One of my favorite types of ‘walking Zen’, to build on yesterday’s post, is spending time in the kitchen, cooking.
Yes: if you are practicing connection to the current moment while cooking, then that is a form of meditation.
Some of you may have experienced this already, most likely without trying hard to do so.
Cooking is relaxing, or at least, it can be if you’re not focused on everything you have to do later, or everything that happened previously, or both.
That’s obvious.
What I’d like to add to the obvious is that you can make it a point for your cooking time to be a triple whammy.
- Making time to cook nutritious food is one of the most important things to do for your physical health.
- Making time to cook, and block out or say ‘no’ to other things during that time, such as email, etc., is super beneficial for your mental well-being.
- Making time to cook regularly can also be a spiritual practice. Whether you like the work ‘spiritual’ or not, it is a ritual, and one of many ways to connect to something greater than yourself.
Perhaps we should add ‘Cooking Zen’ to yesterday’s list of ‘Sitting, Standing, and Walking Zen’.
Matt Fried 