First Choice: Primary Food

Do you ever wonder why kids never seem to care when they eat, what they eat, or how much they eat? They are more interested in the game they're playing than whether or not it's dinner time. The game is their primary concern. It is their primary food, nourishing them with joy and excitement, much more than any dish can really do.

I am not advocating a lack of eating. We all need to do it. But that's all it is, a necessity, and something that needs to be done well and with consciousness, but not to fulfill any emotional void. As adults we tend to gravitate towards food as a comfort mechanism, even denying ourselves can bring a sense of control, while over-indulging a sense of security. However, that is not the purpose of food. Sure, when you're hungry, food helps, and good, wholesome, natural foods make our bodies incredibly happy. Yet the spiritual mind needs creativity, love, exercise, and curiosity in order to feel complete.

I feel like I've personally struggled with this in my young adult life. I have always felt jealous of children for their freedom from an obsession with food, even of myself in past times of total relationship bliss or creative breakthrough. Times when I was so consumed with positive energy, stimulating challenge, and passion that I no longer needed to think about when I was going to eat, what I was going to eat, and how many calories would be acceptable. And this didn't mean I was careless; I know what's healthy and what's not, and know I'm capable of choosing what's good for me. Yet in these moments of quasi-enlightenment, I finally freed myself of obsession surrounding food. My body just told me I was hungry, and I ate, and then I kept going with my "primary" life.

Yet learning the basics of Ayurveda (Yoga's sister science regarding a fully balanced life) has opened my eyes completely. Why is it when someone else, or some other philosophy, clearly articulates a personal concern, the very issue becomes less confusing? I am happy to know there's a solution to the entrapment I feel around being "controlled, and healthy, and....perfect". The solution is releasing my already burning creativity into the universe. The solution is in mediation, in my yoga practice, in giving this gift to others. The solution is in building and maintaining solid relationships with other people.

These things come first, and then I can sit down to some sweet and savory seasonal sensations. But these are compliments to what should be an already fulfilled palate. In other words, feed your soul. That's where the real soul food lies.