Cleansing Our Perspectives

Our January issue theme is renewal, to that end I made a commitment of personal renewal to myself. That included attempting to complete a cleanse in the New Year. Proudly I can say, last week I completed the Ultimate Energy Cleanse and for those that know me, they know the sacrifices it required. The cleanse entailed a week with no coffee, carbs, no processed food and no satisfying other cravings.

Sunday night was the last night and when I saw my dinner plate of steamed spinach, edamame, green beans and salad I had just about enough. Yet I made my way through the meal–some of it at least–and stayed true to my commitment. I’m proud of this accomplishment because in the end I know is for the betterment of me and indirectly for those around me. Going through the cleanse also gave me a greater appreciation for people like my wife, Adele, who has made commitments like being a vegetarian (which I am not), eating healthy (which I try to do but she actually does) and being disciplined enough to practice what one preaches (which I usually do and she always does). For everyone out there like her, I salute you!!

It was also interesting to talk with my business partner Matt during the week. He has focused on many different areas of holistic living and self development, of which doing the cleanses has been one. Some of his thoughts helped motivate me to do this in the first place. When talking about holistic living, Matt told me that, in his opinion, my focus on my personal development was as great as many of the approaches people he’s seen coming through more traditional holistic practices such as yoga. That was a good point for me to reflect on during the week.

I was told going through the cleanse week could be emotional, enlightening and energizing. All of which I found to be true at different points. Although I don’t understand why I found myself doing a lot of self reflection, there was a lot of it. Part of the time was spent considering the food items I consume and the whys behind it. While I didn’t come away with a lot of answers to life questions, I came a way with the better understanding of what’s important to me personally.

I guess in the end what I came away with after the week is that we all have to realize we need to care about ourselves since we are the ones most able to take care of our own selves. Additionally I learned even though I have not considered myself holistic in the past, my ongoing efforts to improve my self really is holistic in nature.

Beyond that, I learned that with everything in life there are always some who are ahead of us and some who are behind. Most important for me was to keeping striving to make self-discovery and renewal an important part of our lives. It’s important to challenge myself to do new and different things. Only through this process can we reach higher planes and attain goals we might not have thought before possible.