A Few Thoughts on Fasting

Recently, I had a friend begin a juice fast for his health. He told me about the documentary that inspired him, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, so I logged on to Netflix and watched it. The people in this film fasted for 60 days being sustained by vegetable and fruit juice, so he has started a journey of trying to go 60 days.

This got me thinking about the Christian Discipline of fasting. While this is being done for health reasons, I think that there are still some places of overlap where people who practice this kind of fasting will still gain the emotional and maybe even spiritual benefits of fasting. Here four things that fasting accomplish, and how even this health fast will benefit a would-be faster.

1.      Fasting Builds Discipline

Even if you aren’t fasting for spiritual reasons, it takes a lot of disciple. In the first week of a fast, your body revolts against you. You are weak and feel. Your hunger pangs are relentless. After that first week, however, your body kicks it into high-gear and you regain your energy and feel surprisingly good. There is, however, still a small nagging in your mind that wants food (after more than three weeks, my friend still occasionally mentions craving certain foods). But pushing through and remaining true to your fast builds discipline that will carry over to other areas of life.

2.      Fasting Cuts Off Your Dependence/Codependence on Food

This is like a mental reset. If you have the discipline to get to the point where you don’t feel terrible all of the time, you start putting food into the proper perspective. You evaluate and eliminate certain food addictions. Then when you return to normal life, you probably won’t have the same pull toward food that you had before.

3.      Fasting Helps Reassess Your Priorities

Although you have cut food out of your life, other parts of your life come into perspective. It’s a strange thing that you start questioning things like whether you need to have the premium package for cable (or have it at all). Do you need the best car available, even the best car you can afford, when your car is in decent working condition.  Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline writes about a person during a fast realizing they don’t need to set the thermostat to such an extreme temperature.

4.      Fasting Breaks Down Your Defenses

You probably don’t realize it, but food helps you build the filter that you establish that keeps the real you from coming out. Allow me to explain, most people try to hide who they really are from the world, and when we are allowed to eat we have the comfort and strength to suppress the part of us we try to keep from the real world. Our insecurities have a chance to creep out. For example, have you ever gone to a restaurant for a late dinner with your family and there is an extremely long wait before you are seated. After you are seated, your stomach begins to growl as the waiter takes a long time to come to the table. The restaurant is very busy so it is an additional 20 minutes before your meal comes. Think back to examine what your attitude was in the time you were waiting. Were you more irritable than usual? Were you more impatient? Did your family members tax your nerves more than usual? Your hunger takes away the filter that you have built that keeps the world, and even you, from seeing the anger, impatience, and selfishness that is inside of you.

 

Achieving Goals: Form a Detailed Plan

"The difference between a dream and a goal is a plan."

Dave Ramsey

“By the yard it’s hard, but inch by inch, anything’s a cinch.”

Brian Tracy

Probably one of the most important steps in working towards your goals is laying out a detailed plan of attack. The key to this plan is the word “detail.” I don’t just mean to look at some steps to work toward your goals, I am talking about planning every step you can think of on the way. These steps must become benchmarks, or mini goals that you are working toward. Then as you reach a mini goal you can see that you are headed in the right direction. Here are three reasons why you must have a detailed, step-by-step plan:

1.      It tells your mind that you are winner.

The game of life is all about your mind. If you get one victory by hitting a benchmark, your mind goes wild and craves another victory and you become more determined to achieve the next victory. This is the psychology behind Dave Ramsey’s Debt Snowball. He suggests listing all your debts smallest to largest, pay minimum payments on all, and on the smallest account put as much money in it as possible to blow it out of the water as soon as possible. If, for instance, you have 10 accounts that total $100,000, you focus on a credit card that has $1,500 and you pay it off in three or four months. Then you have $85,000 and 9 accounts. It’s still a daunting amount, but you’ve gotten rid of an entire account; you see that this can happen and it is happening and you’re gaining momentum (there’s a reason he calls it a snowball).

Jim Rohn talks about if you want to get healthy you say to yourself, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” So you eat a apple and feel good about yourself, but then when you get up the second day and have that apple, you’re on top of the world because you have accomplished a small step to good health that you resolved to do the day before. He then says if you eat an apple the third day you are unstoppable.

2.      It focuses your efforts.

Instead of looking at the daunting task before you, you have a small goal to which you can throw all of your energy and efforts. Ramsey again says, “What you focus on, you win at.” If you go towards an smaller goal with laser-beam focus, you will master that skill on the way to accomplishing that goal. Consider, once again, your health. If you look at what a healthy lifestyle is and add one aspect of that lifestyle, such as eating a nutritious breakfast, then eventually that will become a habit (traditionally 30 days), then eating breakfast is second nature and you can add one more thing, such as going for a quick walk before your breakfast. Therefore you aren’t overwhelmed with the amount of things that need to change.

