If You Are Feeling Lost In Life Right Now...

🌠 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 🌠⁣ ⁣ ·.·⁣ ⁣ I would never forget the night when the full moon rose high into the sapphire night sky and shone her light through the bare windows.⁣ ⁣ Sitting by the side of my Tea senior, I was filled with nervous energy at first.⁣ ⁣ "What if I f*ck it all up?"⁣ ⁣ "What if I get the water temperature wrong? What if I don't catch her silent signal and get one step wrong?"⁣ ⁣ All those thoughts were racing through my head.⁣ ⁣ This was my first time assisting as the Water-bearer · 茶童 ·, and I was so nervous. Who was I to sit here? I had a day job of senior digital content manager, and I felt totally unqualified to be in this position of serving others.⁣ ⁣ The Tea Ceremony, so I heard, was fully booked. And in those days, that meant the Tearoom would be filled to the brim, with two rows of cushions and at least three kettles worth of water.⁣ ⁣ I kept my attention on the kettle, trying to wipe out the fearsome thoughts that were crowding my head.⁣ ⁣ My Tea senior on the other hand, had already gone into her samadhi and zazen, her eyes closed and her hands clasped in her lap. She was a vision of serenity － and more so, something about her cloaked the room entirely with such a deep knowing peace that I felt my own breath begin to steady.⁣ ⁣ The door slid open, and the first person who entered gave me a surprised look and mouthed, "Oh are you working here now?". I quietly shook my head and smiled shyly, and then the second person walked in, the third...⁣ ⁣ By then, the kettle was soughing the pine. I began to pick up another kettle, just in time to see a quiet move of my Tea senior's hand under the table. Subtle but I understood it, non-verbal transmissions I would in my later life comprehend with eloquence.⁣ ⁣ ✨ 𝑵𝒐 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉. 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕. ✨⁣⁣ ⁣ As she took her bow and began to move with the reverent and silent rhythm of the Tea Ceremony, the full moon would have begun to rise.⁣ ⁣ Incense rose and wafted into my senses.⁣ ⁣ The room felt like a time warp now, with no end and no beginning.⁣ ⁣ The boundaries between us here and the world outside have been drawn. ⁣ ⁣ We are here, sharing bowls of Tea, honouring this moment whilst withholding our judgemental mind, our know-it-all thoughts, and most of all, our fearful inner voices. ⁣ ⁣ The worries I had carried in with me from my full-time job melted away. ⁣ ⁣ When we finally opened our eyes to the end of the Tea Ceremony, the full moon was risen in her full glory.⁣ ⁣ A scintilla of her glow rested upon the rim of all our empty bowls, gathered around the teapot in a mandala.⁣ ⁣ One by one, the people who had shared the quiet energetic flow of the ceremony with us spoke. ⁣ ⁣ They shared their stories, their feelings, how at the start their restive mind wouldn't quiet down, and yet miraculously completely came to stillness during the Tea Ceremony. ⁣ ⁣ They spoke of how they could really taste for the first time the flavour of this Tea and didn't realise how sweetness could be possible within the bitter surfaces.⁣ ⁣ One woman had tears falling down her cheeks as she spoke about how precious life felt to her now, and how much she had neglected sparing time just for herself to luxuriate in her own company. ⁣ ⁣ Another said through a shaking voice why she needed this, every single day now, because she could connect with her deceased mother so deeply every time she did this. She missed her dearly.⁣ ⁣ .·.⁣ ⁣ These are memories of mine of course, all real, albeit blended into the Tea Ceremonies I have held myself in the course of my own practice as a keeper of The Way Of Tea, Cha Dao · 茶道 ·.⁣ ⁣ The blessing of crossing paths with Tea is limitless, and I know that the journey never ends.⁣ ⁣ Few months after I found Tea, I quit my job and followed my dreams to become a Tea Ceremonialist. ⁣ ⁣ Life can become so graceful and easy in one instant. All it takes is for us to choose Life to be so.⁣ ⁣ And Life does take us through the peaks and valleys, and at times when it asks us to be ready for an expansion that is coming through, the Void.⁣ ⁣ But when we move consistently from a centre of stillness and in the frequency of Love, we are connected to our one true self, never ever lost again, never ever hiding away from living fully.⁣ ⁣ Everyone recognises this feeling because it is innately yours.⁣ ⁣ This is the returning home to your embodied Soulful Self. 💗⁣ ⁣