Survival is a journey through time, sometimes we are exposed to bodies and contents that do not serve us well but just because we need to thrive and lack a better understanding, we settle in those things and places that can be detrimental to our mental and physical state of wellness.
Other times it could just be that we are stuck and cluttered with a lot of responsibilities, activities, with no clue on how to get our lives back on track and time is not standing by our side.
Detoxing enables you creating that balance that is driven between the struggle for living and surviving, it enables you to create a positive space to dominate.
Sometimes, when I cast my mind on how far the hands of time have traveled I can’t but constantly wonder at certain decisions and regrettable choices I made such as staying in toxic and abusive relationships, trying to please people at every given opportunity, breaking my boundaries to look good and kind in the eyes of so many, fixing other people, dimming my light, blaming others, giving too much to people that are not deserving, relying on external validation, discounting my inherent worth, serving my light to limitations and so on.
But throughout my growth, I have learned to eliminate and detoxify my spirit, soul, and body of such negativity and limiting obstacles because detoxing exposes us to several layers that we carry. It prepares us to meet a new version of ourselves every time we shed another layer of old trauma, conditioning, hurt, limitations, negativity and so on.
As you let go, your likes, dislikes, perspectives, and interests will shift, and transformation will take place as you travel the road to greater self-awareness, happiness, and peace.
I know that sometimes the chaos and struggle of meeting up with deadlines and goals can be overwhelming, it can be tedious to meet up with the necessary responsibilities and activities that keep us in check but detoxing your life regularly enables you to catch up with such activities and know where your life really need to focus on or where needs to be attended to.
Our lives are majorly a product of the state of our minds and body, so it is apparently important that we run a constant check on these parts of our composition.
Today, I will show you ten ways you can ensure that you rid yourself off of negative and harmful things, both physically and mentally. Regarding the latter, one thing you need to know is that to significantly scale up your productivity level, you would need to reenergize your routine, assess your daily life and identify what’s working and what’s not.
And for physical detoxification, little actions like early morning exercises, getting massages and so on, could help.
For spiritual detoxification little things like;
- Making good decisions.
- Saying ‘’no’’.
- Forgiving yourself and others.
- Practicing mindfulness.
- Engaging in positive talk.
- Taking care of your physical health.
- Showing yourself more love and care.
- Investing in yourself and so on.
A lot of us get caught up with so many things creeping into our daily existence and end up not seeing the need to go through a detoxification process. The resultant effect of this is that we end up accumulating both physical and emotional toxins that put our bodies and minds at risk.
We find ourselves caught in several webs of denial, hurt, pain, limitations, redundancy and so on because we are too pumped to slow down and retrieve our steps to avoid continual damage.
If there are two things I treasure most about myself, they are my body and my mind. For me, those are the two essential makeup of my life. I need to be mentally and physically stable to function at work or anywhere else I go. Sadly, many people do not place importance on these two blocs of their lives.
They are wrapped in the uncomfortable sheaths of confusion and need guidance. In this article, I’ll try to look at detoxification from two facets: the mind and the body. Why? Well, I think our lives are a product of the status of these two components.
If your mind is unsound, I doubt if you’ll be able to do anything sensible and if you exist with an unwell body, you’ll definitely not be able to function properly.
So, let’s look at 10 Ways to Detox Your Mind.
I know this sounds a lot but you don’t have to feel overwhelmed by these steps. At the end of this article, I have attached a 30 day challenge you can embark on that is guaranteed to massively improve the quality of your life.
The repetition of old thoughts keeps us imprisoned in the past. The healthiness of our minds is one important aspect that we ignore daily. We need to detox our minds from the many distracting negativities and self-restricting thoughts. These thoughts restrict you to being a mere character in the script of your life when you should be the author.
1. Be Intentional
As a process of detoxifying your mental space, try to be intentional about everything you do. Being intentional wakes the consciousness that you’re about to go in a new and clean mental world. Take an inventory of where you want to be per time, stick it to a place you can see easily and watch distractions fade away.
2. Spend Time Outdoors
A research conducted by the Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology using 44 states in the US revealed that Americans only spend 2 percent of their time outdoors; 6 percent in transit, and 92 percent of their time indoors.
