Just How Toxic Am I?

So last week I was browsing some web page and up pops an add for these detox foot patches. You've probably seen them on TV. The claim is that as you sleep toxins build up in your feet and by using a drawing agent, you can eliminate these at night. Hmm...really?

I scoured the page reading the testimonials, looking at the before-and-after pictures (which were pretty gross) and determined they weren't for me. So I closed the page, went about my online business and as I closed Firefox, I noticed a pop-up add...'Wait! Don't go yet!' it read. Then it proceeded to lure me into ordering a box of these Cleanse Patches for one low price of $29.99. Hmm...really? Well, OK.

So I fired off my order then eagerly waited for my patches, which arrived a few days later. That night, I slapped the detox patches on the soles of my feet with the adhesive stickers. I should have known these things were bullshit when I opened the box because they smelled exactly like mulch to me. (I absolutely abhor mulch. I remember when they'd mulch the flower beds at A&M and I be walking through campus with my friends trying to be cool. It was all I could do not to stop and puke.) Bypassing this little metaphor in the moment, I pulled on my cotton socks, said a prayer of gratitude for my day and life, then drifted off to sleep.

I woke up about 5:45 the next morning remembering why my feet were so hot and itchy. Excited, I pulled off the socks and patches. I got nothing. Nada. Not one little black patch. I just burst out laughing. "Well, I guess all that organic food I buy at Whole Foods is really paying off," I thought. "I'm not toxic!" ;-) Needless to say, I'm now testing this company's 60-day money back guarantee policy.

I tend to look for the metaphors in everything these days. So in looking at this very comical experiment, what I realized was that the only real way for me to detox is to continue moving down this path I'm on. For me, that's using my 'witchy' energy work to reframe the blueprints of my life. In other words, shift limiting beliefs and patterns at the subconscious level then clear that negative energy out of my system. I have been actively doing this level of work for the past year and the changes have been astounding. But that's a whole other series of blogs.

No doubt, I should detox from those late nights of merlot, sunny afternoons of margaritas or baskets of chips. I realize those toxins are pretty temporary, nothing a little lemon water and broccoli can't fix. It's those deeper toxins that really eat away at you. Those are the ones that make you truly sick. You know, the anger, guilt, fear, anxiety, and host of other negative emotions and beliefs we tend to hold onto, falsely believing that they are our truth.

I am well aware that this journey to cleanliness is a lifelong one, and once you begin, there's no turning back. I see now that it takes more than slapping on a foot patch and hoping my toxins disappear in my sleep. The only real way for me to move forward into the life I intend to create is to see and smell my own mulch at times. Acknowledge it, clean it up and move on. And over the past few months, I've done just that. It's not pretty, and trust me, it's certainly not easy. But in peeling off those hot, itchy, stinky patches, I'm finding a cleaner, purer, happier me underneath.

If nothing else, that little reminder was worth the $29.99.