The Art of Drinking

Until recent years, coffee was something that I drank so much of, that it has become a drink of habit.

When I am happy, I have my usual local potent brew with friends, when sad, it's irish coffee with a strong punch, when feeling cold, it's double shot flat white, at Starbucks it's triple tall Americano.

Last year, I made a conscious choice to limit my caffeine intake for health reasons, and in doing so, I found yet another perspective.

When there is a feeling of lack, or feeling of having to resist something, there is an equal and opposing need to satisfy the need, it's like having to scratch an itch. Your whole body is filled with the desire to fulfil the need, you imagine it, you feel it, you are moody, anxious, distracted and angry.

I like to believe that addictions are addictions of the mind and nothing more, and when I realise that my thoughts bred my feeling, and that I consciously expanded my feelings, magnified them, made them much more than what my true feelings were, this insight came to me like a jolt of surprise.

This obsession was just.... coffee.

I am Ennegram type 4 (SP/SX/SO for those who are interested in instinctual stack), and realising that this inward journey and introspective focus is natural to me was a liberating feeling, a weakness and a strength. Obsession is a feeling of satisfaction and joy, it lends depth, and creates immense pluses for my ego, but at the end of the day, my ego is not me. Some of us, whether we admit it or not, love the chains that bind us, simply because they form a defined area that we can say is what we are. It's a comfortable place, this familiar spot, even if it is a familiar hurt or a familiar achievement.

Allow me to share my version of mindfulness. In a moment of contemplation over coffee, I wrote the following:

Like a warm inviting breeze
Your scent comes softly to me
Lingering, you speak of exotic spaces and places
Sunny days, dusty sunsets and cool blue nights

I awake to great anticipation
To seek in a cup, a swirl of bliss
of nameless friends and sacred journeys
My ambrosia, my inspiration, my destiny


And that my friends, is my way of drinking coffee mindfully. Knowing that I take not more than 2 cups a day, I drink them slow, savouring how delightful the taste of coffee truly is, and how glad I am to be alive, well and able to enjoy the pleasures of life. To hear the chatter of people, clink of coffee cups, warm air from the opening door, a warm cup of joy in my hands and the even warmer smiling eyes of a friend across from me.

When you are present, everything is bliss. And peace is inside as it is on the outside, always.