After a long, exhausting day, I finally was able to sit in the yard to relax into the beautiful summer night. I noticed the first pomegranate on our tree was so ripe it even popped open, exposing all the inside red seeds. I picked it up to give myself a treat. I opened the pomegranate and saw those little shining red seeds, like precious ruby stones, crystal clear and full of juice. So delicate, crowded, snuggled together in that tight space, living in their chambers divided by the yellow skin.
Soon I realized it’s quite a project to eat a pomegranate, you have to be super patient to pick the seed out of their chamber without squeezing or destroying the neighbor seed, one at a time, very tedious. Yes, it’s tasty: that little sweet and sour juicy punch, and considering all the antioxidant, anti-aging, anti-plaque benefits, but still, one at a time is too tedious. I stopped for a moment, and started to smell the sweet scent of our pink lily that has been quietly blooming behind me.
Without one seed at a time, I wouldn’t have slowed down to open my senses to the aroma around me. Thanks to my first ruby pomegranate of the year: slow down to enjoy one seed at a time, you may pick up something else along the way, like the sweet scent of flower, a moment of pause aligning with now. In between the seeds, is where you catch the taste of life.
