Creative Inspiration: A Pot of Tea

Continuing my ongoing series of posts on sources of my creative inspiration, I would like to share how a simple pot of tea inspires me creatively.

Above is a pot a green tea being poured into my favorite mug. One side of the mug reads: “live in wellness” and the other side reads “the universe knows”. This mug reminds me to take care of myself and to trust my intuition and the flow of the universe. (Hope that did not sound too “new age” and scare away some readers, ha!)

Behind the mug in the photo is a teapot warmer I found 9 years ago at a Tea Shop in Sisters, Oregon (the shop is now closed/out of business).

Every morning, I make a pot of green tea, place it on the warmer and sit in the front window each morning before work, and on the weekends (when I can really linger) and daydream about current and future creative projects.

I keep my journal nearby to jot down any notes, thoughts, drawings, or other inspirations. (and yes, I have spilled tea on my journal…)

Sitting quietly with a pot a tea, even if for 10 – 15 minutes, really centers me and inspires me creatively. Many new ideas for fiber art pieces or blog posts have come from my time with the pot of tea.

In one of my profiles on a social media site, I describe myself as “an obsessive tea drinker”. I suspect there are worse things in life to be obsessive about, so I am happy with this obsession!

Postscript

A reader asked me to share what I thought of the audiobook The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life by Michael Puett and Christine Gross-Loh (I mentioned this book in the post Tuesday…an update).

Overall, I thought the audiobook is worth a listen and many sections inspired deep contemplation as I walked and listened.

As shared in the previous post, the author is a Harvard professor and the book is filled with “scholarly” like discussions that are at times rather esoteric (but not tedious); however the wisdom and insights into human nature by the ancient Chinese philosophers are highly accessible and timeless.

In addition to addressing the key teachings of several seminal ancient Chinese philosophers, the authors discuss the cultural, social, economic and political climates during the time in which the different philosophers lived, which influenced their writings and teaching. 

Words for thought from ancient Chinese philosophers:

The effect of life in society is to complicate and confuse our existence, making us forget who we really are by causing us to become obsessed with what we are not.

– Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zhou)

The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.

– Xunzi

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

– Confucius

He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.

– Laozi (Lao Tzu)

The sole concern of learning is to seek one’s original heart.

– Mencius