Melting Point

A Choco-Magnum Opus: A Symphony of Sweetness

Photo by Jordane Mathieu on Unsplash

Note to readers: please laugh with and at us and enjoy ~ this is a shame free zone

In this time of fracturing, finger pointing, and polarization, when it feels like the only thing we can all agree on is that we are in one big HOT MESS, I think it is time to get back to what it means to be human and remember our shared common values: love & chocolate. Yes, I’m talking down to the melty, core, basic straight-to-the-pleasure-center-of-your-brain, human hedonistic value: chocolate. In case you have been too distracted by whatever fresh chaos the news cycle has hurled at us, or felt the latest yank off center the AI bots are using to get your attention on your device, let me bring you the one piece of truly bipartisan, cross-generational, universally beloved information you need to know:

It is LOVE & CHOCOLATE MONTH!!!

YES! A whole month dedicated to the two things that can still bring us together — unless, of course, you are one of those people who says, “I don’t really like chocolate.” In which case, we say: come, meet us at Burdicks — we will help you find the way!

Or here is a gift from Mum: A Meditation on Chocolate and Presence

In this moment, step away from the mind’s endless grasping — its judgments, its fears, its shame, its insistence on separation. The world appears fragmented, chaotic, full of noise and division. But beyond the noise, there is a deeper presence. A stillness. A space where we remember what is essential.

Note to readers: Shift down — please read this section slowly and sensuously

Tempo Largo

Mum: “Think of your favorite chocolate delight ( maybe get two of them since the excuse of the scary chaos is particularly intense after our great Emperor with no clothes, king Donald took his calamitous throne) and go right away to your favorite chocolate purveyor and pick them up and bring them home , … mmmm time will stop with all its recent dramas and sit or lie down in your favorite spot . Gaze into the deliciousness, the deep dark chocolate eyes of pure pleasure. If it wears a colorful wrapper, slow down and appreciate how this gorgeous hunk of pleasure has dressed in it most tempting colors and design just for your pleasure. Just breathe for a moment. Breath in the anticipation of what is about to melt in your mouth and feel the sensation before it reaches your lips.

Allow yourself to observe it, free from thought, free from past or future. The way it sits, naked or wrapped in its simple beauty, waiting.

Gently, begin to unwrap it. Feel the texture of the paper or foil beneath your fingertips. Notice the colors, the way light reflects off its surface. There is no rush. Time, as we know it, dissolves. What remains is only this: the anticipation, the gratitude, the deep knowing that something beautiful is about to unfold.

Start to open and smell its yumminess ….mmmm….. put your nose and mouth as close as they can be as you carefully and slowly remove the wrapping, if it’s a chocolate bar, Lake Champlain heart or the like , unwrap careingly the package it came in , if it’s a cake or cookie or pudding , delighting in its luscious sight, its soft jiggly bits and feels.

Lift it to your nose. Inhale deeply. Allow the scent to fill you. This is presence. This is now.

SSSSSlow & SSSSSensuoussssly ~ Tempo Largo ~ Doucement ~

As you take that first bite experience it fully, feel your body folding-in becoming one with the chocolate. Feel the way it melts, the way it expands across your tongue, the way your body responds with an immediate, instinctive sigh of pleasure. There is nothing else. No headlines. No worries. No past. No future. Only this moment. Only this taste.

And then, notice — did your mind quiet? Did the tension ease? Did something within you remember that all is well? Did you let go of judgement and shame for a moment and just feel this universal human pleasure?

See how long and luxuriously you can stretch this wonderful moment of putting it in your mouth and then on your tung ! Ah life has never been more delightful when the first burst and taste of chocolate hits your senses!

There, There (hear grandmummy’s voice comforting us). Did you actually have a pause in your tense and scared state of mind?!

Chocolate does it every time!

Photo by Eiliv Aceron on Unsplash

So, yummy ones, let us slow down and share. Let us remember what it means to be human and connected. Please share and describe your chocolate moments, delicious chocolate photos, meditations — not simply as flavors but as glimpses of presence and love and goodness in the world. As reminders that even in a fractured world, there is still sweetness. There is still now. There is still love. And chocolate.”

And remember this: LOVE MULTIPLIES (even when chocolate is disappearing into our tummies)!

Mum & Me