Muzyka - Life by the Cup: Ingredients for a Purpose-Filled Life of Bottomless Happiness and Limitless Success

Join Zhena Muzyka in her home in Ojai, California, and prepare to have your life changed forever.

Advance Praise for

Life by the Cup

Life by the Cup is a delicious and engaging book that will inspire and guide you. It offers a powerful road map for success in life, work, and love. Within the pages are many gems that ensure you have the tools to live your dreams.

Marci Shimoff , author of Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out

Zhenas new book opens a delicious world where expansion and fulfillment can occur one cup at a time. She shows you how caring for your deep self fuels your deepest success in all aspects of your life. Whether you are a mother, entrepreneur, or simply passionate about expressing your creative self most fully, Life by the Cup serves delectable sips of magic.

Kathlyn Hendricks , coauthor of Conscious Loving: The Journey to Co-Commitment

I love this book! Zhenas journey and the lessons she shares in Life by the Cup will inspire and empower women to start businesses that matter and can change the world.

Cynthia Kersey, chief humanitarian officer of Unstoppable Foundation

It wasnt enough for Zhena to create one of the hottest brands in the tea industry; she did it by forging a soulful, life-changing partnership with tea farmers halfway around the world. And now, through this remarkable book, shes given us all a seat next to her on this magical journey. Zhena reminds us that we each can make a difference in the world through something as simple and delicious as a cup of tea.

Paul Rice , president and CEO of Fair Trade USA

Life by the Cup is a world-changing, unique, and beautifully written book that will benefit every aspect of the readers life. Zhena Muzyka reflects on her complex and inspirational life by artfully weaving delightful tea antidotes, unforgettable personal stories, and her savvy business prowess. I laughed, sobbed, and was inspired to make the world a better place while reading Life by the Cup over many delicious cups of tea. Muzyka inspires readers to create more meaningful rituals in their daily lives and to become the most deeply joyful, fearless, and empowered version of themselves.

Erin Cox , enlightened business strategist and bestselling author of One Hot Mama: The Guide to Getting Your Mind and Body Back After Baby

Recipes for overcoming adversity swirl through these pages like the inspiriting ingredients in Zhenas tea concoctions. I sipped from her book every night at bedtime, and invariably solutions for my own life steeped in my dreams.

Terri Jentz , author of Strange Piece of Paradise

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First Atria Books hardcover edition June 2014

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Book design by Ellen R. Sasahara

Jacket design by Connie Gabbert

Jacket art Masson/Shutterstock; primpopiano/Shutterstock; kanate/Shutterstock; Elena Schweitzer/Shutterstock

Author photograph by Summer Scotland

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Muzyka, Zhena.

Life by the cup: ingredients for a purpose-filled life of bottomless happiness and limitless success / Zhena Muzyka.

pages cm

Includes index.

1. Muzyka, Zhena. 2. Zhenas Gypsy Tea Company. 3. BusinesswomenUnited StatesBiography. 4. Tea tradeUnited StatesHistory. 5. Success in businessUnited States. 6. Self-realization. I. Title.

HD9198.U54Z446 2014

338.7 '66394092dc23

[B]

2013047967

ISBN 978-1-4767-5960-9

ISBN 978-1-4767-5964-7 (ebook)

Certain names and identifying characteristics have been changed.

For SageYou inspire me daily

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A Cup of Lavender Blossoms and Local Heroes

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A Cup of Kindness

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A Cup of Celebration

O ne day I was talking with some girlfriends about how I wanted to write an inspirational book that people could read in the time it took to have a cup of tea. I would tell the stories of my experiences building a company as a single-mom entrepreneur and also help readers see that a simple cup of tea can be a daily ritual for personal transformation and growth.

Dyana said, Make the chapters short enough to sip!

So, knowing how busy everyone is these days, I share my insights in this book in a new kind of wayby the cup. As women, mothers, career builders, world changers, wives, and dreamers, we need to find our individual mission as well as our collective mission. Its important to find ourselves and then gather together, share what we learn, support one another, and love our work.

I started my company with nothing but the burning desire to provide a good and healthful life for my sick newborn son, but I found so much more. When my world seemed limited, hemmed in by impenetrable walls, tea, hope, and my active dreams saved my son, Sage, and me. I took responsibility for someone other than myself and grew into a person Sage could count on. I got serious about my life, which was now our life. I had to ask big questions, seek meaningful answers, grow my faith in ways I never knew imaginable, and step into the role of a lifetimemom, tea maker, and, eventually, fair-trade activist. My family came to include the tea workers who harvested the precious organic leaves and buds that I blended and sold. We are all connected.

Within these pages youll read about my hardest-won insights, life lessons that are meant to inspire you to find and follow your own passion. I encourage you to allow all the mistakes you will make in the course of finding your path to be part of your own repertoire of life lessons, for these lessons will shape your destiny. The beloved transformational teacher Byron Katie says, Business grows us, and she couldnt be more right. Motherhood gave birth to a new strength in me, hardship carved me into a mom my son could count on, and my mission to bring prosperity to tea workers half a world away kept me going even when bankruptcy loomed.