Episode notes
Everybody Needs a Little Breathing Room
Have you ever tried to put something back into the box it originally came in? It came OUT of that box. You know it did. But somehow, once you've taken everything out, apparently the laws of physics change. You fold it. Turn it sideways. Push one corner down. Close the lid with your elbow. And eventually you announce, “Well, it's close enough!” There's a life lesson in there somewhere: So, have you noticed that Little Valve on a Coffee Bag? Sometimes things need a little breathing room. People do too. We pack our days so tightly that there's hardly any room left for anything unexpected. Then something unexpected happens. The phone rings. The dog needs something. Somebody needs a favor. The internet stops working. And suddenly our perfectly organized day looks like that box we're trying to close with our elbow. Your bag of coffee needs a little help dealing with pressure too. That small round valve found on many bags of freshly roasted coffee? It isn't decoration. It's called a one-way degassing valve. After coffee is roasted, the beans continue releasing carbon dioxide. A one-way valve allows some of that gas to escape from the bag while helping prevent outside air from freely entering through the valve. That's pretty clever for a little circle on a coffee bag. It lets something OUT without simply letting everything IN. Now there's a lesson worth borrowing. We could probably all use our own imaginary one-way valve occasionally. Let the frustration out. Let the worry out. Let yesterday's aggravation out. But we don't have to let every negative thing around us come marching back in. Someone else's bad mood doesn't automatically have to become ours. Someone else's impatience doesn't require us to become impatient. And somebody else's argument certainly doesn't require us to buy a ticket and participate. Sometimes the healthiest response is simply: “No thank you. I'm having coffee.” That's one reason a quiet coffee break can be so valuable. It creates breathing room in an otherwise crowded day. Pour yourself some Classy Jazz, with those delicious hazelnut and chocolate notes, find a comfortable chair, and give yourself ten peaceful minutes. You might discover the problem that felt enormous at 8:00 in the morning looks considerably smaller after you've had time to think. And if it doesn't? Well...At least now you're holding coffee. Sometimes we can't control how much gets packed into our day. But we can decide what we're willing to carry from one moment into the next. Let some things go. Protect your peace. Leave a little breathing room. And maybe stop trying to put things back into boxes.
Visit Cager's Coffee Hut at www.cagerscoffeehut.com,and remember to keep brewing kindness one cup at a time.