Spiritual Hygiene
Spiritual hygiene vs Spiritual contamination. What's the difference? Is this important? What role does spiritual hygiene play on my life? My outlook? Mental health? And what are ways we can improve our spiritual hygiene?
When we think of the term hygiene, we think of cleanliness. Spiritual hygiene is how we maintain, practice, and sustain cleanliness in our thoughts, our actions, energy, intuition, and integrity. What we cultivate in our thoughts and our immediate space affects our judgement, our feelings, relationships, and how we choose to overcome situations that arise. Good spiritual hygiene means being able to see the positive even through tough and challenging times. It doesn't mean having to always be positive or happy all the time. A part of life is also experiencing anger and sadness. But spiritual hygiene comes into play when we decide how we want to live with that sadness and what we do with that anger. Good spiritual hygiene comes into play when we choose to let go of things or people that hurt us, not for their sake, but for ours. It is accepting and coming to terms with things we cannot change; and much of life are things we cannot change. A huge part of life is having to come to terms with that. The only thing we can immediately control is our thoughts and how we sit with it.
When I started my shaman journey, I had really bad spiritual hygiene. It was contaminated. Filled with negativity. Depression. Anxiety. Bad eating habits. Toxic relationships. I let anyone step over me. But you see, Hmong shamanism has taught me to appreciate my life and find reasoning to the small things. It's taught me to listen to myself and respect my body, my intelligence, and honor my spiritual roots. It revealed to me that what I longed for, and what felt missing in my life prior, is this bigger purpose. Good spiritual hygiene means remembering the bigger purpose. Spiritual hygiene means resting when my body says to rest. It means saying no. It means setting boundaries. Spiritual hygiene means not only protecting my peace but sustaining it. Spiritual hygiene means protecting our energy and preserving it. Not all people or situations require our energy. This isn't individualistic thinking, but it's a form of preservation and self-care.
Poor spiritual hygiene, also called spiritual contamination, can look like some of the things we're struggling with today. Negativity. Depression. Being bitter. Lack of boundaries. Making poor decisions. Suicidal ideation. Spiritual contamination can look like giving everyone access to you. Allowing everyone's input to affect who we are. Are we making ourselves available to anyone at anytime for any reason? Are we allowing our thoughts to be clouded by what others think of us? Do we allow the thoughts of others to suppress who we are? Poor spiritual hygiene is lacking control of what we allow to foster and cultivate around us and within us. You've heard of the quote that says we can't control anyone but we can control how we allow them affect us. Poor spiritual hygiene can be one of the reasons why we experience negativity in parts of our lives. It can be the reason for anxiety or long-term depression, among other factors of course.
Everybody can use different methods and approaches to maintain good spiritual hygiene. For shamans, it's important to clean our altar. We should cleanse our home every once in a while. When we're feeling stressed, that would be a good time to cleanse our space. Burning joss at our altar is also a good practice. Get into the habit of prayer also helps. For others, meditation helps. All of us can practice good spiritual hygiene by simply resting. Slow down when we feel called to. It's important to not stretch ourselves too thin. When you keep getting into trouble or drama with the same person or group of friends, it might be time to love them from afar. Remember to try new things and keep filling your cup with experiences. Focus on things you CAN control.