The Buddhist have this idea of mindfullness. That is, we are to mindful of everything we do, every waking moment. I don’t quite understand it, and it seems to be impossible, but anyways…my friend was talking about how when he eats his apple, he is not thinking about eating one part of it vs. another. I guess he is not mindful… or is he… I just ate an apple, and it occurred to me that I was quite the bit mindful of how I ate my apple.
I tended to start off by taking my bites from near the top, near the stem. It seemed to me that the curvature of the apple here was best suited for the biting, as opposed to some other part. It was here, it seemed that my central and lateral incisors would be able to snap off the best chunk of the apple. And indeed it would make the noise of a snap and a crack, as it snapped off into my mouths. Next, subsequent to the snap, I would let my molars loose on that chunky bit, crushing it and squeezing out its juices into my mouth, and sliding then the crushed apple dollop down my throat.
Being mindful of what I was doing, I continued to work my way around the top of the apple and at times the middle of it, sculpting the core with my teeth. I realized that my bites were intentional. Each bite was calculated to maximize the crunchiest noise possible and bring about a snap. Each bite was calculated to break off the largest piece possible with a good sized crack!
yada yada yada…. It seemed to me that even in apple eating, we are mindful of how we eat. We are concerned with where we place our teeth and how we break of a piece of the apple. There is even something aesthetically pleasing about the way the piece snaps off and gets crunched in our mouths. There is even mindful decision making as to where we will place our bites and what we will bite off… avoiding the brownish bruised areas. We choose our bites on account of our desires.
Rhapsody of Perceptions 