What is Fasting and Why we Should we do it More often – Stay Hungry , Stay Foolish

I cannot believe that it’s been more than five months since I have become an early riser- a goal I always had but never before achieved because of my laziness. I was never able to accomplish it. I was unfocused with too much distraction in my head. But as they say, all’s well that ends well. Although it’s not the end of my journey, my life is full of joy. I’ve achieved a lot in the past five months. What’s most satisfying is that I did it for myself and only for myself, rather than doing it for anyone else. I started looking inside myself. I wish there could be a complete book on how to fix yourself. In that book, the author would write a step by step guide teaching people how to create a life worth living every moment.

Back to the topic. So while the Holy Month of Ramadhan started with its true colour, I have never waited for the challenge as I do now. Now when anyone says to me that this will not work, my brain uses its power to negate it and refuses to accept any reason not to do it. I have waited so long to have that mindset that welcomes the challenge. I’d always wanted to step into a more powerful mindset but it was buried deep inside me, and I didn’t have the tools to dig down and excavate it. To set it free and step into that truth.

Before the fast of Ramadhan, I was so hooked on my physical being because I worked out every single day for more than 100 days in a row. Some will say that’s crazy and maybe it is. But one thing I learned is, the world will always have something to say, but you have to live your own life and make your own decisions and much more. So listen to yourself first before anyone else. Most likely you will develop courage and bravery once you listen to yourself.

It was somewhat emotional decision to freeze my gym membership for the next 30 days and fast for 18 hours every single day. “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.” I’d not fully paid attention to what that meant in the past. I always thought about this quote when I was feeling joy, but the problem is that this quote was written with a deep pain inside. You cannot connect to these quotes unless you have brought yourself to the same level as when this quote was written. This brings me to my favourite topic, the “ search for meaning”.

So when fasting was about to begin, I was all pumped up because, during the last five months, I gave full attention to my brain and body. I spent more than three hours every single day, thinking, acting and focusing much more on self-development. Self-development was needed because I had almost everything, but I did not know how to feel complete. You can have all the luxuries but unless you do the work to feel complete, you always feel like something is missing. I am not sure that if this moment is temporary, but for the first time I am feeling complete and full of happiness.

And when the day came for fasting, I made a plan to wake up at 03:15 AM every single day for 30 days consecutively. I was so ready for this because I was waking up every day at 04:00 AM anyway to go to the gym. I had already developed self-discipline. So waking up at 3:15 felt like a charm. A new challenge! I jumped out of bed like joyous that today my body and my mindset give back to me what I was putting in. The more real joy is waiting for me. So a genuine feeling of purpose came to me. It’s always great to be prepared for a challenge comes your way. Be prepared, be ready and train.

But wait a minute. I was doing a lot of other things too: exercise, Lots of eating. Nearly every two hours I ate something, so much so that my colleagues use to crack jokes on me that I looked like a rabbit crunching food all day long. Now I have to wait for 18 hours to even sip water or eat anything.

Fasting, at first, felt like a little burden but I had developed such a massive amount of discipline and self-control that this looked like an easy bite. Moreover, Ramadhan is not only fasting, one is supposed to do further work as well to make sure that fasting is meeting its purpose.

Fasting in itself makes a sensible person humble, kind, tolerant, down to Earth and gives him the power of faith. I never knew in my entire life that the above qualities are powerful skills to be used. I always believed that those qualities are not good to have as they slow you down and do not benefit you especially when you are living in cut-throat competition. But, I realized that the above traits are potent tools to sharpen one’s abilities. I was hesitant to believe that the above qualities can give me any great advantage in this life. I did believe that being humble, kind and tolerant may help me gain some blessings and virtues in the afterlife. I was ignorant to the fact that I had some serious deficiencies in myself and those deficiency needed to removed to live a complete and happy life. One believes that he is capable of the hard work he does, but what I have found that self-awareness and self-actualization are essential for living a happy, satisfied and joyful life.

Fasting brings joy to life in that if you pay attention to your being, you will be able to grow in your inner skills such as: always speak the truth, be humble, have faith in yourself, God and nature. Fasting also teaches you to be more patient and resilient. Imagine that when you are fasting for 18 hours, after six to seven hours, whatever your body consumed has gone out of your body, and you can focus on what you’re doing in the remaining 12 hours. If you don’t pay attention, you will not get it but if you will pay attention, you will get below and much more.

Once all the food is washed away after going to washroom 2 to 3 times, no liquid and food is in your body, you start to feel hungry but as promised you cannot eat so you quit thinking that you are hungry. Someone can say, how come you can stop thinking about being hungry but it’s a matter of practice. I welcome the opportunity to train you on this mental and physical self-discipline and you will be surprised by the results. Once you have nothing to eat, your brain starts gaining focus on whatever work you are doing. You do not have a reason to get up from your desk, so you continue to pay more attention and effort to the task that you are doing, which gives you further clarity,

One thing that I highly recommend you do when fasting is to maintain a log. A log should contain what time you started feeling hungry and thirsty and write it down every day. Closely monitor it. You will be surprised to see that each day you will get better and feel less hungry. Why ?? Because your focus has been shifted. You have become more committed. You have not only joined the classroom but now you are sitting in the classroom with your ears open so you will gain knowledge. It’s all about confinement in that environment.

People will say, “Oh! I can’t work if I am hungry.” I tell you something, it’s not entirely true. You can work much better when you are hungry. It’s the environment around you who push you to think that you cannot work unless your tummy is full. You can work much more effectively when you are hungry. Your brain is the smartest machine you can ever imagine and how lucky you are that you have access to this super intelligent machine all the time for free, doing whatever you feel like doing with it. You are blessed to have it. You can achieve anything when you use it correctly.

When you fast, your brain will be challenged and let me tell you something, your brain is designed for challenge and not for comfort. If you seek what is comfortable, your brain will work against you and you will be in a rut with bad habits unable to achieve your goals. If you prepare it for a challenge, you will master it and live a very happy, satisfied life. Do not let your brain control you; you control it. One of the best ways is to keep pushing it for more and more. Fasting is one of the best tools to put your brain to work.

You will be surprised that you will be happy after all of it. Discipline, which is a good pain, always leads you to greater joy and happiness. Do not be scared of the little pain of being uncomfortable. Discomfort now will surely bring you fantastic success, prosperity, and happiness.

So, I will conclude here that fasting is very effective for your overall well being and one must use it to get better. If you don’t know how to begin, I can always help you. You can reach me at annasad@gmail.com. Happy Fasting.