How often do you . . .

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How often do you take a bite of food and masticate intentionally, slowly, deliberately?

How often do you put another bite of food in your mouth before the first bite is finished?

How often do you deliberate on what finished means? Are you done when there's no more chewing? Are you done when you swallow the last morsel? And how long do you wait before taking the next bite? How often are you present in that moment, as you swallow, feeling the food move down your esophagus while savoring the aftertaste?

How often do you lick your lips? How often are you present in the moment, focused attentively on chewing, tasting, savoring, and swallowing?

I encourage you to get a glass (or bottle) of cool (or cold) and take a big sip, and close your eyes as the water runs down your esophagus and into your stomach, and focus on the sensation of the cool liquid. In every moment there is beauty, uniqueness, a lesson. In every moment. How many lessons do we miss every minute, every hour, every day?

How often do you eat, chewing unconsciously, swallowing bite after bite, shoveling food into your mouth while your mind is on other tasks? How often do you ignore your present moment? How often do you ignore your body and its needs and its experience? How often do your mind and body act in unison?

Interesting and informative articles and links related to mindful eating:
What is mindful eating - zen habits
Mindful Eating as Food for Thought - NY Times
The Surprising Benefits of Mindful Eating - Huffington Post
6 Ways to Practice Mindful Eating - mindful

Embrace the Eternity

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Sometimes during the first few moments of meditation I get a feeling of overwhelming eternity — this moment, these seconds, feel like they are lasting forever, as my thoughts race and my mind keeps telling me that I need to be doing other things, anything, something else other than sitting here breathing.

How long did I set my timer for? How many minutes will I be sitting here, doing nothing? If these first few seconds feel so long and unendurable, how is the rest of this meditation going to feel? Is this really the most important thing for me to be doing right now!?!

Embrace the eternity — the empty space that our mind fills with thoughts and worries. The pain that rises out of the darkness. Embrace it. As unbearably long as it may feel, this moment is fleeting. Every moment, every group of moments, will pass, eventually, inevitably.

Turn into it, lean into your discomfort. Like an empty desk, a mind with a sense of never ending time is key to creation and ideation — it is a precursor to the deep work that will lead to breakthroughs.

Embrace the space, with no phone calls, no checking of emails or statuses, no comments or likes; embrace the space where thoughts will rush in and where we can embrace and accept each thought, and clear out our cache, clear a space in our mind for deep work.

Embrace the eternity of the moment.