Today, Nate talks about how to start over after dealing with loss, the process of letting go, and how to create a mission statement. He first tackles loss, emphasizing that it is something everyone experiences, and all we can control is how we react to it. He shares his own personal experiences with loss, using the story of his divorce to explain how he overcame the grief that came with it to create a new path in his life. 

He introduces the Buddhist idea that all suffering is tied to attachment. This leads to the concept of letting go and operating from a non-conditional mindset, non-attachment. He clarifies that “Nonattachment is not about not caring, or not loving. It's about freeing yourself from attachment to the outcomes of your care, to the outcomes of your love, to the outcomes of your giving, so that you can care and love and live and do these things freely without the unconscious agenda of expectation.”

So, how do we let go? Nate outlines the function of a mission statement, and how to approach writing your own. He shares his own, “I walk in peace and beauty, lighting the darkness with my love,” and then encourages listeners to write and repeat their own.

Key Topics:

• Introduction (00:12)
• Loss (01:23)
• How Nate overcame the loss of his marriage (03:19)
• Buddhist practices (07:20)
• Letting go and non-attachment (10:23)
• Mission statement (12:05) 

Resources:

• Cold Water Hot Coffee Website
• The Grief Recovery Handbook
• Letting Go the Pathway to Surrender
• thegoodmenproject.com

In the second episode of Cold Water, Hot Coffee, Nate tackles his five strategies for time abundance. His first strategy is to prep for a good morning. He recommends spending 10 minutes before bed thinking deeply about the things you have to look forward to the next day. He also encourages listeners to treat the bedroom as a sanctuary for sleep and avoid watching TV, checking your, phone, or even reading in it, instead letting it serve exclusively as a space for sleep. 

Nate’s second strategy is waking early. He suggests no later than 6 am, and to use that time to move out of your sleep state, and not to rush. Wake practices could be a cup of tea, prayer, reading a spiritual text, meditation, light stretching, or a quiet walk. 

His third strategy is to start slow, something that is easier earlier in the morning. “You manage your mind, your mind is not managing you,” he says. “You manage your life, your life is not managing you.”

Strategy four is self-care first. Keep it simple and consistent, he explains. For Nate, this is practiced through gardening after work, slowly making a cup of coffee, getting his heart rate up, and spending time with loved ones. 

The fifth and final strategy is getting enough sleep. If your day starts early, it also needs to end early. So, if you wake up at 5 am, you need to go to bed at 9 pm, and probably need to get in bed by 8:30 pm. Nate recommends keeping a journal of how you are spending your time and reflecting on how it is working for you. He also recommends natural sleep-supporting supplements that won’t leave you groggy the next day.

Key Topics:

• Introduction (00:39)
• Strategy one: prep for a good morning (02:48)
• Strategy two: wake early (05:36)
• Strategy three: start slow (06:58)
• Strategy four: self-care first (10:15)
• Strategy five: get enough sleep (13:56)

Resources:

• Cold Water Hot Coffee Website
• Peace Is Every Step

In the introductory episode of Cold Water, Hot Coffee, Nate Scharff outlines the concept of the show, which will provide disciplines for starting your day with clarity and purpose. He explains how the show came to be, and the inspiration for its name, which came from his own daily practices of starting the day with a cold shower, and then sharing a cup of hot coffee with friends.

“One of the things I learned from this process of repeatedly getting up early and moving through something through a self-discipline practice is that our power is way greater than our day-to-day physical manifestations, how our body feels, or even our mood. We can power right past those things,” Nate says. He did this by creating a daily ritual in which he takes a cold shower as soon as he wakes up and remains in it until it doesn’t feel cold anymore. His second practice is having a nice cup of hot coffee, which he recommends doing in the company of friends.

Nate spends a moment introducing himself, explaining the background in which he grew up with hippie parents, his attempted rebellion against that lifestyle, and then subsequent rediscovery of its benefits. 

He closes the episode by reminding listeners to be careful about the beliefs we take on about ourselves, and to not let them limit us.

Key Topics:

• Introduction (00:12)
• Cold water (06:54)
• Hot coffee (11:23)
• Getting to know your host (12:14)
• Take on beliefs about yourself with care (14:49)

Resources: 

• Cold Water Hot Coffee Website
• The Flow of Eternal Power

Welcome to Cold Water, Hot Coffee - disciplines for starting your day with clarity and purpose. I’m Nate Scharff, your host. If you've been looking for ways to get inspired, if you've been looking for a way to get your head off your pillow in the morning without groaning, if you’ve questioned why you're here or what you're doing, or how you ended up with the life you're living, you've come to the right place.

This podcast exists to invigorate your mood and clarify your mission. Welcome to Cold Water, Hot Coffee, a cold slap start to your day to get you awake and alive.

More information is available here: coldwaterhotcoffee.com