Fasting Space

I'll be
doing some thinking about happiness today

Today we're talking about a mental shift
outsmart, hunger.

Want to frame our thinking today with this
mini quote?

I got my mini book of mini quotes.

This book open your mind, open your life.

This is just one sentence.

Another one sentence says everything

people say or do is ultimately rooted

in the belief that those actions
will lead them to happiness.

That's the whole quote.

Do you think it's true?

I was reflecting on it.

It's at least true most of the time.

Everything people say
or do is ultimately rooted

in the belief that those actions
will lead them to happiness.

Let's dive in and think about it.

We're going to lead our way
toward the happiness hack.

As I was saying it.
How do we take this idea?

Everything? Is it true?

As I was trying to stress test
it yesterday, I was thinking through it.

I was like, well,

even if things aren't good,
we're dealing with some bad situation.

Like we're trying to make it better,
we're trying to work through it.

We don't like it or any decision we make.

You know,

it's like, well, we make a decision
because we want something to come of it.

We're here in our health space.

We're trying to move in a direction
that is positive,

healthy, grounded, centered and joyful.

I say we've done some thinking
when we think about happiness.

One session we did, we were talking about

how is it better
to just try to find contentment,

but they were saying there to contentment

a place also to find happiness,
maybe at a more grounded level.

So I think even in that state,
however we're doing it,

however you define happiness,
a state of positivity, satisfaction.

You know here fasting space
where in this intersection,

dietary space food
is such a huge part of this sort of thing.

Food can bring a lot of happiness,
can't it?

And that's a good thing.

And so we're here in this space.

Try to think about
what is the relationship we have with food

and how do we find happiness to it
across all domains and time frames.

And I think this is the big thing that
we want to lean into, say, leaning in.

That makes me think, here
we are Friday, last day.

Lean in challenge. How was it for you?

We did a month.

Hard to believe
a month has gone by four weeks.

Think of the thinking that we've done.

Lean into some fasting space.

We started it out with a challenge
plus one.

Just try to add in an hour.

If you're trying to get into a fasting
space, can you go just plus one on it?

Lean in a little bit
and then of course open it up

as it feels good
but never forced anything.

Summer weight loss process, I said.

Also lean into every other good thing.

Easier
to lean into good food in the summer

that is usually lower carve,
usually less processed stuff.

Get some fresh veggies.

Get something off the grill.

You know, a protein veggie
that is a great weight loss combo.

That's what I have experienced personally
and with people.

Try to cut out the extra carbs,
you know, lean

into that space,
have an extra serving of veggie, you know.

Leave the, you know, leave the roll.

If somebody got a bowl full of rolls,
leave them for someone else.

Or if you're planning
the meals, just leave that off.

Say, I'm going to grow up
some extra veggies

on the grill or however you do it.

These are the things to lean into summer
make hay.

Well, the sun shines.

Be active.

Well, it is so much easier to do it,
at least especially up here.

It's not frozen in the north
and we've got some beautiful days here

and have it a heat wave even.

Maybe you got to be active early
before it gets too hot.

Leaning in.

These are the processes. Main barrier
to that.

Those who want to talk about happiness
hack when we're trying to lean into it,

especially that fasting space,
you say, well, hunger can be there.

Is that the biggest barrier?

What is your biggest barrier to it?

If you're leaning into a fasting space

or any sort of weight loss path,
what are your biggest barriers?

Let me know.

I'd love to hear, but a hunger experience

that's the big barrier to fasting space is
like we're used to eating in a space.

We're going to say
no, probably going to feel hungry.

Body is saying, oh, what is going on here?

You know, like
we were planning for the food coming in.

Look,
we primed up the acid pumps we've got

because it takes a little bit
to get the digestive system online.

One of the benefits of a fasting space
is that we can just shut that down

for a while, let the GI system
go into rest and repair mode,

let it build back up that stomach lining
that can get scraped and acidified

and all this stuff.

Say, just let it take care of itself
for a little bit.

It does so much work taking care of us,
breaking up

all the food that comes into it,
into atomic particles, absorbing

and sterilizing, organizing,
getting everything where it needs to go.

And we say, oh, just take a little break
there.

Take a break.

But it doesn't know we're doing it yet.

So it's like, oh, we're hungry.

But that comes in a wave, right?

Have you experienced that?

Hunger is not a straight line
that is ever increasing.

That's what we fear it is.

That's what can make it so difficult.

Is like in the moment it feels like
because we felt it ramping up

and then it's like,
oh, is this going to stop?

This is getting a little unpleasant.

And and it absolutely can big process
that.

I want to help part of a mental shift
right.

Here's a mental shift.

How do we both mentally
and physically shift the hunger experience

over into a way that is more manageable,

more under our control, less intense?

Not like that bossy goat coming in
and smashing the other one out of the way.

Like these little.

The smaller goats are so nice.

You're not going to see keto and paleo
coming over

and smashing people with their horns,
okay?

