What a 700-Year-Old Ritual Taught Me About Being Present
Hurry and impatience: why ancient rituals still matter in our hyperconnected world
Inside the Issue:
• What If We've Always Been This Restless?
• Last Week’s Most Shopped
• What I’ve Bought for Fall So Far
• Recent Outfits
What If We've Always Been This Restless?
The sharp snap of a napkin jolted me out of my meditative state. This summer, I've been prioritizing events and workshops that stretch my curiosity. One of them was a chanoyu workshop - a traditional Japanese tea ceremony rooted in the practice of slowing down and finding harmony in the present moment. We watched in silence as the tea was made, and as I reflected on the philosophy of it that we had learned beforehand, the snap of a napkin or the trickle of the steaming hot water being poured into the bowl reminded me to focus on the present.
Before the demonstration, we were introduced to the ritual: the beauty of simplicity and imperfection, and the symbolism layered into every gesture. As I later I watched the choreography of making one simple bowl of tea, I couldn’t stop thinking about how this ancient ritual was designed to slow us down. Even in the 1300s, before the age of screens and notifications, people still felt rushed, scattered, and in need of rituals to pull them back into the present.
We like to blame modern life for our inability to slow down. Phones, emails, the dopamine hit of instant gratification. But every generation had its own culprit. Strip away today's conveniences, transport us back centuries, and human nature would still find a way to feel hurried, distracted, and impatient.
By the 1400s, the tea ceremony had even become a tool of diplomacy. Politicians would gather not to debate, but to sit, drink, and talk only about seasonality. The seasonality topic stood out to me: the weather, the flowers, the food of the moment. Boundaries were built into the ritual, only conversation rooted in the here and now.
Talking about the weather usually sounds like meaningless small talk, but in truth it's the most universal entry point into conversation. It's what you share with a stranger when you know nothing else about them. And from there, it's up to us to let the conversation deepen or not, but it’s not pointless.
It also made me think about my own friendships and how the tea ceremony's structure might apply to modern connections. How often do we spend the first fifteen minutes of catching up unloading frustrations? I do it all the time. And sure, sometimes we need to vent. But in those moments, even if we're physically with someone, mentally this pulls us into the past or anxiously rehearsing the future. We forget to sit in the simplicity of now.
None of this is new. We regurgitate the same tidbits on the importance of mindfulness and slowing down. That we need to limit screen time and distractions, it goes in one ear and out the other because we’ve heard every productivity or mindfulness hack at this point.
Since the Old Testament, there was worry, impatience, and fear. And maybe part of the pointing fingers of blaming inanimate objects or modern advancements for this is that we know, since we do know it’s been a part of the human experience, that we should have fixed or hacked by now.
But I think that it’s pretty clear that we’re not supposed to have this hacked. We’re supposed to experience the rush and the exercise of coming back to ourselves. If you consider the works of every philosopher, monk, saint, priest, Jesus, literally anyone who has set the tone for how to navigate the human experience, their teachings are rooted in this in one way or another.
Finding the present moment, the harmony, the respect for meeting others where they’re at when we sit down, finding moments in your day where you don’t have to rush, and can soak in the process of each step. That’s something. That’s something that humans have always craved, always found fulfillment in, and it’s pretty cool to think about that.
I don’t think the magic is in hacking it once and for all, but in remembering that this longing to slow down, to be here now, connects us to remembering how human we are.
Theory Button Up (I sized up for an oversize fit) // True & Co Bra (love this under my white tees) // Jolie Showerhead // Loewe Flamenco // Reformation Skirt // Reformation Sweater // Khaite Abigail Jeans
What I’ve Bought for Fall So Far
Truthfully, I haven’t felt the most inspired for fall shopping yet but here are a few things that I’ve purchased.
Reformation Dress
Agolde Shorts
Khaite Black Jeans
Aritzia Sweater (Returned this because it’s a creamy white which doesn’t look great on me I usually need stark whites)
Lululemon Long Sleeve V-neck
Sezane Cardigan
Outfits, Lately
This tea ceremony sounds so cool! And I love your realization that humanity has had to force itself to slow down since the beginning of time. Often, It feels like a problem unique to the modern era, but I really think you're right!