Episode Summary

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by everything you need to do, even before you’ve started?

Sometimes it’s not just the number of things on our to-do list that’s exhausting. It’s the mental effort of remembering them all. The unfinished tasks, conversations, reminders and thoughts that keep going round and round in our heads.

In this week’s Pause for Tea, we’re making a cup of The Contented Mind and trying a simple brain dump together. With nothing more than a pen, paper and a few minutes, we’ll give those thoughts somewhere else to go. The idea is to put whatever's taking up space in your head onto paper, without worrying about what to do with it just yet.

We’ll also consider why having somewhere reliable to keep our thoughts and tasks can help us focus on what’s actually in front of us.

You don’t need to finish your to-do list to feel a little less burdened by it.

Today’s episode is brought to you by: The Contented Mind, a tropical blend of Ti Guan Yin oolong and Chunmee green tea, with coconut and pineapple bringing a fruity sweetness.

Oolong is a wonderfully varied category of tea, ranging from lightly oxidised, delicate varieties to darker, roasted styles. It’s a tea worth taking time over, with flavours that can develop over multiple infusions.

In this pause for tea, you’ll discover:

* 01:43 – The difference between having lots to do and carrying a constant mental inventory.

* 03:20 – Introducing the brain dump: a simple way to get thoughts out of your head and onto paper.

* 06:31 – Returning to your tea while allowing more thoughts to surface.

* 10:34 – What your page might reveal about the things you’ve been mentally carrying.

* 12:28 – Cognitive offloading: why having somewhere reliable to store reminders can free up attention.

* 13:26 – What to do with the thoughts and concerns that no longer need your attention.

* 14:10 – Returning to your tea and focusing on the next thing in front of you.

“There’s a lot of mental effort goes into remembering things rather than actually doing them.”

Resources and Links

Make sure you’re getting eteaket’s Tea Mail to be the first to discover awesome teas, like The Contented Mind so you can create more space in the middle of everyday life.

Thanks for pausing for tea with me today.If this helped, I’d love a quick comment, a heart, or a share. It genuinely helps this post reach more people who need a calmer next step.

Erica x

The Tea Mind is reader-supported. To get new posts (and support my work), consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Episode Summary

We’re surrounded by more information than ever. Podcasts, books, articles, courses and now AI make it incredibly easy to keep learning. But how often do we give ourselves enough time to absorb what we’ve taken in and form our own thoughts about it?

In this week’s Pause for Tea, Erica reflects on the constant flow of information and how easily we move from one thing to the next without stopping to think.

Over a cup of Jasmine Pearls green tea, we’re practising giving one thing our full attention and staying with it a little longer than we normally would.

As we watch the leaves unfurl, notice the aroma and take a few unhurried sips, we explore the value of creating space between consuming information and actually making sense of it.

Your invitation this week is to slow down your next ordinary experience and notice what becomes apparent when you’re no longer rushing towards the next thing.

Today’s episode is brought to you by: Jasmine Pearls, a delicate green tea scented naturally with fresh jasmine flowers, giving it a floral aroma, gentle honeysuckle sweetness and fresh green tea character.

The leaves are hand-rolled into small pearls that slowly unfurl as they steep, making this a particularly lovely tea for practising attention and noticing small changes.

In this pause for tea, you’ll discover:

* 00:49 Why the sheer volume of information can leave little room for original thought.

* 01:56 An invitation to give just one thing your full attention.

* 04:27 Slowing down the brewing process and noticing the urge to reach for your phone.

* 06:01 Why mindful tea drinking doesn’t need to be complicated or serious.

* 08:24 The difference between consuming information and giving yourself time to process it.

* 09:37 How staying with the same cup reveals things you might otherwise miss.

* 12:05 A simple experiment in paying attention to one ordinary thing for a little longer.

“Staying with the same cup doesn’t actually mean having the same experience repeatedly.”

Resources and Links

Make sure you’re getting eteaket’s Tea Mail to be the first to discover awesome teas, like Jasmine Pearls so you can create more space in the middle of everyday life.

Thanks for pausing for tea with me today.If this helped, I’d love a quick comment, a heart, or a share. It genuinely helps this post reach more people who need a calmer next step.

