The Importance of Cleansing Our Minds
We've been taught and are accustomed from childhood to bathe daily, to brush our teeth after every meal, to wash our hair, and to keep ourselves clean to smell good and look presentable. Now, I invite you to ask yourselves...
In this routine of good habits, are we forgetting something? How many of us have been taught to cleanse our minds every day?
We beautify and perfume ourselves on the outside but forget to take care of and clean the most important resource we have as thinking beings: our mind.
The mind is exposed throughout the day to endless toxicities, to unpleasant information, to people who overwhelm us, to excessive demands, to harsh news, and raw images. The mind unconsciously absorbs much more than we realize. We ingest vast amounts of information daily. To this, we must add the enormous flow of thoughts, worries, and speculations that pile up on each other inside our heads, internal conversations, and a huge amount of old beliefs...
The mind unconsciously absorbs much more than we realize.
What do you imagine will happen if we ingest, ingest, ingest, and never pause to digest everything we've gorged on?
The mind functions similarly to our stomach. When we eat something, we first digest it and then expel it, right? We also know to recognize things that make us feel bad, that cause us heartburn or make us feel heavy, and we try to avoid them so as not to complicate matters. If we took the same care with our mind, we would feel much lighter and less stressed.
Just as our body gets sick if we consume spoiled food, our mind suffers if we feed it stale, contaminated, altered, and repugnant thoughts. No one would think of eating a rotten apple, yet we have no qualms about continuing to swallow toxic people, getting indigestion from situations that poison us, gorging on bad news. We cannot be surprised to feel anxious, anguished, hopeless, depressed, or pessimistic because these are nothing but symptoms of an unhealthy and exhausted mind. Similarly, no one would be surprised to have high cholesterol if they consume too much fat.
Just as our body gets sick if we consume spoiled food, our mind suffers if we feed it stale, contaminated, and altered thoughts
How to Take Care of Our Mind's Health?
The mind requires care to remain lucid and healthy, just as we brush our teeth, we need to cleanse our mind. It seems we are more afraid of losing a tooth than losing our minds. We are more concerned about fatness than about sanity.
What if we start to become aware of the importance of not neglecting the health of our mind? How can we cleanse it?
Some of the mental hygiene habits we can start to implement are:
Silence
The mind requires decompression and quietude. Silence helps to balance some of the noise we were exposed to during long hours of information saturation. Generally, we realize that silence is healthy when we take distance from the deafening hustle and bustle.
Meditation
Twenty minutes of daily meditation helps to calm mental turbulence. Observing the contents of our mind without reacting allows us to take distance from the thoughts and feelings to which we are attached and with which we have identified.
Physical Activity
Not only does it help us de-stress, but we also release endorphins that improve our mood. Maintaining regular physical activity also helps to strengthen one of our mind's fundamental muscles: willpower.
Healthy Emotional Bonds
Just as a toxic person can drain our energies, a valuable and beneficial person empowers us. Having valuable people to count on and exchange with fills the soul and lightens the mind by not having to defend and argue.
Nature
Choosing open-air spaces to relax and spend time is always the best option. Our mind does not feel the same appreciating a beautiful natural landscape as it does being enclosed in a shopping center.
Choice of Content
Not exposing the mind to cruel images and permanent bad news is an excellent preventive measure. We can stay informed without becoming overwhelmed. Besides, there are so many contents and readings that can help us expand our consciousness instead of clouding it.
Healthy Eating
Eating natural foods, avoiding preservatives and processed foods, preserves us from emotional disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Music, Aromas, Art, Flavors, and Daily Pleasures
Enjoying those small pleasures within our reach are those pampering we can give ourselves. Exposing our senses to beauty and enjoying these experiences as if they were sacred allows the mind to soar and the spirit to rejoice.
Generating States of Absorption in a Task
It's about finding an activity in which we can achieve a state of concentration and fascination where we lose track of time. Some achieve this by playing an instrument, painting, dancing, writing, creating. The mind enters a state of flow and mindfulness that helps us tune in with presence and higher states of consciousness.
Pleasant Environments
The mind does not feel the same in chaos as it does in order. A harmonious space where we like to be does not need more budget but creativity and dedication. Inspiring images, pleasant aromas, motivational phrases help harmonize the mind in our everyday environment.
Paying Attention to Conversations
If we practice complaining as a sport, if we keep talking about how bad life is and how difficult everything is, how do we expect to feel? It's like listening all the time to a nostalgic song that sours us and takes away our hopes.
Goals That Excite
Having objectives, purposes, and goals that excite and motivate us is a great antidote to depression, besides keeping the mind active, creative, and focused on projects that excite us. And therefore, less oriented to detecting threats and negative aspects of circumstances. An idle mind does not always settle in the best place.
Not Letting Yourself Go
We all have moments of discouragement and sadness, but when the discomfort extends over time or our thoughts and emotions overwhelm us, it's good to know how to ask for help. The longer we are unwell, the more we identify with the discomfort and the harder it becomes to leave that place. Just as we take care of getting check-ups and going to the doctor, we should also learn to monitor ourselves and ask for help when necessary.
The mind is where everything begins and ends
On an individual level, the reality we live in is a reflection of the health of our mind. Our life is an echo of the thoughts that nest within. If our mind is not healthy, imagine what will manifest in our daily life.
Similarly, on a collective level, all the advances, evolution, and most wonderful achievements of humanity were born from lucid and enlightened minds. Just as well, the worst atrocities and the bloodiest wars originated in sick minds.
A world of peace requires that everyone takes care of making their mind a heaven and not a hell from which we always want to escape.
Treasuring the mind, taking care of it, oxygenating it, sanitizing it, cultivating it, exercising it, and treating it as the most delicate piece is to have become aware of its importance.
The mind is a privilege of human life that puts at our disposal the most powerful tool: intelligence. However, intelligence only becomes a virtue when used by a healthy and awake mind.
A world of peace requires that everyone takes care of making their mind a heaven and not a hell from which we always want to escape.
Taking care of the health of our mind is not only a choice but above all a responsibility.