To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kindness that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude." -- Albert Schweitzer
I've recently become hyper awareof the word 'thank you' and how infrequently it's said. It seems to me that we have so much to be thankful for, from receiving compliments and gifts to having someone go above and beyond with favors and thoughtful gestures.
I think gratitude is as much an action and verbal acknowledgment as it is an attitude, or aura of being. I was raised to say thank you and to write thank you notes for everything. My family didn't take for granted generous and small gestures, and my siblings and I were reminded to thank everyone for everything. Back then, it felt somewhat annoying, but now I so appreciate that my parents and grandparents celebrated gratitude.
For me, when I say thank you, I automatically feel closer to the kindness of the giver. And I want the giver to know how appreciative I am.
Saying thank you is an excellent reminder of sincerity. I recently did a favor for a family member and drove her to a doctor's appointment. She generously gave me a book to thank me for my offer. It meant so much that she considered my efforts. For me, the best thank you is one that comes from the heart and is said with full eye contact. When I receive a thank you that feels forced or even obligatory, it leaves me feeling empty.
Big surprise, kindness and gratitude go hand in hand. UMass Dartmouth reports that
- People who keep gratitude journals on a weekly basis have been found to exercise more regularly, have fewer physical symptoms, feel better about their lives as a whole, and feel more optimistic about their upcoming week as compared to those who keep journals recording the stressors or neutral events of their lives.
- Daily discussion of gratitude results in higher reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness, energy, and sleep duration and quality. Grateful people also report lower levels of depression and stress, although they do not deny or ignore the negative aspects of life.
- People who think about, talk about, or write about gratitude daily are more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or offered emotional support to another person.
- Those with a disposition towards gratitude are found to place less importance on material goods, are less likely to judge their own or others success in terms of possessions accumulated, are less envious of wealthy people, and are more likely to share their possessions with others.
These are some very simple ways to increase your experience and expression of gratitude. As Albert Schweitzer notes in his above quotation about gratitude, increasing our conscious awareness of gratitude may require that we train ourselves to think differently. This can be done by incorporating some simple exercises into our lives.
Graciousness is such an attractive quality in people. I'm always drawn to people who are humble and appreciative, rather than those who have a sense of entitlement or an attitude of expectation. Gratitude and thankfulness go so far in my book.
]]>CocoTaps wants to sincerely thank our customers and employees for standing by us. We have so much to be grateful for, and you're at the top of the list.
There's not much a host loves more than throwing together a themed dinner party and creating the perfect... tablescape. Didn't know tablescaping was a thing? Get ready, because it's about to be your new favorite activity. Even better? This time, it's a competition. Watch two designers as they face off to create the perfect table setting.
In this episode, we’ve got a showdown. We challenged not one, but two, talented decorators to create a “Luau” themed table setting. The challenge? Incorporate two DIY elements and mandatory, surprise mystery props. Watch as Emily Klaparda and Julee Ireland race against the clock to pull it all together … and don’t forget to tell us which table was your favorite in the comments!
Here's the how to make a fresh tapped coconut table garnish !
If you would like to make tapped coconuts at your Luau this summer click below to have a Coco Taps Tool Kit mailed to you TODAY.
]]>
Wellness is a full-time job, but most of us all but forget about it entirely during the work week. We put unnecessary amounts of stress on our bodies while we fret about deadlines. Desk jobs leave us sedentary for long stretches of the day, depriving our bodies of the activity we need to stay fit. Lunch hours are short, and so tempt us to make poor choices like opting for fast food or mindlessly snacking throughout the day. The combination of a lack of activity and too much caffeine (free coffee, anyone?) disrupts our sleep patterns, further weakening our bodies and our minds.
This gross negligence of wellness has real consequences: The American Heart Association reported last year that poor diet and lack of exercise are the two major risk factors for heart disease and stroke, which account for 25 percent of companies’ healthcare costs.
The takeaway? Fostering a wellness environment in the workplace has a financial upside! Not to mention the obvious: we are all more productive when we are in good health.
