We research, advocate and support human rights, environmental and animal causes, our access to food and water free of pesticides and poisons, our chronic ailments and illnesses to get the treatment we choose, and we do all this to be in true alignment with our core values and beliefs, but what are we doing to detox our emotions?
How can we stay away from the negativity that stems from this fast-paced 24/7 availability and connectivity to the digital world? How do we turn off our phones and computers to fully relax? How can we find inner peace for our emotions that are increasingly numbed or stressed out by technology? How do we use technology in our favor without letting it invade our lives during or after work?
Maybe, and just like me you tend to ask yourself this a lot. Maybe you are now trying to distance yourself from being hooked to the instantaneous.
Technology is amazing, this is not a diatribe against it, but just like with many other amazing things in life, our relationship to them is what really matters. And in this case our relationship with the digital needs to be broken down, evaluated and understood deeply so that it doesn’t take us over. The internet is taking over, we now have virtual lives and “real time/real life”, and sometimes things get hectic and confusing for both work or play.
Virtual speed can cause anxiety, confusion and even mayor depression because it seems to be affecting us in infinite ways of feeling and thinking which need to be studied.
It would be wonderful for us and for our children (if we have them) to learn how to play nice with technology so it becomes a daily tool and not a “friend”. We don’t want our children to get their self-esteem, sense of worth and values from how many “likes” they have on their facebook page. Unless we plan on moving to a desert island or a place with no wi fi signal, we cannot avoid this idea or feeling of living inside the online web, which by the way Lana and Andy Wachowski explained so well in the movie The Matrix.
So what can we do to unplug? Well, we can start by reaching out to our connections with other humans, with animals and try to spend more time outside and ideally in natural environments.
Apart from our relationship with technology, for us to detox emotionally we need to review all of the relationships in our lives.
The people around us are as key to our general wellbeing as the very air we breath in. Being surrounded by trusting, loving and positive people is just as good as working out, or I dare to say it is even better! I write this simply because being loved is as important as loving others.
To me emotional detox is about a having and keeping relationships that are a two way street, meaning those in which the giving and receiving reciprocal, luminous and make both parties feel good.
Remind yourself that just like you feel deep empathy for animals and the environment, you must feel that too for other human beings we share the planet with.
If life is a transition (whether you believe in reincarnation or not) then make sure your time here is profound, creative, interesting, intense and happy.
Emotional detox is basically about letting go of people who constantly hurt you and surrounding yourself with those who cherish you. It’s also about being honest with yourself and figuring out which people you need close to you and which people you must let go of.
Spend your time with folks who share your core values, those people are your present and ancestral tribe.
