changing hanging the world one cup at a time
January, 2010 Changing the World by Making and Keeping New Years’ Resolutions Many any people’s New Years’ Resolutions are good for the world in general. Even the most stereotypical resolution has good ramifications for others – losing weight often means more thoughtful, purposeful consumption and joining with others to reach common goa goals. ls. So, this month we thought we should write about (1) keeping your New Years’ Resolutions and (2) adding a world-changing world resolution to your list. It may be part way through January but it’s not too late to set some world changing goals for 2010.
(1) Keeping Your Resolutions Making a lasting change is rarely a simple process. Change involves a substantial commitment of time, hard work and emotion. Change is rarely easy and often requires a gradual progression of small steps. There is no single solution that works for everyone. You may have to try several different techniques, often through a process of trial-and-error, error, in order to achieve the chang change e you want to make. It is during this period that many people become discouraged and give up. The key to changing and maintaining your change is to try new techniques and find ways to stay motivated. Here are some helpful tips and ideas I collected: Stick to 3 resolutions each year. Focus on what you want rather than what you don’t want. “Spending more time with friends” is a lot more motivating than “not staying at work past 5pm.” Tell everyone you know. Your environment is a big factor in your motivation on to reach your goal. Remind yourself. If you use an electronic calendar, add a weekly reminder or block out some time each week to work on your goal. On May 1, set aside a couple hours to redo your resolutions. You’re more likely to succeed in the spring. Put it on your calendar now. Consider setting up a little competition with your family or friends to keep focused on a tough goal. Does the loser buy a healthy lunch? Maybe your family or friends could take a vacation to a great beach if everyone hits their goals by July. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Some failure is okay.
(2) Adding World-Changing Changing Resolutions Here are some ideas of easy things to do that will make a difference all year long: Donate clothes you didn’t wear at al all in 2009. Change your light bulbs to energy efficient bulbs. Use a thermos or mug instead of a disposable cup. Take one to work with you or keep one in your bag. Use canvas bags instead of paper or plastic at the grocery store. If you don’t have any canvas can bags, buy some during your next trip. Switch one product to organic. If you have a banana every day, start buying organic bananas. If you do a lot of baking, switch to organic sugar. Got milk? Make it organic. Cook one meal at home each week using locally-grown, organic food. Set aside $25 each month in your budget to give to a charity. Choose a single charity for the year or decide to get educated about local non non-profits profits by donating to a new one each month. Just think of the difference we could make if everyone reading this newsletter did one of these things. Take some time right now to think about your resolutions and decide what you’re going to do and how you’re going to reach your goals. We’d love to hear what people are doing. Please email us your goals and we’ll give a report in our February newsletter of what people are doing (anonymously of course). (more on the next page)
Overflow Coffee Connection – January January, 2010
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New! Overflow Coffee Subscriptions Would you love to get freshly roasted coffee delivered to you at home? We hope so and created a subscription plan just for you! You set the terms, send us money and we do the rest. Just fill out our online form. We’ll send you payment ins instructions. Then, you’ll start to receive some of the best coffee in the world. We will ship the coffee on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each ach month beginning on February 4, 2010. We suggest a donation* of $20 for each pound you order. Does this sound like e a lot? Consider the following: (1) After we buy the beans and pay for the shipping, the balance goes to our Set Up Shop Campaign to help get the doors of Overflow Coffee Bar open. (2) The farmers who grew these coffees were paid 25% MORE than the fair trade rate. Coffees available include: 12 oz Bag Guatemalan – This coffee is full full-bodied and smooth with chocolate overtones and a slight nutty flavor. There is a mild acidity noted by a gentle touch of orange citrus tones. In other words, this coffee saturates your taste buds with well well-rounded flavor, full body and light acidity. It is a "Cup of Excellence" awardwinning coffee! 12 oz Bag Honduras – This coffee is bright and citrusy. Grapefruit and floral tones dominate the cup. It is offered as a lilight ght roast, which retains more of the natural caffeine content. The coffee is grown at Rancho Ebenezer in Honduras where coffee is grown and sold to help sustain a children's home that exists on the ranch. 12 oz Bag Decaf Tanzanian – This premium Arabica iis s categorized as a Tanzanian AA. It is offered as a Full City (Medium/Dark) Roast. 12 oz Bag Espresso Blend - This Central American blend contains coffees that are roasted to different degrees of depth. Our blend ratios create an extremely well well-balanced, full, yet light dance on the tongue when pulled as an espresso shot. Multiple people have told us that the Guatemalan coffee is the best they’ve ever tasted. If you haven’t tried it, we would love for you to sample a pound prior tto signing up for a subscription. Just ust let us know if you’re interested. We’d be happy to arrange! Fill out the online enrollment form now at http://bit.ly/4VUzIg. http://bit.ly/4VUzIg
The mission of Overflow Coffee Bar is to give South Loop residents, students and workers the opportunity to change the world. Overflow’s next event is on January 23, 2010 at 4pm at Weather Mark Tavern (1503 South Michigan Avenue). For details visit: http://www.facebook.com/overflowcoffeebar. http://www.facebook.com/overflowcoffeebar
Questions? Have ideas?
Contact Amanda at amanda@overflowcoffeebar.org or 773-919 919-6960. Also check out www.overflowcoffeebar.org and facebook.com/overflowcoffeebar. facebook.com/overflowcoffeebar
*Currently Currently donations are not tax exempt. When Overflow Coffee Bar receives its tax exempt status from the IRS, all donations will become tax exempt. The status is retroactive. You can give a donation now and then it will become tax exempt once Overflow received eceived its 501(c)3 paperwork. paperwork Please make checks payable to “Overflow Coffee Bar.”