September 2014 -- Temperance

Temperance: eat not to dulness; drink not to elevation.

10/9/14
Temperance is a great place to start. I need to lose a little weight before my big birthday next month! But I think this goes beyond what goes into my body -- food and drink. I think it also applies to what I feed my mind. I don't want to dull my senses with lots of TV or Facebook. A little is fine, but let's not get carried away and lose track of time. It also applies to what I allow myself to think about -- do I dwell on problems and fester, or do I give them only the amount of airtime they deserve?

So, for body and mind, I want to cultivate temperance.

Definitions of Temperance:

• moderation in action, thought or feeling
• habitual moderation in the indulgence of the appetites or passions
• moderation in or abstinence from the use of alcoholic beverages. 

Each of these has interest for me: 

1. moderation in action, thought and feeling -- I indulge my feelings often and speak before I've really thought about what I'm saying. I unload my baggage on others. TEMPERANCE! 
2. habitual moderation in the indulgence of the appetites or passions -- I can snack too much of an evening. I'm not a binge-er so shouldn't be too hard to cut back and practice TEMPERANCE! 
3. moderation in use of alcoholic beverages -- I've been practising already at not drinking very much at night, and waiting until some of my work is complete first. I think I'll also try to make sure I'm only drinking 3-4 nights a week rather than a glass every night. TEMPERANCE! 

All of this links to Mindfulness practice for me, as the hardest part is going to be temperance with my thoughts, actions and feelings. It's very good to have a focus though, and this is a great place to start. I haven't read the whole of Ben Franklin's autobiography, but I have a copy on the way so will be adding reflections on that too. 

23/9/14
My autobiography still hasn't arrived!! Not sure why. Will chase. But meanwhile, Temperance is doing her job. Everyday I have those little nudges 'eat this' or 'drink that' or 'put that off til tomorrow' or worse 'obsess over that until you've beat the shit out of it' and little by little I'm learning a powerful lesson about the value of 'NO.' I have lost a pound or so, and I'm drinking less in the evenings. Saying no to sweet more too which had become a little habit I indulged over summer.

It's the thoughts and feelings part that I am not doing so well at. I still tend to say what's in my head regardless of the impact on others. I think the key to this is to think about how I intersect others as I go through my day. I sometimes view myself on a 'train track' of sorts -- I have so much to get done, so many goals for myself, and feel constantly behind. I then tend to view other people as an interference on my journey. So they might not get treated very nicely as a result. If I shift this and start thinking about how I interrupt THEIR journey, and consider how they would describe the interaction after it has happened, I might bite my tongue more.

30/9/14

So, last day of September. I still have a way to go with the temperance of tongue part. And when my self-care slackens so does my resistance to temptations. Today it was a large handful of peanuts. But all in all I've learned a lot this month, and I've probably drunk less wine this month than any for a long time, so that's probably a good thing. And I don't miss the daily (decaf) coffee as much as I thought -- it's occasional now rather than essential and I feel better for it. Thanks, Ben, for a lesson in Temperance. Worth reviewing again, but certainly a good investment.

The biography arrived.... just starting and was interested to skip ahead to the section on his kite experiment. What a mind .... a polymath.... my kind of guy.