3.      It helps you to track your progress.

Think again about the Debt Snowball. If after the four months you saw that you had only paid $1,500 that would be discouraging. One hundred-thousand dollars is a mind boggling amount, and you have spent one quarter knocking down 1.5 percent. Looking at it that way is an uphill battle. However, if you consider that you have reduced your debt accounts from 10 to 9, then you have knocked it out 10 percent.

My wife and I are reality TV/self improvement junkies (more me than her). We love The Biggest Loser, and Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. In both of these shows the people trying to change their lives are given a goal with a time-period. The Biggest Loser, to me, has the best formula. Contestants are weighed once a week. The successful contestants are always trying to hit a certain goal every week. They don’t look at the fact that they need to lose 200 lbs to win, they only look toward the next weigh in and say, “I want to lose eight pounds this week.”

When Rachel and I decided to knock out our debt we made two things to track our progress. One was an excel spreadsheet that listed our debts, how much we owed on each one, how much we had paid on each one, and a grand total. As we paid one off, I would strike through the name and use the hide function for the totals. There was something victorious about hitting those two buttons with my mouse. Rachel drew a thermometer and every $500 was a degree and we moved our way up the thermometer – it’s a lot like a fundraiser. We would fill in an amount and put a date by it when we fulfilled it. Now that we have gotten rid of all debts but one, we now have only the thermometer, but with it we are constantly making goals deciding things like, “We should be here by October” pointing to a place on the thermometer.

Working towards goals is a lot easier when you break down your goal into small achievable steps. What about you, what goals have you made, and how did you break it down into manageable pieces?

An Introduction to Tolkien

Few writers have affected people’s imaginations as much as J. R. R. Tolkien. I know that if I read a story and a goblin, troll, or dragon comes onto the scene my mind goes back to images of The Hobbit, or Lord of the Rings, so a biography of Tolkien’s life was appealing to me. Mark Horne’s J.R.R. Tolkien delivered on what I expected going into it.

What did I want to learn by reading this? I wanted to read about how he came up with such an elaborate world. At its best this short biography showed how art imitated life for Tolkien – how the events of his life lent to inspiration for events that happened to the characters in his tales. While at times it was dry, and even repetitive covering the same event more than once (it even felt as if I read the same sentence more than once), it was still engaging.

Horne’s biography also does a good job of building the excitement when Tolkien finally meets success with The Hobbit. He shows a picture of a real man who encounters wild success, and handles it quite well.

The short length of this book made it difficult to paint an in-depth portrait of the man. This is not hagiography by any means, it does show Tolkien’s shortcomings, but there is so much that seems to only be implied, but it spent probably an equal amount of time showing his good qualities. This would be a good resource to introduce you to Tolkien, but you couldn’t really walk away and say that you knew the man after reading it.

It almost serves as a short commentary on what happened behind the scenes.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

Achieving Goals: Tell Someone Else

"Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A chord of three strands is not quickly broken."
~Ecclesiastes 4:12 


"My mentor said, 'Let's go do it' not 'You go do it.' How powerful [it is] when someone says 'Let's!'"
~Jim Rohn

After you have specified what goal you have and clarified your motive, tell someone all about it. Tell them what your goal is and even what is motivating you to work towards this goal.

Here are three reasons to Share your goal with someone else.

1. It gets another set of eyes on the situation
When someone else is looking at the situation they can help you assess whether your goal is attainable, and also whether your motives are appropriate. We all tend to have a blind spot when it comes to evaluating ourselves and our abilities. We either overestimate our abilities or we underestimate them. Proverbs 15:22 says, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."

2. You create an ally
There's something powerful about having someone else knowing your plans. The other person can offer advice of how to proceed towards your goal, connect you with resources that can help you with the goal (be it people, books, or websites), or just offer the encouragement.

3. You build accountability
By telling someone of your plans, you now how the accountability of following through. Your new ally can at any moment ask about your progress. The possibility of having to tell someone you respect that you haven't done anything is sometimes motivation enough to get moving.

Choosing the right person to ally with is very important. You want someone who believes in you, but is honest enough to tell you some hard truth. For me, this is my wife. 

With whom do you share your goals and dreams?

Review of the Little Red Book of Wisdom

One thing that seems to be missing in today’s world is wisdom. We see many public figures falling from public favor because of a mistake that can often be attributed to a lack of judgment, or a lack of wisdom. Mark DeMoss, in his book The Little Red Book of Wisdom offers some sage advice about wisdom that he has picked up throughout his life.

He divides his book into two major sections: Wisdom for Your Professional Life and Wisdom for Your Personal Life. These divisions seem to be arbitrary because I found that the professional advice could be applied to all walks of life, and the personal advice could also be used in professional settings. I think that this is a testament to the nature of good wisdom; the principles are applicable to all situations in life. Just as the book of Proverbs in the Bible were written nearly 3000 years ago to mostly an agrarian society, we can still find applications from its principles today.

This small book is well written and heart-felt. I never thought that a book in the business section would ever tug at my emotions, but DeMoss’s account of his father and brother’s passing are sincere and penetrating.

