At one point we’ve all met these people, hell, we’ve all probably been these people at one time or another.  The seemingly self-assured, and over-confident hero that has risen like the phoenix from the fire of their emotional past.  To validate themselves and give purpose to their trauma (small or large) they typically adopt the “everything happens for a reason” mantra, along with its trusty sidekick “No regrets”.

In my eyes, this almost tribal ritual of rationalization typically starts popping up a few years after high school, you know, around the time people start doing some really stupid shit, and then hits its stride after a few major regrets start settling in.

I’m not sure how it happened, but somewhere from opposable thumbs to Oprah’s book club, we began believing there’s an inverse relationship between having regrets and being happy with the person you are. As if its similar to the relationship of being a Dane Cook fan and being capable of intelligent conversation.

As with the majority of popular social paradigms this is another that sinks under further scrutiny. The No Regrets crowd, as I’ve experienced them, tend to fall into two main groups; Those that seem to have a list of not so great decisions longer than George W.(who seems to be a great case study for this)  and those that have never really made any decisions that weren’t “safe”, or A-typical. One tribe trying to justify its misfortune, while the other clinging to its mediocrity as a trophy.

Our regrets are the lessons we gain from living.  Never have I met a very interesting and self-aware person that evolved and grew from the path of least resistance.

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Sometimes I need to write, just to write.

To put on screen, nee paper, the thoughts that bounce around my hat rack while searching through the cosmos to make sense of all that is part of this spinning ball we’ve been surfing on is my mental therapeutic massage.

I tend to read more than your average bear (well, at least more than the smart ones), but its not fiction novels or self-help books (not ALL the time anyways), or comics (not ALL the time anyways), but articles.  I’ve lately been reading articles on almost everything I can find online or otherwise.

Politics, Law, Fitness, Finance, Relationships, Education, Religion, How To Suck At Writing Blog Posts, Starting a business….and superheroes.  The latter is certainly the most entertaining and more times than not contains the least amount of bullshit.

Its amazing how many debates are going in the world where both sides are using fabricated arguments to defend their positions and neither wish to acquiesce on the side of understanding and growth. Though this seems to happen more and more in government, it is we the people that should be held responsible.

We criticize so closely and so intensely that we leave no room for error, no room for collaboration, and no air for intellectual growth.  Should a candidate ever be faced with the epiphany that his logic may not be the sound judgment he once thought it to be, he has no choice but to carry on that same path. For should he let up for a moment to accept and welcome wisdom into his life – or to even consider other avenues of thought for that matter – he is demonized as uncertain, wavering, or lacking in confidence and conviction (“How can we believe in someone who does not know what he believes in”).

We pray and wish for heroes to lead us, but in doing so forget that we’re all human.  We have weaknesses at times more numerous and powerful than our strengths.  But we hope and wish to be surrounded by such greatness that each and every person must survive through a jury of fire and rhetoric that no man can stand for too long.

We praise those that are confident in their beliefs and we commend those that hang onto their standards no matter what.  We say, “Good for you, for standing by your moral code, or your fiscal position” but these values are arbitrary, they’re all about perspective.  Why do we value certainty and confidence so highly without any checks and balances to the foundation of those beliefs? It is not irresponsible of our leaders or peers but irresponsible of ourselves to not hold one another accountable for our actions.

Many people in the world are waiting for a savior, someone to show them the way, and unfortunately this means at the same time they are looking away from themselves. We have stopped holding one another accountable and at the same time we have stopped all signs of healthy constructive dialogue.

Typically its the same people with the same beliefs discussing amongst themselves, furthering their own fabrications and opinions leading them further and further away from any actual discovery.  What we need is discourse, the ability to tell your friends or colleagues, “I respectively disagree with you, and this is why…”  and defend your position.  Yet most important is the ability to concede if your counterpart’s logic and perspective is superior to yours.  THAT is a discussion.  In the world today all I hear are arguments.  Right vs. Left, Talking head vs. Talking Head.  It seems to be always ME vs. YOU. In an argument, its a competition, but in a discussion it should be a collaborative mission to discover and understand perspective and truth.

In my opinion, to be an individual that can further the discussion and create a path toward truth without beginning the argument are today’s real heroes. These are the people that give us hope.

The hope of understanding one another.

The hope of realizing that what we believe and what we think is not always what is or what will be tomorrow.

The hope of one day realizing we’re all in this together and that at the end of the day most of this shit doesn’t really matter anyways.

This is the light for which we should be looking.

And for the record, I dare not say I exist as one of these people, but I do say that I aspire to be.

About 4 months ago I wrote a post called Experiment with Life in which I described my first experience with fasting.  Since then I have completed two 36-hour fasts and I am currently in the midst of a 24 hour fast.

