The Oxford Dictionary’s official word of the year for 2018 is toxic! I will admit, that when I first heard this, I totally understood how this came to be. On many levels from politics, to gun violence, from “me too,” to fires and devastating weather…it feels as if things as we have known them are shifting.

Yet is it fair to cast a black poisonous veil over what scares us?

Is simply saying it’s “toxic” enough to keep us “safe” from the people or things that discolor our thoughts and sadden us?

I feel that if you really want things to not be toxic you need to stop labeling them as such. You need to seek out the detox, the antidote, the mindset that brings the things you feel that you cannot control into full decision-making view. I know that this begins with something powerful both you and I possess. That something is our ability to choose. To pick detox over toxic, to decide on abundance versus famine. To choose happy and in the moment over worry and stress. To BE in the DOING of detoxing rather than living in the in-action of toxic.

To detox toxic you need to believe in something bigger.

Yourself. God. The Universe. Today.

You need to know that there is always something you can do, some action no matter how micro that you can take that will sweeten the toxic in the world around you.

Perhaps this antidote is in your smile?

Maybe it lives in your heart?

Is it shown in acts of kindness, in thinking and reaching outside of ourselves?

There will always be toxic entities that you cannot cure or arrest, yet how you respond or react to the tainted parts of your life determines how well you live and experience the beautiful and joyous aspects.

 If toxic is the glass ½ empty, then detoxing toxic is the glass ½ full.

As you turn the page on a new year, turn the page on how you experience toxic. Let it not be an unravel but a rally to show up. Allow the worst of things to teach you what is important, to reveal your choices and to give you permission to bring kindness and humanity forward.

If you want to detox toxic, give yourself permission to do more and to wait less. When looking fear in the face, don’t look away. Detox that fear and replace it with what you most want in your life and in the world. Make a list of what feels toxic to you and find one small micro action you can take now to counteract and detox that situation. Turn 2018’s word of the year on its side in 2019 and execute your power of choice to build upon a more abundant and community-based outlook. You cannot stop the fires from burning, or the politicians from tweeting, but you can do something kind for those in need and you can be mindful of what you say and share in a public forum. If we each go back to pulling our weight, showing up, making decisions, seeking our truth we can, and we will, rediscover a way to overcome our fears, counteract any poison thrown at us, and create the energized and consistent change we need and seek in the world.

 

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