Slowing and Fasting

 Ovidia--every other Tuesday

Slowing down and counting the tillandsia!

Can you spot all 5 air plants in this photo? There are 6 growing on this clump of orchids, but number 6 didn’t make it into the shot. 

I like growing them together because both orchids and air plants like being spritzed regularly (they get water out of the fish tank or turtle tank) with plenty of air flow to dry them off in between.

And like today, when after yoga I was walking to the station, this planted building caught my attention:

 not only are the trees hosting ferns and fungi and loads of other epiphytes, saprophytes and probably some parasites but the building behind them is designed to too.

I'm noticing more things now I'm not listening to podcsts/ audiobooks while walking.

Why? We're slowing down, or at least trying to. Because it's fasting time here.

Right now we're in the middle of Ramadan as well as Lent.

Ramadan is the most sacred month of the year for Muslims. It’s not just about not eating from dawn to sunset but also not gossiping, complaining, getting angry or lying, whether to others or yourself. It’s meant to be a time of spiritual discipline and contemplation, increased charity and generosity, finding peace within yourself and with God. 

When we ordered a dinner delivery, the vendor included these dates because “When one of you is fasting, he should break his fast with dates,"

 

 

Likewise for Christians who fast during Lent, it’s about voluntarily withdrawing reliance on earthly things to surrender and focus on spiritual matters.

Here in our (neither Catholic nor Muslim) household, I’m giving up coffee and my wireless ear pods while the husband is giving up meat and YouTube—we’re using the time and space to slow down, detach and think about some of the things that we take for granted most of the time. 

We're also aggressively thinking good thoughts ‘at’ at least three people a day, ‘may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you find peace’. 

These may be absent friends who’re far away or strangers who walk/ drive/ cycle past. I've no idea if this can even begin to do any of them any good. 

What I'm finding really surprising is how much happier doing it makes me feel about being in this world/ time/ dimension with these people—and myself.

What good can thinking good thoughts and giving up coffee possibly do? 

Well, if you go with the chaos theory butterfly effect, doing any small good wherever we are can make a world of difference… or not. 

The biggest lesson I'm learning here is how little difference what we believe makes. 

We all do our best, but what happens in the end isn’t up to us. And fasting is a reminder that we’re all brains encased in hungry, fidgety, caffeine-withdrawal suffering bodies.

Especially here in Singapore where we tend to think far too much about food…

The biggest sacrifice this month was missing Left Coast Crime… (Thank You Annamaria for yesterday's photos!) Yes, travel channels are opening up but we’re tending to our sweet ageing dog here.

Princess Peach is going to be 18 years old this year. She's blind and deaf but I move away from here where I'm writing next to her, she'll come too.

She still demands her meals, walks and affection and I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere without her till she passes. 

She came to us as a ‘rescue’ over ten years ago. Someone had tied her to a tree in a forest reserve and abandoned her. She'd had to have several teeth removed after she damaged them trying to chew herself loose. The SPCA said she wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been the monsoon season, so at least she could drink rainwater. She was such a suspicious, nippy little bitch but has grown into the most adorable, affectionate doglet.

On an apparently (the connection will be explained) separate note, it was QingMing or Tomb Sweeping Day last week. This is a time to remember the departed and visit the tombs of ancestors for ritual prayers, offerings and cleaning of the gravesites. Here in Singapore, it’s mostly visiting columbaria. 

Here are some of the goodies on sale for burning.

Some believe those who die with guilty consciences are unable to eat in the afterlife except on Qingming, so many offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks, joss sticks, joss paper as charity to any hungry spirits that might be lurking.

I imagine whoever abandoned Princess Peach years ago—or any other dog, ever—certainly deserves to starve in the afterworld! But in the spirit of slowing and fasting—I hope whoever it is/was is happy, healthy and at peace. 

And you too, reading this, who deserve it infinitely more, may you be happy, healthy and find your peace.