The traditional workplace is in need of a serious wellness shot. Now, I’m well aware that many wellness upgrades come with a high price tag, and while it might not be economically feasible for you to build a gym in the office or replace all the desks with standing desks, there are other, smaller adjustments you can make that will have a meaningful impact on your employees’ health. Here are a few tips:
1. Try a walking meeting: ditch the conference table and hit the pavement next time you have a meeting. The physical activity will energize your team and might even inspire some new ideas. Getting outside also means Vitamin D. I’m looking at you, Angelenos!
2. Encourage wellness as a collective activity: make wellness a team-building exercise for your employees by encouraging them to form groups around shared interests, like jogging, hiking, or yoga. Sponsor group activities and ask your employees to snap some photos in return, so you can share them on LinkedIn and social media to boost engagement.
3. Ditch the vending machine fare: offer your employees healthier snack options than the chips, candy, or, shudder, soda. Swap coconut water out for soda and reduce your carbon footprint while you’re at it with the Corporate CocoTaps Tool Kit and take a vacation at your desk with Healthy Fresh Tapped Coconuts!
]]>
We want to focus on a different benefit in this post. In a 2005 study in The West Indian Medical Journal, researchers reported that coconut water could have a positive effect on a person’s blood pressure. They found that coconut water lowered the systolic pressure by 71 percent and the diastolic pressure by 29 percent in subjects who consumed it. Researchers gave another group within the study a mix of coconut water and mauby, a different tropical drink. This group achieved a 43 percent reduction in systolic pressure and 57 percent drop in their diastolic pressure.
Experts point to the high level of potassium found in coconut water as the factor for helping reduce blood pressure. Livestrong details that potassium can help balance out the level of sodium in your blood and keep your body functioning properly. If you think that you could use more potassium in your diet, consider a number of vegetables such as yams, lima beans, spinach, swiss chard, baked potatoes, kale, brussels sprouts, beets, carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower. Drinking coconut water on a regular basis will help supplement your potassium consumption and improve your overall wellness.
If you are currently dealing with high blood pressure and are taking medication for it, be sure to consult with them before adding coconut water to your diet. Coconut water is about as pure and healthy of a drink as you can get; however, your body can have an adverse reaction to excessive potassium in its system. For folks whose kidneys aren’t in the best shape, you may experience hyperkalemia, which can negatively affect the fluid and electrolyte levels in your body. Remember to always take your hypertension seriously and speak with your doctor prior to beginning any sort of coconut water regimen, especially if you are already using a potassium-based salt substitute.
It can be a nightmare trying to figure out where to buy coconut water. Should you just take the convenient route and pick up some coconut water at your local grocery store or shop in bulk for coconut water online? Unfortunately, this water is pasteurized, which removes key nutrients and ruins the taste. Not to mention, all of those bottles add up in a hurry.
Let Coco Taps solve your coconut water dilemma! With Coco Taps, you get all of the pure coconut water benefits, from hydration and blood pressure assistance to overall wellness. The Coco Taps tool kit is the first American made coconut tool that provides instant access to fresh coconut water straight from the source. Ditch that packaged coconut water and take advantage of the taste and health benefits that come from natural coconut water. Shop now for single and multi-packs of our patented Coco Taps tool kit!
]]>When the time comes for you to start thinking about how to build your brand through promotional swag, it should be easy to separate the winners from the flops, especially if your goal is to offer swag with viral potential.
For example, when was the last time you saw someone gram a branded pen or, heaven forbid, a keychain? Hopefully your answer is never, or I might suggest you try to find some more interesting accounts to follow.
Basically, what I’m getting at is that pens and keychains are just about the laziest ways to try to promote your brand, and they’re probably not going to get you very far. In the end, they are a waste of money and materials (and we all know how I feel about plastics that no doubt go into making those cheap pens and keychains) and won’t get your name very far, and if your brand ethos has absolutely ANYTHING to do with eco-friendliness, this kind of marketing very probably contradicts your brand values and might even work against you.
Narrow your scope to eco-friendly swag and your options are pretty slim. Reusable bags and totes are certainly CocoVinny approved; they build your brand at the same time as they enable people to say no to plastic bags. However, they’ll likely only build your brand on a grassroots level. Let’s use the Instagram experiment again: when was the last time you stumbled on a gram of a tote in your feed? Sure, they might appear incidentally, but they’re probably not going to be the focal point of any pictures.
