How are you feeling? Have you sat down and really considered how you are doing during these trying times? Have you noticed unexplained challenges in your personal life (i.e. relationships, work, health)? Are you intentionally paying more attention to your feelings/mood? Are you purposely spending more time engaged in mind hygiene activities?
Shai (my youngest son) and I love to do mud races. We run, climb, roll, and even sink down deep into thick sticky mud. It is an amazingly fun thing to do. In the midst of it all, there is no worry about messy clothes, hair, or fingernails. Actually, the muddier we get the more fun we have.
After the race, we head straight home. Can you guess the very first thing we do as soon as we get in the house?…… If you guessed take a shower, BINGO! Without discussion or even much thought, we get in the house and each run for our showers. The goal: to thoroughly and completely wash every bit of mud off of our bodies and out of our hair.
Like most people in our society, Shai and I instinctively know the importance of cleaning our bodies after getting them dirty. Not Rocket Science, more like Hygiene 101, right? We all know when and how to keep our bodies, hair, and teeth clean. We also would probably all agree on the importance of having clean bodies. At a minimum, we can agree a clean body looks, feels, and smells better. Most of us have at least daily routines dedicated to personal body hygiene. We invest the time and money (for our favorite products) needed without a second thought, it is built into our day, most often without exception.
The interesting thing is this, while most of us may think we’re passing in Hygiene 101, I would like to suggest maybe not. Unless you are practicing Holistic Hygiene, then at best your at 50%. Holistic Hygiene goes beyond the external body, it includes the internal. If we are not taking care to clean the inside we are indeed failing ourselves. Diet is essential but the focus of this post is the cleansing of the mind.
There is little doubt that we are currently experiencing some of the most challenging times of our lifetime. There has certainly not in our lifetime been a global pandemic, infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands around the world. We have also not in our generation witnessed such a civil uprising as is currently happening. My generation came along just after the civil rights movement. There was somewhat of a calming down. Sure there were still many incidences of injustice, discrimination, and overt racism but progress had been made so in general there was a resting.
It appears that the resting has ended and in the midst of a global pandemic we are also experiencing massive expressions of pain associated with injustice, discrimination, and racism. The current status of the world is…well, muddy, I mean like really, really muddy. We are waist-deep in thick, sticky mud and it appears that it’s going to take a lot of effort and time to get out.
Even if you have become an expert at avoiding the daily news, there’s radio, social media, and conversations that will somehow or another either splatter you with the mud of the world or total sink you in. We are literally being inundated many times per day with images and messages that keep our minds even if only slightly on the chaos around us. If you are not routinely, actively, and purposely engaging in mind hygiene, you are indeed failing at holistic hygiene.
It has not been as important as it is now to have daily, uninterrupted practices of clearing our minds of all things toxic. We worry if we miss a step in body hygiene because someone may notice. I must inform you when your mind is full of mud, negativity is almost palpable. Your facial expressions, body language, your choice of words and tone of voice, the things you seem to notice and the things you seem to disregard are all impacted heavily just by the muddiness of your mind. Additionally, a negative mind is the fueling point for the manifestation of a physically ill body.
I urge you to consider your mind hygiene as it stands right now. It’s never too late to start cleaning it up. There are so many ways to do so, you only need to find what works for you. When something works, you’ll know because you will actually feel lighter. You will communicate more effectively and efficiently. As opposed to being consumed by all of the undesirable and ugly events in the world, you will begin to notice that there is still a whole lot of good and beauty in the world.
Take care of your mind with an even greater sense of responsibility as you have with taking care of your body. Engage in mind hygiene at least once a day but twice a day is even more effective. Here are a few suggestions but again find what works for you (my greatest advice is to find something that DOES NOT include electronics, not even TV):
- Meditate for at least 15-20 minutes per day (I like to listen to the sound of my breath, sometimes it sounds like ocean waves, sometimes tree leaves blowing in the wind).
- Take 20-30 minute walks near trees and NOTICE the trees (Trees have remarkably detailed beauty, when you pay attention to them, you can feel and get lost in your connection with them).
- Journal ( you can keep all types of journals. One for expressing gratitude, one for expressing disappointment or anger, one for describing your “perfect life”, and one for capturing your ideas. Writing is an excellent way to get things “out” of the mind).
- Sit or lay somewhere and look towards the sky (literally, put your “head in the clouds”).
I hope that you are ok. I hope that you are intentionally paying attention to your feelings and mood. Most of all I pray that on a daily basis, you will purposely engage in mind hygiene, what better way to enhance your life experience!
Peace, Love, & a Trillion Blessings!
Dr. T
