Have you ever either been the person or watched a person enter a room with a sleeping baby in it? Suddenly, voices lower, they slow down upon entering, drawing closer to that babe, trying to sneak a peek at the cherubic perfection but in such a way as to not startle or disturb the baby’s slumber?
Everything about the person shifts; demeanor, volume, pace.
Attention is fully on the child and that attention informs the attitude and behavior of the person.
How you enter into communion with anything speaks volumes about how much you value it. And typically when I speak about Approach, it’s about how you approach your kitchen, your meal, the table full of people that you’re going to share that meal with.
Approach In Your Food Practice
There are two branches of Food Practice; the internal and the external worlds. Approach is where the internal and the external meet.
More than what you do, or what you eat, Approach is the mind set you carry when you enter the kitchen or sit down at a table to eat.
- Where is your mind at when you walk into the kitchen to find or prepare food?
- What are you thinking when you are about to sit down to eat?
The practice of conscious Approach starts before you enter the kitchen or begin to eat. It’s a very deliberate shift in mindset as you shift in activity.
Literally and simply, it’s you telling yourself that now you are changing gears from one activity to another. And that the activity you are about to engage (eating, cooking) is a sacred one, so you enter with that truth in mind.
- How does you attitude and demeanor change when you approach something that is sacred?
- How would this change your cooking and eating experience, both internally and externally?
What Reverence And Value Gain You
Where you place value, you elevate.
Elevating the food you prepare to feed yourself and others, and elevating the importance of a dinner table experience necessarily elevates the value and worth you give yourself, your nourishment and the connection you share with those around you.
In short, it increases the nourishment value to you of the overall eating and sharing experience. The food and the experience nourishes both your body and your soul.
Cultivating a practice or habit of this Approach over time begins to affect your food choices, the way you regard your health and the over all life quality enhancement you gain by sharing a dinner table with others.
I’m telling you… it’s holy work.
Food Practice: Try It
Everyday this week clear your mind and body of tension before entering the act of preparing food and eating it.
Approach your kitchen and dinner table clear minded and present so that in that moment the only thing that exists is the interaction you are having with your food.
Remind yourself that you are engaging in a sacred exchange with your nourishment.
Come back here and share your thoughts about the experience and how it affects you or you can also sign up for the Food Practice Gathering Circle over on Facebook, it’s a private discussion group with the rest of the Food Practice Tribe.
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