Have a Non-Toxic New Year
Practices and Affirmations for Healing from Toxic Beliefs
It’s the New Year—time to make some new resolutions!
But instead of the typical resolutions to eat better, work out more, spend less etc., let’s resolve to do something different.
Let’s resolve to detox from harmful beliefs and enjoy more peace, greater intimacy, and self-confidence.
Let’s finally get our bodies, minds, and hearts aligned so we can heal from toxic beliefs.
Let’s give ourselves the gift of healthier relationships, faith, and sexuality.
Let’s have a Non-Toxic New Year.
Read on for reflection and journaling questions, affirmations, and mind-body practices to help you continue healing this year.
Reflection
If you’re the type who likes to reflect back on the year as you set goals, intentions, resolutions, or select a word for the new year, here are some reflection + journaling prompts to help you do that!
Grab a cup of coffee or tea, a fuzzy blanket, and an hour to yourself. Light a candle, take a deep, cleansing breath, and open your journal.
Here are some questions to journal and reflect on:
In what way did I grow the most this year?
What was the single most important thing I did for my mental health?
When did I feel most myself?
What challenges did I overcome?
What toxic beliefs did I leave behind?
When it comes to healing my faith from toxic beliefs, what areas am I still struggling with?
Looking back, if I could sum up the year in a single word, what would it be?
What intention do I want to set for the new year?
Here are my answers:
I think I grew the most by handling criticism better than I thought I would and not letting it define me or my success—especially when it comes to my book reviews.
Continuing to make yoga a priority (I go about once a week) and occasionally journaling in the morning.
I feel most like myself when I’m playing with my kids and having relaxed, quality time with them.
I overcame the challenge of launching a book while also maintaining my therapy practice (my day job) and taking care of my family.
I left behind the toxic belief of needing others’ approval to be ok or accepted. I am learning that my acceptance of myself is enough.
I am still struggling with feeling distant from God and not feeling his presence.
Summing up my year in one word: Output.
My intention for 2025 is to be PRESENT. To reflect, enjoy more silence and stillness, and turn inward rather than constant output.
Affirmations
Positive affirmations, or mantras, are validating statements to recite and reflect on in moments when you need confidence. They work best if you can write them down and remember them, perhaps setting an alarm on your phone at certain times of the day to repeat the affirmation, putting it on a sticky note on your laptop, or reciting it before bed. Here are some affirmations for a healthy New Year. Download these affirmations for your phone wallpaper here.
Healing Affirmations
I can heal from toxic beliefs.
I resolve to validate my emotions.
I will speak up and use my voice.
I will protect my boundaries.
Purity Culture Affirmations
Shame has no control over me.
I can accept and embrace my sexuality.
I resolve to banish the purity culture myths in my thinking.
I can find healthier ways to teach my children/reparent myself.
Faith Affirmations
I can accept doubts and make peace with my questions.
I resolve to make choices about church that feel healing for me.
I find ways to connect with God and my spirituality.
I can find or create authentic community.
Middle Path Practice: Growing Self-Trust
Walking the middle path is about finding the synthesis between extremes. When it comes to self-trust, one extreme is “only listen to yourself; don’t listen to anybody else Listen to your heart and live your truth.” Another is, “look outside yourself for the answers. Your heart is wicked and deceitful and can’t be trusted, so you need other people to tell you the truth.” I find the latter is most emphasized in conservative Christianity, and the former is prevalent in popular culture.
Instead, the middle path is to learn to listen to the wisdom within ourselves and to take in the wisdom of healthy people and sources of truth in our lives. Because fundamentalism squashes our ability to listen and look inside ourselves, this exercise will focus on growing self-trust.
This exercise is adapted from the Wise Mind Tool for the Journey in my book, Recovering from Purity Culture1. Wise mind is our inner knowing, which helps us make decisions and act from a place of centeredness and wisdom.
Breathe in and silently ask your wise mind a question. Breathe out and listen for the answer. Don’t force an answer but sit with the sensations and see what comes up for you. If you find yourself rationalizing or getting flooded, see if you can bring yourself back to your center. Continue asking your question with patience and curiosity. If no answer comes, don’t judge yourself. Come back to it another time.
If it feels comforting, you might see if you can access wise mind in the form of prayer. What do you know in your soul to be true? What discernment is the Holy Spirit giving you?
I hope these practices are helpful for your own healing journey. And if you find you need more personalized help, I am now accepting new Purity Culture Recovery Coaching clients (open worldwide) and Therapy clients (open to TN residents only).
What do you think of these practices and affirmations for a Non-Toxic New Year? How will you put these into practice?
Thank you to subscribers of Walking the Middle Path! Free subscribers get monthly free posts and discussion with other Middle Path-ers. Paid subscribers get exclusive content like mini-series, book clubs, and quarterly live meetings with me.
If you’re interested in upgrading, this is the LAST DAY to get the New Years Special for my paid Substack subscription: $40 for a year (normally $50) or $5 per month.
Here is the plan for the Live Meetings for 2025:
February: Workshop and AMA (ask me anything) on singleness, dating, marriage, and relationships from an egalitarian perspective
May: Book club (likely Sheila Gregoire’s new release, The Marriage You Want)
August: Workshop and discussion on navigating church/faith practices when you’re deconstructing
November: Workshop and discussion on boundaries with family and the holidays
The cost of the subscription isn’t meant to be a barrier for you or a huge money-maker for me. It’s really just to allow some privacy so I can write more personally behind a paywall to dedicated readers. If you can’t afford a subscription, I’m happy to extend it to you for free. Just DM or email me and let me know. You can also gift a subscription to a friend, or subscribe as a Founding Member to fund a scholarship to someone else who asks for it.
I look forward to a Non-Toxic New Year with you as we heal from toxic beliefs while holding onto our faith.
Warmly, Dr. Camden
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If you pre-ordered my book and got the bonuses, you can also find this tool in your Tools for the Journey Workbook and the Mind-Body Guided Meditation Videos I recorded for you.
This paradigm - the Middle Path - is so helpful. I was taught that “lean not to your own understanding” meant “don’t trust your instincts” and I’ve been on the path to unlearn this (and many other harmful teachings) for a long time. This is a good word. Thank you!