Richard_D
05-18-2005, 02:47 PM
I hardly know where to begin. I suppose the beginning is as good a place as any.
I first came to HPS with one fast under my belt, but with little to show for it. I'd recently started smoking again after almost a year's cessation, and I felt from my other recent experience with fasting that this was the only way to eradicate the problem for good.
The short story there is that my plan worked. I haven't had so much as a drag off a cigarette since HPS level 1, nor, more significantly, have I had any particular desire. The cravings have been so non-existent that I actually have to remind myself to be happy about it--otherwise it's the furthest thing from my mind. Those of you who have been there will appreciate the import of that.
The extended story is something else again. My cleansing experiences here, and those of the people whose struggles and triumphs I've shared by reading along, all have contributed to a body of wisdom and an overall sensation of the richness of living...well, my rhetorical flights are about to officially melt their wings in the sun (and perhaps crash into the sea), but let's just say for now that I got a lot more out of this program than I ever could have imagined at the outset--particularly considering that my general outlook at the time wasn't nearly optimistic enough to predict such things.
Yes, real life has continued without interruption. I have had some bad, even a few mighty bad times. But until I started my participation here I was beginning to think that I had already seen the best days of my life years before--and that they hadn't even been that good. I can't say even now that my health is the best it's ever been, but for the first time since reaching adulthood I can say honestly that my overall tendency has been toward gradual improvement, rather than steady decline. Just that sense of things getting better marks a monumental shift both in my health and in my awareness of it as something that I can guide toward whatever end I choose--and that the choice really is mine, after all, and not that of my doctor or my genetic heritage or my upbringing or any number of external issues that so often seem to terminate our hopes for better things.
It's been such a ride getting to this point that it seems at times my own memory of events has gotten jumbled up. Until maybe a week ago, I was under the impression that I'd been fasting with HPS for the better part of 3 years. The forum software reminds me that I joined almost exactly 2 years ago. It's so funny, life goes by quickly enough as it is, but I seem to be determined by some force of habit to relegate more of my life to the past than I've actually experienced to date. I think there's probably a big lesson lying at the bottom of that, but at present it's still like a big fish deep below the surface that I believe I'm going to catch someday but still haven't actually caught sight of. Meanwhile, I keep casting my line, waiting as patiently as I can for an eventual bite.
I guess this reads as much as a testimonial as it does an introduction, but I couldn't find a way to explain who I am or what my current situation is without giving a sense of where it's all gone so far. That actually is a rather big job--a true cause for celebration, though, having so many benefits to relate.
I always get a little overexcited when I start writing about how much things have changed for me; I often forget to mention the work left to be done. This time around, that work is in Level 4. I have a number of specific areas of concern that I hope to address with this cleanse, as well as a great many new insights that simply weren't in my awareness in previous levels. I plan to discuss them as fully as I can (watch out!) in the upcoming weeks as I move through the pre-fast into the formal stage.
Just at the moment I'm not yet sure when I'll officially begin the pre-cleanse, although it will be around the end of May, possibly in a week's time. There will be a few weeks off in between semesters at school, and then a real crunch as my summer Chinese courses resume, along with the peak English-teaching season at my place of employment. I think some careful plotting of the weeks ahead is in order here, but I don't suppose it'll take me too long to recognize the best course of action.
So in closing, hi everyone.
Rick
I first came to HPS with one fast under my belt, but with little to show for it. I'd recently started smoking again after almost a year's cessation, and I felt from my other recent experience with fasting that this was the only way to eradicate the problem for good.
The short story there is that my plan worked. I haven't had so much as a drag off a cigarette since HPS level 1, nor, more significantly, have I had any particular desire. The cravings have been so non-existent that I actually have to remind myself to be happy about it--otherwise it's the furthest thing from my mind. Those of you who have been there will appreciate the import of that.
The extended story is something else again. My cleansing experiences here, and those of the people whose struggles and triumphs I've shared by reading along, all have contributed to a body of wisdom and an overall sensation of the richness of living...well, my rhetorical flights are about to officially melt their wings in the sun (and perhaps crash into the sea), but let's just say for now that I got a lot more out of this program than I ever could have imagined at the outset--particularly considering that my general outlook at the time wasn't nearly optimistic enough to predict such things.
Yes, real life has continued without interruption. I have had some bad, even a few mighty bad times. But until I started my participation here I was beginning to think that I had already seen the best days of my life years before--and that they hadn't even been that good. I can't say even now that my health is the best it's ever been, but for the first time since reaching adulthood I can say honestly that my overall tendency has been toward gradual improvement, rather than steady decline. Just that sense of things getting better marks a monumental shift both in my health and in my awareness of it as something that I can guide toward whatever end I choose--and that the choice really is mine, after all, and not that of my doctor or my genetic heritage or my upbringing or any number of external issues that so often seem to terminate our hopes for better things.
It's been such a ride getting to this point that it seems at times my own memory of events has gotten jumbled up. Until maybe a week ago, I was under the impression that I'd been fasting with HPS for the better part of 3 years. The forum software reminds me that I joined almost exactly 2 years ago. It's so funny, life goes by quickly enough as it is, but I seem to be determined by some force of habit to relegate more of my life to the past than I've actually experienced to date. I think there's probably a big lesson lying at the bottom of that, but at present it's still like a big fish deep below the surface that I believe I'm going to catch someday but still haven't actually caught sight of. Meanwhile, I keep casting my line, waiting as patiently as I can for an eventual bite.
I guess this reads as much as a testimonial as it does an introduction, but I couldn't find a way to explain who I am or what my current situation is without giving a sense of where it's all gone so far. That actually is a rather big job--a true cause for celebration, though, having so many benefits to relate.
I always get a little overexcited when I start writing about how much things have changed for me; I often forget to mention the work left to be done. This time around, that work is in Level 4. I have a number of specific areas of concern that I hope to address with this cleanse, as well as a great many new insights that simply weren't in my awareness in previous levels. I plan to discuss them as fully as I can (watch out!) in the upcoming weeks as I move through the pre-fast into the formal stage.
Just at the moment I'm not yet sure when I'll officially begin the pre-cleanse, although it will be around the end of May, possibly in a week's time. There will be a few weeks off in between semesters at school, and then a real crunch as my summer Chinese courses resume, along with the peak English-teaching season at my place of employment. I think some careful plotting of the weeks ahead is in order here, but I don't suppose it'll take me too long to recognize the best course of action.
So in closing, hi everyone.
Rick