Lent begins today. Is this something you observe? I have, for years. I am not particularly religious, but Lent was always a good cue to give something up.
However, over the past few years, giving up things has fallen out of favour for me. I have come to realise that deprivation is not the best motivator for me.
And although I can give up chocolate, pop, junk food, cheese, bread or whatever for 6 weeks, once the time is up I go on a bender of whatever I’ve given up.
Seems a bit pointless really.
If you observe Lent for religious reasons and you feel you should deprive yourself to
But a few years ago I found a leaflet from a local church with 40 ideas of what to do for Lent…and not all of them were about penance and self-denial.
There were things like practicing kindness and generosity, spreading joy, being nice, starting a spiritual practice.
This slightly unorthodox representation of what you could do for Lent stuck with me, and last year, I decided I wasn’t giving anything up, but I was going to start something instead.
So I started an exercise practice – for the whole of Lent, I exercised every day. I made it nice and easy – 5 minutes minimum, exercise could be walking, yoga, dancing, whatever I wanted to do.
And it felt good.
Giving up things often feels good too…but then I always restart the bad habit. This time, I kept the good
The least I did was 70% in a month when I was ill. Now, I like that outcome. I like that it became something I wanted to continue.
Instead of spending Easter Sunday eating my body weight in chocolate, I continued to exercise (and probably ate a lot of chocolate as well!).
So I’ve decided to do the same this year.
I’m upping the ante a little though – this year I want to do stretches or yoga AND either walk or dance. Every day. For at least a minute of stretching or one yoga posture and 5 minutes walking or one song dancing.
Last year, generally I did a lot more than the minimum, but some days, when you’re time-pressed, tired or just can’t be bothered, knowing you can just do a little bit is a good motivator to just get and do it.
So what new practices might you play with this spring? You don’t have to do Lent, but if you do there’s a clear start (today) and end (Easter Sunday).
What would you love to add to your life? Or maybe there is something that you could do with giving up or limiting (anyone got a phone addiction they need to address??!).
Today (and every day for that matter) is a really great time to pick something you want to start or stop and find an easy way to add or subtract it from your life.
Make it as easy as you can. I’d love to do 30 minutes exercise a day, but I know that some days I just
Whereas when you make it easy, it’s easier to persuade yourself to do it every single day.
I’d love to know what you’re giving up or starting up this Lent/Spring/month/week.
Related Posts
