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Find your Fika
In Sweden, a regular ‘fika’ is considered sacred. They like to have one every day, as often as possible. They will fika with friends, colleagues, relatives. Nothing will come between a Swede and their right to fika. Roughly translated, the word ‘fika’ means ‘take a coffee break’. But it’s so much more than grabbing a quick cup of instant while you scroll frantically through the day’s headlines and those emails you haven’t had chance to respond to. The Swedish fika is treated as a precious ritual.
Coffee, cake and chit-chat.
A more accurate translation of the ‘fika’ concept is ‘to meet and have coffee, cake and good conversation’. It means pausing your day, putting whatever you were doing to one side even for a few minutes, and sharing your time and energy with others over a good cup of thoughtfully prepared coffee.
Swap your instant for inspiration.
With drive-through coffee chains and instant coffee fixes satisfying our need for a quick caffeine hit, the concept of taking a coffee break is becoming more and more foreign in our hectic lives. But the opportunity to take a mindful moment and enjoy the process of preparing and savouring your cup of coffee is something that can actually help us to be more productive and creative.
Give yourself a break.
In today’s world, we are always contactable, always on the go, and always reminded by other people’s social media feeds that we are not doing quite as much as everybody else seems to be doing. But nobody’s brain is programmed to be on high alert 24/7. It is healthy… no, it is vital that we give our ‘fight and flight’ settings a break and let the ‘rest and digest’ side of us take over.
Enjoy a mindful moment.
When preparing coffee in a mindful way, you are not wasting time but using it wisely to slow down the mind and allowing your body and brain to recharge. Breathe in the scent of your freshly brewed espresso, take a moment to notice the way the milk creates its own unique pattern as it meets the black liquid below. Explore the subtle flavours as you take your first sip and allow your senses to really savour every part of the process.
Catch up over a cuppa.
Then, if you can, take the opportunity to connect with someone else and enjoy your coffee over a catch up with a friend or colleague. Allow your mind a break from the day’s tasks for just a few minutes and take the time to appreciate having a conversation without any distractions – who knows, it may just spark an idea or lead your thoughts in a new direction. This simple reset for your soul will leave you feeling much more energised and motivated than if you’d just downed a mug of questionable coffee without taking your eyes off the screen.
The Swedes are definitely on to something. We could all do with a few more mindful moments in our lives. It’s about time the coffee break made a comeback.
