Your Toxic Mind is Making You Sick

Did you know your thoughts can impact your physical health?

What you should know about the Mind-Body Connection…

I love to cleanse the body at least a couple times per year to do a little reboot. During this time, I implement different strategies that bring me what I need to clean up debris from old toxic patterns that I’ve allowed to creep in over the previous season.

Today I want to focus on cleansing from a mind-body perspective. I believe the way we get the most bang for our buck (if you will) is to see them as one.

THE PROCESS

It takes preparation when we decide to cleanse or detoxify the body. I’ve found that it’s super important, especially in this day because our environment has become a dumping ground for toxic waste. As a matter of fact, detoxification was a complete game-changer for me during my health journey, to the point that it’s something I use with every one of my clients today. After experiencing health symptoms that I just couldn’t get rid of, like foggy thinking, headaches, gas, bloating, indigestion, joint pain, waking up tired in the mornings, and inability to sleep through the night, I worked to develop a seasonal cleansing protocol based on the knowledge and experience I gained from many of my mentors. In working with others, I also found that sometimes all it takes for them to see a complete turnaround in their health is to give them the same tools to implement these detoxification strategies on a regular basis.

Cleansing has been a part of my life from the beginning, since embarking on my journey to health. Along the way, I learned that cleansing and detoxifying can be quite different. In short, we can cleanse the body by eliminating certain foods and allowing the body to rest or reboot. You’ve probably seen juice cleanses, and heard of people implementing certain types of fasts, and even teas and other potions that are supposed to cleanse the body. There’s nothing wrong with this, but if you are attempting to completely detoxify the body, and clean up the cells, there needs to be certain components in place for that to happen.

I come across many teachings that focus on detoxifying the body but there are 2 things I want to focus on today that I feel are many times missed in these discussions.

#1 the importance of the liver

#2 the importance of cleansing toxic thoughts

I know… these may seem super random, but I believe we cannot cleanse a toxic body and leave a toxic mind alone. This is what I like to refer to as the mind-body connection for cleansing and detoxification.

If the body goes through this detoxification process, but we are still in a pattern of addiction and self-destruction due to traumatic events that we have not processed, then we never move into a place of freedom.

PHYSICAL DETOX

I mentioned that cleansing and detox are quite different. The process of physical detox actually requires a 3-step process. This is known as the 3 phases of detoxification. For detoxification to take place in the body, there must be certain vitamins, amino acids, and nutrients on board. The body then goes through a systematic process to do the clean-up work.

Our liver is our major detoxification organ – so learn to love your liver.

What happens in the 3 phases?

• In phase 1, the liver uses enzymes and oxygen to break up the toxins.
• In phase 2, the toxins are packaged up into a water-soluble package
• In phase 3, the liver, kidneys, and intestines work to excrete the toxins

There are many things that can get in the way of detoxification taking place in the body, but some of these include things like:

• Overgrowth of pathogenic microbes (parasites, bacteria, fungus) in the digestive tract
• Lack of fiber
• Magnesium deficiencies
• Food intolerance

Signs that you need to detox are:

• Belly bloat
• Abdominal fat – also known as “the spare tire effect”
• Joint and muscle pain
• Feeling exhausted all the time
• Acid reflux/heart burn
• Dark spots on your skin and dark circles under the eyes
• Excessive sweating or stinky sweat
• Unexplained weight gain
• Headaches
• Menstrual Irregularities

MENTAL / EMOTIONAL DETOX

So now that you have a better understanding about what it takes to do a physical detox, let’s talk about the mental/emotional aspect. This is one topic I rarely see approached when there is a discussion around detoxification. I imagine it is one of the most toxic things in our environment though.

Thinking back to my own healing journey, this was one of the most important for me. It’s actually where my journey began.

I remember when I wasn’t the most positive person. Growing up, I wasn’t necessarily negative, but my self-talk wasn’t very good. I imagine it’s something we could all work on. Most of us probably tend to be a little harsh on ourselves compared to how we are with others we love.

We pick this up from those around us many times. And we also have false notions of what’s really important in life because we watch things go on around us and feel like we have to live up to the worlds ideas instead of creating our own.

Conforming to those around us and the things of this world can be very toxic to our mind and emotional state.

In my time of working through my own issues and helping others do the same, I’ve found that our mind has the ability to control us and bring us into negative thought patterns if we allow it.

We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, on a daily – and even moment-by-moment basis. This means we have a choice in where we end up emotionally. We can either become victim to our emotions, sickness, or other circumstances, or we can go THROUGH them and find strength to endure.

We detox our thoughts and mind by casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. That means casting down negative thought patterns like fear, anxiety, worry, depression, and doubt. We are to process our experiences and go through them. If we don’t bring our thoughts into captivity and choose to process them, then they will hold us captive and we will assume the position of being a victim to our very own thoughts.

MIND-BODY CONNECTION

Toxic thoughts become toxic to us physically. When we believe we are sick, overweight, broke, ugly, then we become those things, because whatever we focus on, we bring about.

I work with people on a daily basis who believe these things. I work with them to shift these thought patterns so they believe what is true, instead of believing a lie. The things we worry about are things that we dream up in our subconscious. They are many times things that don’t even matter. Other times these are thoughts that arise because we’ve been through a traumatic event. But if we fail to process these thoughts, then we will become their slaves.

In the physical body, there’s a shift in our cellular makeup that actually can create physical matter. Dr. Caroline Leaf is one of the greatest researchers in this area. She says that disease is created first as a negative thought.

Whatever you meditate on and think about it in your heart, you will become. This world was created by a thought that was verbalized, when God said, “let there be light.” And there was light. So that thought became a physical reality. That’s exactly how your thoughts and language and body work together.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.