Over the years, I heard that the best way to detox yourself is to get the toxic people out of your life. In a world already full of virtual connections, just unfriend, block, delete people and move on. Stop meeting the people who you think don't make you feel happy or motivated.
The above ideas work well for a few days, and then we are getting more toxic people in our lives, more toxic friends online, and sometimes worse than before. This happens because we are trying to fix the symptoms but not the root cause of toxicity.
For ice cream, the balsamic vinegar is toxic, but for the green salad, the balsamic vinegar is a blessing. By now, you understand that it is all about perspective or the angle you look at anything in your life. Let's get to the point I want to make here.
Following are some of the internal factors which create toxicity around us:
1. Different: We are all born and raised differently.
2. Think Different: We all think differently about the same situation.
3. Like Different: We like different things as compared to others.
4. Enjoy Differently: We often get bored of the things/people we fantasize about.
The above four factors are essential to being human; If we eliminate (some people will call it detox) any of the above four factors by removing people or situations from our life, It will never let us experience true happiness in our life.
Now the big question is, what should we do then if we feel surrounded by toxic people?
The simple answer lies in our emotional awareness. I intentionally put emotional awareness as opposed to self-awareness because we have to be aware of everything inside and outside as well.
What is actually happening inside our brains?
The human mind generates around 40,000 thoughts every day based on our experiences, expectations, desires, habits, reactions, situations, smells, looks, etc. Every single thought has the potential to trigger an emotional response in our brains. Every day, a few of these thoughts succeed in creating an emotional response in our brains. Each emotional response creates a feeling which will dictate our behaviour until the next thought takes over. This circle goes on and on and on, and it does not even stop while we are sleeping. It keeps repeating until we become wholly unconscious during deep sleep if we are lucky enough.
The solution:
This thought cycle can also be stopped by getting aware of the above process and by setting boundaries for our thoughts. In the modern age, we are bombarded with the information people have developed for their advantage. This information sets our perspective about people around us and then becomes the source of thoughts and creates the cycle mentioned above.
Follow the LFAR principle:
a) LIMIT the irrelevant information you are exposed to,
b) FILTER the relevant information to align with your principles, goals and dreams
c) Get AWARE of every thought coming to your brain, (Don't Ignore)
d) Let only the situation RELEVANT ones trigger your emotional cycle
By practicing the above 4 simple steps, you can create plenty of time and mental energy to detox your brain and a sense of happiness.