Drinking a cup of tea, I stop the war

I recently signed on as Editor for T Ching, a community blog dedicated to improving people's lives with tea. Contributors include: a bestselling tea author; a ceramic artist specializing in tea pots; a microbiologist researching the antiviral, antibacterial and antimicrobial properties of white tea; publisher of a tea magazine; president of the Tea Association in the US...and the list just goes on and on! What fun it is to get such a panoramic look at the history, benefits, applications and possibilities of tea.

(Plus, who knew I'd become such a techno geek! I love working all the gears behind the community blog curtain! Thanks, WordPress, for making such a fine instrument, and a big shout out to thehappycorp for making it possible for the fine folks at T Ching to bring tea to the people.)

I particularly love this post by Donna Fellman where she shares a profound story about how learning to become still is the first step in cultivating peace in ourselves and the world. Following is a snippet of the excerpt she shares from Joel & Michelle Leveys’ The Fine Arts of Relation, Concentration, & Meditation: Ancient Skills for Modern Minds (Wisdom Publications, 2003):

Outer wars and conflicts come from and mirror the inner conflicts in each of our hearts and minds. A first step toward peace is learning to recognize the outbreak of internal conflict and war in our own minds. This is a very powerful and profound art. During times of strife our lives depend most of all on learning to carefully observe the creative activity of our own mind as it weaves impressions and stories into beliefs that shape our attitudes and values, set our priorities, drive our communications and actions in the world..Be mindful of the many moments in your day when you have the opportunity to “stop the war.”

Writing this blog, I stop the war. Amen.

Comments

[Albert]

neat. I was part of a tea temple for the past two years at Burning Man. We'd serve tea many hours of the day and night, providing a very mellow space out on the open playa for people to come, drink and relax. nothing like sunrise on the playa and a hot cup of white tea to bring in the day.

[Albert]

here's what the temple looks like: http://www.pranamaya.com/tea_temple/index.html