This being the 3rd of three days of your substitute blog writer’s (Paul Yeager’s) appearance, I thought I would just shortly share a powerful and inspiring quote from Thich Nhat Hanh’s “Peace is Every Step” which has helped me foster the energies of spiritual creativity, concentration, and gratitude necessary to maintain a diet of nutrient dense foods and to eat this way on a consistent basis, eating and living more fully in the present moment.
It’s no easy feat to resist the temptations of Standard American Diet at every turn, and running these thoughts through my head (and through my energy and heart) on occasion have really helped me return to my daily practice of eating according to nourishing principles, instead of sliding back into the “old way” of fast food, lousy restaurants, and inferior eating choices.
And eating in gratitude, aware of the immense fortune of being able to eat this way, and having that in perspective–I find this is the ultimate starting point for optimal digestion. I may often be eating nutrient dense, traditional food, but if I am not present to taste this food, which so few are able to have and eat, then it is not as nourishing.
On page 23 of “Peace is Every Step” in “Eating Mindfully,” Thich Nhat Hanh states:
“Eating a meal in mindfulness is an important practice. We turn off the TV, put down our newspaper, and work together for five or ten minutes, setting the table and finishing whatever needs to be done. During those few minutes, we can be very happy. When the food is on the table and everyone is seated, we practice breathing: ‘Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile,’ three times. We can recover ourselves completely after three breaths like this.”