Yesterday morning I decided to have a completely different approach to breakfast. I decided to have a breakfast date with my 7 year old daughter.
This decision stemmed from me asking myself the following questions…
1. “Why can’t the care and enjoyment of a meal always be like a date?”. We seem to put that extra effort and care in when we prepare for a date, or are out on a date, from the food prep, setting the table, our dress etc. I find that the meal and company feels special because of this care and effort.
2. “Why can’t we have that level of presence and care with every meal, with those in our family who we eat with everyday?”. I live with my seven-year-old daughter… so for me the question was “Why can’t every meal feel like a date (fun, playful, light and enjoyable)?”. Why can’t it have the care and dedication towards its preparation, the setting up of the table, eating of the meal and complete focus on each other during meaningful conversation without allowing any distractions to interfere?
Breakfast for us is usually a sit down time together where I usually leave early to wash the dishes. It’s a relatively healthy meal that I take time to prepare and it is a time for us to chat, so it ticks boxes… but there is still a chore element to it. Like it is one chore of the day… a moment that we sit and eat but when that is done, then we get on with all the other things we have to do for the day. Sometimes there is a bit of a task feeling, a need to complete, a doing focus / feeling or a bit of a push behind it.
So yesterday, I decided that I was going to have a breakfast date with my daughter and let her feel how special it was. I decided to make something that she said she liked – but I had not yet made it for her. That something was carrot soup. Whenever I have given her any type of soup, she eats them, some with complaints and others without. Some she enjoyed and others she tolerated and some she did not like at all – at least she always tried them – but she would often say “I like carrot soup!”. Never having made carrot soup, I embarked on making it especially for her, for our breakfast date – very simply, with carrots, garlic, tomatoes, water and a little salt. I accompanied the soup with some lovely stir-fried green vegies on a delicate side plate.
The food looked and smelled great – the bench where we ate felt amazing because of the care that I took. We enjoyed our meal and there was not one ounce of pressure or push or chore feeling to it but pure delight… and the actual meal itself got a two thumbs up from my daughter, which was great… an added bonus because I knew that the whole breakfast date experience was amazing because it felt amazing making it – or should I say I felt amazing making it!
By Johanna Smith, Perth
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
Isn’t it interesting how food plays a big role in our lives. It’s a moment to meet at the table and connect and catch up with everyone. But I love the angle you have bought this too. Everything matters when it comes to food, because it can always be felt.
I however loved the breakfast date, you can actually feel the love and the intimacy shared between the two, so needed in this mad world we live in. It makes our children feel special and loved too.
What a beautiful date…
To be with another and not be imposed upon is an amazingly freeing experience – it is something I am learning to appreciate but also learning to offer to others around me. Generally it is not that difficult to do, however there are times when I get caught up in an investment or wanting something and this can then come out as an imposition on another… and so I am learning constantly how to handle myself and relationships around me.
Every moment when we are in the present can be appreciated as a moment that is a gift – the time spent with another and ourselves, the appreciation of what is shared, the understanding of what is needed in that moment in time and nothing more nor nothing less.
That moment of being with someone is special, especially when we truly connect to ourselves first before we can connect with another. And in that connection, we can actually feel the appreciation of being with each other. It is worth more then the food we eat.
The simplicity of letting ourselves just be with each other is a gift worth its weight in gold.
Joy and loving dedication are great ingredients to cook and eat together
Bringing more playfulness into our lives is always a great choice.
Such a lovely read, this is what we are missing in life, the richness, joy and appreciation of each other, we seem to be travelling so fast through life and missing out on these precious moments.
Every meal can be made in the most Loving way, it can be nourishing to our Soul while nurturing our body, and the most delicious foods as you have shared Johanna are simple, which allow us the most amazing way of living.
The quality of energy we are in whilst cooking affects the meal we make, ‘I knew that the whole breakfast date experience was amazing because it felt amazing making it – or should I say I felt amazing making it!’
Both register true to me but what came first? Me thinketh that amazing-ness is a lived quality that is taken into every kitchen, house and any-or-every-where!
We don’t like chores and tasks, but I think it’s one of the secrets of human life that being committed and giving our all is what makes us enjoy ourselves most in whatever activity we are engaged in.
cute ✨ yep why not make every moment either with ourselves or with others like we would on a date?
Date night each and every night – a celebration of ourselves and the other.
That time and effort to make an occasion special and without it feeling like a must do chore does feel different. And definitely, why not make it an everyday thing rather than the drag of chores and must do’s being the everyday standard?
It is a joy to move in a way that is honouring of ourselves and when we take that care to prepare for something we naturally move in a more honouring way.
Is part of what we enjoy on a so-called special occasion like a date the extra care and time we take, the space we give ourselves to fully prepare, be with ourselves and to enjoy that preparation? What if we saw life like this- a series of moments to deepen and bring more awareness and more love to, so that it becomes impossible to see the next thing as another chore, another thing that has to be done?
It is incredible to feel the power we have access to live with when we surrender to love, the love we are within, and how beholding this love is for not only ourselves but for all.
My children have children of their own now, so I get the absolute pleasure of dining with some of my grandchildren every now and then, on their own. We always take great care to set the table and to take our time to eat and enjoy, often having a most wonderful life-expanding conversation, not just for them but for me too. These are definitely precious moments in time to be treasured.
I feel that every moment with my husband is a special date and every time I see him I am freshly wowed – mind you we have only been married for 25 years so we are still on our honeymoon.
Nicola, you had me smiling inside and out with your gorgeous comment. It sure sounds like you’re enjoying your ‘honeymoon’ so much that it is going to be never ending. Now this to me, is a true love story. Looking forward to the book!
There are so many books, I too am looking forward to them!!!
The other endless thing is how much love and expansion is available. What happened was that as our love grew and deepened with ourselves and each other, it started to include more people and spread so now I have a gorgeous wife (that is our joke) as well as my husband and more and more very special people in my life and of course the fact that everyone is special. My husband is the only one I am physically intimate with so it is not in that way, but the energetic quality of love and connection is for all.
A great demonstration of what care, focus and presence can bring to any occasion and every situation. The mundane is mundane no more and life becomes rich, joyful and ever renewed.
Agreed and beautifully said – mundane does not exist when love is present in which there can never be too much joy lived.
Opening up to the inner heart, allows for questions, answers, situations that can bring to our life a totally different normality; one where you can let yourself swim in beauty.
So gorgeous to share – and it does highlight how we don’t pay enough love and attention to things. Reading this shows how we can work together to deepen each moment.
To deepen each moment rather than sink into the morass of sameness that life would otherwise be – a mere existence.
There is no limit to the depth on offer in each moment.
It takes a meal to a whole other level when we make it about people and not just about food and great taste.
And offers the opportunity to make everything a celebration of who we are which in turn then supports us to feel more strongly the inner connection and bring even more to the relationships that we are in.
Reading this I realise that, especially the meals I have been having on my own, have not felt very special. Time to start refreshing my relationship with myself around meal time.
The value of time where we are present with others cannot be overestimated.
‘We are what we eat’ according to a popular adage, but I would say it is far more accurate to say that ‘we eat what we are’ as in – the quality of energy in which we prepare the meal will be the quality of energy we ingest as we eat it.
“Why can’t every meal feel like a date (fun, playful, light and enjoyable)?” Love this question, as it so often happens that meal times become chores, all the preparation beforehand and the clearing up afterwards. But as we have to eat, might as well make the whole experience pleasurable for everyone. And maybe the food tastes nicer too!
