MY wife, a medical doctor, is quite strict about the sweets I am allowed to have, and when she does give me permission, laughs as I take it, sit on my favourite rocking chair, and relish the delicacy! “Why are you closing your eyes?” she asks chuckling away.
“Because I want to enjoy every sensation the chocolate gives me!” I whisper and close my eyes again and softly and gently chew on it.
This morning a friend of mine walked with me in the park, and as we passed a set of beautiful flowers I said, “Soak in the beauty!”
“I do,” said my friend, “But I can’t talk to you while doing that, and do so when I walk alone!” I thought about that while I returned home, and likened it to how I treat my sweets; I can bite into the chocolate and hardly notice the taste because my mind is on other things, or I can stop all other thoughts and concentrate on the taste.
The same with the flowers in the park: What a change it makes to my senses when I stop my other activities and enjoy the enchanting loveliness of those flowers! Suddenly time stands still and I am transported into a magical feeling of real joy. Most of us spend our lives never experiencing the happiness we work towards.
We spend money on air tickets and 5 star hotel, land up on a beach in Goa, and instead of really moving into the ecstatic sound of wind and surf, instead of letting ourselves go into a sense of timelessness, we sit and think about office and family problems, worry about health and sickness and in reality are still at home or office while physically sitting in front of the sea.
God in his great wisdom, has given us these peaceful retreats all around us and since my wife is not around at the moment, let me whisper to you; it could even be a piece of chocolate, a tasty kabab, a well cooked dhal chawal, a sizzling dosa! Relish the taste, and for a few moments forget the world, because that is what the experience is supposed to do for you.
Sometimes we eat each mouthful, even as our hands move towards the plate again, filling our mouths with the next and the next and the next piece, without enjoying what we already have in our mouths.
We do the same with our holidays: This year Goa, next year Spain, after that Mount Everest! Enjoy the taste of each mouthful! Start small, like me, take that next piece of sweet you are allowed to have, get onto your favourite chair, and let yourself go..!
