Living Abundantly

Have I told you I love quotes?  As a woman who longed and longed for a mentor with none in sight quotes are like a distant mentor – you can learn a lot from a few quipped lines if you allow them in.  (Ironically, today I am a mentor - and I share those quotes that are still mentoring me.)
Here’s more to make my point on tea.

As tea mind permeates more and more the actions of your daily life, you may find yourself opening the china closet doors with more consciousness of that action at hand, and in a manner which strives for beauty in your movement. With that approach you may one day open those china closet doors to realize that you have opened the doors to the kingdom of heaven.
–Brother Joseph Keenan

(See, I told you I’d get a blog out of it.)

“…A cup of tea excels the real…”
Lian Ya Tang(1878-1936)

I have now done a lot of reading about tea (Wakizashi told me it sounded like the perfect day to him).  Really, if you are interested in history, culture, or world affairs a study on tea is a truly fascinating thing.  One of the most fascinating may be the amount of spirituality that is associated with tea – serving it, drinking it, growing it.  And don’t be quick to judge, not all of it is Eastern Spirituality.

Yesterday was note taking day.  So it left me a of time to ponder what it was I was recording and I found myself going back and back to the Spirituality of Tea.  Is Tea itsef a spiritual thing?  I mean, is it more mystical than coffee, orange juice, or water?  (Like that particular plant has mystical qualities!)

(Now, how long ago was that?  Two years or just one?  Let’s go with one and a half and call it even.)  About a year and a half ago I was going crazy (not to far from how I’m feeling lately) – I felt like a car who is desperately trying to turn over but clearly is out of gas and fumes just aren’t going to do anymore.  So Wakizashi blessed me and sent me to a hotel for a weekend.  No TV, but a swimming pool, and most important, time alone.  Which is when I made a discovery – I didn’t know what to do with my time alone.  I did finally decide to start a mini ritual for myself.

I don’t drink coffee you see – hotel rooms always come with little coffee pots, but I don’t drink it so I used the tea bags – I’d brew myself a cup of tea, sit in a chair by the window and just breath.  Relax.  Have quiet time.  It was nice.  I loved starting my day that way; so much so I brought the ritual home with me (for a few months anyway).

Which is, I think, one of the reasons why I’ve been pondering the Spirituality of Tea. I’ve read the quotes, the websites, the history and I’ve come to a conclusion.  It’s not the tea itself that is mystical – it’s not even that potent of a drug – but it is the act of tea that’s spiritual.  It’s the mini ritual that got fit into every day.  The way of making tea was such a part of the day that it became important.

The Chinese have written books (for centuries) on the “proper” way to make tea; the English are no different.  In fact, in my research I came across an essay by George Orwell teaching his 11 Step Method to Making a Proper Cup of Tea.  There are rules and arguments about details like the kind of teepot, the color of the cups, and whether to put the milk in before or after the tea (seriously, it’s a controvertial subject).  The average Tibetan drinks 30-80 cups of tea a day (!!!).  And the Japanese and Koreans have created a ritual ceremony out of the act of making and drinking tea.  But it’s not the tea that has the power.

It’s the ritual.  It’s so mundane and common-place you only have two options.  You can either disdain it and rush through it as another daily monotony or you can learn to revere it and drink up the moment.  Tea needs to be made either way; so many people (and cultures) have chosen to enjoy the moment.  (This probably comes from their religious backgrounds but I do have to teach this in a Christian setting – and anyway, I believe it goes beyond religion and theology.)  They listen to the kettle sing and enjoy it.  They watch the water pour, admire the spoon, inhale the tea as it’s odor changes and steepens.  They embrace the warm cup in clasped hands and they sip the tea savoring it’s flavor.  But it’s not the tea they are focused on, it’s each individual second, each moment – they are drinking tea in Right Now – and admit it, that’s a rare thing in this day and age.

So I’ve decided – you don’t need tea.  It’s just about enjoying the moment; the tea itself is not essential.  (I’m sure someone, somewhere is aghast at my suggestion.)  Anything will do.  Any small ritual that reminds you each day:  I’m here.  This is today.  Yesterday is over.  Tomorrow is not yet come.  It’s today, and right now, and I’m alive and breathing and the whole thing is  agreat blessing.  (If your prayer, or meditation, or devotional time doesn’t include even one moment like this then I believe you may have missed the point.)  It’s that moment that is mystical; that changes days, and lives, and souls.  One small moment in Right Now.

