I do quite enough. Yesterday, I had a good workout, spent hours in public transportation and waiting for the bus in chilly weather, and had a meeting about Ph.D work. I will not do a full fast. Like last year, I will give up red meat, almost. I'll have two or so home-made hamburgers like the one I had yesterday for strength and perhaps a little bacon.
But what I will try to give up is a desire. It can't be the ambition desire. Unless it overwhelms you, it is not bad. And my financial situation is not near where it "should" be. I will give up my desire to find that bloke to be a husband. Somewhere in my subconscious or conscious is the belief that I am not whole, complete and perfect on my own, that I "need" a man for a happy life, and that women that have or pretend to have a happy marriage are better than I am or know something that I do not know.
With the pressures of having a child on time when you are a woman, I feel the pressure I inflict on myself (and a lot really is from society and culture) to find a four-leaf clover in a field of three-leaf ones. It feel like tons of weight on my shoulders.
It occurred to me that this is against two of the Ten Commandments, honoring my mother and father and not idolizing anyone. If I think I am not enough or whole, complete and perfect on my own, that does not honor what my parents created and brought up. They had their faults, but they did a great job. I may not have held on exactly to all their beliefs, but, again, they did a great job. If I consciously or subconsciously think some j*rks are people I need to be good enough for or change for or have them like me and get them, I am idolizing them.
And of course we have the epidemic of men being lazy and egotistical, offering to take women out for coffee or a beer, to see how soon they can sleep with them or to interview the women to see if they are worth some more dimes for dinner. In some cultures, like Greek, their moms may at times be to blame; ("My baby boy...") so much for doing the energy, time and financial work to pursue a woman. It reminds me of the Saturday Night Live skit with Justin Timberlake "D*ck in a box." If we are so lucky, we can have that, and a cup of coffee! Yippee! Perhaps women should do what they did in the Aristophenes play Lysistrata where they stopped giving sex to men and thus influenced war and peace. Let's see how many dinners we'd get taken to then!
It also occurred to me that women and scientists for years have made it possible for women to have children on their own. (That brings me back to money.) And plenty of men that love women marry women with children, be it from a sperm bank or a marriage where the husband died (God forbid) or there was a divorce. So that's another reason not to sweat anything.
Well, that makes me feel calmer and more grateful this time of Lent.
My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.Authorhouse.com and http://www.Amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.LouizaPatsis.com.Visit and like, if you so see fit, my book page at www.facebook.com/PocketGuidetoFitness.
But what I will try to give up is a desire. It can't be the ambition desire. Unless it overwhelms you, it is not bad. And my financial situation is not near where it "should" be. I will give up my desire to find that bloke to be a husband. Somewhere in my subconscious or conscious is the belief that I am not whole, complete and perfect on my own, that I "need" a man for a happy life, and that women that have or pretend to have a happy marriage are better than I am or know something that I do not know.
With the pressures of having a child on time when you are a woman, I feel the pressure I inflict on myself (and a lot really is from society and culture) to find a four-leaf clover in a field of three-leaf ones. It feel like tons of weight on my shoulders.
It occurred to me that this is against two of the Ten Commandments, honoring my mother and father and not idolizing anyone. If I think I am not enough or whole, complete and perfect on my own, that does not honor what my parents created and brought up. They had their faults, but they did a great job. I may not have held on exactly to all their beliefs, but, again, they did a great job. If I consciously or subconsciously think some j*rks are people I need to be good enough for or change for or have them like me and get them, I am idolizing them.
And of course we have the epidemic of men being lazy and egotistical, offering to take women out for coffee or a beer, to see how soon they can sleep with them or to interview the women to see if they are worth some more dimes for dinner. In some cultures, like Greek, their moms may at times be to blame; ("My baby boy...") so much for doing the energy, time and financial work to pursue a woman. It reminds me of the Saturday Night Live skit with Justin Timberlake "D*ck in a box." If we are so lucky, we can have that, and a cup of coffee! Yippee! Perhaps women should do what they did in the Aristophenes play Lysistrata where they stopped giving sex to men and thus influenced war and peace. Let's see how many dinners we'd get taken to then!
It also occurred to me that women and scientists for years have made it possible for women to have children on their own. (That brings me back to money.) And plenty of men that love women marry women with children, be it from a sperm bank or a marriage where the husband died (God forbid) or there was a divorce. So that's another reason not to sweat anything.
Well, that makes me feel calmer and more grateful this time of Lent.
My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.Authorhouse.com and http://www.Amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.LouizaPatsis.com.Visit and like, if you so see fit, my book page at www.facebook.com/PocketGuidetoFitness.
