I wanted to spend some time following up on last week’s Podcast with some specific resources for consuming mindfully. I had spoken about the Five Mindfulness Trainings especially:
The Fifth Mindfulness Training: Compassionate, Healthy Living
Aware that true happiness is rooted in peace, solidity, freedom, and compassion, we are determined not to accumulate wealth while millions are hungry and dying nor to take as the aim of our life fame, power, wealth, or sensual pleasure, which can bring much suffering and despair. We will practice looking deeply into how we nourish our body and mind with edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness. We are committed not to gamble or to use alcohol, drugs or any other products which bring toxins into our own and the collective body and consciousness such as certain websites, electronic games, music, TV programs, films, magazines, books and conversations. We will consume in a way that preserves compassion, wellbeing, and joy in our bodies and consciousness and in the collective body and consciousness of our families, our society, and the earth.
Initially it seems pretty complicated, especially in a sound bite, Twitter world, but you do not have to get it “right” immediately. Apply self-compassion and take your time. Remember this is a process, a journey not a destination. I consumed a bit more than I would have liked to last night but it was also a very stressful day. I used food to care for myself. But less than I might have if I had not been applying mindfulness. I knew it while I was doing it and today, with no judgment, I resolve to continue to consume mindfully.
If you want to take a look at the Five Mindfulness Trainings they can be found at: https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness-practice/the-5-mindfulness-trainings/.
You can also take a look at the Five Contemplations said before meals which are similar to saying Grace in some traditions:
This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard and loving work.
May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food.
May we recognize and transform unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed and learn to eat with moderation.
May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves our precious planet.
We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, build our Sangha, and nourish our ideal of serving all living beings.
There is also a brief video of Thich Nhat Hanh on Mindful Eating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxE9g5iVf74&t=291s and one by Lilian Cheung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emd9q6_o6Z0. You can also take a look at the book: Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh and Lilian Cheung.
One of the more interesting movements that has developed is the Slow Food Movement: https://www.slowfood.com/. From their Website:
Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us.
Since its beginnings, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure everyone has access to good, clean and fair food.
Slow Food believes food is tied to many other aspects of life, including culture, politics, agriculture and the environment. Through our food choices we can collectively influence how food is cultivated, produced and distributed, and change the world as a result.
Slow Food: The History of an Idea
Slow Food was started by Carlo Petrini and a group of activists in the 1980s with the initial aim to defend regional traditions, good food, gastronomic pleasure and a slow pace of life. In over two decades of history, the movement has evolved to embrace a comprehensive approach to food that recognizes the strong connections between plate, planet, people, politics and culture. Today Slow Food represents a global movement involving thousands of projects and millions of people in over 160 countries.
For some of you who want to try plant-based diet (some call it Vegan) here is an interesting idea:
Good luck and if we are able to stay present we can consume in a way that preserves our health and the health of the planet.
“There is hope, if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of them, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet.”
-Brooke Medicine Eagle