40 Days & 40 Nights
Have you ever given something up? Not because you had to, but because you wanted to see if you could? Beginning last year, I began biving something up for Lent, not because I have to, as I know many Christians & Catholics who don't, my family never observed this event. I have began to do it because I want to.
Each year I have given something up and in doing so I have learnt something about myself. So although the event is instigated by religion, the journey itself and the purpose of it is all personal.
I read an interesting article yesterday that spoke of how giving up something for Lent can be very negative, because by denying ourselves something we want, we are eventually doomed to fail, and therefore will feel badly about ourselves. I think this is a very pessimistic view of things. Each year I gave up a very difficult want in my life, and each year I have stayed true to myself. The only person I am testing is myself, and if I stumble...it is my own responsibility to keep to the path afterwards, that often being more difficult, getting back on track, than not stumbling at all.
I am very proud of myself, finding out that I do have a very strong will and can keep my path when I choose to do something. What it has made me realize, on top of other things, is that if there is something that I do not seem to be able to do, it is probably because I don't want to do it and for whatever reason I am choosing not to do it. I have no one to blame for my lack of something but myself. Because I -am- strong, I -can- do. When I put my mind to a very strong idea, I will endure.
Each year I have learnt something new about myself, something I already knew in my heart, but something I needed to learn in my head.
I believe that everyone should test themselves in some way. Only you know how far you can be pushed...so push yourself.
In "Firestarter" Stephen King wrote "the mind is a muscle that can move the world". This phrase hit me as very important 16 years ago and it still sits with me as strongly now as it did then. We have much power and control in our lives. Too many of us act like passengers in the car that we should be driving.
Each year I have given something up and in doing so I have learnt something about myself. So although the event is instigated by religion, the journey itself and the purpose of it is all personal.
I read an interesting article yesterday that spoke of how giving up something for Lent can be very negative, because by denying ourselves something we want, we are eventually doomed to fail, and therefore will feel badly about ourselves. I think this is a very pessimistic view of things. Each year I gave up a very difficult want in my life, and each year I have stayed true to myself. The only person I am testing is myself, and if I stumble...it is my own responsibility to keep to the path afterwards, that often being more difficult, getting back on track, than not stumbling at all.
I am very proud of myself, finding out that I do have a very strong will and can keep my path when I choose to do something. What it has made me realize, on top of other things, is that if there is something that I do not seem to be able to do, it is probably because I don't want to do it and for whatever reason I am choosing not to do it. I have no one to blame for my lack of something but myself. Because I -am- strong, I -can- do. When I put my mind to a very strong idea, I will endure.
Each year I have learnt something new about myself, something I already knew in my heart, but something I needed to learn in my head.
I believe that everyone should test themselves in some way. Only you know how far you can be pushed...so push yourself.
In "Firestarter" Stephen King wrote "the mind is a muscle that can move the world". This phrase hit me as very important 16 years ago and it still sits with me as strongly now as it did then. We have much power and control in our lives. Too many of us act like passengers in the car that we should be driving.
posted by PrincessDoubt @ 12:35 p.m.
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