We need to start using mindfulness and emotional release techniques in order to keep our mental sanity and be in peace, writes Vivek Bansal
In recent times, we all have become extremely conscious about cleansing. Nowadays there is much emphasis to keep our hands and surroundings clean so that we can save ourselves from different viruses. There are so many detox methods, which are becoming popular to keep us healthy. Fasting, high-fibre and raw-food diets, enemas and high colonics, saltwater baths, panchakarma, mud bath are some of the popular ones. There is so much emphasis on keeping our physical immunity strong by exercise, yoga and different ayurvedic herbs.
To keep our body clean externally, every day we brush our teeth, shower and wear fresh clean clothes. During the day we wash our hands many times. We are using antibacterial products to cleanse kitchen surfaces, disinfectants in laundry detergents, air-filtering in a car, purified water instead of tap water. And a lots of people carry “hand sanitisers” to cleanse their hands of germs after coming our of store or restaurant and also time to time after touching any surface outside.
This awareness of external cleanliness is very important. We also need to feel the real need to cleanse our minds from suppressed emotions like worthless anxieties, stale outlooks, anger, guilt, frustration, dull resentments, jealousy, betrayals and an endless array of shabby self-images. Our mind keeps on storing this unwanted dirty matter which causes many blocks in our personality and we are unable to move further in our life.
Most of us keep on ignoring the bad smell coming out of this and continue to push ourselves with normal daily life. Our minds become like stuffed refrigerators that emit peculiar odours. Pick any shelf and you will see items in the back so old we don’t even remember storing them there. Many things are hiding in some corners. Some of these things are now so thick with mould and mildew that they have taken on lives of their own. Indeed, the back recesses of our refrigerator mind are in revolt and have set up sour and stinky kingdoms of their own. It’s so scary a sight that our impulse is to shove all the front-line items quickly back in place so that now sunny orange juice, freshly picked mangoes, and organic celery once again appear to be all that’s in there.
It’s not a small task to clean out our overstuffed minds. It takes a little time, courage, patience and we have to brace ourselves for some unpleasant discoveries. If a house has been closed for many many years and when we open it and start cleaning it, we will have to face lots and lots of dirt during the process of cleaning. But we if continue the process of cleaning without becoming fearful and discouraged by the amount of dirt, we can feel the fresh aromas coming out of it. And then we will realise, we have made a very small sacrifice for such a reward.
If you want to know what it feels like to stock your refrigerator with the items you choose rather than those chosen for you by culture and family dynamics, just look at little children playing — which they do most of the time. The average preschool child laughs over 350 times a day. The average adult laughs about ten. Why? Because children come into the world with clean refrigerators.
Most people are very busy accumulating more and more things in life, professional status, physical attractiveness, social acceptance etc. They hardly have time to clean their mental environment because they are too busy just decorating the outer layer of their personality. These people hardly realise that having inner ease and peace is not a luxury rather the most important need which can not be neglected and can be achieved along with our other duties and aspirations of life. We just need to start becoming aware of it and begin the process of learning various mindfulness techniques to keep our mental hygiene.
We need to start with observing our state of mind and start taking responsibility for our thoughts and emotions instead of finding other people or situation to blame. We need to make a resolve. Do I sincerely want to look at my life in peace? Do I sincerely want a mind that knows stillness, wholeness, and a deep bond with my partner, children, parents, siblings, and friends? Or do I just want to continue in a miserable position of judgement, control and be right?
Releasing destructive emotions and darker impulses don’t require tight control of our thoughts and feelings. We don’t have to be at war with circumstances, our behaviour, other people’s behaviour, our feelings, other people’s feelings, our thoughts, or other people’s thoughts. We simply are not at war. It is just reverse. The emotional release process is freedom. And when we will start realising that we have been fighting a useless battle with our stuffed up useless thoughts and emotions, we merely walk off the battlefield.
We will start investing in learning and practising more and more emotional release processes. With the help of many breathing exercises, we can release stuffed up emotions from within. Sharing our emotions with some trustworthy and mature person is another very powerful way to keep our mental hygiene. Writing down on paper and then just burn it is another technique. Chanting different mantras can help to burn the negativity in the mind and also create positive energy and vibes around us. It’s like immersing our mind in the best of the perfumes along with detoxifying it.
If we want to keep our mental sanity and work from the whole mind of peace and happiness and not from our conflicted mind, we need to start using some of these mindfulness and emotional release techniques. By investing in mind sanitisers, not only we will be healthy mentally but also physically because most of the diseases in the body are just manifestation of different kinds of suppressed emotions, stress and tension. So start the process of emotional release immediately, it’s not a luxury rather the most important basic necessity to be happy.
The writer is a spiritual life coach
