The only limitations on you are the ones you have placed on yourself. Exploring meditation with The Journey to the Heart daily meditations by Melody Beattie for The Anchored Heart. Bring in more JOY with simple tea ritual.
Mediation from Journey to the Heart ~ February 1, 2022
Transcend Your Limitations
You're free now, free to take the journey of a lifetime. Free to experience life, in its newness, it's freshness, its magic --- in a way you never have before.
The only limitations on you are the ways you have placed on yourself. Your prison has been of your own making. Don't blame or chastise yourself. Life has created certain challenges for you. But the purpose hasn't been to imprison you. The purpose is to set you free, to provide you with lessons, experiences, circumstances that would trigger growth and healing. Life has been trying to break you out of your prison.
Set yourself free. Let yourself go on a journey of love. Take notes. Be present. Experience. Learn. Love and laugh, and cry when you need to. Rest when you are tired. Take a flashlight to help you see in the dark. But most of all, take yourself and go.
Go on the journey of joy.
Taking time for self-care is important with how you feel in your mental well-being. As in the past post now that I have typed out the mediation from Feb 1 in the Journey to the Heart book and I am going to listen and see what arises for me.
At the end of the mediation I spoke about honouring our emotions and not feeding into negative thoughts or worry. After I listened my mind kept thinking about how I worry and wander if is more normal considering the current times we live in. I do know that through cognitive behaviour therapy, (CBT) that it is said that it is better when we talk about our feelings. In yoga we learn to see how our body feels, and also notice any emotions or feelings that arise.
I come back to the action of the labelling of my feelings time and time again. When I heard myself telling myself not to feed into worry, I was feeling that sometimes maybe it is ok if we just worry! Right? CBT has three factors; Thoughts, feeling and behaviour. By changing a person's behaviour or thinking could effect their emotions. There is more about CBT at the end of this post....
The mediation asks us; be present, experience and learn. To love and cry when we need to and rest when we are tired. I do feel like I need rest and I do feel tired. I began to notice that I have a nagging sadness, even when there is joy in my life. I had a friend tell me that she is able to replace her negative thoughts with positive thoughts. I truly believe that she is able to do this. My brain takes a bit more work than that. I have to list the things that are in my life that are there to bring me joy and happiness because I naturally do not feel this way.
I have a simple ritual that brings me joy and soothes me more than anything else. Even more so than yoga. It is tea. I typically grab any old cup and throw a tea bag in the cup. Walk away and let it steep, add milk and that was that. But what if I made it part of my self care ritual? This is what I found in the book called; Wellness Witch.
Tea Ritual to bring in Joy
Many cultures in Asia practice tea ceremonies. In China making tea for someone is inscribed in meaning to show them respect gratitude or even an apology. In Japan the ceremony begins with a cleansing ritual and everything from examining the tea cup to where you place your lips to take your first sip is done very specific intentions. Your own tea ritual can be specific or it can be more designed with a purpose. Something more than I am currently doing. Ayurveda teaches us that the kind of tea you drink matters and has profound effect on our mind and bodies.
Here are a few tips for your own tea in a cup ritual:
Before you brew your tea wash your face and hands. Pick a essential oil that is calming. ( Lavender, rose, chamomile)
Boil your water and as the water is heating close your eyes and take three deep breaths in, & three breaths out.
Choose your mug with care. We all have associations with things in our livEs. Choose something that feels right for this cup of tea in this moment.
Do you have a mug that is comforting as you hole in your hands?
Do you want something beautiful and inspiring?
Do you want a mug with a particular saying?
Allow the boiled water to rest until all the bubbles have subsided.
Choose the tea and place in your cup whether it is a teabag or looseleaf in a strainer.
Slowly, pour a steady stream of water above the cup around 6 inches. Fill to your desired about of water in your cup. Let tea steep. (Black tea 3-5 minutes and less for green tea)
When your tea is ready remove the strainer and bring the tea to your face. Close your eyes. Inhale deeply three times. Focus your intention on this cup of tea and what it will bring you.
Then take your first sip. Enjoy the calming feeling that you feel from taking a few minutes of a simple self-care ritual.
I hope you are enjoying the first two meditations for The Anchored Heart. I truly enjoy recording and the reflecting what arises. Please check out my blog over the next few weeks where you will find five more mediations for The Anchored Heart from the beautiful readings of the daily mediations from The Journey to the heart. My hope is that you too can see that implementing mediations or mindfulness does not need to be complicated. Check out my blog tomorrow for meditation tea "brews." I will bring in simple tips for teas that if your drink before your meditation will help you focus.
Click on the Picture below to access the meditation.
Resources and much gratitude:
More about CBT ..... Labelling feelings, is being present with the feeling or emotion which helps us control it, in. a sense. The idea is that when a feeling arises you can simply say to yourself; "I am sad, I am feeling lonely, I feeling angry etc. The science behind this is: when we label the feeling it will get our amygdala, the part of the brain that deals with strong emotions, into action. When we label our feeling it helps us gain control rather than the emotion having control over us. This is the evidenced based teachings by Aaron T Beck who wrote Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in 1979. CBT has been life changing for me, I do still have strong emotions but it takes a shorter time for me to get a handle on them. Notice I say shorter, not completely gone!
The journey to the heart, daily meditations by Melody Beattie. https://melodybeattie.com/
Wellness Witch; healing potions, soothing spells and empowering rituals for magical self-care. by Nikki Van De Car