Choking Hazard

Slow down. Take smaller bites. Chew your food or you’ll choke.

These table manners can be applied to a mindful approach to daily living.

I’ve noticed how often I wake in the morning with a sudden flurry of thoughts, tasks and ideas. Within five minutes of semi-consciousness, I’ve loaded my mind with a heavy buffet of fast (moving) food for thought and fill a proverbial plate with “to dos.” Panic and tension don’t promote peaceful or healthy digestion.

Three Simple Ways to Slow Down Your Daily Pace

• “Slow down.” What am I rushing into? What am I speeding toward? What am I running from?
• “Take smaller bites.” Give me this day my daily bread. Not the entire loaf. Not the entire bakery. Just enough bread for this day. Daily bread includes strength, courage, provision, patience, people, and assignments—all elements of cultivating awareness in our everyday lives.
• “Chew your food, or you’ll choke.” We can only healthily absorb so much of anything or anyone at a time. We’re not created to engage in everything. Sometimes we address situations that don’t require or need our input. It’s ok not to be involved in everything. Sometimes, it’s important not to participate in anything.

How to Slow Down and Embrace Your Daily Bread

It’s vital to appreciate each bite of life and be grateful for a daily allowance. When we slow down, we reduce our risk of choking, or at least lessen a potential chokehold.

Living One Day at a Time: A Practice in Presence

Rest well. Wake gently. Walk peacefully.

Pushing back from a table of contents to savor a slice of quiet, Christina

Reader! Your turn!

When are you most tempted to take on more than you’re designed to do?

How do you decide what’s most important for each day? Each hour?

Kindly leave your input so we can learn from each other.

“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11).