TEA AND ZEN - THREADS

One Breath, One Body, One Source

May all love help us remember what we have forgotten: that we are responsible to—and for—each other. Not as a burden, but as a sacred inheritance. For in truth, we are cut from the same cloth, woven of the same mysterious breath, born of the same radiant Source. What we do to one, we do to all.We move together—however slowly, however unevenly— away from the old wounds that once bound us. Away from the inner chambers of exile, where so many of us learned to live, and learned—falsely—that we were alone.At the root of all our sorrow lies a single illusion: that we are separate. That somehow we have been cast out of love’s reach, and must now fend for ourselves in a world that has forgotten us. From this mistaken belief grows so much of our suffering—so much striving, grasping, blame, defense, despair. But none of it is true. We were never truly separate. We were never abandoned.And so the call is quiet but persistent:Come out of the shadows.Not in one grand moment of awakening, but in the simple choice made again and again throughout the day. Every moment becomes an invitation—to leave the darkened room of self-protection, of story, of wound, and step into the light of truth.The truth that we belong to each other. The truth that we are made of the same breath. The truth that beneath the noise and fear and posturing, there is a river of love that flows through every heart.We are here to uncover that love.To remember it.To let it rise in us—not just as a feeling, but as a way of being.And from that place, we begin to live differently. Not perfectly. Not always serenely. But with greater kindness. With a softness of gaze and an openness of hand. With the growing courage to say, “I will not leave you behind. Your pain is not separate from mine. Your joy is also my joy.”This is the quiet revolution of love.It doesn’t shout.It doesn’t demand.It simply moves—one breath, one act, one presence at a time—out of the illusion of separation and into the luminous, boundless truth of our shared heart.We come bearing nothing but ourselves.And that, it turns out, is more than enough.Nigel Lott teaandzen.orgIf these words have touched your heart, and you feel moved to support this space of reflection and healing, you are welcome to offer a gift. This benefaction is offered freely — sustained by Love and the kindness of those who resonate with these sharings, in support of the work and programs at……Meditation Sans Frontieres A 501 (C) 3 Non Profit Registered Charity Tax EIN 81-3411835. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

SPIRITUAL COMPANIONSHIP

I walk alongside those nearing the final steps of this life, offering quiet presence and spiritual companionship, at a local downtown hospital in Seattle to those who have no family or friends, because no one should die alone. I honor this journey as sacred—trusting the deep wisdom of the soul as it moves toward release. There is no agenda in this work, no need to fix or change what is unfolding. I come simply to be—a calm, loving presence in the midst of great mystery. At the threshold of life and death, words often fall away. What remains is presence. What remains is love.Whether a person is awake or in deep rest, I trust that something beyond words is felt—that the soul knows when it is being met with gentleness and reverence. In this space, grief and love are woven together. To accompany someone in their final days is to witness both the tenderness of letting go and the timelessness of what can never be lost.This is quiet work, heart work. It asks for humility, for deep listening, for the willingness to sit in stillness with the unknown. And each time I am invited to serve in this way, I am reminded again and again: That life is not contained simply in the body. That presence is not defined by form. That love is not dependent upon breath.But in all truth, the only thing that matters, the only force that endures, the only language the soul understands… is Love. As it was in the beginning, so it will be in the end. And in every sacred moment in between.If these words have touched your heart, and you feel moved to support this space of reflection and healing, you are welcome to offer a gift. This benefaction is offered freely — sustained by Love and the kindness of those who resonate with these sharings, in support of the work and programs at Meditation Sans Frontieres. Nigel Lott teaandzen.org Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

