Savoring not Consuming

From the Hidden Realm Tarot, the Empress; from the Heart of Faerie, the Shadow of the Past:

What a tender look this Empress gives to all creation, whether the apples she cradles in her lap or the butterfly that lights on her sleeve. I think Americans have become excellent consumers, but rarely do we savor and take time to appreciate what we have. We don't worry about using up, only about satisfying our next desire. What if we began to savor our moments as a wine connoisseur does each sip of wine? Could we not build a gratitude practice in this way? The Shadow of the Past refers to relationships that haunt us like a bad case of acid reflux. If the past is foremost in our mind, there is no way we can attend fully to what surrounds us now. In a sense, we are consuming rotten food while the fresh goes unnoticed. Instead, we could train the mind to stay in the present by catching ourselves when we ruminate and tenderly turning our focus to what is beautiful or good right where we are, no matter how small or simple. The Empress would remind us that since we create our mental pathways, and we can always change them too.