Do you wash your hands before eating? Pollutants and unwanted microbes are dealt with by the immune system, as well as information, stimuli and negative situations are filtered through by the nervous system. You wouldn’t consciously expose yourself to E Coli, or industrial waste as even strong and capable immunity doesn’t need constant aggravation, an extra load of toxins to deal with.
Some of the stuff on the screen, unhealthy interactions and negative environments have the side effect of straining the nervous system, a bit like mental E Coli. From Wikipedia, “A pollutant is a substance or energy introduced into the environment that has undesired effects, or adversely affects the usefulness of a resource”. Are peace of mind and positive emotions useful resources? States of flow, love and connection worthy pursuits in life? To preserve and enhance these good things we got to develop a way to detect the presence and actively neutralise polluting energies coming our way. That’s what mind hygiene is.
Everything emits a certain vibration and has an effect on the mind and mind pollutants abound these days, it seems the modern world is a minefield of sensationally hyped (and largely negative) news, catastrophes happening on the other side of the world, bickering and hatred on social media, doomsday predictions and dopamine releasing dumb entertainment all around.
If we compare the overbearing negative stimuli from the environment to pathogens, personal hygiene seems like a logical form of protection that needs to be put in place. According to the mighty WHO, hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases. Mental health is health too, obviously, so mental hygiene needs to be developed, for our own sake, and the sake of people close to us. If I am constantly anxious and worried, my friends and girlfriend will also be affected, and some important relationships will suffer. Rather than being a force for good and help create well-being, I might unconsciously become a source of pain. Instead of raising the vibration around me, I’ll end up sucking people’s energy and contributing to division and suffering.
I first thought of mind hygiene when working in London, in a job and professional environment I didn’t like. I was surrounded by people I really had no common ground with, many of them functioning alcoholics and really struggling with mental and physical health. During the 2 years I spent there, in an office with 30 people, 2 unfortunately fell very ill and passed away to chronic disease. I found the job really tedious, uneventful and I was keeping it purely for the money, selling myself 8 hours a day while completing my nutrition course before moving to Thailand.
My ex-girlfriend, quite the opposite, had a high pressure job with many demands and a fast paced environment, but she was truly amazing at cleaning her energy. She would come home, change into comfortable clothes and leave the work day behind, just like that, it was so easy for her. I had to put in some effort to boost my feel good neurotransmitters. I would cycle home every evening and do 45 minutes of gentle Yoga, a true wonder for cleansing the mind of pollutants. The results were harmonious, relaxed interactions and positive emotions, most of the time.
No matter how good you are at enduring negative environments, or how lucky you are at attracting love, fun and good opportunities in life, having a practice of letting go, a way to clean and freshen the mind is pure gold.
With a calmer mind and a stronger sense of awareness, I am a lot more in control of my own energy, which means I am better at choosing who I give energy (attention) to and I know when I should just let a conversation go, leave a place or switch off the screen. If I choose to support someone with a low vibration, I do it with goodwill and a sense of awareness which allows me to keep my cool, most of the time. I take mind hygiene very seriously and particularly when it comes to the Internet, TV and the phone. I read the news less than once weekly as the news is a numbing source of worry and portrays a dangerous and hostile world which does not represent a balanced view on reality.
In this large population based cross-sectional study of the US adult population, it was found that there was significant association between TV watching/computer use with moderate or severe levels of depression after controlling all potential confounders. Get off the screen as much as you can and actively relax, have you tried Yoga Nidra?
The theory is simple, anything that negatively influences the mind should be considered a potential pollutant and so reduced or, if possible, eliminated. Junk food, often or unconsciously consumed dopamine releasing stimulants are such things too, obviously.
A practice of mind hygiene is ultimately a practice of awareness. Keep it clean, keep it good and when it’s inevitably bad and you feel your mind is soiled, have a way of cleaning it with physical activity, exposure to Nature, Yoga, meditation and other health enhancing, mind hygienic disciplines. Expose your nervous system to art, music, inspiring literature and high quality media only. I do this for myself and everyone else around me as laugh, good vibes and positive emotions are contagious indeed.