Release Toxic Emotions
Although we are all aware of the health-depleting effects of toxic substances and toxic foods, toxic emotions are often the most harmful accelerators of the aging process.

Whenever you carry resentment, hostility, regret, or grievances in your heart, your vitality is eroded. Try this simple practice:

- Find a quiet place, sit comfortably, and close your eyes.

- Now take a few minutes to settle your mind with a meditation.

- After a while, bring your attention into your body and scan it for any area of tension or resistance. If you identify a place of congestion, have the intention to let it go.

- Bring your attention into your heart and acknowledge all the things for which you feel grateful.

- Now listen to your heart and ask yourself the question, "What am I carrying with me from the past that is no longer serving me well in the present?"

- If you identify any encumbrances in your heart, have the intention to release them now. Let go of any resentments, grievances, or regrets that you find.

- As you release these toxic emotions, see if you can find the gift that this toxic emotion was hiding. For example, if you felt pain as a result of someone's behavior, the gift may be that you learned more self-reliance.

- Make the commitment to regularly acknowledge gratitude and relinquish all grievances from the heart.

Encumbering your heart with toxic emotions prevents you from fully experiencing the magic, mystery, and joy that is available to your right now. Make the commitment to release the resentments, regrets, and grievances that are causing more harm to you than anyone else.

The process of releasing emotional toxins is similar to that for releasing physical ones. You must first have a clear intention that you want to replace life-depleting emotions with life-enhancing ones. The metabolism of regret and resentment into compassion and forgiveness can dramatically awaken your body, mind, and spirit to your primordial vital energy.

Write about the history that created the toxic emotion, describing both what happened and how you feel as a result of the situation. Studies have shown that journaling about upsetting emotional experiences can improve your immune function, as well as help you gain clarity and insight.

In his book, Nonviolent Communication, psychologist Marshall Rosenberg teaches an emotional vocabulary that avoids victimization. Steer clear from words like abandoned, abused, neglected, and mistreated; instead, describe the actual feelings of anger, sadness, loneliness, and fear that the circumstances evoked.

Once you have written about the circumstances leading to the toxic emotions, perform some physical ritual with the intention of releasing the hold these feelings have on your soul.

Do some deep breathing, get a massage, pound a pillow, dance with abandon, or go for a long run until your body has released the tension that is stored with the emotion.

Then, open your heart to feelings that generate the age-reversing emotions of forgiveness, harmony, laughter, and love rather than the entropy evoking onces of anguish, resentment, regret, and despair.

Toxic emotions are often the most harmful accelerators of the aging process. Commit to releasing them from your hear and mind.

- Grow Younger, Live Longer by Deepak Chopra, M.D. and David Simon, M.D.

What else? What else do you think will help?