In this day and age where everybody is doing two or five things at the same time, being on autopilot seems to be the normal setting. Each moving about their life with eyes empty, all stuck in a trance. Eating, but not really eating. Working, but not quite working. Living, but barely. When the mind is far removed from here, off in distant lands, or perpetually glued on a screen, every act the body makes feels hollow, merely reduced to habit.
So, just for this small pocket of time, let all of that fall away --- your reveries, the urge to reach for your phone, and the constant need to be elsewhere. Let each diversion loosen their grip until the mind is no longer bursting with clutter. Nothing to follow, nothing to pull you away from here.
Without preferences, without labels, what is brought to the table is no longer just “food”. Even naming it as good, bad, or in between, these impressions only limit the understanding of what truly is served.
Instead of scarfing down everything in sight, but not remembering anything at the end. Set aside the need to rush ahead so that you give your senses time to catch up. Take it one piece at a time. Then notice with an attention so present and complete that even a single morsel can begin to unfold far beyond its size. What first appears small and ordinary, starts to reveal layers unique to its own. Its colors, textures and points of light speak to you vividly in a language without words.
Should the body register hunger, nostalgia, or delight — whatever arises — down to its very last drop, soak it all in. Absorb what usually slips away, all its inconspicuous details, all that makes it come alive. Because each fine point that appears to the senses further deepens the exchange, the connection between observer and object.
In this fleeting moment of clarity, the distance collapses — you are no longer separate from here. If only for a breath longer, stay here — where nothing is added, nothing taken away. For it is already enough on its own.
This moment will end, as all moments do. And another will replace it. When it does, will attention start to drift away? Or can it remain here, present and complete?
Nothing and Everything, For the Time Being is a meditative journey into our everyday life. To meet the common and the familiar as if encountering each for the very first time. It invites you to explore the routine act of consuming, with an unhurried awareness so complete, that each mundanity emerges rich, multi-layered, and alive.
Anj Pe