It is my second Christmas without my Dad. My Mum has health issues that has her in and out of the hospital. My first husband has been gone for many years and my little brother was dead when I was 21.
I am a happy person. Ask anyone. And I am also keenly aware of loss. Mine and other peoples. How do you let yourself fall in love with anyone or anything knowing that at any time the experience or relationship will soon be over. You never get this moment back again. This is it.
So I was asking myself, what Christmas is this? A friend of mine brought up the concept of YTG. So my years-to-go date that I picked for myself is 46. When my years-to-goes are all gone I will be 92. Not sure if I will live that long or if I even want to, but that is what year I picked. And to be fair the good healthy years I have left are probably more like 30. At which point I will be 76.
How many of us are thinking this way? Does it make it easier to not just coast through life? Most people live life like there are many tomorrows. True says we really don't know.
This Christmas for me is all about relationships. Starting with the one I have with myself. A phase of my life is ending. And if I get to create the next few chapters I do want them to be interesting enough to get up for (if you know what I mean).
What kind of interesting stuff can I get up to? Well first a few minutes to myself. Then I am sure it will start to percolate. That is one thing I love about life. There are no vacuums. (As in the empty nothing space). They always get filled. And so I will flood my being with the images of my desires and see what starts to grow.
Sounds like I might be having some interesting conversations at the Coffee Shop this week.
Dar
December 2013
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Since January so much has happened . . . We opened a Coffee Shop
I feel like I am in a dream. A good one, thankfully. We recently purchased a coffee shop, Street Level Espresso. One that my family and I have known about for a few years. It has had a few different owners recently and now we are lucky to call it ours.
We are officially Perogy Cat approved. Which for some of you that may not mean much, but to others this is good news. When the coffee shop first opened as Street Level Espresso there was the Perogy Cat on the cups. The story my daughter tells me is that a friend of hers brought her a delicious Americano coffee and the name of the coffee shop was not on the cup. Just this cartoon cat that said "shoot film not heroin". Being intrigued she headed out to find out where this cat cup came from.
And she found one of her soon-to-be favourite coffee shops in downtown Victoria. The cartoonist of the Perogy Cat is Gareth Gaudin of Legends Comics and Books.
Now it is our family business. We have many drinks to please all sorts of pallets. Of course our focus is on great coffee. Traditionally served in-house as espresso, machiatto or cappuccino in little cups of heaven. For the non-coffee drinker, we have a simple but lovely Street Fog (aka London Fog) and an assortment of teas sourced locally in Victoria and from Kamloops. Our special Root Beer Tea (Victoria) is a favourite of many. We also have other delicious non-caffeinated bevys. Such as our Enlighten Chai Latte. You must try it to believe it.
We carry Coffee from Discovery coffee which is Roasted right here in town. The smell of it brings customers through the door many mornings and we also have an amazing decaf for a later-in-the-day coffee that won't keep you up. Also delicious.
I could give you a run down of everything we offer in the store. But best to come in and have a conversation with one of our Baristas and see what you would love to try.
Our idea is to have our little coffee shop become a hub of connection for many people in the city.
See you there soon.
Dar, Dave, Sienna and Matea
We are officially Perogy Cat approved. Which for some of you that may not mean much, but to others this is good news. When the coffee shop first opened as Street Level Espresso there was the Perogy Cat on the cups. The story my daughter tells me is that a friend of hers brought her a delicious Americano coffee and the name of the coffee shop was not on the cup. Just this cartoon cat that said "shoot film not heroin". Being intrigued she headed out to find out where this cat cup came from.
And she found one of her soon-to-be favourite coffee shops in downtown Victoria. The cartoonist of the Perogy Cat is Gareth Gaudin of Legends Comics and Books.
Now it is our family business. We have many drinks to please all sorts of pallets. Of course our focus is on great coffee. Traditionally served in-house as espresso, machiatto or cappuccino in little cups of heaven. For the non-coffee drinker, we have a simple but lovely Street Fog (aka London Fog) and an assortment of teas sourced locally in Victoria and from Kamloops. Our special Root Beer Tea (Victoria) is a favourite of many. We also have other delicious non-caffeinated bevys. Such as our Enlighten Chai Latte. You must try it to believe it.
