Hey all! Once again I’ve been a bit MIA…

Life has been pretty peaceful lately. I’m on the 4th (and probably final) day of a fruit/juice fast. A week or so before the start of the fast, I had struggled (again) with unhealthy eating. Once again my weight loss stagnated and reversed a few pounds. I started to really get down on myself, but thankfully not for long! I managed to reverse that judgmental mindset rather quickly this time because all it did was make me unhappy. Following the reversal of that attitude I was able to get myself to stick to a lower calorie intake for several days – 1200-1500 calories.

Then last week, I kept coming across people who were fasting (either juice, or fruit, etc) and many other people who wanted to. When I meditated Friday night (on 11/11/11), I received intuitive advice suggesting that I do a three day fruit/liquid fast myself. At first I felt like I couldn’t do it because I had struggled in prior weeks just doing 1 fruit day per week! However, I was willing to try.

So I did. I created an ideal, purpose and activity for the fast and kept my mind on that. And it worked! I was slightly tempted on the 2nd day, and REALLY tempted on the third day but stayed strong. For the first time, when faced with powerful food cravings, I managed to exercise will power and say ‘no’ to myself. It was very liberating. I learned something about cravings after that. I realized that anytime I get major cravings for something, I’ll start imagining how it tastes and how I’ll feel after eating it. Once I do that, it’s all over… at that point I have talked myself into whatever the craving is.

However last night (which was night 3), I tried something different: as soon as the craving hit, I immediately turned my attention to something else. I would not allow myself to ponder how those chocolates would taste. (Chocolate covered cherries is what got my attention, of all things! ) I turned my attention onto something else. And a wonderful thing happened almost immediately: the powerful cravings went away! My discomfort didn’t, however… and I realized that what I was really wanting/craving was the soothing comfort that those chocolates would have temporarily brought.

So anyway, I’m probably going to break the fruit fast today with oatmeal. I’m going back onto my prior ‘mostly organic vegan with occasional fish’ eating plan from here on out. The holidays are coming up but I will definitely not be eating any poultry or dairy. I’ve given the poultry thing an extended and thorough contemplation and have finally decided not to eat it, ever again, unless in dire circumstances. There are a few reasons why I finally made this decision. I may or may not list them here at some point.

One thing I’ve lost the need to do in recent weeks is try and talk anyone into doing anything. I see now that things are exactly the way they are supposed to be, at any given moment, and if someone wants to change the world or do ‘good’ for others, the best way they can do it is to work on themselves.

As Paramhansa Yogananda said:

Remember, whatever you want others to be, first be that yourself; then you will find others responding in like manner to you. It is easy to wish that others would behave perfectly toward you, and it is easy to see their faults, but it is very difficult to conduct yourself properly and to consider your own faults. If you can remember to behave rightly, others will try to follow your example. If you can find your own faults without developing an inferiority complex, and can keep busy correcting yourself, then you will be using your time more profitably than if you spent it in just wishing others to be better. Your good example will do more to change others than your wishing, your holy wrath, or your words. The more you improve yourself, the more you will elevate others around you. The self-improving man is the increasingly happy man. The happier you become, the happier will be the people around you.

This is the motto I am living by these days! And everything is SO much more peaceful and joyful.