TEA AND ZEN - THREADS

AN INVITATION

Here is a simple invitation I place before you — though its simplicity may be more profound than it first appears, and its pursuit more vast than any journey you have ever taken.I invite you to spend the rest of your life being in Love.Not loving merely as an act, nor seeking love as something to possess, but abiding as Love — becoming its quiet embodiment, its effortless witness, its joyful servant.And I ask you, with all the sincerity I can summon: Have you ever had anything better to do?In all your striving, in all your searching, have you found anything else that endures?In truth, there is no other work worth doing, no other treasure worth keeping, no other pilgrimage worth making.Everything you seek — peace, freedom, meaning, even God — is already contained within the life that is lived in Love.It is not elsewhere. It is not after some long preparation.It is here. Now. Always. The invitation is simple.The living of it will ask everything. But what it gives — is everything.Come, then. Come into Love.Nigel Lott teaandzen.orgMeditation Sans Frontieres is a 501(c)(3) non profit charitable organization; contributions are tax-deductible as permitted by law. EIN is 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

Guided Meditation on The Geometry of Resistance and Surrender

Begin by finding a quiet space. Sit or lie down comfortably. Let your eyes gently close. Take a slow breath in through your nose, and exhale softly through your mouth. Let your body begin to settle, like a feather drifting to the earth. Again, breathe in… and breathe out.Feel the ground beneath you — not just as surface, but as presence. Let it hold you like an ancient friend. Beneath you lies a living, breathing earth that has witnessed storms and stars, oceans and fire. You are resting upon something wise.Now gently bring your awareness to your body. Let your attention drift from the crown of your head down to your toes. Where is there tension, tightness, or holding? Perhaps it’s your jaw, your shoulders, your chest, your belly, your hands. No need to change anything. Just notice. You are witnessing the body’s deep intelligence — its instinct to protect.Imagine now that this tension has a shape. What does it look like? Is it jagged, dense, heavy? Is it dark, or glowing, or muted? This is the geometry of resistance — a sacred architecture created by your nervous system. It is not wrong. It is a part of your story. It once helped you survive.Silently, gently say to this shape: “Thank you for protecting me. You may rest now.” Take a soft breath into that area. And as you exhale, imagine the edges beginning to dissolve. They don’t vanish; they simply soften, like mist in the morning light.Now bring your attention to your heart. Imagine a warm light glowing there — gentle and circular. It may be golden, rose-colored, or whatever tone your soul instinctively trusts. This is the geometry of surrender. Not collapse, but opening. Not giving up, but letting go.With each breath, let this light grow. It expands from your heart into your chest, your shoulders, your arms. It flows down through your legs, up into your face and crown. Soon, it begins to radiate out beyond your body — a sphere of soft light that gently surrounds you. You are luminous.Repeat silently to yourself: “I am safe to soften. I am safe to receive. I am safe to trust.” Let these words become like ripples in a still lake, moving outward from your heart into the silence.Now lift your awareness beyond your body. Rise gently above the space you’re in — above your room, your home, your city. Let your consciousness ascend above the earth, floating lightly in the star-filled stillness of space. See the earth below — spinning, glowing, alive. You are part of this wonder. You are not separate. You never were.Feel your heart shining in harmony with this vastness. This is not imagination; this is remembrance. You are the meeting point of spirit and form — a sacred expression of the infinite.If any resistance returns, that’s okay. See its shape. Breathe into it. Soften its edges. Meet it with kindness, just as you did before. You are not here to fix anything. You are here to listen, to open, to return.Now take one more deep breath. Inhale clarity. Exhale softness. Inhale light. Exhale trust.Begin to return. Gently descend back to your body, like a soul returning to its temple. Feel the ground beneath you again — quiet, strong, awake. Wiggle your fingers and toes. Bring movement back with reverence.When you’re ready, open your eyes slowly. Look around. Let the world come into focus.And carry this spaciousness with you — into the next breath, into the next moment, into the sacred rhythm of your life.Nigel Lott …teaandzen.orgMeditation Sans Frontieres is a 501(c)(3) non profit charitable organization; contributions are tax-deductible as permitted by law. EIN is 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

The Sacred Balance: Truth, Boundaries, and Love

In a world veiled by illusion and noise……where confusion masquerades as clarity and conflict often drowns out meaning….truth remains a light that awakens the soul. Yet when truth is delivered without care or held without compassion, it can wound more than it heals. For truth to become a vehicle of transformation, it must be carried gently…..contained within spiritual boundaries that shield our inner life, and infused with the harmonizing presence of love.Those who have walked the mystical path through the ages have known that truth is not always a comfort. It can liberate, yes…..but it can also unsettle, dismantle, and expose. When spoken without discernment, truth becomes a blade rather than a balm. This is why boundaries are essential…..not to divide, but to safeguard. They create the sacred space in which truth can be shared with grace and received with openness. They help us stay whole while engaging the world honestly.And then there is love.Love is not an addition to truth, but its essential companion. It is the frequency that softens what truth reveals. With love, boundaries become not fortresses, but sanctuaries. Truth becomes not a force of destruction, but of healing.Without love, truth can become harsh. Without love, boundaries may breed distance or fear. But when love holds both….when truth is offered with compassion and boundaries are drawn with wisdom…..we participate in something divine. We become messengers not only of insight, but of deep, sacred change.In these uncertain times, may we walk with clarity. May we speak with honesty, protect our spirit with care, and above all, move through the world in love.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

