If you have been in our waiting room, you may notice our coffee station. It sits along the wall right when you walk in and is adorned with a few different flavors of coffee, travel cups, sugar, tea, and some other things that you might need. I actually don’t see many people use the coffee machine and sometimes wonder if perhaps I’m the one that uses at the most. peaceful mind
But if we think about it, coffee is more than just coffee…
I’ve been a coffee drinker for as long as I can remember. I remember begging my mom to leave me the last few sips in her cup. She would go to the local café called “Brew HaHa” (which later would’ve been my first job). I just remember begging for that last bit of coffee. I’m sure that is when my love for coffee started.
Unfortunately, coffee isn’t something that gives me energy, keeps me awake, or gives me the buzz that others depend on. I just enjoy it. I enjoy everything about it. And in the recent years as I’ve attempted to discover mindfulness and kept on failing, I realized that coffee is my mindful experience.
I’m sure you’ve heard of mindfulness. It’s kind of what it sounds like. Being present, paying attention to what’s going on around us, and being in the moment. But if you were one of the lucky ones with a very busy brain, you might discover that is very difficult because as we try to quiet our brains, our brains see this as an opportunity to think of everything it possibly can.
Our days are so busy and packed with one thing to the next, running around, and sometimes we don’t even know what day it is. Many times in the evening, probably maybe even twice, I go out to that little coffee station. I choose a flavor that I don’t have at home and I make my coffee. Sometimes I have it in a mug and sometimes I use one of the cups that are there. Sometimes I mix in some hot chocolate (hello, mocha latte?). I even sometimes make tea.
For me, coffee is mindfulness. Because I don’t get a buzz or energy from coffee, I have to think about what I really enjoy about it.
A cup of coffee isn’t just a cup of coffee.
It’s an experience.
It’s the smell, it’s the temperature, it’s the sound of the coffee dripping into the mug, with the creamer that we choose to use or not use, it’s the sweeteners that we choose to use.
It’s that first sip and what it tastes like.
And even the last sip coffee.
It’s the first thing I look forward to in the morning – and not because it wakes me up – because I enjoy it so much. That first sip in the morning is something that I look forward to starting the night before.
I wonder if you look around, are there things in your own life that you really do enjoy but perhaps don’t notice?
Just like coffee, these things bring us together. Coffee brings us together. It brings conversation, and it’s something that we can enjoy. It may seem like something something small.
I would urge all of us to break down the word mindfulness so it’s not such a daunting task. Perhaps it’s just paying more attention to the things in our lives that we already enjoy and not just what it looks like, but using all of our senses. Just as we can with that cup of coffee. I invite you to take advantage of our cute, little coffee section in our office. There’s also tea, sometimes hot chocolate, regular coffee, decaf, water, even juice boxes. {And I will be honest sometimes, I have a juice box!)
Take the time to pay attention to the whole experience, whether it’s a coffee or something else you enjoy.
Because mindfulness is paying attention to what we enjoy. It will bring us presence and wellness. And sometimes, wellness comes one cup at a time.
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