{"id":875,"date":"2017-12-19T15:37:43","date_gmt":"2017-12-19T15:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/?p=875"},"modified":"2017-12-19T15:37:43","modified_gmt":"2017-12-19T15:37:43","slug":"workplace-mindfulness-tip-a-cup-of-tea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/2017\/12\/19\/workplace-mindfulness-tip-a-cup-of-tea\/","title":{"rendered":"Workplace mindfulness tip: a cup of tea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-880 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Hagi_Ido_tesk\u00e5l_-_chawan._Tamamura_Shogetsu-300x244.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"244\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Hagi_Ido_tesk\u00e5l_-_chawan._Tamamura_Shogetsu-300x244.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Hagi_Ido_tesk\u00e5l_-_chawan._Tamamura_Shogetsu.jpg 425w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>I wrote recently about the abundant mindfulness opportunities present in a <a href=\"http:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/2017\/11\/20\/workplace-mindfulness-tip-sparkling-water\/\">can of sparkling water<\/a>. It may be that caffeinated beverages have a slightly non-mindful vibe to them &#8211; but you know, tea was brought to Japan in the first place by Zen monks seeking to stay awake during meditation. I&#8217;m not sure how many cans of Red Bull would fuel a 10-day meditation retreat&#8230;but that cup of tea: even prepared on the formica countertop of a workplace kitchen, it&#8217;s a pretty good way to keep the craziness of your day at bay.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Choose mug from cupboard.<br \/>\nThis may be a personal mug, or a branded mug from your company (or a conference from 5 years ago). <em>Feel the weight of the mug as you lift it, and its distinctive bell-like sound if you happen to knock the shelf as you remove it.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Fill mug with hot water.<br \/>\n<em>Notice the slowly rising pitch as the water nears the top. Feel the steam rising from the cup with the hand operating the hot water tap.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Set mug on the counter, inspect row of available tea boxes and make selection.<br \/>\n<em>Reflect for just a moment on why you made your choice: habit? color of tea box? quick calculation as to whether caffeine is warranted?<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Gently free individual foil pouch of tea from box.<br \/>\n<em>This can be a bit of an awkward maneuver. Take your time and breathe into the experience of pinching and extracting.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Carefully tear open pouch and remove delicate bag of tea.<br \/>\n<em>Also requires a bit of concentration to execute properly. The foil or paper pouch has its own sensory properties, different from the woven fabric of the bag itself.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Ease bag into hot water.<br \/>\n<em>Notice how the water immediately makes the tea bag transparent. After a moment the aroma of the tea leaves or herbs permeates the air. A bit more slowly, the clear water in the mug begins to take on the rosy or russet color of the tea.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Pick up mug by handle, being careful to avoid over-heated ceramic.<\/li>\n<li>Return to desk. Bonus: each sip can return you to calmness. Even while reading your email.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I wrote recently about the abundant mindfulness opportunities present in a can of sparkling water. It may be that caffeinated beverages have a slightly non-mindful vibe to them &#8211; but you know, tea was brought to Japan in the first place by Zen monks seeking to stay awake during meditation. I&#8217;m not sure how many [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stable-attention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":882,"href":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875\/revisions\/882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jhanderson.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}