karma

i don't even know exactly when it was that i began this ritual
but i do it all the time
when i am cooking
i'll crack an egg and thank the chicken that provided it to me
when i am prepping a salmon fillet
i thank the fish for giving up its life
i suppose it is my way of trying to honour the source of my food.

and then i was re-reading a chapter in the tibetan book of living and dying today (somewhat inspired by a friend - t.h. who was just writing about using her tibetan singing bowls - i love my tibetan singing bowls too for focus sometimes when i am meditating, or for the end of a treatment i've given to a client - but that is o/t)
and was reading about karma
and thought that maybe the two are linked on some level

karma - really the natural law of cause and effect

"the word karma literally means "action" and karma is both the power latent within actions, and the results our actions bring."

"And as Buddha said: "do not overlook negative actions merely because they are small; however small a spark may be, it can burn down a haystack as big as a mountain." Similarly he said: "do not overlook tiny good actions, thinking they are of no benefit; even tiny drops of water in the end will fill a huge vessel."

pgs 96-97

in my life, i try to do service for others - i volunteer, i try and extend support and love where i can, and i suppose the thanking the ingredients in my meals might seem odd, but in a way it is connecting with what i am about to put into my body - positive thoughts, gratitude - and in some way considering the karma that occurs in even the smallest actions.