For years, I’ve studied health and fitness. Through all that, I gained an understanding of what “eat right and exercise” really means. Still, on the surface, this advice isn’t worth much to the uneducated individual. How, exactly, does one “eat right”? How does one really know what is right, particularly with so many conflicting sources of information?
I once read this rephrased in a way that made more sense to me: eat clean. It’s much easier to conceptually grasp clean as compared to right. Eating clean implies we avoid foods or beverages that have pollutants, poisons, or other unhealthy elements. For me, it means choosing natural foods, high in nutritional value, low in all the nastiness we have come to know and love as western consumers.
As a practicality, I don’t always “eat clean”…far from it. I love too many delicious goodies that enable instant gratification to win over personal willpower. Yet, as a principle, “eat clean” is a phrase I can carry in my mind that lets me frequently reminds me to make better choices day by day. From experience, I know that when I eat clean, I physically feel better, lighter, and more vital. As such, I have a small phrase I carry with me that holds volumes of meaning, a principle by which I can make better choices in my life.
I heard a similar phrase in a program I listened to last year that has also stuck with me: “live clean”. This idea applies to the mind and spirit as “eat clean” does to the body. To live clean is to live free of spiritual and mental pollutants, primarily made up of negative emotions and thoughts such as fear, doubt, shame, guilt, anger, and jealousy.
How can we find peace of mind, a connection to others, or an authentic way of living if we carry the burden of such negative emotions? As fats can accumulate over time and clog an artery, such negativity can accumulate in the mind, clouding our thinking and diluting our serenity. Again from experience, I’ve learned that only to the extent that I live free from such negativity do I experience happiness and authentic relationships in my life.
As with food, to live clean is a matter of daily decisions. To find the source of the negativity I carry I must look at the thoughts and actions I have taken day by day. I must be honest with myself, asking exactly what I feel shameful of, angry at, or afraid of. I must look for my own part in each item, identifying any action I took or character flaw I embraced to create those feelings. I ask in what way I feel threatened such that my instinctual defenses are engaged. I work to find honest forgiveness for any wrongdoing imposed on me. I seek to accept people and circumstances exactly as they are. I make amends to others if needed, and acknowledge my own imperfections.
Through such a process I learn the true source of the negativity in my life. With this knowledge, I can then work to live cleanly, making better choices in my daily thoughts and actions. As with diet, my lack of willpower doesn’t let me avoid all such spiritual poisons, but over time I am able to improve my overall sense of wellbeing. Fear, shame, guilt, and anger weight less and less on me. I live more authentically, feel more connected, and have more genuinely loving relationships with people. My mind and spirit feel cleaner.
The principle of “live clean” is still one I must work on every day. It serves me as a sign post, pointing me in a direction of being contented and useful. I use it as a basis for progress in my life, a standard to which I can strive. I doubt I will ever find perfection in this matter, expecting instead a lifelong journey of always learning to “live clean” one thought or action at a time.
