28 Comments

Glad to be part of the Xennial club! 🖖 We were definitely born during a special time. The last of the analog childhoods. I feel like our group embraces finding disconnection from the digital world because of how we grew up. It's all a balancing act. It's a love/hate relationship for sure.

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I think God would be very pleased that your ideas of what God IS doesn't fit neatly away on your bookshelf. 😊 Most put God in a box-a very small one, or on a shelf, crying out only when needed. By Grace, God answers the cry. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.❤ Thanks for the opportunity to share veiwpoints!

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It is a good idea to see both sides of the coin - in this case the pros and cons of technology. Also, I like how you suggested that mindfulness and tea helped bring you (and can help bring people) to the present, therefore making one closer to one's higher self.

Question: What kind of tea do you like? Do you add anything to your tea? I know this isn't the main point of your essay, but just curious :-)

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It’s not the first time I hear about this ritual of yours. In our fast-paced world, having the privilege to find the time to share with a loved one in silence, is simply precious. I will give it try. Thanks for your inspiration once again. X

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This entry is My favorite so far 💞

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You've given me much to think about my friend. Mindfulness has been a struggle for me, especially since having children. When the dependents are doing that constant thing they're named for, and I want to just NOT THINK for awhile, I find myself turning to the phone when really I should be turning inside. And I know that, like, I KNOW that. I even think it as I'm mindlessly scrolling. "Stop. You're not looking at anything. Write. Read a little. You have time. Do it."

*refreshes Instagram*

Send help, right? Man. I'm going to try harder. ✌️

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Hmm. A couple things. I did a tea ceremony with Baelyn, among many other times while visiting Asia. I can empathize with the richness of your thoughts here. Further, I love how you bring attention the disconnected tea mediation experience vs. today's "connected" gross population being distracted by tech bringing about both pain and joy. This idea can be toyed with as creating our own demons/pains by what we expose on the web vs. what we DON'T expose on the web. In sum, this is a very geo-social view, but it also has A LOT of moving parts in one essay. There is more here if you parse out each section. I feel as though certain parts could be "fleshed out" to make a really good short story or even better, song.

"I am the ripe age of 40; young enough to have processing space for tech developments, wherein I can embrace new shiny modes of transport, but old enough to recall a time when there was space to be bored." This statement resonated with me. Our parents, presumed baby boomers, have seen the most change in their time. But this statement brings to light that maybe we have seen AND experienced that change as well, in different ways.

Lastly, I appreciate the biblical comment. (I believe you had more than one in there.) I believe there is more there. However, I appreciate how you formulated words on how "meditation" through tea "brings you closer to God." Isn't that the point of meditation? You are essentially in a receiving mode (feminine energy) while downloading/praying (masculine energy)? I think you hit home with this part. If we strictly do this as a routine, would this be living the Buddhist life? This would essentially converge both the Bible and Buddha. Interesting paradigm. A lot of thoughts here. hehe

I realize this is long, its the curse of being a "thinker." All around very interesting.

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Maybe you could make a tea to feed your phone

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Your read just brought back memories of me sitting the grandmother I was named after. When I was a child between the ages of 10-12 we would sit at her table make tea and play gin rummy… long before computers, cell phones and the interwebs….. Thank you!

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The fact that you can find that peace now in your daily routine is really nothing short of amazing, esp after all the years of basically being on a stage for all of us to see (physically and metaphorically). I also spent most of my life with corded phones, cassette tapes and library books. As a mother I try to allow “boredom” as it fosters creativity and learning for littles. We use old school “dinnertime” as our way of being present with each other. I truly believe that all great art, poetry, music, books came from people who were allowed to mull in their own solitude and without stillness our minds are too loud for any of that to be heard.

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I’m a Stretch Therapist and energy bodyworker. Throughout the years, I’ve tried to meditate but my thoughts usually run wild. Working on and moving people is my way to empty my brain and focus on one thing. No one has a digital device, it’s all about feeling and breathing. Everything else disappears. And being stretched feels SO good so knowing I’m helping someone feel great is one of my favorite feelings in life and I love getting to that space day after day.