I decided to do my first 36 hour in mid-July on the basis that I felt quite disgusting after eating possibly the largest burrito ever assembled this side of Mexico.  At the time of eating said burrito I was at the home of a girl I was then dating.  As she observed the look of plentiful satisfaction on my face as I polished off my dish I wasn’t sure if the look on her face was, “I’m impressed he finished that whole thing”, or “That’s disgusting”, either way, I thought to myself, self you won’t be needing to eat tomorrow. Just like that on a Saturday night I decided that if I was man enough to eat that whole burrito I was man enough to not eat for the next 36 hours.

In the midst of Sunday I was a total vegetable with small pains of hunger and next to zero mental capacity, my concentration levels were also at an all time low.  I have since found that stimulating the brain with activities like reading is an incredible way to get your cerebral muscles flexing without challenging them too much.  Though my first 36 hour fast was definitely arduous, it was oddly much easier than my first 24 hour fast.

As I awoke at 7am on Monday morning I felt like the scarecrow from the wizard of oz. I existed in a state of numbness, no fatigue yet no energy, no opinions and nothing particular to say. I just was. But when I walked into the kitchen I had a smile on my face and a goal to accomplish.  I felt like Frankenstein on a mission from his creator, “foooooood”.

I made myself a 4 egg omelet with every vegetable I could find in the fridge; tomatoes, eggplants, onions, peppers, zucchini, all topped with a generous helping of goat cheese.  Gordan Ramsay himself would have been shaking my hand.  After finishing my triumphant breakfast I felt amazing.  It was as if I could literally feel my physical body and brain being fed all the nutrients and resources it had been looking for.  I was calm, alert, and nothing short of a nuclear bomb or a Sarah Palin supporter could have raised my stress levels.

The fast I am in the midst of now was supposed to be a 36 hour jobber but I need to do some work tonight so I will be making myself a nice bean salad around 830pm.  This go-round has also been my first time experimenting with supplements while fasting.  I took an omega 3 capsule in the morning, and just before writing this post and my mental clarity immediately jumped from “out to lunch” to “ready and able”.  There’s no way I could have written this post before that capsule.

The effects of fasting are unbelievable and I still highly suggest anyone that is in decent shape give it a shot.  If you have diabetes or are considerably overweight I would suggest speaking with your doctor, although unfortunately not many doctors know what they’re talking about when it comes to fasting, which is a shame.  Thankfully there are a number of forums and groups regarding intermittent fasting that are very reliable. Because there is seldom anything to sell when it comes to fasting it is much easier to find an accurate depiction of someone’s experiences.

One of the only books I have seen written on fasting is an ebook called “Eat Stop Eat”.  This is an ebook on Intermittent Fasting which recommends a lifestyle of fasting every few days to allow the body to heal itself and function as nature intended.  The best part about the book is that helps dismiss many of the typical myths about fasting. i.e. a 36hour fast is starving yourself (it isn’t).   There’s a great review about it the book that you can see here: Eat Stop Eat Review.

The reason why I think I may be addicted to fasting every few weeks is because its an incredible feeling.  I never breathe as clearly as I do on fasting days.  During normal days for whatever reason I can typically only breath clearly through  my right nostril but today the left side is functioning at an unheard of level. Its still not perfect but its a monster improvement.   My skin is clearer than it normally is, and I’ve even lost a couple pounds, nothing drastic (fat loss is just a sweet byproduct of fasting) but  just a little fat that had built up on a count of a couple Italian thanksgiving dinners.

The future of my fasting lifestyle will include a number of experiments I want to test drive.  I want to hit the gym on a fasting day and I also want to force myself to write something like an involved post or story while fasting to see if I can force my brain into a higher level of thought without any fuel.

The body, I’ve learned is very adaptive to necessity.  For example when you lift very heavy weights repeatedly your body adapts by producing more muscle and becoming stronger. My hypothesis is that I can train my body and mind to function at a decent level without consistent access to food.

I base my hypothesis on the difference in difficulty between my first and subsequent fasts.  My first fast was torture.  Its believed that during the first fast the body is trying to distance itself from the brain’s addiction to food as it has been taught through habit to eat often and on schedule (breakfast, lunch, dinner). During the last few fasts I have not felt any hunger pains at all and I believe this is because my brain knows it needs food, but now understands that there is a purpose for this abstinence from eating.

As I said before, and I will continue to say on my blog, I highly recommend anyone out there to try a 24 hour fast.  Do it with a friend or spouse if you need help with willpower.  During my first 36 hour fast I found myself repeatedly walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge without evening thinking.  At one point I took out an apple and was halfway through washing it before realizing I was still in the middle of the fast and had more than 12 hours to go.

I would obviously like to toss out a disclaimer that I AM NOT A DOCTOR, PHYSICIAN OR NUTRITIONIST of any kind.  I am simply providing you with my opinions and experiences with fasting and making my recommendation on those basis.

If any of you decide to take me up on this please come back and report your results. Or should you have any questions for me please don’t hesitate to ask.

Happy Not-Eating.