Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler
Happy Mardi Gras and let the good times roll!!!
Today marks my second year in a row that I am not in New Orleans for the festivities. Oh Well, too much to do at work anyway.
But the spirit of Mardi Gras is hot and heavy with me.
How do we explain this "blow out" before Ash Wednesday dawns tomorrow?
I guess it's the cycle of misbehaving and redemption that we have all grown up with. We misbehave, we get corrected or maybe punished and then we behave again for a certain period of time before the little devil inside of each of us makes us do it all over again.
Now I'm not making any statements about the validity of these things - I'm just musing.
I am amazed at how these festivals got started and how they have played out. I have often wondered how many people are in the repenting mood on Wednesday or is it just an excuse to let thier hair down.
Either way, I have always been a Lenten kind of boy. There is strength in fasting. There is clarity in sacrifice. These are times for serious reflection and need to be used by us to spend time, not in regret for things done, but in a contemplative manner of what can be done better.
Life is truly a tapestry of baby steps towards something. And I'm not really sure what that something is, or if that "something" is really the important thing - because it's our journey that truly defines who we are.
I have lived long enough to have learned that our quality of life depends on how we live it as we travel from one place to another. And I am not talking about going from one physical location to another. I am talking about how we take what we have learned today and apply it to how we handle the same thing the next day.
It seems to me that so many people live their lives just waiting for something. If only I could get this then I could do that. If only this were different I would be able to handle this problem better. The list can go on and on.
But the reality of our lives is that it is our attitudes and perceptions that guide us toward the future. When we get it in our heads that we are going to be better people by treating others better and being more fair about our decisions then we can start to see ourselves in a better light - and that is how we start.
I don't think any of us can truly see ourselves the way we are. It takes someone else in our lives to fully appreciate us for who we are before we can start with a positive self perception. And we have to have that before we can self actualize anything.
So why don't we all just agree that we are amazing people and use this Lenten season to put those things that should be the most important for us at the forefront of our lives.
What do we have to lose?
Today marks my second year in a row that I am not in New Orleans for the festivities. Oh Well, too much to do at work anyway.
But the spirit of Mardi Gras is hot and heavy with me.
How do we explain this "blow out" before Ash Wednesday dawns tomorrow?
I guess it's the cycle of misbehaving and redemption that we have all grown up with. We misbehave, we get corrected or maybe punished and then we behave again for a certain period of time before the little devil inside of each of us makes us do it all over again.
Now I'm not making any statements about the validity of these things - I'm just musing.
I am amazed at how these festivals got started and how they have played out. I have often wondered how many people are in the repenting mood on Wednesday or is it just an excuse to let thier hair down.
Either way, I have always been a Lenten kind of boy. There is strength in fasting. There is clarity in sacrifice. These are times for serious reflection and need to be used by us to spend time, not in regret for things done, but in a contemplative manner of what can be done better.
Life is truly a tapestry of baby steps towards something. And I'm not really sure what that something is, or if that "something" is really the important thing - because it's our journey that truly defines who we are.
I have lived long enough to have learned that our quality of life depends on how we live it as we travel from one place to another. And I am not talking about going from one physical location to another. I am talking about how we take what we have learned today and apply it to how we handle the same thing the next day.
It seems to me that so many people live their lives just waiting for something. If only I could get this then I could do that. If only this were different I would be able to handle this problem better. The list can go on and on.
But the reality of our lives is that it is our attitudes and perceptions that guide us toward the future. When we get it in our heads that we are going to be better people by treating others better and being more fair about our decisions then we can start to see ourselves in a better light - and that is how we start.
I don't think any of us can truly see ourselves the way we are. It takes someone else in our lives to fully appreciate us for who we are before we can start with a positive self perception. And we have to have that before we can self actualize anything.
So why don't we all just agree that we are amazing people and use this Lenten season to put those things that should be the most important for us at the forefront of our lives.
What do we have to lose?
posted by KK at 12:33 PM
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