It’s a new year and so many people I know are doing a
“cleanse”. You know, the kind that
involves food sacrifices and discipline?
If you make it through the 10 – 14 days you feel great (I’m not sure if
that is a result of the physical cleansing or the sense of accomplishment, but
equally worthy!) if you don’t you will berate yourself and make all kinds of
promises to do better next time. While I
am a big supporter of cleansing the body, I also believe it is equally
important to cleanse the mind. It is
interesting to me that people are
willing to use their will power to improve their physical self, but ask them if
they meditate or practice mindfulness and they will say “I can’t do that, my mind
is too busy”. The problem is there is a
direct connection between mind and body, as much research has proven, so you
will never achieve a true “cleanse” until you do BOTH.
So why are we willing to use sacrifice and discipline for
our body but not our mind? We all seem
to be a little afraid of what might “come up” if we cleanse our mind. We are okay to handle the physical symptoms
(which if you have ever done one you will be well aware of!) of the cleanse but
not the emotional ones. Much of this is
based on our western cultural belief’s.
We have been taught to place more value on the physical/material world
than on the mental/emotional/spiritual one.
We have survived as a culture based on this belief, but does it provide
REAL fulfillment? If you are interested in living a cleaner more fulfilled life
then you must incorporate mental and emotional cleansing into your detox
program.
The Mind Cleanse:
Start by incorporating 15 – 20 minutes of silence into your daily
routine. Create a retreat space in your
home or nature that will allow you to just be with yourself (You are going to
need to become your own best friend!).
Take a few deep breaths, relax and be aware of your body in space and
time. Close your eyes, focus on the spot
between your eyebrows, as thoughts arise notice them and say “thinking” and let
them go, continue to watch these thoughts, no judgement, just become the silent
observer. By
doing this mindfulness practice in silence you will learn how to do it in every
minute of your day, well most of them anyway! When you become a
really good “observer”, both in silence and out in the “real” world, you will
feel as if you are watching a movie and you are the main character. You will become curious about the story line
and that’s when you are ready for emotional cleansing.
The Emotional Cleanse: As the experienced observer of your thoughts
and mind you will now be able to watch your emotions arise (this is a little
more challenging as it is easy to lose our focus at these times, but I know you can all do it,
if I can you can!). You will still feel the heat of anger, the hurt of
disappointment, the stabs of jealousy, but you will not be over taken by them,
you will simply notice them (they are part of the movie). The process of emotional cleansing is three
fold; be AWARE of the emotion, this is that moment of inner recognition – “I am
angry”, then ACCEPT that this is what you are feeling in the moment – “I am
feeling angry right now and that’s okay”.
Just be curious about it, feel how it feels in your body say “isn't that
interesting?”. And finally ALLOW the emotion to move through you and not become
stuck. Relax your body, take a few deep
breaths and release, visualize the negative energy moving out of your body.
This will be tough in the beginning believe me I've been there, but use that
will power and discipline to keep at it because it does get easier.
By not “reacting” and being taken over by your emotions your
gift will be greater clarity, clearer understanding and deeper compassion for
yourself and others. You will then be
able to respond to each emotional situation from a centered and grounded
place. In my experience the greatest
benefit of this has been no more guilt for what I said or did in the “heat of
the moment”.
Today I challenge you to consider whether or not you are spending more time, discipline and sacrifice on your
physical self and if so make a choice to give equal time (as they are equally
important) to your mental/emotional self.
Creating that mind body balance will bring the clean, fulfilled and
peaceful life that we all desire and deserve!
Cleanse on my friends!!
