Tuesday night I drove to Whole Foods to get some dinner after work. In addition to dinner, I bought some coconut water for the road.

As I am leaving Whole Foods and driving in my car, I open up a bottle of coconut water and quickly begin to gulp it down.

A voice deep inside my belly yells, “No!” I feel like I have just been bitch slapped by Goddess.

I am humbled.

I carefully recap the bottle, put it down and LISTEN… I hear her pain, I hear that she has been commoditized to the point that people forget to respect her and thoroughly enjoy her.

I feel humbled and put in my place. I begin to talk and sing to the coconut water. People in the cars next to me may label me as a mad woman, but I don’t care, this coconut water is worthy of my gratitude and my song.

I sing, “Oh, Coconut water, I apologize for forgetting to enjoy you. You are a rare treat. You are a rich treat full of potassium and loads of electrolytes, and you were flown across the World for me to taste you. You deserve to be thoroughly enjoyed and respected. Who am I to buy you and then quickly gulp you down without presence!?!? If I were stranded on an island, YOU and Avocado would be my best friends and I would have to work my ass off just to have a taste of you. You are sacred water and somehow we have turned you into a hot commodity just like most things in our culture. Something to be purchased and gulped down for instant gratification in our never-ending thirst for satisfaction.”

I park my car and tell the coconut water that I will drink her in presence. I unscrew the lid, and bring her to my nose to take in the smell. She smells light, cool, nutty, refreshing and rich. I slowly take a sip. She is soft, big, fleshy, opulent and buttery, yet crisp on my tongue. She smoothly moves down my throat and I instantly feel refreshed.

I can tell she is full of nutrients, potassium and electrolytes solely from sipping her with presence because I instantly feel nourished; quenched from my parched thirst. I talk to the coconut water as I am drinking her. Telling her all of the qualities I am noticing and how I am feeling in response to tasting her.

I thank her and bow to her in the utmost gratitude after my last sip.

I apologize to her for what my privilege and the imprinting of my consumerist, instant gratification-driven culture had me forget. I recommit to delighting in the World like a wine aficionado.

This is worthy beyond anything we can bottle, package or sell. This worth is the deep love and appreciation of Eros, of life and of beauty.

So many of us are gluttonous and greedy yet deep down starving to know her…starving to know this love. Most of us are continuously hungry, thirsty, desperate and instantly gratified, yet never experience fullness. Look…Listen…She is all around us and inside of us. She says, WAKE UP…Listen…I am here.

We have the capacity to be full and satisfied without ever eating a morsel of food.

This is how I want to give and receive love.

I want to fully devour and be devoured in presence.

From this place of fullness, enjoyment, gratitude and delight.

The next time I go on a date I will be paying attention to the way the man across from me engages with his food. If he engages with life in the same presence as a wine aficionado…he just may have my heart dancing, singing and jumping up and down in gracious cheer!

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Apprentice Editor: Lauryn DeGrado/Editor: Renée Picard

Photo: D Sharon Pruitt/Flickr