Banish Everything From Bad Vibes to Skin Issues

Does your energy (or skin) feel heavy, blocked, or stale? Then it may be time to practice the subtle art of banishment! Read on and learn how to banish everything from bad vibes to skin issues.

While it still feels a bit like winter (BRRR!), spring is sneaking up fast. That’s why it’s the perfect time to take stock and make room for all that positive, vibrant spring energy! If, however, you have a hard time letting go of things (whether it’s a toxic mindset or just clogged pores), it may be time to practice the subtle art of banishment. 

When we hold on to things that aren’t serving us anymore, it makes positive growth difficult. And while “letting go” sounds really easy, sometimes it’s devastatingly hard. That’s why having little rituals to help you remove these items from your life is so helpful. It could be something as simple as repeating a positive mantra or “washing away” bad vibes in the shower. 

Whatever you choose, it’s all about letting go of negativity so you can take charge of your mindset, energy, and even your skin! Read on and discover how to banish everything from bad vibes to skin issues.

What Does “Letting Go” Really Mean?

When we say letting go, we’re referring to the removal or “banishment” of anything in your life that’s hindering your mental or physical wellbeing. However, that covers a massive list of items. 

• Negative emotions (grief, anger, guilt, etc.)
• Toxic relationships (romantic or otherwise)
• Bad habits (nail-biting, poor dietary choices, etc.)
• Unrealistic expectations
• Negative skincare habits (picking at skin, tanning too much, etc.)
• Excessive shopping

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it should give you a good idea. What makes this even more complicated is that it’s still important to experience some of these items. Grief, for example, is important because it helps us remember what was so special about what we lost. When we hold on to these items for too long, however, they can start to negatively impact our overall well-being. If you're caught up on WandaVision, you know exactly what we mean (sob!). 

Sometimes we have a hard time letting go and moving on because we’re afraid of change or we don’t value our self-worth enough. Other times we don’t want to let go of something we’ve invested a lot of time and energy in. It can even be something as simple as a lack of motivation. Whatever the reason, holding on to anything that’s no longer serving you makes it really hard to thrive. 

Sometimes speaking to a mental health professional is absolutely the right call. The type of “letting go” we’re talking about mainly refers to simple habits or mindsets. However, dealing with any kind of emotional trauma can be painful. If that’s the case, you deserve to work with a professional to resolve those issues. Actually, let us say it louder for the people in the back--YOU DESERVE HELP. 

However, for smaller things you’re ready to tackle on your own, here are five simple steps to practice the subtle art of banishment!

5 Simple Steps to Practice the Subtle Art of Banishment

Deciding you’re ready to let go is, sadly, the easiest part. Actually having to move forward without those items can be REALLY hard. For example, if your morning commute is a nightmare of rage-fueled traffic that puts you in a bad mood, it might seem impossible to “let go” of that negative attitude. 

It may also seem impossible to simply banish skin issues, but it’s NOT impossible! Whether it’s a skincare ritual or a mental health ritual, it’s all about setting your intentions and spreading good vibes. If you haven’t checked out our Ultimate Guide to Rituals, now would be a good time.

While some issues require the assistance of a licensed therapist or dermatologist, sometimes you just need a plan and a can-do attitude. Even if you don’t have the last part (yet), here are five simple steps you can use to practice the subtle art of banishment. 

First, Identify WHAT You’re Letting Go

This may sound really silly, but it’s honestly the most important step. To help you understand, let’s go back and look at the traffic example from earlier. While it may be tempting to simply take a different route or leave at a different time of day, that’s only half the problem. What happens if you’re running late and still end up in the same place with the same traffic? 

In this example, it’s not necessarily the traffic that’s the problem. It’s your mindset about the traffic. The only thing you can control is yourself. If that’s the case, then you need to change the way you’re responding to this particular stressor. You can use that same logic for LOTS of issues. 

Want to banish your acne? Figure out what’s causing it (stress, dirty pillowcase, sleeping in makeup, etc.). Determine what you CAN control and then go from there. 

Second, Symbolically Destroy It

For certain issues, this is easier said than done. If you constantly say negative things to yourself in the mirror, write all those things down and then burn them (safely) or erase them. Imagine yourself destroying those ideas and removing them from your life. You may find that you only need to do this once, but if you find yourself slipping back into old habits there’s no harm in repeating it.

For the traffic example, you might meditate and imagine wide open roads or, conversely, some quiet serene setting. Luckily, for skin issues, you can LITERALLY destroy these issues. If you regularly sleep in your makeup and have noticed dull, blemished skin in the morning, “destroy” those issues by developing a cleansing nighttime skincare ritual. Voila!

Whatever you do, just remember that this is all about your intentions. While you’re practicing this step, focus your mind on banishing that item. Imagine it washing away, burning up, crumbling apart, etc. Choose whatever visual makes the most sense for you and focus your mind on it. 

