Mary DeTurris Poust

We__e hungry for acceptance__rom ourselves even more than from others__or love, for fulfillment, for peace. We__e hungry for a life we think we don__ deserve or can__ have, for the person we know we can be if only we__ give ourselves the chance.

Jesus tells us: __ove your neighbor as yourself_ (Mk 12:31). How can we love our neighbor if we can__ or won__ love ourselves, at least a little? When we hold ourselves to unrealistic standards, that perfectionist attitude can__ help but trickle down. It becomes harder to have compassion for others if we have no compassion for ourselves.

Food and eating often mask our pain, our inner longing for God, for acceptance. It is key to know our motivation for eating as well as for other actions. Why do I eat? Am I tired, am I bored, am I stressed and tired? A good practice is to live in the present moment, aware of the reality in which I am immersed.

We cling to the comfortable rather than step out into the possible.

By becoming aware of God__ Spirit, by slowing down and paying attention to the tastes and sounds and smells of the food we make and eat, we infuse our meals__nd by extension our hearts__ith a sense of awe, a depth of prayer that cannot help but transform our mindless eating into moving meditations.

When we infuse our actions with a focus on God and on the many blessings we receive in even the most mundane moments of our lives, we create sacred rituals that bring a sense of holiness, a sense of wholeness, to what we do and who we are. Like the Eucharistic feast that nourishes our heart and soul, every meal we eat with mindfulness[,] each bite we take with gratitude, has the power to transform us inside and out, for all time.

When we link our eating and our prayer and begin to see food as part of a much bigger picture, rather than the focal point of our entire lives, we reshape the way we think, the way we act, and the way we interact.

Taken slowly, or mindfully, even eating an orange or a bowl of soup, or a small piece of dark chocolate for that matter, can take on the flavor or prayer.

Even if you can__ be totally mindful at every meal, if you can say a blessing, silently if necessary, or offer up a prayer for someone, something beyond yourself and your food, the prayer helps to transform eating into something that affects not only our hunger at that moment but the greater world.

We are always hungry and never satisfied because we don__ trust and won__ risk. Can we reach a place where we are satisfied with just enough? You are enough. You have enough. Do not worry about tomorrow. God will provide in our lives just as God provides in the Eucharist.

not every breakfast needs to be something worthy of posting to a food blog. Sometimes food is simply fuel, something we eat to live. But with TV ads and billboards and in-store displays saying otherwise__n colorful and provocative ways__hat can be a hard case to make.

prepare your food in keeping with monastic traditions__imple, basic, healthy, balanced.

We can__ go from zero to sixty in a day or even a week when it comes to shifting our food-habit gears. We have to take baby steps, starting with an increasing awareness of our habits and a willingness to chip away at the ones that aren__ doing us any good. Slowly, with time and commitment, we move away from the rat-race, multitasking mentality to a place where we want to give our meals and ourselves the time and attention we deserve.

So often, even when we stop to say a blessing before a meal, we__e mentally preparing to spoon some pasta or potatoes onto our plates. We__e not usually focused on the present moment, simply placing ourselves before our food and entering into the still, slow space where eating is done for eating__ sake and not something we do simply to get to the next thing on our list.

Only by emptying ourselves out before God will we find fullness within ourselves.

How we prepare our food, how we consume our food really makes a difference in how our food satisfies us and shapes the role we give food in our lives. Is it something we stuff in to satisfy an urge or something we savor to feed us physically and sustain us spiritually?

Just as the Eucharist fuels our soul and our spirit, good healthful meals fuel our bodies for the work God calls each of us to do in his kingdom. Praying before we consume a meal or when we are feeling exhausted and stressed helps to bring this __ody and soul_ connection into the light

yelling while eating was like swallowing anger. It__ simply not good for us. It leaves us unhappy and unsatisfied, as if the meal didn__ count or wasn__ good, and an hour later we__e back looking for something to make us feel better.