Why Say Grace After Meals?
We often forget to be grateful after meals. In fact, we forget to be grateful, period. A better way of saying it is: we forget to remember to be grateful.
Of course, some people are never truly grateful. Some people do not even acknowledge God, so how can they be grateful to Him? They cannot.
But some of us are troubled by our lack of gratitude. We want to be grateful, but we forget.
It won't do you any good to dump on yourself for it. What might help is a little understanding about human nature and the nature of our consciousness.
What we need is awareness. If you were aware, you would remember to be grateful. Your awareness would nudge you or remind you. And if you were really aware, you would sort of be grateful all the time. Not mumbling prayers or a mantra, but a quiet abiding awareness that includes a delicate nonverbal acknowledgement of reality, of God's providence and of your helplessness (need for His guidance).
Few people will deny that awareness is a good thing. Any martial artist worth his or her salt, or anyone who teaches street savvy self protection, will tell you to trust your gut. Trust your intuition in other words.
Now, suppose I told you that the meditation we teach here at the Center For Common Sense Counseling is exactly that: it shows you how to find your intuition and how to stay close to it.
The higher awareness you would reap would help you go the right way in life. Perhaps a better way of saying it: your awareness would help you avoid going the wrong way.
From awareness, you would rediscover your common sense. The foolish things that others do, you would shrink from. And you would find it easier to do the sensible.
But it would do even more than that. It would remind you when you fall into excessive thought, or get lost in something, such as a delicious meal, an argument, or some favorite music. As always, you would lose awareness, say when eating a meal. Lost in the food, you forget to be grateful, and you forget to stop eating. But all of a sudden, your awareness would make you aware that you are lost in the food. In other words, you snap out.
Most people got through life, lost in one thing and then lost in another, all day long. Because of the mistakes they make during their unconsciousness, they actually begin to fear waking up and being aware.
But when the inclination of your soul changes from wanting to be unaware to wanting to know the truth, you will find that you can practice our meditation. And it then translates into helping you snap out of your reveries again and again all day long.
Here's one more hint: some things are more powerful in their ability to put you to sleep than others. One of the most powerful is food. Food is the most subtle of all hypnotics, because it so natural and necessary. When people eat, they lose awareness. And when in the trance, they feel secure, but they are more manageable and suggestible. They forget common sense, and do foolishing things. Such as eat too much for example.
Remember the story of the Garden of Eden. It was the food that was used to disobey God, forget conscience, and be free to do the forbidden. That is how food staked its claim on the whole human race.
No, you probably won't solve your food problems (bear in mind that sweets, fast food, alcohol, and drugs are variations of food). But if you meditate and want to be aware, you will find that you will be able to hang onto a shred of awareness more. You will make fewer mistakes. Your habits will moderate. And you will find yourself snapping out when you get carried away.
For the sincere person--who really wants to know the truth and who is sick and tired of being sick and tired--our meditation is definitely a helpful tool. And as the months and years go by, you might find that you can remember to be aware sometimes when you eat.
Perhaps even aware enough to remember to say grace after meals.
