Enjoy being at ease about food and eating–and why not joyful, too!

It can be surprising when spiritual concepts prove useful in the kitchen. Who would have guessed there could be a level of “higher consciousness” hidden in our kitchen cupboards?  Take this concept for example:

“As many Buddhist psychologists proclaim, most people conceal a constrictive array of psychological wounds that they are constantly attempting to avoid or manage, which prevents them from ever feeling deeply at ease inside.”*

This thought jumped out from a book I’m reading–about yoga! Yet it could pertain as easily to our food, eating and cooking lives.

How often do we feel at ease about how we eat, what we eat, how we get meals together, are we eating too much, too little . . . . Instead, it seems, freneticism pervades our thoughts and conversations around food and eating, and I am guilty of contributing to this “stew.” As a healthy eating educator, I focus relentlessly on improving our eating habits.

Certainly  we as a nation have plenty of room for improvement, but this reminder about balance is a good one. Here’s permission to take time–tonight even–to acknowledge any and all of the improvements you’ve made to date. Good eating is a continuum and we are all just inching our way upwards in a balance of persistence–and ease.  For each inch of progress you’ve made–congratulations!

*Quotation courtesy of Insight Yoga, p. 11.  Photo courtesy of Gale Yeimaya, “Happy Thanksgiving.  .  . Peace. . . Buddha and fruit”