So, that was Lent. It was long. Everyone debated how long it was and whether or not Sundays counted. Anne Atkins told nickbarnes   that Holy Week didn't count. We soldiered on anyway, for debatable reasons. Mainly bc we are stubborn.

I was able to observe daylight fasting for about 50% of the duration. It was hard, incredibly hard, to fast in a food-addicted culture. I wondered how the Muslims manage to observe Ramadan, and I think the community support is the crucial factor, being amongst other people who understand, are going through the same struggle, and make encouraging noises often. These kind of thoughts led me to phone up my brother every now and then, who has his own struggle to raise his refusenik teeage son while battling against chronic cluster headaches. It also resulted in at least one rather strange poem. If not two. (Nothing new there, then.)

My other abstinences were bread, cheese and alchohol, of which alcohol was the cleanest fast. I partook of no drop until Maunday Thursday, when in parallel with The Last Supper I had a glass of red while out celebrating a colleague's birthday.

Bread and cheese were far less successful in terms of abstinence. First, I regularly substituted sugary bread products for the bread I couldn't have (see earlier debates on the virtues of crumpets). Secondly I found it a maddening proposition to be making cheese sandwiches and lasagne and cheesy pasta etc for the kids without having just a crumb.

In an earlier epoch I would have been appealing to the Almighty for strength against temptation. But now I am merely researching which aspects of my life and actions I feel I have effective control over, and flexing my muscles against those areas where I am weaker.

And I started running again, and ran The Channel.

Tags: lent

In Ramadan the blood runs thin,
The Lenten fast removes the earth
From view; high on adrenaline
And far from chains of logic thought.

On Everest, the blue is close,
The clouds below obscure the norm.
And held in heaven's calm repose,
A dizzy map of paths is drawn.

Work, 3pm: it's hard to find
Language for thought; the words are gone
This vertigo spins through the mind,
Three times converge, all futures merge,
Rules can be broken, ventures won.


[Pls forgive the shortcomings of this attempt! ]

Tags: lent, poetry

February 24th is widely celebrated as the Feast of Intermittere, when Jesus had tried all the self-distraction and patience techniques he could think of, and just threw up his hands and said, this is no sodding good, I need a break from this, who made Lent this long anyway? So he had a bit of a Feast at Lunchtime, involving buttered toast followed by strawberries and cream. And he liked it.
Happy Intermittere, everyone.

Tags: lent

It seems that most things can be gotten used to. This abstinence isn't quite such a big deal as it was last week.
There are various ways to make the whole thing easier. One can eat crackers instead of bread, bacon instead of cheese, alcohol-free lager instead of merlot, and drink endless cups of hot drinks during the day. And watch Torchwood on Wednesdays.
And I do.

Tags: lent

Hats off to anyone who observes Ramadan or other daylight fasting practice. This is not easy.

I have gone one tenth of the distance (40 days). I can use all the techniques I use in distance swimming to make sure I don't give up.

What I get out of it: finding internal resources to deal with life's frustrations rather than stuffing myself with psychoactive foods. And learning that, whatever my CV might have to say, I DO have sticking power. Oh and occasional altered states of consciousness.

Besides which, I love a challenge. :-)

Tags: lent

Hm. A fair amount of fudging and negotiation going on here. "It's nearly sunset. That's not bread it's a crumpet. I've given up alcohol not sweets, cakes and chocolate".

Which is not as it should be. It's not in The Spirit of the Thing. Either I do or I don't. There is no "try".

My Buddhist class this evening brought back to my awareness how dangerous it is to set up things in life which hold out the promise of providing happiness at some point in the future; of making serenity and pleasure contingent on something external.

Tags: buddha, lent

Having run out of chocolates, I moved on to apple pies last night. But still am happy having had an entire 48 hours without my three addictive foods. 
Combining Ramadan with Lent is interesting. I am not eating during daylight and am getting a lot more done at work, feel better. But will I manage my 2k swim tomorrow?    

Tags: lent