40 Days

I’m writing this post on FAT TUESDAY!  I love that this day is called FAT TUESDAY.  Why not Gluttonous Tuesday, or Indulgence Tuesday, or Eat every thing in sight with a side of bacon Tuesday?  Anyway, I digress.  This isn’t about Fat Tuesday – it’s about the 40 days following today, or for those of us that are Catholic, Lent.  I’m Catholic.  I’m getting over it, but it’s been forty years so it is taking some time as I keep feeling guilty about getting over the guilt.  That’s some Catholic humor for those of you who are wondering what I’m going on about.

So back to the 40 days following FT.  Here’s what the all powerful Wikipedia has to say about it:  “Lent (Latin: Quadragesima) is a solemn observance in the liturgical year of many Christian denominations, lasting for a period of approximately six weeks leading up to Easter Sunday. In the general Latin-rite and most Western denominations Lent is taken to run from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) or to Easter Eve.  During Lent, many of the faithful commit to fasting or giving up certain types of luxuries as a form of penitence.”

Every year since as far back as I can remember I was supposed to ‘give up’ something for Lent.  When I was a kid it was a big deal to give up candy – that lasted until lunchtime on the Wednesday after Fat Tuesday.  As I got older I kept on doing things that were denial and ‘punishment’ based and instead of finding this time a time of reflection, meditation and connection to myself and my beliefs I found myself resentful and frustrated.  I can honestly say I’ve never made it through a 40 day Lenten period completely sticking to my stated intention – probably because of the way I viewed it.  So this year I’ve decided to change my approach.

Instead of viewing this as a time to take something away from myself or deny myself I’m going to do something because it will connect me more to my life, husband, friends, and inspire introspection. And it could be a decision to do something or practice something different  or let go of something.  It could be anything.  I think we can apply this to many things in our lives – just change the intention from a negative to a positive and keep reminding ourselves of the reasons – the good reasons – why we’re doing it.  You don’t have to observe Lent or any other formal thing to experience this.

As far as I’m concerned (and isn’t this blog all about me? – sarcasm!)  starting tomorrow, buh-bye Facebook.  For 40 days.  That’s a big deal for me as I find myself going to that time sucking application probably 20 times a day.  It’s coming off my phone and off my desktop.  If I want to connect it has to be through e-mail or via phone.  My intention is just as I said – to turn inward so that I can shine more light outward.  This time around having changed my reasons and my focus I believe I will be more successful.

See you in class and the studio!

Image: Facebook