" If you want to succeed at something hard and challenging in life, you need to be sharp, but the most important, you need to be hungry. "

Most of us live inside a very safe system, a system that protects us from nature and each other. Almost every life treating challenge has been eliminated and it is a world in which everyone of our desires can be satisfied very easy and almost instantly. The lack of challenges and instant gratification without effort is actually hurting the development of our brain. In this state of safety some of our instincts have become dormant and our true desires and purpose have become obscured by the more brighter and nicely packaged solutions for any problem we might have. Whenever our deepest being cries out something really important, something that we don't agree with or whenever we are inspired and want to create something amazing we should be very perceptive of our behavior.

" Keep calm and relax !! You're right, everything is very exciting !! "

Whenever those moments happen there are like billions of traps waiting for us, waiting for us to be make us a satisfied consumer. Whatever the urge was that rose from the abyss of our unconsciousness it was probably instantly satisfied with a cleverly constructed packaged experience. It might sound exaggerated but we are getting hacked every day and the real motives are getting obscured by fake algorithms.

Anyway, back to fasting.

One of the biggest temptations that is getting abused by publicity everywhere is our need for food. We have to eat to stay alive and our body is giving us urges because it wants to add nutrients that are lacking and restore balance in our body. The body is constantly sending signals to the brain that interprets them as good as possible, the brain wants to find solutions for the problems the body is noticing.

Our world now is filled with triggers that the brain picks up, shortcuts that give you easy solutions for those problems. We have this with food but also with many other temptations in our life. When our body has urges that surface there exist an infinite amount of products that you can buy to fix that urge instantly. What some of us might have learned by now is that each one of those products are artificial and temporary fixes. None of them is really giving us what our body or being really needs.

Fasting is a practice that makes us more aware of the urges of our body and makes us also more relaxed to act on it. When we slow down our responses to our bodies we get more time to observe that is really going on. Eventually we calm down and become more relaxed. We can take decisions that are more balanced responses to our urges.

"Humans live on one-quarter of what they eat; on the other three-quarters lives their doctor." -Egyptian pyramid inscription, 3800 B.C.-

There are many fasting exercises that a person can choose. Almost every religion on earth has some kind of fasting ritual and today many scientific studies have proved the benefits of fasting. My preferred one is to only drink water for 3,5 days, sometimes I add some lemon juice to the water in the morning. You can also try intermediate fasting where you switch between periods of eating and periods of fasting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl7TWm9lemw

While I was writing this article I saw this post from @piegun that contains excellent information.

Fasting for feeling f*cking fantastic!

What I really wanted to talk about is how we can use fasting to boost our mental state and even change our behavior. I believe the boost in productivity over time is a direct effect of having a healthier body because of the benefits of fasting. There are also other effects that I believe are more the result of being hungry. What I experience is that our mind is more sharp and even our perception gets augmented. A complete change of thought patterns and mind state can occur and will remain over time after a sequence of repeated fasting. As scientists are doing many experiments about fasting, this new knowledge is expanding the still limited knowledge about the brain and how it evolves and responds to external factors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UkZAwKoCP8

" Fasting makes us hungry for success !! "

Could it be that those ancient hunter instincts awaken because our body is hungering for food?

Our body wants to maximize it performance because it believes it needs to survive. When our body is not always fed in a regular intervals it starts to act differently. It needs to stay present if it wants to find food, it needs to be perceptive and stay focused. When we are hungry our mind is constantly scanning the environment, it is directed outward because it's where the food is. This also translates to any task at hand, we will be more focused and more observing. The hunger is really an extra motivation boost, with anything you do you feel that hunger, your body is telling you to go for it, you have to succeed and feed us! I don't know maybe our brain starts to relate everything we do as a possible way to being fed, all I can say is that it works.

" What is important if we should choose to fast? to observe ourselves ! "

I suggest that if we fast that we also practice to carefully observe our decisions and behaviors. You will notice things about yourself and they way you come to decisions that you never noticed before. Don't worry and just observe, you are no different then other people. What really is going on is that we have learned to hide our true self to anyone including ourselves.

Once you start observing the patterns of your inner workings you will be confronted with certain things you might not like but you re finally seeing the truth. You will understand these patterns and then you can apply the same method to other desires. The same process is repeating itself over and over in every facet of our life. This in turn will create freedom to decide and to act according to your needs and wants but without pressure. When you are released from those burdens you will create much time for yourself to be whatever you want to be.

"I fast for greater physical and mental efficiency." -Plato-

More links.

Wikipedia: Fasting

Wikipedia: Intermittent fasting

Fasting superchargers your brain. Here is how

Ultimate guide to intermediate fasting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdQgiTPiRYo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW_oGL3Ui1A