We recently attended a Japanese Tea Ceremony demonstration at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The experience stood so far apart from our normal Sunday mornings that it created enough mental space to take stock and maybe work in a lasting impression. One concept that the ceremony brought to light was Japanese tea master Rikyu’s “ichi-go ichi-e” translated as one moment that will never happen again – each moment is unique, a simple “seize the day” approach that is just as simple to loose sight of. Along with learning the etiquette of the ceremony – washing before entering, apologizing for going before the next person (osakini), how to hold/handle the chawan properly, and to slurp on the last sip to signal completion (should take 3 1/2 sips to finish the tea) – we also learned a lot about the physical space. The construction of the tea garden and the path you take to the entrance is designed to make you see certain perspectives at each turn, the layout is not arranged so you reach your destination in the shortest distance – you are meant to take your time, notice your surroundings, and humble yourself to the moment. There is even a physical shorter entrance leading to the tea house so you must bend over to get through manifesting the act of checking your pride at the door. The entire ceremony is scripted and detailed down to the number of steps to take on each mat with the intent that if one performs a set of physical movements ritualistically it will allow the mind to be free of thought and open to meditation…tea was first widely used by monks trying to maintain focus, mental acuity while meditating. I left the experience ready to welcome more ritual into my everyday life and hope to keep the image of that shorter entrance as a reminder to practice humility in my interactions with others.