- Pause
- Bring awareness to the sensations of the following 3 breaths
image by M. Lee Freedman
"Meditating is something everyone can do. Whether you're sitting in a lotus position chanting or drinking a cup of tea or coffee, you can put your focus on the here and now by concentrating on what you're dong with awareness. Practicing a form of meditation will help you go through the day staying in the present and remaining mindful of everything around you.
• When you wake up in the morning be aware of your thoughts. Allow them to come in and out of your mind by observing them.
• Continue being aware of your thoughts when you do your morning ritual like brushing your teeth, showering and getting dressed.
• Make a cup of tea or coffee.
• Find a quiet place to sit.
• Focus your attention on drinking your tea or coffee.
• Feel the warmth of your drink on your lips, and going down your throat.
• Be aware of how it tastes.
• Feel the pleasure it gives you as you drink.
• If a thought distracts you from enjoying your tea or coffee, put your focus back on the pleasure it gives you by the taste and feel of it.
• Be aware of not rushing to finish your tea or coffee.
• Stay present as you drink what is left of it.
• Take a moment to hold your finished cup of tea or coffee, feeling the appreciation and gratitude of it as a gift to being alive.
• Get up from your chair slowly.
• Put your cup down and begin your day with the mindfulness you feel being in the present.
Even if having your morning tea or coffee is at your local Starbucks or Coffee Bean, you can sit there -- although it may not be quiet -- using this meditation technique to transcend the noise or talking around you by focusing and concentrating on mindful drinking. Everything we do is an opportunity to turn it into a meditation by allowing ourselves to be in the present, and focusing on whatever we're doing with awareness. If you're someone who would like to meditate, but don't feel you have time to do it, you can experience it while you're doing something like drinking tea or coffee, and it will become more than just drinking. It becomes mindful drinking, which takes it to a whole other level. You become aware of yourself drinking your tea or coffee with clarity of mind and a feeling of inner peace.
It sure beats drinking a cup of tea or coffee in your car, rushing in traffic, trying to get to where you need to be, your mind racing everywhere other than being in the present. I call that drinking on the go, not drinking in the now."
-excerpted from blogpost Your Morning Cup of Tea or Coffee Can Be Your Meditation
Wishing you a mindful day
and a happy 4th of July to our American friends
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