Using the 21 Day Brain Detox for Grief

Grief is a type of emotional pain. Grief can manifest itself in physical ways as well. Stomachaches, headaches, aching body and fatigue are just a few examples. But the physical symptoms one experiences during grief begins in the mind. Emotional pain can be some of the most intense type of pain because a simple cast or band-aide cannot heal the pain. When grief seems to carry on longer than you feel it should and it is affecting the way you carry on your daily life it is time to consider completing a brain detox for grief.  

Meet Dr. Caroline Leaf

Dr. Caroline Leaf is a cognitive neuroscientist with a PhD in Communication Pathology and BSc in Logopedics and Audiology, specializing in metacognitive and cognitive neuropsychology. Dr. Caroline Leaf created a 5 step process that allows you to go into your thoughts and identify those that are toxic. She then guides you with the steps that can help you eliminate and change those toxic thoughts that may be holding you hostage.

Renewing Your Mind

This process can be used for any stage or area of life that you may be in. Using it as a tool to help you get through a season of grief is another constructive application of her detox. When we are in full blown grief it is less likely that we “capture” thoughts or “renew our minds.” This is because the fullness of emotion being felt isn’t given boundaries.  The feelings flow without much understanding about where they are all coming from. According the Dr. Leaf, “the average person has over 30,000 thoughts a day.” Many of these are a result of uncontrolled thinking. Often grief takes over so much that it turns into depression and anxiety and other representations of ill mental and physical health. When this occurs there are generally underlying toxic thoughts that are manifesting further pain and suffering.

21 Day Brain Detox for Grief

Dr. Leaf says, “75% to 95% of the illnesses that plague us today are a direct result of our thought life.” The 5 step process created by Dr. Leaf teaches you how to gather your thoughts and take them into “captivity”, making you more aware of what may be toxic and harmful. Over a period of 21 days you reflect on the thoughts and write in a journal. This helps to reveal more truth about those thoughts that may have been trapped deeper in the subconscious.  Last you must prepare something she calls “active reach.” In the active reach stage, you put into play steps that will create new healthy thoughts in place of the toxic ones.  

When you go through these steps there is some for of freedom that occurs as the toxic thoughts that may have been built upon for years and years, break down.  The new thought pattern grows in its place and makes you feel more clear headed than ever before.

Even though grief is normal and you should naturally feel emotional pain when dealing with loss, the 5 step process can help to assure that your a healing from a place of love and not of fear.  When you take your counsel from love you can then use what you have experienced to help others who will walk the road of pain and grief.