It’s the start of spring, and what does this mean? It’s spring cleaning time. I’m not talking about cleaning the house, although that’s also necessary, I’m talking about cleaning my body from the inside out. I wasn’t aware about how much waste our bodies drag along, until I heard in a podcast that “our bodies are earth’s greatest landfills”. That made me rise some questions. So, if you are wondering about how I take care of my body ‘zero-waste style’, just continue reading.
First of all, when I say “body”, I refer to my physical body and mind.
A delicious and fun way to make my physical body ‘zero waste’ are detox smoothies. My favourite is called “Just pick anything green vegetable in your fridge and add orange, lemon and apple”. Yes, I just invented this name. I normally add cucumber, spinach, and any other leafy green, one orange, half a lemon and one apple. Always a good result. It cleanses the body and gives back necessary vitamins and minerals. Here you can read why these ingredients help with detoxing.
Photo by Young and Raw
Besides of the foods I eat or drink, there are also internal factors that have an effect on my bodies, like stress. I use several techniques to relieve stress like running, breathing exercises and techniques to put things into perspective.
We also have ‘waste’ in our minds. There are three kinds of waste I want to talk about. The first kind is mostly received by the news media. Fear sells, so most of the news items are bad news. Of all the amazing things that are happening right now, why do we only get to read in the newspaper what is going wrong? That’s why I don’t often read the news anymore. There are other, better sources to understand what’s happening, like travelling and talking to locals, or joining local events and reading the local community newsletter.
The second kind is people who mostly complain or spread negative vibes. It’s normal to have a bad day, and I will always listen and try to help. But if every day is bad, it’s important to help focus on the positive side of life and to avoid getting dragged along in the negativity. I’m a strong believer of “Always look on the bright side of life” 😉
The third kind is our own judgement. Our judgement is our biggest challenge to overcome. It’s this little voice in our heads saying “You are not good enough, “You’re not smart, “You don’t matter”, or other millions of variants depending on the situation. Our judgement has an important job to do, to make sure we make sense of life. It tends to resist whatever it judges as a “problem” or “unsafe” like going out of our comfort zone, which causes negative emotions and stress. I see this as ‘waste’ that doesn’t help me to get to my goals. What I do against this? Meditation. Its truly helps me to identify when my judgement is dominating my mind and to take back control. I don’t always succeed, but practice makes experience.
So, a quick recap of what I do to make my body spring-time zero-waste ready: detox smoothies, running, breathing exercises, focusing on good news, surrounding myself with positive people and regular meditation. Happy spring time!
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Mixua believes that everyone can make a positive impact. That is why we want to inspire you on the way to a more ecological lifestyle. We do this through various activities such as the Eco Tours, online workshops and online discovery guide.