Reading this blog made me realise just how much I am thinking ahead to the next thing when I am eating a meal, instead of just feeling and being there with the people I am eating with, even if it is just myself. What a great opportunity to check in with our bodies and learn something about ourselves.
I can relate Michael, as I have found myself while eating dinner, thinking about what I still have to do after dinner and before going to bed and then finding myself eating a tad too quickly in order to get finished. I hate to do that now, and have much more focus on how I am eating and how my food tastes. And mostly, my food tastes delicious.
This is a little trick of the human spirit that lives within us all – to not allow the mind to be in tune with what the body is doing and thus by always thinking of the next thing or even by ruminating on a past occurrence, it maintains control of the human body so our true self – our Soul, cannot enter.
Amazing Johanna, every meal can be of a quality that is very caring and loving. Actually I would say it should be because what are we otherwise putting in our mouths and in what quality?
Yes and you also have to wonder what comes out of our mouths at some meals, so the conversation is important too.
It is definitely noticeable that the quality of a meal is a reflection of the quality in which it is prepared.
Meals go to a whole new level when you make them about people and not just about the food.
Why do we reserve our love for special events when we can enjoy every moment? It’s like we are controlled by this idea that there just isn’t time – but there is always space for joy – that’s all there is.
‘Why do we reserve our love for special events when we can enjoy every moment?’ Great question, which asks us to be present in our bodies throughout our day to day activities, and when we are, there is always a flow, and in the flow the joy can be felt.
What a very precious moment in time for both of you, a moment which I am sure your daughter will not forget in a hurry. Taking the time to stop and be totally present with our children is a gift that ought not to be considered special, but simply very ordinary, an everyday event.
We can fall into habits with family where we do not take the care we could or be as present as we could. But exactly why aren’t we? Life is one, and separating it does not make sense.
Settling for sameness and repetition is comfortable but can never replicate the fullness we feel from going deeper with Love. As you show Johanna it’s just a simple choice away.
De-light for break-fast. Not a bad choice!
What you bring beautifully to the fore here is that life is not about getting things done, whatever they might be, but about the relationships we have with ourselves and others.
Meal times are a coming together of the family and an opportunity to reflect on the day. I love sharing meal times especially in the evenings as it feels like a completion to the day, but I like your idea of making breakfast equally as enjoyable and what a wonderful way to begin the day.
When we prepare whatever we are to do with love it lays the foundations for it to be both a nurturing and joyful experience.
It is the quality in which we do things that makes the world of difference. And the quality in which we do something on one moment, effects the next moment and so on and so on. And the question that we need to ask ourselves is in which quality are we in for our moments and what effect are they having on our next?
I love your questions and they are inspiring me to look into the inconsistency in the level of care I put into – e.g. making some things more important/special than others, somewhat allowing myself to switch off at times as if it does not deserve my full attention, and how I might express myself or behave differently depending on who with. Rather unpleasant actually.
When the intent is with joy and harmony then the outcome will be the same, thank you for sharing.
This is a very sweet blog Johanna, reminding us that there is joy to be found in all aspects of life if we are prepared to fully commit ourselves to whatever we are doing whether it be preparing a space for a meal, preparing the meal itself or going for a walk; or, if we choose otherwise, we can make everything a chore.
Your blog is an invitation for everyone to re-claim the power of having a meal together – Thank you!
Two great questions to ask, why don’t we apply the same quality into everything we do, not just our meals? There is much to ponder on, reflect on and ultimately let go of, to allow ourselves to do just this. It is so worth it though, there is way less tension in our bodies when we approach life with a quality and care, as our bodies get to live how they want to live, with tenderness, grace and in a harmonious flow.
Love this Johanna – such a sweetness in what you share. My daughters are all grown up now, but occasionally we have dinner dates where we cook and set up the table with flowers and candles. This comes with a different feel to our usual cooking, setting the table and then all sitting and chatting about our days and the situations we have read. When we dress the table and have a dinner date, the quality is more intimate.
This is great Johanna – and you’re highlighting one of the key things we need to look at about what makes life mundane and a bit of a humbug… making things a chore. It is possible to have every meal that we make special, a celebration of us coming together. And this can then extend to everything else we do in the day – to putting the bins out, hanging out the laundry, getting ready for work, etc etc etc. When we make things a chore, we do this because we have left ourselves out of it – and hence, we get drained. But when we do things with us in them, there is a joy and spunk to whatever it is we do – because it’s not what we are doing that matters, but that we are feeling us, our essence, in whatever it is we do. And that… is amazing.
Interestingly enough we indeed pay much attention to our ‘date’ when it is an planned one, but what if we put the same amount of detail to meeting everyone; on the street, at work or in the lobby.. How would our world look? How would we be? And how much more togetherness will this bring to our table? To our society, our families, our neighborhood, our communities, our country — our world? How big is your effect that you have on people? How much could we use this of true good? Ponder on this truly and this will grow us more than we can think of.
Every moment is our choice, life is our own making, we choose how we want it to be, so absolutely, why not enjoy every moment like it is a date?
Thank you Johanna for this beautiful reminder that every moment we have can be lived with intimacy, cuteness and much appreciation. Why wait for an evening you declare to be special when you can live this way every day? It’s easy to get caught into the humdrum averageness of what we call life, but it’s just not true, not right. If we change our movements the depth will be there for us to adore, court and cherish ourselves.
Really lovely to set the table and make a playful date with your daughter, I have also found that even when we eat alone, it is important to lay the table and lovingly prepare a meal, as we allow ourselves that deeper love, that we deserve all of the time.
Lovely Johanna , is it not amazing how simple things can be when one supplies the missing elements.
” was amazing because it felt amazing making it – or should I say I felt amazing making it! “
It’s not what we do, it’s the way that we do it that makes the difference.
What a delightful moment in time and a very precious one indeed. It certainly is a reminder that when we eat we have the opportunity to nourish our body, so taking the time to lovingly prepare the food, and allow our self the space to eat in a honouring way is offering due respect to the wonderful vehicle that supports us day in day out. Tonight I am sharing a meal with one of my grandchildren so I will definitely be taking the message from your beautiful sharing with me to the table.
“I felt amazing making it!” This is the essential ingredient in any recipe.
What great question Johanna. Why do we reserve bringing our love, our all, to only ‘special’ occasions or moments? When in fact every day, every moment that we are alive is a special occasion, as we have the opportunity to be the love we are and bring this quality to every part of our living day.
When we prepare our meals with love, it tastes and feels amazing when we eat it. But when we take extra care in setting the table and clearing it, the amazing feeling goes to another level. the space we prepare for ourselves is equally as important as the meal itself.
I considered similar questions about care with my morning shower. I can bring that level of attention and care into my everyday but it feels like all the ‘have to-do’s’ distract me from this. Rather than focusing on the why is the distraction so attractive when care feels amazing I feel to keep coming back and appreciating these moments of presence and care.
A classic example of making a meal about Love and connection not just about the food. It actually adds to the quality of the meal and makes it evolutionary and meaningful. These are by far the best meals.
The level of quality we bring to any one thing we do determines the level of quality we will feel in it.
Beautiful. To make every moment special. We are often so focussed on the moments that we deem special in our life that we miss out on the beauty every (other) moment holds.
The quality of energy we feel in our bodies when we move about our days brings a great energy to all facets of our lives and shows just how much fun and joy we can have anytime and with anyone when we feel totally at ease and connected to our bodies.
It is so true Kelly – it is our connection to our love that will lighten up any day, anywhere, any time.
