Fika. ahhhh. The memories were so sweet, I had to call my friend Lorraine today, who is a champeen fika person. Any place you go, you pack along a few snacks worthy of a pause. Or you go to the bakery. Or, or, or.

This is a woman with whom I’ve sat in countless bakeries, laughing and laughing and crying and crying and fixing life with a cup of tea and a sweet. (And the Swedes are pretty circumspect about size… they haven’t reached supersizing as a national pastime yet.) But mostly it was at home sitting around on the couch with a sandwich. It’s the food. But it’s the pause that really warms the heart.

It was an interesting notion to think that a cup of tea or coffee was a communal event. Apparently offices have their pause at the same time, and people gather. They don’t guzzle liquid and stuff food at their desks, they stop. and talk to one another. Productivity goes up. (the US has all those studies, but we don’t believe them.) But a tiny moment of détente  in the middle of the day? Priceless.

Believing you’re important enough to stop and take a moment to relax, to regather yourself, vital to your well being and to your work. Fika: the pause that refreshes. Fika: a pause that gives sweet moments of Peace and maybe inspires movement in the Peace direction!