Toxins are everywhere.

{gasp! insert the "du-du-duuunnn" music here}

A lot of us are aware of the toxins that are in our environment.

{think smog, car exhaust, paint fumes, factory emissions, hairspray (gasp!), cleaning products, your little brother's smelly feet}

A lot of us are becoming more aware about the toxins in our food.

{yes, those twinkles that don't go bad really are bad for you, the fake meat that doesn't mold at fast food restaurants, the aspartame in soda, the bleach in sugar, the pesticides and herbicides that are sprayed all over our produce that we eat and that our animals eat too, the chemicals that are injected into our foods so they ripen on the way from one side of the country to the other in the back of a truck, the Genetically-Modified Organisms that are corrupting the perfect way that God made our fruits and vegetables, the artificial colors, the artificial flavors, and even the little perfect little plastic portion-size containers that we put our food in affects our food}

{man, this is a real debbie-downer article...just keep reading...it gets even better}

Some people are aware that even what we put on our skin can affect our bodies. Did you know that anything you put on your skin is absorbed into your liver within 7 minutes?

Think about those fancy smelling lotions and perfumes, the body wash we lather up with, the shampoo, conditioner, and even the chemicals and dyes on our clothes.

{That's it, I'm going to turn into a dirty, smelly hippie that lives off the grid, grows my own food, never showers or breathes...not really though. I like hairspray too much.}

So you can see why I'm a bit of a nut when it comes to nutritional cleansing, right?

But what about the toxins that we aren't necessarily aware of or what we don't even think of as "toxic?"

#RealTalk

Things like toxic relationships with friends or even family members?

{not your family of course, because you guys all get along every single day, spend every Sunday together holding hands and singing coombaya and playing board games. You never fight, never get on each other's nerves, never need a break, never want to change them, and always love each other unconditionally at every moment of every day. Yeah, definitely not your family.}

#realtalk

Family is Messy. But family is important. So love them, have grace for them, and accept them in all of their quirkiness, flaws, mess-ups, and hang-ups. And make sure they do the same for you because you aren't perfect either. It doesn't mean you have to spend every day with together. It's ok to set boundaries. But cherish family. Please.

What about the toxic friends that are engaged in activities or things that you either want to move out of or have moved out of but they are still doing the same thing and you don't like to do it anymore? What about the friends that always talk about someone behind their back (girl, you better believe they are talking about you behind your back too). What about the relationships in your life that cause you to change who you authentically are (even if it's ever so slightly) so that you don't offend them, set them off, or crack one of the egg shells you are constantly walking on when you are around them? What about the friend that, ever so slightly, puts you down, squashes your ideas, always has to be right, makes you feel small, or tries to tear you down every time you do something good/new in your life?

That's called "dimming your light." Don't do it anymore.

Love them from afar and find new friends who challenge you to grow, encourage you, there is a mutual exchange of energies (aka-both of you feel even more alive after hanging out).

#truthbomb

Here are some more examples of toxic people (and people you should begin to "love from afar" as I like to put it:

Did some friends of yours come to mind? Did some of these things sting a little because you could see yourself in some of them?

#ouch

It's ok. Me too.

I was a blamer. I was a gossiper. I'm sure to some people, I was an energy sucker.

#realtalk

I'm sorry. I had to grow. I had to become aware of where I was being toxic to others. I had to apologize and more importantly, I also had to forgive myself.

#youshouldtoo

I also had to identify those relationships that weren't life-giving. If our food should be life-giving, so should our relationships.

As a Nutrition Specialists, Health and Wellness Coach, it was easy for me to identify a lot of different toxins in people's lives, and even in my own. I began to teach others and myself about nutritional cleanse more, cleaning up food intake, changing to organic make-ups and lotions, household cleaning products, etc...

But when it came to the deeper detoxing of the people, habits, and things in my life that weren't serving me, it got a little harder. I had to grow. It was uncomfortable...Kind of like my prego-belly growing and my normal jeans not buttoning around the baby-belly anymore. I had to get maternity pants. I had to change as I grew. I had to become aware of the bad habits I had that were keeping me stuck and I had to do something about them.

{This is called action...don't be "that guy" that becomes aware of something but doest actually do anything about it...Go get some "maternity-brain pants" as your consciousness and awareness grows...yeah, I know it's not even a "thing," but I get to write this blog and I like making things up and it makes perfect sense to me!} =)

I had to identify where I was keeping myself in debt and not financial abundance. I had to identify what things in my life weren't serving me. I had to clean my house. I had to organize my closet. I had to de-clutter and organize so that there wasn't a "spot of resistance" every time I walked by a pile of paperwork or laundry. I had to identify the "projects" or jobs I was a part of that I wasn't passionate about or excited to be involved with because that drained me of my energy instead of giving me energy.

{I'm still working on the laundry thing. Don't judge. I can't be perfect}

I encourage you to take some time and evaluate where you could "detox" a few areas of your life. I'll be honest, detoxing can be hard. If you are one of my nutritional cleansers, you know that you may get a headache. If you are detoxing some friends, you may have some heart ache. If you are detoxing some habits, you have have another headache because let's face it, changing habits (and just change in general) can be tough.

Our brain wants to keep us safe. Our brain wants to keep us within the circle of things and people that is familiar. Most of us think and do the exact same thing we did yesterday.

The point is, toxins are everywhere. And how they affect our body can be physical, it can be mental, and it can be spiritual. We need the real you...the clean and high-functioning, brightly shining You in all of your God-given abilities. So do me, and the rest of the world a favor...