Have you ever come home from a really bad day, thrown yourself together a quick dinner, maybe even a favorite dish that’s nice and comforting to you, and it just tastes awful? Compare that to a lovingly, carefully prepared meal that maybe your grandmother made you, that was absolutely out of this world delicious. Is it the law of attraction – you’re having a bad day so nothing works out? Or is it just that your grandmother is a better cook? Well, you might be having a bad day and she might indeed be a better cook, but I think there’s more to the story than that.
In my travels researching for my upcoming book, I came across this excerpt in a sidebar of Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions:
If a woman could see the sparks of light going forth from her fingertips when she is cooking and the substance of light that goes into the food she handles, she would be amazed to see how much of herself she charges into the meals that she prepares for her family and friends.
It is one of the most important and least understood activities of life, that the radiation and feeling that go into the preparation of food affect everyone who partakes of it, and this activity should be unhurried, peaceful and happy. It would be better that an individual did not eat at all than to eat food that has been prepared under a feeling of anger, resentment, depression or any outward pressure, because the substance of the lifestream performing the service flows into that food and is eaten and actually becomes part of the energy of the receiver. That is why the advanced spiritual teachers of the East never eat food prepared by anyone other than their own chelas. Conversely, if the one preparing the food is the only one in the household who is spiritually advanced and an active charge of happiness, purity and peace pours forth into the food from him, this pours forth into the other members and blesses them. I might say that there are more ways than one of allowing the Spirit of God to enter the flesh of Man.
– Maha Chohon, in Electrons
Could it be less about your grandmother being a great cook and more about the love that she’s pouring into the meal she prepared for you? Could it be less about your bad day and more about the frustration, exhaustion, and general bad mood that you are then imbuing into the dinner you’re hastily throwing together?
I think this is worth considering, and actually a fundamental part of Cooking Naked. I know I personally have experienced eating a meal prepared with such love and intention, even if it’s the most simple and basic meal you can imagine, and be overwhelmed by how nourishing it feels.
Eating is one of the few acts of self-care that we must do on a daily basis, several times a day in fact. We can make this experience a mindless, rushed, haphazard event with little care about what we put in our mouths other than that it fills us. Or we can make this a mindful, intentional, and truly positive experience, where we consciously choose foods that will nourish and truly feed us. It’s not just about the food: it’s about the intention, our feelings, and the mindfulness we bring to the experience of eating.
No matter what your lunch or dinner, try being conscious, present, and above all happy while you prepare and eat your food. See what difference that makes to how you feel and how your body receives your meal. You might be surprised at how much your mood affects your food.
