Kafe Gratitude

I absolutely love cafes, and could not even begin the think of the number of hours I have spent in them, sitting down to relax enjoying my favourite teas and coffees, hanging out with friends, family or myself and totally enjoying the cafe experience.

I used to work as a waitress and barista in my sister in law’s cafe when I first moved to Melbourne where I learnt the techniques of making a great coffee. My appreciation of it grew there, as did my desire to try and make the best coffees. While my taste for drinking them grew as well. Buying them would become a choice and decision on where I could get the perfect coffee, the way I like it anyway and I know most coffee drinkers understand the search never ends!

My passion for tea started when I lived in London, getting home with friends from a night out. I would often be the one boiling the kettle making cups of English breakfast for everyone as we debriefed about the night, in the early hours of the morning.

I have always just loved the scene of trying out new cafes, their decor, the menus, the drinks, the people and the atmosphere. Discovering and exploring new cafes and regularly going back to my favourites.

Everyday for many years I have always gone into work early so I could go and sit in a cafe before I started work in the office to enjoy my morning beveridge.

For the past twelve months at least I have been introducing the daily practice of gratitude with my morning cafe visits. I would sit down with my favourite drink, get out my notepad and pen and write down 20 things I was grateful for. I would always start off with my family and friends and then introduce things for that day or week, even some of the same things everyday, whatever I felt like or whatever would come to me.

I had been hearing about gratitude for years and how good it was for you from friends as well as people such as Oprah and JLo talking about it.

Many successful athletes talk about it and who can forget when Joaquin Phoenix got onstage to collect his best actor Oscar this year, his first words were “I’m full of so much gratitude right now”, after he was handed his Academy award.

Now I can tell you from experience it is pretty great and a really cool way to start the day. Not only does it get me into the present moment, relaxing and out of my head into my body, but it has a whole range of health benefits.

Being at home and working from home we have all had to adapt to new ways of doing things and so I decided to start my own Kafe Gratitude. Sitting down with my cup of tea or coffee before I start work in the home office.

I had recently adjusted my working hours a few weeks before working from home to start earlier and finish earlier and so was not actually heading to a cafe in the morning, so I had decided then I needed a new routine. As I didn’t have as much time as before going straight into the office or now sleeping in a little bit longer in the home office! I start off with 5 things each day (5-10 mins) and write it on a post it note and sit with those feelings as I reflect on what I am grateful for with my morning cuppa.

As everyone is pretty busy these days, sitting down and writing 20 things may not work for everyone, but with Kafe Gratitude you can start off with your first beveridge and if you want to reflect on a few more things with each beveridge then why not. You can scribble a few extra onto your post it note with each drink or just keep it for your first one whatever you want to do with whatever you may be sipping on throughout the day! It really is up to you.

You don’t even have to write anything down you can say it to yourself . In the wellbeing course I took they did say to write it though as it allows you to get focused and present as the key is to feel it in your body, that’s the whole point. Remember the flow on effect of good feelings I mention in my other post. However if you can do that without writing by all means do so.

You can reflect on a couple of things or many things, but doing it with your first beveridge is a good reminder each day to actually do it and be easily incorporated into each day.

The brain learns through repetition and so a few minutes at the start of each day is a really simple and great habit to get into.

While research shows that taking the time to experience gratitude can make you happier and even healthier, by increasing your mood, reducing stress levels, strengthening your immune system and lowering your blood pressure, while also making you feel a stronger social connection which also has a whole host of benefits.

These benefits I learnt about in the Wellbeing course I just completed and great reasons to introduce this into your day, if you don’t already. What’s so easy about this is that it comes to mind first thing as we all enjoy our first morning drink.

Just a few minutes a day and over time I guarantee you will feel the benefits. What I discovered was a greater feeling of contentment over time by being reminded that I have a great family, awesome friends and a warm bed to sleep in every night, just to name a few.

Repetition is the key to introduce a new habit and one that is proven to make you happier and even healthier is definitely one worth doing.

I hope you can take a few minutes to experience and share some Kafe Gratitude throughout your day.