THE 3 DAY FAST: A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF AN NYC BLONDE

To give you a bit of a glimpse into my life lately....

You’re just casually just walking down the street.  The sun is shining. You're admiring the scenery.  Thinking thoughts such as, "oh there's a cute dog.  I wish I had a dog.  But do I really wish I had a dog?  Probably not.  Damn I just realized I forgot my iPod.  Is that that tall guy from 30 rock?  I should really get glasses. etc. etc."  The thoughts go on.  And then. Someone just pops out of nowhere and throws a can of paint on you.

I stand there in shock thinking what the actual hell?  Like I just woke up an hour ago, what could I have done to have the universe hate me already?  So I'm dripping with paint (not literally, this is just an analogy folks), partially annoyed, partially upset, but mostly just want to start laughing, because why wouldn’t someone throw a can of paint on me.  I mean why? Why not really?  You’re there.  The paint is there.  You’re on a street so nothing else can really get stained, so really the only cleanup for the other person is throwing away the paint can.  

Well imagine that happening to you.  On five different streets.  On five different days in a row.  That pretty much sums up my life recently.  I mean okay one can of paint I can maybe expect, but 5 in a week?  Huh?  Really?  And you try to vent to a nearby passerby, but they just give you a blank stare, thinking inside "thank god that wasn't me."

So needless to say, I was just confused as to why the universe was throwing cans of paint at me.  So I decided to go on a 3-day spiritual fast to get some mental clarity.  ....Seriously.  I seriously decided to do that.  This actually happened.  3 days ago.  

So like the tech savvy researcher I am, I googled, “how to do a spiritual cleanse.”  First, I found an article with a ton of directions basically saying God will condemn you if you’re not doing this to get closer to God, etc, etc.  I mean jeez, I don’t want to offend anyone.  I mean I think mental clarity is a right reason?  But if I don’t go to Church at 7a.m., take walks in a park and reflect on my sins, are a bunch of flying fish going to come flying down and attack me? I mean I'm not really a fish person.

So I scratched the word spiritual.  And just decided to go on 3 day fast for mental clarity.  Again there were a bunch of directions on a WikiHow article about preparing yourself, eating raw foods, a week before and reintroducing some other stuff back into your body a few days later, some weird ingredients you should buy, blah blah blah.  I mean come on this is not a 2 week process I’m embarking on here.  So I decided to forgo the directions and forgo the spiritual aspect of it.  So in reality, I just stopped eating for 3 days, and attached the phrase spiritual to the end of it.

Day 1:  Sunday.  The day is so much more dull if you don't have eating to look forward to.  I took a walk, took a nap, watched tv.  Not that hard.  I wasn’t even that hungry.

Day 2: Monday.  I looked like crap.  I looked diseased.  I smelled.  And my mind was completely foggy.  How am I supposed to get mental clarity if I can’t even think straight?  I went to the gym.  Then was like is this a good idea?  So I left 10 minutes into my workout and took my second shower of the day.  Much harder to not eat because I had no energy.  However I did get some mental clarity. 

Day 3: Tuesday. I woke up in a pretty good mood.  Went about my day, being productive, pretty energized, focused on all the things I had to do.  And then about halfway into a sandwich, I was like wait?  I forgot I’m not eating for 3 days.  Yes I forgot I was on a fast.  Who just forgets? Its not even like I couldn’t take it anymore, I was going pretty strong.  So then after that I was like oh well, screw it, I tried, this idea was weird.  Next time I’ll just read a book about the meaning of life or watch Schinler’s List or something and move on.

So what did I learn?  Sometimes despite you’re best efforts, the world just throws things at you.  Sometimes it throws a lot at you.  At once.  Literally in the span of a second.  But at the end of the day, does it really matter?  We can only be the best people we can be, with the information and resources we have.   Don’t let something that probably won’t matter in 2 days affect your mood.  

And my words of advice to you all: Laugh at life.  An outfit drenched in paint will always look better with a smile attached to it.  Oh and unless you're trying to be the next Ghandi, just eat.  

Positive Energy

Hello.  It’s been awhile.  I’ve been a little preoccupied coming up with ways to ignore all the complications and changes of my life.  At one point you just get burnt dry, need to step away, evolve, and look for new inspiration.

So here we are again.  I’ve been trying not to buy anything lately.  Well actually I can’t buy anything lately.  But on a whim I bought a bracelet.  The Star of Venus.  It’s not particularly great looking.  It kind of reminds me of people of the night, holding séances in a forest, praying for the head of all witches to come appear to them and take over the world.  But I bought it because it represents energy filled with: Beauty, Love, and Inspiration.  Three favorite values or virtues of mind.  I really have to research what qualifies as a virtue.  Value, virtue? tomato, tomoto?  Anyway, of course the bracelet is worth nothing if you just put it on and magically think someone is going to appear about of nowhere and make all your dreams come true.  Particularly if you’re expecting to get married tomorrow, write some type of inspirational book that changes the lives of everyone in the world, and transform into a supermodel. 

But every day I’ve been wearing it and I think of those three things and look for them in the world and in myself.

And after a few days what do you know?  My mind has been refreshed and re-inspired.  My head is clear and I now can see everything in a different light from a different perspective.  And overall I just feel a different aura of energy.  An inner glow on some sort returned, and I just want to spread beauty into the world.

On a complete side note, I recently saw some photos of myself from a few months ago and was completely horrified.  Sure everyone else thought I looked the same.  But I saw it.  I was smiling but there was really nothing behind it.  Physically, mentally, emotionally I looked like a complete mess.  I’ve looked better leaving the gym than I did in those photos.  Actually I’ve looked better on those candid rollercoaster photos they take of you at amusement parks.  I’ve looked better in a passport photo.  I’d probably look better in a mug shot if I ever had to take one.  I wonder why they call them mug shots?  Note- another thing I have to look up- where did the term mug shot come from.

Anyway enough about my vain misery.  Despite the complete disaster that is my life-okay it’s not an actual disaster and its not actually that bad, it’s just a confusing period that everyone in their postgrad life experiences.  Well I hope everyone else experiences.  I mean the world shits on everyone at one point.  (Ew I can’t believe I just expressed myself so vulgarly).  But yes everyone experiences a little bit of uncertainty at one point or at another or a couple points or another.  But anyway I really have never felt better.  My head has never been clearer.  It’s amazing what positive energy can do.  Sure it’s just a silly bracelet, but I think I bought it at just the right time.

So I encourage everyone to breathe in positive thoughts and let out positive energy.  The virtues you need or want in your life exist in the world, you just have to embrace them in the way in which the world gives them you.