Lenten Exercise

It’s now the season of lent, the 40 days before Easter.  This is one of my favorite seasons of the church calendar, and a time of quiet reflection.  I usually try to find some way of marking the season – not necessarily the “giving something up for lent”, but something to focus on, and something to help me try to live my life a little better for those 40 days.

This year, a friend mentioned an acquisitions fast that she heard about at church.  The idea is to keep away from any unnecessary purchases or acquisitions (food is obviously one of the things that’s allowed), and if you do buy something, to try to buy it used, or locally made.  I’m going to give that a shot, though I’m not sure I’ll be able to abstain completely, but I don’t think that’s the point.  I want to be more mindful of the things that I acquire, since so often I don’t need it.  And I especially want to be more mindful of all the packaging and excess waste that goes along with it.   As part of this exercise, I want to keep a log of all the things that I purchase for those 40 days (though I think I’ll leave foodstuffs off for now).  I know I found it really surprising and helpful when I was trying to lose weight to make myself write down everything I ate.  So if I’m looking to try to cut down on the stuff that I get,  my theory is that keeping a log will help me with that, too.  I’m planning to post it here, since that will hold me a bit more accountable.