Awareness, or the practice of Presence, enhances everyday actions and experiences. Even in the kitchen. Maybe especially in the kitchen.

I've been cooking since I was a young girl. Then in my 20's I was a caterer. I was cooking and training other people to cook and serve food for clients. Somewhere along the way, I discovered the simply amazing, Simple and Amazing, way of preparing food with a conscious awareness of what I was doing. An awareness of the food itself.

I love this simple practice:

Let's say I want to snack on an apple. I am aware of the sensation of the apple in my hand as I pick it up. I'll feel the skin, the firm or soft of the fruit, the weight of it in my hand. I'm aware of the temperature, it is cool or cold to touch.

I like to cut the apple. So I place it on a bamboo cutting board. Using a sharp paring knife, I slice open and pare the apple. There's much to experience as I cut the apple: there's the sound of the knife as it breaks the skin of the fruit. I smell a faint scent of sweet, tart. My mouth waters. I feel the moist crispness of the flesh on my fingers.

I'm already enjoying everything about this apple, feeling gratitude for the apple itself and for the sensory experience I have with it.

As I pick up a thin slice, and bring it to my lips, I smell the sweet tartness, feel the cool moisture on my tongue and in my mouth. I chew, feeling, tasting, enjoying the life of this apple.

I swallow, aware of the fruit as it passes down my throat, (disappearing into my stomach and beyond).

My mood is elevated. I am satisfied and fulfilled by my snack, and by so much more than that. I am PRESENT. That means, in part, that I am not distracted by anything else. I am not "multi-tasking."

I am just me. For a moment. With an apple. ( I also never overeat, or eat too fast, or forget if I ate... when I practice Presence with a meal. Which means there are even more benefits!)

If you want to practice Presence with food or drink, I suggest starting with small steps. There are so many opportunities that you can try a little, then try a little more as you become accustom to slowing down, feeling, sensing, and Being with food.

Perhaps you'll try this practice with a drink of water. (It’s not recommended with alcoholic beverages. And I find carbonated drinks are overwhelming, I feel assaulted by them.)

You can progress to entire meal. And over time, you may imagine imbuing the food you're preparing with love, or gratitude, or joy, or health. It could be that you have a heart-felt-thought of blessing the food as you prepare it, serve it, eat.

EnJoy!