On the Path - this week
A few simple ideas for growth, learning, and upliftment
The Coffee Replacement Experiment - Matcha & Mushrooms
For some of you, that title might have just made you cringe and perhaps even stop reading. Truth be told, that was me, even as little as two months ago. You see, I drink a lot of coffee… and have been for YEARS.
What’s a lot? I usually polish off a coffee carafe filled to the 8-10 cup mark every day. That’s about two large mugs worth… and into each of those goes - 1-2 tbsps of butter and the same amount of MCT oil. It’s a hefty dose of coffee flavor, caffeine, and fat.
Here’s the thing, I’ve never even considered NOT drinking coffee. It’s a ritual, a reward at the end of my morning routine, something that I look forward to each and every morning with tremendous anticipation and joy!
Well… Enter Japan. I was there last month for a week-long snowboarding trip. On one particularly cold afternoon, we went into a tiny tiny coffee shop trailer parked just outside of the Niseko Ski Area. I ordered an Americano, and my friends, Stella and Kristin ordered matcha lattes.
One taste of a matcha latte was all it took - now THIS was the sort of green tea I could actually enjoy and drink more of (I’ve attempted to make myself like green tea in the past, but to no avail). And though I didn’t drink more in Japan… I started thinking… what if… what if I ran an experiment to see how it would feel to go off of coffee? How would I do it? This was a THINKING experiment first… before I took any action.
First… I’m not a big fan of dairy, so I’d have to find an alternative for my home-brewed matcha. Almond milk… tried it in a matcha latte at a local coffee shop, and yes… that would work. I’d also need a matcha powder… and with a little research, chose THIS ONE from Amazon (you can also get it occasionally at Costco).
Secondly, I wanted to keep with my two-mug habit, but didn’t particularly want 2 large mugs of matcha… so I’d need something else for my second hot morning beverage.
That’s when I decided to try BEYOND BREW - a “mushroom coffee”, that is a healthy coffee substitute. It’s got a light cacao flavor and contains a 6-in-1 mushroom blend that includes Lion's Mane, Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps sinensis, Cordyceps militaris, and Turkey Tail mushrooms.
It’s been over a month now, and the experiment is going EXTREMELY well. I love both of these coffee alternatives… and I feel GREAT. I’m still getting my shot of fat in the morning (almond milk and mct oil), as well as a smaller dose of caffeine (60 mg that absorbs slowly due to the presence of the amino acid L-Theanine). I hadn’t noticed how accustomed I had become to the post-coffee mental and physical dip each day, and am happy to say, this is completely gone, it’s non-existent! I still enjoy a cup of coffee when I’m out with friends, but for now, the experiment continues!
PS - If you decide to give this experiment a try, or if you set up an experiment like this of your own for something different, drop me a line to let me know what you’re doing and how it goes!
A Great New Mac Feature to Eliminate Clutter and Reduce Multi-Tasking
OK… a bit of an admission… I am one of those people whose computer monitor is always cluttered with open apps. In fact, there have been times when I’ve had as many as 12 different apps running at the same time!
In the past, I’ve managed this by dragging the one that I’m currently working on front and center, making it a bit bigger, and simply ignoring the rest that are “stuffed” behind and around the sides of that window.
But NO MORE!
Since Mac OS Ventura launched with a feature called “Stage Manager” (which I discovered and activated accidentally) my desktop is now neat, clean, and organized.
Stage manager is a new feature on a Mac that only allows you to have ONE primary application open at a time. It is front and center, taking up as much or little of the screen real estate as you want it to. That makes that thing that you’re working on fully FRONT STAGE - a place where you can place all of your focus and attention. The other apps that are open and running are lined up and organized down the left side of the desktop - represented by small icons that are definitely “backstage” - which is actually, right where they belong!
I love it! It’s organized, clean, and neat, and with the simple keyboard shortcut that I’ll show you in the video below, it’s easy to switch between apps. I’ve been really surprised and delighted by the mental clarity and freedom this has afforded me while working at my computer, and even while in coaching sessions and on Zoom calls.
I made a VIDEO of how it works so you can see it in action… and included another little trick or two that I use to open up and jump between applications.
Quotes I’m Pondering
“Unless you change direction, you are likely to end up where you are headed.”
~ Chinese proverb
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else. You are the one who gets burned.”
~ The Buddha
That’s all for now. Have a great week!
- Andy