Yes, you read right, only 2 percent of their time! I bet they’d spend more time outdoors if they knew that, they’d get the aura of encouragement, increased level of energy, inspiration, to both minds and bodies.
Also, spending more time outdoors helps to reduce stress levels, enhance concentration and promote a quiet mind. If you are having a cluttered mind, you probably need to spend more time outdoors.
3. Schedule Time And Space Without Technology
You’d agree with me that there’s a rot in today’s generation fuelled by the addiction and over-dependence on technology. I have a fair share of this rot. My job requires that I always stay online and over time, I’ve figured that it takes discipline to fight not being addicted.
To get into a better state of mental clarity, you might want to dissociate yourself from your smartphone or other gadgets. Create time for yourself without the input of your smartphone. Living at the mercy of your notifications is you allowing your life to be dictated by the actions of others.
Go for a walk without your phone, ditch your phone every day or for a few hours, have a spot where technological devices are not allowed and have all your family members respect the rule, be honest with yourself and react to you a notification only when you have to. These things would help you detox your mind and get you into a state of deeper self-reflection.
4. Meditate
In several posts, I have talked about the benefits of meditation. Meditation has been evidently described as one of the best ways to clear your mind. The average human mind hosts about 50,000 different thoughts daily. That means new thoughts creep into your mind every 1.2 seconds.
With a mind as busy as that, there has to be a way to eliminate unnecessary thoughts. Learning to focus on one thing at a time helps you to master how to focus on one thing at a time in other areas of your life too.
5. Journal Or Vent
Another way to detox your mind is by writing out your problems. Set out about 30 minutes and just do a brain dump of the problems entangling your mental space. You want to declutter your mind of the irrelevant and nagging thoughts and worries.
Whether you’re journaling or venting, ensure that you detail everything. One of the many misconceptions that people have about venting is that they think it’s a means of solving their problems.
Venting and journaling are not the best ways of seeking solutions, the goal is to let out all your worries. Unload your mind so you don’t walk around with a heavy mind, causing more harm to your body.
Journaling can be very therapeutic and can help bring you out from a raging situation or a storm. So if you haven’t been journaling, it’s time to get your journal out and start. It doesn’t have to be anything serious; it could just be having morning pages every day and accessing some monthly check-in prompts.
6. Ask Yourself Some Important Questions
In detoxing your mind, it’s important to be honest. Ask yourself some reflective questions and answer them with all honesty. Some of the questions you can ask yourself include:
- What’s working and what’s not?
- Are there areas I can improve on?
- Is there any bad habit I need to break?
- What’s the biggest mistake I’ve made this year?
- What exactly do I want?
- Are there any activities or habits that do not deserve my time?
- Am I reconnecting with my values?
- What belief is preventing me from achieving self-acceptance?
- What is my inner critic saying?
- How can I offer myself love at this moment?
- What am I feeling?
- What am I noticing in my body?
- How am I speaking to myself today? (e.g critical, supportive)
- Am I acting in a way that resonates with who I am?
- Am I maintaining and setting healthy boundaries?
- What do I need right now?
- What can I do to give myself what I need?
- How does my partner generally make me feel?
- What are my expectations in my relationship?
- Am I staying in my relationship because I am scared of being alone?
These questions can help you:
- Evaluate which decision would feel in tune with who you are.
- Identify which decision will support your growth and bring you closer to the future you desire (see the bigger picture).
- Notice what your body is telling you about each option.
- Consider which decision brings you a sense of balance and anchoring.
- Acknowledge if any triggers, fears, or wounds are driving the decision-making process.
- Identify and prioritize your needs/wants.
- Acknowledge which core beliefs are motivating the decisions you are making.
- Consider which decision would respect your boundaries etc (The question prompts has been created by millennial.therapist)
Genuineness and honesty in answering these questions will help you outline the necessary steps to take while building a sense of purpose.
7. Let Go
After answering those questions genuinely and honestly, the next step is to let go. Let go of that hurt. Let go of that pain. Let go of that disappointing event. Holding on to a painful event is quite detrimental to the healthiness of your mind. Are you willing to risk something presently important for the greater goal of something important in the future?
