Whether it’s for vanity, special fx, or any other reason, wearing makeup changes the way a person’s face appears in its natural state. That change could be a very subtle change or it could be one that’s extremely drastic.
Now, I don’t know very much about makeup — in fact, sometimes I can’t even tell when someone is wearing it — but I’m pretty sure I know one thing. Women who wear makeup usually wash it off their faces at the end of the day.
If they didn’t wash it off, and instead left it on, woke up the next day and added a new layer of makeup to what’s left over from the day before, it would certainly look a hot mess. I know that doing that would also be extremely unhealthy for their skin.
If they did that over the course of days, weeks, or months — never washing the makeup off, just adding more makeup to it every day — it could get really, really bad.
Imagine how all those layers and layers of makeup would look and how much that amount of caked on make up would alter a person’s face. You would probably hardly be able to tell what that person naturally looks like under all of the makeup. Not to mention the damage it might do to their skin.
But this post isn’t really about makeup. Think of stress, negativity, anxiety, and trauma being to the brain what makeup is to the face. It layers on and never really goes away unless we “wash” it off, or in other words remove it.
When we don’t remove it, and we live through years and years of negative thoughts, stressful situations, traumatic experiences and hard times, can you imagine how far from it’s natural state your brain could potentially be? You’ve certainly had negative thoughts. You’ve probably experienced some trauma. And you’ve definitely experienced stress. Have you ever thought to do the work to cleanse your mind of all those caked on layers life has left?
So what is the work we should be doing to cleanse our minds to get them as close to their natural functioning state as possible?
That can come in many forms. A few ways are regularly going to a therapist, actively controlling our thoughts, acknowledging the experiences in life that have changed us for the better or the worst, being spiritually connected in whatever form that comes for you, having deep personal connections with loved ones, and of course, there’s so much more.
The most important thing you can do, is to be self aware enough to recognize that bad experiences affect you and your behavior. Being able to live life to the fullest means removing barriers between you and growth. If those barriers are mental, then they must be removed.
So we are aiming for internal peace and a level of freedom that makes life easy and fulfilling. That means cleansing our minds of all the goop that we’ve accumulated over the years, keeping it healthy and as close to its intended, natural state as possible.