This is my testimony.
A weekly practice of fasting has made my hair and resolve stronger, skin clearer and the act of peeling back the emotional layers of my life, less painful. It has made my waist slimmer, my periods lighter and turned my temperament from a searing blaze to a warm ember. Fasting allows me creative courage and more complete sleep. Its regular practice has helped me clear the cobwebs from my head and heart and given me discipline to finally finish a book after thirteen years. It has coached me on a better way to speak to my children so that I don’t bruise them with the sharp whip of my loose tongue. It has made me more compassionate towards those who have nothing and less judgmental of those who have, but give nothing. Spending long days dependant on spiritual fuel instead of food has made me sure of my Eternal Self, of the continuous availability of my inner strength. It makes me walk taller – literally and figuratively – and ushers me into more mindful ways of speaking and being. Fasting has helped me shed the weight of my past failings and celebrate the truth that they took place solely to teach. Going without food for twenty-four to thirty-six hours every week allows me to see my self; the parts of me that withhold and those that lash out, and teaches me how to adjust towards right action. Every week when I meet the day with the intention to fast I am saying to myself and to the Infinite, teach me what I need to learn, show me what I need to see, give me the death I need so that I may truly live.
And sometimes it feels like that. Like I am surely going to die. But I don’t. I live. More fully during and after the fast, than ever before.
A weekly practice of fasting has made my hair and resolve stronger, skin clearer and the act of peeling back the emotional layers of my life, less painful. It has made my waist slimmer, my periods lighter and turned my temperament from a searing blaze to a warm ember. Fasting allows me creative courage and more complete sleep. Its regular practice has helped me clear the cobwebs from my head and heart and given me discipline to finally finish a book after thirteen years. It has coached me on a better way to speak to my children so that I don’t bruise them with the sharp whip of my loose tongue. It has made me more compassionate towards those who have nothing and less judgmental of those who have, but give nothing. Spending long days dependant on spiritual fuel instead of food has made me sure of my Eternal Self, of the continuous availability of my inner strength. It makes me walk taller – literally and figuratively – and ushers me into more mindful ways of speaking and being. Fasting has helped me shed the weight of my past failings and celebrate the truth that they took place solely to teach. Going without food for twenty-four to thirty-six hours every week allows me to see my self; the parts of me that withhold and those that lash out, and teaches me how to adjust towards right action. Every week when I meet the day with the intention to fast I am saying to myself and to the Infinite, teach me what I need to learn, show me what I need to see, give me the death I need so that I may truly live.
And sometimes it feels like that. Like I am surely going to die. But I don’t. I live. More fully during and after the fast, than ever before.
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