The Ritual Master It’s been 9 days since my last upload… I have been struggling with the current state of affairs, like everyone else I suppose, and have been trying to find my balance.
I cannot pretend that everything is all right, but cannot live in a permanent state of alert either. So I’ve been reading a page here and there, between breaking news and brainstorming solutions. I have had a full week at work, but everytime I talk to someone, it always comes back to the same endless list of what’s wrong with the world, so human contact has not been very helpful.
But then, the week-end has proven to be the best medicine for me. I made a mental list of all I had done to help and all I could do in the weeks to come, and then I gave myself permission to rest and recuperate. March has brought light and colour into my life, but I have been looking elsewhere. So I took the shortest walk around the block after going to the market, and found some unexpected treasures.
My tea choice for March is a blend that soothes me in a very surprising way. It is called Yellow Mountain, and the combination is not one I often see around, yet it deserves a wider audience. A mix of white tea, milky oolong and green jasmine tea, it has a powerful combination of natural flavours that wakes up my taste buds. The freshness of the jasmine green lifts it, while the earthy milk flavour of the oolong keeps it grounded. And the white tea is the blending flavour, that rounds everything up and gives it meaning. A moment to contemplate the gift that is a good cup of tea.
My reading has been sporadic and inconsistent these last few days, but somehow, it’s helped both with seeing the bigger picture, and with distracting my attention.
My good friend Liliia has presented me with a jewel of a book, by Japanese poet and translator Ryoko Sekiguchi. Nagori : a longing for the season that has just ended. This short essay speaks of the delicately nuanced concept of nagori, literally translated as “the remains of the wave”, a philosophy of nostalgia of the separation. As always, the Japanese culture surprises me in its elegance, and the writer has reviewed this concept starting with the timeframe of the seasons and following with the emotions brought by food that follows the evolution of seasons. I have found peace in the explanations of our way of relating to time. Nature follows a cyclical time, flora and fauna both gather strength in winter, awaken in spring, thrive in summer and slowly release in autumn. But humans have detached themselves from cyclical time, and live in a linear time dimension. The greatest disadvantage being that linear time has a beginning but mostly and ending. Especially in our current state, I find it useful to be reminded that even war has an ending, being invented by humans, but then nature brings back the balance of our seasons, our shifting energy and our connection to higher vibrations. This gives me hope…
And then I dove into the virtual visit of Hillwood estate, gardens and museum, through two books I borrowed from a more experienced traveller than myself…
This was a place I never heard of before, and even though albums of museums are usually bought at the end of the visit from the shop and enjoyed later on as a memory of one’s travels, this time, they have replaced the visit and allowed me to meet a fascinatig woman : Marjorie Merriweather Post. I think if you’re not in the art business, the tendency is to consider art collectors as spoiled rich people, whose art knowledge resides in their wallets. That may well be the case for some, but every once in a while, I am reminded of the importance of art collectors when they have a strong social conscience. The rich heiress of one of the largest food companies in the United States, Marjorie Merriweather Post has created a domain in Washington D.C. with the clear intention of opening it to the people after her passing, as a way of sharing her passion for European decorative arts, literally forever. Reading about the beautiful gardens that provided floral arrangements for every room, the joy of creating a safe haven for her family and friends, I have been inspired to find new ways of bringing beauty and serenity to my home. After all, even the tiniest studio apartment can be considered your own private estate.
My March essential practice has become the box breathing technique. It’s been a while since I last felt the need to practice quite so often, but I am grateful to have this as an emergency self-help trick to use every time I feel overwhelmed by reality. The concept is simple, 4 steps to repeat 4 times. Breathing in, holding your breath, breathing out and holding your breath again, each one while counting to 4. The benefits have been recognized by the medical community : lower stress levels, better concentration, calmer autonomic nervous system, lower blood pressure and even pain management. Let’s do a few rounds together…
Sending my wishes of balance, light and peace into the Universe and to each and every one of you. Remember to take care of yourselves as well, while helping others.
Until next time, enjoy your reading and your rituals !
