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We were sitting on a gym floor watching our youngest daughters during their gymnastics class. Running around the gym, our other kids stayed happily busy. I was multi-tasking. Watching one flip with her class, keep my ears attentive to others playing basketball and diy-ing some business cards for Hope Spoken. As we sat there just catching up, my dear friend told me about how someone challenged her to drink her coffee with two hands.
Two hands.
The idea was simple – when we drink coffee (or tea or Dandy Blend or whatever you choose) with two hands we are usually moving slow and soaking it in a bit more. Usually we are really enjoying that cup of coffee, that moment. When I think about two handed coffee drinking, I think of camping trips, Craft Weekends, Saturday mornings…basically, I think of slow. Most days I pour a cup of coffee and drink it with one hand. The other hand is busy doing a host of other things. Sometimes the cup sits on the counter and is never finished.
Drink my coffee with two hands. So simple, but shockingly hard on many days.
I’ve been thinking about it constantly. I’ve been drinking my coffee with two hands this week and let me tell you – there is so much wisdom in that simple challenge. When my hands aren’t busy doing other things, my mind is more attentive to what is happening around me. Two handed coffee drinking – I think it needs to become all the rage in this house.
Bambi and BirdyI guess, it is normal to drink a coffee with one hand, if you have five kids running around! But I really think to breath everything in for a moment, and of course with coffee everything is better, is the best part of the day! And maybe you realize that drinking coffee with two hands means also that your kids grow up a little everyday …
Enjoy your time! And lots of love From Germany, I have so much fun, laughs and just a good time when I read your Blog! Thanks so much and have a wonderful weekend!
http://lasagnolove.blogspot.de/2014/04/have-wonderful-weekend.html
Birdy from fatcatconnection
Erica BakerSo simple but so challenging. Thanks for sharing!
Mollysuch a good reminder. such a simple way to help mommas slow down. i have really been trying to cut down on the multitasking i mean i used to pride myself on my multitasking but now i am really trying to do just one thing at a time. it has brought me a whole new sense of calm and joy. i mean i am not always the best at it, but when i do it just feels good. i really get to soak my girls up. good stuff. i am going to drink my coffee two handed more.
Sarah JonesAmen – thank you for the inspiration and challenge to drink my coffee – with two hands. 🙂
MegSuch a great reminder! As I was reading this I had my coffee in one hand. Ha! Savor the moment more!
BrookeThis is such a fantastic idea! Two handed coffee drinking makes me think of slow and relaxing cottage weekends. two hands it is from now on!
kimberly oylerso bummed i didn’t get one of those diy-ed business cards. bet they were cute!
angie webbBetting your sister can make a cute print with that saying for her etsy shop!
EvaI’m up for this challenge. I don’t do it near enough!
MaelleWhat a great and yet so simple idea 🙂 I love it! I’m definitely going to try doing it next week.
Have a beautiful weekend!
xx
http://maellesmarie.blogspot.fr/
Emily O.What a simple and rewarding challenge!
EmilyI love this. I read this after I watched the book trailer for Karen Maezen Miller’s new book (Paradise in Plain Sight) and it marries so well together. I’m going to go take my mug of coffee and sit on my back stoop and watch the bees in my pomegranate tree…holding my mug with two hands. <3 Have a lovely weekend.
HannahMy tea most commonly gets forgotten, reheated, and then forgotten again! I love this challenge… there is so much wisdom in making time to pause and just ‘be’ in a moment. I’ve been using the ‘one thousand gifts’ devotional by Ann Voskamp and I’ve definitely felt challenged whilst reading it to stop hurrying through life. Thanks for sharing!
AubreyLove this! Just yesterday I sat on my couch holding my favorite mug with my favorite tea…’with two hands. You see, to say there was a lot to do is an understatement. We just moved our family of six out to the country on two acres last week. The house was full of things that had to be done, but I needed that time in a quiet/kidless home to just rest and be thankful. I enjoyed every last minute of it.
SherryI LOVE this challenge. Mornings aren’t always my calmest-they are hurried. I was convicted on the more love, less hustle…and not so much in the afternoon and at night-but those mornings. Two hands on my coffee-warms my heart and my head. Something about breathing it all in, and soaking up my people.
