a different cup of coffee

If you ever want to learn a lot about yourself I suggest living out of a suitcase for a month. The first two weeks being in Rome, walking 12 miles a day. And the last two being spent in a freshman dorm, welcoming 500 students and families. Simply said, it’s been a freakin world wind.

Myself, and six other members did not end up staying on the Assumption Campus, but rather at an interesting “hotel.” It was run by four Spanish nuns, who didn’t speak a lick of English, who gave us bread and butter every morning and gave us a curfew for each night. After we mumbled back the Spanish we could recall from high school, we set out for the day.

Prior to arriving to the Rome campus we would stop at this corner bakery. This bakery had every type of croissant; chocolate, almond, lemon, some weird raspberry. Any type of pastry in varying sizes and flavors. And of course, coffee, these baristas could run laps around those other ones in green aprons.

But what this popular Italian bakery did not have was coffee in travel cups. There was no huge stack of hot cups or cardboard sleeves for those “extremely hot” beverages. Instead, your coffee was handed to you in a ceramic mug, delightfully engraved with the bakery’s logo. No trash or recycling needed to throw out your cup, simply turn it upside on the legit coffee bar in front of you.

And the fast paced, a mile in a minute, to do list longer than a theology essay, American that I am was shook.

Like sir, you are en route to work right?  And you are telling me, in jumbled English, that you stop here every morning to get two shots of espresso and flirt with the brunette who cleans the cups?

And yes, he does, every morning.

These regulars enjoy their morning coffee in one place, with people and conversation. It is not brought along trains, buses, or cars. But rather shared with the people who made it and the others around them enjoying the same rich caffeinated flavor.

This shared moment is what we are often missing, do we truly allow ourselves to be present?

I found myself lately getting so wrapped up in the culture of just keep going. I mean going on a Roman tourist marathon and then flying back to led two weeks of orientation does fuel this lifestyle.

We find false beauty in being busy.

There is an overwhelming pressure in todays world to be non-stop. In some sick way it is perceived as “successful” and “good” to have your day scheduled to the minute. We feed into the notion that having planners and calendars with so many things scribbled in is normal.

For we allow ourselves to become detached from what we believe isn’t important and become focused on what we need to get done.

No time to call my parents this week, need to call these people for fundraisers and then write three papers.

Need to find a job and then volunteer at that thing later, maybe I can hang out with my siblings later.

Hmmm I have felt like physically sick over stuff these past couple weeks, it’s fine I need to make it to this meeting, game, and then prep for that interview. I will worry about my persisting nausea later.

This has been so great to be with my people, and yet I keep thinking about what time I will make it home. And then what time I can go the gym tomorrow and then what time I will be able to make the young one’s bus.

Hmmm I am totally slipping back into a place I don’t want to be, lemme worry about it once finals are over. Oh wait, I will take care of it once I get that interview all set and I am back from my senior trip.

We like being like a Swiss army knife, being able to do it all, all the time. But the reality is that we are doing so much with such little focus. The reality should be this, do less with more focus. That is when the stuff really matters, resonates and is important to not just you but the people around you.

And even when we slow down and be still, do we really take that opportunity for all that it is worth?

Or are you like me, sitting on a yoga mat, trying to do warrior II, but continuously thinking about the new job, the oil change, and the overflowing inbox. Fun fact, thinking about unread emails leads to a pretty shitty warrior II, the arms were all over the place.

Being present is no way easy, especially living in a culture that endorses the non-stop lifestyle, hello drive thrus.

But what would happen if we all turned back the speed on our treadmills?

What if we all got up a few minutes earlier to talk with the people in our homes, rather than dashing out the door?

What if we called, like dialed a number, and poured our full attention to the person coming through the receiver?  Instead of having a text conversation that spans over the entire day.

What if we were present within ourselves, like actually listening to our own voices and needs?

What if we were present within our communities, and not just bombing down route 3 trying to get out of town.

Our world is always moving, shifting, changing. And there is this lively and spontaneous beauty in movement. But there is even a deeper beauty in stillness.

So maybe take the time to allow yourself to be fully present, and to flirt with the girl who makes your coffee, I think that Italian man might be on to something.

Sincerely,

Emma