Mental Detox

How to Detox Your Thoughts:

We live in an era where the term “Detox” is used frequently. People’s concern with cleansing their bodies can be witnessed by the hundreds of magazine covers, television programs, online articles, videos, and thousands of books at our disposal. Indeed, a purified organism can improve our quality of life and prevent health problems. Now I ask you: If our mind is responsible for commanding all our organic and motor functions, aren’t we doing the process in reverse?

As human beings, we are a perfect system born with all the necessary tools for a balanced life. As we grow and gather information in the form of knowledge, we create a mutation in this original system. In various aspects, we acquire valid elements that only enhance this machine, but most of the time we collect toxic elements and these are the ones responsible for instability, discomfort, and imbalance.

More important than detoxifying the body is removing toxins from the mind. We should imagine our mind as a computer where our operating system runs. If the machine is infected with viruses, all our programs will start to present errors and our performance is compromised. But what causes infections in our mind? The answer is as simple as it is complex: our thoughts.

Imagine: All your thoughts are your source of energy and allow your machine to function properly. At the same time, they are responsible for its collapse. If you don’t think, when your mind is full of negative thoughts, what is the effect on your body? Do you feel balanced?

Drawing a parallel with a food detox, consider when you tend to overeat most frequently? Is it when your mind is balanced or does “plastic” eating come from stress, dissatisfaction, sadness, and is an instinctive response to unconscious punishment?

Using a somewhat cliché example, let’s remember that when we have a heartbreak, our consumption of sweets increases considerably. It is common to resort to that image of chocolates, ice creams, cakes that someone who suffers for love consumes at these times. And when someone is demotivated, unemployed, directionless, we can remember that scenario of someone sitting on a couch consuming soft drinks, fries, hamburgers, pizzas, and a series of other food solutions harmful to the organism. But if we know that these foods are harmful, why do we consume them? The answer lies once again in our thoughts. We believe that this intake of calories, and that will decharacterize our body will make us feel better. We imagine that by being physically unbalanced, we will have fewer reasons to look in the mirror and face reality.

Society is too concerned with body culture and we see gyms on every corner full of people who “fight” to achieve the desired physical shape, hoping that if they succeed, they will feel better and smile again. They also expect other people to recognize new attributes in them and for compliments to multiply. All this happens because we think that one thing has a direct relationship with the other but that is false. It is not the lost kilos that will bring us positive thoughts but the way we accept ourselves in the present.

We constantly project our well-being into the future: when I am like this, when I have that, when I get there, when I have opportunities, when I change jobs, etc. We always put our happiness in the future because we are afraid to face our challenges and we place our hope in chance so that everything changes “by magic”. The change in our reality happens today, in the present, when we assume the self-responsibility of our life and start working from the inside out.

Doing a detox on our thoughts regularly is a powerful tool so that we can have a full life without creating virtual anchors that may never reach a safe harbor.

And how to do a mental detox? Roll up your sleeves, bring a notebook and a pen and go to a calm environment where you have no distractions and let’s start this journey of mental purification. The first thing you should do is reflect on all the negative thoughts that inhabit your mind. In your notebook, list each one, be it insecurities, conflicts, fears, frustrations, anger, stress, etc. You should use one page for each thought. Be specific. After listing all these toxic elements, on the remaining lines of each thought sheet, reflect on what originated it.

Imagine that you put “Low Self-Esteem” as a thought, see where that thought originated. For example: “I suffered bullying at school”, “My classmates called me fat during adolescence”, “My parents said I would never get anywhere in life”, etc. The most important thing is that you are honest in all your answers.

After analyzing the origin of bad thoughts, evaluate: Are the ideas or concepts that originated these thoughts true? Do they have a foundation in the present time? If at this stage you discover that some of your thoughts have no reason to remain in your mind, highlight the sheets where you described each one and set them aside. Keep the remaining ones that you consider valid in your notebook.

The detox process will have two phases:

PHASE 1

In front of a mirror, and with all the thoughts that you have already highlighted from your notebook (the thoughts that should no longer exist), take each sheet and read the negative thought aloud. Then repeat the following statement: “I know that this thought does not contribute to my happiness and does not allow me to have a balanced life, so today I assume the commitment to free my mind from it.” After saying this statement out loud, tear the corresponding sheet as much as you can. Imagine that with each new fragment you create by tearing the sheet, you are freeing your mind from that toxin. Do it with the conviction that you are the one who commands your mind and that you will not allow it to exist anymore.

After finishing tearing the sheet, take a deep breath and exhale vigorously and say: “So be it and so it will be.” Put the pieces of paper in a plastic bag and repeat the process for each of the thoughts you have reserved. At the end, close the bag where you put the torn paper and throw it in the trash (outside the house). When you return home, remember that you chose to free yourself from these elements and that they are no longer with you.

PHASE 2

In the second phase, you will work on the remaining thoughts differently. Go back to your notebook and for each thought described ask yourself: What would be the opposite of this thought? How could I make it positive? At the end of the sheet, write the corresponding positive thought. Example: Negative thought: “There is a lot of unemployment in the country and I will not be able to find a job.” Positive thought: “I know that I have talents and valid qualities that will allow me to find a job quickly.” Now think about reasons why this new thought could be true. Write them all on your sheet until it seems consistent to you to exist in your mind. Absorb each of these reasons. On a new sheet, write “Healthy Thoughts” and list all the positive thoughts you have created. Keep this list, it will go with you for 20 days.

Highlight all the sheets in your notebook and go back to doing the same procedure as in Phase 1 for each of the negative thoughts. As soon as you return home after having thrown away the trash, take your list of “Healthy Thoughts” and in front of the mirror read the first thought aloud with conviction and add “This thought contributes to my well-being and happiness, so I decide at this moment, that it will become part of me.” Breathe deeply, exhale calmly and say “So be it and so it will be.” Repeat this procedure for each of the thoughts on your list. You should perform this process for 20 days in the morning.

Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free

You can read and reread this list as many times as you want per day. By eliminating the thoughts that you were able to recognize no longer had validity, you removed the so-called dormant toxins. With the introduction of new positive thoughts that contradict the so-called active toxins, you will be creating a system similar to antibodies, which will attack negative charges and vitaminize your mind with new content, thus allowing your mind to become healthy again.

…

Thanks for reading my article! Join my email list for exclusive spiritual insights from my soul to yours.

Light and Love from my Soul to Yours! 🤍

—

This post was previously published on medium.com.

***