I am eating the mango pit, actually eating is too lame of a word, savouring its deliciousness is a better way to describe it.

You know, that part that is left after you cut away what you need from the mango.

I am doing it alone because it’s a messy endeavour and I don’t want others to watch.

All the while, I am saying to myself, ” I am here, be present, be present!”

Wonderful delicious moments come to us all the time but we are not there for them.

We are thinking of the past or the future and rarely are we right there in the moment savouring the mango pit or whatever it may be.

Watch a little child with an ice cream cone. They focus on eating the ice cream. They don’t think about anything else. They don’t care that they have ice cream melting all over their faces and bodies. They don’t care what others are doing or thinking. They are lost in the deliciousness of the moment.

They are happy.

Instead of focusing on the moment when we are eating, we are often too busy thinking of what we are going to do next or replaying a situation that happened to us before, good or bad. Or we are watch TV or read to keep us company while we are eating. I am guilty of this too.

We lose opportunities to get lost in the moment of the ice cream, the mango pit or whatever it may be.

Tara Brach (https://www.tarabrach.com) is a clinical psychologist and one of the leading teachers of Buddhist thinking and meditation in the western world. In an interview she had with Tim Ferriss (http://tim.blog/about), they spoke about happiness. She said she asked the Dalai Lama when was his happiest moment.

The Dalai Lama said, “this moment is happiness”.

For me this means that when we’re fully awake and present, we can be fully with what we’re feeling and eating, and this absorption and appreciation of living leads to happiness.

I have to talk myself sometimes (in my head for the most part, don’t worry I’m not that lady, at least yet) to remind myself to “stay awake, stay present, enjoy this food before me, stay awake Caroline, be present.”

My mind is often like a kitten that wanders off easily to another place and before I know it I’ve already finished the mango when I promised myself I would savour it and remember it.

The opportunity to bring yourself happiness is awaiting for you at every moment.

Try this exercise the next time you are about to eat something you love, it could be as simple as a bowl of rice and pickles, which is one of my favourite things to eat.

Pause. Close your eyes.

Get back in your body and the present, feel your feet on the floor, feel your breath, breath deeply.

Open your eyes. Slowly and mindfully take a bit of your food, a small piece. Chew it slowly and mindfully.

Put down your fork/spoon/chopsticks/fingers

If thoughts come, tell them to sit and wait until you’re done eating, and return to the breathing.

Pause. Close your eyes.

Take another bite. Chew slowly.

There you go, this is mindful eating and the start of a mindful life.

I don’t do this often enough but when I really want to remember something great I’m eating, or I start to notice I am eating more quickly and less mindfully, and thus less satisfied and full from eating, then I will try this. It helps if you are not too hungry.

This exercise is not easy but over time you will remember these moments captured, inspiring you to capture more and more.

What we are capturing are not only moments of eating, but happiness.

This moment is happiness.

Also published on Medium.