I am not a Catholic and stopped trying to quit this or that years ago after I realized that the pressure of quitting some of my favorite vices seemed to make matters worse because they were coping strategies to reduce stress/pressure to begin with. Now I try keeping on top of the underlying stressors and that generally reduces the compulsions to a minimum which allows me to cope with life without going off the deep end. I mention all of this because Lent or the act of giving up stuff doesn't really float my boat but reading what others have to say about Lent has inspired me to come up with my own version of Lent which I intend to give a whirl until Easter. Rather than give something up during the Lent season I have decided to try to "follow through" with something I have started a number of times now. Last October I posted a piece on my blog about a book I read last year called Timeshifting by Stephan Rechtschaffen, M.D., and I intended to write a series of pieces which included quotes from the book but I got sidetracked with this or that. I prefer to blame my lack of following through on the success of the USC football team but my shrink tells me I need to take more personal responsibility. Acutally, my shrink doesn't know about my compulsion with USC football and I don't think I need to bring it up since the football season in now over. Seriously, following through with things, especially reading books, is a problem I confess/concede and therefore I thought I would be a good idea to stick to my intention to post a series of pieces on my blog between now and Easter regarding the books Timeshifting and Healing Through the Dark Emotions which is another book I find myself going back to time and time again. I realize my own twist on Lent may not follow traditional lines but do consider it following the Spirit of the Law if not the letter. Besides, drawing closer to God is the point of it all and I consider this activity something inspired from above and beneficial to me which I suspect will benefit others indirectly as well. So, without further fanfare here are a few quotes from the book Timeshifting for my edification and hopefully the edification for others who may read this blog......

Timeshifting........To be aware of time, we must develop new attitudes and new skills. This involves focusing on one thing at a time, learning to slow down and notice---really experience---our physical and emotional states. It involves reacquainting ourselves with our senses, our friends, our spouses, our children, and just what it is to be in this moment. It involves learning when to speed up (increasing the speed of our rhythm can be as valuable as decreasing it) and when and how to downshift. It involves facing ourselves directly, and truly showing up in each moment of our lives....There is only the present; there is only what is at hand.".......more......."For the past hundred years or so, Western society has set an overly fast rhythum, a rhythm that varies only in that it is continually getting faster, urging us to do more, produce more, learn more. All our machines are geared to be the acceleration of an already too-frantic speed. Computers, faxes, voice mail, Email, the Internet, portable phones, automatic redial: These are handy for business and sometimes convenient, but they each add to the speed of the rhythum around us, constantly increasing the pressure---allowing us little tiem for reflection and none for feelings"......and now a few words from Healing through the Dark Emotions......Emotional suffering, as I write about it here, is not a sign of mental disorder or illness. It's a universal fact of life...A culture that insists on labeling suffering as pathology, that is ashamed of suffering as a sign of failure or inadequacy, a culture bent on quick fix for emotional pain, inevitably ends up denying both the social and spiritual dimensions of our sorrows"....more......"I've seen again and again that the essence of healing emotional pain lies in listening to what hurts--in both knowing how to listen to oneself and being listened to by others....If we are unable to tolerate some discomfort, it's hard to listen to dark feelings in ourselves and others. Our best, most compassionate intentions are thwarted, our connections marred by the shadow of intolerable emotions. We become inured to the incessant cacophony of the world's suffering, limited in our authenticity and responsiveness. And we suffer from not knowing the darker side of ourselves".......