Great ways to detox your mind

Set An Intention

A helpful way to begin the detox process is to set an intention for the season, or next chapter of your life. This helps you step into a new dynamic in a conscious way, instead of leaving it up to chance. Take an inventory of all the ways you wish to grow in your life — dream big in terms of where you want to be. If you could identify a word of phrase that describes the overarching feeling of what you want to achieve, what would it be?

When you think of this intention, write it down in a place you see often so you can remind yourself of your highest intention for the season.

Go Outdoors

Time spent outside has the power to invite encouragement, inspiration, and increased energy levels to your mind and body. It’s also improves overall physical and mental health, lowers stress levels, enhances the ability to concentrate, and quiets the mind. With this kind of power, getting outdoors may just be the best way to detox your mind.

Yet, according to the Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology as surveyed in 44 U.S. cities, Americans only spend 2 percent of their time outdoors, 6 percent in transit, and 92 percent of their time indoors. Yes, you heard that correctly: Americans spend only 2 percent of their time outdoors.

Spring is a great time to break out of the bubble and get outside. Go for a walk, hit the park, lie in a hammock, or start a garden. After all, the sun is shining and the birds are singing.

Meditate

The average human mind has at least 50,000 thoughts every day, which means you have a new thought about every 1.2 seconds. This is why the human mind is often referred to as the monkey mind. It’s easy for the mind to follow the many random thoughts and get lost and distracted from priorities, so having a way to detox your mind is important to help you keep your focus.

Meditation is an effective way to help calm the monkey mind. When you practice focusing on one thing at a time during meditation, you become more adept at focusing on one thing at a time in other areas of your life, too —essentially making the unhelpful and distracting thoughts that enter your mind less important, and enhancing your ability to focus on what needs your attention. This is how meditation helps you detox your mind and enhance your ability to focus.

Take a Technology Break

There are a number of benefits to doing a digital detox, but even a brief period of time away from your digital devices can be refreshing. You can start small by leaving your device home while you enjoy some time outside or even try leaving your tech tools switched off all day long.

Some other tech-free activities you might want to try:

• Attend a yoga class in your neighborhood.

• Go for a walk in the park. Find a quiet place and try meditation techniques with step-by-step instructions.

• Make it a low-tech day. Keep your television, computer, cellphone and other electronics turned off.

• Stretch at home.

• Take a bath. Leave your phone in a different room while you focus on just enjoy your time in the warm water.

Ask Yourself

Now is the time to take inventory of where you are in life and what you want to focus on and release. Ask yourself:

• What’s working in my life, and what’s not?

• What could be improved?

• Are there any relationships in my life that are not offering me value or joy?

• What is one bad habit that I feel ready to break?

• Are there any activities, events, routines, or tasks in my life that are not worthy of my time and attention?

• What’s the biggest mistake I’ve made this year so far, and what did I learn from it?

• What do I really want?

• What obstacle(s) is in my way of achieving this goal?

As you go through these questions, consider any roadblocks that are keeping you from being where you want to be. Don’t be afraid to be honest with yourself in identifying where those roadblocks are coming from — whether externally or within your own state of mind.