The hospitality industry, it seems, understands better than anyone else that the combined efforts of creating a gram-worthy space with presenting their offerings in eye-catching ways tends to pay off.
But can promotional swag do this? The answer is a resounding YES, and this is something that I discovered through my own experience as a business owner who, along the journey of building my own brand, realized that the product I offer has just that viral potential I’ve been alluding to.
One of the latest services we offer at CocoTaps is our Commercial Toolkit, containing all of the materials required to offer your customers a deliciously refreshing beverage as well as a piece of swag with serious marketing potential. The Commercial Toolkit comes with our patented tool and a grip of taps, of course, but more importantly, we also offer a branding device with YOUR custom-made logo, allowing you to literally brand coconuts and delight your customers with a way to enjoy coconut water like never before. We’re the only company with the ability to transform a coconut into a resealable bottle, in and of itself a gram-worthy sight. This, combined with our unique and fully customizable branding capabilities, sets CocoTaps apart from other branded swag.
Branded CocoTapped coconuts won’t last as long as a pen or a keychain (they’re perishable and also way too delicious), but they have the potential to seriously expand your brand’s reach through social media. Branded swag, as we’ve seen, is hit or miss, and can be an expensive investment with little or no return, but our custom branded coconuts somehow manage to avoid the risks and pitfalls of other marketing swag.
Interested in tapping into the viral potential of custom branded CocoTaps? Get in touch!
CocoLove
CocoVinny
]]>O.F. Cook is said to be one of the earliest modern researchers to draw conclusions about the origin of coconuts, saying that coconuts likely originated in the Americas. Today, however, scientific opinion supports the origin of being around Melanesia and Malaysia or the Indian Ocean.
Let’s get into the fun stuff now. How exactly did humans discover coconuts and all of their wonderful benefits? Well, coconut selection circled around thinner husks and the amount of solid meat or liquid water that would be used for nourishment. Initially, the size of the coconut was not a factor for selection.
It’s not much of a surprise, but coconuts thrive in areas with abundant sunlight and regular rainfall. They are also intolerant of cold weather and dry climates.
Today, coconut palms are grown in more than 90 countries, with most of the production being in tropical Asia. People in Thailand and Malaysia actually use pig-tailed macaques to harvest coconuts and have for the last 400 years!
The United States features several spots where coconuts are a plenty. For example, in Hawaii, as well as southern and central Florida, coconut palms can be grown and reproduced without irrigation. Coconuts palms are unable to grow because of extended periods of temperatures below 50 degrees in the winter.
We’ve discussed at length the health benefits of coconut water. For one, there’s not a drink with better hydrating qualities. Coconut water is also low in calories, cholesterol-free and has more potassium than four bananas.
If you don’t know what to do with a coconut, don’t think that you have to get out a knife to open it! With Coco Taps, all you have to do is twist the coconut drill into the coconut with minimal pressure, insert the green reusable tap and screw into the hole.
There’s no better way to enjoy a coconut or coconut water than with the ease of the coconut opening tool of Coco Taps. Click here to shop now!
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut
]]>Let’s say you just finished up with an intense workout. You’re exhausted and decide to reach for your go-to sports drink. Should that really be your drink of choice? Sure, sports drinks are convenient and come in a variety of flavors. But what if there was something that you could feel better about drinking?
If you think you’re ready for a change of pace, maybe it’s time you give coconut water a shot. For one, coconuts are rich in vitamins and minerals. That makes coconut water the perfect replacement for sugary sports drinks. Coconut water is low in calories, cholesterol-free and has more potassium than four bananas. It also includes calcium, magnesium, phosphorus sodium - all of which are essential electrolytes.
Another huge benefit of coconut water is that its hydrating qualities are incomparable. Coconut water has fewer calories, less sodium, and more potassium than the average sports drink. According to WebMD, “ounce per ounce, most unflavored coconut water contains 5.45 calories, 1.3 grams sugar, 61 milligrams (mg) of potassium, and 5.45 mg of sodium compared to Gatorade, which has 6.25 calories, 1.75 grams of sugar, 3.75 mg of potassium, and 13.75 mg of sodium.”
