Are negative thoughts and beliefs preventing you from moving forward with your goals and dreams?  If so, how about taking some steps to detoxify your mind!

We usually think of detoxification as the process of removing toxins from our body to achieve a greater level of health and well-being. What most people don’t realize is that our minds can also become incredibly toxic.

How do you know if you have toxic thoughts?  Well, do you find yourself feeling powerless, hopeless, intimidated, frustrated, ineffective and stuck? Granted, everyone experiences some of these feelings occasionally, but if you spend much of your time feeling like this, you’ve definitely got a case of mental toxic overload.

Two simple steps to detoxify your mind

To eliminate toxic thoughts we need to capture them and move them out of our mind. How can we do that? Have you ever heard the phrase: I need to capture my thoughts on paper? How about this one: I need to wrap my mind around what it says here?

We can use the principles in those two common phrases to purge our mind of toxic thoughts, and to replace them with a more positive and empowering thought pattern. This will, in effect, radically alter our perception of our own abilities.

First, purge the toxins

The first step is to find a way to purge the negative thoughts and beliefs that are holding you back.  One of the best ways to do this is to write them down.  Grab a blank sheet of paper and a pen, and start writing how you feel about yourself, your goals, your dreams, and your life in general.

You might end up with statements like these:  “I feel so sick and tired of struggling.  No matter what I do I can’t seem to make changes.  I really think I’m defective somehow because I can’t do the things that other people find so easy.  I’m doomed to live a life of mediocrity and lack.  I’m powerless to change anything in my life.”

Keep writing until you’ve covered everything you can think of.

Next, create the antidote

All of those negative thoughts and beliefs you just wrote down are literally polluting your potential!  Unless you replace them with something more empowering, they’ll continue to influence everything you think, say and do.

Grab another sheet of paper and begin writing a positive statement that directly contradicts each negative one.  However, be sure you write it in a way that is believable to you.  Using the examples from above, your antidote might look like this:  “I am absolutely determined to make better progress on improving my life.  I can make changes simply by taking one step at a time and believing in my own ability.  I am learning new and powerful life skills to help me conquer challenges and move forward.  Other people who appear to have it easy may have been working on this stuff longer than I have.  I will eventually reach the same state of confidence and mastery.  I know I have the power to learn, grow, and make my life into something meaningful and fulfilling.”

Now, make the switch

Once you’ve got your antidote ready, destroy the toxins.  That sheet of paper you wrote all the negative stuff on is now where those toxic thoughts live. When you wrote them down, you took them out of your mind and relocated them to that sheet of paper. Now that you have them where you want them, it’s time to eliminate them from your life.

Take that piece of paper and burn it or rip it into tiny shreds and throw it away.  Feel the relief that comes from knowing that those thoughts are no longer part of your life. To make sure they don’t sneak back in; take the antidote every single day!  Read your new empowering thoughts as often as you can and do your best to internalize them as part of your new identity.

Fortify your mind

In most cases, a tiny bit of toxins usually won’t cause a big problem, but if you allow them to build up over time they can wreak absolute havoc in your life.  That’s true with both physical and mental toxins.  By taking the antidote on a regular basis, you minimize the buildup of mental toxins in your mind and automatically empower yourself to do and be more than you ever believed possible.

Does this seem too simple to be effective?
Are you willing to give it a try and find out?
The lines are open!

If you enjoyed this article, consider email or RSS updates!

I was preparing to write an article about the damaging effects of criticism, and then something unexpected happened. I was reading one of my favorite blogs called: The Inner Noodle, and there it was. Everything I wanted to say crafted into a very powerful two part article.

What was I to do?

The only responsible course was to share this wonderful with you in it’s entirety in hopes that you will enjoy it as much as I did. The authors name is Jay Frawley and he is the magic behind The Inner Noodle. So without further delay, I give you…

How to Go on a Criticism Diet

Part 1

This article has been in my noodle for a while, but today something happened that sparked its completion. I was sitting in the car waiting for my wife Tina to come out of the restaurant and next to the restaurant was a group of kids smoking outside a coffee shop. They were all high school age, and one stood out that sparked this story. He was a big kid, decked out in a bedazzled jean jacket with patches saying death and blood, blond spiked hair, large earrings, and the pinkest shirt I have ever seen. He was impossible to miss, and my inner critic started to say things like “What is the deal with this kid?”

Two Questions That the Inner Critic Can Not Answer

We all do this, admit it. We think we are somehow better than people just because they might be a little different from us. How can we stop this thought process? Is there someway to shift our thought pattern from superiority to empathy to love? I say there is, and it is a simple as asking yourself these two questions whenever the inner critic raises it’s judging head.

1) What else can be going on here?
2) How can I relate?

What Else Can Be Going on Here

In our example above, the kid I referred to was obviously looking for attention. He was screaming for it in fact. He wanted someone to notice him, anyone. It saddened me to think why he felt the need to go to such extremes to stand out. Is he ignored at home? Maybe he does not feel loved? Is there anything worse than not feeling loved? You see, our inner critic is part of our ego, and not a very nice part.

People speak of taking criticism as a good quality, and not being able to take “constructive” criticism as a personality flaw. I think I might have people disagree with me on this one, but no criticism is ever aimed to help. It is insults hiding behind a positive looking guise. It is like saying “no offense” before saying something offensive- it does not really negate anything. By asking “What else is going on here?” you are taking the ego out of the thought process and digging deeper into your soul, the part of you that can feel empathic towards the situation. Now lets move to how we go from empathy to love.

How Can I Relate

The one thing the inner critic does that is helpful in this situation is use your personal history to mirror the situation. Every time you find yourself being critical of someone, there is something in you that understands, because you have been there before. Sticking with the same example I started to go through my high school years and see if I could relate. Here is what I discovered:

Jean Jacket- I loved my jean jacket, I think I had Guns -N- Roses patched on it
Spiky hair- Well, I had a mullet (I know…)
Pink Shirt- That was all him, I was a black t-shirt guy, however you see the point.

I was this kid once. I had a family that worked too much, and drank even more, to busy to show me they loved me. I felt like an outsider who just wanted to be let into any circle I could find. Not only could I relate to this young man, I was him 15 years ago. Then, I started to wonder if he would discover one day that he would be OK, that he only needed to love himself, and people will come into his life and love him for who he is, not who he is pretending to be. This made me love that boy. A mere 10 minutes after I was laughing at his choice of look, I was praying that he realizes his dreams