It’s great to put a care and detail to anything let alone a breakfast date or similar with one of your children. Like the article is saying we get caught up busy in life and walk past the important things. Taking time to truly connect with everything you do makes the end result a ‘no brainer’ as it will be the end result of that same quality. Again as the article presents, the intention, the way it’s made and in fact the quality of every step leading in to wherever you are going already sets the foundation and momentum of what’s to come. We place so much focus on the end at times that we tend to not see or celebrate the walk there. Every part is important as the end is only the final part of a whole journey.
Why can’t every meal feel like a date (fun, playful, light and enjoyable)?” Great question, and what a joy that sounds to bring to every meal whether we sit with someone or whether we are dining alone.
This is a great reminder that having a meal together can be special at any time. It just depends on our intention and the energy we choose!
Cutest story ever!! I love this little ritual. What an awesome start to any day. Making the time to really enjoy breakfast time….so simple and such a pleasure.
Joy Johanna, the missing element when we make it about chores alone. I feel you delight in how you prepared and your delight in sharing it with your daughter, and in fact I feel the date started with you in your preparation and continued into the eating together. We do things and the question is what is the quality we do them in, is it in appreciation, joy and delight or as a chore, a need to do. We can choose.
Love this – that every meal we have together with our loved ones can feel like a date if we commit to the meal and the table being a place of connection and intimacy.
Eating our meals without distractions and as an opportunity to connect with others brings them a lot closer to what they are meant to be – nourishment for the body.
Funny I have been feeling this recently as a friend made a big effort for my birthday lunch, we have lunch every week and it was lovely. I did think why do we not do this every time we met, why not make everything have that ritual and care.
This example can be applied to everything: do we appreciate the things we have to do, like eat, work and chores, as moments to connect and enjoy being with ourselves and others, or do we only see the doing and the perfunctory task, just another thing on our to do list?
Everyday moments made special with the quality care and attention to detail offered here feels and is amazing to be part of. What a beautiful sharing of an everyday occurrence and the magic of this.
Making the ‘special moments’ in life about everyday things is a wonderful way to support our children to value what is true in life, and not make the ‘occasion’ the special thing. We are good at doing this with birthdays, xmas, holidays, weekends etc. as we look to the rest as being the more laborious ‘work’ we have to do in order to enjoy those ‘special’ times.
I love it – a simple story of life being about connection.
I love how you changed the focus and brought in the love and caring, ‘We enjoyed our meal and there was not one ounce of pressure or push or chore feeling to it but pure delight…’ what a difference this made to your meal and date.
What a fantastic idea, having a breakfast date with your daughter, “Why can’t we have that level of presence and care with every meal, with those in our family who we eat with everyday?” Now that would be lovely.
Thank you Johanna what a great reminder that we can celebrate each and every part of our life when we bring ourselves to it in this way. Care, dedication and complete focus is a great recipe for life and as we appreciate the light and love we bring in this others feel it too, doubly so.
‘“Why can’t the care and enjoyment of a meal always be like a date?”. Lovely Jo, and in fact everything we do can have that same beautiful quality.
Its amazing how our food feels when we make it with love and give it that attention and care. I have noticed more with myself when I eat the food I have cooked which has been made with extra love and care tastes so different, to when no care has been put in.
It’s true if we choose to celebrate with love, love will be in the celebration. It is also confirming how another will enjoin you when that love is honoured and prepared in. There’s no reason whatsoever this always can be the case, always in anything we do however, a meal is a daily ceremony that can be celebrated.
This is beautiful Johanna – a gorgeous way to enjoy preparing, eating and sharing a meal with someone in this way. A ‘date’ that will be remembered for a very long time .
I have the joy of living ‘up the path’ from two of my grandchildren and I love our regular dinner, and sometimes, breakfast dates. It is usually just one at a time so we can really be with each other. Spending this time with them and having some amazing conversations is so absolutely precious; I appreciate every single moment.
I love what you have shared here Johanna, you can feel the difference with the quality of the meal and the connection shared when time has been spent bringing a presence and a joy while preparing a meal.
In other words, rather than wait in life for a special moment, why not make every moment special.
It’s great how you brought more care and loving presence to an ‘everyday’ moment or mealtime! We often cherish the times when we have put special emphasis on coming together for a meal but why not bring more of this quality of connection to our everyday interactions?
From this article it appears that we can turn almost anything around to be a celebration of connection and indeed love… how lovely.
Inspired by this blog I made a choice to ‘make of date’ of my meals yesterday with my wife and my mother. It was very beautiful to do so and led to a conversation with my mother that simply flowed from my heart and during which I shared myself with a greater level of openness. It brings a new meaning to ‘making a meal of things’.
Love it Johanna, thank you for sharing this here. We can bring this kind of loving attention to most if not all of our ‘chores’ in life if we choose to. What a loving gift to ourselves this is.
I like what you bring to the fore here, that nothing needs to be a chore as such, that it is just something we do all the while enjoying ourselves and the company we keep. So it is more about the people than the task at hand.
It’s lovely reading this again. I’m now feeling inspired to take more care with my meal times, and enjoy the whole process feeling playful as well. I really connected to the part about the meaningful conversation. I used to see couples out on dates totally engrossed in each other’s conversations, it’s kind of disappeared with the advent of mobile phones, social media and continual texting. How our normal has now changed, but my mealtimes could definitely do with this same meaningful conversation.
A gorgeous approach to a meal shared with a loved one… thanks for the reminder and the inspiration Johanna to make everything count.
We certainly miss out when we get settle for the tick box level of living and forget that what the heart has to offer is so very much grander than that.
It is a shame that we allow life to get so busy that we don’t stop to honour the seemingly mundaneness of meal time to make it into something special like you have done. Your date with your daughter sounds lovely and is an inspiring way to take a little more time and quality to connect to those we love.
This is beautiful Johanna. How lovely it would be to prepare breakfast for myself as though I was dating me. I am inspired to try this this morning and I can already feel how I need to adjust my morning routine and rhythm to honour my date.
I love re-reading this Johanna and it raises such a brilliant questions. Why is that we save bringing our all, all our love and care to only special occasions? Why not make every moment a special occasion and an opportunity to bring our all to, as then our lives would be far more enriched and shared with love-filled occasions. Makes sense to me : )
What a beautiful way to look at every meal, it’s like the saying why don’t we celebrate everybody and everyday like it’s a birthday. A great reminder to enjoy and be present with love and joy in all we do.
Taking the time to make every meal, however simple it might be, a celebration – I love it! A beautifully reminder to me, that even though I live on my own, to not take meal times for granted and to always honour the preparation and eating of my meals.
I love this Johanna and can see how the appreciation and care we bring to a date, could easily apply everyday. In the past would delicately dress my potential partners plate, make the lighting nice and make sure I cook well and wear something nice. But hey as you say, why do we settle for less when a romance is not on the scene? Truly we all deserved to be serenaded and seduced by our own sweet kindness.
Great to be take the ‘chore’ element out of a daily ritual so that there can be more celebrating.
How beautiful for you and your daughter to learn the difference between the same meal but one with care and one without. I know my day always flows so much more smoothly when I take care in my preperation for it. This, for me, is the key to having long fulfilling days without getting bogged down and exhausted.
Through my association with Universal Medicine students I have become aware of the wonderful saying feeding love back to yourself through the food you prepare and eat and this blog offers just that taste, with a side dish of playfulness and joy.
What I love about this blog is that it shows us how we can make anything in life a super loving and enjoyable event. Many people do not even take the time to have breakfast as they kind of fall out of bed into their clothes and off they go to work. So making this a special time with your daughter is very inspiring – I mean, what a way to start your day!
