Spirituality – Caity Thinks

When I remembered that today was International Women’s Day, I immediately thought of Tahirih.

Tahirih was a 19th century poet and religious scholar, renowned for both her beauty and her intelligence. She was one of the first followers of the Báb, the forerunner to Bahá’u’lláh (the founder of the Bahá’í Faith), and she’s one of the religion’s great heroines. She was ultimately executed for refusing to give up her faith, and I can never tell the story of her final words without tearing up: “You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women!”

It’s not uncommon for Bahá’í parents to name their daughters after Tahirih, either as a first or middle name, and when I first became a Bahá’í, I actually felt a little jealous that I hadn’t been named after this impressive woman. But, as it turns out, I was. Sort of.

Let me explain.

Continue reading “Remembering Tahirih on International Women’s Day” →

Today is the first day of the Bahá’í month of fasting. The Bahá’í calendar is so awesome that it really deserves its own blog post, so I shall provide only a brief explanation here. The Bahá’í calendar consists of 19 months, with the final month spent fasting. During the fast, Bahá’ís abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset, making the arrival of the new year even more joyous.

This is my 11th year fasting, which is hard even for me to believe. The first year, I worried about everything. Then, after that, I found a breakfast that worked for me and ate it every day of the fast. That was typically oatmeal, Greek yogurt with berries, a hard-boiled egg, and half an apple sliced with peanut butter. It didn’t seem like a big deal to eat the same thing every day because, at that time, I ate the same thing every day for breakfast anyway: oatmeal in the winter and Greek yogurt in the summer.

But when you really love food, having only one meal that varies for three weeks gets a bit dull. So, in 2015, I decided to do things a little bit differently.

Continue reading “How Instagram helped me develop a joyful attitude toward fasting” →