Lent

BecomingMoreAwesome wrote: »

samiam4114 wrote: »

Last year instead of giving up something, I incorporated saying a rosary a day. Best Lenten season to date

I like this idea. I’m not Catholic anymore, but when I was, a priest I really respected spoke about not treating Lent as a time of punishment but as an opportunity to improve ourselves by adding a healthy, loving, or giving habit.

Edit because it read as though I used to be a priest.

Heh, I read it that way at first, even after the edit (it's clear, I just read wrong). ;-)

For me, I like to do both (almost always introduce some additional prayer practice, although often with the idea of seeing if it's something I will keep up afterwards too), and think of both as ways to improve myself (not punishment at all). With giving something up, sometimes it's about just living a slightly simpler life, plainer life, but also sometimes if I go to grab something or do something and realize, no can't, it's an opportunity to think about why. I alternate between giving up something as more of a discipline or way to mark the period of time (for example, I like having meatless periods of the year and think of it as rooted in tradition) and giving up something I'm struggling with both as a way to work on that and to note that I don't need it as a crutch (the anger one that someone mentioned is a good one there, or the internet or shopping for non-essentials, especially if someone uses those to distract themselves -- spend the time doing something more positive or realizing you don't need the distraction, so on).

Hope that's not too much -- I think it's an interesting topic and interesting to see how others approach it.

There's some great ideas in here. I'm not Catholic but I have grandparents and aunts and uncles who are and so Lent has always been a part of my life as just something I do on my own. Even aside from the religious aspects it feels great to set aside a period of time like this for self improvement and self reflection.

In addition to reading the Bible daily I'm planning to give up diet cokes because I really have started to dislike how addicted I feel, they're probably something like 70% of my fluid intake at this point. I'll be replacing it with unsweet tea (unfortunately too weak willed to give up caffeine COMPLETELY...) but I hope this is a change that will last more than 40 days.

I commit to eating at fish fries every Friday. It's the reason I love lent. I give up nothing and eat fried fish sandwiches and fries every Friday for several weeks lol

In my first year at uni I gave up alcohol for lent. I'm thinking I might do the same this year, that said I don't drink that munch anyway, so maybe I'll do something more challenging

smolmaus wrote: »

I was raised Catholic, now atheist (and quite anti-Catholic-Church tbh) but I am considering doing something for Lent this year when I don't usually. I don't like the idea of Lent as penance or as some test of willpower but I do like the idea of using it for some conscious self improvement.

Practicing gratitude? Donating £10-15 to a chosen charity each week? I'm already trying to limit my drinking for other reasons so the long-established Wine Fund could go to better use that way.

This. Except I don't drink.