mindfulness…practice it everyday at the table
Mindfulness is an interesting trend. Living in San Francisco, I have found the concept to be in the forefront of life here. You find lots of journals and books about mindfulness, apps to guide you through mindful meditations and five year old kids learn to practice it in school.
What happened that we need to reminded to be mindful?
One of my theories related to the current mindful craze is related to our need for ‘convenience’. In our quest to make things easier and faster, many of us have stripped away the pleasure of taking a break, slowing down and enjoying our meals.
Breakfast standing up or walking to work, consuming lunch at our desks hunched in front of a screen, dinner from a take away box with a rotating door of takers has become the normal. We are all too busy to spend even 20 minutes without distractions eating at the table. Cooking and eating, unless for a special occasion, appears to be a means to an end rather than a pleasure in itself.
Don’t get me wrong-cooking and eating can be a chore, and who likes doing dishes? Yet just chopping vegetables, mixing a sauce, setting a table gives your mind a place to expand- if we just let it go.
In our burning desire to nourish our bodies in the fastest and most convenient ways possible, are we actually depleting our minds?
Preparing a meal and actually sitting together or alone without distractions is a daily routine that can bring us to the state of mindfulness. A place that satisfies and satiates our stomachs but also does the same for our hearts and minds
My place of mindfulness is most definitely found in the making of meals and enjoying them with loved ones around the table.