They just go, they find some little things
somewhere else,

and when the other ones come in.

They'll go and. There's enough.

There's enough.

Think about happiness.

Think about short term happiness.

Think about long term happiness.

We're trying to balance these things.

Short term hunger can come to feel okay
when we feel it.

Sometimes we can develop a very,
very powerful mindset, a total mindset

shift like, oh, this is the feeling
of the system coming back into balance.

This is what it feels like
to turn on autophagy systems and start

cleansing things in the system,
just like the goats are doing.

We did that talk the other day
explaining autophagy.

Who does it better, me or the goat?

And when you see what
the goats doing to this place,

I show at the beginning of the video.

You see the forest in the edge,
you know, dense forest.

And then where are the goats?
Just completely cleaned out.

Trees are still there,
but all the nasty stuff getting chewed up.

She want to do that in the cells.

Clean that out. Okay.

When we see
I want that effect happening in the body.

Feel that system
turning on is a powerful system.

You say, oh, this hunger is intense.

I feel a little powerful
system is turning on here,

going to bring things back in a balance.

And you ride that wave
and come through it.

Okay.

Now in the short term,
what if that's too intense?

See, would eating something
feel better in the moment?

It probably would.

And it may very well be.

The right thing to do
is never any pressure.

This is a big thing
I'm trying to bring to a fasting space.

No pressure to it,
just to open and voluntary space.

But think about leaning into it.

Think about the other side of it.

After the wave has crested and come down.

A fasting space
can also lead to happiness, so

eating in the short term
can lead to happiness in the short term.

Not eating even if it's challenging
when it's the right moment.

If you're called to it and not stressed
by it,

can also see that
that can lead to happiness.

And it can be a longer term happiness,

a more durable happiness
based on a delayed gratification.

Right?

That can mean confidence and say,
hey, I am not so stuck in this space.

Look at what I was able to do.

I flowed through a space and hunger
diminished and I feel stronger

Both things are good.

Okay, short term happiness.

Not a bad thing to have.

Long term happiness.

Also a fantastic thing to have.

We're starting to see this framework.

If you believe the quote
that we were talking about.

That all of our decisions
are rooted in happiness.

Now we can start to get to the idea
what kind of happiness are we seeking?

This is how how we start
to build out our little hack.

What kind of happiness
are we seeking here?

What time frame are we operating on
for the happiness and why?

And are we okay with it?

Think of fasting in this sort of space.

I like to think of fasting
as an investment.

I did that session fasting
wealth, building up

this reserve of fasting for ourselves.

We're just collecting it
as we're doing it.

Investing.

Think today,
investing in a higher tier of happiness.

Maybe things like mental clarity.

Have you felt that in the fasting space?

Oh, we push through
and there is clarity coming.

That is a fascinating space.

Oh, there's energy
on the other side of it.

Sometimes we're hungry.

We can feel low energy
because like the system is running out

on that short term thing.

Body's saying,
okay, we need to eat something here

or we're going
to have to turn on our longer term system.

Have you made it through that?

And all of a sudden
you're in a fasting space.

Then there's like, oh,
there's energy here.

Like then there's focus
and they start to build

some good vibes going in the body.

Many ways we can invest in that process,

try to get a return off
that sort of process.

Maybe it's some other sort of personal
goal, say, I want to fit into something

that I used to wear.

And how much happiness does it bring
to achieve a goal of something like that?

Or maybe it's a medical situation,
like insulin resistance

that you're dealing with.

You see, I want a metabolic effect
happening in my body, right?

How happy is it to attain
something like that and to see it?

And so these are the time frames.

We're operating on a short term time
frame, a long term time frame.

And so one of the ways to start to do it

is to envision our future self say,

how do I make decisions that are affecting
the happiness of my future self?

We got a future self
and we got a present self.

And this is the balance.

And this is what I think

is the thoughtful way
to bring things into our fasting space.

If eating has the right decision
for present me,

you know, say, hey, let's do it.

You know what I mean? Like, let's do it.

But if you're feeling in a space, you say,
this is the mental shift.

We try to say, can I kind of shift
the goal of my happiness?

Think of our quote.

Every decision we're making,
we're trying to make ourselves happy.

Which one now or the future?

Does delaying our eating open up

more happiness,
more total happiness in life?

If we can get into some of these longer
term spaces,

longer term goals that help us to do it.

Something you've been working on
for a very long time.

To crack the code, pick the lock, open

the space to let the energy
that the body is storing out.

Be able to feel it. The flow.

Oh, the body is unlocking now.

We stopped the flow of energy in.

We can feel it coming out.

And can we get into that space,
find happiness in it and through it.

Remember we said sometimes in this cycle,
many things in life

actually a cycle,
we tend to think linearly,

but then we try to shift into the cycle,

realize, oh, fasting space kind of hard.

We recognize it, we accept it.

And actually by not fearing it,
taking our fear out, accepting it is

actually the process, the mental shift
to find the flow state in it.

