How often do you stop and think about what you’re eating? And I don’t mean whether its good or bad for you. I mean actually thinking about what it is.
How often do you eat and just focus on eating? Without looking at your phone or listening to a podcast or reading something. Focusing your awareness on what you’re doing.
How often do you think about where your food has come from? Registering the country on the packaging as an actual place that has grown what is in front of you, from where your food has travelled.
How often do you feel grateful to be eating the food in front of you? Grateful for the fact you have been able to pay for this food. And have the means to store it, cook it and eat it.
Probably not that often? Am I right? Me too.
I think we’re missing out on a treat. A chance to be in the present moment, connect to ourselves and recognise that we are all connected to the world and everything in it. A chance to take stock of what we have and be grateful for it.
The Benefits of Being in the Present Moment
Taking life down to basics and noticing what is around me is one of the most effective ways to make my day a good day. Discomfort, unhappiness and worry come often because my mind is stuck in the past or the future. Longing after something in the past, or thinking of everything I should have said, worrying about what the future will hold, or imagining ways certain things will play out. My mind constructs the past and future so well in my head that I forget that I am living now. I forget that I am experiencing and feeling right now. Instead of being aware of what is around me, my body is flooded with negative emotions because of my imagination. Because of something I’ve made up in my head.
Taking life back down to basics involves coming into the present moment. Which means these worries, anxieties and stressors can’t exist. While eating breakfast, I chose to eat without any background noise. I chose to notice that I was eating. I looked at what was on my spoon. The oats, the blueberries, the banana, the almonds, the peanut butter. I remembered to be grateful that I could pick up my spoon to eat breakfast. I’m able to feed myself and digest my food. That I had access to a kitchen and the knowledge to cook something so tasty. That I could afford to buy these ingredients. For the supermarket staff who put it on the shelf. For the delivery drivers, for the factory workers, for the growers.
I’ve been enjoying ‘Inside the Factory‘, a BBC series showing you the entire production process for things like tinned soup, whiskey and energy bars. It’s a good watch, and not just for Gregg Wallace’s undying enthusiasm for production lines and big machines, but because I rarely get an insight into the building blocks of the food on our plates. A nice way to remind me that so much goes into each ingredient.
Gratitude
Taking life back down to basics means taking stock of where I am. Looking around me and thinking about everything that I do have. Not the things I had, want to have, or lack right now. It brings me out of my mind.
Just looking at my breakfast I already realised I have so much. It gave me the opportunity to shift my mindset. And maybe its just me, but when I feel grateful for something I get a little feeling inside. Like a “its too good to be true, but yes life is this good feeling”. Even if it’s just about porridge. It puts everything in perspective. Its like my head thinks I’m grateful for this and for that. And then my body feels it.
That’s where the joy lies. And we can access it at any time of the day. Its there all the time when we remember to remember. Why not choose breakfast time to bring ourselves into the present moment and be grateful for what we have, right now? What a way to start the day.
Let me know what you think or if you agree! Or if you’ve also been watching Gregg Wallace mess up every production line he comes across.
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