moneypenny20

God knows. It had better not be anywhere I live. Oh wait...

Kelli28

I'm giving up being upset by arseholes, hopefully I can make it past lent!

Molly Coddle

YOU cop out!

Molly Coddle

For me Lents just an excuse to put myself through a challenge.


I'm not religious, I'm not even christened nor are my children, they can decide for themselves when they are older what they think about religion and if they want to get christened later on in life then that's up to them.


Even though I'm not religious I still celebrate Christmas and I still buy Easter eggs for my family and I always put my self through pure hell at lent !




There's nothing wrong with a good challenge a bit of self control, it's great for the mind body and soul!

Molly Coddle

Kelli you need to give up interacting with arseholes and then you won't be upset by them


There's only one place for arseholes and that's in the crack of your arse!


Karma coming your way and a big virtual hug! X

carolinephillips

Multiple arseholes in one arse?? Sounds more like fistulas to me- get thee to a doctor!!


Seriously though I gave up flour, and any form of gluten two years ago, now not allowed cheese and chocolate either (cholesterol watch) and so the only thing left is alcohol. I have managed one day so far.....


(Actually I usually only get through half a bottle a week, but I do enjoy that friday evening glass of wine.)

Molly Coddle

Lovely image there Caroline, of an arse with multiple arseholes, thanks for that!



With regards to a diet with no flour. It is HARD!

Today I went to order my lunch as usual, I ordered a chicken salad wrap and just as I was about to take a bite I realised I wasn't supposed to be eating flour. So I just ate the filling, chicken salad. I then had a banana for afters and that was it until tea time, I was bloody starving, I'm going to have to be more organised if I want to make this work.

What kind of things do you eat for your gluten free meals?

GarryP

Religion is easy - daddy issues.

A whole lot of people are really not confident with being adults and would much rather remain children with no responsibilities and someone else making the scary decisions.

As such they invent/buy into a 'sky father' idea, complete with arbitrary rules, things you are made to do, and unconditional love that's actually very conditional on you DOING WHAT YOU ARE TOLD.

The whole getting sent to the naughty step of 'repentance' is just a necessary part of keeping up that fantasy relationship. It's also great for the control aspects (in any group you tend to get controlling scum floating to the top) in that if you can get people to do nonsensical things because you tell them - well, you can get them to do anything.

Chuck in some groupthink, some community bonding, some shaming and boasting - nothing too complicated.

The thing to note is it's never about learning more, being more - it's never 40 days of taking up a new skill/project/etc. That would be a much better thing to observe "over the next 40 days I'm going to do X" where X is something positive that makes you more of a human.

Molly Coddle

OK, I offer you the chance to give up reading The Guardian for 40 days. There will definitely be a positive outcome to that.

Swerv-o

Good call... Perhaps 40 days of contributing to something would be a better outcome to mankind. I know plenty of FOSS projects that need documentation...


S

Molly Coddle

That is actually a really good idea.


People should perhaps give 40 days of their time, not full days obviously.
An hour here an hour there, all towards helping someone/something for the better.

roaringmouse

Wow, that is potentially such a warped view, depending on exactly what you're referring to as "religion".

GarryP

I wasn't even thinking as selfless as that necessarily - just that you (or the world) are better off at the end of it.

It's actually related to a similar idea that I was thinking of pursuing - learn/do/add something different every month. That might include:

• learning the basics of a new language
• making something
• bringing about some positive change or event
• creating a piece of art
• learning how to do something
• grasping a new subject area from the infinite wealth of knowledge that's now easily available

The aim is both that you get the achievement of having done something at regular intervals, and that you don't stagnate as a human being - that you are more tomorrow than you were today. It also ties in with happiness and your sense of worth (doing new stuff is related to how you perceive time, etc. - in a sense you live longer if you are doing new things)


Mind, one of those potential projects was optimising the **** out of a freeware firmware chunk and turning it into ARM code, which is close to your suggestion

BadgeIsBack

It's funny that you seem to be getting very sci-fi with your analogy:

People have replaced religion with sci-fi, fantasy, TV, newspapers, electronic gadgets....
This has people trying to fix themselves by other means and still not getting to the root of the issue...

I think people forget that religion or 'spirituality' tells people that to sin etc is to be human...it's not as if religion fixes everyone automatically.

BadgeIsBack

The average Guardian reader only cares about talking and reading about inequality... not about improving themselves - although they may want to feel good about themselves...

I can't think of anything better than just being an all-round good sort - and helping out in the community or to be involved with a charity - and keep it up - and honestly get the best out of people on a daily basis.

The best way is to eschew self and have us all live like Buddhist monks