Apple Of My I

Infinity Bites 2

Slice, slice, slice. Down go the little bits of apple, plop, plop, plop, onto the top of my steaming porridge. Being a good Scot at heart, I do like my traditional healthy breakfast in the morning, you see!

But what a shame, I was thinking, that it’s so laborious to prepare. If it weren’t for all these pesky little actions – chopping the fruit, adding the nuts and raisins and spices, opening the microwave again and again so it doesn’t boil over – if it weren’t for all this preparation palaver, I’d be enjoying far more of my precious present moments. I wonder if there’s a way to speed up the process or eliminate some of the tedious steps.

And then I stopped. Am I wishing my life away? Am I eschewing my very own personal philosophy of always being able to say, at any given instant, that yes, this is exactly what I want to be doing and I’m enjoying it and everything’s good and just as it should be?

Oops!

So I started to be aware of each chopping of each new chunk of apple. The way the skin resisted just a little before succumbing and allowing the knife to slide effortlessly through the flesh was really quite pleasing.

The thought that whatever powers or processes that be had brought about this little apple’s presence in my hands, this morning, of all mornings, just so that I could have a tasty, sweet and wholesome topping to this particular bowl of my preferred cereal… was tittilating.

The idea that my entire life, every footstep, every spoon of slop placed in my baby mouth by my mother’s loving hand, every success, every disappointment, every diploma, every disaster, every drink I downed, everything… had been leading, inexorably and inevitably to very next slice I was about to cut… was sobering.

I started to focus only on the current action, enjoying the repetitive but satisfying motion and imagining that this must be a bit like a meditator following their breath, although that sort of meditation’s not something I do much.

Dice, dice, dice; drop, drop, drop. I can honestly say I spent several seconds in a very nice state of presentness with my mind’s eye picturing the universe in a piece of falling fruit. Newton’s got nothing on me, guys!

Then good old monkey mind chipped in with, “Hey! This would make a funny little article for The Lazy Pig, in the Infinity Bites section, to be precise.” and the moment passed, but these reflective moments are becoming more frequent.

When you think that, whatever it is you are currently doing, be it banal or blockbuster-worthy, your entire existence up until this point has simply been a preparation for… it, you start to see things differently.

All these seemingly separate activities are simply undulations on the playing field of the very same game of life we’re all bewildered participants in.

The moment of our birth is linked as surely to the next bite of apple we take as it is to our very first breastfeed. It’s just a little further down the line.

So let’s chop our apples and admire wild flowers and smell a delicious meal being prepared and hear a favourite melody and bite into, well, an apple, as though it’s the first time we’ve ever had these sensations. In a way, it is, and when we take the time to fully enjoy the feeling, even if just for a moment, we have truly added a few more seconds to our lives, and good ones at that.

GET COACHED BY SAB!

🧩 Sab has been exploring the creative human experience in Paris for over 25 years. He writes words, makes pictures and encourages connectedness every day. He’d love to help you make the most of your infinite potential too, creatively and authentically…

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