Two Cups of Tea at Hope’s Café
“The way to develop the habit of savoring is to pause when something is beautiful and good and catches our attention—the sound of rain, the look of the night sky—the glow in a child’s eyes, or when we witness some act of kindness. Pause…then totally immerse in the experience of savoring it.”—Tara Brach
At Christmas, I received the newest edition of The Arist’s Way from my friend Diane and she challenged me to engage in the described method in the book of writing three “morning pages” first thing when you get up. I have attempted to be faithful to it. One day this week as I wrote “stream of consciousness,” I noted that I am feeling “greedy for time” as I age. That prompted me to ponder that thought in the days following. Something didn’t sit well with me about being “greedy for time.” The recognition has set in that my greed doesn’t produce any more time and that the only meaningful response is to savor the time gifted to me.
That response is a challenge. We inevitably experience difficult circumstances that don’t lend themselves to pausing, “savoring.” We have disappointments, physical pain, emotional pain, losses, tragedies. Our current political climate cuts close to the bone. We are to practice “savoring” in the midst of this?
In this sense, savoring is like being grateful. Circumstances don’t always merit savoring or gratitude. Yet paying attention, as Brach’s quote indicates, allows us to find even small, but nourishing, moments of awareness that inspire savoring the experience, feeling gratitude.
I recall in speech class in high school choosing to do a presentation based on the quote:
“Yesterday is but a dream,
Tomorrow is only a vision.
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope.” Even at 17 perhaps I had some inkling that life was calling on me to pause, pay attention, savor and offer gratitude.
The invitation is open to share two cups of tea anytime at Hope’s Café or anywhere you share companionship and conversation.
May we be bearers of hope, the “wait staff” at Hope’s Café, for each other and all those we encounter. Shalom, Kate
Hope's Cafe 