Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Your Life is Happening Now. (So Taste Your Tea, Dammit!)

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I'm a big fan of tea. Any kind of tea, really, but mostly green teas with subtle natural flavors like jasmine or mint. I find a cup of tea to be a relaxing way of curbing my cream-and-sugar-laden coffee habit.

I have a small iron teapot in my office that I use nearly every day to brew a pot of something. White ayurvedic chai is my favorite, but then there's samuarai chai mate, and snow leopard, and lung ching dragonwell... Let's just say that the folks at Peet's Tea and Teavana have my photo on their respective walls of fame.

Yesterday, while looking for a healthy snack at the local Target, I found myself stopping to pick up a box of Green Ginger tea (yes, I do realize I have a problem, thank you...). As soon as I got back to the office, I grabbed my mug, popped in a new bag of tea, and added the hot water. Seated back at my desk, I took the first sip of the brew while I jumped right back into the endless stream of emails on my screen.

And some time a few minutes later, it hit me: That sip of new and inspiring tea I took a few minutes back? I didn't event taste it.

Yikes! I was so busy doing my work, running on auto pilot, that I didn't even notice the flavor of the new fancy tea I'd just bought. I was totally distracted and unconscious!

Embarrassed, I sat back from my monitor and picked my mug back up. I took a moment to appreciate the mug, and the heat and aroma from the tea it contained. Then I took three long breaths, focused my attention, and slowly sipped my tea, savoring it first in my mouth and then feeling the warmth as it went down my throat.

Geeen tea, yes, But also strong ginger spice, lemongrass, and maybe a bit of pear.

How the hell did I miss all of that?

Pay attention. Your life is happening now.

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