By Paul Abraham of www.headingonwards.com
We hear a great deal about detoxing our bodies and how there are chemicals in our food and drinks that can be harmful, certain hormones and bacteria that can build up, even pesticides in the air, writes Paul Abraham.
Many of us don’t realise our bodies are full of harmful toxins that’s causing us to feel bad.
Most experts recommend we go through a deep cleansing where you put yourself on a fast and then eat a certain diet, staying away from things that are harmful. They say in time you’ll rid yourself of those toxins and will start to feel better.
In the same way, there are all kinds of toxins that can build up in your mind. When you dwell on what you can’t do and the hurts you’ve felt and the challenges you face, you are focusing on toxic thoughts that can do as much damage as the toxins in your body.
Toxic thoughts build up and become like toxic waste that will eventually contaminate your whole life. They affect your attitude, your self-esteem and your confidence. They become part of you. Mark guarding your mind a priority, put it at the top of your to-do list. If your mind is polluted, your whole life will be damaged.
We all probably know someone who is bitter, cynical, and has a sour attitude. They expect the worst. Why is that? They’ve allowed toxic thoughts to take root.
These negative thoughts are poisoning their future. So, what’s the solution? They need to go through a detoxification – not a physical cleansing but a mental cleansing. They may need to detox the bitterness, the low self-esteem, the condemnation from past mistakes, and the discouragement that’s trying to become part of them.
How do you detox? You make a decision that you will not dwell on those thoughts anymore. You starve the toxins. Every time you dwell on that negative thought, that condemnation, that bitterness, that low self-esteem, you are feeding it and giving it new life, making it stronger.
Those thoughts come saying. You will never get well. You’ll never be happy. You’ve been hurt so many times. You will never accomplish your dreams. But instead of dwelling on them, just say, ”No, I’m not going there, I’m not dwelling on my hurt, or what I don’t have or my mistakes. I’m dwelling on the good parts and thoughts of me and how my best days are still to come.”
If you ignore toxic thoughts and keep your mind filled with thoughts of hope, thoughts of self-belief, then the toxic thoughts will grow weaker, and before long they won’t have any effect on you.
It’s not easy but as the motivational speaker Dennis Waitley said: “Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.”
What a disappointing article – what you say about mental health is good but framing it in the context of the world of nutribollox rather that genuine dietary advice massively undermines your case. You have compared good strongly validated evidence based mental health practice with the health and diet industry and the self proclaimed experts who are interesting in creating a desire for their product and service. A good example of the impact of these people is the concern in the world of mental health care that “fasting” based diets are in fact normalising significant mental health issues in relation to food, control and eating (as seen in conditions such as Anorexia).