Cleansing the Body, Muddling the Mind

I’m in the middle of a 10-day food cleanse right now and it seems to be going well. I can’t say I’ve adhered to the guidelines without fail. But I have been following the “rules” for the most part, and my body already looks and feels a little different as a result.

This got me thinking about what a 10-day mind cleanse might look like. Would it entail only reading classic literature and cutting out television. Maybe I could add news programming and PBS during the last few days. Should I avoid the computer all together, or just social media sites like Facebook? And what about music? Would a 10-day diet of only classical music leave my mind a more detoxified place?

There are many resources for those who strive to practice clean eating, but what of clean thinking? Too bad there isn’t a list of detailed ingredients on the back of every novel or magazine, something to warn readers the contents were nothing but the literary equivalent of trans fats.

For now, I’m satisfied with my start on detoxifying my body, but I aim to do the same thing for my brain later this summer, before too many deadlines and the specter of school beginning again draw my attention away. Meanwhile, I’m always open to suggestions on how to make my mind a more pure place.