Detox your mind for summer

Mind Detox Practitioner and Life Coach Debbie Spellman shares three ways to Detox Your Mind this Summer to set you up for a great New Year!

Summer is the time of year where everything slows down being ideal for reflection, relaxation and restoration. Use these three tips to help detox your mind from anxiety and stress and to stabilise your emotions for more peace of mind.

Thoughts are just thoughts
Every moment of every day you are thinking, in fact 50 – 70,000 thoughts go through your mind each day. Your brain is continuously assessing, analysing and processing all that is happening.

The problem is many of us get caught up in our thinking, from worry to fear or even doubt and we may find ourselves struggling to snap out of this. The truth is thoughts are just thoughts. Yet it’s the meaning we give to these thoughts, which cause us to feel our negative emotions. We therefore label this as ‘negative thoughts’.

Here are three ways to help you manage an overactive mind:

1. When you find yourself thinking a negative thought ask yourself ‘Is this a fact or a story?’ Listen to facts (it is raining today). Don’t listen to the stories (the rain is ruining my day, I feel so depressed). A story will have a feeling attached.
2. What we focus on expands so rather than paying attention to your thoughts, bring your attention back to the present moment and focus intently on what you are doing right now.
3. You really don’t have to take yourself so seriously! It is not necessary to pay attention to every thought you have or believe the running commentary in your mind. Practice observing your thoughts and detach from your own thinking.

Emotions
Emotions are energy in motion. They are more than just a feeling – they activate hormonal responses and other nervous and cardiovascular system reactions - for this reason it’s important for your health and wellbeing to activate a positive state of mind.

Rather than repressing, expressing or avoiding your negative emotions it is important to recognise and address each emotion as it arises. Repressed emotions not dealt with may cause imbalances in the body so when a negative emotion arises follow the below process:

1. Identify the emotion such as anger, sadness or fear.
2. Notice where you are holding this emotion in your body. 
3. Focus all your attention on this emotion and be present with it. Breathe into the area where you are holding the emotion. It is important to fully experience the emotion without holding onto the ‘story’.
4. Release by repeating to yourself ‘I am willing to let this emotion go’

Take responsibility
You have the ability to choose the way you will react and interact in your life. Many of us play the victim and believe difficult circumstances and people are the cause of our misery. However when you put people in control of your emotional state and fail to take any responsibility for how you are reacting and behaving what you are essentially saying is that they are in control of how you feel.

When a situation occurs before you react negatively ask yourself these four questions to help you manage your emotional response:

1. How did I create this situation? 
2. How did I behave or what did I do or not do that allowed this to happen?
3. How did I contribute to this outcome?
4. Is my reaction contributing to the solution of this situation?

Debbie Spellman is Founder and CEO of Detox Your Mind, where she is dedicated to helping women change the way they see themselves and breakthrough their inner critic to find inner calm and true self-acceptance. She is on a mission to help women let go of their past and understand they are beautiful, worthy and enough just as they are.

Debbie is a Mind Detox Therapist, Life Coach and Master Trainer for the Mind Detox Academy. She has been featured in Women’s Day, Cosmopolitan, Dolly and Women’s Fitness Magazine and her message reaches women in over 10 countries. Debbie is a featured 'Self-Worth' expert in Girlpower, the Think Fit expert for Women’s Fitness Magazine and an Ambassador for Sun Warrior.

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