While there are a few areas that do not seem as universal in DeMoss’s wisdom, these can be attributed to the fact that he is writing to a Christian audience. You do not have to agree with advice, but that doesn’t always make it bad advice.

In short, I would recommend Mark DeMoss’s The Little Red Book of Wisdom. It’s a short read, that can be easily reviewed.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Fun with Editing

Every once in a while, as an editor, you come across something that is so odd it's kind of funny. Recently, we were working on a coloring book where one editor assigned pictures to captions. Here, we had a miscommunication where the wrong picture was inserted to the caption on this page.

It raises so many questions. Did Jesus call Lazarus' bluff? Is it considered gambling if you are omniscient? Would it then be cheating? The caption that is supposed to go with this picture is "Jesus Calls Levi," but doesn't that seem like it would raise many similar questions?

Achieving Goals: Clarify Your Motives

Photo from FreeRange Stock Photos

"He who has a why to live, can bear to live almost any how."
~Friedrich Nietzche

Why am I so concerned with goal setting? Brian Tracyonce said that "Success is goals; all else is commentary." This post's main concern is something that comes before we even start to work toward our goals. Much like how a person must brainstorm about characters and back stories before he or she sits down to write a story, this step although it seems indirectly related to working towards your goal is vitally important.

Clarify Your Motives
Again, Tracy suggests that when you make goals brainstorm all the reasons that you have to achieve those goals, and constantly remind yourself of these reasons. The more reasons you have, the more likely you are to work toward your goals. If, for instance, you want to pay off your debt, list all the things you will be able to do with no payments, such as save for your kid's college, save for retirement, and have a "no-worries" emergency fund so that if you lose your job you have 3, 6, or even 12 months to find a new one without having to drastically change your lifestyle.

Examples abound in our culture of this principle. Maybe you are Rocky Balboa in Rocky taping a picture of Apollo Creed to your mirror to remind yourself that you are going to prove to everybody that you aren't just a nobody from Philly, that the little guy can win against big odds, and a low-level mafia enforcer from the docks can turn his life around. Or maybe you're Rocky Balboa in Rocky II fighting to give your wife and newborn son, who were on the brink of death, the strength to recover, proving that your last fight wasn't a fluke--that you really are a contender, and giving that cocky Apollo his comeuppance. You could also be Rocky Balboa in Rocky III proving you deserve to be champion, honoring the memory of your fallen trainer, Micky, rediscovering your passion for the sport you love, regaining the respect of the boxing community, and connecting to your new friend, Apollo. Or you could even be Rocky Balboa in Rocky IV avenging your best friend, Apollo, taking on the forces of evil, communism, and cultural intolerance, and proving that the American spirit of independence and stick-to-it-iveness conquers all ("because if I's can change and you's can change the whole world can change").

In all seriousness, Rocky (and almost all sports movies) is a good example of a person who is goal driven. Rocky's objective is never to win for the sake of winning. That would make him a shallow, arrogant jerk. His opponents are always embodiments of the greater inner battle he is fighting against.

This is also evident among the contestants on the show The Biggest Loser. As the trainers beat down and break the contestants they are constantly asking, "Who are you doing this for?" or "Why are you here?" They do this to motivate them as they tear them apart.

So next time you make a goal, sit down and brainstorm all the reasons that you must fulfill that goal.

What motives can you cite for reaching your goals?

Achieving Goals: Be Specific

Photo from FreeRange Stock Photos

"In ten years, you will either arrive at a well designed destination or an undesigned destination."
Jim Rohn

"Goals: You cannot make it as a wandering generality, you must be a meaningful specific."
Zig Ziglar

One of the most important steps that a person can take in life is to set and keep goals. Most of us recognize this as truth, but so many of us have trouble making and keeping our goals. Whether it's losing weight, getting out of debt, getting a new job, or even something like organizing your garage goals are almost always the same, and should be approached in similar ways. I am beginning a series of posts on how to arrive at your "well-designed destination."

Be Specific
Specifying your goals will do wonders for your ability to keep at them. This can be seen especially when someone's goal is weight loss. Their stated goal is to lose weight, but after a few weeks they burn out and go back to their old habits. I learned this principle in college. I was taking a weight lifting class, and we had to submit three weight-lifting goal. My goals were: "1. Get buff, 2. Get cut, and 3. Get strong." The coach sent it back to me saying those weren't goals at all. He said, "I need real goals, like 'increase my flat-bench press by such-and-such percent in however many weeks.'" The first set of goals were too subjective and progress is unmeasurable.

The same can be said with financial goals. If your goal is to "get rich" you'll probably never reach what your mind would consider the goal. Someone once asked John D. Rockefeller how much money was enough. He answered, "Just a little bit more."

When your goals are not specific one of two things will happen. Either you will give up because you have no measurable progress, or you will become obsessed with your goal and wind up on Intervention.