De-craving comfort (February 20th) …
February 20 – De-Craving Comfort: Remove all the typical “comforters” from your life today — When you awaken, use no slippers. Shower cold. If feasible, “use the bathroom” outside. Eat cold bread and drink only water for breakfast (no butter & no jam). Drive to and from work without using your car’s heater or radio (better yet, use public transportation). Take no coffee breaks and avoid the Internet entirely during the day. Eat meagerly for lunch and dinner (no sweets, no coffee & no hot tea). Imbibe no alcohol and smoke no cigarettes. This evening, watch no TV and read no “pulp literature”. Go to bed without blankets & without a pillow … Note that the purpose of this day is not to “suffer”, but rather to renew your Appreciation for all the “luxuries” you already posses and regularly use. Tomorrow, you’ll intimately remember how good you’ve got it! Bonus Activity: Go the whole day without sitting down.
C. S. Lewis had an interesting take on comfort when he noted, “If you look for truth, you might find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort, you will get neither comfort nor truth – only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.” Setting aside his interesting spiritual views that might have inspired this statement, there is a kernel of Truth therein. When we seek to satisfy our primitive desires for survival, we do so by instinctively equating safety with comfort – security with a material abundance of possessions &/or physical pleasures.
We crave and strive to obtain things that are soft …
… foods that satisfy &/or stimulate …
… and “entertainments” that distract us from our worries.
None of these things is per se “bad”, of course, and yet it is extremely difficult to live Meaning-fully without living consciously – and it is extremely difficult to live consciously while living comfortably.
One simple solution: remove the latter to open the door for the former.
Consider giving it a try, at least for today …
See You when I see you …
… and until then, Be Now!
Scaughdt
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