It is getting closer to the start of my yearly fast and world record attempt. There is a lot of misunderstanding of what I am doing and why. Fasting is not starving or dieting. It is a personal introspective journey into the discipline of controlling desires, cravings, urges, impulses and other short term cognitive behavior to reap the benefits of more long term gratification. Did I lose you? In other words, if we can focus on what we really, really want in the in the long term rather than doing something that we regret later, we'll be happier. Why do we not exercise when we really want to be in shape? Why do we eat when we really want to lose weight? Why do we smoke or even do drugs when we really want to quit? Fasting can unlock the answers these strange human mysteries.