Taste the Flowers

Almost every day that my mom was in town I cherished a sneak off to a Starbucks to write and read and drink tea.  One such afternoon I placed my usual (yet unusual) order: grande green tea/soy misto (I never thought that I would have "an order" from Starbucks; another lesson in "never say never.")  Anyway, I had refined this order when a barrista recently asked me, "jasmine green or china green?"  I responded, "which is better?" of which she quickly replied, "with the soy misto, you would definitely want the China."  Such confidence.  Since then, that is all that I have ordered.


Except on this sunny, cold afternoon.  I nestled into a corner table (score!  I love corners!), noticing the regulars at this particular Starbucks.  I happily draped my coat over the back of my chair and unloaded my "travelling refuge" (Matt recently deemed my backpack this) . . . heart bag of pens; notebook (well, 2 notebooks); a book.  All set.  And I took a sip. 


Oh no!  I forgot to mention "China" in my order!  This is Jasmine!  What have I done! 


I took a breath.  And another sip.  And there it was: the subtle yet beautiful taste of flowers. 


And to think - I almost missed it.  I almost missed the sweet, earthy taste of flowers because of a preference that I had developed in my mind without even realizing it.  And then all of the preferences of my brief excursion into the world came into light: this corner seat; these pens; this travelling refuge and, yes, even this Starbucks.


Thankfully, I had been pondering this idea lately repeated by one of my teachers, Jonathan Foust (check out his podcast!)  The idea that preferences lead to suffering.  Or, how I make sense of it, that the more preferences we have the more suffering we expose ourselves to.  And there it was, right in front of me.  The simplest of examples in my Starbucks tea.  And, by the skin of my teeth, rather than feeling angry at myself for forgetting (or, even further, for the barrista for just not knowing that China is better with a soy misto!), I gratefully sipped my cup of flowers. 


*  Check out Jonathan at http://jonathanfoust.com/wordpress/