An entirely biased case for a nice cup of tea and a sit down

I am extremely British; I drink AT LEAST twelve cups of tea a day. It's a running joke with absolutely everyone who knows me. The kettle and I have an understanding by this point.

Most of those cups accompany emails, reading, conversations or a search for whatever it was I started twenty minutes ago and then got distracted from. But every so often, I sit down and drink one while actually EXPERIENCING it. I don’t become serene. Sometimes I get a brief pause from routine; sometimes I just enjoy my tea.

There’s a surprising amount to notice when you actually focus your attention fully on what you're experiencing: warmth through the mug, the scent, the sound of the spoon, the first sip before I’ve forgotten about it. Paying attention to those small details gives my mind somewhere to return when it has wandered off through tomorrow’s tasks and last Tuesday’s conversation.

Mindfulness is a massive buzzword in therapy and wellness, for good reason. Using our senses to experience what’s happening now can support self-regulation: noticing when we’re overwhelmed, recognising what we need and giving ourselves more choice in how we respond.

That’s useful in therapy. Distress, distraction and going round the same thought for the seventeenth time can make reflection difficult. Noticing something tangible can sometimes help us reconnect with the present when we’re dissociating or feeling disconnected. We can pause, take stock and work at a pace we can manage.

However, some mindfulness exercises can feel difficult, uncomfortable or completely off-putting for some people. Sitting still, closing our eyes or focusing on our bodies can feel unpleasant. If imagining ourselves beside a waterfall while listening to whale music is proving a little elusive, the entire concept can start to feel very firmly Not For Us.

A cup of tea offers something familiar to work with. You can take a minute, if that's all you have, or linger over it a little longer. It can fit into a day you’re already having, without becoming another appointment to keep. You don’t need to diarise a cup of tea.

And if you don’t like tea? There’s always whale music.

How many cups are we on today?