Cooking as a Zen MeditationThis is a well-known zen meditation, adapted for all you wonderful cooks, who need a nice bit of calm at the end of your busy day! This lovely ritual can help you pay attention to what you are doing while you prepare your food for cooking, so that your mind stops behaving like the monkey in the tree, jumping from branch to branch. It is also an exercise in gratitude and cosmic connectedness.
As you chop the carrot, really focus on the carrot and become fully aware of it. Notice its startling colour, its texture, the smell and feel and of it. As you begin to peel it, think about all the people and things that brought that carrot to you. Think about the shop where you bought it, the person who stacked the carrot shelf, the delivery man who brought it to the shop, the worker who pulled it out of the earth, the farmer who cultivated the field and planted the seed and watered and tended the crop. Think about the soil that nourished the seed, the rain that fell, the sun that warmed the land, the moon that shone, the seasons that changed, the earth that turned on its axis and travelled its orbit. And the cosmos, which orders and supports everything..... All of this, nothing less than the mystery of life itself, had to occur, so that you could have a carrot in front of you today!Now do you appreciate that humble carrot? And now, your work of chopping the carrot and using it to cook a meal for your children makes YOU another link in the cosmic chain, part of the cosmic purpose, part of the order of all things. And YOU become part of what others can feel gratitude for when they eat the meal you have prepared with that same carrot.
How cooking can nourish the soul.
Remember! Healthy eating is enjoyable!Blessings on your table! The Good Food Angel.
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