I’m loving these stories and convos on ways to be present!

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It feels like there are layers to this, maybe? Because of that I also feel like I’m missing something. 🙃

Energetic presence is also a beautiful gift when the foundation and intention is love. Of course standing in front of someone and looking them in their eyes is the most desired. I’m thankful for the ability to connect with those I love regardless. I understand the dilemma, I was raised by my grandparents on a farm, we had 3 tv channels and no air conditioning. Most of the time I was outside fishing, riding my horse, climbing trees and running wild. My papaws brother was a dairy farmer, I spent lots of time there in a stinky milking parlor playing with kittens. Those were some of the fondest memories of my life. Growing up in such a humble way, free and connected to the earth was a blessing. The world now doesn’t always resemble that time but I still live a simple life and try to stay connected to all the things I loved about those times. It’s why I appreciate the little things like seeing farmers here or looking at the world through the eyes I used to see it through. We can still make this life beautiful by focusing on what we love and recreating moments that brought us joy. I love doing things I did when I was small, looking for natural treasures on the ground or gazing at the sky. I’m grateful for the fact that even though I’m thousands of miles from home I can see my family’s faces and hear their voices. Life in this world has never been perfect but we’re gonna be ok!

Your presence seemed to be the theme of my gifts this year. The gift of your presence here and a literal gift. As I was reading others comments I noticed the name Baelyn. I was surprised to receive the gift of your art yesterday for my birthday. The print is named Baelyn as conduit. It’s the color of the lapis I just bought. I had never seen the print before but it’s beautiful and the paper is so unique. It was perfect considering it’s spiritual significance and the fact that you created it! So much love to you!

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I deleted all of my social media accounts for three years while I was writing my novel, but when it came to publish it, I started new accounts in all the normal places to promote it. And it has been the exact struggle you said! It both gives me so much opportunity as an artist, and drives me to distraction as a person.

But I remember what my life was like for those three years, I left my phone in a drawer all day and it was so lovely! So my recent attempt to strike a balance is to use the screen time feature to shut down all social media and email at 5pm. Those apps become blocked so that the only thing left for me to do in the evenings is read.

I’m still experimenting to see if this works out (I’ve found myself digging through settings to release TikTok from its block before). But my backup plan is to keep Substack and get rid of everything else. Which honestly is how it’s worked out for me so far (no one comes to my Substack through my social media, so maybe I don’t need it?) Our love/hate battle with the internet is the paradox of our time!

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I remember reading this tea article long ago. It was just as good reading it the second time. Tea and late-night reading are my favorite. Unless it's raining then tea comes earlier, it seems to go well with the rain.

I always wondered why you spoke of Janus in that article. The duality, transitions and the doors? Well, have you ever stood in a doorway and felt the presence of entering into a different room or place? To me that is much like the ritual of making tea or coffee. It is felt not just made. Yes, I love the morning coffee ritual before work it makes me attentive to sound of the fire and bubbling water. The aroma and patiently waiting for the first sip. Not for the caffeine, it's the taste alone along with the morning waking ritual. (Not long ago I went to work without making coffee and we had a very close call with a tornado.)

So... I make coffee every morning!! Even if I only take one sip. As for the matter of tea it's much more, more of being present in the moment of the water, watching the water gently mix with the tea while the flavor begins to unfold. Taking the first sip while sitting down with a magical book. Then this is what happens. I begin to read and sip on the tea; the words take me to other thoughts and places. I lose track of time. It doesn't matter if it's a book I'm holding in my hand or one that I can read online. Hours and hours can go by, and I never really notice. So, is it the tea, the words or the presence that keep me spellbound?

I always think of this line when I have to wake in the morning after not paying attention to the time...."The doors of the temples are open as well as the ears of the gods..and the words have weight. The weight of the words sure shows in the morning when you have only slept a couple of hours before you have to wake up for work.

