It's unsurprising in our secular, commercialised world, that two high consumption Christian traditions (Shrove Tuesday/Mardi gras and Easter) are amplified, but the period of body mortification, denial and self reflection that they bookended is completely ignored. There is very little money in not consuming, even though I imagine there is a juice cleanse waiting the right marketing moment.
I know the folks in this area do practice some discipline, but you are also the people I am witnessing worrying about Easter excesses, so this is where I am commenting.
Here is my thought: if you are going to observe "pancake" day and "Easter egg" day, then also practice some sort of Lenten observance in between. I do not mean a specifically religious practice, but some small act of self denial or self reflection over that period. I found this very useful when I was young. Practicing denying yourself something you want is an almost a lost art. When you are 12 and not wanting to lose weight and you give up chocolate for 6 weeks, that builds character, I think.
Lent varies across time and the world. The version I practiced when I was young was pretty simple. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday were days of fasting and abstinence, and all the Fridays in Lent were days of abstinence. Fasting was not strict (3 meals only! And not for kids). Abstinence meant no meat, but fish was allowed, so that meant for most of us fish and chips on Fridays. So it was a time marked out, but not very onerous. But the other thing was self selected. A Lenten sacrifice. Typically it was "giving up" something, but a rule was you couldn't have an ulterior motive. Giving up chocolate for Lent when you were trying to lose weight was regarded as cheating. You tried to find something that you just changed to exercise your self-denial muscle. We, as a society, don't do that much anymore.
Writing this has made me consider what I will do for Lent. My thinking now is give up alcohol (I need to build that muscle) and - this is the tough one - practice mindfulness meditation daily for 10 minutes. That's hard. Mindfulness is my bête noir. My id is mostly constructed from lies. 6 weeks of mindfulness will make me a superhuman or dismantle me.
I will decide in the next few days what I will do for Lent. If you want to join in, please share here. If we have enough to build a community, we can use this discussion to support each other.
Religion may be helpful, but is most definitely not required.
My disclosures: atheist, raised Catholic.
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Subtle_badger
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Interesting reflection ... Self-control is something that was more common when we were kids and quite oldfashion this days.
I will join you but i need to reflect to find something that i feel i should control but without any ulterior motive ... Thats the hard point, it is easier to be motivated do sth if there is a benefit, although not so good for exercising the self-control.
( No religious motivation in my case)
Hi Subtle_badger . I’d like to join you on a Lenten sacrifice, but I have always used Lent to give up sweets, chocolate and cake, and I intend to do so this year too. It might be helpful to some people to use Lent this way, not everyone will want to think up something else as well as trying to curb their sweet tooth! So hopefully you might be ok with allowing whichever Lenten “fast” or denial people choose?
As for me, I was brought up in a church school, Fridays in Lent were always fish or salads. We didn’t fast on Ash Wednesday though, or Good Friday. I sometimes smile to myself at IF practitioners who “don’t eat between evening meal and breakfast” - to me that’s not fasting, that’s just normal. Not eating between three meals a day was normal when I was growing up.
So how did I get overweight? Forgetting all those old ways! I try to stick to the old ways again now I am maintaining, although I am over my maintenance weight at the moment, so I am having to go back to calorie counting for a while!
“sometimes smile to myself at IF practitioners who “don’t eat between evening meal and breakfast” - to me that’s not fasting, that’s just normal” Exactly!! 😊
Very interesting & thought provoking. I am a practising Christian & always struggled with giving up chocolate etc as a concept because my motive was more shrinking my fat bottom than developing christian character - and that did not feel right. I shall think about what to give up & what muscle I would benefit from developing. Thank you.,
I shall be joining you in a Lenten fast as I'm also a practising Christian. I have yet to decide on what form that will take though. Thank you for reflecting on this.
What an interesting post! The art of self-discipline for its own sake does, as you say, build character. I haven't yet decided how I'll observe Lent, but doing so in a way that benefits my health, not necessarily for weight loss, would be a healthy challenge. I like the mindfulness idea - that would be tough for me, too. I'd be happy to join you on this, if you're okay with having a practicing Christian in the midst. (Not here to convert anyone, just doing my thing and being honest about it).
I actually think I can celebrate a secular Christmas (Saturnalia/Yule) and Easter (spring/fertility) but if I observe Lent, I wouldn't do that without acknowledging it's Christian roots. Excluding actual Christians would be bizarre.
Also: mindfulness meditation: no Buddhists, please. 😂
Edit: This is a joke. I would no more exclude Buddhist from mindfulness than I would exclude Christians from Lent. I thought the "😂" would make that clear.
Also Christians can do mindfulness, and Buddhists Lent, in case it's not obvious.
🤣
What an interesting post, Subtle_badger! You articulate something I’d half-managed to think yesterday, and I had also decided to try 40 days alcohol-free for Lent. I love a glass of wine or a gin, but can surely have a soda-water instead. Or perhaps just iced tap-water with cucumber, mint or a wedge of lime in it. I’m quite excited to try exercising that ‘self denial muscle’ too, but, as you see, don’t plan to get too Spartan about it.
Like you, I was raised Catholic but am now atheist. I’m afraid I would have the ulterior motive of weight-loss though. I remember being told by a nun at school that any money saved by cutting out sweets should go to charity, to avoid ‘cheating’ that way. Can’t be helped: if I lose weight, I lose weight and I’ll be delighted! I probably wouldn’t manage 10 mins mindfulness each day, so will just change one thing, I think. I hope you can get together a group of Lenten-fasters here to encourage one another.
