Mindfully Written

Amber Erickson: Denver Content Marketing Strategist & Freelance Health and Lifestyle Writer

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Falling in love at a coffee shop.

by Amber Erickson

There is just something about coffee shops. I can’t explain it. I don’t even have a desire to explain it. I just love the feel of them. The smell. The people. The music. The environment. The culture. Coffee shops are unique – and not all have that same feeling. As I sit here gazing out the window, buses, cars and people are strolling by as if they are in some outside world. Inside the coffee shop, it’s like the world stands still. Only this coffee shop exists – just me and my computer and my tea. Tonight I’m drinking tea. I’m writing. Time, place and circumstance aren’t relevant. They have no place here. When I’m here, nothing is relevant. Nothing matters, nothing stays the same, everything must change. The doors will close and I will go home, richer because of it.

Sounds a bit like meditation, doesn’t it.

Isn’t that interesting.

(Photo Credit: Snowfrog Photography)

 

Filed Under: Blog, Creativity, Mindfulness Tagged With: coffee, love, mindfulness

How Art is an Expression of Mindfulness

by Amber Erickson

The other night, my husband and I met at a coffee shop. He rode his bike there after work to meet me. I was there doing work I didn’t get done during the day. He asked if I’d bring his sketchpad.

That sketchpad has been around and seen its fair share of coffee shops and park benches.

While I was thinking about a blog topic, he opened the sketch pad. I, without so much of a warning, blurted out, “Why do you like drawing?” He laughed – that was a big question. Slowly, the answer emerged and I took notes, because it has a great tie-in to the themes of this blog.

For many of us, education and cultural value gives priority to science and math. The sciences are seemingly more important, and if you are good at them, you often get pigeon-holed into that category. The artsy students hang out in the art studios, the rest of us are science, math and language whizzes. They were separate. There is no art in the sciences. There is no science in art. But they don’t have to be separate – imagine what innovation and creativity comes when they work together.

The reason my wonderfully talented, intelligent and compassionate husband likes art is more subtle and deep than just the joy of creating something beautiful. It’s more of a spiritual practice, although he wouldn’t necessarily call it that. He uses art, primarily drawing – and almost always black or gray – as a way to develop the skill of “seeing” things and getting past the conceptual brain. Rather than looking at a tree and saying, “Oh that’s an ash,” you can learn to see the shape and the lighting and the colors and the form and the patterns and how it fits into the larger context of life. For him, it’s being able to get closer to objective truth of seeing what is really there rather than just the label of what we think is there. An ash isn’t just an ash. An ash is a lively form that sways erratically, yet rhythmically in the wind, with various shades of green and patterns of light and dark. It has movement, it has a whole world going on under its bark and in its roots – all hidden from us and not usually considered. There are probably birds and insects and other varmints running around and we don’t often stop to think about or see them.

When drawing, you can’t really just draw the concept of a tree. Well, you can, but then it just looks like an elementary Christmas tree of trunk with a round top (this, for reference, is how I draw). But this doesn’t capture the essence of that tree. It’s a generic representation of something. Truly SEEING the tree opens up all sorts of new ideas and allows you to practice seeing other things in life. Nothing is what we think it is from a first glance. There is always so much more depth and context and interconnectedness to explore and discover. Learning to see something enough to draw it (he usually draws trees) helps you learn to apply this principle throughout life. Much like meditation allows us to practice discernment of thoughts and not getting caught up in them, drawing helps practice awareness and seeing.

The beauty of drawing is that it isn’t about the outcome. Few people see the drawings, and most of them sit silently in sketchbooks. It’s not about them. They are just tools. They help the drawer to get past the labels and to explore a different way of looking at the world. They provide the training to help uncover the subtle beauty of life. They help him express himself better. I think they, and he, are beautiful and capture the essence of each other.

Filed Under: Blog, Creativity, Mindfulness Tagged With: art, awareness, coffee, drawing, mindfulness

The toughest decision I had to make today….

by Amber Erickson

..was what to order at the coffee shop.

As I later thought about this, it was because I don’t come to coffee shops much anymore and I wanted to make a good decision. Iced, hot, flavored, not flavored, chai…..regular milk, soy, breve….caffeine, no caffeine, frozen…So many options.  Then I thought, it’s just coffee. Just pick something already. I chose a hot chai tea latte made with half-and-half.

So am I happy about my decision?  Sure. It’s nothing special – it’s a chai. But I’m sure I would’ve received any other options with similar neutrality. Who knows and why am I even spending the time to think about it?

I think it comes down to the amount of options we have at our fingertips and how, quite frankly, it’s often paralyzing. I remember speaking with a client once about his organization, which helps young adults transition to adulthood.  He said many of these young people are simply overwhelmed with their options. Gone are the days of taking over the family business, women staying home to raise the kids, or people staying in jobs for their entire working career. There is simply an endless opportunity of what people can do, and that doesn’t necessarily mean a J-O-B. I choose to go outside of this mold and create my own livelihood – many others before me have done the same.

So how do we deal with all these options (from coffee to jobs and everything in between) that are infiltrating us daily? We learn to give up control from time to time and let others choose for us.

Now you must think I’m crazy. If it makes you feel any better, I think I’m crazy too. I was offered this idea by my husband. For as long as I can remember, we sometimes order each others’ meals when we go out to eat. Wait staff are always confused and people we are with usually think it’s nuts. The idea is two-fold: it gets us out of our comfort zones and forces us to try something we may not have chosen for ourselves and it allows us to give up control for just a moment, and that lessens the stress of making the “right” decision. A couple weeks ago, my husband sent me this TED talk video, which elegantly describes this very idea. The speaker discusses the paradox that counter to what we often think, people are happier with less choices.

I think this may describe why I am awful at parking in big parking lots – I get overwhelmed with the choices and figuring out which one is better. It’s just a parking spot. It’s just coffee. It’s just food. I wonder how much time and energy and unnecessary burden we put on ourselves through these small decisions?

Today, I vow to not get stressed out over my coffee choice. Or my parking spot. I vow to practice giving up the driver’s seat from time to time (even though it makes me a little anxious).

What choices do you struggle with? I’m interested in hearing.

Filed Under: Blog, Mindfulness Tagged With: coffee, decisions, options

Contact me

amber@mindfullywritten.com
952-250-1739

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