My fast for Body and Soul

“Only in quiet waters do thing mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.” – Hans Margolius

I think fasting from time to time is important for everyone of us. But what most people do as fasting, (not eating this, starving, not eating that, etc) is not what I have in mind.

My kind of fast should be more life supporting, it should have a long lasting positive effect on my physical and (more important) psychological health.

I am inspired by various articles I read on blogs about minimalism. One of them is about A Media Fast on the zenhabits blog. I did something similar last year, when i put away my laptop for 2 weeks and did not have a cell phone anyways. But this time I want to set myself some clearer goals for the fast.

The goal is to get rid of all these little addictions that form my life like caffeine and sugar. But also get rid of all these little habits that influence me, like spending too much time in front of the computer, cluttering my life and not getting enough physical exercise.

Some of the media fast stuff will not be too hard for me, since I do not have a TV, a radio, DVD player. No newspaper is coming to my door every day and  I don't go to the theater very often. But on the other hand my computer has become my all in one doorway to the media world. I watch movies and TV series on it, I read newspapers and blogs on it, I use it for communication and for listening to music. (And during my internship I sat in front of it 8 hours a day during work)

That has to change. Therefore the most important part of my fast is to reduce the time I spend in front of my computer from currently 8 - 10 hours a day down to 30 mins a day maximum. But there are other things I want to change too. Currently I am drinking something with caffeine every day. Also I think that I am running around with my headphones plugged into my ears too much. So, to summarize it, I listed my does and don't s for the fast.

What I will not do in these 2 weeks:

• No Caffeine
• No extra Sugar
• No Alcohol
• only organic, fresh, vegetarian food
• No TV
• No Music (meaning: not using my mp3 player  and other music devices to distract me)
• minimize Cell phone use (not sure how, but probably turn off the whole day and only use when really necessary)
• use Computer max 30 mins a day
• go to bed before 11 pm

I assume through these changes there will be a tremendous amount of "extra time" that i will have every day. Therefore here is a list of things I want to accomplish with this "extra time".

What I will do:

• de-clutter my possessions and give away everything i do not need anymore
• create a vision board
• spend more time with people that are important to me
• be active, do sports (Volleyball, Soccer, Riding my bike, etc)
• Solitude: get more clear about who i am and what i want
• meditate twice a day
• finally start learning to play guitar
• do whatever else I want to do and does not conflict with the rest of my fast

I am sure that there is a million other things that i will discover while doing the fast that i will want to do. I will try to do all of them as long as they go along with the rest of my fast. 

My Vision 2010

My Vision for 2010 - 11:
Learn with every fiber of my body

Recently I had some time to think about my life and my goals, and cause i read some business books that where all about "having a vision", I spent some time thinking about my own, personal vision.

I had always been really bad at stuff like that, cause I never really knew what I should do with my life, but this one day last week it suddenly was so clear to me. Clearer than it ever was. And I understood, that I have had problems expressing it, because my goals never were something like: "i want to reach this and that, I want to have so much money, and this car, and that house, etc", but much more in a general direction way. Ideas that i want to explore, values that i want to uphold, directions i want to reach out.

But getting clear on that, my vision becomes very simple. I found out that I have a very clear goal for next year and that my values have always been there. I just did not consciously know them. So I started writing them down.

My Vision: Learn with every fiber of my body


I am aware and conscious in every moment. Through that I learn and grow mental, emotional physical and spiritual with everything I do. I trust my intuition to guide me spontaneously in the right direction. I understand that only by doing I learn and grow and integrate. Therefore I accept and embrace challenges as opportunities to grow and see mistakes and errors as a part of the learning process. I live in tune with nature and all its richness and opportunities because only by living in line with nature I can truly grow.

Core Values: 

• learning takes place through doing. Through doing I grow and expand
• By being in tune with nature, i am also more in tune with my self. This includes living in a sustainable way as well as following natures patterns
• reduction: I reduce my consumption to things that are necessary and life supporting
• physical well being promotes mental well being
• these values are not dictating my life, my life is creating my values - i constantly rethink and reevaluate my Core Values and adopt and change them to fit to my life.

Action Steps:

• Mental
• at MUM: I try to get the best out of every class. If a class does not come up to my expectations I do not lean back and just sit through it, but rather challenge myself, my teachers and my classmates to make the class better
• GSC/World Congress/Bornell Project: I know that only through doing and practicing I really learn and I see my work as an opportunity for learning by doing. I train my skills by actively participating, stepping up when necessary and observation when possible.
• I take my time to be clear about what i want and do not want and follow my passions.
• Emotional
• I keep on working on my personal development through shadow work, 
• I am opened to building close relationships and open myself.
• Physical
• I train and explore my own body. I am physical active in as many different areas as possible. First of all: riding my bike whenever possible; but also doing yoga, soccer, volleyball, rock climbing, tree climbing, running, walking, skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing and everything else that is fun
• I commit to one kind of exercise and do it on a regularly basis (ex: go to jiu jitsu, Tai chi, or any other kind of martial arts).
• Spiritual
• I meditate on a regular basis to continuously work on my spiritual development and evaluate the effect of meditation on my wellbeing.
• I am opened to other spiritual practices, try out what sounds interesting to me and evaluate them on a subjective basis.
• Sustainability and contentment 
• transportation: No car, no motorbike, but riding my bicycle. Use public transport whenever possible
• food: I stick to organic, local, seasonal, unpacked, fresh food whenever possible
• waste: I avoid plastic bags, plastic bottles, and all disposable items. Whatever is not avoidable I try to recycle
• lifestyle: I reduce consumption. before I buy something I ask myself if I really need it or if I just want it and rethink my decision.
• I prefer to buy from companies that reflect my values: Sustainability, Fair Trade, Open Source, Responsibility, etc...

The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life

This is from the book: "The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life" by Leo Babauta.

You can find it here.



What is a minimalist life?


It's one that is stripped of the unnecessary, to 
make room for that which gives you joy. 


It's a removal of clutter in all its forms,
leaving you with peace and freedom and
lightness.


A minimalist eschews the mindset of more, of
acquiring and consuming and shopping, of
bigger is better, of the burden of stuff.


A minimalist instead embraces the beauty of
less, the aesthetic of spareness, a life of
contentedness in what we need and what
makes us truly happy.


A minimalist realizes that acquiring stuff
doesn't make us happy. That earning more
and having more are meaningless. That
filling your life with busy-ness and
freneticism isn't desirable, but something to
be avoided.


A minimalist values quality, not quantity, in 
all forms.