Trey Ratcliff, flickr, http://Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend”, as per one of my favorite authors, Melody Beattie, in her book “The language of letting Go: Daily Meditations on Codependency.”
I consciously choose to focus on “it can turn a meal into a feast”. As a family, we sit together around the table at least twice a day- this can be an easy way to create a new habit, a ritual that involves myself, my soul partner and our 6 year old. This can be an opportunity to pause when the food is ready and at the table, to inhale the smell, herbs, and the warmth that surrounds it, to thank everyone who helped provide it, including the farmers who planted it, the soil and its ingredients, the sun and the rain, and the trucks that carried it throughout the country and oftentimes from another country.
This is our chance to give our blessings and love to the actual colorful, nutritious energy in front of us that we call food. I invite you to join us in this “feast”, and to give thanks to all who participated in preparing this “feast”- through this process you will also feel the connection to all beings on earth. If you wish, when you choose to turn your meal into a feast, accompany your meal with the song “Majestic Earth” by Joystock. It is a beautiful background to enjoy your meal!
And let me know if something feels or tastes different compared to the previous meals you have had…
Song: “Majestic Earth” Credit: Music by Joystock – https://www.joystock.org
P.S. In order to use my MP3 file as it was heavier than 10MB, i used the Free Convert and I compressed my file down to 4.66MB.
Hi Georgios,
Your audio serves as a background to the image, evoking feelings of happiness and contentedness. The audio you chose is upbeat, but contains serious undertones with the minor chords. Moving into the second section of the song, the clapping adds a layer that gives the sense of community, which mirrors the people sitting at the table. Perhaps they are engaged in conversation as they share a meal. We are making some assumptions about this image, including assuming that it is a happy occasion, though I think that these assumptions are well-founded. The image by itself makes me think that they are on vacation. The feeling that they are on vacation may have been strengthened by using a different type of audio; perhaps one that makes us think of islands and the beach.
Dear Annelise
Thank you for taking the time to read the post, listen to the 5min (happy) song and also write your experience in the comment section. Yes, yes, and yes! The amazing thing about sharing your views, is the confirmation of our common ground (together with the photographer and the songwriter) which you accurately named as “contentedness”. Yes, there is a sense of community in both the dining table and the clapping part of the music, which also matches with the idea of practicing gratitude for all beings who offered their services and energy so we can enjoy our meal.
Yes, definitely there is a vacation feel which we also experience when we practice gratitude during our “break” to have a meal too.
“Holy” (hālig) and “day” (dæg) created “holiday” around 950 AD. As language evolves and adapts over time, “vacation” (14th century) and “break”, took over and the “holy” (blessed, dedicated, sacred), faded away as it happens with jpg files overtime…Yes, there is also a “divine” feel of a beach- island that feels like a summer breeze when you read (listen) the post!
Hey Georgios, I really enjoyed your post. The audio you chose immediately made me smile. I even danced a little while reading your post. The audio and the picture do a good job evoking this sense of gratitude that comes with gathering around the table with friends and family and the joy that comes with time we get to spend with them. This gives the picture emotions it does not have on it’s own. At the same the picture gives the music more specific meaning.
One thing that would improve your post, is if the audio were placed right under the picture. That way readers could press play without having to scroll down, then scroll back to experience everything together.
Great job. 🙂
Dear Hannah
Thank you for your precious feedback! Reading, that my post made you dance, brings a huge smile to my face, and of course while most of the credits are towards the photographer and the musician, I am also happy that i had the opportunity to combine
all the ingredients together and give the chance to you, to taste it and dance! As of the placement of the audio file, again your view is priceless as I know now that, you could have a different experience if you were skipping, the up and down scrolling – it was my fault that i didn’t give further instructions of how to read the post as I thought that it will be too long for someone to read…but, the audio, was intensionally placed at the end, as my idea was to look at the picture first, see what feelings are arising, then read the text see if you get connected- inspired by the author’ quote and my daily “gratitude” practice idea (having in your mind still the picture), at the very end when your are done processing both, take a nice breath and then add the music. So, my lesson for next time is to do what you suggested, which is a user friendlier case, or add my extra manual of how to read the post. Thank you again and looking forward for more comments!
Georgios, I love your photo. This scene looks calming and relaxing. It appears that a nice quiet. It looks like a place where my family could gather, sit , talk and enjoy each other. It also gives you a vive of long quiet walks or dancing with my husband because of the beautifully peaceful aroma that the atmosphere exudes. The colors are very bright and exuberant. They are calming but exciting as well.
The music that you selected was perfect. It actually reminded me of a luau in Hawaii. When we attended, the affair had beautiful music that makes you want to get up and dance and enjoy the ladies that perform their Hawaii dances. Great job!
Georgios – what a beautiful sentiment! Thank you for writing such a compelling call to action for all to practice a little more gratitude in their lives. No doubt the suggestion you provided would change how we look at food and learn to appreciate what we have, which is often more than we thought. The sound that accompanies your picture ties everything together nicely. It seems like a happy occasion, and the song’s vibe feels like it works well with the setting. In fact, these two elements could be used in a travel brochure to invite people to eat and enjoy at whatever destination this is being pictured. Overall, a great job here!