Bed, Bath and Mind

     Are you a first thing in the morning or a right before you go to bed kind of person? Does it depend on the type of day you had or what activities you’ve done today? Maybe you just go with your gut instinct and freely make the choice every day. What am I talking about you ask? I’m talking about taking a bath or shower of course. Everyone is a little different when it comes to when they choose to bathe.

     Everyone is also a little different on how they choose to bathe as well. There are so many permeations of ways to cleanse your body. Whether it’s bar soap or liquid soap, wash cloth or loofah, shower or bath tub, there are so many choices. Yet, with all the choices we all have the same common goal. Our goal is to cleanse our bodies.

     The reason we have this need is also all the same. Over a period of time our bodies begin to take on our environment. Sometimes we accumulate dust that turns into dirt. Sometimes we sweat and attract bacteria. Sometimes we wear the odors of the factory we work in or the farm we maintain. There are so many things that build up on our bodies that alert us that it is time to cleanse.

     If we ignore that alert things usually don’t turn out too well. The bed that we sleep in becomes soiled. The clothes that we wear begin to stink. Our skin dries up. Our face gets acne. Our hair will matte up. If we don’t cleanse ourselves properly, we begin to wear unwelcoming reminders of the things we don’t want from our environment. Generally, most people don’t want to stink or be dirty. This is why we bathe.

     Can you know visualize the benefit of cleansing your body? Good, that was the point of the first 3 paragraphs above. It is now time to transition to the real goal of this article. It’s time to remind you that you do not only need to clean your bodies. You also need to clean your mind. That is if you want to lead a successful life.

     Just as your body accumulates negative aspects of your environment, so does your mind. Some of those aspects are placed upon your mind externally and some are placed upon your mind internally. The unwelcome aspects are better known as negativity.

     When your mind accumulates too much negativity it no longer functions as it should. Studies have shown that negative thoughts have an adverse effect on your ability to concentrate, focus and solve problems. Once those negative thoughts are removed your ability increases. Negative thoughts are seen as a protection mechanism to invoke your fight or flight mechanisms. Yet if you don’t actually fight or flight then you put unnecessary stress on your body and your mind.

     When you don’t cleanse your mind those negative thoughts find a home in your mind. They may not be in the front of the house all of the time but they are there. They don’t just go away. Just like the dirt on your body just doesn’t go away. You can spray perfume to mask the odor but the odor is still there. Just as you can think positively to mask the negativity but the negativity is still there. Your mind stores an unlimited amount of data inside of it, just like any other super computer.

     To remove that negativity you need to clean your mind daily just as you clean your body. Without doing that cleansing your negativity will always be there. If you look at the science your cells react based on the signals they receive. If you are in a negative state you send negative signals. Negative signals cause disease. When you are in a positive state you send positive signals. Positive signals create health. This is not debatable and science backs it up.

     Your thoughts serve a purpose. They are a guide to the experience you have in this life. Some of those thoughts are conscious and some are subconscious. Both will determine the results you will have in this life. You may not want to address them. That is perfectly understandable. You have been thinking them so long they have become beliefs. Once they are beliefs your mind will work overtime to protect them. Without something to protect you mind feels like it is not doing its job.

     You must consciously remove your negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts. You must cleanse and you must cleanse every day. And just as there are many ways to clean your body, there are many ways to cleanse your mind. Generally, this cleansing is also known as mindfulness. To experience mindfulness, take full control of your thinking. With that control you can now cleanse.

     You can cleanse by practicing gratitude. Deliberately think of something that you are grateful for. They you must also experience the emotions attached to that gratitude. You can cleanse by meditating. When you meditate you allow you mind to be free and connect. That connection is a positive connection that will clear out the negative. You can cleanse by becoming fully present in the moment. When you are fully present in the moment you cut off the negativity to keep it from growing. Fully accepting the current moment allows you to be the best version of yourself in that moment. You can cleanse by gaining positive knowledge and taking action with it. New knowledge allows you to grow and when your grow positively you push back the negativity.

     Those are just some of the many ways you can cleanse your mind. Just are there are many ways that your mind will become dirty. Watching the news and all the negative things that happen in your community, your country or the world will dirty your mind. Sitting around processing the past and all you did wrong will dirty your mind. Sitting around projecting into the future and all the things that can go bad will dirty your mind. Getting angry and staying angry will dirty your mind. Getting sad, depressed, fearful and staying in those states will dirty your mind.

     Your mind will get dirty, it is inevitable. Cleansing it is a choice. Let us all choose wisely. As always, I wish you the best and remind you to enjoy the journey. I also remind you to go clean your mind.

With Gratitude,

Drew