Reflections on LIFE
This morning, to spite the fact that I wouldn't give my son milk with his cereal, he chose to eat each little square of LIFE one by one. He missed the bus. I told him to hurry up, but he said he was "still eating." One by one. He never chews his food completely, and I find it quite amazing that what does end up getting swallowed actually gets digested. But this morning, he sat like an angel, eating his cereal one square by one square.
It put him in a contemplative mood. He savored each square. He admired each piece before he put it in his mouth, looking at the tiny chunks of crystalline sugar stuck sporadically between the woven grains of LIFE, sometimes changing the angle of the square so the light would bounce off the sugar and sparkle.
This morning his cereal was beautiful.
Usually it is piled on a spoon and literally shoveled into his mouth, milk dripping down his chin and onto the table and chair. But this morning, because he has been plagued by a nasty cough and the accompanying secretions, I mandated "No milk or milk products until your nose stops running and your cough clears up."
So it was that dry cereal turned my 6 year old bundle of energy into a contemplative diner. His Koan this morning was something like, "The taste of cereal without milk." Not really an imponderble, because there was no supposition or question, but merely a ponderable: something on which to concentrate. The texture of dry cereal and the sound of LIFE without milk seemed to help this imaginative boy to find a center. Typically, the things going through his head are more along the lines of whether or not Pluto is going to melt if it really is a chunk of ice, or whether his newest pair of knee socks will be the kind to bunch around his ankle or if they really will stay up over the calf. As my sister says, "There must be a party going on in his head all the time."
This morning, LIFE was sweeter and slower than usual. It was meant to be savored and contemplated, and that lasted up until the time I watched his blue back pack disappear into the school building.
Take your time this morning. Don't just drink your coffee, taste your coffee and don't just breathe, really smell the air. You may just find new sweetness and actually discover the art of slowing down time.
10:12:55 AM 
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