Verified by 
Many people participate in cleanse programs to eliminate toxins they’ve accumulated over their lifetime. These poisons drain our vitality and denigrate our health. Detoxing has gone mainstream as more and more people seek wellness.
As well, a vast number of us work out regularly, tending to our physical well-being. But there’s a most important aspect of ourselves that we ignore—the health and vigor of our minds. We need to detox our minds from the false and limited thinking that disrupts our lives and our relationships.
What do I mean by the toxins of your mind? Over the course of your life, you probably cling to a few primary beliefs about yourself. These beliefs shape the way you know yourself and how you think. They are the filter through which you see.
From these beliefs and your personal experiences, you have likely become addicted to certain recurring thoughts that write the script of your life. Regrettably, these thoughts are often self-limiting, denigrating, or simply wrong-minded and keep you from living the life you deserve. Habitual thoughts confine you to being a character in your script, rather than being the author of your life narrative.
Think of these limiting old thoughts as a straitjacket. Ask yourself what the central theme of your thoughts tells you. They may sound like “I’m not smart enough,” or “People don’t respect me,” or “I always make the wrong choices.”
Stuck in a Groove
For those of us old enough to remember vinyl records, we might recall that when there was a scratch on the album, the needle would sometimes get stuck in the groove. The same sound or lyrics would keep repeating. In the groove, the tonearm couldn’t find its way into the next groove.
This is exactly what happens with our thoughts. They tend to keep reiterating the same messages, time and again. When they do so, they summon old memories and old feelings and thwart our ability to change.
The replay of old thoughts and feelings precludes us from being present. We are simply replicating the past. This is such a wasteful way to live our lives as we move from moment to moment—wanting a change—but not understanding how to achieve it. The continuous repetition of old thoughts and feelings robs us of new experiences. As well, it deprives us of bringing new possibilities into our lives.
This groove is where fear reigns supreme. Mind detox helps free you from being trapped in the groove.
If I Can't See the Thought, I Won't Be Having a Thought—the Thought Will Be Having Me!
I have been looking at this problem for some time now and have developed a method to help people detox their minds. This process helps us to illuminate the habitual thoughts that trick us into false realities. Learning to observe a thought, rather than attaching to and becoming the thought, is where our change process begins. When you are able to see your thought, you are actually thinking! This is where you access your inner wisdom.
The difficulty we encounter in disengaging the thought is due to its automatic nature. Before we have an opportunity to take notice of the thought, we’ve already become the thought. You can learn to train your mind to become more alert and slow down the process, so that you may see the thought more clearly.
It’s almost like seeing it coming in slow motion as if you were watching a sports replay. When you learn to see the thought clamoring for your attention, imagine placing your forefinger vertically in front of your lips and say shhh to the thought.
Slowing It Down
For an analogy, let’s look at tennis. Let’s metaphorically equate the thought with being the tennis ball. Becoming aware of the thought is like anticipating the arrival of the ball on your side of the net. You see your opponent’s positioning and footwork, their racquet movement, and the position of the ball as it advances toward you.
By the time your opponent hits the ball, and it approaches the net, you’re fully engaged and anticipating its arrival. You’d hardly wait until the ball was inches from you before you began to react. Anticipation and awareness are fundamental in tennis or any sport. And so we train ourselves in this awareness, and time slows in a relative sense as we come into this zone of awareness.
The very same thing can be accomplished with a thought as we learn to see it in advance of becoming it. In the nanosecond before you merge with your next thought, you exist in a pure state of potential. Everything is possible.
You don’t need to be confined by your life history but can break free to create the life you choose. But you need to learn to think differently. Detoxing your mind is altogether achievable once you set your intention to do so.
This article was excerpted from The Possibility Principle: How Quantum Physics Can Improve the Way You Think, Live and Love.
