#ToBeeHappening, Season 1, Episode 3: The Tea Ceremony

Speaker 0 00:00:07 You seem very concentrated on that book you've got over there. What are you reading? Speaker 1 00:00:12 I'm reading a book called passing time and essay on waiting, which tries to identify and enjoy what we consider wasted time. Speaker 0 00:00:23 I, strangely enough, I quite like waiting in the waiting rooms. Would that qualify? Yes. Speaker 1 00:00:28 Or she talks about time spent queuing or when you reserve a table in a restaurant for two, and then only one person has arrived. And so on those kinds of moments and Cola claims that these moments could in fact be used as a source of energy in intimate or poetic or philosophical way, and that we need antidotes to the crazy rush of our times. Speaker 0 00:00:51 Yeah. It's true that we are obsessed with cutting down on waiting time, but Speaker 1 00:00:55 Why is that? Yeah, it's one of the worst aspects of modern life. I think we need to understand that it isn't always good for things to happen faster. Speaker 0 00:01:04 There's now I have a suggestion. Do you have time to share? Speaker 1 00:01:08 I'd love to with pleasure, let's boil the kettle. Speaker 0 00:01:11 So being a musician as, as I'm sure you know, I was playing the guitar to myself the other day while making a cup of tea, which I also do fairly regularly. And I realized that there are parallels between preparing tea and the creative process specifically composing a song. Speaker 1 00:01:30 That sounds interesting. Tell me more. Speaker 0 00:01:32 So there's, there's two aspects. First. I realized that what we call taking the time out is often used as making time for yourself. Really? Of course. And then I was thinking about how important time is in the creative process. So just like team needs certain temperature and time to brew in order to release its flavor and scent. The same thing is needed for me to make music. Speaker 1 00:01:56 I was recently reading about positive psychology and the so-called state of flow a term coined by me, Holly Shinjin Dick, me, Holly, I can't pronounce his name back in 1975. It's basically, um, he describes the state of mind in which a person performing an activity is completely immersed in a feeling of pleasurable, energized concentration. So you're completely at one with what you're doing and flow also transforms our sense of time. Is that what making music is like for you? Speaker 0 00:02:32 It's also, this reminds me also of the feeling I get when I'm washing the dishes. So I guess in a, in a certain way, like everything can be sort of converted into a ritual or ceremony if you flow, Speaker 1 00:02:48 I guess so, Speaker 0 00:02:50 So is that a kind of carpet deal? Speaker 1 00:02:53 Well, this is much more interesting. So the idea of, of the flow can also be applied to drinking tea or like, uh, like having a tea ritual in which are fully present in, in what you're doing in this moment. So for example, uh, paying attention to the person you're with and not thinking about the next moment, the next day, or what's on your social media, you're just celebrating this particular moment. Yeah, that's right. So for example, um, right now we can heat the water without letting it boil. Um, and then we can infuse, uh, the tea in a teapot or Cub, um, which should always be made out of organic materials, uh, your, your utensils for drinking tea. Um, and then you can even preheat the monk by holding your hands around it. Um, so another thing that's really important in this ritual is also the time. So what, uh, the author of the book, I was standing about my, my, uh, talk about what we consider wasted time, which is the time that tea takes to brew Speaker 2 00:03:59 These ceremonies. How would you use your senses? Speaker 1 00:04:03 So you use all your five senses in this. Um, you smell the fragrance, first of all, as the, as you, as the tea is brewing, um, and you can pay attention to the way that fragrance changes from the first moment, you've put the, her the leaves in the, in the water. Um, then you observe the utensils and admire their beauty. You touch them. So you use your sense, your, your, your hands, uh, sense of touch. And then you listen to the sounds that surround you. So if you're lucky and you're having tea in the Greek mountains, you might be able to hear the sound of a stream or a Birdsong or even little goat bells in the, in the distance. Or if you're at home, you might hear the voice of someone that you love, or some music. Um, in any case, you pay attention to your surroundings fully. And as your final step, you taste the tea and pay attention. Speaker 2 00:05:01 Each sip just mentally transported me to the Greek mountains. Then remember this ritual is so powerful, precisely because it can happen in any place, as long as you have some tea at home or in a cafe or in a green meadow in the Greek mountains. This wisdom has existed since the first in tea infusions back thousands of years ago. And it can be repeated Speaker 1 00:05:26 Today in any small town or in any city or wherever. There's a person trying to, Speaker 2 00:05:31 I find ways of living in harmony with others. I'm really in the mood for another divas.