Let’s Bring Back the Quality Time

Make Your Best Impression Blog   ·   August 8, 2009

When was the last time you had a meal with your family with no distractions? As a personal or family ritual, have a meal in silence from time to time. Often the pressures of daily life can make meals a stressful routine. Or we can get so caught up in all the events of the day that we forget to take the time to enjoy our food. The tendency is to hurry through dinner so we can then dash off to the evening’s activities.

 Sit down with all the family members and discuss how you could approach having a meal in silence. Imagine everyone coming to the table with reverence, and sitting quietly for a few moments while you all connect with each other on an inner level. It’s amazing how much you can hear when no one is saying anything.

 Rather than mindlessly diving into the food, you could each genuinely but silently express your own gratitude for the meal, and accept on an inner as well as a physical level the benefits of the sustenance it will provide. Then make a point of being aware of the food, and of savoring each bite. So often we rush through meals, talking a mile a minute, and later don’t even remember what we ate, or how it tasted.

 Obviously there would be no TV or radios or stereos playing in the background. And no reading. Simply contented eating and a true familial connection.

 If you have young children, a regular practice of having meals in silence could be an important lesson of family union, and instill in them at an early age an appreciation of the real value of food in their lives.