See you in 40.

I'm taking a break from blogging for a bit, and will be back in action, God willing, in late April.

Thanks to Tim Chesterton for inspiration.

I've actually given up blogging for the last two Lents - and the last Advent as well - and found it amazingly beneficial. I not only stopped blogging myself, I also stopped reading other people's blogs. I found a wonderful sense of freedom in being able to do so. I had way more time for conversations with family and friends, and did some good reading as well.

I also found out some things about myself - one of them being that I have the classic blogger's symptom of finding it more and more difficult to read long chapters in books and follow sustained arguments over more than a few pages. As with a kid raised on Sesame Street, blogging and reading blogs is giving me a short attention span. I need periodic periods of abstinence to temper that effect.

If you're feeling with withdrawal symptoms then there are over 950 posts in my archive, and I defy anyone to get through all of those during Lent.

Alternatively, you could try the blog Philosphy and Life, which has lots of interesting pieces on it, for example:
We are becoming caught in a vicious spiral of complaint and counter-complaint in which pretty much everyone feels persecuted. This is dangerous for it leads to a society that feeds on itself in ever deepening feelings of resentment. But take a step back from the antagonism, and ask how this has come about? It's a product of the plural world in which we now live, and it is that pluralism which must be addressed – as opposed to just the complaints.

Or if you have only a 5 second attention span, I recommend Graphjam, which is a bit like Indexed but done with a computer.

I fear that giving up offering unsolicited advice for Lent is going to be harder than giving up blogging....

Have a good one.