The Art of Eating

The word eat doesn’t even sound very nice. We even use it as an insult. Eat me! Perhaps that’s why we often eat so abusively.

Look, since you gotta eat anyway, use it for doing the hard work of feeling better. Eat consciously. Eat in a state of awareness.

Exercise 1:

Nuke a medium-sized potato in the microwave for about five minutes. Make sure it’s done. Let it cool. Then eat it plain. No salt. No butter. Slice it. Bite it. Doesn’t matter. Experience the taste. You can taste earth, minerals that were made in the stars billions of years ago before the Earth was made. You can taste sunshine from millions of miles away. If this doesn’t blow your mind, then let yourself get pretty hungry first and try it the next day. If it doesn’t blow your mind then, keep practicing.

Eating can be hooked into daily meditation. In fact, all my meditation teachers say that meditation is not something you do for thirty minutes and then you’re done. Every step you tread on earth or carpet or concrete should be done meditatively. Eating is a good time and place to practice this.

Exercise 2:

Prepare a smaller-than-usual meal and sit quietly take the first bite and say to yourself This is awesome. Relax and enjoy the entire bite. On the second bite, say to yourself, This is awesome, and so am I. On the next bite, say, This is awesome and so is my wife (or my husband. Sure, he’s a selfish lazy prick sometimes, but he’s mine. He’s all I’ve got). On the next bite, say, This is awesome and so is my kid (neighbor, garbage collector, homeowner’s association, whatever). If it feels silly, then you’re completely normal. If it feels right, then you must be an advanced student of meditation.

I’m not going to tell you what these exercises will do for you life. You tell all of us in the forum.