MEDITATION

Come.
Sit here with me for a while.
You don’t have to do anything right now — no effort, no striving.
Just breathe, the way the trees breathe, without thinking about it.
Let the noise of the day fall away, like old leaves.
And when you’re ready, listen — not with your ears, but with the deeper part of
you that has been listening all along:
From the stillness before all beginnings, may your awareness rise again like the hidden river that flows beneath all things.
You may have forgotten that river.
You may have walked a thousand miles away from it.
But it never forgot you. It never left you.
Take a breath and feel it, somewhere deep inside —
quiet, steady, ancient.
Awaken now, not into something new, but into what you have always been —
a vastness without end, a love beyond all counting.
Here, sorrow has no teeth.
Here, old wounds are not forgotten — they are healed, made into stars that light your path.
Where grief loses its name,
and every wound becomes part of the wholeness you already are.
Let yourself fall into it —
not to escape the world, but to remember who you were before the world told you who to be.
You are not broken.
You were never broken.
You are the river, and the river is you.
Rest now, beloved.
Breathe.
Remember.
Return.
 
Nigel Lott www.teaandzen.org
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

WHO CAN I TRUST

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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

Falling in Love

So often, when someone says they’ve fallen in love, they don’t yet realize ….what they’re really feeling is their own light, mirrored back to them.The one they love becomes a kind of sacred surface, a reflection that stirs the deep well inside. But the warmth, the beauty, that expansive opening of the heart ….. it’s their own essence rising to meet them.Love doesn’t come from the other. It’s not something granted or given. It’s what we are.The beloved simply makes it visible.And when we see that ….when we really feel that …..we begin to understand that every true meeting is a meeting with ourselves, and with the love that was always here.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

ADDICTION IS INSATIABLE

Addiction is insatiable It is the endless reaching for something just out of grasp —the next moment, the next hit, the next comfort. It is a hunger that does not rest, not because the object of desire is so sweet, but because the soul is aching for something it cannot name.In its own way, addiction is infinity in motion. It mimics the boundless — but not the true infinite, the peaceful, open vastness of being. Instead, it reflects a distorted echo of it: a restless infinity, without center, without stillness. And yet, within even the most desperate craving, there is a hidden prayer.A longing to return. To remember. To come home to a wholeness that was never truly lost. Addiction is not the enemy. It is a compass gone wild. A soul remembering that there is more,but forgetting where to look……..INSIDE. 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

FIERCENESS

Fiеrcеnеss is nоt the samе аs ragе. It’s anger, yеs …. but anger thаt hаs remembered lovе.It’s the sharр edge of truth thаt рrotects what is sacred. The flame thаt refuses to let harm gо unchallenged. The voice thаt rises nоt to destroy, but to defend what mattеrs.Fiеrcеnеss is the heart on fire with compаssion …..unwilling to stаy silent in the face of injustice, unwilling to turn away when something prеcious is at risk.It is lovе, stаnding its ground.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

A Tribute to My Friend Nigel

Nigel was more than a friend. He was a soul companion. . . a brother on the path, walking beside me in this strange world. Our bond was not merely one of friendship; it was a deep recognition of one another. Spirit recognized spirit.Nigel was a 'quiet light' for me. He didn’t try to shine.He just did, naturally and humbly.There was a way of presence with him, when you were around him,, of feeling important and like you mattered. What I love about his story of life was his arc of steady kindness, It was like a stream that never runs dry.His wisdom didn’t come from being full of himself or trying to impress. It came from living life with depth, with heart, and with honesty.In my prolonged time of troubles, he could have easily faded, but for whatever reason, he remained. I am not sure that I ever told him how much I appreciated that. We had and have some really good laughs over the course of knowing each other for over five decades. And all the while, he didn’t go anywhere, except through life with me in some pretty dark places, as if it were him leading me to the exit.Now Nigel has gone...not into absence, but into mystery. He has crossed into that deeper silence where the soul is fully known, fully free.But I don’t perceive him as absent. I perceive him present... in the calm that exists between moments, in the stillness that precedes dawn, in those peaceful hours when the dead can hear.Although my heart hurts, it also knows: he is free. He is unburdened. He is at home.I will hold his memory as a sort of warm blanket. I will hold his spirit in the way I take time to be kind, in the way I give my attention, in the way I tread lightly in this world. Because that is how he lived.....in my life and in many others. And in that way, he lives on.Goodbye for now, my beloved brother.Even past the stars, your pathway stretches outward.and we still feel your love…calm, constant, everlasting.Nigel Lott 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

LAY DOWN YOUR BURDEN

Lay down your burdenLay it all downPass the glass between youDrink it upPlace the Light before youCome through the doorThe dragon doesn’t live here anymoreSing with the choirs that surround youDance to the music in your soulLook into the eyes that really see youPlace all that you have into that bowlO lay down your burdenLay it all downPass the glass between youDrink it upPlace the Light before youCome through the doorThe dragon doesn’t live here anymoreColleen Crangle. Read by 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