TEA AND ZEN - THREADS

Most everyone looks to connect with another person based on the initial differences found, we do that with everything we come into contact with. From this initial starting point, we then work our way toward any similarities. Considering that our intent is most often to connect with others it is an oddball way to make that connection. Out of our own suffering and sense of separateness connecting in this way is part of the human default position, to go first to the differences and then try to find similarities. May I suggest one similarity between us all, between all life forms - Love. Choose Love as your starting point, and join with others first and foremost on Love. For it is within the realms of Love, that we find no differences, no judgments, and no preferences…….there is only LOVE. It is after all what every heart yearns for, isn’t it? Seriously, why choose anything else? Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Every inch of you from head to toe is sacred space, treat yourself accordingly please, and whilst you are about it - all other forms of life. May you know the realms of love that exist within your spiritual heart just below the sternum, and go there often when life has you afraid - you will find safety there. Nigel Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Even when we are suffering Love is always present, clouded however by the suffering of the moment we cannot see the truth of the God within - of all heaven on earth. Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Within the circle of every loving heart and tender soul, there is an infinite body of light. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

We live our lives looking to find peace and bliss again in God, thinking mistakenly that in becoming human we had separated from God or that God had separated from us, seemingly cast out from Home. In this one statement lies all the suffering in the world. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

This is a companion piece to the writing immediately preceding this offering. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

I am taking a few days for introspection which always leads to a greater understanding of my part in things and how I may serve. Will be back in a couple of days when I come back up for air. Remember Love, Nigel Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

I heard someone say that knowledge is important. However, without the wisdom found only in the heart to guide that knowledge, to bring it home so to speak..... you will not find the truth of anything. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

The environmental crisis is inseparable from the spiritual crisis that exists within the soul of most modern men and women and, is in fact an objectivization of this primarily inward crisis. Seyyad Hossein Nasr Time is running out on our ability to manage successfully our impact on this our home, Mother Earth, its environment, bio-diversity, resource and life-support systems on which life as we know it depends. The response and action that is now required of us must be firmly rooted in our deepest moral and spiritual principles. Maurice Strong Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

You should go home to your hermitage; it is inside you. Close the doors, light the fire, and make it cozy again. That is what I call 'taking refuge in the island of Self.' If you don't go home to yourself, you continue to lose yourself. You destroy yourself and you destroy people around you, even if you have goodwill and want to do something to help. That is why the practice of going home to the island of Self is so important. No one can take your true home away. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

It is said that we cannot know what Nature, The Universe, what God's will is for us, we can only pray for knowledge of that will and the wisdom to carry that out. But surely whatever that will is, at its core, it comes with kindness, compassion, love, and with grace. Is this not then the truth of any matter? Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

“A Day of SilenceCan be a pilgrimage in itself.A Day of SilenceCan help you listenTo the Soul playIt’s a marvelous lute and drum.Is not most talkingA crazed defense of a crumbling fort?I thought we came hereTo surrender in Silence,To yield to Light and Happiness,To Dance within,In celebration of Love's Victory” Hafiz. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

“Asato ma sadgamaya, Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, Mrityorma amritam gamaya” Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Peace Be Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Peace be in your heart Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Peace Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

"You are loved just for being who you are, just for existing. You don't have to do anything to earn it. Your shortcomings, your lack of self-esteem, physical perfection, or social and economic success—none of that matters. No one can take this love away from you, and it will always be here." Ram Dass Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

