with humble pranāms to

 Paramahamsa Śrī Nithyānandā 

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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Enjoying a Cup of Tea

Q: Why do we not feel relaxed in spite of taking breaks from work?

At my office also, a group of colleagues take an afternoon tea-break. I happened to join them one of the days. They started chatting, topics ranging from office gossip to problems in their projects, about their bonus etc.. We stayed there for nearly half an hour and we did not even know when we had finished drinking tea.

Most often than not, all of us do various things without even being aware of what we are doing. Our physical body is probably doing whatever it needs to but we are not there in totality. We drink a cup of tea without even knowing what is going into our system. We are busy in our own world, the dream world, the fantasy world.

Even if we are not with someone with whom we talk, even if we are alone and drinking a cup of tea, we are least bothered about tea. We call it a tea-break but just think about it. Is it really a tea-break?

What do we mean by a break? We would ideally like to relax ourselves, our body and mind. But what do we do? When we are doing something as simple as walking to the canteen, we are constantly thinking about work. Our stress and worry which was at the office desk are being carried by us as we are walking, as we are drinking that cup of tea and as we are going back to the desk.

So where have we taken a break? Nithyananda says - when we wake up, our mind is already in office; when we are at office, our mind is already at lunch break; when we are in the lunch break, our mind is already thinking about 5pm and when we are back at home, our mind is already thinking about office...

Our mind is never there where we are. Let us just start to put awareness on our breath. We don't have to control it, just watch the breath as it moves in and out, in a completely relaxed manner. Gradually, we start to build an awareness about whatever we are doing. When we start living in the present moment, with our mind and body together, we start to see a complete relaxation happening automatically. We do not need any other kind of relaxation, even our work becomes a relaxation.

When we are aware of our mind and body, we start to enjoy every single act. When we are drinking a cup of tea, we enjoy the very drinking. When we have a plate of food with full awareness, we enjoy every bite of it. The same goes with work.

What else can be relaxation? Conventionally, when we say we want to relax, we mean we want to enjoy being completely stress free, being completely thoughtless. This is exactly what meditation helps us to do. It helps us to be in the present moment and enjoy every second. How easy to relax, isn't it?

Just by being aware of what we are doing, just by bringing our mind and body together, we eat when we are eating, we drink when we are drinking, we work when we are working. The entire day becomes a relaxed extended break!

The first part of this video by Nithyananda talks about how our mind keeps oscillating from the events of past to future. When we settle in the present moment, we become utterly relaxed:

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How I wish I was able to be in the present moment!

Nice post, by the way.

Anonymous said...

Hello there.

You write well. But I have this problem. Unless I keep reminding myself of the pending tasks, I will forget them. So, being in the present moment is not for me.

Anonymous said...

Greetings Chris.

You say, "Unless I keep reminding myself of the pending tasks, I will forget them."

Why don't you keep a diary and jot down your pending tasks? That way, when you take breaks, you don't have to carry them along with you in your head! :)

Anonymous said...

Great post, and I am enjoying the comments too! :D

prabhu.i.am said...

Dear Ahmed,

We recommend you to try attending a two-day Life Bliss Program. More details are mentioned at this site.

We hope you start enjoying inner silence through meditations.

Have a blissful day.

 

Thank you for passing by. We wish you every success in all your endeavors.


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