For long, I held a lot in the annals of my heart. I found it hard to forgive and let go. My mind was a dumpsite for many toxic issues: I had academic stress going on; my relationship wasn’t going as I imagined, and I had a whole lot going on. I had sunk myself in the sea of sadness but thankfully, I found myself again and things became better.
8. Declutter Your Activities. Trim The Excesses Engagement In Your Calendar
Now, you have made up your mind to let go. Start with the activities in your calendar. Are there items that need to leave? Delete them. Create space for the things that lighten your spirit and enhance your growth.
9. Say No
Now, you have detoxed your calendar. Ensure that you do not add what you never wished to be there, either out of pressure or discipline.
Say “no” to that urge to go back to your past. Refuse to give in to the pressure of friends, family or workplace colleagues at changing your already planned calendar to suit a new agenda. If we are being honest with ourselves, no one has enough time to themselves, so prioritizing is key.
10. Prioritize Yourself
Essentially, this is the summary of all the I’ve points stated. You are the prize and it’s only important that you place more importance on yourself. When you place more priority on yourself, things become easier.
If you are an avid reader of my blog, then you most definitely must have read a thing or two about self-care. I write a lot about self-care because I know the importance of placing value on yourself.
Now Let’s Look At 5 Ways To Detoxify Your Body
Poor physical health restricts our body growth and development. Daily, we accumulate toxins, harmful for our wellbeing. Detoxifying your body helps you get rid of those harmful substances and enhance all-round stability.
A body filled with toxic substances would reflect poorly it’s mental status. This is why all parts of health care are intertwined. If your physical health status is good, your mental health would definitely be good too.
So, what are some of the ways you can actually detoxify your body?
1. Go For Massages
Massages are more than just means of pampering ourselves and having a pleasurable momentary feeling. A massage has way more impact than that. Massages help you stabilize yourself physically, mentally and emotionally.
Having a good massage helps to calm your nervous system and enhance a relaxing feeling. Some of the things massages help you achieve are:
a. Reduces tension and anxiety and can help relieve depression.
b. It helps you calm your nervous system and promote a sense of relaxation and well-being.
c. It helps with the delivery of oxygen and nutrients and also improves blood circulation which delivers oxygen and nutrients to the cells.
d. It helps with the stimulation of the lymphatic system, which eliminates the body’s waste products.
e. Prevents and relieves muscle cramps and spasms.
2. Exercise
Constant movement and activeness help to stimulate your circulatory system and blood flowing help your other organs to process toxins. Toxins are stored in fat, so losing fat will eliminate toxins. Also, exercises make you fit and being fit stabilizes you mentally.
3. Get Eight Hours Of Sleep Every Night
Having good sleep helps to repair, regenerate, and recover. Some research shows how better sleep quality can help the body fight off infection. Having up to eight hours of sleep every night can help increase concentration and productivity levels.
Good sleep can help sharpen problem-solving skills and enhance memory. Poor sleep has been shown to impair brain function.
4. Stop Smoking
I mean, this is pretty obvious. Smoking is terrible for your health. There’s literally no benefit to smoking plus cigarettes contain way too many chemicals. If you really want to detox your life, then you have to quit smoking.
5. Quit Buying Chemical Products
You’d be shocked at just how many toxic products you actually have around you. Chemical products aren’t good for your health.
Continuous consumption of chemical products can cause short term respiratory problems, gastrointestinal distress, and sometimes, death. The first step to leading a detoxed life is to get rid of harmful substances.
From personal experience, I’d say I have experienced problems of getting stuck with toxicities buried deep within and I have battled them hard on. These tips will help you detox easily and live a life of peace and purpose.
If you haven’t started on any of the tips above, I’d suggest you get started immediately. Do you have any more way you detox that has not been mentioned in this article? Feel free to drop them as comments below. I’ll be waiting!
For You:
So, there you have it! Stop allowing the wrong thing to stay in you. Accommodating toxic issues and chemicals in your mind and body would stall your growth and reduce your productivity.
The best way to detoxify is to be careful of what you take in physically and mentally. It’s high time we let our lives hinge on the decisions we take. As we open up in the new year, I pray you take good steps to help you detox and rid yourself off of all the emotional, physical, mental and financial toxins.
Save for later!
