Your mind lies...and other things I learned fasting for 90 days

For the last 90 days, I’ve been fasting for 20 hours a day.  

I’ve been doing it to improve my health and lose that last 20 stubborn pounds.  While it’s easy to see and measure my physical success,  I didn’t expect to learn so much about myself in the process.  

Here’s three things that I’ve learned that help me both in business and life.

First, your mind needs training (just like your body) if you want it to perform at it’s best.  

The Navy Seals learned long ago that your mind wants to give up when your body is only at 40% of capacity.  For example, if you were capable of running 10 miles, your mind tells you to quit around the 4-mile mark.  It’s a built-in defense mechanism so we retain energy for when we really need it. 

The problem is that the modern lifestyle rarely stretches our limits and our mind never gets the exercise it needs.  

By living with the pain instead of feeding my desire, I discovered that the grumbling was temporary.  For most of the ninety days, I rarely felt starved.  And if I did, it left in 15 minutes or so.  

Second, I learned that my mind was lying to me.

Every time, I felt hungry I drank a small glass of water or other no-calorie drink.  Over time, I noticed that it instantly made me feel better and it cured my growling stomach for an hour or more. 

Either I was confused about the signal my body was sending or my mind was lying.  I prefer to believe the latter.  

I learned what we deeply desire is often not what we need and it helped me to focus on those things that need to be done.  

Last, it game me more compassion for others.  

I had the assurance that when the clock struck 4 pm, that I could eat as much food as I desired for the next four hours.  Most people who face hunger daily don’t have that luxury. 

You never know who is suffering on the inside because it seldom rises to the surface.

If you want to know more about my health journey, hit reply and let me know.  I’d love to listen to your concerns and share everything I’ve learned along the way.