The Importance of Mind Hygiene

Would you consider yourself to have good oral hygiene if you only brush once per week? 
Good mind hygiene also requires consistency.

With even a few minutes per day, we are able to assist the mind in maintaining healthier neural connections (think: integrated thought processes, balanced reactions, greater in-the-moment intelligence). Practices of meditation, prayer, yoga, distraction-free time, journaling, gentle movement, thought-awareness, and other mindfulness practices are all helpful methods for boosting mental health and conditioning the mind for greater clarity. And in alignment with all efforts of hygiene, there must be consistency for the benefits to be realized.

A life without rest is restless.

The above listed methods for mind hygiene have a common thread: they are deliberate and slow. The slow-down can be a challenge for many. It arises as feeling “lazy”, a “waste of time”, not rigorous enough to hit a calorie-burning goal, or overall unimportant in the trajectory of goal-achieving. We are utterly inundated with a push for fast, distracted, scattered, and high-pressure ways of being. The cultural pace of ‘busy’ keeps the locust of control on external sources and out of self-regulated reach… resulting in poor hygiene.

True rest is a break from pressure. True rest is not a break from purpose.

Personally, the practice of slow has become a focal point in my health and spiritual journey. I have made and continue to hold space for rest, for mind-hygiene, for evolving my mind-body connections, and awakening a sense of deep restoration that was previously so evasive. What has come as a result? Peace. Knowing. Space for God's movement. A state of health I did not know before. Clearer alignment to my purpose. Deeper relationships. And many more unspoken undercurrents of system alignment. 

Are you interested in learning more about mental hygiene or other methods of moving the needle in health? Take a peek at my schedule and let's connect!

In health,
Amy Rena Erickson