Yesterday I read in In Conversation with God
In order to make progress in the interior life it is a great help to have several little mortifications in mind, fixed, in advance, decided upon beforehand, so that we do them every day. . . .
Other mortifications can be directed toward overcoming our desire for comfort. . . we can have in mind specific mortifications at meals, in our personal appearance etc.
Frankly, I hate advice like this. It comes off as cryptic--guess what I'm thinking. I'm certain the author doesn't intend it--after all in a small page and a half there isn't the room to go into any detail at all. But being of a practical bent I want to know what this person is thinking about. What exactly are these small things.
Well the irritant produced a faux pearl. I was thinking about this passage in particular and one example occurred to. I could eat food exactly as it is brought to table. No salt, no pepper, no additional seasoning, no condiments--simply as it is in all its splendor.
Now, at Erik Keilholtz's table or Julie's table or the Mama's tables this might not be a mortification. But I can tell you as a cook with an aversion to salt--any salt, any amount--at my table most people would be mortified (in every sense of that word!)
Heck, it's Scriptural.
"Do not move from house to house, eat what is put before you...."
I had a very holy priest recommend exactly that mortification to me, it is truly a "little way" kind of thing.