Coffeeshop Observations: #4

A return to pre-caffeine baseline and good burritos

Should I add more time to my 25 minute writing block today to make up for the fact that we have a phenomenal breakfast burrito and a stellar decaf oat-milk latte to consume throughout? Should we start this blog post in a different way that isn’t so bleh? Should we make a rule that we can’t use the backspace button for these experimental writing pieces? That sounds fun. No backspace besides typos and spelling errors. Writing completely off the cuff. Some say write from the heart. That’s awfully difficult considering it is your hands and fingers — guided by the mush between our ears — that ultimately do the writing. Think from the heart? That sounds paradoxical. Thinking and the heart. One can have a heart transplant, relatively easily these days. Perhaps not easy, but it’s possible. But a brain transplant? That…that seems wrong and impossible and medically challenging and ultimately less a transplant and more, a new person? So when we say write from the heart, or let your heart guide you, it can’t actually be the heart because one can get a heart transplant and still be…them. I would think at least. But we feel things in the heart, in the gut, in our body, that’s certainly true. But then feelings originate from the brain to some capacity. I think? I am in over my head and wishing I started this post differently. Here we are. Oof, 17 minutes left.

I just dropped a piece of my burrito into my latte. Consuming that piece was about as bad as you might imagine. Crunchy things shouldn’t come out of coffee drinks, that is a fact. I believe I’ve turned the corner on the caffeine withdrawals and general zombie feeling without it. In fact I have been feeling pretty great these days, feeling zero need for stimulants. A cold shower, a brisk walk in the morning, a shot of apple cider vinegar from these guys that I would recommend a million times over, and a healthy intake of water and intentional inspiration on how to fill my days have all collectively come a really long way. It’s one less thing that I need to do in the morning (and yes, it certainly felt like a need before), it’s one less thing I feel a dependence on, and perhaps the biggest perceived perk, I don’t feel the afternoon crash. I roll through lunch and the afternoon feeling much the same way like I do in the mornings. Even with good sleep I had become almost dependent on either a nap or an afternoon black tea or other caffeine source. I have also learned to value sleep that much more now that I can’t rely on 4 cups of pour over to mask what is ancient physiology trying to say “Hi, human? You need to sleep”.

“There will be an answer. Let it be”. Nothing like the Beattle’s singing a classic to start your Mondays. I recently wrote my brother poetry for his birthday. Copying that here would be cheating, but perhaps it makes an appearance in a different thread. But one of the poems was on trust. Trusting the things that unfold before us. The sun rising. The moon going down. Waves crashing. Leaves falling. Happiness arriving. Sadness arriving. Every molecule that moves in the universe, trusting it. Do I believe one adopting that kind of mentality can lead to spiritual liberation? Absolutely. We don’t get that upset when plays or movies don’t play out how we expect them. In fact, if someone told us how a movie ended, or what happened next, or where the scene would end up, we’d be bummed. We like the surprise, the thrill. In fact, we’re excited for the very fact that we get to witness how things unfold and be excited for what’s to come. It would seem like reality isn’t that different. In fact, I don’t think it is at all. It’s one big movie playing out before us, and we’re just one small part of it. Trust things to unfold how they unfold. Certainly seems like an exceptionally spiritual / religious / faithful way to life. Perhaps, flies in the fact of rationality or logic or atheism. Yet, here’s something that seems objectively and equally logical: we don’t know how life will play out, and we never will know. So if given the choice, we might as well trust how it’s going to play out. Not because there must be some greater power or being above, not because we must be all connected on energies, not because nature must have a plan for all of us, but because if given the choice, and in this regard we absolutely have a choice, why not choose to align with all that happens. It’s going to happen, might as well swim with it vs. against it. We are past 25 minutes. And I wish I could backspace quite a bit from that last part. Such is life. 🤷‍♂️