There is a thirst for what we do.  Nowhere has it been more evident for me than around Lake Leman at the end of November. 

The Geneva cafe met as usual in the centre of Geneva town by the main railway station.  We had an excellent guest speaker who talked to us about ‘Being in Flow’ and helped to facilitate our small group conversations.  Lee Eldridge is a Strength and Fitness Performance Coach who has worked with many champion athletes. His educational training and background with the Hintsa organisation has led him to a coaching approach where high performance is built upon a foundation of holistic wellbeing, from a starting point of self-awareness or ‘knowing your core’.  The Hintsa method has now been extended to the business world and to the coaching of Fortune 500 CEO’s, executive teams and employees in thousands of organisations.  

We were asked to remember an experience when we performed really well and felt our best.  We then compared it to the things that Lee explained trigger a sense of being in flow - a state of losing ourselves in something we are doing.  They are :  Selflessness where our brain and inner critic shut down; Timelessness where we don’t notice time and it passes either quickly or slowly;  Effortlessness where the task or solution comes to us easily; and Richness where all our senses and sensations are heightened.  Being in Flow obviously brings fulfilment and contentment. In the workplace people in flow can be more productive in a few hours than people working long days and evenings. 

I saw those present, myself included, discuss and understand what activities and attention helps us to achieve this lovely state of being, and then consider how we could bring more flow into our lives. We all took a lot of personal learning and resolve away from the cafe, with some people also openly expressing how much help they had received from the shared conversation about something that was challenging them at present.

The next day I had been invited to host a ConsciousCafe event at the launch of a new community centre on the lake road heading towards Lausanne, in a quaint little Swiss village called Grens. ‘La Fruitière’ is a lovingly restored and refurbished 17^th Century barn where the villagers’ ‘Fruitière’ cheese was once stored.  Grens is in the Canton of Vaud, not the Canton of Geneva, so this meant that ConsciousCafe Geneva is now officially on tour in Switzerland! 

For this cafe we discussed ‘The Key to Happiness’ by firstly trying to list in small groups all the factors we thought lead to happiness, then comparing our findings to the Action for Happiness 10 ‘Keys’ which form the acronym           G R E A T  D R E A M  :   Giving;  Relating;  Exercising;  Awareness;  Trying out new things;    Direction;  Resilience;  Emotions;  Acceptance; and Meaning.  (See www.actionforhappiness.org for a full explanation.)   We considered whether we would want to have an enchanted ‘Happiness Button’ that we could press to be happy whenever we felt down, and if not why, and lastly focused on the power of Gratitude ending with the exercise of writing down each day Three Good Things that had happened.   

The atmosphere at La Fruitière was electric, everyone was enthusiastic to be sharing their wisdom.  AGAIN people expressed how much they had both enjoyed the event and also got a lot out of it personally – for some at a time when they really needed it.  

There’s a magic in ConsciousCafe when this happens. It really is as if the cafe has quenched that thirst I mentioned earlier. A thirst for deep human connection, in a light-hearted yet profound setting, where one can ponder one’s inner world and approach to life - and receive something positive and even helpful to take away.   

Debbie

ConsciousCafe Geneva host

Since it's humble beginnings, Conscious Cafe Geneva's meetings have taken place at the MLC Café-Littéraire, a charming coffee-cum-bookshop in the heart of Carouge, run by the lovely Francis. Due to ongoing renovations, the café is set to close for while, which set group leader Debbie King the task of finding a new space.

"I thought it would be REALLY difficult," says Debbie. "So I set aside a day to go hunting for one in Geneva, thinking it would be the first of several expeditions. And guess what - I found three! Not a single person refused me. At the venue I liked the most, the patron simply opened his arms and said 'of course! Walk this way and look at this little room beside the bar which you can have all to yourselves FREE, whenever you want.' AMAZING."

Debbie left town feeling on top of the world, with the most powerful thought: the universe truly provides for a well-intentioned deed.

Thank you to all those who braved the snow to come to ConsciousCafe Geneva last night. We broke a record – one person had to get the train home to Bern afterwards! Our discussions on “2019 and Beyond – How can I be my best self?” were all about our values. It was fascinating that people prioritised very different values, and it helped with my life lessons on judgement to realise why people might not act according to MY expectations sometimes! Why are our values so important, we asked? Because they are our life guide and compass. They show us the way. They make us who we are. They are so important than when we live or work in conflict with them we can become ill, physically and mentally. Do we all live to our values? Even when challenged? We wondered, if asked, would your family and closest friends be able to say what your main values are? After very engaging discussions we ended by examining just ONE value we would like to strengthen in ourselves and a brief closing meditation focused on feeling, being and exuding that value as we went out into the world. Conversation at ConsciousCafe Geneva takes place at small tables, which we mix up several times, so the conversations constantly change and you meet new, like-minded people. For many reasons there always seems to be a very warm atmosphere and we all leave uplifted. It’s about the people contact I think, connecting on a deeper level than usual. And it’s really very beautiful! Join us sometime.

There were cheers and applause at the ConsciousCafe Geneva launch last night when I announced that the evening marked the first International ConsciousCafe.   What followed was a great night in the spirit of ConsciousCafe’s everywhere in the UK …  twenty-two likeminded people coming together to enjoy thoughtful discussion; deep connection with other people; and, from the happy atmosphere and immediate feedback, leaving energized and positive.  

We took as our theme ConsciousCafe’s aim to raise global consciousness one conversation at a time asking the question “what does this mean and how can conversation achieve it?”  It was apparently a good starter question and from the beginning everyone engaged in animated discussions.  We talked and shared at tables of four or five with people moving around after 20 minutes to make new connections and conversations.   We have a beautiful collection of illustrated table mats which reveal how broad and deep the discussions roamed.

This was an uplifting start to ConsciousCafe Geneva, proving that one can have profound discussions with new acquaintances in a very enjoyable and heartening way.  I particularly relished the fact that we were from a wide range of age groups and life experience.

The next ConsciousCafe Geneva will be Wednesday 26th April and personally, I can’t wait.

Debbie King, Geneva Organiser.