Friday, May 24, 2013

There's more to fasting

Some people fast as a way of cleansing. Others fast as part of a weight-loss plan. Still others use fasting as a spiritual discipline. There are several ways to fast other than giving up eating for several hours or a day.

Sometimes when I have just had it with all the negative news I get from the media, I do a news fast. I simply don't turn on the TV news or read the newspaper when all the political in-fighting wears me down and stresses me out.

Or I fast from noise. When I used to commute a minimum of 45 minutes one way daily, I often had the radio on—sometimes to a news station and sometimes to music. As wonderful as even the music was when I struggled with angry drivers and a toll road that seemed more like a parking lot (not moving!) many days, sometimes I just needed quiet. I needed more "white space" in my life—just as we enjoy the white space on each page of a magazine as opposed to a page that's solid text from margin to margin.

You might want to fast from too much activity and plan for a string of stay-at-home evenings. Too much of a good thing can become a negative sometimes. You might want to fast from TV programs and just read books in the evening.

Whatever it is you need these days that will contribute to your happiness and health, choose that. And if it means fasting from something, I invite you to try it. Fasting includes so much more than food.

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