The Secret To Healthy and Happy Is Life At The Table

The secret to healthy and happy is life at the table.

What is the number one predictor of your health and happiness as an octogenerian?

In 1938, Harvard University’s Department of Psychiatry launched the “Harvard Study on Adult Development.”

They studied 724 men from two groups – sophomores at Harvard College and boys from Boston’s poorest neighborhoods.

Feed Body, Soul, and Spirit At The Table

What was the number 1 predictor of who in their 50’s would make a happy, healthy, octogenerian?

It wasn’t acquisition, not achievement, nor activity, not even comparison.

It was the quality of their relationships.

Not even quantity, simply quality.

In the past couple of weeks we’ve suffered the loss of two very high profile and successful people – Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain.

If we were tallying up points for life’s achievements these two definitely had it all. Yet both ended their lives tragically and prematurely. Because success, fame, and fortune does not feed the soul nor the spirit.

Spending Time At The Table Is Where Life Happens

My life’s work as a chef, speaker, and a teacher is based on one simple belief:  Spending time at the table is where life happens. We connect and create community, the tribe with whom we do life, and it’s where we feed body, soul, and spirit.

Today we accommodate our busy lives by eating out, eating on the run, or taking out.

Simply, we’re missing out.

Sharing the home table is a sacred time to retreat from the craziness of life and to connect.

Connect With Your Tribe This Father’s Day

This weekend is Father’s Day.  Gather at the table with your father, your friend’s and their fathers, or just your friends to celebrate father’s everywhere. Just gather. Cook something simple like the Moroccan Barbecue Chicken recipe I shared earlier this week.

Let’s all plan to live long, healthy lives connected to a tribe of people that we love.

That’s life at the table.