CARRYING GOD

No one can keep us from carrying God Wherever we go.No one can rob His Name From our heart as we try to relinquish our fears And at last stand — Victorious.We do not have to leave him in the mosque Or church alone at night; We do not have to be jealous of tales of saints Or glorious masts, those intoxicated soulsWho can make outrageous love with the Friend. We do not have to be envious of our spirits’ ability Which can sometimes touch God in a dream.Our yearning eyes, our warm-needing bodies, Can all be drenched in contentment And Light.No one anywhere can keep us From carrying the Beloved wherever we go.No one can rob His precious Name From the rhythm of my heart — Steps and breath.Read By Nigel Lott teaandzen.orgIf these words have touched your heart, and you feel moved to support this space of reflection and healing, you are welcome to offer a gift. This benefaction is offered freely — sustained by Love and the kindness of those who resonate with these sharings, in support of the work and programs.Meditation Sans Frontieres A 501 (C) 3 Non Profit Registered Charity Tax EIN 81-3411835. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

A Blessing for the Journey Within

May God be a quiet flame in your heart,and a clear light in your understanding.May you be warmed from within,and see with the eyes of the soul.May love live you, and all truth move through you,always, and in all things.Nigel Lott teaandzen.org Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

Let Go - Let God

There is a kind of surrender that is not chosen—It chooses us. Sometimes with fanfare or flashes of light…sometimes in the still, private moment when the soul can no longer pretend to carry what was never meant to be held alone.Let go… Let God.Not as a command. Not even as a prayer. More like a breath that finds you, when your breath has run out. This surrender is not the end of the path, but the quiet gateway to its heart. It is the relinquishing of self will—not in weakness, but in reverence.In the knowing that there is a Love far greater than our plans, our protections, even our pain. To let go is not to abandon what matters. It is to offer it back to the source of all things.To let God is not to give away power— but to be enfolded into a power that is only ever Love. I do not speak this from concept. I speak it from the desert, from the midnight hour, from the trembling that comes just before the Grace.There is a Love beyond measure that does not need your perfection.Only your presence. Only your willingness to be held. And yes—this Love heals. Not always quickly. Not always cleanly. But deeply. Eternally. At the level where the wound was first imagined. So if you are weary, if you are clinging, if you have come to the edge of what you know how to do…Let Go.Let God.Let Love return for you in the form it has been waiting to become. This is not the end. This is the way Home. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

Meditation: Once Sacred, Forever Sacred — A Quantum Mystical Reflection

Close your eyes. Breathe in gently… and breathe out even more gently.Let the breath return you home. And as you settle, listen—not only with your ears, but with the still, infinite field of your being. Whatever is held most sacred in your heart once… is forever held there.Because in the quantum field, nothing truly disappears. Every intention, every feeling, every sacred knowing collapses into form and lives on in potential. Energy does not vanish—it transforms, and the sacred is the most enduring frequency of all. Once sacred… forever sacred. One vast, unbroken wholeness. Call it Love. Call it Source. Call it the quantum unity. And whatever touches that field with sincerity, with reverence, with love… is never lost.When you bowed your head in awe, when your heart broke open in wonder, when you glimpsed the divine in a stranger’s eyes or a morning breeze—those moments did not pass away. They became entangled with the fabric of your soul.You are not just remembering the sacred. You are still living in it. You are part of it. The quantum field responds not to your effort, but to your frequency.And when you return to the sacred, you tune yourself again to the resonance of truth. Breathe in again… slowly. Let yourself feel the presence that is always here.You are not separate. You are not broken. You are not forgotten. You are the keeper of the sacred flame, the master of your own soul, the consciousness aware of itself within the eternal…….So return.Gently, quietly, reverently—Return to what you once knew. Once sacred… forever sacred.And so it is.Nigel Lott teaandzen.orgIf these words have touched your heart, and you feel moved to support this space of reflection and healing, you are welcome to offer a gift. This benefaction is offered freely — sustained by Love and the kindness of those who resonate with these sharings, in support of the work and programs at……Meditation Sans Frontieres A 501 (C) 3 Non Profit Registered Charity Tax EIN 81-3411835. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

