Detoxifying Your Life

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It’s one thing to be physically healthy by eating the right foods, exercising, and ensuring proper supplementation but what most people don’t usually think about is how their state of mind and their overall quality of life can affect health. I’ve discovered that it is not enough to eat healthy, cleanse, work out, and take natural supplements to have true health. So much of what we experience in our lives, including our physical experiences (or perhaps especially our physical experiences) have almost as much to do with what goes on in our minds as with what goes on physically in our bodies. As profound as the connection between our minds and our bodies is, the topic does not get nearly enough attention.

Some people call it the “placebo” affect. I’m not sure if that is correct, or if our minds aren’t just truly amazing and possess the power to heal themselves (and maybe others?) just by our thoughts. Before I get into the strange but very real possibility of this, I would like to discuss the “cleansing part” of our lives and minds.

When we detox our bodies, the idea is to clear out the toxins that have collected for months, years, and possibly our entire life. We are exposed to so many environmental toxins it isn’t even funny…and as time goes on more and more toxins are introduced. I remember reading, several years ago, how detrimental wireless technology is to our health. The article I read discussed the wireless technology behind cell phones. I remember being spooked by what it said. This was several years ago and I all but “forgot” about the dangers I read. Recently, however, I was sent some updated information on this very real problem and, I must admit, I went beyond spooked. It was downright scary. It said things like, at the rate we are going with these wireless technologies (it seems EVERYTHING is wireless these days – we can’t even have a keyboard and mouse that isn’t wireless!) the global sperm count will drop to 0 (yes, ZERO) by 2048! Whoa! This technology has the ability to render our species extinct? It also said that the incorporation of “smart grids” – the “smart meters” that are being installed by electric companies all over the country – could push human tolerance over the edge. There were other health issues discussed, including the prevalence of cancers today that are caused by these technologies. The entire article, which can be found here, caught my attention.

What the article made me realize is that we could put all our effort into watching what we put into our bodies and what we expose ourselves to, but ultimately we can’t remove the toxins from our lives on our own. In fact, I doubt that it will ever happen given the electronic addiction we are faced with today. As a result, we have to be even more diligent to clear out the toxins where we can (such as in our diets, what we put on our bodies and what we feed our minds).

I’m still researching effective methods to detox from the electronic pollution and I think there are some viable options, such as earthing and even things like acupuncture and energy healing, that the Chinese are known for. I couldn’t say just how effective these methods could be against such a pervasive and dangerous issue as electronic/wireless pollution but at this point I doubt anything could hurt! To learn more about our bodies and how they relate to the energy fields around us I urge you to read the book The Body Electric. For more information about earthing, check out Go Earthing. I will also do a future blog on this topic.

In addition to removing the toxins from our bodies, it is incredibly important to also cleanse and detoxify our minds. We are bombarded on a daily basis with such negative information it’s surprising that we aren’t all walking around in a depressed stupor. Between the stories we hear on the news and read in the newspaper and all the movies and other “entertainment” out there that contains so much violence, unhappiness, and moral issues, we are receiving so much negativity into our minds that we need to clean this negativity out from time to time (or maybe constantly).

There are many ways to do this, but one way I have recently discovered is called “Ho’oponopono”. Don’t bother trying to pronounce it ;) but the concept is that through love and forgiveness we can “clean” our minds of negative energy and, specifically memories. I first learned about this in the book Zero Limits by Joe Vitale. I will be honest that the book is trying to sell you something else, but I don’t see anything wrong with taking the message from the book and employing it into your life. Honestly, even if it doesn’t do what they say it can do, just the love and forgiveness aspect can greatly improve your mood and help you to offload the negative effects we get from all the drama going on around us.

The other reason I believe that saying, “I love you,” “Please forgive me,” and “Thank you,” could have an incredibly healing effect on our minds and bodies is because of some books I read a few years ago that discuss “water crystal healing”. A man named Dr. Masaru Emoto conducted some experiments on water to determine if words can affect the molecular structure of the water. The idea is that, because we are made up of mostly water and if the words we are exposed to can affect water on a molecular level, then we can be affected just by what we say and also by what is said to us. I purchased, read, and gave out as gifts, many of his books because I felt it was a beautiful message. Even though it may sound incredible and possibly unbelievable, again, the message itself is really nice. Whether you believe it or not, our thoughts are extremely powerful, particularly because of how they allow certain thoughts to seep into our subconscious.

On a similar note, there is a book called Think and Grow Rich (you can get a free copy of the book at that link) that talks about how to get what you want by putting the “right” thoughts into your subconscious. All of these books discuss similar concepts with the ultimate goal of “cleaning” the mind of negativity. It is not a simple task to change our thinking and to clean all the negativity out of our lives. It is a constant struggle since we’re battling the very environment in which we live not to mention the fact that everyone around us is battling the same negativity. But once we are able to begin to recognize when negative thoughts enter our minds and correct them as soon as possible, the overall mental cleansing begins and we will find that we are able to get much more out of life than we ever dreamed possible.

We don't realize how important it is to have a positive mindset in order to have overall health. I started this blog to discuss kidney issues and mental disorders as well as how to treat both of those issues with natural cures. One thing I have come to realize is that, along with dehydration, high blood pressure has probably the most detrimental effects on kidneys (as well as, probably, every other organ in the body, including the brain). When we have a positive outlook on life and mental clarity from letting go of the negativity, our blood pressure naturally lowers, which obviously helps our overall physical health. It is also no surprise that having a positive outlook increases self confidence and overall mental health thereby decreasing the need for pharmaceuticals, particularly antidepressants and antipsychotics. It's a win-win situation.

