“In silence, learn to give of yourself, forgive others, live with gratitude; then you need not seek inner peace, peace will find you!”
-Nan C. Merrill
Last Saturday, my wife was leading a retreat for 27 women on Listening To Your Life at the home of one of our good friends, Susie Hermanson in Old Black Point, CT – right on the Long Island Sound. I attended an all day Mindfulness Retreat at the Mercy Center, in Madison, CT – only 30 minutes south of there.
I want to share with you this conscious contemplative eating experience which I think you can relate to and in your own way practice. To begin it might be best to recall your usual way of eating a meal. How do you usually eat?
This was my experience last Saturday at the Mercy Center. I walked slowly, slowly is like holy (Marv and Nancy Hiles) to where the food was served slowly and in silence. First my eyes feasted … Chili and two soups: Lobster Bisque and Tomato Basil, grilled chicken cutlets, rice, corn, two green vegetables, a salad bar with about 14 items – all so colorful and appealing, four salad dressings. Coffee, tea, fruit juices and water. For dessert: fresh fruit of all kinds, large slices of watermelon, and freshly baked cookies whose aroma commanded your attention.
Our task was to be mindful of the gift of food. Food does not just show up on your plate. To be mindful of how and where with earth, sun, water and air it had been planted, cultivated, cared for, harvested, processed and packaged, transported and here at the Mercy Center, carefully prepared and served to us in silence. Hundreds and hundreds of people had to be involved in this process. This food was connecting us to the earth, and to so many in so many different parts of our country and even the world.
Then in the eating – I chose to go outside and to sit down by the water. It was 65 degrees, warm, sunny, a slight breeze – way too nice to be inside. Slowly, I started the process of conscious contemplative eating by first looking at the food on my tray. The colors, the freshness, the aromas, the beauty – beholding – paying attention like I never had before.
All of this in silence, in the beauty of nature, while touching the earth. Consciously, I lifted the fork, engaged the food, put the food in my mouth, put the fork down, started chewing, chewing slowly, slowly, tasting, tasting, savoring, savoring – swallowing swallowing – it was like I had never eaten this way before. In the silence the food tasted so, so good, so satisfying, so nourishing. It was wondrous. My whole body was responding with gratitude and joy. There was a feeling of glee!
I was smiling inside myself – I confess that I have been eating like a robot. Shovel it in – often fast food – hardly ever noticing the taste, the flavor, the beauty, the gift. The conscious contemplative eating then continued with the next bite. Lifting the fork and so on … But I was present, I was tasting, I was appreciating, I was thankful more than I had ever been for the way Mother Earth provides for us everything we will never eat. Gratefulness!
Grateful for the food and the hundreds of people involved in the process of getting this food from the earth to us. It is miraculous. Words from a great hymn come to mind: I was blind, but now I see.
I invite you to try this experience in conscious contemplative eating. See what comes to your mind. What do you feel? What do you experience? What do you become conscious of? Does it make a difference now in the way you feel about the earth? About farmers? About migrant workers?
All of this took place in silence. I invite you to gift yourself with silence. Have your own conscious contemplative eating experience. Maybe eat outside in a place of beauty and serenity. Eat slowly for slowly is like holy. You may taste and touch into the holy and the sacred in a new way. Conscious contemplative eating is sacramental.
To conclude, I found these inviting words about silence:
Silence is like a river of grace
inviting us to leap unafraid
into its beckoning depths
“The glory of God is the human person fully alive.”
-St. Irenaeus of Lyons
May you gift yourself with silence, stillness, simplicity this day.
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
