I noticed two things yesterday as I was focusing on chewing my food more completely. One is that I tend to take too much into my mouth at once. Somewhere along the line I have lost the notion of "sipping" a drink be it herbal tea, herbal coffee, water, whatever. I take great gulps and end up with so much liquid in my mouth that I have to swallow some quickly. The taste slides across my buds so quickly that they say "Hey, what was that? If you want us to notice food you have to give us more time." The same with food. I took a bite of chicken at dinner last night and it filled my entire mouth. So I chewed and chewed and chewed and felt like Bossie the cow.
However, this leads to the other thing I noticed. That once I DID have food or drink in my mouth for longer than one millisecond, I started feeling impressions about it. The taste, the texture, and, more, the feeling that what I was eating was nourishing my body. When the food whizzes down the gullet that fast, there's no sense of what it is actually doing for my body. But the mouth is the beginning of nourishment. For example, this morning I had two apricots at breakfast. They were soft and juicy. My first sense as I bit into one was of coolness, of moisture, then of denseness. As I chewed the apricot, I felt the pulp releasing its goodness. I think as I pursue this I will start realizing more and more about food; seeing it in a different way. Oh, and conversely to a "good" sense of food, last night I popped a piece of fresh--at least I thought it was fresh--mozzarella into my mouth. But as I began to chew I almost gagged. It had gone off and I couldn't get it out of my mouth fast enough. Now if I had taken just a small piece I would still have realized that it was off. And it wouldn't have filled my entire mouth with that sour taste.
Now for the other "things." I read a lot of pop psychology books. I use the term "pop" because I don't read textbooks (sorry Sue.) Rather, I read what someone has distilled from a textbook. For example I read Hollis to try to understand Jung. I read the Franklin Covey folks (Covey, Smith) to try to understand how to apply my religious beliefs to my life in a more effective way--that is, that I can attain the type of inner peace and happiness that the Lord spoke of.
I have been off-and-on reading Geneen Roth's "Women Food and God." I mentioned that in a blog several months ago and I still haven't finished the book. It's not a page turner for me although what she says is good and worthwhile. The issue is that I have been reading other books at the same time and ironically they all say the same thing as Roth is saying. Even "Eat Pray and Love," which I read for my book club, reminded me of Roth, reminded me of Hollis, reminded me of a book on the enneagram that I am also currently reading. What they all say is that we are not just our bodies. That within us, around us, dwells divinity. They use different terms and advocate slightly different approaches--although all agree on meditation/stillness/prayer--b
ut basically they all say that there is something more to us (and, no it's not 30 pounds) than we usually focus on. And if we can somehow touch that divinity by becoming more aware of ourselves, what we think and what we do, we will become more at peace, have more self esteem, etc., etc.
And so I come back to chewing. In the act of chewing I become mindful. I think of what I am putting into my body. I say a prayer of gratitude for food and drink.
It is truly amazing how life can become more whole and we see life's pattern when we stop and chew.
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