About a year ago I started making myself a nightly cup of tea. Well after dinner when it's time to settle on the sofa with my husband and watch a favorite show or two, I don my pj's and put the kettle on

 

The second gem in my "Sixty for Sixty" plan of incorporating sixty things into my daily life to honor this crazy ago of 60, is, simply, to embrace the ritual of making that daily cup of tea.

 

Tea is ancient,.  Buddhism, a religion based on the beliefs and practices of Buddha,  "the awakened one," embraces tea drinking as a ritualistic practice.  And, this, I've decided, is my plan.  There's something almost holy about the preparation, the earthen bounty of the leaves and the abundance it provides, and the steeping aroma that meets your nose, fills your senses. 

 

Again tonight, like every night, I will make a cup of tea, but this cup will begin a new practice, a mindful experience like a prayer.