Welcome to Day 3 of The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse. As you will experience in this process, each day builds upon the last. The work you did yesterday on becoming aware of the perspective through which you view your life prepared you perfectly for today's extraordinary agent of change: release. As you become aware of what has robbed you of the purity of an innocent mind, a clear heart and a strong body, you will be deeply served by letting go of those familiar limitations. Release, letting go and the shift in perception that accompanies it are the heart of all transformation.

Yesterday, you became aware of the negative interpretations, experiences and beliefs that have plagued your past. Now imagine that for every negative thing that has ever been said or done to you, a little pellet of pesticide has entered your bloodstream. And, on top of that, think about the things you have said to yourself, the anxieties and insecurities you've obsessed over, the fearful judgments you have believed to be true. Imagine all these damaging things as little pellets of pesticide that have entered your consciousness, blocking your ability to see the grandeur of your divinity. These pollutants have taken a toll, haven't they? They have sapped your energy and dimmed your inner light.

But here is the fabulous truth that I'll keep coming back to: Even if those toxins have been coursing through your bloodstream—and your mindstream—for decades, you can release every bit of it. You can transmute it. You can be free. You can release behaviors that you make visible into the outer world (such as overspending, gossiping or avoiding exercise) and you can release the things that hold you back in the privacy of your inner being (such as harboring resentments, belittling yourself with your thoughts or obsessing over a lost love relationship).

Today is the day to open the door and begin the holy process of releasing it all and letting your holiest self sweep out your cellar and haul away the toxic mold of the past.

Cleansing Ritual

Write out all the details of what you need to release in order to move closer to your goal for the 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse. When you are done writing, take the pages and do a ritual of release with them. Rip them up into small pieces, flush them down the toilet, throw them in the trash, toss them in the fireplace. And as you do, recite these words: "I give this to you, God, to transform into nectar for my soul. I let go of all that has taken up space in my mind, body and psyche. I give to you all the pain that I've been unable to let go of. Today, I ask that you turn what has formerly been toxic into fuel for my future."

Soulful Action

Your Outer Goal: What could you release today? What is one action you could take in the outer world today that will bring you closer to your goal? Take that action.

Your Inner Goal: Identify an action you can take or a thought you can think today that will give you the feeling you are seeking in 2010.

Soul Food: I am released from the toxicity of my past.

Debbie Ford is the national best-selling author of The Dark Side of the Light Chasers, The Secret of the Shadow, Spiritual Divorce, The Right Questions, The Best Year of Your Life and Why Good People Do Bad Things. Her new book is The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse (Harper Collins). She conducts workshops across the country. She lives in California with her family.

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