Someone I greatly respect shared with me last week that the we way we prepare food and the energy we do it in is as important as the food we actually eat. This was in response to a conversation I was having as I was wondering if it was still supportive for me to be eating certain foods. When she said that I could feel the truth of it and how often the things we overlook as being little things are actually much, much bigger than we realise. Your blog is full of little things that are actually quite huge and life changing and could be overlooked as simply a sweet story.
I love the idea of having a breakfast date – every day.
Thank you for sharing Johanna. This is not only a gorgeous story but a very wise and delicious recipe for life.
Just beautiful to read Jonanna, thank you I feel inspired to take more care with my preparation not making it so much like a chore , but a delightful loving time being present with myself in all my doing.
Connecting and appreciating our own quality allows us to value others for who they are and not take them for granted, this is a beautiful and simple way to deepen intimacy with others.
Johanna I had so much joy to read your awesome blog as it is an inspiration for me to prepare my food like you described so beautifully. It is such an invitation to take this extra care in everything I do – wonderful.
This blog is so awesome Johanna – I am inspired to have a breakfast date with myself.
Whenever I feel rushed, it is usually because I have not allowed enough time in preparing and sitting down to eat the meal. It is a question as to where I was and my choices leading into the preparation of the meal. I have three children and meal times can be challenging but when I feel rushed, guarantee they get easily distracted and start to play up!
I could relate to the chore element that often comes into our meal preparation together as a family but there is also something else that can creep in is that it becomes all about the food tasting good instead of how the food was made or the fact that we are all together. I love the idea of having a dinner date together. When we have all contributed to the meal or preparation or even setting up the table it feels very unify and there is more conversation.
To bring honor and appreciation into our everyday living and tasks is uplifting every day and moment. It is about the people we meet – from ourselves to family, friends, colleagues, supermarket cashiers to strangers on the street – and not about ‘what to do/reach’. If I make it about people it does turn my world around. Very interesting to experience.
Lovely Johanna, bringing this sort of presence to the time we spend together with family and friends is so important, there is no need for anything to feel a chore, particularly if we understand the power of what we bring to another through the things we have to do every day.
This has given me a moment to ponder on my breakfast routine and yes I can feel elements of wanting to get it done and also a sense of checking out from my fullness, by perusing Facebook whilst eating. I can feel the call for more pressence, care and love in my breakfast routine, thank you Johanna.
To get a meal with so much love and dedication is wonderful and can never be not nourishing on all levels.
Meal times provide the perfect opportunity to reconnect with and appreciate one another.
““Why can’t we have that level of presence and care with every meal, with those in our family who we eat with everyday?” A great point Johanna. I would add – “..or when eating alone..” – as I know I don’t celebrate all my solo meals when it is just me. Something to reflect upon – and change. Thankyou.
It really does bring it back to the simplicity of our own connection in everything we do and the quality that unfolds from these moments is second to none. Giving ourselves the space to enjoy these moments has the added bonus of creating expansion in our connections too as there is no rush or need to be anywhere. Gorgeous Johanna thank you.
I love this, why not make every thing we do be like a date? Taking special care in everything we do and go that extra mile all the time. I am living much more like this than I ever used to and realise there is loads more love to grow. It just feels fuller all the time and more joyful.
A meal prepared and shared with love nourishes so much more than the physical body.
‘fun, playful, light and enjoyable’ – gorgeous Johanna, and so simple.
Johanna this is where it is at when it comes to the joy and connection we develop with each other. Your blog is inspiring in its simplicity and the fact that we can all bring the love that we are to all the we do.
What a glorious sharing Johanna, bringing love in detail to the breakfast table, a great foundation to begin everyday with.
It’s so easy to go about our day and have it be about ticking boxes as you’ve shared here Johanna instead of enjoying every moment and interaction and being present in full in each one. A great thing to have the attention brought to. Thank you.
We spend so much time rushing around to ‘get things done’ we miss out on the people we share our lives with. Your blog shows how simple it is to connect to others in each and every moment. Thank you Johanna.
This just goes to show that we can put the effort and time and quality into what we do in life, so then where do these images of our everyday tasks being a ‘chore’ come in from? We know we have to do them as part of human life but who says we have to relate to them in a dulled, boring, tick box way? and then that brings up the question of, just because someone never verbally told me as a child ‘you have to hate or bemoan about loading the dishwasher’ – what are the other forms of communication that are not being addressed because from somewhere this has been communicated that the everyday life and commitments = dull and less and thus should be related to in a lacking in commitment way. If we wait around for the verbal communications are we not cutting ourselves off from responding to all the other non verbal communications we are constantly receiving?
Something is very very wrong if our every day tasks become a ‘chore’, something to push through and get done. I feel when this happens we take our focus away from the true quality of our presence and place it all on the investment in some future event occurring. It is very draining and tiresome to do this
A great example of how our quality of being affects everything we do and everyone around us. Particularly so with food, where the quality we are in as we chop, stir, sprinkle and pour has a bearing on the experience of eating, on the conversation, the ambience and by no means least – the digestion. So breakfast in the way you approached becomes a fantastic way to set up for the day ahead compared to the more normal grab-and-go munch-on-the-run.
Thank you Johanna, this is very timely for me in reminding me to take more care in my food preparation, not having it as something to just get done, but to bring loving care in its preparation and presentation. And enjoy eating with love.
We always need to remember that children feel everything, when we acknowledge this, recognise this and live accordingly, it opens a doorway for our children to live in this way as well, with their natural ability to feel nurtured and recognised.
This is gorgeous Johanna, making every moment the special moment it truly is. Being together is very precious.
that was such a timely blog for me to read Johanna. I can feel that the tension I have been feeling lately around the meal preparation and eating is exactly related to all that you describe so well in your blog – the allowing of the chore, doing flavours etc to creep in. Reading your blog gives me the joy to get back on track and is a great reminder of the purpose of making every meal a gorgeous date experience – with no perfection
I always love a meal that comes together as an expression of the love lived. It is always amazing no matter what and the love that is in every morsel of the food makes every bite super nourishing and nurturing to feel in the body. Why not celebrate every meal this way?
Johanna, as I was reading what came to mind was the way that you no doubt set up a beautiful day ahead through the way you took such loving care in both preparing for and participating in your breakfast date.Clearly this was appreciated by your daughter. I wonder how many other people also benefited from the ripple effect at the time? A very powerful, yet simple way to share love and joy – thank you for also sharing with all of us.
Enjoying a meal with somebody is an awesome opportunity for connection
It certainly is Joe, well said.
A lovely blog, reminding me how important it is to prepare and present food for one with the same love, attention, fun and care that you would if you were preparing for several or many. A friend recently cancelled dinner at mine at the eleventh hour. I’d bought the food, laid the table and was busy chopping veg. It was turning dark outside so I made a celebration out of it anyway, lighting candles, playing gentle music and ensuring I served up exactly what I’d planned – just for me. I’m worth it!
Awesome Johanna, you’ve inspired me to be more playful and fun with our meals, putting in that extra care and love always makes everything taste so much yummier.
What a beautiful way to celebrate the connection between you and you, and you and your daughter, I love it.
Well said Annelies – beautifully succinct.
I love this Johanna. I now spend two nights a week living with my dad, so our next meal together will be date.
Come to think of it, when I have dinner tomorrow night I will have a date with myself. Some beautiful serviettes and my best serving dishes are on their way! After all, why not? And why not make every meal a date?
