Thanks to my master-cleanse friends

I am feeling inspired…

I am preparing for my next fast and I have been re-reading posts from the mastercleanse@yahoogroups.com and I am doing a lot of self-examination (mental, people…mental).

I must not neglect to read postings carefully. So many times much more is being said than is first noted. The whole fasting process is so very much more than a simple process of physical fasting/detoxification. Our minds become equally polluted as do our bodies.

Upon further examination, I relate these "facets" to that of a trinity…


Emotional: (eating on the qualitative level) the eating of food that we know will not nourish our body and not really caring. For me it is being aware of this aspect and continually not listening to my own words.

Spiritual: (satisfaction of the desire/urge and the perception of inner peace) whatever the duration (usually short lived)

Physical: (improper eating on a quantitative level) Binge eating, clearing our plates even when our bodies tell us different, usually followed by emotional and spiritual torrent.

Notice that the three traits abbreviate to ESP… I am thinking that we really need to use an Extra Sensory Perception of eating to survive, and not surviving to eat.

We are but one; fighting against our trinity during a fast. No wonder it is so difficult. I mean go to war against three friends, co-workers, or better yet family, on even a single level, like a belief you have that the other three don’t hold in the same regard.
A good example would be the whole fasting process, and how the nay-sayers can weigh you down with there misnomers of how bad it is for you and basically try to force you to surrender (this by the way is the war I am talking about, not fighting physically).

We need to prepare for our “war”, through study, self awareness, and physical preparation.

I am planning to start my fast on Ash Wednesday (which is of course right after Smart Monday, and of course Fat Tuesday). This weekend is my last for my vices, coffee, alcohol, and my “occasional” hand-rolled cigar. The mental and physical cleansing will be starting at this point because of personal denial and the physical withdrawals associated with the omission of a chemical substance from the body. The same of course will/would apply to medications or recreational drugs. I have been off of all medications since August last, although of late I have needed an occasional Ibuprofen, for a couple headaches I have had.
Another preparation I have been forcing upon myself is that of my word; I am now professing my intent and duration. 40 days, that is what I lay claim to.

I am preparing my wife, even though she does not fast, she needs to be aware of it, so that it is a conscious thought process that she will steer clear of tempting me without intention. I have asked of her not to take her evening meal in the family room where I will perhaps be resting in the evening, but rather eat in the dining room (a room I will not know for awhile). All too often our eating is very intimate; let’s face the fact that there is a considerable amount of implied romance and foreplay in eating. And it has been good!

Don’t take your fast lightly, and even more so, do not fear it, for it will bring with it the great rewards in physical appearance, renewed energy, emotional pride in your ability to tell yourself no, and boosted self confidence allowing your soul to dance with a renewed spirit.

I visualize 3 “persons” jumping with joy, their names, Emotion, Soul, and Physical (me, the body), all dancing in the aisles of a revival (images inserted here from the movie, The Blues Brothers).

When you are down and weary, weak from the battle within, take yourself away to your “happy place”, see your goals achieved. Rest; do the flush, and the toxin/emotion induced cravings will be gone, or at least lessened in the morning.

Go get a massage, go to the chiropractor for an adjustment, get naked, go sun-bath, go air-bath, do a combination, go to the tanning booth, just do something for you.

Do so with the knowledge that you cannot just belly-up to the table, without a realistic risk of at least a trip to an “urgent care” facility if not the hospital. In other words by the time you can safely “do” anything with this craving, it will have passed – help it along.

It is what it is,

—Mike Ricklefs