Why Buy at Coffeehouses When People Can Make Coffee at Home?

I prefer drinking coffee at home. Do you? Except when I'm out and someone invites me for coffee. Then I prefer coffeehouses to my home, which seldom happens. I mean, not many folks invite me for coffee, not even coffee at McDonald's.

Thank God my wife does.

But why do most people opt for coffee shops, especially those in malls? Baristas are one reason, with their expertise and special coffee devices--sophisticated coffee or brew makers, drippers, grinders, shakers and milk steamers, to name some. Pinoy houses don't regularly have them in their kitchens or coffee nooks. Then there are the various coffee flavors and mixes.

I try making my version of special coffee blends using whatever tools I find in my kitchen but end up in disaster, often adding Ovaltine to the weird-tasting concoction to save the expensive ingredients. Ovaltine is a coffee saver for failed coffee experiments, that is, if sweet and creamy is okay with you. You should try it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. A real game changer.

Other folks prefer pure, black coffee, a heavy brew concentrate. I can drink that, though I find it a little too bitter, but it's the healthiest kind of coffee. I sometimes ask for cafe Americano but often have a few spoons of steamed milk added and some brown sugar. Yeah, I usually prefer my coffee with some milk or creamer and a tiny, mini, Lilliputan, nanoscopic amount of healthy sweetener like stevia, monk fruit or yacon syrup. Well, dark brown sugar will also do if there's no other option.

Why the milk or creamer and sweetener? Pure black coffee can harm your intestinal lining eventually and also make your stomach too acidic. But this is not to say I never take my coffee black. I do, probably once or 2 times a week.

But here's the thing. I prefer drinking coffee at home because I can control the blackness, and the milk and sweetener. Second, I avoid the alluring but fat accumulating carb-and sugar-rich flavors they put in fancy coffee. Third, I easily discipline myself to having a mug a day when at home. Fourth, it's much cheaper. And fifth, I avoid crowds. I like sipping coffee alone in quiet places with Jesus. 

Originally, coffee was made and drank at home. But when man (and woman) foolishly decided to get busier and busier (and stayed out more as far away from home), coffee shops came and home-made and home-drank coffee became less interesting. More people also became overstressed, depressed and anxious when they made themselves busier and found refuge in coffee shops with friends while enjoying sweet, flavored coffee which did much to their feeling of well-being and a mysterious sense of elation (not so mysterious, actually, because it's the combined action of caffeine and sugar). 

So now you know why people go to coffee shops. 

HEALTH FOR THE PINOY SOUL 

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Pinoy House of Prayer that Really Works

We all know it--a family that prays together stays together. Sadly, that's often the only reason why we pray--to keep the family intact, safe and prospering.

And we pass on that prayer tradition to every generation so that each generation doesn't really know what prayer is. They think it's anti bad luck.

Basically, prayer is asking God for things. That's what we've been taught. Yeah, but it's more than that. Definitely more. Prayer is regular conversation to develop a deep relationship with God. If talking is used just for asking for things, it can turn relationships sour.

First and foremost, prayer is building intimacy with God. You desperately seek to talk with HIM because you love to and you need to. You just want to be with HIM the whole day, all your life. This is the prayer we should pass on to our kids, that should mark a Pinoy home, even secure a housepinoy. 

Not just pray before meals...or when we're in dire need.

Wrong prayer traditions teach our kids to skip praying or hate it altogether. Worse if it makes them feel obligated to do so to avoid punishment, or as a way to earn God's favor if they give it their best--like a class recitation to get good grades.

No intimate relationship in these things.

Remember the first time you talked with your crush and he or she looked interested? Remember how you looked forward excitedly to have the conversation again and again, and that thought occupying your mind all day? 

Prayer should be the same.

HEALTH FOR THE PINOY SOUL

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Why They're Nuts Over Minimalism

Do you notice the fad on having less stuff in the house? I first heard of minimalism maybe some 3 or 5 years ago and the idea was borrowed from Japan, if I remember right. Some folks are beginning to find stuffy spaces too "noisy" and suffocating not just the airways but the mind most especially. Too much stuff clogs.

Photo by Bench Accounting on Unsplash.

The idea of minimalism first came as a trend in arts, like painting and sculpture, and was first popularized in the 1950s. The idea was to use simple, typically massive, forms. Today, Cambridge dictionary says it's "a style in art, design, and theatre that uses the smallest range of materials and colours possible, and only very simple shapes or forms."

Minimalism can go well with small dwellings in the Philippines. But as of the moment, you'd see cluttered furnishigs even in cramped housePinoys. They try to stock their homes with appliances because it's supposed to prove they're well-off. Few Pinoys appreciate having ample space in the house for free and easy movement because we see blank spaces as a sign of material lack. We think empty spaces prove how much money we have so we crowd up the house with all kinds of stuff.

