Chipmunk mindful eating practice

作者: sunny 10 年，7 月 ago

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Do animals meditate? If we really watch, maybe something happening nearby can show us.

During my lunch break, I come to a quiet spot in campus under a big oak tree. The tree provides comfortable shade in this beautiful summer day and a wall of bushes in front guards the peace on green grass. This is my favorite spot for lunch, and I know a little chipmunk that lives here. I call him Jerry.

I eat my lunch, trying to slow down. When I do, it is interesting to observe the interaction between the intension to slow down and habit of speed up. Then, Jerry runs out onto the green grass. He dashes and stops, moves his head quickly, freezes for a sudden gaze, then dashes on again. Whenever I meet him, I like to share my lunch with him. I throw a freshly picked blueberry to him. The blue ball rolls on the grass and stops near him. He stares at it for a few seconds and then dashes to it, grabs it and stands up on his back feet. The berry is a big one, more than a quarter of his cute little head. Using his little front paws, he holds the fruit and smells it, taking minutes for investigation. After quite a while, he starts to work on it one tiny bite after another. The movement of his cheeks is almost invisible. I stop eating, instead watching him and feeling as if the fruit is in my mouth too.

He bites, bit by bit. Little paws carefully hold the berry while rolling it. He eats like an artist working on his masterpiece. The berry is his whole world right now. Like magic happening, his eating even draws my entire attention to this joyful moment, behind the bush and under the tree. I don’t know how long he takes eating his berry; I just feel the berry seems never shrinking in his gentle hold. Finally, this berry becomes part of his body, and Jerry continues to work on his juice socked paws. He licks them, left and right, one toe after another, up and down, back and front, top and bottom. He just licks his paws as a part of this joyful berry journey, as a part of this beautiful summer day, as apart of this mindful moment.

I give him more berries afterwards, but he has turned back to the usual mindless Jerry. He greedily stocks all berries in his cheek, totally distorts his little face, and runs away. This mindful moment passes, as quickly as it comes. Maybe every being, like me and Jerry, has the capability to catch the present moment mindfully, while also can shatter it easily by the grasping and caving for more and more. I appreciate what Jerry has given me, and wish him a good afternoon. Next time, we can have something together again.

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