I also remember those classmates who saved up all the chocolate and sweets they hadn't eaten during Lent to gorge on Easter Sunday. Not quite the intention, I believe...
I think January may have taken over from Lent as the popular period of self-denial but I like your idea of reviving this ancient tradition (but definitely in a secular way for us ex-Catholics). Methinks it fits in nicely with intermittent fasting, too.
Count me in - I'll consider what I need to give up for 40 days (with no ulterior motives like weight loss).
I too was brought up in a semi-Christian family ( mum believed, dad didn't ) and went to a CofE school. Fish on fridays was the norm, and our local fishmonger (the "wet fish man" ) came round in his van selling haddock, cod, kippers etc (never saw salmon in the 1950s !) .
I admit I don't practise this custom anymore, I eat quite a lot of fish on any day I fancy.
Our adult kids don't encourage Easter eggs, but if grandkids are coming we just buy some mini eggs for an egg-hunt. However O.H will probably get an egg for me, but he will eat 90% of it....I'd rather have flowers!
I will have a good think about a suitable self-sacrifice that I might just manage to stick to for 40 days and nights 😨
I'm a Christian and will be observing Lent. For me that means no meat at all and alcohol only at weekends (that's the killer for me as I like a drink). My main reason or observing Lent is to grow closer to Christ, so my discipline mainly revolves around extra prayer, bible reading, and discussing matters of faith and how better to serve God at my Lent study group. If you're looking to develop your self control, another big part of Lent is about how we treat other people, and controlling annoyance, anger and other negative emotions that could impact others demands discipline. What about a positive spin on it, instead of thinking what you will do without, think of what you can do for others; if you were a Brownie you'll recognise the concept of doing a good deed every day, so resolve to brighten someone's day even if only by a smile at a stranger or a compliment to a friend, or see if anyone in your area needs a bit of help. Or you can do something that really demands discipline and self-denial, decide that for the whole of Lent you are not going to moan or complain about anything at all, even to yourself. That's hard, but will probably mean you feelmore positive.
Love the idea of a good deed every day! I think that’s so very positive. Not really something you can post about though, as it will sound like bragging, which isn’t really entering into the spirit of it in the right way. Maybe someone could just give us a reminder every day to try and do a good turn? What do people think?
very interesting reply, a lot to think about. I like the idea of no moaning or complaining, even to myself, that really would require self discipline. I will give that a go for Lent
The Rations Challenge: Forty days of feasting in a wartime kitchen
by Claud Fullwood
Food is always a hot topic - Food waste, food banks, food miles, local versus imported. As we all need food, we can't ignore it. But as some families struggle without enough food to live on, others are challenged to consider how much they throw away, or how to make the food they have go further. Which is why Claud Fullwood set herself the challenge of living on World War Two rations for Lent. It opened her eyes not only to issues of hunger and waste, but also to the many ways in which we have the power to fix our groaning food system, make our families stronger and our communities whole again. The Rations Challenge takes the wisdom of World War Two and looks at how it can help us revolutionise how we live now. By learning the lessons our parents and grandparents lived by in the '30s and '40s, we can build a future that works for everyone.
I would like to join you in observing the Lenten season, I will have a think about what I could sacrifice and what I could do to exercise that muscle. Typically chocolate and sweets would be what I would give up for Lent, but since I am trying not to eat them that is maybe not enough. I am very attached to a few sugar free polos with my book at bedtime though. I would miss those
I like the idea of the mindfulness and since my meditation practice has lapsed it would be really good to kick start that again.
Having decided what my biggest challenge would be for Lent, it then took me ages to find this post again to tell everyone! I do hope you will be posting regularly from Ash Wednesday, S_B and that I get alerts. Still trying to figure out how this site works...
Anyway: my give-up is going to be food and cookery programmes to which I am totally addicted. This will be a real challenge for me and I will be interested to see how it goes.
Yes. Part of my Lenten devotion will be a daily post. Either in this thread or a new thread. I don't know which is better, but I I start a fresh one, I will link to it from here so you will get notice.
Thanks for all your great suggestions and ideas. I am Catholic and do usually observe something for Lent generally one extra good or nice thing and one thing given up.
I’m going to use these 40 days to focus and get on track with praying and more church attendance and bible reading.
I love suggestion of a kind deed, smile to stranger, thinking positively when people irritate etc and I’m going to try this. Drinking alcohol only at weekends also would be good. I’m also mostly off snacks and chocolates but can make this a deliberate decision.
I have made a Lent decision. I am not going to check social media during the working day. I am not going to sleep with my phone in my bedroom. There’s not a lot more I can fast in terms of food, but my online life needs a fast. I should actually spend my day working, not getting into fights with people here or trying to make you all laugh....
Please use this discussion however you like. Share what you are doing for Lent, or if you want to keep that private, just say you are doing something. I will come here each day to reflect some aspect of my experience, or just share something I have witnessed.
For Lent, I will practice some mindful activity each day, and I will post to this thread.
There is no failures here. To paraphrase Yoda: there is no do; try or don't try. If you try each day then that's a success. You will grow, even if you can't measure it. If you stop trying, that's fine too; you just stop doing this, but you aren't failing.
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