I love Mark Nepo’s Book of Awakening. I often use the daily reading as a prompt for my own writing in my journal. Today he uses a cup of tea as metaphor for life and I love it! Here’s a quote from the reading that has made my commonplace book, where precious words I find go for future reference and safe keeping.

“The whole process is a model for how to make inner use of our daily experience.

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For isn't making tea the way we cipher through the events of our lives?

Isn't the work of sincerity to pour our deepest attention over the dried bits of our days?

Isn't patience the need to let the mixture of inner and outer brew until the lessons are fragrant and soothing on the throat?

Isn't it the heat of our sincerity that steams the lessons out of living?

Isn't it the heat of those lessons that makes us sip them slowly?””

by Mark Nepo

Mark didn’t write with these lines with breaks, I did that for myself to soak in his words. And then I wondered what is it about this passage that I love?

I think his description of tea as metaphor for life feels familiar, it resonates and feels true. As much as I love living life, I equally love reflecting on it. Actor David Schwimmer once said “I spend half my time living my life and the other half analyzing it.” I wonder, do most people feel this way? Is it the mark of a writer? Are some people content to enjoy a moment, never to revisit it again? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this if you feel inclined to comment.

The notion of turning my experiences over in my hands, studying them, and extracting their meaning I find rewarding. It’s my doorway to gratitude, to the appreciation of nuance, and to the daily miracles. Gratitude is often granular in my experience. Particular moments are easy to miss in the getting from here to there. When I am writing or making art I get to have a deepened version of what I have already lived. It’s a sort of sifting. I looked up the word sifting in the dictionary because I felt it fit so well, “to examine thoroughly so as to isolate that which is most important or useful.” Maybe I saw the important bit of an experience before — amongst all the bits and pieces of the day. Taking the time to isolate the pearl and give pause to its beauty, for me, makes all the ordinary, laborious, boring and dreadful bits of existence worth it.

Like today, I picked up Lily (my almost two year old) from my husband’s work. They stood waiting on the curb for me and I got out of the car to greet them. The brief yet magical moment of Lily and I seeing each other again, the flick of light in her eyes as she recognized and reached for me, and I her. With a smile in my voice I chirped, “hi babydoll, I missed you!” It was a flash of joy co-created and experienced by simply loving each other. So ordinary, yes because it happens everyday…but precious and amazing. I love our connection in the moment. And equally I love to revel in it when she is asleep next to me.

What do you all take from Mark Nepo’s passage? I would love to hear.