Tea with the absence of honey is bitter.
I have a mug with a smile at the bottom. It is quite a satisfactory smile with a little tongue peeping out, but none the less, it is a friendly mug. It's got quite a large capacity so it is fantastic for thirsty tea, coffee or hot chocolate drinkers. I was in good need of some tea with added honey and lemon. I always use the raw ingredients as I believe you get the most goodness out of it and a stronger taste than those mixed packs in supermarkets. I find this drink very comforting and while I had my big mug, tea at the ready I took a journey.
The honey wasn't mixing well but the lemon was floating and bobbing playfully. Lemon Tea is nice without honey but I think the fact I had honey meant that I knew the sweetness was soon to come. I sipped my tea faster. "What am I doing?" I thought, "I'm supposed to be savouring my tea." But I wanted to get to the sweetness. I had enough of the bitter taste of the black tea and lemon. But that surface was so refreshing, why did I want to leave it? Perhaps it didn't taste good enough?
The cheeky expression at the bottom of my mug smiled at me as I continued to gulp away. Soon enough that bitterness turned sweet, an overlapping delicious transition with a full sensation to earn. I finally reached the full sweetness. But it wasn't as sweet as I had hoped because I hadn't put enough of this sweetness into my mug. I rushed my tea for the faint taste of honey swirling invisibly. I was disappointed and deflated.
No one likes a bitter world. We want sweetness and a smiling face at the end of the day. So why do we rush it? Why are we not content at where we stand right now in this present moment? Why is the future so much better? I think we should try and savour our mugs of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, juice or water. We should savour time and the see world in a mindful way, smell the world in a mindful way, hear the world in a mindful way, feel the world in a mindful way and of course, taste the world in a mindful way.
We can sometimes forget and lose sight and forgot to feel, through the rush of life. It perhaps might give us a sense of calm, purpose, joy and make us remember what life is really about it.
Thursday 21 February 2013
Monday 11 February 2013
Finding a way out of an anxious fog with it's toxic relationships
I look around, they smoke like chimneys. Young racing hearts, reckless. They live life to the full. Youth - Love. Sex. Drugs. We see the faces, the observers. We see them, with their vulnerable and neutral expressions. They look at us, or maybe they don't?
A guy stubs out his cigarette on the cold ground as the bus approaches. I pick up my heavy load of groceries and reluctantly inhale that ashy smell of poison. I have smelt that stench and some like it too much recently. I look around, they all do it. It's cool right? I swallow and do my best to breath the air that is fresh as I look out the window. Soon the smoke disperses.
While I was on this ten minute bus ride, I couldn't help but wonder what made him start smoking in the first place. I thought it was about fitting in, they did it because of peer pressure. I have thought since then it could be that they come from a family whom their parents smoke. But more recently I have twigged that perhaps this person and people like him are going through downward spiral. We have all heard how smoking nicotine and illegal drugs can relax and improve the perception in mind of the smoker. However it can make their problem a whole lot worse. A new problem. A sick addiction. Their initial problem has now gone out the window, locked in the back of their minds. They know it's bad, but they just can't stop. Every New Year, each one secretly hopes "THIS will be the year I get over it." But they need it, their food, their drink, their love. A sick lusting entertainment and escape not only before their eyes but in their mind.
----
Sometimes smoking and taking drugs may seem like an easier way to sort out a problem. I wonder how many of you are succumbing to these death traps, scrabbling, clawing your way out. But it deals with your worries, right?
Facing the world when it's dark and looking forward is sometimes the only thing you can do. Your only option is to breath and sometimes that can be frightening. It's too much, is too fast, it's too tense. You just want to do it right.
Options?
Dance it out. No one says you have to be an expert. Even five minutes of 'Night Fever' zooming your arm up and down counts. Guys you may prefer football with your friends or if you are more of a flying solo guy, how about running? Take a jog down round your street and feel that cool air fill your lungs and lift the silt and blackness out, circulating your body. Your heart pumping, unraveling your soul and surging you with the energy of which is life. Engage with the endorphins in your head. They make you happier than any amount of drug pulsating in your blood stream. It may feel like a weakness stepping away from your drug one baby step at a time. How do you get over someone you love? The chemicals in your brain work in the same way and it always seems lonely at first to stick out on your own. Once you do and give that chance for real, you begin to feel that strength returning. It often hasn't been touched by many young adults for a long time and continues not to until we choose it. It's about being ready. There are many ways to take your mind off stress. Relaxing music helps. It doesn't have to be the 5th Symphony but something that will capture your soul and take it to a new level, feeling some natural sensations your body was made to experience in a pure state of health.
Writing is a fantastic tool. You could write a story on your experiences on what has made your angry and frustrated throughout your life? Write something everyday even if you have never been the best speller or grammar nerd. Sometimes it's about discovering your ambitions and interests. The next pen to paper creation could be a eye catching work of art, depicting life's troubles and the process of wandering through a torch-less land till you find that lamp of hope.