We carry Coffee from Discovery coffee which is Roasted right here in town. The smell of it brings customers through the door many mornings and we also have an amazing decaf for a later-in-the-day coffee that won't keep you up. Also delicious.
I could give you a run down of everything we offer in the store. But best to come in and have a conversation with one of our Baristas and see what you would love to try.
Our idea is to have our little coffee shop become a hub of connection for many people in the city.
See you there soon.
Dar, Dave, Sienna and Matea
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
I can see clearly now . . .
How many of us are aware of the fact that we are getting older. Those of us over 40 are probably more aware than the younger folks. I have noticed that as my parents aged their friends were all passing away. And I was not looking forward to getting THAT old. The old where your body doesn't work quite right anymore, you don't recognize yourself in the mirror and all your friends are dying; that kind of old.
Looking at my life now I realize that I already feel like I am there in many ways. Many of the people I love or have loved have passed away. To the point where if there is a heaven and all those people are there I think it may be better than here.
And so I look at why might I want to stay here on this physical plane. There are many things that are worth doing and many things that are fun and frivolous. Is there really a right reason? I don't think so. One thing I love to do is to coach people and be with my family.
Since as long as I can remember, people have asked me for advise. I don't know all the answers but for a while there I thought I did. I have come to realize that there are some simple truths to life. And that if you follow them you will be content if not blissfully happy.
#1. Suffering is caused from not choosing what is already happening.
One of my fabulous coaches asked me a great question once. It was:
Are you willing to give up what you want, to get what you can really have?
What is it that I really want?
To have a life full of freedom and fun.
The reason why it was a cool question was that in the WANTING of it, I am declaring that I DO NOT already HAVE it.
Now you can try this exercise out for yourself. See if you can give up wanting it. That thing you want. And see what else shows up. Stop putting it on your goal sheet. Stop striving for it. Stop asking for it.
If you have trouble with this I am always available for coaching. Of course you also have to ask yourself, am I ready, willing and able to take the coaching? Some mind bending might occur. You ready for that?
Tomorrow and the next day are coming. And they will pass. You get to choose whether you want them to be the same as they always have been or if you would like them to be any different.
LDA 2013
Looking at my life now I realize that I already feel like I am there in many ways. Many of the people I love or have loved have passed away. To the point where if there is a heaven and all those people are there I think it may be better than here.
And so I look at why might I want to stay here on this physical plane. There are many things that are worth doing and many things that are fun and frivolous. Is there really a right reason? I don't think so. One thing I love to do is to coach people and be with my family.
Since as long as I can remember, people have asked me for advise. I don't know all the answers but for a while there I thought I did. I have come to realize that there are some simple truths to life. And that if you follow them you will be content if not blissfully happy.
#1. Suffering is caused from not choosing what is already happening.
#2. Speaking a future into existence is possible. The right actions do need to follow.
#3. If you are doing something contrary to your heart, stop the action and choose again.
#4. Sometimes you can do it just because you said you would. And for no other reason.
#5. Integrity works.
One of my fabulous coaches asked me a great question once. It was:
Are you willing to give up what you want, to get what you can really have?
What is it that I really want?
To have a life full of freedom and fun.
The reason why it was a cool question was that in the WANTING of it, I am declaring that I DO NOT already HAVE it.
Now you can try this exercise out for yourself. See if you can give up wanting it. That thing you want. And see what else shows up. Stop putting it on your goal sheet. Stop striving for it. Stop asking for it.
If you have trouble with this I am always available for coaching. Of course you also have to ask yourself, am I ready, willing and able to take the coaching? Some mind bending might occur. You ready for that?
Tomorrow and the next day are coming. And they will pass. You get to choose whether you want them to be the same as they always have been or if you would like them to be any different.
LDA 2013
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