, he must be his own teacher."

Sen Rikyu, 1522-1591

The above quote is like a Zen Koan and one must think about it deeply. I think about it this evening while having this most delectable tea, and I think of Sen Rikyu, one of the great teachers and masters of the tea ceremony, telling us that we must be our own teachers. It is a conundrum, and it is true. He is my teacher through his writings. I must learn the meaning on my own. We read words, we take them in deeply, they flow through our being, but it is not until we take action that the teaching itself is taken in in solid form, made tangible, made manifest in our lives. I have taught a Zen writing class for nearly 30 years. When my students thank me I must bow to them and thank them, for I can only provide the material, they must do the work. This, too, is the Way Of Tea, we are given the tools, we must become our own teachers.

I am reading the most extraordinarily beautiful book, Living the Zen Arts: Meditation*Martial Arts*Calligraphy*Flower-Arranging*The Art of Tea, and in the chapter on The Tea Ceremony (Chado), author Andy Baggott writes...

For one who follows the Zen path, the Chado principles of harmony, respect, purity and tranquility are not just reserved for the tea ceremony but are a part of everyday life. What makes a master of Chado is someone who embodies these principles in his or her daily life so that when it comes to the performance of a tea ceremony, these things flow naturally without a need for thought or intent. In order for this to happen, one has to practise these principles in all possible circumstances.

And so this is the reason that I have given my life over to the study of Tea Mind, which inculcates all the principles of the tea ceremony, the practices therein being the practices that serve us well in daily life. The Wabi Sabi nature of the world, of our lives, of each moment.

I take a moment here to be mindful with my tea. I take a sip and roll it around on my tongue and then swallow slowly. I can taste the black tea and the rooibos, I can taste the chocolate, the apple, each element in it's own time reverberates on my palette. One cannot just write about the way of tea, one must take the time to honor the tea. And I do so for a few moments before I continue, my own evening tea ceremony, sacred, ordinary, divine. Wabi Sabi for sure. I drink this very new, very fresh, delicious tea from an oversized and very old mug whose beautiful lotus flower has been fading with time. All of life ephemeral, the very teaching, the heart, of the tea ceremony.

In the beautiful book by Ryofu Pussel, Tea and Buddhism. Chado: The Way of Tea as a Buddhist Path, he writes...

Wabi sabi incorporates the Buddhist ideals of finding spiritual freedom in a situation of material insufficiency, not to be bound to material things, expectation, or worldly values, but to transcend them; a broken but repaired piece is completely acceptable at a tea meeting, and insufficient equipment can still be used suffiently by a calm and improvising heart. Wabi sabi is the realm of true sincerity. In short, the Buddhist ideals of being and acting simple and unpretentious, the beauty of a lotus flower blooming above mud, purity and perfection, and detachment are included in the meaning of wabi sabi.

What a powerful teaching wabi sabi has been in my own life. It began in 1995 when Bell's Palsy left me significantly paralyzed to this day. In the mysterious way of the world, just days after I was stricken with Bell's, in terrible pain and looking grotesque, a book would come to me that would be the first place I ever read about wabi sabi, and it has in many ways saved my life and allowed me to live peacefully in this body of mine that was stricken by other events, both physical and personal that have led me to this unusual life I live today, and which I treasure. The book was and is one of my most cherished books to this day, more than a decade later, by the wonderful writer Sue Bender. It is Everyday Sacred: A Woman's Journey Home. This book has allowed me to see the entire world in a whole new light, and in the decade plus since I first read that book, life has allowed me many opportunities to take this lesson in more and more deeply. What a blessing it has been in my life.

And so this night I drink my tea, I breathe deeply and quietly, in and out, out and in, I finger my mala beads as I sip my tea and say my mantra quietly in my mind, and I pray that each day, and in every moment, I might both learn from the wonderful teachings I am presented, and then bring them fruitfully into my life and days. I shall return to my tea now, my breath, my mantra, a prayer and I shall have my own tea ceremony in my humble home, where birds sleep all around me and fresh air flows in through the open windows. I am at peace, and the tea before me will show me the way.

Maitri

Posted at 09:20 pm by maitri
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