By Paola Treviño

In my third installment on suggestions of what to “pick up” in your spiritual shopping cart during this Lenten season, I continue to reflect on ways to bring silence into your life…. 

THIRD WEEK OF LENT

1. Silence your self-love.  We all have our own vanity “mirror,” where we go to contemplate how good and perfect we are.  Stop patting yourself on the back.  Pick up and add to your cart praise for someone else besides yourself.

2. Silence your spirit. We are constantly thinking.  If we could actually see our “brain performance” on a chart, it would be 100% active. However, at times we fill our minds with junk, and drag ourselves around in self-pity.  Let’s pick up and add to our chart thanksgiving.  Go to Christ and thank him for all He has given you -- your faith, family, friends, intelligence, qualities, and so much more!

3. Silence your judgments. What are you thinking while you are walking on campus, in the hallways at school, at the office, or in the supermarket? Are you constantly making judgments? “Look at those tattoos!” “Look at those jeans!” “What a foolish decision!” “If they just would have listened to me!” Try picking up and adding to your cart an ear that listens to others without passing judgment.