The patterns, dynamics, and laws that govern us in our lives, that interweave between our thinking mind and the heart’s wisdom… apply as much collectively as they do individually. When we talk about individual consciousness it is part of a whole that is embedded within humanity….of which, we are but a tiny part. To accept and understand that each of us has a profound effect on the energy of our world and in the universe as a whole, in its polarity between light and dark and, how much of each becomes manifest in any given moment. We are responsible for how much light is in our world, or how much darkness is. It is the purview of each of us then to find the truth within the realms of our own heart and to discover the one love that binds us together there, yet in doing so sets us all free and, to share with each other our stories of the light found there, beyond the darkness. To help each other through our own work on ourselves, on our alignment with the will of the universe, this great mystery shrouded always in love, and to share this outward with humility and grace to all sentient beings everywhere. Nigel Lott. teaandzen.org Have you held a hand today…. got a hug, in giving and sharing the energy of love? if not will you do so now for all our sakes? Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Some quick thoughts this evening. No - is a complete sentence….don’t repeat it as you will dilute the power of the original No, this is true for all communication. Be always in integrity with your own hearts’ truth not of another - stand tall, and speak light to the darkness. You do not have to explain yourself. Let loving kindness and compassion be your guide in all things. Cherish all life forms as if they were all your own precious children. And bake a cake once per week, save me a slice!…… Love On and On and On. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Mount Shasta Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Bring your focus to the bridge of your nose and feel the air physically pass in and out over the skins surface. As you breathe in and out through the nose keep focused on the air passing over the bridge. The sensation of that quality of air passing over the tip, gently in and out. Your mind will wander here and there, thats ok. At the beginning of this practice probably quite a bit of wandering mind will take place, do not be deterred. When you notice this just bring your attention back gently but with great intent to the tip of your nose and, focus again on the sensation as the air passes over the bridge of your nose. Keep repeating this for ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes in the evening. The difference in you after a couple of weeks will be profound as to the sense of peace and equanimity experienced. A quiet mind and a silent voice gives rise to an ever present open heart and the love, wisdom and truth found there. All peace will be yours, there is nothing that you will not come to know, it is all within you…..welcome home. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

There is an underpinning, a dynamic at play on planet earth, like never before and that is people reacting to the belief that there isn’t enough love for them. I don’t mean a romantic kind of love I mean the very creative force of the universe from whence we sprung and from within we are absolutely safe. We think of ourselves as so far away from that love and yet it is right here dwelling as it does within infinity itself. All sorrows and fears that lie at the root of conflict have this belief, that there isn’t enough love for me, in that whatever God means for us is at the other end of the universe and not even this one. Not true, it’s here, it's on every breath we take, and it is within the air that we breathe, permeating as it does every nook and cranny of existence, no matter what we think is happening to the contrary. Difficult to know at times for sure, an act of faith to come to know these truths, indeed it is, that a love beyond measure lays at the heart of you and every life form regardless of what form that love takes. And just to throw in an extra pearl here and say it is still present after breath you take no more, as it was before breath you took. There is always enough, you are eternally safe in love’s arms. ! Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

What! on earth is the point of wielding power, if not in the service of love, kindness, and compassion? to unite hearts rather than in an attempt to conquer minds? Nigel Lott Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

The saying goes…..all is realized in the fullness of time and that time waits for no man……given that…..all that is left then is the present moment……it was ever thus and will forever be. Nigel Lott. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

LOKAH SAMASTHA SUKINO BHAVANTU lokah: location, realm, all universes existing now samastah: all beings sharing that same location sukhino: centered in happiness and joy, free from suffering bhav: the divine mood or state of unified existence antu: may it be so, it must be so (antu used as an ending here transforms this mantra into a powerful pledge) Please join me in this PLEDGE… May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all. Thank you. All love be in your heart… Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Love doesn't hurt. thinking we are without love hurts but love doesn't hurt. Its only when we think love is not present in our lives does it hurt, (it always is present, no matter what) such is the grief of all our lives. Nigel Lott teaandzen.org Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

In not dumping our grief at being on planet earth and our sense of separation from all that is on any other life form. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

The arrow needs an archer, and poetry a magician."He must hold ever in the hand of his mind the weighing scales of metre, rejecting the verse which is too short and that which is too long."His mistress, Truth, shall mount her black steed, the veil of allegory drawn across her brow."Let her shoot from beneath her eyelashes a hundred glances, challenging and victorious."Let the poet place upon her fingers the jewels of the art of many hues, adorn her with the sandal-wood and the saffron of metaphor;"The bells of alliteration like bangles upon her feet, and on her bosom the necklace of a mysterious rhythm.Add to these the hidden meaning, like eyes half seen through their lashes, that her whole body may be a perfect mystery."- "Translation of the Kilidi Afghani," by T. C. Plowden. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Love has befriended me so completely it has turned to ash and freed me of every concept and image my mind has ever known. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/teaandzen/message Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get in a comfortable quiet place, and allow this music to resonate as a sacred utterance, a numinous sound within your spiritual heart, as a monument to peace. Peace Be . Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE

Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY DONATE