Lent, Monty Python Monks, and Self-reflection

Lent is a season of self-reflection and self-exploration. It is also a time where many people choose to give up things or add other disciplines.

I am still finalizing my Lent plans but so far it looks like it will be filled with Buddhism (via a series of books by Thich Nhat Hanh on How to Walk, Sit, See, Relax, Fight and Love) and selections by Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers (via a collection by Penguin Books.)

Lent is a season that often blurs the lines between self-reflection/self-exploration and just hitting oneself on the head like the Monks in Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Which while being funny is not a healthy way to spend a season. Too many of us are currently hitting ourselves on the head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4q6eaLn2mY

Don't be like the Monty Python Monks instead know that from starlight and stardust you come and starlight and stardust you go, and consider trying one of the 40 following lent activities:

Savoring: 

Take a hot shower

Have a cup of tea

Eat 1 piece of chocolate* and let it melt on your tongue 

*or yummy food of your choice

Give yourself a miny self-massage

Connecting:

E-mail or write a note to someone

Talk to someone you see every day

Join a group around something you love

Take a friend out for a cup of tea and conversation

Exploring:

Read one piece on a new topic each day

Learn about the experiences of those in an identity group not your own

Watch a Ted Talk or equivalent each day

Listen to a new type of music

Gratitude:

Keep a gratitude journal

Do a random act of kindness each day

Tell someone how they have impacted you

Meditate

Creating:

Create art in any form or medium or expression

Create home-cooked meals (or semi-homecooked meals)

Create a cozy nook in your house or apartment

Plant an indoor plant

Dreaming:

Daydream for an extended period of time

Create a vision board

Honor your dreams with a ceremony

Water the dreams of someone else

Moving:

Have a dance party

Yoga

Go for a walk

Stretch

Reflecting:

Journal

Sit in silence

Speak out loud what you are feeling/thinking 

Do a personal inventory

Seeking:

Seek how you can support yourself'

Seek how you can support others

Seek what makes you feel alive

Seek what makes others feel alive

Changing:

Change how you look at yourself

Change how you look at the world

Change how you look at others

Change something so it is more justice filled

My hope for you this Lent is you have a meaningful season of self-reflection.