Last afternoon I had my last sinful dinner with a friend: beef-pelmeni, watermelonsalad, rucola-gouda and galaktoboureko-inspired lingonberry pie washed down with glass of lavender-wine bought from Furano, Japan. From today onwards I say NO to following things: 

-Eating and drinking between sunrise and sunset in the timetable of Istanbul.*

-Animal products, alcohol and sweets (candy, cakes, ice cream etc)

-Sexual activities

* I was discussing yesterday in facebook with my Pakistanian friend and he told that it's common in Finland to fast in Turkish timetable, since for example now the day is 16 hours long (and on the other hand if Ramadan is in December, that's practically no fasting if you live in Lapland). When I checked the timetable today, it was not that much more merciful since it's anyway fasting from 6:00 to 20:20 (of course less in the end of August).  

Since I'm not a muslim and can't dedicate myself to praying and other formal religious activities, instead I'm writing to this blog every lunch hour insted of eating (Iftar is the meal that breaks the fast after sunset, today it's still a bit less than 9 hours away) and try to find out what sprirituality means to me and be a better person. That means at least more thinking, studing and creative activities.

Even though I'm atheist and scientific in my thinking, my spiritual side is suprisingly strong. For me being spiritual is to find a meaning to big and small events in your life and living in harmony also with all the sorrows. Even though there are ways to explain magical thinking neurophysiologically  (I also want to advertise here one of my favourite pages, containing most of information in English despite the intro is in Finnish: http://www.openwiki.com/ow.asp?Kognitiiviset_v%E4%E4ristym%E4t) , I think finding a meaning from things that don't have a meaning makes life more liveable.