Speaking of which.  I think I still need to have one of those moments today.  (Now, what kind of tea to make…)

If there’s not a song about procrastination I think I should be the one to write it!  Despite my best efforts I still seem to be the Queen.

About three weeks ago (or, was it a whole month??), I volunteered to teach about Tea.  Coffeebreak is starting back up for the fall (for those of you scratching your head: Coffeebreak is a church program for church and community women where they can come out, socialize, study the Bible, and get free babysitting for a few hours.  I volunteer as a Study Group Leader at my local group.)  and they were thinking of doing something neat with tea for the first session.  (Last year we had a fascinating speaker come in and talk about Coffee.)  I ended up volunteering to do it.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have time to do it – I certainly did.  Nor that I didn’t have the inclination – I love tea and Wakizashi is slowly turning Japanese so tea is equally fascinating to him too.  I didn’t feel any pressure to offer; I really did want to do this. And yet, it’s two days before I need to speak for 40 mins on tea and I have no clue what I’m doing.  I haven’t even finished my research.

I did begin my research; and then…  well, I’m not sure why my commitment dwindled down.  Maybe this is a good lesson on the tyranny of the urgent rather than the priority of the important.  I will give myself one break – I wasn’t up to in-depth research last week what with the tooth episode.  I will confess though, a lot of the problem has been my lack of good time management, I’m more aware of this today than anything else. (I know, I know, I’m working on it.)

So here I am, searching out quotes, cramming websites and library books, taking notes, and hoping against all hope that I can get most of this done by today so I can go paint on Wednesday afternoon (what’s that about priorities?).  On the up side, I do have an idea of how I’d like the talk to go;  I just need to confirm that I have the information to support that and see how long the talk will take.  So…  here’s hoping!  Today my life is All About Tea (hey, maybe I’ll get something interesting out of it to blog about).

It may be light as day outside but it’s definitely Perpetual Night in my house.  Who needs one of those white noise machines when you’ve got your very own cricket serenade?

One of the Kung Fu Master’s crickets has escaped and taken up residence behind our fridge.  There is a whole mini-tank full of the insects in his bedroom and they don’t make as much noise as the one holed up in my kitchen.  (No, my son doesn’t collect bugs – they are futur meals for his Bearded Dragon.)  As far as I can figure the little guy behind the fridge must be as confused (or frustrated as the case may be) as I am by the ongoing night – it is after all pitch black under the appliance.  I’m sure his little insect legs are aching and he’s cursing the sun for refusing to come up.

We used to have one caught behind our freezer too, but it looks like someone caught him when he was out on a foray (either that or he died of old age) because today my background music seems to be coming from just one bug.  One lonely, confused and LOUD bug.   The noise may be enchanting on a cool summer evening or a nice relaxing sound machine but if I never hear another cricket song it won’t be too soon.

The guy behind the fridge has been stubborn, but normally, if a cricket manages to escape his confines, he’s eventually spotted hopping around the house.  If Wakizashi catches him well, then he’s dead.  I keep telling W. that we pay for those silly bugs and it’s a waste of pennies to squish them but it seems my brave Karate Man just can’t stomach holding a tiny hopping bug.  I, on the other hand, catch them and feed them to the lizard (who is always ever so thankful) – so I suppose they are dead either way.

Today, Wakizashi sent me a link to this article with a note along the lines that should this fad ever hit Canada we’d be ready to dive into the niche.  Is he really suggesting we start stocking even more of the bugs?  Although, if I ever get my hands on the guy behind the fridge I wouldn’t be opposed to deep frying him just for the fun of it.

Friday I was reading magazines in the library while I waited for the Kung Fu Master to finish his work (volunteering) and found this quote.  It reminded me, my faith (or theology) can not be based on what others believe, it absolutely must be based on what I believe to be true in my own heart.

… not living my life to please other people, but doing what my heart says all the time.
- Oprah Winfrey (as quoted in the Science of the Mind)

(As a side note, I’m happy to inform you that I can think again!  The pain and fog are lifting and I am finally capable of fully coherent thought.  I’m not totally better yet but we are getting there.)