Well, finally some Pinoys are seeing the practicality of it all. Some are even going nuts for it. Besides being cost effective and allows savings, minimalism is also highly maintainable and makes physical activities more possible so you have more leeway with mobility. It allows air to circulate more freely as well. But why isn't the idea really taking off in the country?

Because minimalism shouldn't just be a fad. It should be a mindset, a life principle applied not just on house designs but in all of life. It's a mindset that says only urgent needs should be possessed or consumed. It should rule your daily schedule, priorities, diet, thoughts, conversation and dealings with people. Even ministry if you're a pastor. No excesses or extras but just the exact amount you really need.

It took people centuries to realize that having a lot of things is meaningless. Japan homes have been minimalist since the beginning (though I don't know when the beginning actually was) but minimalism got attention only in our times, some centuries after. We think owning material possessions is the life. Now a growing number of us see how it sucks.

Jesus has been batting for it in the bible. He says:

Life does not consist in the abundance of possession. [Luke 12.15]

The Old Testament, too, has been urging believers about a simple life, no extras, extravagance or prodigality. Having your "daily bread" was enough.

"...give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.” [Prov.30.7-9]

And talk about ministries. Does the church believe this? Nope. Just look at how they load up all kinds of electronic junks on their altars to make their worship sound good--not really to God but to the audience. In fact, they see you lacking favor if you have less in life and blessed if you have more. They know how Jesus lived and owned no earthly possession, emptying himself. And yet you see how churches buy massive properties to showoff and attract. Just saying.

HEALTH FOR THE PINOY SOUL 

Though I appreciate a donation, this powerful e-book is yours with or without donation. Just email me at nonjoiners@gmail.com (NONJoiner is my blog) and ask for the FREE E-book, "YOUR POWER WITHIN." You get an email back in about 2 seconds or less with a download link to the e-book. The email also contains my GCash number in case you want to make a donation, P50 or P100 or whatever amount you have in mind (it will help my church ministry). But with or without donation, the 80-plus page e-book is yours for FREE and will help you discover your most inner strengths and manifest them to help you with your career, relationships and life! You also get short NON-Joiner emails.

Why We Almost Don't Use Our Terrace

I've been jogging and brisk walking in the morning almost all my life (I started in grade 6 to augment my martial arts training). I often visit adjacent subdivisions and villages and the one thing I notice about houses is that a lot of them have terraces on the second floor gracing their frontage.

But no one uses them.

Photo by jonathan ocampo on Unsplash.

Well, almost no one. I see folks hanging their wet clothes on their terrace now and then, but that's it. I haven't seen people staying there for leisure or relaxation, sitting while enjoying a cup of coffee, for instance, or reading a book. Or having a nice chat with family members. I mean, I imagine that's what terraces are for. Not for doing the laundry.

Left Behind

Those terraces are a total waste. And why won't most Pinoys use them? We think it's too melodramatic, too histrionical. Masyadong OA ba. We begin to put value on privacy when it comes to the use of front terraces. We don't want to be seen there by the neighborhood. It's almost like a scandal. So, why have them on our facades at all? Because it's nice to have terraces or balconies. They make our houses look more interesting and expensive, maybe?

It explains why people troop to the malls during sale day causing huge traffic. Vanity. We buy a lot of things we do not need or use. We just want to have them, period. They make us look moneyed and we hate being left behind by the fad. It's like wearing black, leather jacket at noontime in Manila during summer.

Or putting on tattoo. Or smoke or vape. 

We Fear Terraces

Anyway, back to terraces. I love terraces and doubly love using them because I want to see what's way over there in the distance. I wonder what folks there are doing or what they're chatting about. When I watch distant houses or buildings from a terrace, I imagine stories of people living there. I try to create scenes and sagas. I release my mind and let it roam free.

And I guess that's why we fear being alone in terraces. We fear real freedom. We'd rather have freedom in company with other people and dread being seen enjoying freedom alone--because that makes us look different. Eerily different. That fear makes us weak inside.

HEALTH FOR THE PINOY SOUL

Though I appreciate a donation, this powerful e-book is yours with or without donation. Just email me at nonjoiners@gmail.com (NONJoiner is my blog) and ask for the FREE E-book, "YOUR POWER WITHIN." You get an email back in about 20 seconds or less with a download link to the e-book. The email also contains my GCash number in case you want to make a donation, P50 or P100 or whatever amount you have in mind (it will help my church ministry). 

But with or without donation, the 80-plus page e-book is yours for FREE and will help you discover your most inner strengths and manifest them to help you with your career, relationships and life! You also get short NON-Joiner emails.