my work is done, and yet it’s just beginning…

if you’ll indulge me just once more, i’m going to write about my 10-day fast which was led by the sweet laura emily.  for starters, my fast was 8 days.  yep, just 8.

freshly-juiced vegetables and fruits…water…water infused with herbs…liquids, liquids, liquids.  i even explored one day with water only…a long day, and an even longer night. by the evening of day 8 i felt torn.  i wanted to see the 10 days out because that was what i had set out to do.  hell, the online group is called “ten day fast“.  but my heart – and the words in my journal – were telling me that my work was done.

i’m never quite sure how i am in the intuition department.  but i feel like i did so well with really listening to that inner voice on this fast.  and so on sunday evening, i emailed laura emily to ask her thoughts on this.  i wasn’t wanting to end the fast because i couldn’t hack it…because i could, and i had.  this was different.  i processed some really important things at the beginning of the fast and carried them with me on my eight days of juice and water.  i felt quite clear about everything, quite calm, quite open.  i’m confident that my body was getting enough of what it needs because my energy levels remained high and and my moods even throughout.  so when this idea of ending the fast came to me quite abruptly on sunday – and stayed with me throughout the day – i was pretty sure i needed to bring things to a close.  my work was done.  i felt this in my heart.  laura emily encouraged me to rest easy and let go of the notion of ten days, if that was holding me back.  indeed it was…i was hung up on quitting early.

but i was finished.

and i’d like to say here that i am so thankful for laura emily’s support in all this.  i was uncertain about writing to her regarding ending the fast early, expressing my doubts regarding moving any further with it, but she was gracious and lovingly supportive.  so i began my transition back to solids yesterday (day 9…though who’s counting?).  my work was done.

though, really, it’s just beginning.  over the past several days, i thought a lot about certain parallels in my life…clutter of what i occasionally put into my mouth mindlessly =  spots of clutter in the house = clutter in my mind and an inability to express myself effectively and creatively.  most especially i loved the mindfulness with which i lived my days.  i was so intensely deliberate with what i put – and did not put – into my mouth.  it is this mindfulness which i hope to carry forth with me in my transition days off this fast…and into all the days which follow.

mindfulness.  i really believe this is key to so much in life.  this is my work yet to be done.  to live mindfully.  to help others do the same…mindful in our eating habits, mindful in our relationships, mindful in our treatment of  our dear earth, mindful in the way we walk our life paths.

and so i begin this journey.  i begin this work.  will you join me?

sending a little love your way, m