Morning Daydreams - Neichelle
In collaboration with our incredible partners at Baratza, Glitter Cat Barista presents Morning Day Dreams, a series of written and photographic work in which Glitter Cat Legends give you a glimpse into their lives and how coffee fits into them. The Reverend Neichelle Guidry PhD has gifted us with an essay, photos, and a recipe video to lift your spirits.
every morning is a new opportunity.
I think of every morning as a brand new opportunity.
To breathe and be.
To give and receive love.
To place myself in the protective hands of my Creator and ancestors.
To bloom.
Much like that moment when my freshly ground coffee first meets hot water, the morning is my opportunity to awaken, arise, and make a meaningful contribution to the world around me.
Every morning, I like to take a few moments to root myself in gratitude and align my energy for the day. I do this by saying a word of prayer, breathing deeply, or mindfully completing my morning skin care routine. In these moments, I realize that it is necessary to let the mind play. Let it wander. Let it daydream. There is sacred information in our daydreams. They are the visions of the lives we want. The play we desire. The people we want and love. Our flights of freedom. At their best, they can inspire the intentions that we set and the actions that we take throughout the day. After taking a few moments to myself, I take Chewbacca (my puppy baby) for a walk. It’s always a good walk when we run into one of our neighbors. After being inside and isolated for long due to the pandemic, it feels so good to see people, to say hello, and to briefly converse before getting into the rush of the day. We’ve been watching the neighborhood trees bloom all Spring and Summer. I’ve always been curious about the names of the trees with the pink and white flowers because they just give me such a feeling of delight. When we’re done, we get home and make coffee. On the weekends, we sit on the porch and take the days as slowly as possible.
Lately, I've been dreaming of new beginnings. I’ve walked into some new seasons and change can always be scary. Even when you’ve received the blessings you’ve desired, it is overwhelming to be stretched outside of your comfort zone. Additionally, I’m expanding professionally. I’ve decided to harness my skills and talents to try some new things that have been calling my name. Over the years I’ve learned that growth and expansion require courage, and tapping into this courage takes discipline of heart, mind and spirit. I’m certainly moving beyond my comfort zone, and I’m feeling that odd confluence of excitement and anxiety.
In the midst of so much change, I’m glad that I have coffee to come back to everyday. Whether through my personal daily coffee rituals or the joy that I share through Black Girl Black Coffee, coffee continues to inspire my creativity and mindfulness. BGBC is my creative outlet. It connects me to amazing people, which is what coffee is all about. People. On the Saturday that these pictures were taken, I was grinding two bags of BGBC for a friend who was hosting a brunch at her home this weekend. She didn’t have a grinder, so I offered to grind her beans for her. Ever since DiGiTiTiON 2020, my Baratza Virtuoso has been an important part of my coffee life, and now, form time to time, my coffee business.
Throughout my day, and certainly at the end of it, I choose gratitude for the people who have taken the journey, and for the resources that have made it possible for me to share Black women’s stories through the medium of coffee. Upon further reflection, I believe that there is a correlation between our daydreams and the pace we keep. When we get too rushed and fill our time with too many obligations and commitments, we don’t have as much time and space to daydream. Our rest and ease are portals for our imagination. Our ability to dream is a function of our ability to find, and to create, rest to the best of our abilities.
Enjoy a Carajillo recipe from Neichelle. It’s a perfect brunch coffee cocktail made with Licor 43 and Our Mothers’ Gardens from Neichelle’s company Black Girl Black Coffee.
