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Losing weight should't be expensive or complicated. The ideal process would reduce our stress while driving results. Dr. Z weaves together his perspective on physical and mental health and the powerful way that fasting can connect these two spheres of our lives. Let's move toward total wellness and a holistic vision of health and healing. Learn more at SimpleFasting.com
Do you think it's fair to say that
most people spend most of their time
doing things to make them happy,
in an attempt to find happiness?
We work
and to get money, to buy things,
to be happy, right?
We go grocery shopping,
to get food, to meet
our physical needs of the body,
find happiness in it.
So we're reaching out to people,
talking to people,
trying to find happiness some places
and sometimes.
Do you find it this way?
Despite all our efforts,
it can still be a bit
elusive.
Do you ever find yourself clicking on some
YouTube video, watching something,
searching for something?
It's like.
Also,
maybe we are not finding contentment.
We're looking for it.
Maybe the next video will tell us,
you know, maybe the next thing
that we're scrolling
toward will really make us happy.
Always searching.
And don't you
feel that one of the overarching themes
that is communicated
like think bigger, you know.
Think broader,
think more,
maybe this is the next thing.
I'm going to turn that upside down today.
Gonna say, let's think smaller.
I love it
very much in line
with the message from fasting,
which is do more with less
love,
that more happiness, less consumption.
Actually
stop the striving
and the searching in the getting
and focus on the being and the having
and the enough
and the contentment.
Bringing our thinking down
into the present moment,
out of the future of things that we need
into this base of things that we have.
Finding gratitude for its strength
in the body
and the being, the mind in the spirit.
And even if it's just for a short time
fasting space showing us
I don't need anything else
and we can find happiness
right here in this moment
with surprisingly little.
This thinking,
from the fleeting pages of The Mountain
is you I'm going to share.
This is under a section
leaning into the little joys
when you find them.
Something that we definitely want to do.
The broader chapter under
How to Truly Enjoy Your Life.
Lean into the little joys
when you find them
fall an incredible time to do that.
How was your weekend?
My weekend.
I got to get up north northern Wisconsin,
and the the leaves changing
so beautifully.
I was sitting by a lake having a coffee,
and this single
beautiful orange leaf
just fell right on me.
I just sat there.
Find some joy in a single leaf.
Falling from a tree.
Just felt like a gift.
Listen to what Brianna West has to say
in this short little passage.
Say most people severely overthink
happiness.
Do you think you could be doing it?
I know that I have been doing that
many times.
They assume that their lives
have to be in perfect working order
in order for them to experience real joy,
and this is not so.
Real.
Joy is finally happiness where you are
and how you are.
Isn't that beautiful?
So I love this thought.
Overthinking happiness.
Do you ever feel that way?
Like it's like we're trying so hard to be
happy or find happiness in something.
And it's like so
many things that we're doing.
And isn't
that actually part of the problem?
That happiness
is really something that we are.
I think
when we are looking externally for it,
so many times
we end up working to get something
that is already pleasant.
I like somewhere last week we were talking
about problem solving by subtraction.
We usually try to solve a problem, adding
more to it more and more and more.
So many times we take some things away.
We find, okay, happiness is right here.
Maybe it's not 100%.
Maybe it's not black and white.
I'm just thinking about my little story,
okay?
Sitting by the lake,
a leaf is an external thing.
Okay. A leaf came.
Tiny little thing.
And that was beautiful.
So we're in this dance, right?
With the environment.
We have our internal environment.
We're existing in this world.
Not like
external things don't have meaning
or benefit.
You know, here's it's
that we're trying to find the balance.
And this is the balance
that we're in in our space.
Fasting space.
Just one side of the coin. Right.
And this is the balance.
This is the step of the dance
back and forth,
eating and fasting, finding that balance,
finding contentment inside.
Just as we need to exist in this world.
She goes on, true happiness is embracing
the little joys in life.
The sunrise on a warm summer morning,
your cup of coffee or an amazing book.
It is being grateful
not only when the big things happen,
but also for the small satisfactions
that we find
every day.
I loved that passage.
I especially love okay.
Find the joy in
a little cup of coffee. So.
That will be my call for us today.
Say, let's,
enjoy our little cup of coffee.
I say cheers to you.
And a step toward health in this day.
Let's not overthink it.
I've.
I've referred to coffee myself
personally as a contentment in a cup,
and I really like that.
And if coffee isn't your thing,
maybe it's tea or just a water.
Say, whatever
is the thing that you can really, enjoy.
But just something very simple.
I know I can sit
almost anywhere in the morning
and just grab a cup of coffee,
I think. Feel pretty?
Pretty content, at least.
Even on a bad day,
I would say maybe a
if we think about the bad day
for a minute, you say,
oh, are we really finding happiness in it?
We've done a lot of
thinking of that contentment
versus happiness,
and we're leaning into happiness today
here.
I, I think that's a beautiful
thing to think about.
And to me, contentment
is the more grounded state of happiness.
