The learning

I have recently started going to this website called stumbleupon.com. All I have to do is check a  number of boxes which define my interests and it keeps throwing related websites on my screen. I have realised that most websites that I like are the ones which have funny or adorable pictures of animals. The other websites that I really like are the ones about Buddhism and its teachings as one could apply in one's life. Somehow these teachings appeal to me greatly. I want to be at peace and be in the present as much as possible. This is not easy as my mind is fickle but I try. I found some writings of Thich Nhat Hanh a Vietnames monk and reading through them I began to understand the importance of the present moment. If I'm not careful it will be gone before I know it. Here is an invaluable excerpt from his teachings that I completely loved especially as I love my tea heh heh!

“You must be completely awake in the present to enjoy the tea.

Only in the awareness of the present, can your hands feel the pleasant warmth of the cup.

Only in the present, can you savor the aroma, taste the sweetness, appreciate the delicacy.

If you are ruminating about the past, or worrying about the future, you will completely miss the experience of enjoying the cup of tea.

You will look down at the cup, and the tea will be gone.

Life is like that.

If you are not fully present, you will look around and it will be gone.

You will have missed the feel, the aroma, the delicacy and beauty of life.

It will seem to be speeding past you. The past is finished.

Learn from it and let it go.

The future is not even here yet. Plan for it, but do not waste your time worrying about it.

Worrying is worthless.

When you stop ruminating about what has already happened, when you stop worrying about what might never happen, then you will be in the present moment.

Then you will begin to experience joy in life.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

And here is another excerpt that I also loved and today when I have my tea I will try to be in the moment and truly enjoy the beauty of it.


“Tea is an act complete in its simplicity.

When I drink tea, there is only me and the tea.

The rest of the world dissolves.

There are no worries about the future.

No dwelling on past mistakes.

Tea is simple: loose-leaf tea, hot pure water, a cup.

I inhale the scent, tiny delicate pieces of the tea floating above the cup.

I drink the tea, the essence of the leaves becoming a part of me.

I am informed by the tea, changed.

This is the act of life, in one pure moment, and in this act the truth of the world suddenly becomes revealed: all the complexity, pain, drama of life is a pretense, invented in our minds for no good purpose.

There is only the tea, and me, converging.”

Thich Nhat Hanh