Dig deeper…and read “Resisting Happiness”
The season of Lent is a Catholic liturgical season consisting of forty days of fasting, prayer, and penitence beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at sundown on Holy Thursday. We get used to thinking of Lent as a time “to give up something”. Not to eat meat at a time when so many of us are vegetarian, for example, is not a big thing, right? Let’s dig deeper…Today we understand that it is not about giving up meat or chocolate anymore! Throughout history Christians have found prayers, fasting, and almsgiving to be an important part of renewal. Many Catholics now add something during Lent rather than giving up something, either to address personal habits that need work or to add some outreach to others in need.
Today we live in a world of business, selfishness, terrorism, and violence. Life can be so challenging on a regular basis. It is easy to ignore the deep meaning of Lent because we are busy with life! It is easy to attend church because it is only 45 minutes of our time but it is much harder to slow down and reflect on our everyday life. When was the last time you paused to really think about your life? Don’t give up chocolate for Lent this year but slow down in your life and look at the most important things: people, feelings, spiritual connection… Why don’t you give up 10 minutes a day to reflect on your life?
How lazy are we in our relationships? What kind of load do we carry around the house? How about our spiritual practice? Do we put in the time and effort to grow and expand, or do we just pay it lip service?
What about the other areas of our life? Are we continuing to grow mentally, emotionally, physically? Do we practice discipline and put out the effort to make our time count? Sloth is the thief of time.
Fasting…What can we do differently? Desserts, Facebook, gossip are all good things to stay away from, but why not take it a step further? Make a commitment to a note or email once a week to someone in your life who inspires your faith. Give up your personal time and do something for others. Commit to Sunday dinners with your family, and…be present. “Fast” from yourself and give to others.
During this time of reflection, I want to recommend a book by Matthew Kelly, Resisting Happiness. It is a dynamic story about why we sabotage ourselves, feel overwhelmed, set aside our dreams, and lack the courage to simply be ourselves. The author of the book is asking the reader tons of simple but uncomfortable questions. Are you happy? Are you overwhelmed? Do you procrastinate? Do you sometimes feel like you are your own enemy? Are you ignoring your needs? Do you feel that your life lacks meaning and purpose? Do you find yourself avoiding the real issues in your life and focusing on the superficial? What is resistance? Have you lost the courage to truly be yourself? In the pages of this book we learn not only what resistance is, but we get the sense how to recognize and conquer it in our own life. The book shows us that it is resistance that stands between us and happiness. The first goal of the book is simply to give resistance a name. Once we name it, we see it differently. The first lesson of the book I personally absorbed is that you never defeat resistance once and for all. It is a daily battle.
It’s time to stop resisting happiness, the author of the book writes. Do you worry about things you have no control over? Worry destroys happiness. Do you compare yourself with others in an unhealthy way? Comparison is a destroyer. Do you buy things you can’t afford and don’t need? Debt is a destroyer of happiness and a creator of stress. Gossip, laziness, fear, excuses, negative thinking, ingratitude, and jealousy all destroy happiness. This simple book, in my opinion, is a fantastic guide to help in the process of reflection during the Lenten season. In the pages of the book I found the sentence: “If you want to be an interesting person, read books.” I encourage all of my readers to spend time with Matthew Kelly’s new book.
When we are busy because…we are busy, we miss the things as they are, we miss people in our life, we don’t reflect. Lent just came and lent will go and if we are not careful we miss it (just as we’ve missed other Lents) because we’re busy with other things. And those “other things” don’t make us happy….Can we really afford to “resist happiness”? We are all hungry for something. Resistance hates action. If we are not satisfied with our everyday life, every single moment is a chance to turn it all around.
This is just a start! Don’t give up chocolate for Lent this year! Let’s live Lent lovingly and make this the best season of reflection ever!
Sincerely,
Agata Wojno