Tag: coffee

Ode to Coffee.

emyminzel

Coffee, oh coffee, I love you! I will not lie.

I think you taste the best when you come from a Fair-Trade guy.

The smell of the beans and first whiff of morning brew…

I will not, cannot lie! Coffee I love you.

 

Coffee you make mornings bearable for this mama bear.

Even on days I want to pull out my hair.

I like that you are a reliable as the sun

Because today I gotta run.

 

Coffee you are great, piping hot or iced cold.

I love your rich flavor and how you make me feel bold.

Straight up black please! No need for sugar, or creamer fufu…

Coffee, oh coffee, I love you.

 

No other beverage helps me seize the day

Coffee you just get me, we are on the way!

A new Monday is here and you’re here for me too.

Oh, coffee oh coffee, I love you.

 

Wishing you good coffee, and an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@emyminzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/BWCAdventureSisters

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com

Coffee contemplations

emyminzel

Sunday morning I had some time to myself, the house was quiet, the day was starting out with the sun shining bright. The temperature was perfect 68 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, although we do need some rain I chose to enjoy this spectacular day waiting for me outside of my door. I had a rare day to sleep in, I felt rested while I sat and enjoyed my coffee on the porch.

During my coffee contemplations I decided I was going to clean the house since I am expecting company through out most of the week. Yet I still wanted to take some time just for me, I has been a while since I have had me time and I wanted to seize my opportunity.

I sat and meditated for a bit, holding my favorite cobalt blue pottery cup in my lap. I love this mug, I like to drink my morning coffee from it most every day. This mug reminds me of home, it was made by a talented local artist. I was listening to the birds, with my two dogs laying on the porch next to me. It was easy to center myself and slip into a calm state of mind.

During my peaceful morning meditation, I felt the calling to do some drumming. I trust my intuition, especially when it talks to me during introspection. Sound healing is very therapeutic, drums are powerful when it comes to moving energy. I knew immediately, yes! This is exactly what I needed today. I good drum shower to shake my up chakras and get my flow to pick up the pace would do my body good.

I heeded the call and went to get my drum, I sat outside in nature while I did my best to use the vibration of the bass drum to clear the lower energy I was holding in my body.  It was time to let it go. The deep rhythms of the drum can put you into a trance like state almost like meditation but with help, which is a very interesting and invigorating experience.

The drumming session only lasted about ten minutes, but the effect of the energy boost lasted all day! I had regained energy and felt revitalized, my mood had shifted, and I felt happier. This joyful demeanor lasted all day as I got chores done while sneaking time outside to enjoy the sunshine of a perfect spring day.

I can’t help but wonder in awe at the affect of noise on our cells and our psyche that we are exposed to every day. I know I like to listen to nature as opposed to television, radio and ringing phones, but this is not realistic all the time; we must participate in life!

I believe we must be sure to make time to rest and quite your mind, body and soul to feel and be our best selves. I just thought I would send a reminder; to take care of you this week.

Maybe sound healing or meditation is not for you, that is okay! Maybe try a massage or acupuncture treatment to let your body be rejuvenated. Maybe just enjoy a cup of coffee or an iced tea by yourself enjoyed outside in peace will do.

Regularly be sure to let your mind check out and reset into a calm state, however it works best for you. Wherever you can, sneak in a time out, seize your opportunity to just breath.

You are worth it!

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@emyminzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/BWCAdventureSisters

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com

 

 

Stop and smell the flowers…

emyminzel

I recently came down with a doozy of a cold, the day I felt it coming on, I started taking a homeopathic remedy containing zinc that were rapid melt tabs. It was supposed to lessen the severity and duration of my illness. But what it did was rob me of my sense of smell completely for a week now and I am still not smelling the same as I once did. This over the counter remedy has had FDA recalls on some of this company’s products for this exact reason, although I did not know this until it happened to me of course. After a google search I learned over load of zinc in your body can steal your smell and taste sometimes forever! There are lawsuits against the manufacture that claims these products are safe when they can harm you for a lifetime.

Today I sense some of my smell working slightly, I was able to smell strong odors finally and I was ecstatic about it. I had taken my nose for granted, not understanding or appreciating its function and the depth it adds to my life. When you cannot smell your sense of taste is severely diminished, I love to cook, and I really love to eat, I find contentment in my kitchen. Can you imagine what it would be like to love the smell of your fresh brewed coffee in the morning and when you go to pour a cup you don’t smell a thing and the taste is bitter and blah. Just like that, one of my favorite rituals was snatched away because I took an over the counter medication that was supposed to help me. I feel duped and livid all at the same time.