Erica x

The Tea Mind is reader-supported. To get new posts (and support my work), consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Episode Summary

How much difference can one sentence make to the way we experience our day?

This week, we’re trying a small morning practice inspired by Mel Robbins. As soon as your feet touch the floor, take a breath and say, “Today’s going to be a great day.”

It might sound a bit corny, but there’s an interesting idea behind it. When we begin the day expecting something good, we may become more inclined to notice the good things already happening around us.

This isn’t about pretending everything will go well or trying to control what happens. There will still be irritating emails, difficult conversations and unexpected interruptions. The question is whether we can stop those moments from defining the entire day.

Over a cup of breakfast tea, we explore the difference between planning our day and choosing how we want to meet it, why simple habits can be easier to maintain than elaborate morning routines, and how a small shift in attention might change what we notice.

You’ll leave with a simple experiment to try over the next week, starting before you’ve even had your first cup of tea.

Today’s episode is brought to you by: Breakfast Blend, rich, full-bodied blend of black teas from Assam and Nilgiri in India, alongside tea from Rwanda. Smooth, malty and dependable, it’s designed to taste good with or without milk.

In this pause for tea, you’ll discover:

* 00:49 | The difference between organising your day and setting an intention for how you’ll meet it.

* 01:51 | Why setting an intention is different from trying to control how the day unfolds.

* 04:31 | The Mel Robbins practice that inspired this week’s experiment.

* 05:02 | A guided tea pause to notice how you’re feeling and decide how you want to show up.

* 07:33 | How positive expectations and linking a habit to a daily cue might influence what we notice.

* 09:14 | The difference between optimism and pretending, and why one irritating moment doesn’t have to define your whole day.

“Maybe an irritating email can become an irritating email rather than evidence that today’s a nightmare.”

Resources and Links

Listen to the Mel Robbins podcast #324 mentioned: 8 Things To Tell Yourself Every Morning

Make sure you’re getting eteaket’s Tea Mail to be the first to discover awesome teas, like Breakfast Blend so you can create more space in the middle of everyday life.

Thanks for pausing for tea with me today.If this helped, I’d love a quick comment, a heart, or a share. It genuinely helps this post reach more people who need a calmer next step.

Erica x

The Tea Mind is reader-supported. To get new posts (and support my work), consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Episode Summary

Suzie Millar has made some significant changes in her working life, from studying law to becoming a chiropractor, founding the Scottish Bee Company and now building the Natural Larder Collective.

But what interested me in this conversation was what sits underneath all that movement.

Suzie talks about the strong gut feeling she gets when something is right, the doubt that often follows after she has made a decision, and the strange combination of being willing to take big risks while not particularly enjoying the uncertainty they create.

We also talk about ambition, failure, family, learning to lean on other people and her growing sense that constantly pushing forward may not always be the answer.What emerges is a conversation about getting better at recognising your own signals and trusting them, without pretending that removes the doubt.

Suzie’s simple suggestion if you are unsure what comes next: get outside, make some space, imagine yourself in the different possibilities and notice which one feels right.

Today’s episode is brought to you by: Pumpkin Chai, a flavoured black tea blended with real pumpkin pieces & pumpkin seeds giving the tea a silky smooth finish. Combined with a liberal sprinkling of spices including cinnamon, ginger and cloves this tea evokes sensations of crisp autumnal days, golden leaves crunching under feet & curling up next to an open fire.

In this pause for tea, you’ll discover:

* 03:02 Suzie on being driven from an early age, and why that drive has always been more about competing with herself than with other people.

* 08:50 The “fire in my gut” feeling she gets when something feels right, and why other people’s doubts can sometimes strengthen her resolve.

* 11:34 Why Suzie can take considerable risks in business while still experiencing the anxiety that comes with them.

* 17:53 Moving away from the belief that she has to do everything herself, and learning to use the people around her for perspective and support.

* 20:23 Her fear of failure, and why she now encourages her team to talk openly about the things that did not work.

* 22:35 The thinking behind the Natural Larder Collective and her ambition to give good independent food and drink brands another route to growth.