That’s right, ‘why not make every meal a date?’ I am going to try this too, it is going to be so much fun. I love food, love sharing and love making it. I am inspired to carry that love through to every step. I love going on dates, so why just saving it for specially occasions? Really everyday is a special occasion.
Wow Johanna thanks for the inspiration to make every meal a date with others or myself. With breakfast I find I happily bring great care to preparing and cooking it but can often be distracted when eating because of feeling the need to get out the door on a work morning. All it takes is allowing a few extra minutes and appreciating that I am worth it. Thank you for reminder to bring presence and care to every action in the day to nurture ourselves and others.
Thank you Johanna for this timely reminder. Only yesterday, I hurried to prepare and eat breakfast with my six year old daughter, so that we could get to work and school on time.
Somehow with story, bath and dressing taking a little longer than usual, we found ourselves running quite late. As I was reading your delight full blog I realised that life can be one long and lovely ” date with love “, and that with a bit of planning, preparation and loving rhythms in our lives, the entire day can be spacious, playful and yummy; just like a date with love should be. I’ve started planning already! Your blog has been an inspiration.
So much pleasure can be had from very mundane and simple tasks when we put our presence into it. Treating ourselves and our loved ones as the most cherished guest in everything and everyday, what a way to live!
You’ve made a great point here Johanna – the tiresome approach of making everyday things a chore is so boring and painful at times. Why can’t we enjoy what is there to be done and take the time to apply care and presence. We can make it fun and enjoyable just by being with ourselves – every moment is a moment to celebrate.
It is something we often do while on holiday as we break the momentum. We should be on holiday mode daily and take time for everything, it is about us to create space for ourselves. This can be done by going to bed early and waking up early for example, or setting the day before to anticipate.
It was lovely to read about your breakfast date and the quality you prepared the meal with. Food does taste amazing when made with love.
I love this Johanna, and I am inspired to do the same. Breakfast is usually a meal that is rushed, although if I have people staying we do always make sure we meet at breakfast. But to treat it like a date feels gorgeous, taking more care and more time to prepare the food and to eat it. This is something that I am definately going to do more of. Thankyou!
What a great reminder that everything matters and that we are included in that ‘everything’ too. It struck me that this approach – bringing a level of presence and care – applies to everything we do, from putting out the trash, filling the petrol tank, cleaning the loo, making a job application, being at a social event, you name it. It ensures we’re in the moment, with the task or the experience, being us fully, rather than the body being on one thing and the mind on another.
I agree Cathy. Every moment needs to have our presence, love and care.
Such a delightful blog, sharing this time with your daughter. Making breakfast a time to connect, not make it about the doing, and asking the question….why can’t we do this more often? Absolutely, make time and the quality time for each meal, really beautiful.
Bringing love into our everyday and our every way – and to be able to share this with another is pure joy. Beautiful sharing Johanna thank you.
Our children can feel when we are just ticking boxes… They feel everything, and when we start to honour this, they feel this too, and are able to respond from this knowing, which then starts to reinforce the connection with themselves, because they feel being recognised and substantiated. This can be the foundation for them to choose the inner path rather than the external distraction.
True cjames2012. It all starts with fully living it ourselves.
Great reminder Johanna to make every moment a special moment without needing a special reason other than that we deserve to be treated with gentleness and care 24/7. The depth I felt just now is a great marker to change the quality in which I live.
That’s such a gorgeous story you shared and felt very beautiful to read. I am inspired to slow down and savour those precious moments with loved ones too.
This is a great blog to reflect on. As everything we do daily can seem to become a chore to get through the day and get things done. We get so serious about the doing and completing a task we forget to be present and enjoy the moment. What you have shared her, just by changing the focus and making it a special date experience, you brought back fun, joy and true connection in your day. What is reflected here is for me, we do not need to be so serious but allow fun and playfulness in our day.
I agree Amita it’s lovely to have this reflection of allowing fun and playfulness in our day rather than being task focussed and losing our presence.
To eat food that has been lovingly prepared and cooked whether for yourself or shared with others what a beautiful experience. How much easier for the body to process this and then to nourish the body for what lies ahead in our day. I am always inspired when I read this blog thank you Johanna.
I agree Anne, from the loving intent through to the conscious preparation, cooking and serving, this breakfast date was packaged in love. It was a most beautiful gift for you both to share Johanna. Love, in every way, makes a celebration of every day life.
Johanna, what you have shared illustrated the power of being love in every thing we do during the day. Being totally present has allowed you to have such a gorgeous time with your daughter – what great way for both of you to start your day.
‘A date for breakfast’, what an awesome start to the day. Thank you Johanna, this is a beautiful reminder that if all the chores we do no matter how menial were founded on quality and prepared and with love, then potentially all that we do can be attended to in the same manner. I cannot but wonder what the world would look like if we all committed to quality in all that we do.
Johanna a beautiful and timely reminder to take the ‘doing’ out of the daily meals and activities and bring to them the quality of our presence. Thank you, I needed to read this blog today.
While reading, it was revealing to notice a thought that was saying ‘that’s lovely, but I can’t be bothered’ and I got to feel how the lack of self-worth was at play in the way I care for myself, therefore not allowing consistency and steadiness. Your blog has inspired me to go back to the simplicity of just enjoy being myself first. Thank you, Johanna.
What a good idea to hold ourselves and those we live with, with such regard that we make the space to do something special with meals together. Just reading about it felt full of care. I hadn’t ever focused on the energy that we bring to a meal. Whether we are focused on being somewhere else or on what we have to do next. It is so worth considering.
Linda, I love what you wrote about bringing your true quality to support you through the day. That feels exactly what we are doing when we choose to start our day by preparing food to nourish and support us during the day. Eating the quality of love we are, feeding our light.
I love reading blogs that give you a little inspiration to try something new, and yours did just that. Both the soup and the breakfast date with my kids. I had never considered a date for breakfast with my kids. I find mornings a challange to not get caught in the box ticking. Thanks johanna, I’m looking forward to my date.
Same here, Kim. Mornings to me are about ticking all the boxes in preparation for the day – what comes after dressing and breakfast etc. How lovely to have a breakfast date and give you both the space to connect and honour yourselves.
I agree Kim this blog is so inspirational , every meal I have from now on I will recall this blog and the premise that all meals can be the same energy of a special date, thank you Johanna this is a gem.
I too use to find mornings busy and never would have considered having a date with my daughter. We would sit and have breakfast together but not with the quality that you describe Johanna. As my daughter has left home now I will be inspired to have a date with myself.
What a glorious way to start the day Johanna. Thank you for sharing.
This turns the tables on how it normally is in our family, where the regular every day activities can be a chore, and because we see each other so much, there is a familiarity that can lead to ignoring each other / not paying the special attention. I love your experiment here….
I like the idea of making every meal a date too simonwilliams8! Whenener we approach any activity we do with a level and quality of self care and love, we have a fresh opportunity to connect, either with ourselves or another. In fact, there’s really nothing stopping us to be on one continual date!
Also understanding our role in the bigger picture everything we do for ourselves has an impact on the quality of what we are able to bring to our work our family etc. It is not just about us. What i do today has an impact on the quality of what I will be able to do tomorrow. As we understand this is relation to exercise it would be great to take this understanding all areas of lives.
I love what you have offered here, Nicole. Thank you,
It’s easy to get complacent with the things we do everyday, so they become chore like, instead of approaching them with the level of love, care and detail we would with something new. This blog really highlights to me how important it is to never get stuck in that rut, and keep approaching every day like it is new.