Crista at Hands and Hearts More Than FullI LOVE this post! I have been following your BEAUTIFUL blog for some time now (I don’t remember but someone had linked to you and I fell in love). ANYWAY drinking coffee with two hands is absolutely on the top of my favorite little things in life! Thanks for highlighting such a beautiful, simple joy! (As you often do) 😉 xo Crista
mama joeI read this post while drinking coffee — perfect timing, especially since most mornings I act like I’m practically chugging it down like medicine. Thanks for the reminder to slow down!
kateI love this! Of course, as I was reading I had a cup of coffee in one hand and I don’t even remember drinking half of it 😛 It is a great reminder to take things slow and to pay attention to the world around me.
TaylorIt seems like such a silly concept, yet I couldn’t tell you the last time that I sat down and drank my coffee quietly.
xoxo
Taylor
Jenny B.I love your blog. That is all.
TiffanyGoing to adopt this here, too~ 🙂 *Have a WondeRfuL weekend!
Nicole CEasy way to make that happen, buy a bigger cup. I’m not trying to sound sarcastic but I gravitate toward big tea cups. I LOVE this simple idea and I thought about this idea a couple weeks ago. My cup was too big to hold, two hands were needed. It makes sense in so many ways, not just drinking coffee/tea.
KatelynThis is so great! People always joke with me about drinking coffee with two hands, but it really does make you enjoy it more! 🙂
Denise LeavensHEAR! HEAR!
Wise and wonderful words you type here. I add to the chorus of “Thank you for the reminder, Ashley and dear-friend!”
kimwhat a beautiful challenge.
even for me, to put the phone, ipad, remote, whatever down, and enjoy the moments.
vacations, friends houses, coffee shops.
good places.
time to make two handed coffee a thing more often. 🙂
KirstinI am sitting here holding my tea cup in one hand and scrolling with the other… hmmm… maybe time to walk away from the screen and really take a break!
Thank you!
~Kirstin
http://www.rothfuss.us
christinatwo hands…uhh…who would have thought..lol…I bet if I used two hands i might be able to even drink it hot 🙂
CassieI LOVE this! I’ve never thought about it before, but it totally makes sense. It would be great for my husband and I to do this together (since we don’t have kids yet) on our days off. Thank you!
KatieI read this post at work today and felt such excitement and anticipation in drinking my coffee with two hands tomorrow morning. Thank you for that simple reminder and thank you for your beautiful blog.
AngelaI love this. Putting it into practice tomorrow and sharing it later tonight on my Friday Favorites post.
ChrystalLove this idea. I’m going to take the two-handed challenge… Starting now (setting the phone aside) 🙂
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KatieThis post is all kinds of good.
ReneeTwo handed tea drinking is going to start happening at my house. Recently I read that even the hardworking, constant heart-muscle rests perceptibly after each beat. I have been looking for ways to encourage myself to do just that. I might even start having two handed meals. Keep sending out the good ideas you collect — I truly enjoy your blog and your heart!
DeniseInterestingly, I read years ago (Mental Floss? NPR?) that when we hold a warm mug in our hands we feel more connected to others, serene, and happy. Researchers were unsure why, but theorized that perhaps the warmth from the mug triggers the brain in the way the warmth from a hug does. 🙂 So ever since I read that, I always order my coffee in a ceramic mug and drink it there (two hands) instead of a paper mug to go.
DeniseThis is not the exact article I read those years ago (about the a warm mug affecting our emotions and receptivity/connectivity to others), but this references it: http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/heart-warming-news-on-coffee/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
PaigeLove it! Thank you for sharing these awesome tidbits. Gets a girl to thinkin.
BrittneyAw, I love this!!!
Kelly DOh my! I have so much to say about this challenge.
With two little ones at home, I often crave a cup of coffee around 2pm. I finally realized that it was not so much the caffeine I needed, but that I was craving that two handed moment that you are describing. Two hands while I listen to my best friend talk about her kids, two hands while I stare at the falling rain, two hands at my mother’s kitchen table. Basically I am just wanting that slowed down time.
I know that that two handed time will come back to me again. Right now one hand is always holding a baby on my hip, pouring juice into a sippy cup, grabbing for legos or rolling play dough.
So for now I’ll enjoy those stolen two handed moments when I can.
Thanks for an intriguing challenge!
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