Last night I was a part of a Mindfulness workshop. One of the exercises involved two raisins, craisins actually, which I was thankful for since I’m not fond of raisins but love craisins. I know……weird. The exercise asked that we take one raisin and look at it, study it, then spend time smelling it. After we had considered its scent, we were invited to put the raisin in our mouths, just on the tip of our tongues, and study how it felt, how the juices flowed from it. Then we let the raisin roll around in our mouths, the ridges of the dried raisin, still jagged and rough, slowly became saturated and the juices that lived inside the tiny morsel began to become more pronounced, flavor poured forth into my mouth. Finally, we could chew. It was an amazing experience of taste, touch, smell, sight, even hearing as our teeth and jaws seemed to create such a sound for so small an object.

This practice of mindful eating runs so counter to my normal experience of my meals. I often fill the space of my mealtime with reading, listening to the radio, even driving!  Sometimes I’ve eaten and can’t even remember doing it. Do you ever have that experience?

We followed the first raisin with another, repeating the practice. Eating two raisins took more than 10 minutes!

This practice of mindfulness offered me many things…..a sense of being present in the moment….gratitude for delicious flavors…..the blessing of silence…..and most of all a feeling of satisfaction. Two raisins, eaten with intention, had satisfied my hungry stomach.

Today I want to taste with intention and give thanks with a joyful heart. Join me?