Today is the first day of Lent – Ash Wednesday and after the way my little and I celebrated Fat Tuesday (ice cream, nachos, beer, fries, slurpee) I could definitely go for a bit of healthy living.
Lent is a great time to break a habit. Keeping a new regimen for 40 days is a long enough time to really effectively change your bad habits. Two years ago I gave up Diet Coke and I by the time lent was over, I had lost my craving. Eliminating coffee from my daily routine was a bit harder, but definitely reduced my need for coffee every morning. This year I’m giving up cookies because I’ve been eating so many of them. We’ll see how it goes!
The magazine Whole Living writes lists each month called “10 Thoughts On Whole Living” Healthy living is a reinforcing cycle so whether you’re giving something up for lent or pledging to do more good for the next 40 days, these tips can help set the tone to make those pledges feel more natural and less like a sacrifice.
Here are a few from the last few months that I think apply to making and keeping resolutions:
1. Blaming never fixes what you think it will
2. You won’t know how fast you can go until you try
3. When you’re overloaded, fight the urge to work harder. Instead, slow down and reflect on what matters most
4. Make preparing fresh, wholesome food ore about simplifying your life than complicating it.
5. The spiritual and physical are not mutually exclusive. In order to experience one, you much be fully engaged in the other
6. Think of sleep as a form of nourishment. Don’t let yourself go hungry.
7. Let go of perfection: the most delicious moments are often the messiest
8. When you break a small bad habit, you teach yourself that you can change anything
9. The New Year (or lent) isn’t a do-over; It’s an opportunity to take your next big step
10. Willpower is sometimes a biological issue, not a moral one. Don’t just yourself harshly
I am choosing not to expand on these because I think their power comes from the simplicity of these statements and personal interpretation.
Happy Ash Wednesday – What can you achieve in the next 40 days?
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