Spring is in the air! And thus, it may be time for some spring cleaning, or what I like to think of as a life-detox. A detox, also known as a cleanse, is something I’m sure most of you have heard of and are familiar with. It’s a way to eliminate harmful toxins from your body. I consider detoxing to be much larger than just a cleanse of the body. It includes your body, brain, environment, and people. All of these factors have the ability to create negative energy in your life. A detox is a way to rid your life of the negativity that holds you back and brings you down. This article is part one of a three-part series on how to detox your life. I’m starting with your brain and your body because once you detox these things, the others may come a bit easier.
First, let’s start with some basics. How do you know you need a life-detox? If you’re feeling stuck, or like you can’t accomplish what you set out to do, if you find yourself annoyed at little things or at people in your life, if your patience is thin and you’re easily irritated, you might need to detox one or more areas of your life. Let’s start with your brain.
Clearing your mind of mental clutter is essential to create space for new ideas to come, for your awareness to increase, for your patience level to increase, and for new opportunities to come your way. When there is less chatter in your head, you become aware of the new opportunities that are all around you.
Here are a few ways to clear your mind of clutter:
Journal: Whatever is in your head that is negative or is a non-useful thought pattern or belief, write it down. In her book The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron suggests writing daily, three pages, of whatever is on your mind. This is stream of consciousness writing and is best to do in the morning, so you clear your mind of what is clogging it before you start your day. There are no rules – just write what’s on your brain.
Disconnect: Set aside regular time to be apart from your electronic devices. We are constantly connected and constantly allowing our devices to tell us where we should focus our attention. This creates lots of mental chatter. Pick a few hours a few days a week to be device-free. Go out in nature where there is no connection, other than the one to Mother Earth, and listen to the sounds of the wind, birds, and all the other peaceful noises that we cannot hear through the distractions of our notifications.
Clear your social media feeds: Get rid of all the negativity in your news feeds. The political and horrid news stories can fill your Facebook page and Twitter feed, if you let them. Choose to rid yourself of seeing that in your feeds unless you want to. CNN and MSNBC aren’t going anywhere. You can always get onto their websites and check out the news on the latest tragedy. By cleansing your social media feeds, you take control over what shows up in your line of sight. I had a funny conversation with my husband last year, after the inauguration of our 45th President. I said “oh no, all the negativity is showing up again in my Facebook feed. I think I have to unfollow a few people again.” He said, “I only follow pigs, goats, and basset hounds on Facebook. I don’t see anything negative.” Clearly, he has the right idea!
Meditate: You knew this was coming. Yes, find some time to sit in silence every day. Even if it’s only five minutes. This will help you begin to clear your mind of its endless chatter. The thoughts won’t stop. Our brains are designed to think so that is inevitable. Let the thoughts come and let them go. Observe them as you would observe water flowing down a stream. The purpose of. meditation is not to control your thoughts. It is to not allow your thoughts to control you!
These above suggestions can help you begin to detox your mind from endless chatter and useless negativity. And, as you make these above suggestions regular practices, you will train you mind to regularly cleanse itself.
Next up is detoxing your body. Because I’ve already written an extensive blog post on how to successfully do a body detoxification, I won’t reiterate it but will instead provide you with a link to learn more: https://www.dietspotlight.com/whole-body-cleanse/
This is fairly detailed information on doing a physical cleanse that can work best for you. As with everything, play attention to how you feel and listen to the cues from your body. And, as with anything physical, if you have any questions or concerns about doing a cleanse, talk to your family doctor first.
I’d love to hear some of your suggestions on detoxing your mind and body. Please feel free to share with us! The next post in this series will focus on detoxing your environment so more good stuff to clear your life of negative energy is on the way! Here’s to getting ready for Spring!
