I was at drinks with a girlfriend last week and just as she began to say something negative about someone, she stopped herself. She literally bit her tongue then shared that she was on a “spiritual detox.” “Spiritual detox?” I asked. “Tell me more!” I said as I scooted my chair closer to hers.

“You know what? This would make for a great weekly wellness challenge,” she said, then went on to share that she read about it in Yoko Ono’s “Cleaning Pieces.” It turns out, it’s quite simple: you don’t say anything negative about people. You remove gossip from your life and let that negativity go. You focus on yourself, and don’t do harm to others via your words.

And I think my friend is right—for two reasons. One, this spiritual detox is something I definitely want to explore, and two, it should be a wellness challenge. So here we are.

Challenge: Spiritual Detox

Try to say nothing negative about anybody. Depending on how much you think you need this in your life, or how drastic of a change you’re willing to make, here are a few options, directly from Yoko:

1. a) For three days
2. b) For forty-five days
3. c) For three months

See what happens to your life.

I absolutely love the idea. I have a feeling this will remove guilt, anxiety, and just overall bad joo-joo.

I don’t even necessarily find myself gossiping too often, but I’m definitely guilty of judgement and rude comments at times—I think most of us are. Speaking poorly about others is hard on your soul and as Oprah puts it, “when you talk about other people, you are really just talking about yourself.”

Let me know how this goes!

p.s. a special thank you to my dear friend for this idea!