40: Just For Today — NO APATHY
ap·a·thy
ˈapəTHē/Submit
noun
“lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.
“widespread apathy among students”
synonyms: indifference, lack of interest, lack of enthusiasm, lack of concern, unconcern, uninterestedness, unresponsiveness, impassivity, dispassion, lethargy, languor, ennui;rareacedia
“widespread apathy among the voters”
Practice for Today: No Apathy Zone
It’s so common that I almost miss the presence. It doesn’t matter…know one knows…no one cares…nothing can be done…there is no chance that I will lose the weight anyway…it’s only one day of exercise, so what difference does it matter…it only counts if I get caught…
I chose this practice for Ash Wednesday because it is so engrained in my thinking and acting that it needs a cross on my forehead and a day designed for fasting and abstinence to get through the challenge.
Fasting from food is much easier for me than fasting from habits of thinking — like the hamster of that lives in the cage of my mind, it whirls so fast that it almost feels normal. Far easier to refrain from meat than to abstain from relinquishing my responsibility to be part of the solution.
I am not starting with the world condition, but rather with my own small sphere that I call “life.” To live without Apathy for a day means that I engage — that I believe that it matters — that I matter and you matter and living in a functional coma is not really living.
To refrain from Apathy — Just for Today — means that I choose to take responsibility for how I do what I do and to locate my opinion and act on it. I notice the ways that I have become anesthetized to passivity and I do something else. I recognize that I do care and it doesn’t help to live in a beige world. Leaving politics out of it, I do the harder thing — care about what I eat — or what chair I sit in — or what the person has said that isn’t true — or the magnetic force that prevents me from withdrawing from social media.
No Apathy…
Just for Today…
Show Up…
Pay Attention…
Tell the Truth…
Don’t be Attached to the results…
