Experiences enrich our life. When we look back, the sum total of our life is really the sum total of all the experiences we have had, whether it be with people, places, or things. And as we continue working hard to give ourselves more, we need to take a relook at how we experience our experiences.

On reflecting, we will realise that the best way of living fully and going through experiences in life is very much like having a meal. When we eat in a hurry, we fill ourselves, but rarely enjoy the meal. Slowing down allows us to fully enjoy each experience.

We need to chew our food to relish it and get nourished. In life too, we need to give each experience our full attention, chewing on every moment we get, extracting the most from life.

Well digested food is of value, swallowing our meal can upset our system. Experiences, whether pleasant or challenging, need to be digested in their entirety and we need closure. Undigested emotions come back to hurt us as emotional baggage in life.

There are times we are served something we may not particularly like. When we move our thinking from taste to a sense of gratitude of getting a warm meal, we enjoy whatever we eat. When we view difficult experiences as learnings in life, we approach them with a sense of gratitude and carry our burden with relative ease.

We enjoy our meals the most when we share them with others. No meal is an ordinary meal when enjoyed with people we love. In life too, our willingness to include others in our experiences changes the way we enjoy life.

Some meals we cook for ourselves, some are decided by others, but once we sit at the table, we enjoy the meal. In life too, we realise we don’t have control over what comes our way, and some experiences are forced onto us. Learning to accept this fact and giving our best in each experience is getting the most from life.

We often get distracted while eating, only to realise that we went through the motions and didn’t even realise what we ate and how good it tasted. The meal was a wasted meal. When we don’t give our full attention to the situation on hand, we waste valuable learnings from our experiences.

Our appetite allows us to enjoy each meal, and it is our enthusiasm and appetite for life that prepares us for unpredictable experiences in life.

The taste of life is in living each experience to its fullest. When we sip a drink, we enjoy it the most. Life too is not to be gulped but sipped, one experience at a time, living life one day at a time.

(Picture-Frangipani tree in the garden)