What does it mean "ascetic"?
An ascetic practises asceticism, which is a voluntary discipline of the body and the spirit seeking to tend towards a perfection (french source). It is about the way of living of somebody who imposes certain privations on himself.
Well, "perfection" is to be taken with tweezers. It would be interesting to write on this subject in an article. Briefly, when we talk about perfection we are not referring to a lifestyle according to norms or beliefs.
To speak of perfection, in self exploration, would be to refer to an "internal state of connection, union, harmony with life". And again, this definition cannot be grasped without a regular practice of introspection, of contemplation. It is also very limited by the use of "internal state".
In short, I am not a fan of this notion of perfection. It requires an investigation.
Moreover, the term spirituality, translated by self exploration or by the same definition that I have just proposed, does not necessarily mean religion.
We will develop these very interesting topics later.
For now, I imagine that you want to learn more about the challenge.
First of all, it is the first challenge among 5 others:
To live as an ascetic.
Intermittent fasting.
To communicate in a benevolent and pragmatic / non violent way.
Pausing on paper its thoughts, emotions, feelings to realize them for what they are (I will detail what I mean by that in the continuation of the article).
Meditate for 2 hours a day.
What do we mean, in this challenge, by living as an ascetic?
Concretely, the challenge consists of :
...to cut ourselves off from all digital distraction, so no movies, no series, no scrolling on social networks, no Youtube videos, no music etc...
...no gluttony, no "bad food", no food that is not essential for the body (this challenge will vary according to your present knowledge of health).
...no luxury, no accessories and non-essential purchases: jewelry, wearing different pairs of shoes for style, taking the uber instead of walking, nail polish, make-up, fashion accessories, alcohol, addictive consumptions etc.
It is all about introspection and identifying what is essential to live from what is not.
Announcement: "essential to live" does not mean "what I consider essential to live in society or not to go crazy". Important nuance.
... and finally, no sexual exchanges or sensual stimuli of any kind. So no masturbation either.
How can we distinguish between what is distracting and what is not?
This needs to be clarified before the challenge is realized. How do we delimit this notion according to our life context?
(perceptual change below. You are warned)
Distraction in the literal sense and self exploration does not stop at the digital.
It can consist of reading a book, singing, identifying to thoughts, working in automaton mode, wishing to see friends, in short any action that is not meditative.
In other words, would be considered a distraction, any action driven by a desire other than to deconstruct what is taken for granted (what we take to be reality).
Adapt the challenge to your life context
During this challenge I was not in an environment that allowed me to fully apply this life perspective. So I adapted it.
Working on the Lifexploratrice project I remained active on social networks while reducing non-essential actions and my presence. I did not live alone.
Social contact being active, so were non-digital distractions (I consider the level of distraction of the two very close, I will detail this another time).
Thus, accepted readings including non-meditative books (science fiction, psychology, psychotherapy etc).
But no music (except non-digital music), no movies etc.
Just what is necessary to make Lifexploratrice live and learn if needed.
My experience feedback
Challenge not easy, as it contains a lot of mini challenges at the same time. So not to miss a single day...
The story of the first fail: I cooked energy balls (dates, sesame seeds, soy milk and other). I ate one and then "oh it's too good", another one. Oups.
"Fail" day.
So, as far as food was concerned, it was fine except, once again, when I was eating when it was not necessary or when the time was not appropriate (especially this one).
As for distractions, it was not easy at all but it did me a lot of good and very quickly (after a week).
As for luxury, I do not consume it, so no worries on that level.
On the other hand, interestingly enough, having so many restrictions all of a sudden, without this decision coming naturally to me, i.e., it was not a decision made after an internal listening, can create unusual desires.
For example: all of a sudden I was fantasizing about applying varnish when I have not worn any for years.
It is interesting in the sense that it can illuminate areas not yet well explored, reveal desires that are still alive.
We have the opportunity to contemplate: who desires? What do I expect from this desire? Can it meet my expectations? What is its origin? Is it permanent or temporary? Etc.
This is a subject that we work on during the coaching sessions.
In short, we come to the last point, SEX.
Well, I have experienced this challenge a bit like the challenge of lust in a few details...
The benefits of the challenge live as an ascetic for 30 days:
- become aware of our harmful eating habits.
- enjoy the present quality of life without digital distractions. We rediscover how life is so nice without.
- increase in creativity, work, concentration (linked to the time available without distractions)
- introspection on desires
- hormonal periods are no joke. The body desires even if detachment towards its sensual/sexual interests.
- already complete, desires are only temporary, we have the choice to answer them or not (well this point I am writing it especially for the article but it is something you can be conscious of without making the challenge).
- a simple life, is a life more in presence, it is opening to a nice quality of life (same, point for the article).
Well, this is the paragraph that made me question the relevance of these articles 30 days of challenges. Indeed, it is more and more difficult for me to distinguish the benefits of the challenges.
Not because there are none, but because :
They are secondary benefits, the most interesting thing is our ability to change our habits, to discipline ourselves, to act according to our aspirations, to explore and discover ourselves. To no longer be victims of our habits and beliefs but to make conscious life choices.
I realize several of them at the same time, with my contemplative, introspective practices on the side and my super cool lifestyle. So it is hard to know what impacts what. Especially since the benefits are certain but can have as yet unseen impacts.
That is it for the first challenge of this level. In the next article, I will share with you my feedback from the second challenge: achieving intermittent fasting. The hardest challenge with the 1H-2H meditations.
Tenderness,
Lifexploratrice
- Marie Mazeau certified teacher. Guiding with gentleness, mindfulness and Joy in Paris and internationally online.
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