A Mind-Body-Spirit Detox to Get Rid of Stress

Posted September 6, 2014

Stress… Who hasn’t experienced stress? It’s a part of our life and no one is truly free from it. I am no exception. After a particularly trying week, I was bemoaning to a friend, “I don’t seem to have time for anything… Life’s hectic!” To which she rightly replied, “Life is supposed to be hectic… You should have it all.” I agreed.

“Why would you walk when you can run?” goes a song.

We all want to keep running. We want to live life at its fullest and we keep running. But, at times, we do wish to slow things down and be stress-free.

At times, we feel that we have taken on too many responsibilities and we need to stop to take a breather. At other times, emotional upheavals bring us to a halt. Stress, anxiety, anger, bitterness, and other painful emotions have a toxic impact on us.

There’s so much clutter in our mind, too many toxins in our body, and the everyday stress has broken down our spirit. We need a respite to put our life in order. We need a mind-body-spirit detox.

Where do we start?

Home is where the heart is

I have always felt better after a spring cleaning. Throwing away or giving away things that I no longer need makes me feel lighter. I feel I have that much less clutter to deal with.

Our home is our refuge – the place we come back after a hard day’s work. Making it liveable is what makes a house a home. Clean up that clutter and you will feel less oppressed, more cheerful, and relieve some of the stress as well. Turn your place into something you would love and that will make you happy. Remember, you don’t have to do it in a day.

In the pursuit of a fit body

So many people these days take great care about their appearance. Not a bad thing, I would say. If looking good makes me confident, then I’m all for it – so long as I don’t obsesses about it. What is more important is to have a healthy lifestyle and freeing the body from all those accumulated pollutants of everyday. As the first step, get rid of all junk food, processed items and sugary drinks. If you are a coffee drinker, you need to slowly cut down. Same with alcohol and cigarettes.

We are emotional beings

Ever felt as if your emotions control you? When you want to detoxify your life, you have to take full responsibility for your thinking and beliefs, as to how you respond or react to situations. You cannot have a healthy life when you cannot take care of your emotions. If you are at an emotional phase – you are going through a gamut of emotions – then you need to stop and consider as to how best to deal with them.

If you can’t tolerate, don’t!

This may seem a rather forceful thing to do when you want to detox your mind. But consider this: You are in an unsatisfying relationship where you are the one who is always compromising. Your partner is being selfish or hurtful. You feel dirt and unvalued. You think, “Why do I put up with all this?” But you still continue… There is a reason for this. Many of us fear change. The uncertainty of the morrow stops us when we need to step away from a bad relationship. But only if we do, can we move ahead.

This situation is not limited to personal relationships, but also is true when it comes to work relationships or between peers or even with mere acquaintances. When you tolerate bad behaviour from others, you not only drain your inner strength but you feel stressed and deny yourself joy. This can make your feel bad and unvalued. It can affect your self-esteem and you lose your spirit. Don’t ever put up with unacceptable behaviour.

Cultivate a state of inner peace

You may ask, “What is this inner peace? Do I have to meditate?!!” We often lose ourselves in the daily noise. So many items on our agenda. Our life is ruled by the daily demands of work and personal life. Things turn so bad that we don’t have time for the little things in life – the ones that could make our day if we could but stop for a while. We all need that little bit of “me time” – a little bit of peace. In my case, I wake up early to catch half an hour in the morning for myself when no one else is about. I don’t do much. I make the breakfast, humming to myself. I just like being by myself, thinking my thoughts. I don’t consciously think about work, but I don’t avoid it either if the thought occurs.

When people talk about meditation, they want to be able to eliminate all thoughts. Some say they are able to do it. But does that truly happen? I haven’t been able to find out. If it works for you, fine. As for me, I just need that time to catch up with myself, put my thoughts in order. That’s my state of inner peace.

If you are looking for help, whether for yourself or for a loved one, our psychologists can assist in exploring underlying issues through therapy. Please visit our practitioners’ page to find out more, or call (03) 9820-5577 for an appointment or to make enquiries.

anxiety, detox, mind-body-spirit, stress

Carlos Schäfer

I am a registered psychologist with two passions – counselling psychology and executive counselling. To support my passion for counselling, I am trained in experiential psychology, cognitive emotive behavioural therapy, post rationalist therapy, emotional focused therapy, and hypnosis and have a keen interest in alternative healing. I am based at the Emotion Focused Clinic in South Yarra.