* 31:46 Why a strong board has become one of the most useful parts of building the business, without taking away her independence.

* 41:03 The habit of moving immediately onto the next thing, and how old to-do lists have helped her notice how much has already happened.

* 43:19 Building a business alongside family life, and the point at which moving the office out of the family home became an important boundary.

* 50:24 How Suzie now finds clarity: write things down, then ask herself whether what she is considering feels like a yes or a no.

“I am scared of it failing, but if it does, I know I will be able to handle that,” Suzie Millar

Resources and Links

Make sure you’re getting eteaket’s Tea Mail to be the first to discover awesome teas, like Pumpkin Chai so you can create more space in the middle of everyday life.

Thanks for pausing for tea with me today.If this helped, I’d love a quick comment, a heart, or a share. It genuinely helps this post reach more people who need a calmer next step.

Erica x

The Tea Mind is reader-supported. To get new posts (and support my work), consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Episode Summary

This Tea Pause is about familiarity, and how easily the things we know well can begin to disappear into the background.

Using a cup of green tea and the idea of beginner’s mind, we practise paying fresh attention to something ordinary. It’s a reminder to stop relying on what we think we already know, and instead to look again and notice what is actually there.

Perhaps nothing changes. But you might notice a flavour you normally miss, a detail in your surroundings, or how quickly your mind labels something familiar.

You’ll leave with one small practice: choose something you do regularly this week and approach it with fresh eyes.

Today’s episode is brought to you by: Blooming Marvellous, a a flavoured Sencha green tea with rose petals, fruit pieces, mallow flower and sunflower petals, with notes of lemon, vanilla and red berries.

Because it is a tea I know very well, it makes a useful one for this practice. Instead of drinking from memory, I can slow down and notice what is actually showing up in this particular cup.

In this pause for tea, you’ll discover:

* 00:49 Why familiar things can slowly disappear from our attention

* 01:27 Why a tea you already know well is ideal for this practice

* 04:49 What I’ve been noticing by taking my first cup of tea outside

* 07:57 Beginner’s mind and the practice of approaching familiar things with fresh attention

* 08:43 Tasting the first sip before your expectations take over

* 10:15 A simple way to practise this with your tea and surroundings during the week

* 12:44 How the same cup can become a different experience as it cools

“Maybe it’s enough to leave a little space for what’s in front of us to contradict what we think we already know.”

Resources and Links

Make sure you’re getting eteaket’s Tea Mail to be the first to discover awesome teas, like Blooming Marvellous so you can create more space in the middle of everyday life.

Thanks for pausing for tea with me today.If this helped, I’d love a quick comment, a heart, or a share. It genuinely helps this post reach more people who need a calmer next step.

Erica x

The Tea Mind is reader-supported. To get new posts (and support my work), consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Episode Summary

This week’s Pause for Tea is about intuition, particularly those moments when you sense something needs to change before you can quite explain why.

I’ve been experiencing that with these solo episodes. They’d started to feel harder and less enjoyable, but with plenty of other things going on, it would have been easy to simply plough on. Pausing for tea gave me the space to pay attention to that uncomfortable feeling rather than immediately override it.

So, over a cup of Second Flush Darjeeling, we explore intuition not as a magical answer or something we should blindly trust, but as information worth noticing.

We’ll try a simple practice for bringing a decision or situation to mind, considering the options available to you and noticing our response before trying to reason our way towards an answer.

Today’s episode is brought to you by: Second Flush Darjeeling, a delicate, floral black tea with the distinctive fruity, grape-like character often described as muscatel.

It’s a tea worth paying attention to as you drink, which feels particularly fitting for a pause about noticing the finer details we can easily overlook.

In this pause for tea, you’ll discover:

* 01:20 The uncomfortable feeling that led me to think about intuition

* 01:40 Why tea creates a useful interruption in a busy day

* 04:17 A tea practice for something you’ve been thinking about

* 07:01 Why intuition is information worth noticing, rather than something to blindly obey

* 07:46 Trying a possible decision on for size and observing your response

* 09:20 Why I’m bringing practical tea routines back to these solo episodes

Tea doesn't tell you what to do. It simply gives you space to notice what you were already thinking and feeling.

