Day 217 of 365 - Consciousness Cleanse
In keeping with what resonated personally from yesterday's post, regarding taking more personal responsibility for examining our beliefs, behaviors and values, I turn today to the topic of a consciousness cleanse. My reference for this is a book written by personal development guru, Debbie Ford, called The 21 Day Consciousness Cleanse. As she describes, it 'is a profound process for cleaning up the past, getting honest about the present and envisioning a future'. This is a cleanse for the mind, emotions and spirit. It is a tool for getting past the mediocrity we have settled for in our day to day life.
Rather than describing the whole process, which you can read about and follow in detail from the book if you are interested, I want to touch on what Ford describes as the rules for the game or adventure, which will help us to do that more personal examination.
Rule No. 1 - Unhooking from the outer world
When we direct most of our energy towards things outside ourselves, we guarantee the status quo. This robs us of our ability to discern what brings true meaning, happiness and purpose to our lives. Unhooking supports us in observing ourselves, and seeing all the ways we are controlled and manipulated.
Rule No. 2 - Giving up the self you know
This is a journey from head to heart, from thinking to feeling. Here we examine the negative beliefs and false assumptions we have been living by, and learn to hear the longings of the soul, to question who we are and where we belong.
Rule No. 3 - The willingness to shift
This refers to shifting out of life drama and thinking that we do it all alone, to choosing a partnership with the greater whole. A higher knowing emerges, and we glimpse ourselves beyond our limitations and critical mind. It's a surrendering of the control of ego to greater, unseen forces, which can guide and support us.
Rule No. 4 - God first
When we completely identify with our ego, we fail to see that it is only one aspect of ourselves. We each also have a divine state of consciousness, sometimes called God. Being aware of it can help bring compassion to the needs of our ego. It's not about getting rid of the ego, but seeing it as a tool for fulfilling the calling of the soul.
Rule No. 5 - Expanding your container
There is a wealth of infinite wisdom available to us, but we can only take in what we have made room for within ourselves. We fill our consciousness with distractions and outer fixes. Cleansing our consciousness of our past experiences and outdated thoughts and feelings, allows us to tap into a deep life affirming well.
The process of the consciousness cleanse is broken down into three weekly sections. The first seven days is for exposing beliefs and assumptions that have disconnected us from our soul's expression. In the next seven days we take an honest look, standing in the present, at who we are today, learning that our power is in the present moment. The third week is an opportunity to look to the future and who we want to be. The cleanse involves practices of meditation, contemplation, prayer and journaling to help us rise above the mundane.
If what you've read seems to smack of ideas you may be familiar with from the addiction recovery movement, it is because Ford was a recovered addict herself. Many of her books and coaching practices were an attempt to bring recovery principles more to the mainstream, combining them with a spiritual and psychological perspective.
I have personally done the Consciousness Cleanse several years ago. While it might have made for a more interesting post to hear my personal journey through it, I'd have to see if I still own the journal documenting it (I don't think I do) or to do it over again. In any case, it's going to be different for each individual. We would all have our own unique experience at different points in time.
Maybe this whole topic seems a bit of a leap from yesterday's theme, But, to me, it gets at the depth of personal examination to which Gabor Maté referred, about waking up to how we usually tend to live in the world. It's a journey of awareness and responsibility to possibility.
Rather than describing the whole process, which you can read about and follow in detail from the book if you are interested, I want to touch on what Ford describes as the rules for the game or adventure, which will help us to do that more personal examination.
Rule No. 1 - Unhooking from the outer world
When we direct most of our energy towards things outside ourselves, we guarantee the status quo. This robs us of our ability to discern what brings true meaning, happiness and purpose to our lives. Unhooking supports us in observing ourselves, and seeing all the ways we are controlled and manipulated.
Rule No. 2 - Giving up the self you know
This is a journey from head to heart, from thinking to feeling. Here we examine the negative beliefs and false assumptions we have been living by, and learn to hear the longings of the soul, to question who we are and where we belong.
Rule No. 3 - The willingness to shift
This refers to shifting out of life drama and thinking that we do it all alone, to choosing a partnership with the greater whole. A higher knowing emerges, and we glimpse ourselves beyond our limitations and critical mind. It's a surrendering of the control of ego to greater, unseen forces, which can guide and support us.
Rule No. 4 - God first
When we completely identify with our ego, we fail to see that it is only one aspect of ourselves. We each also have a divine state of consciousness, sometimes called God. Being aware of it can help bring compassion to the needs of our ego. It's not about getting rid of the ego, but seeing it as a tool for fulfilling the calling of the soul.
Rule No. 5 - Expanding your container
There is a wealth of infinite wisdom available to us, but we can only take in what we have made room for within ourselves. We fill our consciousness with distractions and outer fixes. Cleansing our consciousness of our past experiences and outdated thoughts and feelings, allows us to tap into a deep life affirming well.
The process of the consciousness cleanse is broken down into three weekly sections. The first seven days is for exposing beliefs and assumptions that have disconnected us from our soul's expression. In the next seven days we take an honest look, standing in the present, at who we are today, learning that our power is in the present moment. The third week is an opportunity to look to the future and who we want to be. The cleanse involves practices of meditation, contemplation, prayer and journaling to help us rise above the mundane.
If what you've read seems to smack of ideas you may be familiar with from the addiction recovery movement, it is because Ford was a recovered addict herself. Many of her books and coaching practices were an attempt to bring recovery principles more to the mainstream, combining them with a spiritual and psychological perspective.
I have personally done the Consciousness Cleanse several years ago. While it might have made for a more interesting post to hear my personal journey through it, I'd have to see if I still own the journal documenting it (I don't think I do) or to do it over again. In any case, it's going to be different for each individual. We would all have our own unique experience at different points in time.
Maybe this whole topic seems a bit of a leap from yesterday's theme, But, to me, it gets at the depth of personal examination to which Gabor Maté referred, about waking up to how we usually tend to live in the world. It's a journey of awareness and responsibility to possibility.
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