zen habits: Create a Sacred Space in Your Heart

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 11:40 AM PST

‘Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.’ ~Thich Nhat Hanh

By Leo Babauta

Yesterday I had tea with a Daoist tea monk who said for tea to change you, you have to create a sacred space in your heart for the tea.

Imagine that space for a moment. How does it feel? What can reside in that sacred space? How different is it from mechanically drinking tea, without paying attention to it?

Now think about the difference between just drinking tea, as if you were drinking anything and not really paying attention … and drinking tea with that sacred space in your heart for that tea. It’s profoundly different, and it changes everything.

You can do that for anything, not just tea. Anything that’s important to you.

If you create a sacred space in your heart for something, it changes how you do it. It changes you, at the molecular level.

We crank through things these days — email, social networks, news, work tasks, calls, meetings, deadlines — and then the day is gone. This is a waste of a miracle, the day that we’ve been given.

Instead, create a sacred space for that which matters most:

meditation, yoga, tea
reading at bedtime with your child
having tea with your spouse
a daily walk
writing
your most important and creative work

Perhaps every moment should have a sacred space in our hearts, but we have to start somewhere. Pick something small but important, and create that space today.

Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world.’ ~T’ien Yiheng

Mindful + Entrepreneur: A Seminar with Leo

In other news, I’m holding a 3-hour seminar here in San Francisco with my friend Jesse Jacobs (creator of the Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Tea):

Mindful + Entrepreneur Seminar The seminar will be held at Samovar Tea Lounge at the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco on March 21, 2013. Join us!

n this 3-hour seminar you will:

taste great tea and chocolate: learn how to be an expert taster
talk with Jesse Jacobs, founder of Samovar Tea Lounge, and Leo Babauta, founder of the Zen Habits website
learn to focus mindfully
learn to savor life more
find calm throughout the work day
learn how–and why–to single-task
learn how to deal with distraction
try some simple meditation techniques
create focused task lists
become good at change and discomfort
learn how to create habits
discuss the fundamentals of building an online and retail business
learn about how Jesse created Samovar, and how I created Zen Habits
talk about our main sources of revenue
discuss some of the lessons we’ve learned in building their businesses
ask us your burning questions questions so you don't make the mistakes they made

The seminar will be broken into two sessions: mindfulness, and entrepreneurship. A selection of Samovar Tea Lounge's handcrafted teas and chocolates will be provided.

This intimate and unique seminar is limited to 25 participants.

Mindful + Entrepreneur Seminar