Last night I broke my fast –
for Father’s Day.
It brought the family – or part of the family – to the dinner table.

The thing about fasting, it shatters the socialisation of the family. Dinner, in particular, is a time when we all sit down to talk, share what’s happened during the day, share what’s on our minds, we chat and laugh and listen. And we learn. I learn a huge amount listening to Jennifer and Henry, my eldest son, while we eat.

When I fast, that doesn’t happen.

There’s no chatting in the kitchen while the meal’s being prepared. There’s no expression of love in the making and serving of the food – because there’s no food. In times past when I’ve done longer fasts, what’s invariably brought them to an end is this lack of socialisation – it’s not starvation – well, yes it is – it’s starvation of family time together over a meal.

I had retasu ni tsutsumareta – a Japanese version of San Choi Bau. A very light meal, but it brought us all together.

So I broke my fast a day early, for the sake of family. I hope I didn’t disappoint any of you. Here are the stats:

STATS:
Weight: 81.8kg
BP: 125/70
Resting pulse: 55bpm

So in 5 days I dropped nearly 5kg.
I also lowered my blood pressure.
More importantly, I took back control of my mind.
And I feel cleansed –
All up, it was well worthwhile, even if I did fall short a day!