See, I'm not Catholic. But, last year, a Catholic friend was fasting for Lent and explained her fast to me. It wasn't a draconian fast, but it was challenging. I don't recall the details. She explained to me why it was meaningful to her. And, lo and behold*, it made sense! You can read more about some of the things she has shared with me at some of these sites:
My Lenten fast is relatively simple. It is also not draconian, but it challenges my habits in some extreme ways. First, it requires me to be mindful in the present. Second, unlike secular fasts, it replaces the negative habit you're giving up with a positive one. In the case of a traditional Catholic Lent, one is to turn to God in sorrow for one's sin when one is foregoing the subject of the fast. For the Catholic (and indeed for Christians in general), it is a healthy thing to recognize sin for what it is and confess and accept God's forgiveness based on His Son's gift of salvation. It's all about the grace (sung to the tune of "It's all about that bass.")
So, why write about this here - when I usually stay away from personal things like politics and religion? First, it occurred to me that the discipline of giving up a habit by replacing it with a good habit is pretty universally good advice. Second, it gave me something to write about. And, that brings me to the conclusion and the title for this post:
I'm a math addict. I love numbers. When I logged on to blogger.com today, I noticed that I last posted almost 2 months ago. That made me wonder what my average lapse between posts is. And, so, of course I had to find out. It turns out I've been posting in this blog for about 5 years and I have 31 posts. That means, on average, I post about 6 times per year (or, every couple of months). So, by the law of averages*, it was time!
More about the "True to form" bit:
See the last paragraph above about the math and numbers. That explains my "form" pretty well. I'm not a prolific blogger. But I like to think that most of my stuff is better than average (hehe, get it? better than average?) - Back to the top -
More about my "Lenten fast":
My Lenten fast is very straightforward. I'm eating a vegan (and largely raw) diet on Mon/Wed/Fri and "sensible" meals and snacks the rest of the time. In addition, I've decided to do this mostly in private - like Jesus advised in a sermon - to do one's "good deeds" in private and without fanfare. And, finally, I've chosen to observe the sundown-to-sundown definition of day (so, Monday's vegan fast starts at sundown on Sunday and ends at sundown on Monday). My reasoning for this last rule is admittedly selfish. I attend a "trivia night" on Wednesdays where there is much less healthy fare. I enjoy it and quite honestly didn't want to give it up. I might have done so if I had other social opportunities, but since I've just moved to town, I don't. My conscience is clean in this particular concession. - Back to the top -
More about the "lo and behold" bit: It's just something my mom used to say. Here is the best definition I found: from the Cambridge Dictionary site. - Back to the top -
It's all about that bass: - Back to the top -
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