Energizing what we have

It has long been a tradition in many particularly religiously leaning households to have grace before you eat. This is a curious exercise for the rest of the population who generally can accept being at a table when grace is said, but are not that comfortable with it due to the conitations that if you were seen to be doing it, then you must be the religious type. This got me thinking. For every action out there, there is a metaphysical purpose behind it. This is undenialable to the initiated. Looking carefully at the concept, what you are doing, is something similar to an activity that is done at the top end of the sports performance spectrum. You are using a mental routine to create a behaviour, that in sport is designed to set you up into a state of peak performance. Using two examples from badminton there is a pre game routine, and a serving routine. Both are repetitious steps, that are designed to start you at a peak mental state, and enable you to perform the task a head with precision. The service routine will result in a perfect serve being executed every time. So how does this all relate to grace you ask? Well I think grace is a routine that is designed to prepare your mind in the same way for the task before you.....eating in this case. But it routine isn't designed for you to eat.....it is there to ensure you "perform" during eating...that is...that you appreciate while you are eating. The task in badminton isn't to serve, anyone can do that. The task is to serve perfectly. This way you gain an advantage. The task is not to eat, nor is it to say thank you before you eat....for that would be the same as having a practice serve before you start the game....as your total preparation to serve well. The idea is to be greatful throughout the experience, living each moment in your mouth exploring the sensations etc. This would in effect make a meal a very good opportunity to produce a wealth of appreciation energy. On a very slight twist, I have another proposal I am experimenting with. The concept that food and drink well well be batteries for storing energy. This is the idea that a context can be "energized". We have seen thanks to the "what the bleep do we know movie" what can be done to water. Well, who would want to put their hand up to drink that water that has had hate thoughts poured into it? Sure as heck not me. But I would of the water that was blessed by the monks with thoughts of love. So, I have begun to do this myself. Here again we come back to the proposition of the meaning of Grace. If I were to spend a day, hr, minute (however much time you have and of course depending on the food type) energizing my about to be experienced food with appreciation energy, I definitely end up focusing on it when I experience it, and it makes me feel really great as well. Also, I am of the belief that this only works for live food groups. If it is dead food, or manufactured from chemicals, I do not think it holds the "apprecaition charge" very well if at all. I also believe that if I am doing this my desire to eat junky style food is not there. I some how know that it will have either no value if I consume it, or negative value because of the side effects. I have discovered that I am naturally lazy, and wont always do it, especially when I am first starting out. But i do also notice that when I do instead just 'consume' food without appreciating it first, that I am acting against my nature, virtually lieing to myself. Putting my head in the sand so to speak, and I am very aware of the consequences when they come. So this is my task. Of course in the whole state of things, it doesn't just stop with food. We can have a routine for entering every aspect of our life. What would happen if we had a routine for entering our home. It went something like this: Arrive home and sit in the car a moment, or at the front door if you walk. Focus on the home before you, and set yourself in a frame of mind of gratitude for what you have before you. This may include everything that is inside, it may include your wife, or husband. The appreciation routine, may include one thing that you pick each day. So it is actually a different thing. You may pick your relationships separately, and therefore pick one thing about your partner or parents or siblings that you love about them. If you do this, when you walk through that door, your whole energy is different. You are a different person when you are around them....you are a person they will want to be around, and you will see them as a person you want to have around. This leads into far more things, but that is all for now.