I agree Meg, I have found even if it is something I don’t particularly like doing, if I can connect to the reason I am doing it and focus on the purpose, and take as much care as I can whilst doing it, and connect to the elements, I do enjoy it; it can change from something that is draining to something that feels like it can offer support to everyone.
That is true, if you add purpose mundane tasks become a pleasure to do. For me I have always found simple tasks like cleaning my teeth a chore, but when I consider the purpose of looking after my body so that it can do everything it needs to do my perspective and thoughts change.
Love this story and reflection of how each meal can be. So simple and honouring of your daughter Johanna – and of yourself.
I completely agree.
I’ve recently become aware of the mundane task of preparing dinner. This was because I saw it as something that had to be done. However from reflection upon my partner it was said you eat the same thing everyday. I took some time to digest this and I agreed with her. It become the same meal over and over again, it was something I knew I could eat but at the same time it allowed me to fall into complacency and not really assess what I needed. So I decided to make an effort, searched through asian cook books and saw some great recipes that I put my own spin on. The meals were amazing because I put the spark back into the meal with every bit of effort and care I could.
I am so similar with food, I can eat the same thing for breakfast and dinner for months! It’s food that my body likes, but you are so right it is not feeling what my body needs every day, and adjusting accordingly, so the food I prepare is really lacking that attention to detail. I like the idea of trying something new with a twist 🙂
I love preparing meals with my care and presence and I dislike having any sort of detailed conversations during cooking which interfere with this process. And it shows in the food. I enjoy having and sharing food in my own home so much more than eating out these days. I do find that the rush you describe occurs on school mornings or when we have to be out of the house early for work and this is something I work on refining every single day, because there is no point in having care and presence throughout the early morning and then rushing one aspect of the morning rhythm, like eating breakfast.
This feels amazing.,to take the meal for dating and celebrating me. Thank you Johanna.
It’s lovely that you shared this Johanna. Meals can so often be a box ticking, get it out of the way scenario, instead of the lovely celebration of being with others that it can be. Taking our time to prepare our meals and setting the table in an honouring way is a gorgeous way to treat ourselves and sets the space for some lovely and evolving conversations!
I’ve noticed of late our grandchildren cannot wait to share our meal times with my husband and myself – could it be all that love going into preparing that gorgeous food, as well as the time we give to listen to their experiences they’ve had during their busy day. I remember having invitations to dinner with my grandmother they were very memorable too – what a lovely impression to set for the younger generation to follow. If they choose too! A daily dinner date – awesome. Thank you Johanna a very inspiring blog.
Thank you Johanna and Marion, I agree, lets make every day and every meal about people and not the food.
What I am appreciating more and more is how meal times are about the people and less and less about the specific food we eat. Sure the food is amazing in every way but it is even more gorgeous to feel the beautiful sharing and connection with others.
Very inspiring Johanna, our children and family members are very special and even if we see them every day, we can celebrate them and ourselves in ways like you did with your breakfast date.
What a beautiful way to start any day Johanna- it is so easy to get into a habit of having set patterns and time schedules for meal times – especially when family are off in different directions going about their busy day. Sitting with family around the table, conversation – catching up – and the added bonus of lovingly prepared food to share. I feel a date coming on.
Dear Johanna, I very much enjoy your expression, you can put everyday livingness so palpably into words. I have started to bring my everyday living focus towards the connection with people instead with the actual task at hand and it is a true joy and super fun. That what needs to be done just becomes a ‘side-effect’ that is fun and easy to do while the people I interact with are that what counts most.
I loved your blog Johanna, it reminds me to make every thing I do special. To often mealtimes can be a rushed affair, another thing to be over and done with. The idea of making it a date puts a whole new perspective on it . Sounds so beautiful and special.
This is lovely Johanna. It would be great if learned to treasure each mealtime, seeing it as an opportunity to express love to ourselves and others. I recognise the feeling of mealtimes as tasks, something to do, finish and move on to the next thing. Many precious moments lost. I live on my own, it’s as important to have meal dates with myself everyday and take the same care and attention as we do when cooking for others.
Gorgeous blog about your breakfast date experience. Being present, connecting to another and celebrating being together can be done in so many different situations. During meetings I’ve noticed if participants are watching the clock because they need to leave earlier, the group can feel they aren’t really fully present and this effects the meeting.
Sounds like a lovely way to share a meal Johanna, why not make each meal special?! Thanks for sharing.
A date for breakfast – that is an absolutely fantastic idea Johanna – I love it. Thank you so much for this wonderful inspiration.
What a beautiful blog – a joy to read. What I felt Johanna as I was reading it was how we can bring stillness and connection and joy to everything we do and how this impacts on our own livingness and our relationships with all others. I just loved feeling the deep appreciation, love, tenderness, playfulness and joy you both experienced that morning – a full buffet of yummy things was dished up! Thank you.
The joy and love in sharing this with your daughter is deeply felt. What a powerful thing to do!
Time around the table in the family home is a nurturing and connecting experience. I love that you have introduced this time to the morning time of day with such loving intention. Bringing ourselves fully to what we do is amazing and everyone benefits. Beautiful Johanna.
Thank you for your lovely sharing of your breakfast date with your beautiful daughter. Next time I have my Grandchildren or visitor for a meal, no matter the time of day I will endeavour to make it special. And not forgetting myself, I love to have fresh flowers from my garden on the table where I eat most of the time. I also felt a sense of being present with you and your daughter, your description so visual!
I love this – why do we only make the effort for special dates? Every day can be a celebration of life, and who better to celebrate it with than the loved ones we live with! Cooking and eating should never feel like a chore, but a beautiful opportunity to nurture and nourish ourselves. I could feel the loveliness in the meal as i read it – carrot soup and all!
I love how you have reflected the truth that there is an opportunity to bring love every little thing we do. And that with this there is an immense love to be experienced and shared. Very powerful – thank you Johanna.
What a wonderful gift for your daughter, the fullness of both of you having breakfast together. That truly warms my heart, families, simply living in their daily tasks but doing it with joy and love, that’s beautiful. That’s what it’s all about
Awesome Johanna, I am inspired to have a dinner date with myself ! and maybe even invite my house mates 🙂
Thanks Johanna, it is a great reminder to not see eating or preparing a meal as a chore but another opportunity instead to care for ourselves and those around us.
Beautiful reminder, my breakfast today will be completely different, and all other meals. I will be having a date with myself!
What I get from this blog is how we can appreciate the simple tasks in our day and enjoy them as a celebration of connection and also honouring the work that there is to do. The change is the approach, not a chore but a connection and a joy to share.
Its good how you have expanded this from meal times to bringing that attention and focus to all the little chores. I’ve always enjoyed ‘deep cleaning’ when I scrub up the little crevices or sharpen the knives.
I don’t do this nearly often enough. In fact, there is no reason why this should be a frequent occurrence, but rather an everyday occurrence, because it feels nice, for me and for my daughter too.
Johanna how lovely to take that time to make breakfast so special with your daughter but at the same time making it so normal. You have inspired me to make every meal time an amazing date with someone or even a date on my own thank you.
How cute is that. I love what you have presented to make every meal like a date. These days I will do that with my gorgeous housemate and I will also do it with my partner. Because generally I have dinner or breakfast on my own, whenever I do have dinner with someone else I like to make it like a date, light candles and light incense 🙂
Thank you Johanna, what a gorgeous way to start your day.
Very inspiring Johanna, I will have breakfast dates with my daughters too. We never have breakfast together as everybody is eating at different times and eating different food and meanwhile one is in the shower and others are making or having breakfast. I will look into re-imprinting our breakfasts!!!