There's a fasting flow state
where we get into it and it just

and then it disappears and it fades back.

And we're just living bodies
providing the energy for us.

We're doing whatever else we want, we're
staying active or we're not being active.

Whatever feels right.

You know, we're either said the other day
we could have a very take of weight

loss vacation. I loved that thought.

Weight loss vacation and sit on the beach,

drink a coffee or a sparkling water.

So watch the ocean, you know,

watch the lake
and the energy will flow out.

It could be totally active vacation
if you want.

I did a lot of fasting on my very,
very active hiking vacation.

North Carolina hiking up mountain after
mountain, day after day fasting space.

So here's the two extreme ends.

You know
when you could have anything in between.

You could have a beach vacation

and then just take a little stroll
along the beach, you know?

So that's sounding incredible to me.

Just think about that process.

Get out of our routines a bit.

And if if you're not in a space, you say,
I my work schedule,

my things,
I don't have any more vacation time.

I think of this quote from Marcus
Aurelius.

I have to paraphrase,
I shared it once, a long time ago.

It's like basically
everybody wants to head off

to a cabin in the mountains
or their seaside retreat,

but how much better
to retreat into your own self?

Have a meditation space, he says.

This is where true contentment
and happiness lies.

To paraphrase Marcus
Aurelius, remember is like Roman emperor.

He's got a tremendous wealth and
resources, and he's writing meditations.

He wasn't trying to write a book.

He's just writing notes to himself
to keep himself on track.

And, you know, just think of his mindset.

He's like, you don't need to go.

He's got a mountain place,
you know, and an ocean place, you know.

But he's like,
look, we're going to be better off.

Just.

Probably take some deep breaths and

get into a space of contentment
in our own mind.

There's a mental shift, a whole man.

So we're trying to get our hunger hack.

We're trying to create a mental shift.

We are in a space.

Hunger is there.

We're thinking about this quote.

You see the things we're weaving together.

Happiness is going to be the decision
one way

or the other in the short term
or the longer term.

And we're trying to balance it.

Which one is winning
and which one do we want to win?

We're thinking about our future self.

Here's what I call

if you don't like happiness hack I put,
I don't know, happiness hack of happiness.

Check in whatever you want to do.

You're coming to a space when you're
where you're eating, doing a check in.

Where is the happiness?

You know, that would be the thing
I think, a good thing to think about.

I think we flow through a lot of times.

We have so much automatic decision
making, so much habits and routines

that we're just going through a space
and it's like, what is even happening?

And we did that session back last year.

Automatic decision making.

How do we get into the loop?

How about a happiness check in.

Where's the joy.

You know is the joy in the eating right
now is the joy in the longer term space?

And is that the mental shift, even
just taking a few moments?

Because bringing in a mindfulness,
this is a mindfulness technique.

Happiness check in.

It's like we care about our happiness.

This is something very thoughtful.

Say, am I actually experiencing happiness
here?

And what we can see okay, sometimes it's
like, no, I'm planning on eating here.

Look, this is the thing to do.

Now we can really dial in and enjoy it.

I want everybody,
when we're eating to have

the most enjoyment for food is possible.

We got the video on the channel fasting.

For food lovers.

It is like when we are like
creating a space without food.

Help to highlight the beauty and
importance of the food that we are eating.

So good.

All right, so there's the joy.

And then we're in a space where like, no,
I wasn't planning on doing this.

I don't know that this is my best choice.

It's like I wanted this. We shifted.

Look the happiness.

Now we can be looking toward the light.

I loved that session.

Look toward the light, didn't we?

Do look toward the happiness.

Help to focus on it.

Take the joy of the future self
and bring it into the present.

And now we have win wins.

Now we're getting win wins.

If we can be experiencing
the future joy in the present,

pay it, you know, backwards or forwards,
whatever way you look at it to ourselves.

There's a check that you can right before
it's like cashed, you know,

it's like cash before it's written.

There you go.

Bring that future joy into the present.

And now we have it in both places.

That's beautiful.

Now we're starting to experience
the joy of fasting.

We got joy of eating in its proper space.

Future benefit
coming from fasting and fasting.

We see it.

And then we start to feel it.
And we're working that cycle.

We see the difficulty and the flow.

It's the mindset shift.

Never fasting as a deprivation,
never fasting as punishing

our way to health, always fasting
as openness.

Fasting as joy, fasting as happiness.

That's the only way to do it.

Even when it's difficult.

If it's too difficult,

if it's crossing a line,
then we find the joy somewhere else.

If we're right on the line and
we're in the struggle, we use this tool.

We think of our future self and our
current self together, our total being,

and we do our very best having much grace
and compassion for ourselves.

What is my best choice in this moment?

What is resonating most with my being
and the total

happiness across life?

Really nice to share this space with you.

I hope you are doing well.

Have a beautiful weekend.

Have a beautiful day
whenever you are encountering

this and I will look forward
to seeing you back here soon.

Have a good one!