A third benefit is that coconut water pairs easily with protein powder. For high-level athletes and fitness buffs, it’s imperative to get some protein into the body following intense physical activity. Coconut water, with your preferred protein powder, makes for a delicious, revitalizing drink.
Other Advantages of Coconut Water
Coconut water doesn’t just have to be limited to your fitness goals. In fact, it can be a major help to your lifestyle overall. Check out these additional pure coconut water benefits, as provided by Allison Martin of Lifehack.
How to Get Started with Coco Taps
Whether you’re interested in coconut water for workout recovery or overall wellness, CocoVinny has you covered with Coco Taps! The Coco Taps Tool Kit is easy to use and turns your coconut into a resealable container! It’s perfect for taking it to the gym when you’re on the go!
There’s no need to look all over the place for wholesale coconut water in stores or deals for coconut water online. After all, it can become a headache trying to figure out where to buy coconut water. For just $24.99, you can have the incredible taste of fresh coconut water right at your fingertips. See what kind of impact the advantages of coconut water has on your life. Shop now and start enjoying natural coconut water!
]]>The incredible innovation of Coco Taps turns your coconut into a resealable container. CocoVinny’s vision doesn’t just involve helping customers enjoy coconut water straight from the source, but also to benefit the environment.
The Coco Taps system is 100% sourced and assembled in the USA. Coco Taps are BPA-free and dishwasher-safe. Plus, Coco Taps are reusable and make young coconuts resealable for up to four weeks in the fridge.
So what exactly makes Coco Taps so different from the average coconut drill? CocoVinny’s coconut opening tool cuts the carbon footprint of traditional pasteurized and packaged coconut water by eliminating wasteful processing of cartons, cans and plastic bottles that end up in our oceans and landfills.
How Coco Taps works is fairly simple. Each Coco Taps Tool Kit comes with one Coco Taps USA-Made stainless steel high-quality coconut hand-drill tapper and two Coco Taps Reusable Taps to ensure freshness of your coconut water. Just twist the drill into the coconut with minimal pressure, insert the green Coco Tap reusable tap, and screw into the hole.
That’s it! From there, insert a straw or drink right from the tap. There are no spills, no mess and it’s much safer than trying to cut open your coconut with a knife.
You can’t find another coconut tool kit that includes resealable taps! CocoVinny is proud that all pieces are made right in America. Don’t be fooled by other low-quality coconut opener machines made in China that can break and cause serious injury.
Maybe you’ve been looking online for the best way to open a coconut. Perhaps you’re not even sure what to do with a coconut. Whatever the case, you’ve got to check out Coco Taps!
This coconut tap from CocoVinny isn’t just an investment for your coconut-drinking enjoyment, but also for the betterment of the environment as a whole.
The mission of Coco Taps is to bring healthy, delicious and fresh coconut water to the world by delivering great taste and less waste one coconut at a time, while also creating a healthier planet.
Still not sold? Check out this testimonial from a customer who recently made the switch to Coco Taps.
“This is a useful and fantastic product! I have been purchasing cocoanut water from health food stores for many years, but the taste of the coconut juice after being processed and bottled was less than acceptable. With this easy-to-use tool, I can now extract the cocoanut water directly from the cocoanut, and with the sealable cap, refrigerate and drink later. I highly recommend Coco Taps.” - Lenecee
Check out other testimonials here.
Case after case of plastic coconut water bottles adds up in a hurry. It affects the environment, as well as your wallet. For just $24.99, a Coco Taps Tool Kit helps you get the most out of your coconut while also contributing to the wellness of our environment.
It is with connections and endorsements like this that put Coco Taps in a league of their own in the coconut water industry.
To find out more about Coco Taps and how to be part of the Coco Revolution, please visit the partnerships section of http://www.cocotaps.com
In today's video blog, I will show you just how easy it is to make your own delicious tropical cocktails with coconut water right in your own home.
]]>
We look forward to spreading the joy of drinking fresh coconut water, one coconut at a time!
]]>