Have you ever done a mental fast?

Have you ever done a mental fast?

No phones, no books, no naps, just you. Let’s talk about the little voices that never get heard.

video transcript

When you do a physical fast, your stomach and brain have interesting conversations:

• It starts with “Hey, umm, I think you missed a meal”
• To “What do you mean we’re doing this on purpose?”
• And finally, “OK, I’m going to look around see if there’s anything I can use or discard.”

At some point, starting around 12 hours in, your metabolism switches and different kinds of healing start to occur.

A while back ago, I had an opportunity to do a mental fast: no phones … no books … no nap … just me, a personal campfire, and a comfortable chair.

It’s kind of a similar progression:

• First, your brain says “Where’s my phone; I just want to check the time and maybe Facebook or my inbox”
• Then there’s, “This is boring, what should I think about?”
• Finally, you get to where your brain starts scraping the edges of the things you never have time to process:
  • Is how I spend my time healthy?
  • What are my priorities in life and am I living up to them?
  • What do I value or want to avoid in coworkers or management?
  • How will I look back on this chapter of my life?
  • What do I want to do next?  
  • What do I need to change?

Your questions will vary — here’s my point:

Most of us aren’t ‘mentally still’ long enough for those really important things to come up … because we’re so over-stimulated all the time.

Some folks do this kind of mental fast annually – in a New Mexico monastery, in cabins in Colorado or East Texas. For the rest of us, maybe just start with one Friday or Saturday night … have a good dinner with your family … pack a couple water bottles (or other beverages) and some snacks … set out a fire ring and a comfortable chair in your own backyard … and tell your family that you’ll see them in the morning.

If that’s scary, take 4 hours to sit on your back porch during the middle of the day — no phones, no books, no naps, just you.

Give yourself permission to step away from the noise … let the little thoughts (frankly the more important thoughts) finally have the opportunity to come to the surface.

If you’ve done something similar and seen benefits, leave your thoughts below

If your circle of friends could use this point of view, please re-post it.

Either way, see you next Monday