I wrote an article for The Huffington Post on how to ‘Detox Your Mind’ discussing how detoxing your mind first is the key to sustainable, long lasting change.
Our current culture talks a lot about detoxing the body, nourishing our insides with superfoods and juice cleanses, we are kept up to date with the latest exercise trends and the fascinating yoga poses to re-set our body’s alignment.
It seems we are all very focused on the “body,” but no one is really discussing the key to the creating sustainable and long lasting change — it’s not the body or the behavior, it’s all about the mind.
Thinking about what we are thinking about is the absolute first step to any valid change.
Without the right mind set, without the right thoughts, nothing really works. The mind set has to be right first for the behavior to change. Changing behaviors without changing the thoughts first is a one-way ticket to failure-ville.
Seriously, this stuff is important.
On the subject of “detox,” let’s use weight loss as an example. You decide to go on a juice cleanse because it looks healthy and wonderful and will detox your body. You start off on day one “thinking” something like “this is going to be amazing” or “I am so excited to do this,” and it starts out pretty well. But then what happens when you get to day three?
The juice detox isn’t problem. You go from love to hate in 72 hours because you are “thinking” about it very differently on day three, than you were on day one.
What many people are unaware of is that they actually get to “choose” what they think. Thoughts generate feelings, feelings generate actions and actions generate your outcome. It sounds simple but let me explain.
The thought “I love this juice cleanse” creates feelings of excitement. It’s not the juice cleanse itself that creates the feeling, it’s the thoughts about it.
The thought “I hate this juice cleanse now” creates feelings of frustration and annoyance. It’s not the juice cleanse itself that creates the feelings, it’s the thoughts about it.
The truth that needs to be noted is that negative thoughts always create negative feelings.
We get a choice on what we think so changing the thoughts changes the feelings. Of course I am not saying that it is easy to just switch a thought process but it is important to know that you can.
The juice cleanse can be amazing on day one or day six if you want it to be, and then again, it can be utterly depressing for the exact same time. It’s all up to you and your thinking. All you need to do is check your thoughts.
When you learn how to do this, when you think about what you are thinking about, when you become conscious and aware, and when you choose good feeling thoughts, life really does change.
The real detox has to happen in your mind first and then the rest will follow.
You always have the “choice.”
Read the full article here