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Fasting is a good way to detox and cleanse our body. It is also medically proven that occasional fasting (with proper guidance) is beneficial to our health. But do we know that fasting of our mind can also be beneficial to both our body and mind. We are surrounded with constant changes and continuous demands that require our attention. At times, we get bogged down and even burned out. According to a nationwide study by National Healthcare Group on December 2018, it shows that 1 in 7 people in Singapore has experienced a mental disorder in their lifetime.

Hence there is a need to pay some attention to our mental health as we face more stress and uncertainties in this new era. There are many social and medical help for the general public to overcome mental distress and anxiety, but it is equally important to seek for some other ways to relief our mental stress. So the topic here on fasting of the mind is one of the means to help us reflect on our mental state and find some ways to harmonise it.

Fasting of the mind simply means silencing our mind from the chattering thoughts and fluctuating emotions. Our mind is trained into the habitual tasks of thinking and differentiating, analyzing and judging; which perhaps is an indication of our existence, capabilities and worthiness. Our knowledge and experiences have culminated to become our intelligence and critical thinking. Ironically, it is also our habitual use of judgmental thoughts and emotions that have caused our mental stress and anxiety. Hence, the mind can be a double edge sword which help or harm us. 

There are a few ways to silent the mind. A typical way to start off with is to be aware of our breath and stay focus on breathing without any rising thought. If any thought arises, we can just observe it like passing cloud with no attached emotion or judgement. The main catch here is to practise fasting of thoughts to cleanse the mind from noises and redundant thoughts. Through practising mindfulness of “no thought”, we can unclutter our mind and regain clarity of our inner voice.

Silencing the mind is not necessarily done in stillness. That means we can also silence our mind through exercising or engaging ourselves in hobby such as photography or calligraphy. In fact, silencing our mind is to enable us to be present and aware at all times in whatever we are doing, thereby becoming more attentive and mindful.

Our disposition can be shaped by our perception, which is manipulated by the mind. The mind is a collection of experiences, egos, knowledge, emotions and so on that could have elements of biasness. At times the mind can be restless, agitated or greedy when it interacts with external environment. The mind may also cling on to something for a long time and not willing to let go, thus causing stress, sadness and sometimes lead to depression or mental disorder.

Our original self is the pure consciousness who observe the mind, the thoughts and the emotions that emerge from it. This phenomenon can be mastered by being conscientious of our innate serenity, thereby helping us to handle daily instances with equanimity.

To sum up, the fundamental step to mastering and fasting of our mind is to observe our thoughts. The next step is to take control of our mind by steering ourselves to positive thoughts or ceasing circling thoughts. As an analogy, this is as though we are driving a car, steering it to the direction we want or putting a brake on it when necessary.

We need to acknowledge that it may not be an easy task to take control of our mind, as we are too used to our wondering mind and straying thoughts. Listed below are a few ways to verify if we are able to steer our mind and thoughts to where we want it to be:

• Let the mind rest, with no disturbance and chattering thoughts
• Fill it with wholesome thoughts of gratitude and contentment
• Focus and be mindful when the need arises.

Performing the above mentioned lists can be an uphill task initially, but with daily practices and conscious effort, we should be able to take control of our mind and thoughts to a certain extent if not totally. The outcome of mastering one’s thoughts can be very rewarding, because we will then be able to take ownership of our life and destiny.

In conclusion, fasting and mastering of the mind requires persistent effort. This is similar to building muscles through regular exercise. In fact, our original state of mind is actually at ease and peace when nothing is there to stir or disturb it. We enable our physical body to recuperate and resume vitality through good rest and food; similarly we should also let our mind resume its healthy state through peace and joy. Perhaps what we need to do is simply to remind ourselves consistently to let our mind go back “home” – its original state, to rest and enjoy the state of serenity and silence.