try out eating meditation
Get ready for a truly pleasurable and fulfilling experience. You'll Accept Influential Agency, Hone Perception, and become more one with the Earth as you eat!
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The idea for this activity was inspired by the work of Thich Nhat Hanh and Plum Village. Check out their wonderful app that includes lots of lots of meditation and mindfulness tools. It's pretty great.
Let's Get to It! | Here's What to Do:
1 - Do the Meditation
2 - Record What You Learned
3 - Make All Your Meals Mindful
You can do this by yourself or with other people. Put the food out on the table. Before you eat, take a moment to be aware of each person, animal, plant, etc. who contributed to the meal:
> See the farmers who labored and worried over the food;
> Be aware of the many, many people who maintain the infrastructure that gets food to you;
> Remember the plants and animals who gave up their lives so you can live;
> Envision the water and soil that helped the plants and animals (who eat plants) grow;
> Visualize the sun in the sky whose light sustains all life on this planet;
> And be grateful to anyone or anything else that comes to mind who contributed to this food which will soon be part of you.
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And then eat your food. Eat in silence, continuing to remember everyone who contributed to the meal. Put your eating utensil down between each bite and take your time to notice the sensations of the taste, texture, and smell of the food. Let yourself enjoy it.
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When you feel full, even if there is more food on your plate, stop eating. You can save the food for later, give it to someone else to eat, or give it to the Earth in the form of compost.
Write what you experienced and learned by doing this meditation. Include what you learned about Influential Agency, Perception, Earth Stewardship, and other virtues. Make plans and set intentions about how you will apply this learning moving forward.
Consider sharing what you learned with other people.
You might not want to do this full meditation at every meal. For example, if you always eat silently, you'll have less chances to strengthen relationships with your eating partners and practice Communicating Effectively.
But every meal can be a mindful experience that helps you experience your perceptions deeply and connect with our Collective Self. Consider which aspects of this meditation you'd like to add to every eating experience. You might consider doing this full eating meditation from time to time to remind yourself to eat more mindfully.
Being mindful of harm
As you become more and more mindful and aware of the origin of our food, you'll likely discover that a lot of your food was produced in a way that caused suffering for humans, animals, plants, ecosystems, and other aspects of our Collective Self. This is a sobering realization.
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You may be tempted to ignore this reality or pretend it isn't true. But apathy diminishes love and keeps positive change from occurring. We encourage you to be aware of the injustices that produced your food as you eat it. Be an empathetic witness to their suffering.
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Before or as you eat, you might visualize yourself offering redemption or light to those who suffered for you to eat. You might Process Emotions on their behalf. And you can let your awareness move you to make gradual changes to how you eat that have a more positive impact on others.
