Chocolate with Good Intentions
65Most of us eat chocolate with good intentions. We expect it
to bring us comfort, satisfaction, and often, almost orgasmic pleasure.
Scientists tell us that it also has healing powers, is packed with
antioxidants, and can do amazing things for the heart and mind. So when we bite
into a luscious piece of dark gooey chocolate we aren’t doing it because we are
greedy, of course not, but because we know it will benefit us.
Now you can take those good intentions a step further with chocolate that is actually imbued with good intentions! I came upon on this information in the latest issue of TIME magazine, and am suitably wonder-struck. Imagine eating chocolate that includes in its raw material not only cacao and sugar and other mood-boosting delights, but also good intentions that will heal and improve your well-being! You don’t have to put yourself out to think positive thoughts to enhance your life – the chocolate will do it for you! Wow.
A company called Intentional Chocolate™, founded by Jim Walsh in 2007, is actually offering the world products embedded with positive intentions. What’s more, the intentions are being embedded into the products by ‘experienced meditators some of whom trained with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’. Does that sound more credible to you? The idea, says Walsh, is to ‘reintroduce the ancient wisdom of embedding conscious intention and love into food’.
This isn’t such a new idea in many cultures. In India for instance we are routinely exposed to food blessed by the gods, and its consumption is supposed to do miraculous things for the mind, body and soul. Water blessed by the Pope is coveted by devout Catholics the world over. Many pagan cultures undoubtedly had their own versions of this quaint custom. And what harm can it do? In fact it sounds like a wonderful idea as long as one maintains adequate levels of hygiene while imbuing the food with good vibes and a prayer or blessing.
A lot of us do that subconsciously when we send gifts of food to other people. Quite often a basket of fruit or a box of chocolate is meant to boost the spirits of someone who hasn’t been well, and don’t we send it across with good intentions? We may not actually pray over the fruit or expose the chocolate to the electromagnetic brainwaves of Tibetan monks or other enlightened souls, but we mean well.
Across the world people are awakening to the idea that positive thoughts can change everything, and there is increasing evidence of the healing power of prayer. Embedded food seems to be the next big idea, and soon everything from water to juice to fruit and vegetables could be available imbued with good intentions ranging from general well-being to specific healing. I don’t suppose anyone could use good intentions as a reason to justify the slaughtering of animals, so people who eat meat might have to turn to vegetarian sources of food to benefit.
Intentional Chocolate apparently helps to reduce fatigue and stress, increase energy and focus, and bring about greater calmness. The chocolate is embedded with the following intention: “Whoever consumes this chocolate will manifest optimal heath and functioning at physical, emotional and mental levels, and in particular will enjoy an increased sense of energy, vigor and well-being for the benefit of all beings.”
Whether the chocolate actually does this, or merely works like any other placebo, is probably open to debate. The more incredulous among us may scoff at the idea, but the less skeptical may not treat it with such disdain. Anything that helps improve well-being and affects us positively with such little effort on our part can’t be all bad. In a world ridden with stress and anxiety and other pressures, we can do with all the help we can get. And if it’s in the form of chocolate, I for one, am not complaining.
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Comments
For once,I am not skeptical about a manufacturer's good intention!In a world plagued by bad intentions..this is indeed a welcome change!We welcome more good intentions especially if they are in the form of chocolates!:)
Wonderful idea isn't it? Now we can eat chocolate without any of the accompanying guilt! Thanks for reading girly_girly and Laila. :)
I intend to try that out - a hub after my own little heart.
Ahhh...chocolate! :P
Thanks for stopping by Iphigenia.
My intentiions are absolutely good when eating chocolate :P. My aunt would routinely allow milk to boil over, and then say that she sacrificed some to the Fire Goddess! Now that is prayerful disaster management intentions
I will have you know, Feline Prophet, that your hub just now inspired me to eat a big bowl of chocolate ice cream at 4:30 in the morning!!! lol (it is soy ice cream....but still!) ;)
Taking the guilt out of eating chocolate?
But what if you are feeling so down and fatigued and out, that someone indulges not in one, but in many bars of Intention Chocolate?
Food, or chocolate, for thought
Hehe Ritu, your intentions are as good as mine! :P
girly_girly did you remember to pray over the ice cream? :)
Birte, as long as the intentions are good, it doesn't matter! And incidentally they don't make bars of Intentional Chocolate yet I think...just the small variety, so you can't really go overboard.
Do they have liqueur filled chocolate too? Imagine something as delightful as that coming with Dalai Lama's love and blessing. Life would be paradise enow! :p
The drunkard needs a reason to drink, the chocoholic say pass the chocolate please :P
Jaspal...you just need to embed any chocolate you want with the right intention! :)
Ravin, right as usual! Want some chocolate? :P
I eat chocolate. Period. It fattens me, it ruins my teeth, it gives me pimples, it makes me feel guilty like sin....but bring it on...good intentions, bad intentions...who cares :P
I just finished a Mars Bar and a Coconut Bounty while reading this. Chocolate...........amen!
Wowderful hub! I shall give this a "good intensions" card and you can move 5 spaces forward!
Chocolate embedded with good intentions? The world just became a better place! :)
I'll have ten pounds tonight :-) loved the Hub
Chocolate is my cure all for sadness, depression, pms, all kinds of stuff. So obviously I loved this hub!!! LOL
"Scientists tell us that it also has healing powers," ... I only read up to that point. I don't need to know any more. Thanks. Bye!
