Another post from
Musings on a Mountain….
I Like to take my time!
I like to linger while eating. I like to take my time while reading. I like to indulge myself while doing most things.
While in Colorado I am even more laid back and relaxed just because I am secluded and in the mountains. I am with my friends Peg and Eric in a restaurant that we all love eating delicious food and enjoying each others company after an incredible hike. As happens to me quite often everyone finishes their food and I may be half way to three quarters of the way finished with my meal. As with everything in my life there is always a story that will go along with what is happening for me and here is that memory—
I worked as a ticket agent at JFK airport for many years. We would get 30-40 minutes for our lunch or dinner. I would know when daily breaks were and as soon as that time came I would run out from behind the ticket counter to go the bathroom and then walk through the airport to the employees area to get my meal and sit down. Now if any of you have ever been in an airport you know you can run through one but you must go with the flow of the people. Some are lazily walking, running, families, wheelchairs, people lingering while talking to someone while taking up a lot of room in the center of the walkway. Well, you get the picture. So when all was said and done I would generally have about 15 minutes to gobble down my meal, go back to a bathroom and return to the ticket counter within the allotted time. For most of those 20 years that I spent at the airport I had severe digestive issues. Not just from the above scenario but from the stress and high tension of the job.
When I left that job I vowed to teach myself to take at least 45 minutes to an hour to sit in front of my meal and eat it with a conscious connection to what I was ingesting. I say teach because I knew after doing something for so many years I would have to really practice taking my time. I did it! That was 30 years ago and I have perfected my eating habits. Usually every meal I eat is for a minimum of an hour whether at home or dining out. I even give myself an hour in the morning to prepare and drink my shake.
Back to the restaurant story…. Peg and Eric finished their meal and I was about 3/4 finished with mine. The wait person took their plates away ~ which is another perplexing thing for me. Didn’t wait staff use to wait until everyone at the table was finished eating? This concept seems to be ancient history now! Anyway, we were talking and I sat back while putting my fork and knife down. I wanted to savor the flavors of what remained of my meal. I love those last bites of food when I am really enjoying something. Actually I love to eat and generally love anything I am eating. All of a sudden the wait person picked up two small bowls that held my salad dressing and put them in the middle of my plate and started to take my plate away. I looked up horrified and held onto my plate. Now this all happened with about 5 seconds so my survival instincts were very sharp! He then said —Oh, Are you done? I said NO. He seemed a bit embarrassed and then asked did we want anything else.
I wanted to say “What part of me still eating calls for asking about desert?” I am generally not a sarcastic person but these encounters piss me off. I say these encounters because this happens a lot when I am out eating with others.
Being a person who is in touch with “creating my own reality” I have asked myself hundreds of times ~ “What in you brings this towards you whenever you are dining out?” I thought ~ as the saying goes “I would like to clean up my vibration around this so it no longer happens.” Well, I have come to the decision that that concept in this situation doesn’t apply. LOL! But what does apply is why it is happening around me. I am not saying TO ME. I do not believe anything happens directly to me. IMO~ that thought would put me in a victim role and that idea will probably be explored more fully in another blog post. I do believe that I am in direct alignment with all things that involve me.
The conclusion that I have come to with this is that everyone is in such a hurry that they are not even aware of what others are doing or experiencing. I am not in judgement about this ~I like to think that I am in observation about how quickly everyone is moving and how I am impacted by this movement.
Think about how many things happen in one day that are so quick and almost inconsequential, irrelevant and it’s not because they are that but because of the speed in which they are being done.
I know you will think about at least a half dozen of these things while reading this post.
Enjoy everything that you are choosing to do!
Breathe
Slow Down
Are you moving TOO QUICKLY?
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” ~Andy Rooney
