Drink coffee.  Talk to God.  Tend your own garden.  Live a good life.  Serve. 

I recommend you try this simple practice my friend and fellow member of yours, Brian Steiner shared with me.  

Every solstice and equinox, Brian and I talk a walk, share nature, and talk. 

This season, he told me about his morning coffee and affirmation practice. 

Here’s what Brian says – 

My coffee and affirmation practice has become very important to me.  I do it in the mornings.  I grab a cup of coffee (organic French Roast in my case), and sit in my rear yard.  I have my gratitudes, prayers and affirmations in my hand, and in my head.   

I also have a pad and pen to write things as I process.  Much pops up, both for life and for my work (which is a big part of my life).  I do this in all weather except the rain.  Working on getting a good rain umbrella to overcome that.

By being outside, I connect better with the energy.  The sky is awesome, clear or cloudy.  Birds speak.  Beautiful trees are around you in their seasonal position.  You can feel the energy.  If it’s really rough outside, sitting in a chair by a window you can open works too.

It doesn’t make the challenges of life go away, but it does help to work through them.  

By “gratitudes”, Brian means he lets his heart fill with gratitude for the things, events, and mostly the people in his life. 

Have a look at my book Creative Problem Solving. You’ll notice Brian’s simple practice has many similarities to that more formal process. 

Another member enjoys and relies on her practice of doing Owl Eyes and drinking green tea while standing sheltered under her eaves on the dark rainy mornings in Seattle. 

This image from Paul Reps lovely book, Zen Telegrams, illuminates the whole idea. 

As a Zen Koan, Zen puzzle, what does he mean by his line – I stopped the war? 

How can your morning practice stop the war? 

And that brings us to Brian’s insight – tend your own garden – and you take care of the world. 

In these days of planetary transformation, drink coffee – talk to God. 

Drink a bowl of green tea — stop the war. 

William