The underlying meaning of the challenge to eat your food one bite at a time is actually profound. It introduces an awareness of the extent to which impatience or patience is a large part of your life. Do you have issues with impatience in your life?
If you have to wait in a long line to check out in a store, do you find yourself being particularly restless, unable to be present in the moment? If you’re preparing a meal to eat, do you find yourself racing to the point of saying
“I can’t wait for this to be over because I have more things to do by the end of the day and the longer that I spend preparing this meal, the less time that I’ll have to be able to do what it is that I want to actually accomplish today?”
Are you then, a person who is persistently and continually impatient?
If this happens to be the case, it’s more than likely also the case that you found the challenge to eat your food one bite at a time to be a horrendous challenge. Did you find that you got particularly impatient with being able to do this particular task? Most people find it to be particularly challenging and difficult. Most people find that they start and they’re able to put their utensil down two or three times but then they drop back, sink down into the same habitual way of eating and then by the end of the meal say,
“Oh, I forgot. That’s right. I was supposed to put my utensil down between each and every full bite and swallow.”
It is in fact a difficult challenge, one that you’ll find will tickle your funny bone as you realize how difficult it is to honor and respect the challenge of being able to place your utensil down between each and every bite.
Let’s go deeper. How impatient are you with your recovery process? Do you find yourself saying
“I don’t think I’m feeling any better this week than last. When am I going to be waking up and say whoa, I don’t think I feel any symptoms at all; in fact I feel great?”
Instead, you find that you wake up and there are certain symptoms that tend still to be present. Do you say to yourself,
“When is this going to lift? When is this going to lift – when is this going to lift?”
In other words, are you impatient with your recovery process?
Guess what? If you’re impatient, that’s obviously going to trigger the production of hormones that are not conducive to bringing your body back into full balance. You see, the impatience itself creates a problem with the recovery process.
The challenge then of one bite at a time is a challenge of inviting everyone to slow it down, to become patient with each and every moment, to treasure the deliciousness of the experience, the tastes, the feeling, the texture of what it means to eat. It is a wonderful experience to ingest food into our bodies. Embellish that experience by making eating a mindful experience. This will transfer over into being more patient with each and every moment however it might unfold.
Becoming more patient also expedites the process of recovery from any and all symptoms that you might currently be experiencing that are associated with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
Robert
© Parkinsons Recovery