Well-Resourced: Sweet Memories
and sweet tea times.
In this note:
Sweet tea time memories of togetherness
Your sweet memories given as a gift to present you
Oh juicy juicy memories!
Over this past year+, I’ve been giving myself the gift of inviting sweet memories to waft through my mind, heart, and body.
This gift of a song, called The Keep Going Song1, written as a loving call to hold ourselves and each other during this pandemic, served as an invitation for me to recall more sweet memories. The songwriter sings, “I hope you have enough good company or enough good memory to last you a long time…”
Yes, yes, I have been thankful to have both during this time.
I am thankful to have a potpourri of memories of weekly and sometimes bi-weekly Tea Times with the young children with whom I used to spend my days pre-pandemic.
Yesterday, I was invited in to a (virtual) learning program (a sweet welcome to those of you who subscribed and are here now!) that is focused on nature-based learning for young children. Sally, the co-creator of this program as well as the founder of SOL Forest School, invited me to share about the tea times that I’ve designed and offered with the groups of children with whom I’ve spent sweet time outdoors and indoors. In her invitation, a further collection of memories gathered in my mind. Some not as sweet as others, namely when a child was so incredibly upset about not getting their favorite tea cup and saucer he stormed away and was about to fully leave the play garden. But we always as a group and as individuals somehow made our ways through these not-so-sweet and sweet times.
One of the reasons why the memories of tea time are so sweet to me is because they were (most always) an invitation to slow down and be in the moment with the young and not-as-young humans I was spending my days with. Tea time was, and still is, an experience of expanding the senses and honoring the body by being as present as one can be, whether a neighboring child spills their cup of tea on your non-rainpants pants or not.
Next week here in this newsletter, I’m planning to get into the specifics on how I’ve offered tea time with young children. Today, really, what I desire to share is an invitation to remember a sweet memory of yours or a potpourri of sweet memories.
What is a sweet memory of yours that is tied to a habit or ritual long since past?
What about a sweet memory that is tied to a child? Maybe a child who has now since grown very tall?
What about a sweet memory that is tied to when you were a child?
I wonder what sweet memories a child who you care for or care about holds dear?
As usual, you are delightfully invited to leave a comment by clicking the link below or replying to this emailed post. I receive each email and comment and reply to each one (even if it takes me a bit to do so, I will respond ;-) ).
What I’ve come to learn about memories is they truly can be a gift that keeps on giving to me in this moment and the next present moment.
In The Keep Going Song, what struck me is the offering for memories to get us through a hard time in this present moment. They can serve as a caring and compassionate hug. Memories are no longer facts or truth. Memories are now stories and may be pretty fantastical stories at times! Memories can keep us stuck in the past, likely those are the more shadowy ones.
I wonder if memories could also free us in a way? Could past, sweet memories love us in this present moment so we feel more capable of taking a courageous or risky leap into the future?
The sweet memories of tea time sitting in a wonky circle of others young and some not-so-young offers me the nudge I’ve been needing to further share how, in this present moment, I’ve been experimenting with belonging. It’s the nudge I’ve been needing to be vocal about how we can nurture a sense of belonging in ways beyond a circle of souls drinking tea. In this remembering, I see how experimenting with belonging has been a part of the play and work I’ve been sharing with the world for a good long while—and plan to keep sharing both near and far.
Til next week,
Cassandra
I learned about this song as it arrived via this dear video on a social media post from a dear someone.
loved your post and the song! I am currently taking a year long Tea Project course which couples mindfulness meditation and drinking herbal tea with children.