{they know I love pink, gold and inspirational words; pretty nugget magnets from an amazing Grade 3 classroom}
Our Lenten Season (beginning on Ash Wednesday, March 1st to Holy Saturday, April 15th for this year) the 40 day period before Easter (excluding Sundays), like many other religions and their observances, is often synonymous with deeper reflection, mindfulness, penance and the giving up of something such as: pessimism, anger, complaining, gloom, gossip, sin, discouragement and pettiness. The focus then is on kind thoughts, being more of an optimist, being more patient, more grateful, enjoying the beauty around us, avoiding harsh words, being more virtuous, hopeful and receptive. It's a tall order, but very doable and worthwhile acts for these 40 days. What I remember even more so during this time in my younger teenage to early 20's, is our various giving up of addicting edibles: chocolates, other loved candies, pastries, ice cream (that did not happen this year), fizzy soda, wine and other boozy indulgences...
But many, many years ago, my mom said why not add something good, instead of all this giving up of this and that and other small pleasures which is something I of course found very appealing. It meant that my ice cream days would still be intact (yay!). So I added a few more serene-type activities such as a later evening walk on the weekend, read a new one-page, meditative inspirational passage each day from a new reflective book find, allowed myself to sit for a quiet few, doing nothing except perhaps just having a good gaze out the window, helped people more while going in my own travel direction, be it on the train, trolley, and even with simple subway directions if they appeared a little confused destination-wise. It really created a calmer, although on-the-go, slowing down with my own daily steps as opposed to just being focused on getting from Point A to B, and made me even more aware of our larger blended culture from all walks of life where everyone desires pretty much the same graces in life as the next person.
These days I spend a lot of time around genuinely refined elders (from my older family and friends, best friend included, to my outstanding college and past university professors and work/project colleagues) where much of my wiser wisdom grounding principles are rooted, and also around the much younger, who are often asking questions on career and general everyday life, to our most intimate lives. And in a world where way too often doing the right thing and doing things the proper way fall short, creating an air of low morale in both one's professional and personal lives, leaving a lack luster and deflated impression with our next generation of young adults, it feels especially uplifting to hang onto good, tidy principles and practices as we make our way through each new decade. It's never as easy as writing or typing things on a page--- it's a daily challenge at times, with the quest to have at any cost, even taking away from another, but the reward and rebound is so very very much worth it conscience-wise and more so, for our many, many lucky tomorrows. Live well, live right and be a solid guiding light for each other.
As the saying goes... we walk by faith, not by sight.
{now adding some extra joyful colour to our refrigerator door :)}