Create a Mantra to Re-Tune Your Vibrations

Now that you’ve “banished” those bad vibes, it’s time to replace them with positive ones. A mantra is a word, sound, or statement that’s repeated to assist in concentration or focus. In this instance, your mantra will help strengthen your intentions and re-tune your vibrations. It can be as simple or poetic as you like, and there are LOTS of shortcuts you can take.

If your issue has to do with self-image, mantras are a phenomenal tool. They allow you to practice speaking to yourself with love. It can be really hard at first (especially if your internal voice tends to be negative), but it gets easier the more you practice. Something as simple as “I am enough” or “I am beautiful” might do the trick. You may even develop multiple mantras for different things (reducing anxiety, promoting patience, avoiding sugary snacks, etc.).

If the idea of writing your own is too daunting, you can just sing along to your favorite confidence-boosting song! If there’s a particular song or guided meditation that helps put you in a better mental place, then run with it! We regularly find ourselves rapping along to Yung Baby Tate’s song “I Am.”

So, instead of letting the road-rage consume you the next time you’re stuck in traffic, use that time to focus on your mantra or to sing along to your song of choice. It’s all about reframing your mind and re-tuning your vibrations.

Visualize, Visualize, Visualize

Visualizing goes hand-in-hand with the previous step. When you repeat a mantra or sing a song, you’re communicating with your conscious mind about what you want. Unfortunately, it’s a little harder to talk to our subconscious. This is where visualization comes in handy. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger, yes THAT Arnold, famously used visualization to help him achieve his bodybuilding goals. He said, “It is one thing to idolize heroes. It is quite another to visualize yourself in their place. When I saw great people, I said to myself: I can be there.” Whether or not your goals include bodybuilding, visualization is surprisingly powerful. But how does it work?

When you visualize something, your brain creates impulses that tell neurons to perform some kind of action. Over time, this can create entirely new neural pathways that help your brain and body act in a way that’s similar to what you were visualizing. It sounds crazy, right? Well, one study “found that the patterns activated when a weightlifter lifted hundreds of pounds were similarly activated when they only imagined lifting.” How cool is that?!

Plus, we’ve all been doing this to some degree for a while. Whether it’s a full Pinterest board or a few pictures in your bedroom, being able to feast your eyes on a “goal” is surprisingly helpful. For goals like clean skin or full healthy nails, coming up with an image is pretty simple. But what about intangible goals like self-confidence or more realistic expectations?

You have to figure out what those goals “look” like to you! Sometimes just seeing a picture of ourselves from when we were really happy and carefree is enough to do the trick. Just find an image that makes you feel the way accomplishing that goal will make you feel. 

Lastly, LIVE Your New Reality

If the whole point of banishing something from your life is to make it easier to thrive and be happy, then you should start practicing for all that happiness NOW. Again, it may sound strange, but this is the step that has the fastest payout.

For example, maybe you keep putting off that beach trip because you’re waiting until you’ve got the perfect bubble-butt. Well, do you know what you could be doing while you’re working on your fitness? You could be at the beach! You could be having a blast and living your best life AT THE BEACH.

Putting your life on hold until you reach your goals is a huge waste of time. It may sound silly to “practice” being happy, but the better you get at it the more naturally it will come to you. 

If you’re banishing negative self-talk and replacing it with self-worth, then why not go ahead and do things that make you feel worthwhile? Leaving behind toxic friendships and replacing them with fulfilling ones? Join an online group or community class and enjoy socializing again! Not only will this immediately make you happier, but it will also solidify your new reality.

Fifth & Root Banishment Rituals

It should come as no surprise that our favorite banishment rituals involve skincare. We put so much energy and positive intentions into our products so why not use them to help promote positivity and banish negativity!

If we have a particular item we want to banish, this ritual might look different. However, since we already have morning and evening skincare rituals, we try to multitask and use that time to tend to our energy.

We like to start our mornings with Drops of Sunshine. While we're holding that dropper full of goodness under our tongues, we like to jam out and visualize all the positive things we're working towards. After twenty seconds, we swallow the tincture and imagine all those good intentions infusing our vibrations with positivity.

One or two times a week, we like to banish any negativity. That might be emotional negativity or just the daily dirt and pollution that might have accumulated on our skin. For this, our product of choice is our Moonlight Cooling Glow Mask. After applying the mask, we try to meditate and imagine that the Kaolin Clay is pulling out impurities (emotional or otherwise) and neutralizing is so it can't harm us anymore. Then we wash the mask off and imagine all those impurities washing down the drain.

If this seems simple to you, it is! You don't have to do anything elaborate, just do what feels right. Honestly, the simpler your banishment rituals are, the easier it will be to keep them up.

Banish Negativity and Replace It With Positivity

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it about a million more times--you deserve to be happy and healthy. Comparing your problems to someone else’s and saying, “I don’t really have it that bad,” is unfair and unhelpful. At any point in your life, you’re allowed to change and seek happiness. Maybe that just means revamping your skincare rituals, but maybe it means rethinking the way you talk to yourself.

Thank you so much for hanging out with us today! We’d love to hear about your banishment rituals, so feel free to tag us on Instagram so we can check them out.