Long time no blog.
Lent brings with it the feeling that it is time to ‘give up’
make a sacrifice. Fasting, penitence, prayer, contemplation.
But perhaps it's a mistake to think of these things as activities simply in isolation, they are means to an ends. For re-focussing on what it is
really important; rediscovering what matters.
2013 and for the first time in my life I paid heed to Ash Wednesday
and its inherent expectations. I considered giving up refined sugar - tried for a few days, then got high on a batch of scones. Then a friend posted a most an amazing poem by
TS Eliot called Ash Wednesday. I was plunged into even more profound
contemplations on the 'vanished power of the usual reign'.
Not so long ago BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour included a brief feature on FOMO. I thought I knew what that was, the fear of missing out? Yeah? So what? That's not me, no way. But this was before I became embroiled in e-publishing; in Deviant Art; in a Facebook page for my novel; in a blog...
...and these things bit by bit demand a little piece of my life, a little piece of attention, a little piece of time. And that should be fine while I'm sitting at my computer - I need to check this, then that, ooh that's interesting....I'll just read this - you know - you're reading this blog. But then I found that even while my laptop wasn't open I felt my mind buzzing irritatingly, wondering if there was a new post, a new sale, a new view maybe even a comment or a review!
It was time for a break. Not 40 days. Just enough time to shake off the usual reign of my cyberspace monarch.
Now I'm ready to prepare my tithes again. And if no one downloads or comments or tags or views I will just have to find a juniper tree to sit beneath and re-enact the death of Chatterton (thanks dear S.J.W for that latter image!).
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