Lent?

[granfire]

I'm not religious and definitely not catholic.....

However, I am considering doing Lent.
You know between now and Easter giving up certain things.
A bit of mental and maybe physical cleansing.

Browsing the net would be something I would put on top of the list. It's a habit more than anything.
Might be tough to accomplish since I do try to write a couple of stories down and that likely won't happen with pen and paper

 

[Brian King]

I have found many benefits from the practice. Not just spiritual although that happens but physical and mental benefits as well. Mind, body, and spirit are connected and disciplining and cleansing helps build strength in all three. Good luck

Regards
Brian King

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I was going to give up being mean. But that would mean I could not post on MT for the Lenten season. So I decided to give up beer. Which is easy, I quit drinking years ago when I got the diabetes.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I gave up lent

 

[Carol]

 

[shesulsa]

I think I'll give up giving up.

 

[granfire]

View attachment 16128

Damn Rick-Rolling.....

:lol:

 

[Jenna]

I'm not religious and definitely not catholic.....

However, I am considering doing Lent.
You know between now and Easter giving up certain things.
A bit of mental and maybe physical cleansing.

Browsing the net would be something I would put on top of the list. It's a habit more than anything.
Might be tough to accomplish since I do try to write a couple of stories down and that likely won't happen with pen and paper

If the idea of giving something up is difficult then sometimes replacing works better. I mean if you think of replacing time surfing the net with time spent off-net writing it might not seem so fraught? Maybe not. As Brian says, I think sometimes the benefits in rescinding a habit or replacing a less beneficial pursuit with one that makes us happier overall has seemingly unconnected benefits that we often do not realise. I wish you well. If you write a story I should like very much to read it

 

[granfire]

If the idea of giving something up is difficult then sometimes replacing works better. I mean if you think of replacing time surfing the net with time spent off-net writing it might not seem so fraught? Maybe not. As Brian says, I think sometimes the benefits in rescinding a habit or replacing a less beneficial pursuit with one that makes us happier overall has seemingly unconnected benefits that we often do not realise. I wish you well. If you write a story I should like very much to read it

I am trying to finish up the story I wrote in November for NaNoWriMo. It's a sequel to the one I wrote the year before.

The very bad first chapter of No2 (a full recap of no1)

Felix sat in his little chamber, high above the forest. The sun had set and the stars began to come out.
Down below, deep in the woods, small signs of spring ushered in a new season.
With a smile Felix put the letter down he had been reading. It was from his friend Selma with whom he had been in a great adventure not too long ago.
He and his Master Theodosius had traveled to the capital city to meet the Princess when all kinds of strange events happened. Here he had met Selma, then a maid in the castle, and Paul, a knave soon to be knight. Together they had accompanied the Princess and her General to a lost city. Felix shuddered a little, thinking about how they had been near death when a relative of the Princess tried to sacrifice the princess to obtain eternal life.
Selma was then made a proper lady afterward. But since she was not born into a noble family, the other ladies had been quiet mean to her. The Princess had send her to live with the general's parents.
Selma seemed happy there. Although the general's father was a stern and quiet man, he was kindhearted and generous. His mother mother had been delighted to have a young girl to dote over.
Together they wee send to represent the princess in the city that once belonged to Lady Selena.
Felix found it amusing that of all the rooms Selma had picked the one they had stayed in during their adventure. “at least I know where the exits are' Selma had written him, reminding him how scary their stay at Lady Selena's guests had been.


