Connection is Gift #7 of the 12 Gifts of Mindful Eating. For 12 days, we are sharing a mini-mindful eating exercise to help you focus on the gift of each day. Each one is intentionally short, simple, and powerful.
The Gift of Connection
While we may be far removed from the origins of our meal, food connects us in ways that most of us take for granted.
Today before eating, take a few moments to reflect upon how food connects you to:
- your five senses
- your body through physical tasks and digestion
- your body wisdom including hunger and satiety
- your mind through thoughts, opinions, and choices
- your feelings including anticipation, pleasure, enjoyment, disappointment, regret, or even fear
- your past through memories and traditions
- your future through the immediate and long term effects of your choices
- other people through conversation and the shared experience of eating together
- other people who planted, tended, harvested, produced, packaged, transported, sold, selected, purchased, prepared, and served your food
- local and world economies
- nature through the soil, sun, water, air, and weather
- and the ultimate connection, the energy you consume becomes the energy you’ll use to connect with the world in whatever way you choose.
Try this Food Gratitude Meditation.
