Has anyone read this book yet? The title grabbed me today, and I just had to take it down off the shelf. Something about the first paragraph on the back made me smile and decide to dive in:"If the Buddha came to dinner at your home, what would you serve? Fast food? A frozen meal quickly reheated in the microwave? Chances are you'd feed your honored guest a delicious meal prepared with care. But the next time you have dinner, what will you eat?"
We have not used a microwave in our house for several years. A while back, we flew to my mother's house in the foothills of California for the holidays. There, we learned how to prepare nourishing and gourmet meals slowly, with thought and consideration for everyone's needs. To learn how to cook a meal without irradiating it was eye-opening for us, coming from a fast-paced world of working full time and raising two busy boys. The whole process took time, forcing us to slow down and become much more mindful. We wanted more of that at home for ourselves.
We came home from that visit and promptly put the microwave in the basement, where it still sits, rotting in the puddle of water our basement floor becomes after every rain. Learning how to cook slowly has been fun, yet challenging. I can still remember the shock on my mother in law's face when she discovered on Thanksgiving that we could not 'zap' the green beans as we had no 'zapper'. We figured it out, and I'm sure she chocked that experience up to Jill being her 'weird' self again.
Being more mindful about what goes into our bodies has not always been simple and clear-cut, though. I still use the microwave at work, since I have so little time to break between sessions. Of course, I could put more thought into what I bring to work, and how else I could prepare it. And what about those times we opt for a restaurant over home-cooked food? What about the long car trips coming up soon, where we want to pull over and grab a bite so the kids stop killing each other in the back seat?
These are the reasons I wanted to read this book. When things are tricky, I want to remember first and foremost why I try to take care of my body, as well as my children's bodies. I want a deeper understanding of why I make the choices I make, and how to make better choices in the future.
Would you like to read it with me?? Let me know.
And don't forget to leave a comment for the giveaway - scroll down!
