Behind every successful woman is a substantial amount of coffee.
~Stephanie Piro
I sure hope so Stephanie.
In 2004, at the first gathering of Women Coffee Producers, 464 women were searching for ideas to improve their conditions in Northern Peru. Their new idea – “separating their coffee from the rest of the production”. As their website says… “These women represent new century pioneers. Theirs is the story of women not just in the rural communities in Peru, but of women throughout developing nations. Many of these women have no rights, have been abandoned and are abused. Many are alone with children and no income. Even with little or no self esteem left, they continue to hold out hope for a better life.”
Google alerts this Sunday morning informs me there is a Coffee Tea and Me Expo in Pasadena California proceeds benefit these women – The Cafe Femenino Foundation
It always amazes me the resourcefulness of people… especially of women driven by a desire, a fierce need, to care for their families. As I sit here in a comfortable and cozy living room, I mix gratitude with understanding. I am not coping with the challenges of the marginalization of women in these rural communities, which grows worse each day. But I do share their desire to provide… to fulfill my commitment to family by providing for a daughter in college, by easing the aches and pains of a husband that works hard, and by keeping up a house – always in need of repair.
Over the past month I have explored the many ways I can do just that. I have entertained options I once thought ridiculous, impossible and, well, insane. All such options are now viable. Like these women I will always find a way to create possibilities in a world of constraints and limitations – self-imposed as well as those external influences that require a team of tough and tenacious people to blast through.
So for these women, these sisters of the BEAN, I say a small prayer over my morning cup of coffee today. Tasting the richness of their contribution and the strength of their conviction with each swallow inviting the sweat of their intent to influence me for the better.
Categories: Personal and Professional Coaching
I believe humans get a lot done, not because we’re smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee. ~Flash Rosenberg
I did use my thumbs this morning to make coffee. That might be all I get done today. I am so completely unambituous – aside from the coffee-making, that is. I could chalk it up to the day of the week – Monday. The lack of deadlines or appointments – I have none. Or to the sun streaming in my window – it’s sunny, sort of.
So what to do? I have always been about the ‘doing’ not so much about the ‘being’. You’d think it would be easy to do nothing. How many times have you daydreamed about being forced to do nothing – you know being shipwrecked on a deserted island, jailed in a club-fed type prison, hospitalized with a hang nail, or kidnapped by George Clooney (althought this might require some action)?
Yet when it comes right down to it… I have to make a concerted effort to ‘do’ the ‘being’. I have to put it on my to-do list, make it an action item, enter it in my tasks folder. So with all of you as my witnesses. I will take on the challenge of being today.
I will craft no particular plans. I will welcome the fact that I do not know where I am going… after all coffee doesn’t ask where it’s going – it just flows.
Categories: Personal and Professional Coaching
“Coffee falls into the stomach … ideas begin to move, things remembered arrive at full gallop … the shafts of wit start up like sharp-shooters, similes arise, the paper is covered with ink.” -Honoré de Balzac
I love coffee. I love coffee shops, cafes, diners and drive thru hot spots. I love coffee cups, spoons, pots and paraphernalia.
But it was the aroma that hooked me way back when. That intoxicating strong smell – warm, fragrant, comforting…
Growing up, the perk and puffing of our old Farberware electric coffee pot meant my lovely grandmother was home with me – having just arrived from somewhere fabulous like NYC, San Francisco, Phoenix, or Hawaii. Her unique and pervasive fragrance (coffee mixed with a hint of Estee Lauder) was the first sign that this petite, jewelry-laden, Chanel-suit-wearing version of the Blessed Mother was back…
She was like a lot of prized grandmothers. She pampered me… made me special, safe, wanted. She listened to me as if I were the only child in the world – not an easy feat in a house of 9 children and two adults.
This memory returns often – thanks to the abundant nature of both coffee and Estee Lauder perfume. It can be hard to find comfort in the world these days…and it’s hard to grow up, to lose the easy sweet faith of childhood, to lose your grandmother, and yes even your mother. But coffee in hand you can invite them back asking that they stay with you just as long as it takes to finish your cup of java and return fortified once again to the world.
Categories: Personal and Professional Coaching
