Forming Habits.
Fasting is an incredible exercise. It challenges your mind to combat your thoughts. It challenges your body on a cellular and macro level to dig deeper and reevaluate your need for energy.
My perceived notion of hunger is challenged every day when I break my fast.
At first, I would feel hungry for more than 9 hours of the 16-hour fast. But when I break my fast at sunset, I feel full after just three or four minutes. I thought about this a lot, through the lens of the mind-body connection.
I feel like during my fast, when I feel hungry, it's my mind saying that. And when I eat and feel full after just a few minutes, my body is saying “I’m really not hungry”. I am almost two weeks into fasting daily, and habits are starting to form.
I wanted to share with you some of the rituals that are turning into habits, and why I am falling in love with new patterns
Habit 1: Eating slower, and with more intention. I find myself eating after sundown and before sunrise more prescriptively. As if I am focused mentally on being connected with how my body digests the food and extracts the nutrients for it. I find my breakfasts which consist of oatmeal, eggs, dates, and olives take me 40 minutes to consume. I feel like pre-Ramadhan this meal would be an ‘on the go; style, five-minute thing. Connecting with my food and digestive system makes me appreciate the food I am consuming more.
Habit 2: I exercise with intention and conviction. Exercising during Ramadhan is special because it puts a premium on the efficient use of energy. You simply don’t have excess energy to burn fooling around at the gym or performing exercises without intention and conviction. I find my workouts to be quieter, sometimes even cutting out music entirely to focus on feeling and hearing each muscle in my mind perform the rep.
Habit 3: Staying in a routine. This one is so simple, it's beautiful. Fasting during the day, as I spoke about earlier, makes me more productive and more time to be productive. It also makes me more prescriptive about people, places, and things that I chose to interact with. Two weeks into fasting, I am forming a routine about what I do daily, which includes prayer, exercise, social habits, and sleep/wake times. Fasting has helped me form a healthy routine, which I am looking forward to maturing into a habit that surpasses the end of Ramadhan.
I am also reconnecting more with myself through being consistent with journaling and using a this time management ebook. Click here to get it free (code: TIME).
These are great resources, and I’m giving you an opportunity to get them for free from Evolve Nation during Ramadhan. Because I want to focus on sharing what I learn, to help even one person.
With love, and in the name of eternally learning,
Heba.