A Good Cup Of Tea

A Vietnamese Buddhist monk and philosopher, Thich Nhat Hanh, wrote about enjoying a good cup of tea. "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 savour the aroma, taste the sweetness, appreciate the delicacy. If you are ruminating about the past or worrying about the future, you will be 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 in the present, you will look around and it will be gone. You will missed the feel, the aroma, the delicacy and the 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 time worring 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 the joy of life."

I find this so true. Yet for me, knowing is easy, doing is difficult. At times, I realized that I've been dreaming and worrying too much and hence, wasted time. How many times have I spoken to myself, "don't worry, just let go" but here am I, still stuck there somewhere...

"Letting go is one of the most difficult challenges human beings ever face. I've always pictured letting go as transformation - moving from a closed fist to an open hand. As we take an open-hand attitude towars life, we can be free of the self-made obstructions that litter our path. This process requires a willingness to shed our persona - those inauthentic trappings we hold onto for identity but that no longer serve us. The choice to let go frees us to follow the pathway to our soul." - Benjamin Shield, in the Handbook for the Soul

Despite a very heavy schedule, I 'let go' and managed to squeeze in a day to attend an innerworks seminar. The topic 'CONSCIOUS CREATION OF LETTING GO" by Dr. Aaron Kwok is most appropriate and significant for me, at least for now.