Tea and Zen

Hello, blog…my old friend. Hello WORLD! Hello Barack Obama, John McCain and President Sarkozy, as well as all the rest of my regular readers! I’m sitting here drinking oolong tea with ginseng (Blue People) and feeling very “Zen” about the whole morning. I’ve stopped drinking coffee in the morning and only occasionally do I get a cup during the day when I am tired at work. I think it’s better for me. It’s a lovely morning here in Portland, if a bit chilly at a current temperature of 60° Fahrenheit according to The Weather Channel, but they expect a high of 79° F. That will be nice.

There’s no music on in the house and I think I’m the only one here right now. The outside world isn’t being intrusive, either. There are no loud blue-jays squawking, not too many cars, no neighbors mowing their lawns or drug dealers in the street hollering back and forth. Things on my mental to-do list are calling to me: I have a stack of mail (mostly junk) that has accumulated on my desk and in a box for months that needs to be sorted through; I need to find my sleeping bag downstairs and wash or at least air it out, as well as anything else I might need for a little camping on the coast this weekend; my body would probably like it if I did yoga, but it might also be happy to just rest for today–it can’t decide. For now I am ignoring all of these things, tempted even to close the laptop and just sit on the couch in the sun with my eyes closed or read a book. I am writing here because it is meditative to me, and I felt compelled to do so rather than just write in my journal.

Life is good right now. I have new tasks at work and I am getting paid more, I have friends, school starts in a few weeks, the weather is nice and I am healthy. What more could one ask for? As an aside, if any of you are regular coffee drinkers I suggest switching to tea for a while. I don’t get as jumpy and anxious, but maybe coffee just affects me in a stronger way than it does for most. It has an affect on my emotional and mental status, and not just making me more alert. I’ve been surprised that my withdrawals from coffee weren’t that severe–only a slight headache for a day or two. Of course I am still getting caffeine, but it’s different (I think) and not as concentrated. If you try it, make sure you get high-quality loose-leaf tea from someplace that knows what they’re doing. I got mine at a great place in Seattle, but there are definitely locations in Portland and I’m sure the rest of the world, as well. Cheers, to your health and to being more “Zen”.