Another great topic from the wise kitty.
If karmic Chocolate makes some people feel good and positive, then I say go for it!
But the skeptic in me, says "Hey, wait a minute, what about the downside?"
So I dutifully suggest two possible downsides: 1) over-indulgence and 2) the placebo effect may distract from achieving focus and enlightenment from within.
Sorry, I laid-out some traps for the skeptics, but like the mice, they are difficult to catch :)
One more excuse for eating more chocolates?!!!
Diana, if you eat chocolate with good intentions maybe you won't get the pimples? :P
Thanks Candie...where am I on your board game? And who's winning?:D
k@ri, that was well said - and you deserve some chocolate for it! :)
Thank you Sandman, but ten pounds all at once?!!! Your intentions don't sound too good! :P
LAmatadora, there are many of us chocolate worshippers here - join the gang. Thanks for reading. :)
Hehe, what a wise decision quicksand, but if you'd read some more you'd have felt quite virtuous about eating chocolate by the end! :)
shibashake, yours is the voice of reason and we shall heed it. Thanks for reining us in! :)
Thank you all for reading! :)
But what a good excuse, right Minilady? :)
Some more chocolate, here I come!!
We need an excuse for chocolate ?????
Go for it Shal! :)
It's not an excuse RGraf, it's a bonafide reason to eat it (pious tone). :P
I adore chocolate, and that Intentional Chocolate wish is a great one to live by...just nother good reason to eat chocolate...
Like you said marisue, another good reason! :)
We need those Bojangles cows to hold a sign, "Eat More Chocolate"
I heard that dark chocolate was good for you too.
What a yummy hub FP. Wish I could eat it haha
Keep them coming
Can I eat some chocolates with you? LOL :-)
May, chocolate is good, whatever the naysayers say! :)
Sabu...go ahead, eat it up, but only after blessing it first! :P
ripplemaker, I'm always ready to eat chocolate...here, catch! :)
Thanks for stopping by, all of you.
Thats a yummy hub FP. Wish I could eat it haha
That's a lot of serious talent you have
Yayyyy...at last, The Panacea is here!....and in the guise of a Blessed Chocolate, no less :-)!!!!....what more could one ask for!?!...so, Cheers FP...here's wishing you boundless chocolate, accompanied with great health, happiness and (.....pleasurable orgasms...????!...haha, kidding, eh!...):P....Always!
Thanks Rashmi. Chocolate is the answer to everything! :)
FP
Good intentions or not, we should know what's good for us, or what is enough. I don't wanna die of some chocolate-induced disease because of people's good intentions. A healthy mind does not necessarily mean a healthy body.
Yes, I'm trying to pick up a fight here! NOT! LOL
I lurve HubPages, everyday you have something new to learn! So thanks for sharing :D
Ah but Chris you can embed a chocolate with good intentions for the body as well...that's the whole idea! And stop trying to pick a fight or I shall start nagging again. :P
I wonder how good intentions taste like? Hmmm
Okay, I just dished that out for the sake of argument, and no bad intentions at all just like the chocolate you discussed here. No nagging please :D
There's a good boy now. You deserve a piece of chocolate! :D
Justr the good intentions will do! But if it has to come in a chocolate bar, all the better! :D
I am a hard-core choc-a-holic... and have absolutely no problem with that. The fact that there are beneficial properties to chocolate is just a bonus. But, I would eat it anyway.
It's frickin' delicious and I cannot imagine anything that enjoyable being bad for you! You know?
Wal-Mart sells a bag of dark-chocolate-covered pomegranite bits. It's incredible good - and, OMG! - good for you.
Hurt me!
Welcome to the chocaholics' club Artisan! And dark chocolate covered pomegranate? How healthy can you get?!! Think of us the next time you buy a bag! :)
I love chocolate and now I intend to bless it with good intentions of losing weight before i eat it. That should help keep the pounds off, what do u say?
Wonderful idea! Remember it's the thought that counts. :)
When I first read your words about Intentional Chocolate (the company), the first thing that went through my head was that you were making a joke, spinning off from the old American snake oil salesman who sold his little bottles of tonic, usually consisting mostly of alcohol, by promising power, prowess, miraculous cures, well-being, and even riches.
I sure was surprised when I went out to their website and found that not only did I fall into their "skeptics" classification, but also that they donate 50 percent of their net profits to non-profits and charities.
Since I have the egg on my face, I may as well follow it with some intentional chocolate...perhaps the chocolate will open my mind a little more!
Hehe, wipe off the egg and eat some chocolate ST! :)
I've been aware of several companies promoting all the benefits in chocolates.....and I always assumed it was a nice aphrodisiac, but this is a new philosophy on me! From now on, I'm eating ALL my chocolate with good intentions.
That's the only way to eat it! Thanks for stopping by Jmell! :)
Cannot comment on the orgasmic pleasure part for obvious reasons..lol..but yes eating choclate atleast makes me feel fresh and I do feel better specially when Iam under stress. Great hub :-)
Hehe, as long as it makes you feel good jay! Thanks for stopping by.
Where has this been all my life? I can live without any type of recreational drugs and not bat an eye...but step away from the chocolate :P
Ahh, another chocolate lover! Life's good, isn't it Enelle? :)
girly_girl09 says:
8 months ago
It makes me feel less guilty about eating chocolate, I am ALL for it!
Thanks for the info! :)