Their friend Paul, knighted after their adventure, was send to stay with Lord Pellow.
At first Lord Pellow had been their enemy, but once he realized he and his master had been duped by the beautiful Lady Selena he had offered his services to the Princess.
Paul seldom wrote. Felix thought regretfully. He missed his friends. Their farewells had been tearful when they parted ways after The Princess had married General Woolf on the Winter Solstice.
Felix and master Theodosius had returned to the tower in the woods. Felix pulled a little leather pouch from his belt. He kept his treasures in there as he called it. It was not much, but he had come to appreciate each of them.
Growing up in the woods he had learned from his father to never leave flint and tinder behind. The thought of the fires he had started with it warmed him as a slight chill crept into his chamber. He carefully sowed it back in the pouch before he took out his knife. It was specially made for him by his father. The blade folded nicely into the handle so it did not require a sheath to be carried safely. Felix carefully examined the edge on the blade. Satisfied with the sharpness he folded it up and placed it back into the pouch. He felt a little embarrassed that this was actually his third knife. His first knife broke when he tried to pry his third treasure lose while they battled Lady Selena in the underground city in the mountains. Felix thought his father would be mad when he told him that he had given the second knife to Paul. He knew how long it took his father to craft a fine blade. But his father had only smiled and padded him on the shoulder.
Slowly Felix unwrapped his third treasure. When his mother had given it to him the glass bauble was shiny and shimmered with the colors of the rainbow like a soap bubble. Lady Selena had taken it from him to unlock the powers to give her eternal life, but the bauble seemed to disagree with the magic. By the time Felix was able to pry it loose it had burned into a dull lump, not unlike coal.
His mother had taken it from him with a smile. When she gave it back to him it was no longer black, but the shimmer had not returned. 'All in due time, Son' she had said when she noticed his disappointment. Felix tugged the bauble back into his leather pouch since the moon was not out. Felix had continued to place the bauble on the windowsill into the moonlight, in the hope to recover some of it's magic as he had done before it had been burned up.
The last of the light faded away as Felix went to sleep.

The other project?
ahhh, embarrassed to say, it's a kind of fan fic.....not sure if anybody ever gets to read it.

 

[ballen0351]

I gave up caffiene. I never realized how addicted i was. Since wed. Ive had a massive head ache and been jittery. Its kind of frightening to think how dependant your body can get to something. Glad i dont smoke crack.

 

[granfire]

I was about to tell my cat that we are doing lent and everybody needs to reduce some of their obsessions....then I realized, she was in the clear: Fish (Tuna) is on the list of allowed foods.....

 

[punisher73]

I was not raised Catholic, but my wife was. We both observe Lent, and since I have I enjoy the practice. For me, I gave up regular pop/soda (depending on where you live..lol), junk foods and baked goods.

When I have a craving for one of those items, that's when I do some introspection, prayer or read the Bible.

I don't see the point to give something up just to give something up without a deeper purpose behind it, but that is just me.

 

[granfire]

I was not raised Catholic, but my wife was. We both observe Lent, and since I have I enjoy the practice. For me, I gave up regular pop/soda (depending on where you live..lol), junk foods and baked goods.

When I have a craving for one of those items, that's when I do some introspection, prayer or read the Bible.

I don't see the point to give something up just to give something up without a deeper purpose behind it, but that is just me.

Well, yes.
It is supposed to be more meaningful than just whacking a beaver over the head and classifying it as seafood (a common practice in the medieval times).

But even if you don't go very deep, dealing with changing your habits, if even only for 40 days should even on a superficial level inspire thought on why we do what we do.
Much of it is ingrained by repetition: My computer is on the way to the coffee maker, so I turn it on before I even make coffee.
I had it in a different room and I found myself walking into the room before realizing I had moved the 'infernal machine' to the living room.
I also noticed that my usage changed when i had moved it.

Yesterday i tentatively picked up a 'job' to do stuff on the computer....entering data for the scout troop...after all I am wasting enough time on this thing, I might as well do something productive.


But I am rambling.

 

[punisher73]

Nope, I agree with your statement. I should have been more clear on mine. I was referring to people who talk about giving things up for Lent that don't really matter or don't cause you to think about things. For example, a person likes Coke and Pepsi both the same and they give up Pepsi for Lent, but keep drinking Coke everyday.

 

[granfire]

you were clear.

What you give up should have meaning.

I am not going cold turkey on anything, I am trying to be more conscious about what I do: no mindless link clicking, or the consumption of say, the pot of coffee in the morning, because it's what you do.