Preparing for Lent

I rather like Lent. I want there to be a time in my year that encourages me to get back to the essentials of life.  A time of sparceness. A time where prayer, study and worship have majority of my time rather than the dregs.
You might assume that as a priest that is all I do! But just like everyone else, the pressures of everyday life tend to send the message of "urgent"; while the bits that I would say are most important to me - family, faith and creativity - get pushed to the back of the line.
In Christchurch at present there is an added layer of frustration and general grumpiness that is the reality of dealing with earthquake aftermath. For example traffic at the moment is horrific - roads are potholed, or closed off while building work is done. The simplist things don't get done quickly in Christchurch at present - I get stressed just writing that down.
And so Lent is a welcome season for me this year. I'm putting into practice the spiritual disciplines of saying "No", doing daily office more than once a week, and exercising on the cross-trainer in the spare room.
All three of those chosen disciplines are about putting some healthy practices in that benefit me long term and seek to actively fight the desire to be busy yet unproductive.

What about you?  What aspects of your life do you need to be more disciplined about?

2 Timothy 4:9-end was set for morning prayer in the lectionary today, so here is a verse to contemplate and for me to sign off with -

When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments (2 Tim 4:13). See, even Paul suffered from a bit of busy-itis and slipped his house-keeping into letters...