The internet is surly both good and bad depending on what you're doing. I also remember not having pleasure of being able to learn what you wanted when you wanted to learn it. Of course, you have to also search articles for truths which means more reading. Then it's back to the same problem of attention to time. (I really need help with that!!) I might have to say that sometimes a presence shows up when I get lost in the words. Maybe they are trying to make me pay attention to the time. Reading and music are what I use the computer for. I use my phone mainly for a camera. So, I need a camera with a bit of phone hopefully they make those soon. :)

Hope everyone is doing well.

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I’m also thankful to have experienced life before the internet! I have a very distinct memory of the first time I was introduced to the internet and email. I was in a Computing Sciences class in my senior year of high school. Our teacher taught us about search engines and then took us through setting up our very first email account through Hotmail. I did not know what email was. 😂 I was like, “Huh? Eeee…mail…? What’s Hotmail? And why does it sound pervy?” Little did I know that our whole world would come to revolve around such creations!

To answer your question, there are many things I like to do to bring myself to the present: meditation, yoga, breath work, dance, automatic/intuitive writing, finding any beam of light streaming into my home and like a cat bathing in it, walking out in nature and connecting with animals and plant life, energetically rooting into mama earth, and more recently, painting! As a therapist, I love teaching people different ways to ground and move into presence.

A group of my colleagues/friends and I will soon be launching a program designed to pull people out of the perpetual loop of overdoing during the day and then collapsing/disconnecting at night with the normalized routine of mindless scrolling and binge watching Netflix shows as a way to unwind. We will be doing live meditations and teaching people practices that will hopefully pull them out of survival mode and create healthier nighttime routines that will improve quality of sleep and set them up for an awesome tomorrow! It will be all about coming into presence and connecting with one’s physical, emotional, mental and spiritual body. ☺️

Thank you for the good read. ❤️

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As a 22 year old Gen Z'er, I've basically been around technology my whole life so it's very hard to imagine a world that was "unplugged" so to speak. But even with somebody like myself, sometimes getting away from the hustle and bustle of constant notifications, news headlines, videos, and memes is a much needed breath of fresh air. I especially love spring because that's when I can just go outside, walk around, and admire the flowers without a care in the world or the interruption of my phone beeping or buzzing. My favorites are the Japanese cherry blossoms (sakura) in their various shades of bubblegum pink, soft white, and fairy tale purple-pink. In Japan they call cherry blossom viewing "Hanami" and have picnics and little parties under the trees, which are only in bloom for about two weeks before turning into "sakura-fubuki" or floating petals in the wind. Damn, I wish we had something like that in the United States!

If you don't mind me asking, what's your favorite kind of tea (that is if you have a favorite type)? Tea is still an acquired taste for me, especially if it doesn't have any sweetness, but I've been enjoying it more and more with time. I especially love matcha, that electric green tea you see in a lot of Asian markets and in candies from places like Japan and China. Normally I'm not one for bitter flavors, but I have to say it has maybe a...pleasant bitterness of sorts? And it goes well with a lot of things: anko (Japanese red bean paste), strawberries, chocolate, both dairy and plant-based milk...good stuff. The bright green color is another thing that makes me think of spring.

As you have stated, living in a technological world has its ups and downs. I love having Instagram as a way to post and share my drawings. I love being able to meet real and amazing friends online from across the nation and the world. Playing Animal Crossing on my Nintendo Switch is lots of fun. But there are times when it can become overwhelming and all-consuming, like when you can't stop scrolling through stressful news articles (*cough cough* POLITICS *cough cough*), when trolls on the internet attack/bully through their screens, and when you somehow feel like you simply can't go more than ten minutes without checking notifications.

So at the end of each day, it's always important to pause, put the phone down, and spend some time in the moment. It's an especially good time to remember happy moments and feel the gratitude and joy that comes with them. Nothing is more precious than a memory, and I know I will treasure the memory of meeting you for years and years to come.

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