What a gorgeous idea.
Johanna what you have shared is incredible, really. How we approach each and every moment dictates whether it is just a part of our everyday routine or in fact a celebratory moment. When you consider how many people live either for the holidays or the weekend and disregard all the moments inbetween and yet a regular breakfast can be enjoyed as something to be cherished. It also got me pondering as to how it would change how I feel if I treated myself to a special dinner for one, rather than eating out of the saucepan to save the washing up ! I love it !
I loved reading this Johanna as I can relate to meals feeling like a chore but I have found that if there are more members of the family to help out and contribute then it then becomes a enjoyable experience for all concerned and not a burden on just one person.
I am feeling inspired to make my lunch time meal that little bit more special.
This is just so inspiring Johanna. We can so easily get caught up in the ‘doing’ or our daily routine, that time together is not fully appreciated. And nor do we express our love and absolute adoration for those close to us in our lives with the natural care we so easily could.
‘Dates’ are super-important. My husband and I make the point of them regularly – even doing the household shopping can be a date, when we truly treasure and appreciate in full, all that we bring to each other’s lives.
I totally agree Victoria. Every single moment can be made into a date just from the quality we choose to bring to it and through appreciating what is there.
It sounds beautiful Victoria, to truly appreciate the moments we spend with another, that quality can be in everything, even the shopping 🙂 This has inspired me to bring that same space and quality, whether it is with myself, or anyone else. Every moment has a possibility for this appreciation and connection.
The shopping can be hysterically funny too Annie… 😉
I also find such times can work in within larger cycles that influence our lives… For a long time, my husband and I would book in such a ‘date’ in the lead up week to the full moon, for example, especially following becoming aware of the potential for deep sensitivity at this time – as the Our Cycles App outlines so well. Time to ‘simply be’ forms an important part of any relationship, without a doubt.
Your date felt very lovely. Beautiful idea Johanna!
Johanna,
A super great reminder to myself and I am sure many others, to lovingly prepare all of our meals, with the absolute joy of doing this present in the food we eat. This can only but support us as we go about our days. How beautiful to be enjoying your meals like this with your amazing daughter.
Even when I cook only for myself I prepare and design the food on the plate like it would be in a restaurant- it feels awesome. And why are we not doing this everytime then? To really stop and appreciate one another and oneself in lovingly preparing and presenting and enjoying food is a great reminder, thank you !
Sounds so inviting Steffi.
We have certainly noticed at our house how the dinner table feels if it is set with no care or attention to detail. We also get to feel how special it is and how it holds the family as we come together at the end of the day if it is done with love and care. We appreciate being able to feel these things. Your breakfast date sounds really lovely.
Absolutely Sallyscott888. When we take the time and care with these small moments and things we prepare – it sticks out like a sore thumb when that level of love, care and attention simply are not there.
Mealtime is a beautiful opportunity to stop and reconnect with our loved ones. A moment of appreciation and celebration.
So often its all about being hungry and eating the food, but like you say Kathryn.. the real opportunity is to connect to those we love.
Very beautiful Johanna! It’s amazing how really taking time and care makes an awesome breakfast date!
What a beautiful way to start the day Johanna Fredericks, having a breakfast date with the two of you.
It was so lovely and very timely to read your blog Johanna, as I am becoming more and more aware of those times that I skimp on the quality of what I am doing with a task, which short changes myself and the space I am working in/with. Seeing the task as something not as important as another task. And let’s face it, whatever you are doing, your bringing your gorgeous self to it, so what’s not the enjoy?
So true Julie. I love that ‘ no matter what I do is great because I bring my gorgeous self to it’
This is so very gorgeous Johanna, what a beautiful way to begin the day together…
I am inspired to bring this into my home, with me! When we take the time to really be with and treasure each moment the moments that follow call for this same quality, and hence the building of a love filled life! What a reflection you offer your daughter of how she may grow and care for herself and all those she meets…
Hi Johanna, it feels lovely to see all our meals as dates and to connect to those we eat with in this way. I too find meal times tend to be rushed, a chore and it is only lately that I have felt the importance of enjoying the moment more. When I do this the experience is so different – time seems to expand, the quality of the experience is richer and the joy in myself and others is palpable as we really enjoy the moment.
I am with you on this Jade. The quality of mealtimes is transformed when we enter it with love and enjoyment
Awesome stuff. These little moments pave a way for the level of what a date should be like…Your daughter has an awesome marker to go off for future reference !
Absolutely. I know that if she is presented with a level of love, that will be her marker to choose what she will accept or not accept as bringing love in future relationships.
So true Johanna – what an awesome support and reflection to have in a person’s life.
Johanna this is gorgeous. Making a simple morning ‘task’ into a delightful opportunity to connect more deeply with another is well deserving of the title ‘date’. You have inspired me, thank you. 😊
Thank you Kathrynfortuna. It was fun to do.
Thank you for the great idea, Johanna! I will try it with my 26 yo daughter. And see how it feels.
Wow, great reminder about how meals are not just about what food we eat but also the intentions and mindfulness with the steps along the way from preparation to consumption. Lots for me to reflect on as I honestly acknowledge that I am often caught up in the ‘hurry’ of the day.
what a beautiful reminder that we can choose in every moment to truly connect and appreciate who we are with and be very present with what we are doing. How simple and beautiful life becomes then and our need for distraction might just disappear.
So true Johanna there is a marked difference, and I love how you have now made amazingness your new normal-ness. That every meal, or every day can have that same great feeling as if it were a special date or anniversary. Amazing = normal.
Two thumbs up is a great confirmation of what you have already known to be amazing.
If we just trust what we know feels great and true and act upon it what else can the outcome be than amazing and confirming? Two thumbs up for a great reminder to appreciate and celebrate ourselves in every moment.
What a lovely inspiration, to not treat your meal as what needs to be done and only make it special when there is special company but to let every company, including my own, be special every time and really sit and enjoy the meal. It is a great moment to simply stop and be with yourself and those that are there with you and feel how you are, how they are and have intimate conversations.
Wow, if every meal is an opportunity for a date (even with ourselves); I wonder how many times we have stood someone up (or stood ourselves up!) by being distracted, worrying about the day ahead, or what there is to do etc… rather than absolutely enjoying the company of the person we are with, or with ourselves. Thank you for this reminder Johanna.
So true Kylie. The great thing about meal ‘dates’ is that there are opportunities every day for a new way to date ourselves and those we share this time with, making this time about the connection we have and the joy in this.
Hi Johanna, I loved your blog, its really inspiring to read about making meal times more fun and with more care and attention to detail. We are all very task oriented these days and we’ve forgotten the true joy of sharing time together, especially at meal times. I often make my meals by doing the least work necessary to keep it simple but nourishing, however I’ve completely forgotten that it can be a celebration about connection to the self and others. Thanks for the inspiration.
It feels like your child just accepted what you did for the love that you poured into the whole experience. A lovely reminder of taking time and effort. (:
Johanna, I loved reading about your breakfast date for 2 with your daughter.
This is such a sweet blog. I really love to eat well, in the right environment and with the time to enjoy it. I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment shared here.
I really enjoyed reading about your date with your daughter – I felt all yummy and warm inside too!
I appreciate what you have shared here Johanna, I feel it’s time for me to explore making meal times more special as well, thank you.
Sounds like fun, Johanna. We could try to bring that quality to every meal.
Adorable.. Carrot soup for two.
Thankyou! I am going to make dinner with my family special EVERY night! I love how you said that you enjoyed it because you took a lot of care in preparing it and already felt complete before you sat down to eat. and I love how you expressed that it was the connection between you and your daughter that made the occasion so special.
