Hello,
Welcome beautiful soul.
Begin by bringing both hands around your cup.
And feel its warmth meeting your palms.
Traveling into your fingers.
As though the tea has already begun its work.
There is nowhere else you need to be for these next few minutes.
Nothing you need to solve,
Complete or understand.
There is only you.
Your breath.
Into this cup.
And take a slow breath in through your nose.
And let it leave through softly parted lips.
And again,
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
Now allow your eyes to rest upon the tea.
Notice its colour.
The delicate movement of steam.
The fragrance rising to greet you.
Maybe this is more than a cup of tea.
Maybe it is a small doorway.
One that leads away from the noise and back towards yourself.
And lift your cup and take your first slow sip.
Let the warmth rest upon your tongue while you swallow.
And follow it as it travels down into your body.
Silently say to yourself with this sip,
I return to myself.
And when you're finished,
Place the cup down and soften your shoulders.
And imagine that somewhere within you there is a familiar room,
A room belonging only to you.
Nothing has been disturbed.
A soft chair waits by the window.
A lamp glows upon a small table.
And beyond the glass,
Leaves move in the breeze.
And this inner room has held every version of you.
The joyful one.
The weary one.
The hopeful one.
And the one who sometimes forgets how deeply they belong.
So take another sip now.
And as you drink,
Imagine stepping across the threshold of this room.
You don't need to arrive carrying answers.
You may enter exactly as you are.
Silently say to yourself again,
I am welcome within my own heart.
And feel the cut between your hands once more.
And let it remind you that coming home doesn't require a great journey.
Sometimes it begins with warmth held between two palms,
One conscious breath.
One moment in which you chose to remain with yourself.
Now,
Take another slow sip of your tea.
And allow anything you've been carrying to loosen just a little.
The unfinished tasks,
They can wait.
The expectations,
They can wait.
And even the questions may remain unanswered.
But here you are,
Not measured by what you accomplish.
You are simply received.
Bring the cup close and breathe in its fragrance.
And let your final sip become a promise.
I will return to myself again and again.
And feel your feet upon the ground and notice the steadiness beneath you.
And the breath continuing within you.
You are here.
You are held.
You are home.
And when you're ready,
Carry this beautiful feeling into the rest of your day.
May every cup become a homecoming,
Every sip a remembering,
And every moment a doorway back to you.
Namaste.