Resources and Links

Make sure you’re getting eteaket’s Tea Mail to be the first to discover awesome teas, like Second Flush Darjeeling so you can create more space in the middle of everyday life.

Thanks for pausing for tea with me today.If this helped, I’d love a quick comment, a heart, or a share. It genuinely helps this post reach more people who need a calmer next step.

Erica x

The Tea Mind is reader-supported. To get new posts (and support my work), consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Episode Summary

This episode is about the weight of sunk cost, and what happens when the time, effort or identity tied to a past decision starts influencing what we choose next.

I reflect on my own experience of leaving law after years of study and training, and the difficulty of recognising that something can still have been valuable without needing to remain the right path forever.

The shift is simple: to notice whether you are choosing something because it still fits, or because you have already invested so much in it.

By the end, you’ll have one question to sit with over your tea:

If you arrived at this point today, knowing what you know now, would you choose it again?

Today’s episode is brought to you by: Jasmine Chun Hao, a light, delicate and floral tea, with a freshness that suits this episode well. For me, it brings a sense of lightness and fresh perspective, which makes it a good tea to sit with when you are looking at something again with clearer eyes.

In this pause for tea, you’ll discover:

* 00:52 Why past investment can make a decision feel heavier than it really is

* 03:41 Using the cup in your hands to come back to the present moment

* 05:04 My experience of spending years training and working as a lawyer before questioning the path

* 06:30 Why changing direction can feel like calling the original decision into question

* 07:03 The moment I realised I had to answer the question in front of me, rather than the one I had already invested in

* 07:49 What may have changed since you made your original choice

* 08:10 The question to ask when sunk cost is keeping you stuck

* 09:50 Why a fresh-start moment can help you look ahead without automatically repeating what came before

The time you have already invested does not have to decide what you choose next.

Resources and Links

Make sure you’re getting eteaket’s Tea Mail to be the first to discover awesome teas, like Jasmine Chun Hao so you can create more space in the middle of everyday life.

Thanks for pausing for tea with me today.If this helped, I’d love a quick comment, a heart, or a share. It genuinely helps this post reach more people who need a calmer next step.

Erica x

The Tea Mind is reader-supported. To get new posts (and support my work), consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Episode Summary

This episode is about what happens when a good idea becomes so complicated that it stalls completely.

Erica shares a real example from developing a bespoke tea blend. What began as an exciting idea disappeared down a rabbit hole of complexity, technical challenges and stubborn determination to make the original version work.

When she paused to see things through a simpler lens, she finally saw the way forward. By letting things flow more easily she realised she could stop pushing, while maintaining standards and not giving up on the idea.

You may notice where perfection, possibility or too many variations are making something more complicated than it needs to be.

The question is, what happens if you make the hard thing easier?

Today’s episode is brought to you by: Kuki Cha, a Sencha green tea made using the stalks and stems from Sencha production. It’s light and clear with gentle grassy notes and a slightly sweet, nutty character.

It brings a sense of simplicity, which makes it a fitting tea for an episode about stripping away unnecessary complexity and seeing what makes sense.

In this pause for tea, you’ll discover:

* 01:29 A simple invitation to notice one thing that has become harder than expected

* 04:22 How wanting something to reach its full potential can stop us taking action

* 05:08 The bespoke tea blend that became so complicated the project stalled

* 06:30 What changed when Erica stopped pushing and looked at the blend through a simpler lens

* 07:00 The question to ask when you’re holding onto the perfect version of something

* 08:39 Why something great that can exist may matter more than something amazing that never does

“You can always make something more complicated later, but perhaps simpler is what allows it to exist in the first place.”

Resources and Links

Make sure you’re getting eteaket’s Tea Mail to be the first to discover awesome teas, like Yellow Gold Oolong so you can create more space in the middle of everyday life.

Thanks for pausing for tea with me today.If this helped, I’d love a quick comment, a heart, or a share. It genuinely helps this post reach more people who need a calmer next step.

Erica x

The Tea Mind is reader-supported. To get new posts (and support my work), consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.