With the Project Joy daily radio show, Daily Peace Quotes, R/L Tweets, and other practice supports, there is no shortage of opportunities to find joy in daily life. Why not add mealtime to the list of opportunities for joy?
Here are a few of my favorite awareness activities with food...
1. After sitting down with your plate or bowl of food, stop, breathe, and let your eyes drink in the colors and textures of the food.
2. Let images drop in of all the effort -- from nature and humans -- that went in to having that food before you.
3. Breathe through each bite. Let the breath accompany eating like a musical duet.
Caution: doing these exercises may result in spontaneous bursts of gratitude. (I suspect Life isn't offended if we say "thank you" with our mouth full!)
In-joy!
Gassho,
Rebecca
Here is a joyful array of tastes, colors, and textures to delight the senses...
Kale Salad
16 oz. prepped kale, any variety, chopped (1.75 lbs unprepped)
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
½ cup chopped, packed parsley
3 avocados, pit removed and chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of cayenne
Lightly steam the kale.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Massage and mix with your hands to “wilt” the kale and cream the avocado (this should only take a minute or two), and serve.
Serves 8