10:02pm The end of the tenth day. A quarter of the way there. I really can’t believe I’ve been eating this one thing for 10 days. I find it completely delicious and satisfying, I love the effects it’s having on my body, and I just can’t believe that’s all I’ve been eating. Keeping stocked with the ingredients I need, preparing, cooking, and eating kitcharee, along with the rest of the things life has to offer has brought a simplicity to my life and an ease to my body. Much less joint pain, much less digestive disturbance. Giving my body a rest from processing all the things I’ve thrown at it seems like such a gift. The thing that has come in so strongly and comfortably is a spiritual practice I feel good about, secure in. Why is that? What comes in answer, like last night, is that my Hungry Ghost has left the house. Instead of focusing on having, on getting, on fear of there not being enough, I’m living consciously in a space of openness, of allowing; a space where there’s room to remember intentions — like the intention to listen for information that comes intuitively. To hear it and trust it. There’s so much more of it in this space created by letting my body rest from processing too much food, the wrong food; rest from having to metabolize endless amounts of toxicity.

I’m not one to boycott news — I’ve been a big NPR listener, and I have had the habit of checking in on NYTimes.com several times a day. I think it’s important to know. But in this period, I find myself thrown into hopelessness when I listen too much to the news. So instead of NPR in the car and frequent looks at the Times on my blackberry and computer, I scan a daily summary from the Huffington Post that comes into my inbox. I can better keep my equilibrium — not get angry at countless examples of human greed in the face of human suffering and planetary destruction, or at smelling the red herrings being waved under the noses of America in an effort to have it stay focused on hatred: Islam equals terrorism and God hates queers rather than on the American Corporatocracy — which will destroy everything. And so, during this time, when I feel that I’m strengthening my field, stepping away from the model of self-care that is best reflected in humanity’s lack of care for the Earth Mother, I am trying to be discerning about what I consume from the media at the same time as I remain informed. Not exactly a news fast, maybe call it news discernment. Seems right to not assault my senses while I’m giving my body a break. Let me know if I miss anything important!