For more resources to help “cleanse” your mind and become mentally and emotionally healthier, check out the links below.

Here’s to a beautiful quality of life, mentally, emotionally and physically!

The Law of Attraction

SUCCESS Magazine

The Compound Effect

The Strangest Secret

Antidepressants – An Interesting Story

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When I started this blog it was at the prompting of my mother, for whom I had been doing research in the hopes of finding natural cures for her kidney issues. At the time she had been on antidepressants and antipsychotics for several years. When I found out about her kidney issues I assumed that her doctor was “taking care” of her. It wasn’t until later that I realized that this was not true. I began a quest to find out why this was happening and how to help the situation. My research led me to the fact that antidepressants were greatly exacerbating her problem.

The beautiful side effect of discovering the detrimental effects of antidepressants and antipsychotics in relation to kidney disease is that, once I figured this out, my mother got off these drugs immediately and she came back to us. Despite the fact that doctors insist that anyone getting off these medications must do so gradually, my mother was so concerned with her health that she just got off of them cold turkey. This was extremely unexpected. She had been on these medications for quite some time and had tried getting off of them before (cold turkey) but found that it was a shock to her “mental” state and believed that she needed to be on these drugs. At that time I recall thinking that it wasn’t that she needed to be on them but that she had tried getting off of them too quickly. Still, at that time, there was no way to convince her of that. She believed with all her heart (or perhaps just with all her mind) that she needed the medications to be “mentally stable.”

So, fast forward to her treatment for kidney disease and my discovery that these types of pharmaceuticals could exacerbate her kidney problems (you can read about this in a previous blog), she decided she needed to get off these medications once and for all and at once. I was very concerned that she would have the same problem that she’d had before. Still, I couldn’t convince her to get off of them gradually. She was determined just to get off of them at once and stay off of them – she was worried for her health.

I believed I had convinced her to get herself off them gradually, preferably under the care of her doctor and she said she would do that. Then about a month later I asked her how many (of her medications) she was taking a day. She said none, that she had just stopped taking them. My mother is very stubborn and strong-willed (kind of like me). I really should have known that I really hadn’t convinced her of anything and that, regardless of what I’d said, she’d do what she thought she should do.

Of course, I should have known this. I had been telling her for months that she needed to do this and she needed to do that to help her issue but she never did any of it. When she finally made the decision to get off of her medication it was not because I “told” her about it. It was because I had given her actual hard-core facts to read. Duh! My mother is no dummy. She needed to read that this was necessary otherwise there was no reasoning with her.

Anyway, after a while that she had gotten off these medications I realized that I had my mother back. It wasn’t until then that I realized how these medications had changed her personality, to the point that she was no longer herself. Gradually, over the years, she had become a shell of a person. It hadn’t really occurred to me why, I had just noticed that she wasn’t “mom” anymore. One memory that sticks with me was shopping for a birthday (or mother’s day, take your pick) card for her. I remember reading these touchy-feely cards that said things like, “Mom, you’ve been there for me through thick and thin and I have always been able to count on you…” or “Mom, what would my life have been like without you to do all the things a mother should do”…you catch my drift. I remember none of these cards were appropriate for my mom at the time. It was sad, but I remember thinking that I needed a card that said, “Mom, here’s to you coming to visit and sitting on the couch to watch TV….” That might sound bad, but, honestly, this is how it was. We all saw it. My mom always seemed upset and bored. There was no joy in her eyes, or in her voice.  We thought it was due to her “mental illness.” Boy, were we wrong.

I can’t say it was an immediate change from one day to the next. Or maybe it was and I just didn’t notice. But I can say that once I started spending more time with her, I realized that she was my mama again – the one that raised me and took me to the local hamburger joint as a kid so we could enjoy a burger on one of their outdoor tables. It was the same mama that would take me to walk around the plaza in Santa Fe and would buy me a treat at the Woolworth. Looking back, I think it was probably an immediate change, but it took me a while to realize that it was. Maybe I thought it was too good to be true.

I can safely say that three (or whatever) years later, she is my mama again and now I can’t find a card that expresses the love and gratitude I feel for her and all that she does for me. It makes me realize just how devastating those antidepressants and antipsychotics truly are. It also makes me realize how unnecessary they are. Ever since SHE made the decision that she did not need them, she didn’t need them! It may seem really amazing, but I guess it really isn’t, given the power of our minds and that we have the ability to heal just by thinking about it.

There is something else, very important that I need to point out. While I was learning about the detrimental effects of those medications, I was also learning how to naturally heal the kidneys. It is no coincidence that dehydration causes all sorts of issues, including kidney disease AND mental illness (along with probably every other disease out there) or that vitamin D is a necessary supplement for overall health. Well, among learning about the pharmaceuticals, I was also learning about other “natural” cures for her kidney issues. Little did I realize that implementing these things was also helping the “mental” issues along with just believing that she didn’t need the pharmaceuticals but now I know that it all was working together.

I know this particular post doesn’t give many tips on how to heal naturally…or maybe it does and you just have to read between the lines. But I thought it was a good story for anyone who is on antidepressants or antipsychotics that believe that they actually need them. My mother was in a hospital for a while and we really believed she was “mentally ill.” After all of this I realize more than anything that she is a strong, strong woman who had it in her all along to be mentally healthy. Even now, with her kidney issues, I realize that it is her strength, more than anything, which is keeping her going.

Let this be hope for anyone out there who thinks they “need” drugs…for anything, especially for “mental health”. Even though it seems like a true illness, I believe, and not to diminish anyone’s experiences with this, that mental health is really all in our heads (no pun intended).

Here’s to your healthy mind, and healthy body!