Detoxes are nowadays common practise.
The theory is simple: we ingest (eat, drink and breathe in) a lot of gunk – chemicals, additives, processed and refined foods – which are neither easily assimilated or readily eliminated by the body. Their gradual build-up stresses our immune system and clogs or slows essential organs. We become slower, heavier and sicker. The solution: from time to time, undertake a diet designed to reduce the intake of additional toxins, while aiding in the elimination of the built-up stockpile – a ‘detox’.
Yet just as the build-up of chemicals is harmful to our body, so the accumulation of prejudices, negative thoughts and perceptions undermines our clarity, creativity, behaviour and happiness. Not only do we suffer: everyone around us suffers as well.
Daily meditation is the most effective detox for the mind.
In order to “let go” of unwanted thoughts, perceptions and emotions – and avoid the massive damage they cause – we need first to gain some control of the process of thought itself, the flow of mental activity in our brains. Trying to achieve this by analysis or thinking about it, is like the blind leading the blind, or putting the drunk in charge of the pub.
Only by stepping outside of the mind can we gain the perspective and detachment needed to perceive, and hence control the mind’s intractable activity.
Pure meditation occupies a vacant mind. When the mind is emptied of thoughts, our attachment to thought itself is loosened. As we separate ourselves from the thinking process, we come to realise that thought is not the reality. We are not our thoughts, after all. Thoughts which were looming, inescapable monsters are now seen as tiny, weak, expendable things. Unwanted thought-toxins, we let go of.
Daily meditation keeps the mind clear, sharp – and detoxed.