Common Thread Coaching

This bowl of lemons was in the window of The Fat Lemon Café in Totnes, a town by the river Dart in Devon, England. Outside, it was rainy and cold, as it is often in that part of the world. Yet when we stepped into the wondrously aromatic air of the place, all of the woodwork painted bright yellow, stacks of lemons everywhere, fresh flowers in tiny vases on the table, we were transported out of our contracted state of cold and hunger into an expansiveness of warmth, good smells, smiles and welcomes, a palpable bodily ease. The world had changed by opening a door and stepping over the threshold into another reality.

I smelled the mingled odors of delicious food and the lingering lemon tang from the baskets of lemons. Eager to warm up, and hungry, I noticed my mind’s hesitancy: Should we have gone around the block? Will we like the food here? This table’s a little small…uhmm, maybe this isn’t the right place?

Yet as the smiling waitress gave us glasses of water and we ordered our tea and soup, all thoughts slipped away except anticipation for the tea, the home-baked bread, and the steaming soup. I was curious about the meal in the same way I’d been curious about the yellow trim around the windows that had drawn me into the narrow alley and led me to take hold of the door handle of an unknown restaurant with a funny name.

The food came, and we ate with appreciation. Sipping the last of our tea, a growing laziness descended as the comfort all around us slowly turned to stuffiness, a bodily craving for the bracing air of an autumn afternoon, the feel of mist on skin, the coolness fueling a brisk pace along the narrow sidewalks amongst the weekend shoppers.

We paid the bill, said good-bye to the waitress and stepped out into the rain. In a matter of forty-five minutes I’d noticed changes in thoughts, mood, physical discomfort and comfort, hunger, thirst, energy, and desires. Change was all around me, and in that small café I came to realize how basic it was, like air and light and food and water. Necessary. Vital to our well-being, and fascinating to watch with an open and observant mind.