Book 276 - A Year of Magical Learning (2/2)

Reflection Title: If you stay hungry, you will produce your best work!

Book – Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body through intermittent, alternate day, and extended fasting by Dr. Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore (Part 2/2)

Book Description:

Fasting is not about starving oneself. When done right, it’s an incredibly effective therapeutic approach that produces amazing results regardless of diet plan.

In fact, Toronto-based nephrologist Dr. Jason Fung has used a variety of fasting protocols with more than 1,000 patients, with fantastic success. In The Complete Guide to Fasting, he has teamed up with international bestselling author and veteran health podcaster Jimmy Moore to explain what fasting is really about, why it’s so important, and how to fast in a way that improves health.

Together, they make fasting as a therapeutic approach both practical and easy to understand.

Reflection:

Bringing your art into this world is incredibly difficult, energy consuming, and requires a whole lot of concentrated mental power to focus on the task at hand.

Over these past few years, I’ve come to understand through trial and error, that I cannot seem to do my best work and bring my art to life unless it is done first thing in the morning.

My entire first book, and almost all this book, have been written sometime between 6am-9am every morning. It began out of necessity to get the task completed before my workday began, but I’m starting to think it had to be this way all along for any of this to become a reality.

I didn’t understand the reason behind why my writing felt so natural first thing in the morning in the beginning, I just knew that it was the case. I’ve tried to write in the middle of the day, at the end of the work day, and at night before I go to bed, but there was just something I found magical about writing in the morning that nothing else could compare.

When I write first thing in the morning, my mind literally feels light, fresh, and ideas spontaneously come to me seemingly out of nowhere. I often sit down having no idea what I want to write about, and then it’s like I go into a trance and out pops 500-1000 words out of my mind about an hour later. It truly feels effortless, fun, and I’m usually very proud of what was produced when it is all said and done.

Juxtapose that feeling with writing after my day has begun, and the experience is like night and day. As the day progresses, my mind feels like I’m jogging up a sand dune while wearing a weighted vest. Everything feels so heavy, cumbersome, and difficult. My thoughts don’t move as freely, my ideas don’t come to me as quickly, and my ability to mash up different ideas in my head feels nonexistent. It is like the sun trying to peak through on a partly cloudy day, I will see flashes of light, but the flashes of light are few and far between. Don’t get me wrong, I can fight through all of this and still produce something of value, but I know deep in my heart that it isn’t my best work. Not only is it not my best work, but all the fun of creating has been zapped out of the experience as well.

It wasn’t until first reading Why We Sleep and now The Complete to Fasting that I’m starting to piece together why this may not just be a me thing and there may be some science to why this is case.

Humans have one basic goal in life, and that is to find and consume food to burn for energy needs. We can’t do any of the amazing things that we do without having our engines fueled up and ready for action.

Throughout history, adequate food supplies for energy were never a guarantee like they are today. The mind and body understood this and adapted beautifully to this historic cycle of feasting and fasting.

When we are feasting, our bodies and minds are slow. Think about those few hours after Thanksgiving dinner. I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of doing anything but sitting on a couch and taking a nap. That isn’t the turkey, that is just a natural feeling. When we are full, our body tells us that we don’t need to do anything else and we don’t.

When we are fasting, it is a whole different ball game. When we are out searching for our next meal, our minds have evolved to be the sharpest, quickest, and most adaptable as we try to find our next feast. That makes total sense if you think about it. We are at our mental and physical best in this state. Everything has us ready to tackle the world as we are out for the hunt.

I think this is why I write best first thing in the morning. It is the only time in the day that my body is not thinking about processing a meal, my mind is clear and focused, and we are ready to hunt for ways to express our purpose.

It sounds cliché, but it is true. If you literally stay hungry, you will produce your best work.

Question: When are you at your peak each day? Are you using that time for your most meaningful work?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Complete Guide to Fasting