Greetings, fellow travelers! Last week, we unlaced our creative kicks and discovered the surprising versatility of shoelaces. Did you try transforming them into woven masterpieces while not tying yourself up in knots? Perhaps you created a shoelace corsage just in time for Valentine's! Maybe you captured the dynamic movement of laces through photography, then shared it with a GPT and asked it to compose poetry inspired by your images. Even if all you did was clear out your closet of a few pairs of shoes, I'm confident a few minutes of being creative was a beneficial exercise.
Can you believe it's already mid-February? I know me too! Recognizing how fast time flies, this week's creative nudge is a tea bag. Few rituals invite moments of reflection into your day like a cup of tea. I'm a committed coffee drinker, and its go-go-go attitude is something I literally wake up in the morning for. But it's tea for me when I just want to let it be.
My hope is that the attitudes and sensibilities around tea will seep their way into any creative activities you choose to try today. I know people who brew tea bags twice before disposal. I'm not that committed to the cause, but choosing used tea adds one more reuse to the tea bag's life cycle…and perhaps yours too.
Okay, it's time for your tea break! Remnants of your daily brew, "exotic" ones you stole from that hotel, or even those forgotten tea bags tucked away in the back of your cupboard that taste gross anyway… let's use them all to create a few minutes of space to catch up with our creative selves. Let their aroma, texture, and symbolism carry you into a creative cul-de-sac to play around with one or more of these suggestions:
Tea bag Deconstruction Construction: Dry the tea bags, carefully open them, and use the tea leaves and paper (and string or other packaging materials) to create delicate collages, intricate patterns, Seussical sculptures, or even miniature reliefs.
Tea bag Photography: Focus on the textures of the paper, the vibrant colors of the leaves, or the way light filters through the translucent bag. Create a photo series that tells a story or evokes a particular mood using tea bags as your visual motif.
Tea Stain: Take water (or other liquids) seeped in tea and use them to stain paper or strips of cloth in abstract patterns.
Tea Ceremony: Create a personalized tea ritual that incorporates mindfulness and intention. Select a tea for your current mood, prepare it with care, and savor each sip while focusing on your breath and the sensations in your body. Use this ritual to cultivate gratitude, set intentions, or simply find a moment of peace in your day.
Did you know that the tea bag was invented by accident in the early 1900s? A tea merchant started sending samples of tea to his customers in small silk bags. His customers, assuming the bags were meant to be steeped whole, simply dropped them into hot water, and your mother-in-law's favorite beverage was born. It's a comforting thought to realize that other people can come up with even better uses for the things we create, even when we're misunderstood!
As we engage with these creative exercises, let's appreciate the tea bag's ability to transform, inspire, and connect us to healthful habits…and one another. Just like the tea bag, we, too, have the ability to transform ourselves, infuse our lives with creativity, and connect with others through shared experiences.
This column was written with the help of Google's Gemini Advanced, a powerful generative AI writing tool.
