7.8.07

Tea: mindful of mindfulness



I recognized something I had done subconsciously this morning, just a few moments ago.

Now I am conscious of it.

I self moderate my issuance of green tea based on availability.

Currently I am on a tight budget and I have rather expensive tastes in tea. As a result I have been cutting down on how much tea I use for a cup. This results in a thiner tea. The other day a friend gave me four bags of high quality Sencha and a really nice package of Macha. This persons thoughtfulness aside for a moment, I made a nice thick cup of the tea (a sencha& matcha blend) I had already had on hand. The odd thing is I was totally unaware of the moderation until I did not moderate.

I am sure this is a nice boring post, but I thought it was an interesting observation.

Maybe I could come up with a parable for this.

Back to the nice person who gave me the tea. She is a friend of my wife and has got to be a kind of subconscious saint. I really admire people who can manifest compassion without even giving it a thought. I wonder if I will ever be so magnanimous.

As an aside I am recognizing joy moment to moment again, thanks Mikedoe & Aaron.

May all be well and happy.
Jordan

9 comments:

oxeye said...

It is amazing what a small cup of good tea can do for a person.. :)

Your wife's friend might manifest her good will subconsciously, but chances are it is very mindful. Some people are just graceful enough to make it look effortless. I think you are doing well in that department too.

gniz said...

J,

Thanks for that. If I had anything to do, even in a small way, with you appreciating moment to moment--thats very nice to hear.

And even if i had nothing to do with it, that you are experiencing it is also very nice to hear.

Aaron

gniz said...

BTW, leave it to me to read an entire post and respond only to the five words which involve me...god, when will i grow up?

:)

Aaron

SlowZen said...

Oxeye,
Graceful effort… I like that! Thank you!

Aaron,
I think your little experiment is directly related to my good mood, please keep it up for 30 more years!

Take care,
Jordan

Anonymous said...

Gniz you fool. This post is all about me!!!

Compassion which is preceded by a thought is not compassion. Compassion does not feel like compassion when you do it, it just feels like the obvious thing to do at that moment in time.

I enjoy learning from you at times.

gniz said...

I like our little internet sangha.

SlowZen said...

Yeah, me too.

gratitude
Jordan

Gregor said...

Lovely post, I've learned something about compassion here -- or at least saw something I alread knew without thinking about it, lol.

Our Internet Sangha rocks!

I'm going to go an enjoy a cup of tea mindfully, thank you for the inspiration.

-Greg

SlowZen said...

Thanks Greg, Hope you enjoyed the tea!

Gassho,
Jordan

Thanks for looking!