As we in the United States celebrate our country's day of Independence, the value this year is in quiet reflection. While we see a surge in cases of Covid, the beaches and bars have been closed. Traditions of celebrating together with fireworks, parades and pool parties fade for the time being as we turn the corner of change, both externally and internally.
What does freedom mean for you? Does it signify sovereignty or safety? The freedom to run free in nature, or to protest in solidarity? Does it mean to change your inner landscape at will to suit the experience you want to have of life?
Freedom for me is to be able to make beautiful, healing teas that bring others joy. Freedom to feel joy as I create.
Freedom to choose how to treat others.
Freedom to feel love in the face of fear.
Freedom to stop the world for a moment to sip tea and reclaim my time and attention.
Freedom to let the news cycle spin its wheel of samsara without clasping onto it.
Freedom to stand still in the center of it all, sipping nature, praising the divine.
I--nor you--can control the outer world, but we can control the inner world from which we correspond with it. We can control our time. We can control our attitude. We can control our response and perceptions.
In this is true freedom. As Viktor Frankl wrote--after surviving unspeakable horrors--our true freedom lies in the attitude by which we respond and react.
The way of tea is one way to freedom. It allows us to stop time and reset the course of our day. It allows us to shift focus and choose spaciousness, within.
And through the art, the magic, of living the tea life, we are given reprieve. We are given a practice that may set the senses free, set the heart free, and allow for nature to nurture our cells and minds.
May you be free.
May all beings be free.
WIth Love,
Zhena
Founder/Blender
Magic Hour
