Quarantine Bloglette: Fasting

A few weeks ago, I fasted for a day. Not my favorite thing to do, but I wanted to be sure I could still do it, that I could still control myself. My body, I controlled; my mind, not so much.While in Moscow, I've spent some time talking to our Regional Psychiatrist. I often suffer from unwanted thoughts - mostly in the form of songs replaying themselves to the point that thoughts of lobotomy run rampant through my mind. She told me that, rather than trying to not think about the annoying thought, replace it with something else, and put my focus there. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it makes sense.

I realize that what we are all going through, in this self-isolation, is like a fast. Instead of doing without food, though, we're doing without shopping, parties, going to shows, etc. By looking at this as a sort of fast, can that help us get through the rest of this pandemic?* I'm probably not the only one to look at my collection of perfume, spices, hotel sample-sized shampoos or whatever and declare, No more, until I use some of this up! I'm also likely not the only one to think, I play this game too much. I need to stop for a week or so.

People fast for different reasons. Some fast to cleanse their bodies. As we fast from the many activities we're prevented from doing, what behaviors (over-indulging, anyone?) or attitudes (entitlement?) can we cleanse ourselves of?

Some fast to focus on other things, like spiritual matters or a specific problem. Since we're so limited in what we can do, is there something we've been procrastinating that we can finally get ourselves to deal with? I'm not necessarily talking about cleaning out the garage. For me, I've been working on not repeating myself - telling the same stories over and over or repeatedly making the same point. Once, when Douglas was out of town, I made a concerted effort to not talk to myself. There's nothing wrong with talking to oneself - everyone from toddler age up does it. But I wanted to speak more mindfully, and that was the perfect opportunity to practice it. What can we practice during this time that will instill good habits?


*(I do realize that in the US some businesses are opening up, so I might be a little late with this post. I think, though, that there are still plenty of people self-quarantining.)

This is a quilt that was on display at Scottsdale's Mayo Clinic. Quilts are pretty. But if you look at just one square of a quilt, like a solid background piece, it's not very pretty. Yet, if you made a quilt without those boring background pieces, the focus images would be lost. These days of isolation may seem boring and repetitive, but they are serving a purpose. We need to let them do that, and maybe, just maybe, we can even discover the purpose. Here are a few more quilt images for you: