This Ramadhan I keep returning to the theme of persistence and am continually relearning just how powerful determination can be-which shouldn’t be surprising given that aditthana is a parami. As anyone who fasts over an extended period of time can tell you, no two days are the same and you will experience all manner of strange physiological and psychological phenomena throughout the course of a day. At times I almost forget I am fasting and there is a sweetness and tenderness about the heart and mind unencumbered by concerns for grosser sense pleasures while at others I am completely consumed by my desire for food and drink.
Yet such oscillations are to be expected for a worldling like myself. What does interest me is the power of intention to persevere through nausea, weakness, despair, craving and all sorts of unpleasant feelings of body and mind. If I learn nothing else but this during this Ramadhan no day of fasting will have been in vain.
Cattāri Brahmavihārā 
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