A PRAYER AND BLESSING - HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

Let this tone of presence—be a hope for enlightenment—let it drift into the quiet of your heart, just beneath the sternum. Don’t try to understand it. Let it be a meditation. Let the vibration, the breath of it, the feeling of it, move gently through you. Let it settle into your cells, into the spaces you’ve kept hidden, into the hush beneath your thoughts. Not as something to do… but something to receive.May You Be At Peace.Nigel Lott teaandzen.orgIf these words and music have touched your heart, and you feel moved to support this space of reflection and healing, you are welcome to offer a gift. This benefaction is offered freely — sustained by Love and the kindness of those who resonate with these sharings, in support of the work and programs at ….Meditation Sans Frontieres A 501 (C) 3 Non Profit Registered Charity Tax EIN 81-3411835. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

Tea and Zen

You may notice that there’s no difference between free and paid subscriptions on this Substack. That’s intentional.I offer everything here — letters, reflections, poems, transmissions from the silence — to everyone, freely and fully. If a single phrase here helps someone find peace, soften their grief, or return to themselves… then it belongs to them, not behind a wall.This is a sanctuary, not a business.A place of quiet offering, not transaction.For those who choose the paid option, I hold that as a gift — a donation of the heart, freely given. It helps sustain the larger work of Meditation Sans Frontières, the sanctuary behind Tea & Zen, and allows me to keep holding space for those walking through the fire, the quiet, the unknown.So whether you’re here reading as a guest or as a giver:You are welcome.You are needed.You are home.With love,Nigel teaandzen.orgMeditation Sans Frontieres A 501 (C) 3 Non Profit Registered Charity Tax EIN 81-3411835. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

What Can I Do to Bring Peace?

You may ask yourself,What can I possibly do to bring peace to this troubled world?The greatest thing—maybe the only lasting thing—is to begin within.To do the quiet, grace filled work of surrendering and softening, of meeting the darkness that has gathered in you over time. That heaviness—those old wounds, defenses, fears— they’ve simply obscured the deeper truth of who you are.A being of love. A living thread of the Source itself.No matter how it appears on the surface, the universe is not broken. It is not cold. It is not indifferent. It is still, always, seeking to birth love.It is love.And as we turn inward, and make space for that love again, within ourselves, as we let it rise through the cracks and edges of our hearts,we become its vessel.We become peace.And that changes everything.Nigel Lott teaandzen.orgIf these words have touched your heart, and you feel moved to support this space of reflection and healing, you are welcome to offer a gift. This benefaction is offered freely — sustained by Love and the kindness of those who resonate with these sharings, in support of the work and programs at……Meditation Sans Frontieres A 501 (C) 3 Non Profit Registered Charity Tax EIN 81-3411835. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

LOVE’S - GIVEN VISION

Vision, as I’ve come to know it, doesn’t begin with the eyes. It comes from elsewhere — from that deep, inward terrain shaped by longing, softened by sorrow, and hollowed by love’s absences.It’s not something I go looking for anymore. It arrives — unbidden — in the tender ruins. In the aftermath of what has fallen away.Grief, in its strange mercy, clears the ground. It strips away what’s false and leaves only what’s real. And it’s there, in the silence after the tears, that vision sometimes flickers — not as light, but as presence. Not as explanation, but as invitation.And sometimes — often — it’s in the stillness. In the quiet cup of breath, the weight of the body resting on this good earth. When the noise subsides and the moment is met with holy attention, something begins to shimmer.Not to be seized. Not to be understood. But to be received.Vision isn’t something I possess. It’s something that reveals itself… when I’m empty enough to behold it.Nigel Lott teaandzen.org If these words have touched your heart, and you feel moved to support this space of reflection and healing, you are welcome to offer a gift. This benefaction is offered freely — sustained by Love and the kindness of those who resonate with these sharings, in support of the work and programs at……Meditation Sans Frontieres A 501 (C) 3 Non Profit Registered Charity Tax EIN 81-3411835. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE