As we move through life, many events can poison our souls by taking hold of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Like our bodies then, we also need to detox our souls to purge toxins out of our minds regularly. The longer a soul remains in a toxic state, the more difficult it is to heal. Of course, you have to acknowledge that the toxicity is there before you can release it. Often convinced they are fine, many people aren’t usually fully aware when they are toxic or need of a spiritual detox / spiritual cleanse. However, a toxic soul will show some symptoms. Whether you’re a real “Karen” or not, if you have any of them, that’s a warning sign that you may need a spiritual cleanse.
YOU SEARCH FOR NEGATIVE THINGS
In this modern age, anything that is dark and damaging is available on the Internet. For many people, though, overindulging in digital doom and gloom news is a way of life. Browsing for negative things, all day, every day, is a clear sign that your soul is troubled.
Try avoiding media for some time or indefinitely if need be. If going cold turkey is difficult, choose one day of the week to go device-free at first. You will feel much lighter when you do. An award-winning film that perfectly illustrates this is Jen Senko’s “How Fox News Brainwashed Her Dad“. The filmmaker documented her father’s far-right radicalization. She also showed the almost immediate transformation that occurred when he refrained from consuming far-right militia media. I encourage everyone to watch it.
YOU FEEL LITTLE EMPATHY
Rather than feeling empathy, you take pleasure from seeing misfortune or suffering. Others’ misery gives a certain perverse sense of satisfaction. While everybody struggles with knowing what to say all the time, you might minimize the enormity of sad situations. That’s especially if they do not affect you. To put it another way, you don’t read the room.
You may want to practice being kind. One thoughtful gesture (i.e. helping a mother carry her baby up a flight of stairs) can make a difference for someone. Moreover, when you extend acts of kindness, your body releases serotonin—a hormone that helps promote prosocial behaviors such as supporting, sharing, and conforming to socially accepted behaviors.
YOU DO NOT SLEEP WELL
No matter how hard you try to sleep, your mind struggles to stay awake. Finally, when you do doze off, you wake up feeling as though you’ve just been run over by a truck. This can impair daily functioning–a clear sign that your spirit needs cleansing.
When practiced before bedtime, meditation and deep breathing may help support healthy sleep patterns. These techniques can effectively be used to cleanse the mind while enhancing inner peace and overall calmness.
YOU ARE ALWAYS THE VICTIM
It is perfectly normal to feel sorry for yourself every so often. However, when your attention magnifies just the negative aspects of your life, problems remain steaming at the top of your mind. The glass is filled half-empty with a a bad brew of bitterness, pessimism, blame, unbridled neediness, etc. At same time, here you repeatedly downplay what is going well.
Try to free your mind from events and people that continue to trigger you. Start a personal ritual such as writing letters to release your negative feelings. Also, begin keeping a gratitude journal.
Gratitude helps people focus on what they have instead of what they lack. It is essential as whatever gets your attention will increase the energy of thankfulness. Every step forward is a step towards achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.
Concentrating on people to whom you are grateful has more impact than focusing on things for which you are thankful. Still, I would encourage you to center on both and thank God. Gratitude allows you to come into full harmony with Him. If you are not thankful for what you have, why should He give you anything more?
YOU CAN NOT KEEP RELATIONSHIPS
Typically when you cycle through friends fast and cannot maintain healthy relationships, it is because you are exhibiting the above behaviors that ultimately chase people away. So, try hard to keep these behaviors well-controlled by spiritually cleansing as often as needed. Make no mistake. The battle for your mind is real.
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