Status Updates From How to Live a Holy Life

“Or try to imagine yourself at your death and think something like this: "If I were to die right now, what would become of me, who have sinned so greatly?".

“If you cannot fall asleep for a long time after you go to bed, then, after lying down, try to imagine the Lord Jesus Christ in His sufferings on the cross and pray to Him in your heart about everything that comes into your heart”

“Try in every way possible to fall asleep thinking good thoughts. This is very important for the soul, as a familiar experience can attest: what you pour into the mill in the evening is what it grinds all night. All who look after themselves know very well that our last thoughts in the evening are usually the chief ones that stay with us during sleep and are the first ones we have in the morning.”

“Never have a bed that is too soft. It is not a soft bed that gives sound sleep, but a clear conscience.”

“Our spiritual improvement depends precisely on such a diligent investigation of ourself.
Without such a more or less scrupulous investigation of ourselves we cannot have spiritual improvement and no one should ever dream that without it he will perfect himself.”

“When you sit down to dinner, always start and finish it with a prayer, as you do at lunch.
After dinner, just as in the morning after breakfast, occupy your heart with spiritual thoughts.”

“When you have finished your business, lift up your thoughts to the Lord God and sincerely thank Him for all the good things that you have received from Him in the day that is coming to a close, that is, having stayed alive, your spiritual and bodily strength, your health, for food, for drink, all soul-saving thoughts, all holy desires, earthly and heavenly light, help and protection-in short, every good thing.”

“To prevent any ungodly thoughts from entering your head or ungodly desires from entering your heart during necessary rest, try to nourish yourself, depending on the condition of your soul, with various spiritual thoughts, and especially with appeals of the heart to the Lord God;”

“While playing games people very often and almost inescapably wish evil for others, lie, deceive, become annoyed, irritated or angry, taunt each other with venomous words, swear without need, often become involved in irreconcilable hostility, pointlessly squander their resources, and, in any case, trifle away their precious time.”

“St. Basil the Great says, "Amusement is the mother of sin. Amusement is the food of the eternal worm," among other things. Games generally inculcate idleness, laziness, and many other vices.”

“Never use time for rest, as do many foolish people, on amusements or on any dissolute or useless games, for example, card-playing, pitch-and-toss, and so forth.”

“Everyone rising from a meal should think of this and, after having rested a little, get back to work”

“Therefore, one should never spend much time at rest. Having rested a little, each of us should think, "What rest is there in the present world?
The Holy Spirit says, that they may rest from their labours (not concerning us), who have our health and life, but about the dead which die in the Lord (Rev. 14:13). For us, real rest will be in the future life."

“But rest must always be used like a
medicine. The frequent, and especially the
continual, use of medicine is harmful for the
body; frequent idleness is harmful for the soul.”

“Whoever consumes his lunch and dinner thus, that is, moderately and with gratitude to the Lord God, is acting as duty demands, in a righteous and God-pleasing manner. Perhaps in his home there will not be abundance, but at the same time there will never be complete poverty.”

“Because at the table a person becomes somewhat sluggish and sleepy from food, true Christians try during meals principally to remember death and the dread judgement more vividly in order to keep themselves in a God-pleasing spirit, inaccesible to any depravity.”

“During lunch and dinner one should say or listen to something edifying: from sacred history, from the lives of the saints, from natural history revealing God's wisdom and goodness, from spiritual teachings, and so on.“

“because excess in food draws a person into laziness, sleepiness, idleness, idle talk, ludicrous behavior, and a great multitude of impure thoughts and desires. And for inflammation of anger and love of pleasure it often plays the same role as oil poured onto fire. In general, whoever overeats does not have the true God, but his own flesh and its desires.”

“At meals, especially dinner, never consume food immoderately or to excess. Our food is a gift from God, and all gifts of God, being divine, should be received reverently, decorously, with the fear of God, and consumed only for the purpose for which they are given.”

“"Eat just enough to alleviate your hunger."

“Our meals should always be moderate. All the saints, who customarily watched strictly after themselves, say with one voice: 1) that very little is needed for satisfaction of our bodies; 2) that our bellies by themselves almost never know moderation; 3) that our bellies sometimes demand food even when they have had more than enough”

“Besides, it is precisely the Lord God Who furnishes our food with nourishing properties, and our bodies with an ability to use these nourishing properties for our bodily health.
What would happen to us if the Lord God had not given nutritional quality to our food?”

“Never begin lunch or dinner, or finish them, without fervent prayer to the Lord God as, unfortunately, very many Christians of our time do. One cannot but marvel at how these Christians have reached such a condition of soul that they can both start a meal and finish it without a fervent prayer to the Lord God. For it is precisely the Lord God Who supplies us with all our food.”