I’m hesitant to use the term “prophetic dream” – mostly because I’m not sure if there is some category divider that changes a dream from a casual personal revelation into a “prophecy”.  Whatever.  Tuesday night I had an unusual dream.  Actually, I had two unusual dreams that night but it was the earlier of the two that I woke up remembering.

It’s not unusual for God to talk to me (or you in case you didn’t realize) through dreams.  Over the last few years I’ve only had 3 or 4 that were so profound they stuck with me, but I am prone to occassionally hear from God this way.  I have also experienced the flip side of that coin; I guess you’d call them “demonic” dreams; not from God, not from me, and something much deeper than your average nightmare.  Thank God I don’t have them anymore; I needed counseling to shake them once and for all.  But let’s just say I’ve had enough experiences to teach myself to distinguish a spritiual dream from the average REM sleep.

Here’s my one rule of thumb:
If you can remember it clearly, still know the details or feelings, the next day – then it’s something more than nightly brain activity. (or at least worth some further investigation)
Sometimes when you first wake up you remember parts of your dream but by the time you brush your teeth it’s started to fade – those dreams don’t normally apply to the rule.  But you know the times when you wake up and the dream is so clear to you, maybe not all but parts of it, that you feel like you could almost enter it again – all my spiritual dreams have had that quality.

So yesterday I awoke, stretched, lamented my tooth pain, popped a pain pill, and then was suddenly reminded of a dream I’d had that night.  It seemed so odd (I’ll spare you the details).  Thinking about it reminded me of the other dream I’d had just before I’d waked; they weren’t the same dream but they definitely seemed linked (now that I was thinking about it).  For some reason figuring out these dreams felt so pressing that I didn’t even get out of bed – I rolled over, grabbed my journal and began writing.

The message of the first dream and the second dream were definitely different; but I did realize that the second dream was very similiar to a dream I’d been having every night for the last week or two.  (And now my recent lack of interest in going to bed at a decent hour all starts to make sense.)  When I was prone to my weird demonic dreams I would have chronic nightmares, and not just chronic nightmares I’d have the same nightmare over and over – I even had one in particular for up to 20 years.  Poor Wakizashi had to learn what to do when terrified out of his sleep by my sudden screaming.

These dreams weren’t like that.  They weren’t enjoyable but it was more like watching a cheesy horror flick than a full on nightmare.  And, even though they repeated, they weren’t the same dream, just the same elements, the same feeling was repeated.  I mean, it took me almost two weeks to realize what was happening.  (That’s what I call a consistent messanger!)

Ok, so here I am, as yet undressed, and I have realized 1) God is trying to get a message through to me 2) I’m having some weird connected, but not the same, dreams 3) I really need to figure out what’s going on.  The first dream, the one from earlier Tuesday night that first got my attention, that one was easy to understand.  As soon as I asked God to tell me what it was about and turned my mind back to the events a phrase dropped into my mind.  Just fell into place.  No, it wasn’t “Your dream is meant to tell you…” actually, it was the opposite of my dream.  Like my dream was a reflection of the way I’d been thinking and the phrase was the lesson God wanted me to learn instead.

“It’s not us (my immediate family and I) against the world.”

The other dreams weren’t as simple; remember, I told you they weren’t the same as the first dream.  Working through them wasn’t helping me any; primarily because I only remembered the really specific details of the one I’d had that night.  Instead, it occured to me to try and remember if I’d ever had a dream with similar elements.  Yes, in fact I had!  One of those 3-4 definitely spiritual dreams had elements like this one – but yet, very different.  I was just about to dismiss it’s helpfulness when yet again it simply occured to me – I knew what that common element meant.

From there everything just began to fall into place.  I understood what was going on!  Like I said at the beginning, I don’t know that I would call these “prophetic dreams” they weren’t so much telling me something outside of myself.  Really, it was trying to show me something about myself that I was unaware of – something I had been allowing to hold me back.  The dream was meant to free me, to encourage me – well, maybe that is what a prophetic dream does.

I was so excited I called Wakizashi and narrated my dreams and conclusions.  His response: So what are you going to do about it?  (How Wakizashi of him.)  What am I going to do about it?  I don’t think anything needs to be done so much – except what I was supposed to do all along.  I’m suddenly on fire to start my business – motivated to step out into this next phase of my life.  I’m positive that was the intent in the first place.  And in case you were wondering how I know I’ve come to the right conclusions, I had no dreams at all last night – just a nice, peaceful sleep.