You know, where it's like.
Say, maybe neutral is good enough
space where we can take a few breaths.
And so on a day
that is difficult,
maybe neutral and contentment is the vibe.
And on a beautiful day,
maybe happiness is something
that we really can find in something
so simple.
Just smelling it,
you know, smell a good coffee,
smell the tea, even,
whatever is the thing.
I think it's good to have a ritual.
To me, it's kind of a ritual, you know?
It's like this is part of the process.
Part of starting the day
on the right foot.
You know,
to me, a big thing, you know, it's,
hard to do
turning on all this technology.
But I instituted a practice
a couple years ago
of not starting the day
with a phone, you know, and then it's hard
because I need to use my phone
to turn on so much of this stuff.
And it's like, well,
I want to start the day fasting space.
Tune into doctor Z. It's on the phone.
But the idea would be like,
don't hit
the email, don't hit the social media.
Try to keep the don't look at the text,
the voice messages,
just anything that is there, you know,
try to be very intentional about it.
So tuning into
a thoughtful space,
that's how I treat this.
This is a space for me.
Say tune into thoughtful thinking.
That's what I do.
Especially the weekend.
I'm not turning on a camera.
I'm, like, tuning in
to the simple practice.
A good practice
to keep us from overthinking
happiness, right?
We think what is coming at us
in the rest of the day.
Even into the future. Into tomorrow.
Do you have a little ritual where
you bring it down to something very small?
A single leaf from a tree is good enough.
A simple coffee.
This sort of path,
when I think if we bring it
that even further down into our process.
Fasting space,
health path, weight loss path
path to improve metabolism in the body.
Something people looking for
very aggressively right.
Something people spending
lots of money on in order to obtain
the next thing right, the next workout,
the next diet plan, the next everything.
Right.
This sort of space, part of it
we can bring in to that space
something so simple,
something that we can see, oh, body
is running here and energy is flowing.
And if we're feeling good,
this is the way to do it.
Can we feel good and content
in a space and flow through it.
And we see
this is bringing energy into balance
in the body.
So that's grounding us
in a physical process in the body,
just like it's grounding the mind.
So many times we can be over
thinking happiness on our health path.
We can say, hey, I'll be happy when.
When I hit some target,
when I feel a certain way,
when a number lines up in a certain place.
And so this thing
to that is way overthinking.
Bring that
happiness into today,
right into this present moment.
Nothing else to do, nothing to accomplish,
only someone and something
to be in this moment,
which is to be happy.
Right?
And if that word is too big, say,
find contentment to be it.
Take a deep breath with me here,
and then let's just be it
for just a moment here.
Enjoy the space and realize
this is quite enough.
See what thoughts come to you
in a moment like that.
Feel free.
Let me know.
To me
I think, okay, that's a beautiful space.
Silence, stillness.
In the midst of all the rush
and the pressure of modern life,
taking a step
forward, calmly
centered,
not forgetting to breathe.
I was so happy.
I'm just remembering one day
is must have been for five years ago.
My son.
My son came home from school
and they had a button maker.
You know, one of those things,
a pin on a button.
And so they had to design their button
and his, his button
said, don't forget to breathe.
Put it on there.
I was like, oh, yes.
Don't forget to breathe.
Not a shallow, frantic breath like society
seems to be taking every day
a true deep breath.
The thoughts that came to me in that micro
little space
is just,
you know, this is the way, you know,
taking space,
bringing thoughtfulness into the day.
Deep breath centered and content.
If we can find true contentment
where we can honestly say,
you know,
I don't need anything else in this moment,
say, is that something to do?
That's kind of the opposite of doing,
but it's an action you take.
I love this paradox,
but however you think about it,
that's a space that you can flow through.
To me, that's the fasting space.
That's the way always to flow through it.
Practicing it doesn't have to be a long
time, can be a longer time
if you are called to it,
if you can stay in a flow state with it.
Very powerful state in the body.
But just
like happiness, it's like a fasting.
Don't have to overthink it.
Don't have to overdo it.
No pressure for it, you know.
So I think there can be pressure,
especially social media, right.
To feel pressure, to be happy
all the time.
Let's not push ourselves into that space
to say,
oh, happiness have to be all the time.
That'd be overthinking it,
just finding it when it's there.
Like the reading said, just leaning
into the little joys, you know,
we find a moment of happiness
with some little joy,
finding gratitude for it.
And then the rest of the time, hey,
don't overthink it.
Contentment is good enough.
That's thinking smaller.
So how can we think smaller in this day?
I love it, I mean,
I like the idea of thinking big, right?
I have big thoughts and that's beautiful.
But how can we go the other way today
and think a little bit smaller?
And so that'll be my thought for the day.
What are the little things?
That's what I'll say.
Let's keep an eye out
for the little things in this day,
the little moments
that can center us in a positive way.
Support us on the journey in this day.
Feel free to come back to this session.
Throw it in the comments.
What do you find?
And I'll look forward to
sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.
Be well everybody!