what things would you give up for a month?

[pinkytoe]

I was reading the Zen Habits blog about he devotes one month to eliminating something from his life - caffeine, alcohol, sugar, smart phone, sitting, etc. I love the idea of self-discipline so am thinking about trying it - perhaps starting with daily web surfing. It is amusing and interactive but somehow leaves me feeling empty after I see how the clock has flown by. What do you feel the need to give up for a little while?

[Jilly]

I wonder what it means if I am perfectly satisfied and peaceful with my life, that everything is such wonderful balance that I never feel as though anything, any activity or thoughts are taking energy or time from anything else.

That shared, I could use more sleep on occasion, although I think some people experience that in a regular life anyway.

Are you suggesting that sacrificing the actual doing of something that you like is an exercise in discipline and just generally good for the soul...so to speak?

[pinkytoe]

I too can be content with they way things are if I wish. When I look back at my life though, the times I felt the best were when I accomplished something through discipline. Giving up smoking after 30 years, going to a class instead of sleeping in, sticking to something until it was through. Perhaps that is just a way of looking at things that we absorb as over-achieving Americans. But I am hoping it is more a way of initiating a change from what is feeling like stagnancy.

[peggy]

how do you give up sitting? LOL

liver. i would give up liver for a month. no, a year. that long.:D

[ToomuchStuff]

how do you give up sitting? LOL

liver. i would give up liver for a month. no, a year. that long.:D

Better start drinking at a bar that has no stools to fall off of. (kills the liver and stops you sitting, your done when you hit the floor):laff:


If you can't tell, I know TOO many alcoholics, and all I can do is laugh about it. Friend just had his home broken into, multiple times. Didn't worry about it when property and a couple thousand dollars was taken, but steal his alcohol and he went beserk.:doh:

[catherine]

I use Lent as an annual discipline for doing just that, although Lent is longer than one month. Sometimes it winds up being a life change, other times I'm happy to get back to whatever it was I gave up!

[ApatheticNoMore]

I wonder what it means if I am perfectly satisfied and peaceful with my life, that everything is such wonderful balance that I never feel as though anything, any activity or thoughts are taking energy or time from anything else.

mental health and enlightment (or else astoundingly good defense mechanisms :laff: )

---------------------------------

I think how it goes with some (alrighty maybe me - I usually do speak for myself) is they have strong perfectionists, puritanical, traits and the culture very much will help that out (most diets will help for that matter - they're often really good examples of things that tend to absolutism). OMG you ate one sweet, OMG, OMG - never mind your don't have diabetes or anything that one sweet is remotely harmful in any sense (although too many sweets might very well be), just the end of the world. And then this will predictably lead to full on rebellion. And the rebellion is probably much healthier (mentally) than the perfectionism - cause the ruler is a totalitarian who tolerates no disagreement afterall, they must be overthrown! But neither are really ideal. The actual optimum solution might be in the in between, negotiating, bridging a chasm, calmer, more rational, less absolute, while taking the long term view. It's just more difficult to find.

So I'm eliminating brocolli. No brocolli will cross my lips this month, it will be hard but. And then when I'm done I will give up working. I love it, but sad to say I will give it up :(. Ok of course I'm being facetious book.

I have been cutting down internet (yea after my 10th millionth post today I say that :)) - but really. I do understand the emptiness.

[awakenedsoul]

I think I go more for moderation and cutting back. I've done that with sugar. Replaced it with Agave in my coffee, and cut my coffee consumption down to less than half. I still really enjoy that cup of java, though.

I was doing a lot of knitting, and now that I'm swimming so much, I've kind of let the knitting go by the wayside...

I'd like to give up swearing and yelling, permanently. I'll work on that...(I live alone, so it's only the dogs that hear me.)

[razz]

Does giving up impatience count? I work so hard at that and then something unexpected comes along and my patience is gone again.

[frugal-one]

I would gladly give up my MIL for a month!!!

[ctg492]

Every Monday I say I am giving up sugar......maybe next Monday. I really need to do that.

[pony mom]

I'd love to cut down on complaining but I'm afraid I wouldn't last half a day.

I've been reading Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth and following along with the audio of Oprah's webcast with the author. So now I'm trying really hard to be in the "now" and it has helped me with the amount of worrying that I do. Instead of giving up something, I get more benefit from adding something new. Being more grateful for little things every day is another thing I'm purposely doing now. Maybe the gratefulness will eventually cancel out my complaints.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Instead of giving up something, I get more benefit from adding something new. Being more grateful for little things every day is another thing I'm purposely doing now. Maybe the gratefulness will eventually cancel out my complaints.

If one can't do gratitude* here's an alternate suggestion for a daily ritual (and nah it's not my invention): list at the end of the day things you are proud of yourself for and you did well that day. I added sizing because a list of things seems silly without scale- so I rate things S, M, L - standing for Small, Medium and Large - "t-shirt sizing". Anything can go on the list, nothing wrong with putting the most mundane things like "paid the electricity bill" on the list. The sizing I rate based mostly on how much inner resistance (that I *wanted* to overcome) had to be overcome to do it (psychic/psychological difficulty). How much "I don't want to" had to be overcome IOW (again that you wanted to overcome, no point in doing things that absolutely zero part of you whatsoever wants to do). But throw in outer resistance if there is any as well. Ok my example of "paying the electricity bill" is pretty small, but if for some reason it's a major thing for one it could be large. It's an inner scale. And actions not attributes.

* Yea never been well positioned to do the gratitude thing for various reasons, probably not all that interesting - because perhaps too idiosyncratic to be relevant to much.

[JaneV2.0]

If one can't do gratitude* here's an alternate suggestion for a daily ritual (and nah it's not my invention): list at the end of the day things you are proud of yourself for and you did well that day. I added sizing because a list of things seems silly without scale- so I rate things S, M, L - standing for Small, Medium and Large - "t-shirt sizing". Anything can go on the list, nothing wrong with putting the most mundane things like "paid the electricity bill" on the list. ...

That's a good idea. I'm always proud of myself when I do yard work, because it takes me days to work up to it and then I go out and do what I can as fast as possible before scurrying back in the house. It would definitely be a "large." I've promised myself there's an end in sight.

[happystuff]

how do you give up sitting? LOL

liver. i would give up liver for a month. no, a year. that long.:D

liver would be an easy "forever" thing for me! lol.

Hmmm.... not sure what I would "give up", but I'm always trying for good, overall personal improvement.

[Gardenarian]

ANM, I like your style of doing gratitude lists! I light a candle each night while I make a list. Somehow the act of lighting a candle seems to set my time off, or create a sort of sacred space where the world doesn't intrude. I use candles while meditating and practicing yoga sometimes too.

I find it pretty easy to give up things - I have no trouble fasting, I went a year buying no clothes, and so on. I find it harder to actually engage with the world. So a month with no alone time would be an interesting challenge for me. I had a fabulous time traveling with dd recently, and I think that is the only way I could make this happen for a whole a month - to be away from home and more or less forced to be with others. It would probably need to be structured, like taking a workshop and living in a dorm setting.

I am deeply introverted, and am not even sure this would be healthy for me.

Going without a car for a month would be another hard challenge, living in an area where so many things are inaccessible without one. I dislike driving, but don't think I could stop for a month.