Five weeks into Lent

Still doing well, with one major difference from last year - I'm not longing for Lent to end. What will I return to? Well, red meat and processed meat will be eaten only as a necessity (read article from New Scientist here). I can also see the sense of twice-daily exercise. My stomach circumference has been trimmed from 40 and a quarter inches to 38 and half inches - I'm one and three quarter inches (4.4cm) slimmer round the middle. Again, the New Scientist confirms that this is the right thing to do to maintain good health and extend lifespan.

For the record, 130 sit-ups today (60 morning, 70 evening) and 40 press-ups (20+20). I've not missed a session since the start of Lent. No proscribed foods or beverages, plenty of fresh fruit and veg, plenty of fish.

I can't say I miss meat much, cheese I do miss, the smell of coffee makes me yearn for a cup, and alcohol - in social situations it certainly does act as a lubricant.

In terms of spiritul life, I have been much taken by an article my mother cut out for me from The Times by Roger Scruton about beauty and truth. [Read that article and its follow-up here.] It has caused me to contemplate deeply on Keat's famous equation and ponder the finer feelings that Mankind can experience and express; these are not just flows of seratonin and dopamine and other feel-good hormones, but something metaphysical and God-given.