Chocolate

A rather wonderful woman by the name of Thea was a keynote speaker in a recent conference I attended. She talked about chocolate. Well, she talked about many things, but at one stage she arrived at the true purpose and cornerstone of her presentation.

Chocolate. Glorious, sweet, soothing satisfying, calorie-laden chocolate. I’ve seen people go all glassy eyed at the very mention of the word.

It must be said that I have never considered myself a fanatic. My obsessions with chocolate pale in comparison to the certified devotee. But I have had my dalliances with the chocolate God. Cadbury’s plain milk is my chocolate of choice. And I’m rather fond of chocolate fudge. I reckon you can tell a lot about a person by what constitutes their favourite.

Now, the wonderful Thea was passing out platefuls of chocolate, which were being passed around the rows as each attendee picked a piece. Rather like the collection plate in church. But much, much better.

I picked an apricot liqueur-filled dark chocolate mound, and patiently waited for everyone else to bloody hurry up and pick their piece so we could all hoe in together. It was to be a collective chocolate experience. And the point, of course, was not to gobble down the chocolate but to be absolutely mindful and conscious of the act of chocolate consumption. Like the Japanese Tea Service. Only much, much better.

I felt the weight of the chocolate in my hand. I felt the edges melting slightly to run like velvet blankets over my palm. I smelt the chocolate (I like the bitter sharpness of the smell of dark chocolate….so much more satisfying than the cloying sweetness of it’s lighter cousin.) I imagined how delicious the chocolate would be. I thought about the splendid relief when chocolate crumbles in the mouth. About how stress melts away. About being only in that moment- no past (to have regrets about), no future (to create anxiety about)…just the chocolate covered present.

And then I bit.

And it was the most divine chocolate experience in living memory.

Interesting. It was just a piece of chocolate after all. What made it such an historic event was the amount of attention I brought to it. I'm reminded to do that more often - to stop multi-tasking and just sip in life experiences.

Delicious.

Jo Flynn