I had to laugh when I read this – because it is so true that when I have a date or am eating with friends, I put in much more care than I do when it is me on my lonesome.
But I love posing the question of why can’t every meal be special! This is something I certainly want to play with, because I am worth it 🙂
A great insight. Why not treat any occasion with us as precious? Take the time and care, and then of course we feel it – we get to have fun playing with us. You’ve inspired me Johanna.
What a beautiful reminder. My son often complains that I don’t wait for him when I get up before he has finished to do the dishes. And that is just me playing into the game of time. But what a lovely way to start the day with care and connection.
This is really inspiring and when you read it like that it makes complete sense for every meal to have that same quality to it rather than it becoming a chore.
It’s great to re-read your article Johanna, I can relate so much to ‘Sometimes there is a bit of a task feeling, a need to complete, a doing focus / feeling or a bit of a push behind it.’ I have felt this when I’m getting breakfast ready for my son, that I can want to get breakfast done so that I can get on with other things, i love how you made your meal with your daughter fun, playful, light and enjoyable and that it doesn’t just have to be ‘special occasions’ that we bring these qualities to meal times.
Sounds yummy, Johanna. How lovely to take the time and bring love and care to make this a special moment together.
I loved reading this blog Johanna and how you describe your breakfast ‘date’ with your
daughter, and I love your question”: “Why can’t the care and enjoyment of a meal always be like a date?” It feels very honoring to self and the other when we take such love and care with all our meals, thank you for sharing.
Johanna, beautiful breakfast date, could feel the lightness and fun in it. Great way to start the day and take that joy into your day. Love it, making me see breakfast in a different light.
Thank you for sharing this Johanna, I can feel how lovely it was for you to prepare this breakfast so lovingly for you and your daughter. I have changed too in my relationship to meals and now take the time to not only make really nourishing meals but to lay the table and present everything in a much more caring and loving way. even if I am the only one eating. I also am gradually changing my cutlery , crockery etc. and bringing more quality in all sorts of ways to the table.
Great that you have highlighted how this beautiful blog is equally relevant to eating alone. I know that I feel totally different if I put the care into how my meal is presented and how and where I eat it, even if there is just me, and yet more recently I have let this slip unless I am eating with people. Thank you Elaine. Your comment has served as a very helpful reminder.
I think this is an awesome idea to bring fun and connection to everyday things. I know that if I have children one day, I will always look for ways to make things fun – like bath time and meals, tidying and shopping. If you can make these things fun it allows the child to open up and see life as easy and free. Thank you for sharing.
I love the fact that you gave your daughter carrot soup for breakfast. There is such a pressure normally to eat what would be considered breakfast food for breakfast. But why shouldn’t a seven year old be honoured in what her favourite food is any time of the day? Of course, as long as that food supports him or her to live in full for the rest of that day, what an amazing reflection that child then brings to all the people they meet.
Thank you Johanna for offering inspiration on making every meal a date. I shall work with this concept as this is an area where I sometimes get into a rush in my eagerness to get onto the next thing, robbing myself of the loving care and attention of which you speak.
Making breakfast time into a date. I love it. Dress code?…PJ’s optional I hope!!
great way to honor food . it is such an important part of our lives. a way to connect to our children . A way to slow down and appreciate all the wonderful food we have access to.
This is great Johanna, I love the idea of a ‘breakfast date’, I have a 4 year old son and often give him breakfast first and get on with chores when he is eating as it seems like a good time to get things done with no distractions, but reading your article I feel inspired to be with him and make it a special time for us to connect and be together and I love what you have written about the setting up of the table and the having complete focus on each other, beautiful!
Your blog feels really delicious Johanna and what a beautiful reflection for your daughter. She will cherish these meaningful moments with her mum when she grows up.
What a lovely idea. What a lovely way to start the day. What a lovely way to share a meal. What a lovely expression of love.
What a lovely way to start the day, thank you for sharing.
Wow Johanna this is really cool, I am making this more of a focus and feel the difference too. What a beautiful way to approach every meal, the care, love and dedication that it offers our relationship with people but also with food. In that absolute caring way of making the food there is no need to sit and eat loads of food because you weren’t checked out when making it. You’re full of love which is what feeds you back with great company. Such a refreshing way to live life and your relationship with the people you care about but just as important your relationship with food. Great Blog, thanks for sharing.
Beautifully said, Natalie, food made and eaten with love really does fill you up.
This is just lovely Johanna!
Such a beauty-Full blog Johanna, The joy you felt, preparing breakfast for a date with your daughter, shines through every word in your article.
This is lovely Johanna. We have started having dinner dates at home in our family. The difference it makes when you don’t see it as a chore but a time to be together is amazing. I know in the past I have also rushed through cooking and eating meals and left the table early to get the dishes done! Doing it this way is a real celebration and an opportunity to connect with each other.
What a beautiful way to begin the day! Thank you for sharing Johanna.
When we actually put a loving intention behind the way we prepare our meals, it changes the whole situation. I have found that when I rush or just go into task mode I don’t enjoy what I am preparing as much or find that I feel hungry afterwards despite having more than enough to eat. On the other hand, when we take the time to support ourselves as and while we make our meal, it is felt afterwards as well. This then inspires our next choices and moments to be more supportive.
Very true Leigh. A meal prepared in chore and rush mode doesn’t taste the same as a meal prepared with love, care and presence.
Thank you for sharing Johanna I know what you mean by ticking the boxes at meal times and it just being another thing that we do in the day, rather than truly appreciating the moment and all that it brings. Just stopping and being more aware is enough to change how we are at meal times, I know I can rush meals, and I can catch myself eating fast without really taking the time to enjoy what I have cooked, so thank you for your loving reminder.
I agree Alison, thank you Johanna, I can easily rush meals especially breakfast if I am running a little late for work, rather than taking the time to truly enjoy and allow my body to digest what it is taking in, a great reminder to truly appreciate the moment – the company, myself and the food!
Awesome, it’s great you’re giving your daughter such an amazing reflection. If she can see/feel you and the way you can make any meal or moment a celebration of yourself and her, making breakfast a date, when she grows up the care and standard of love she will have for herself will set her up to have a life full of relationships based only on love, thank you.
A great point Rebecca, what a lovely reflection Johanna gave and is giving to her daughter.
The light bulb has just gone on! Yes I have treated breakfast as a chore, as a must do, in a rush, and leave my daughter sitting at the table while I finish the dishes and pack the lunch, blah blah blah… but what you just shared is so inspiring and we can can actually have dates for lunch and dinner too! Thank you.
This blog is a delight to read, Johanna. I love your impulse to change the ‘ordinary’ breakfast to a date with your daughter. It shows there are so many possibilities for creating dates with ourselves and others if we hold that level of presence and loving care.
I love how you have acknowledged the things we have let come to pass in our homes and families that are really not what we truly want. You so freshly express the steps we can take when we have these moments to stop and realise what has in fact been occurring and that we always have the opportunity to change it.
Light, fun, simple, loving, delicate and I could go on. Love this blog! Thank you for sharing Johanna.
Lovely. I liked how your daughter knew she liked carrot soup before she tried it.
What a sweet breakfast date. Or should I say savoury? 😉
A lovely way to start the day, thank you Johanna.
What a different way to view breakfast, lovely and simple. I really enjoyed reading your words “complete focus on each other during a meaningful conversation”, this is an area I feel inspired to focus on with my family and others I come into contact with in my day. Thanks Johanna.