I used to think “Oh man, it would be terrible to be deaf or blind.” And it really would be! I never once thought of how I would feel if I could not smell or taste. Here I am telling you what it’s like, it’s also awful. I do not get to sniff my husband and tell him he smells like home. I do not get to smell coffee, bacon, essential oils I love to use or even the smell of my beautiful daughter. I would miss the smell of clean clothes fresh out of the dryer, soup simmering on the stove, smoke from the wood stove or smoke if the house was on fire for that matter. I also wouldn’t be able to enjoy the perfume I just got for Christmas. Or Christmas cookies, I can tell they are sweet but that is it, I do not taste the creamy peanut butter and chocolate in them only the taste of sweet. So sad. If there were a gas leak or fire I would not be able to tell or if I stink to high heaven I would not know. That is horrifying.

I feel lucky that I sense some of my olfactory coming back to life. I am very hopeful that this is temporary, and my body knows how to fix what I broke. Until this happened I never thought once about the richness the sense of smell brings to my life, have you? Sure, I wouldn’t have to smell bad things, but that also means I could not tell if my food was spoiled or if I stepped in dog poop either. Here is my cautionary tale, please be careful of the things you put into your body even if it says homeopathic or natural. Research it first! As my husband likes to remind me “arsenic is organic too, that doesn’t make it safe.”

Quiet Time

emyminzel

It’s no secret that I am a person who likes my down time. I have been known to turn into a hermit a least a couple times a year, hibernating like my bear spirit animal during winter. I also like to do this in micro bits of time every day. You know, check out of real life for a bit, put down the phone, turn off the tv, and just be. I can’t do this often, but I found the more I do, the better person I am. I don’t get as fussy about things that irritate me, because during my quite time I am able to process what’s really bugging me.

I believe quiet time is essential for everyone and it gives us time to ask ourselves just what is it that we need. What do we want? If something is bugging me, how can I fix it? It gives us time to clear our minds, or if you’re anything like me, quiet time allows the crazy in my melon to puzzle that shit together so I can move forward with a thoughtful plan of action instead of wandering around my life reacting to the day I face. Time for reflection helps me check my attitude, after all it is up to me who I want to be today. Sure, I can be a grumpy Gus, but acting like so won’t make me feel better or anyone else I encounter. I can choose to be a better person than I was yesterday. To me it’s like quiet time gives me magical powers, giving me time to count my blessings, put my big girl britches on and carpe diem.

I remember one of the most difficult journeys I’ve taken on foot was to Fourtown Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. My fellow Adventure Sister and I were naïve about the BWCA and we had overpacked, lugging five hefty portage packs and a canoe, while underestimating the difficulty of the portages. It took us a great deal longer than expected to get halfway to our original destination. Try as we may we could not find one of the portage paths heading to the next lake we wanted to get to. We were frustrated, unprepared, starving, and dehydrated. The sun was tipping well over to the other side of the world, and we had started before it came up. My Adventure Sister and I were exhausted. Mentally and physically we were being pushed to our limits. When we decided to give up the search for the portage we were seeking so we could finally rest, it only took us a short while to find an open campsite.

As soon as I saw that we would finally be able to stop going and going and going some more, my eyes burst into tears, an automatic response to relief my body so desperately needed. Stacy and I ended up staying at the same campsite the whole stay because we were both too sore to pack up and move. We had to soak our flaring aches in the cold lake, and rest to fight off the exhaustion before we became sick with colds too. We spent a great deal of time, doing nothing but recuperating in the beauty of the forest out of necessity. It was not how we expected our voyage to go, but hey, we were calling for adventure and we had an amazing time we will not forget.

Isn’t it funny how we can push ourselves and our bodies to the point of sickness, past the point of uncomfortable right into pain? Yet it just keeps on going, doing what you ask it to do, even if it doesn’t want too. Isn’t that what we tend to do in our daily lives, just on a less acute scale. Why must we wait for the pain of stress to take care of ourselves is it really that hard? We take care of others with ease, yet when it comes to nurturing ourselves we decide to be stubborn and ‘tough it out’ putting ourselves last.

I am blessed to work from home, yet I am not immune from stress and family life. In reality, I hardly have any quite time to just myself, I’m busy running the show. When that happens for too long it gets me easily irritated at the silliest things. I find when I am not able to just sit with a cup of coffee in silence and have the world to myself for just even a half hour that I get grumpy. Its seems every little sound, conversation, television noise, microwave dinging, it all just pisses me right off. Let’s just say I am not my best self when I am not able to check in with myself, by checking out for just a bit.

My point is to help you remember even in this busy holiday season, take care of yourself too. Your body, your spirit and your family will thank you because you will be your best self. Ask yourself every day ‘What will make me feel good today?’ then do it. It is not selfish to do what it takes to take care of you. Quite time is an essential part of that for me, the older I get, the more I embrace it. It can be hard at times to ‘fit me in’ the schedule but the moment I start feeling anxious or irritable I know I better listen. I seek nature and the sound of silence as my retreat. I will not judge your way of reconnecting, I just wanted to remind you how important is for you to go there.