Chocolate – a metaphor for life

Posted on 20. Aug, 2010 by Susan Wright in Life Coaching

Today I asked my son, what should I write about? He said, “Chocolate.” So I asked, “What would you want to say about chocolate?” He said, “to give it, everyone can have chocolate at a party and eat chocolate with cake.” Sounds good to me! The funny thing is, I actually encourage people to eat healthy chocolate and did that today without my son really knowing this. There is something so joyous about chocolate and with all the health benefits of dark unprocessed chocolate – there’s absolutely no guilt! Not that I ever had any guilt when it came to eating chocolate!

As a lifestyle coach I touch on so many aspects of an individual’s fulfillment, performance, and personal well-being.  Chocolate is a great metaphor for life, it’s rich, full of energy, and joyful to the senses.  It also represents some of the struggles in life: guilt, complexity, and unrelenting desire for more.  Yet, in life there are opposite or opposing forces, hence we are in the human predicament of striving for balance, although I much prefer integration – the wonderful blending of all life’s lessons so that we are constantly challenged to stay conscious of our choices, actions, and desires.

When was the last time you actually savoured the moment, relished in it, and, or accepted the moment as is? There have been numerous times this week that I fell short of that. I resisted what was presented to me, I said “should” rather than “yes” or “no”, I complained, I was distracted, I felt selfish and guilty…need I say more?

Often when our senses are momentarily attacked with something we qualify as “good” then we are okay with it; we may not be joyful but we’re good. For example, gazing at a beautiful painting or listening intently during a productive business conversation. However, the opposite can be true, when our senses are teased with something we qualify as “bad,” like an oppositional comment, potato chips, or a straight forward “no.” We get all bent out of shape. What would it be like to simply accept, it is, what it is, and move on without a great deal of attachment to qualifying the experience?

We go around with notions of what is good and what is bad, and yet in reality, there is no such thing: it is, what it is.  Every moment of living provides a lesson, some not so subtle, and some remarkably yummy – like chocolate. I suppose my suggestion is to embrace life as it is and trust that without yin and yang, we wouldn’t be living!

Be rich with life,

Susan

Oh, and don’t forget to eat chocolate (at least the healthy kind).

Tags: consciousness, energy, life & business