None said it is easy dealing with stress and anxiety. In fact it makes life and the simplest things in life seem very hard but the main thing is that you are not alone. Talk to a friend, or a family member or someone professional who knows and talks to people regularly. The moment we feel that we are no longer alone, is the moment when we can finally start the journey of believing in ourselves again. Even that journey may take a long time, but it's a step right?
My advice is none in the least professional but everyone around you has been through something or has learned to overcome in some way.
If you really want to become the happy person you want to be and I mean really want it, then you will. Surround yourself in positivity, even if you don't believe at first. Once you build up your exposure to positive quotes or people then that perception of negativity ticks over and you remember what it's like to feel human again. I know this because it's true, but you have to trust it and trust yourself.
Anyone you see has a story to tell on those blank and neutral faces that we wear on the bus, or at school/work and on the street. We all want to look strong enough and we may envy that slight smile on someones face just because we want to steal it for our own. Perhaps they have just managed to achieve that renewed feeling after a long and rollercoaster journey, because it is possible.
A guy stubs out his cigarette on the cold ground as the bus approaches. I pick up my heavy load of groceries and reluctantly inhale that ashy smell of poison. I have smelt that stench and some like it too much recently. I look around, they all do it. It's cool right? I swallow and do my best to breath the air that is fresh as I look out the window. Soon the smoke disperses.
While I was on this ten minute bus ride, I couldn't help but wonder what made him start smoking in the first place. I thought it was about fitting in, they did it because of peer pressure. I have thought since then it could be that they come from a family whom their parents smoke. But more recently I have twigged that perhaps this person and people like him are going through downward spiral. We have all heard how smoking nicotine and illegal drugs can relax and improve the perception in mind of the smoker. However it can make their problem a whole lot worse. A new problem. A sick addiction. Their initial problem has now gone out the window, locked in the back of their minds. They know it's bad, but they just can't stop. Every New Year, each one secretly hopes "THIS will be the year I get over it." But they need it, their food, their drink, their love. A sick lusting entertainment and escape not only before their eyes but in their mind.
----
Sometimes smoking and taking drugs may seem like an easier way to sort out a problem. I wonder how many of you are succumbing to these death traps, scrabbling, clawing your way out. But it deals with your worries, right?
Facing the world when it's dark and looking forward is sometimes the only thing you can do. Your only option is to breath and sometimes that can be frightening. It's too much, is too fast, it's too tense. You just want to do it right.
Options?
Dance it out. No one says you have to be an expert. Even five minutes of 'Night Fever' zooming your arm up and down counts. Guys you may prefer football with your friends or if you are more of a flying solo guy, how about running? Take a jog down round your street and feel that cool air fill your lungs and lift the silt and blackness out, circulating your body. Your heart pumping, unraveling your soul and surging you with the energy of which is life. Engage with the endorphins in your head. They make you happier than any amount of drug pulsating in your blood stream. It may feel like a weakness stepping away from your drug one baby step at a time. How do you get over someone you love? The chemicals in your brain work in the same way and it always seems lonely at first to stick out on your own. Once you do and give that chance for real, you begin to feel that strength returning. It often hasn't been touched by many young adults for a long time and continues not to until we choose it. It's about being ready. There are many ways to take your mind off stress. Relaxing music helps. It doesn't have to be the 5th Symphony but something that will capture your soul and take it to a new level, feeling some natural sensations your body was made to experience in a pure state of health.
Writing is a fantastic tool. You could write a story on your experiences on what has made your angry and frustrated throughout your life? Write something everyday even if you have never been the best speller or grammar nerd. Sometimes it's about discovering your ambitions and interests. The next pen to paper creation could be a eye catching work of art, depicting life's troubles and the process of wandering through a torch-less land till you find that lamp of hope.
None said it is easy dealing with stress and anxiety. In fact it makes life and the simplest things in life seem very hard but the main thing is that you are not alone. Talk to a friend, or a family member or someone professional who knows and talks to people regularly. The moment we feel that we are no longer alone, is the moment when we can finally start the journey of believing in ourselves again. Even that journey may take a long time, but it's a step right?
My advice is none in the least professional but everyone around you has been through something or has learned to overcome in some way.
If you really want to become the happy person you want to be and I mean really want it, then you will. Surround yourself in positivity, even if you don't believe at first. Once you build up your exposure to positive quotes or people then that perception of negativity ticks over and you remember what it's like to feel human again. I know this because it's true, but you have to trust it and trust yourself.
Anyone you see has a story to tell on those blank and neutral faces that we wear on the bus, or at school/work and on the street. We all want to look strong enough and we may envy that slight smile on someones face just because we want to steal it for our own. Perhaps they have just managed to achieve that renewed feeling after a long and rollercoaster journey, because it is possible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)