Clear skin

So the comments have shamed me into telling you the next installement.

I haved used the cream given by the "telling off" Dr for 4 days in a row and I have to confess that for the first time in years my hands are white again. They are no longer red, but white.

The change is drastic. I am shocked.

I had obviously accepted the fact that red hands are nomal. Now I see that they are not.

Now granted I am using cortizone cream which is rather agressive, but it has shown me that I have tolerated something unnecessarily. Now in 2 days I get the real test and speak about the sustainable solution. So more then!

So todays question is: What are you tolerating and accepting that you can actually do something about?

Is there something that you have taken to be normal, that actually isn't?

And if there is, what are you going to do about it today?

A good telling off

I have had bad skin since birth. Nothing too bad, just eczema, dermatitisy dry and red skin.

I generally ignore it, rub in some moisturizer type lotion most days, and always wear rubber gloves to wash up.  I have generally learned to cope with it and manage it, rather than treat it and look for solutions.

Sounds maybe dumb, but somehow you get used to everything - right?

When my skin flares up badly, I grab for my cortisone cream, but otherwise ignore it.

Recently my cortisone cream has been squeezed to death. There really is nothing left in the tube, so I had to take action.

However I don't have a regular Doctor. Shocking as that may sound, I just don't go to one.

Either way I found a quick appointment and went along to get some more cream.

The Doctor was disgraced. She told me off.  I mean it. She reprimanded me for ignoring my hands and immediately referred me to a Dermatologist. I said that was OK, and I was fine to wait for the usual few weeks to get a slot. She told me off again and said, you need immediate intervention and found me a Doctor who would see me next week!!!

I dared to tell her that slot wouldn't work as I had my family booked in for the flu vaccine some where else at that time.  Without asking, she immeditely called back the Dermatologist, who agreed to vaccinate my family at the same time as treating me!!!

I was stunned.

I mean yes I have bad skin, but it's not that bad and most definitely not life threatening.  I know I sound like a complaining minny, but I was cross with being told off and cross for being controlled like that.

But then I got a hold of myself I thought, wow, how spoilt am I to be given such treatment for my condition which I have neglected for years! So thank you bossy lady for doing what I should have done years ago!

Strange how we humans work, why was I letting my ego get in the way of my health? Whats that all about eh?

So let's see what we find.

Awareness

During my MBA, which is about 15 years ago, I was exposed to a book. I remember reading it, or rather dipping into it, and enjoying what I was learning.  The book was called "Awareness" and the theme was all about making yourself more aware of yourself and your surroundings.  

I remember sharing it with a friend, and interestingly enough during our last get together, we talked about it. I have not picked it up since my MBA days, but as I sat in the garden earlier today, one of the exercises came back to me and I decided to have a go.

Basically, you sit uninterrupted and still for 10 minutes, which as you will agree is a sheer luxury, and in those 10 minutes, you reel off to yourself, all the things you are aware of. Ideally you use all your senses, and you explore what are you seeing, feeling, smelling etc.

Like any meditation, you push all other thoughts to the side, temporarily, and just focus on what you are aware of right now. In that moment.

For me, I felt my feet touching the floor, I heard the birds, I saw the green grass in front of me, I noticed by breathing, I heard a motorbike, I felt my arms against the arms of the chair, I heard the birds again, I saw the cranes building the new school behind our house, I smelt the air and on I went.

Not sure I mangaged for a full ten minutes, as I realized my lasagne was about to burn in the oven, but hey I am no expert at this stuff, I just like having a go!

When I finished, I realized that I had some big omissions in my awareness, eg the sun was crashing down and is was boiling hot, I had not brought to my awareness the fact that my face was being warmed by the sun at all.

And this was just a reminder, that sometimes we miss the obvious, even when we sit down and think. Having a quiet mind is a practice, one which I do not master, but I get the point of it. I am sure practicing this, really helps the big stuff to raise to the surface quicker.

I imagine, that only by becoming aware of things, can we be truly greatful and possibly make good holistic life choices.

I think I am going to the cellar, to dig out the book again. I think it was written by Robert O. Stevens, let's see if my memory serves me well.

Anyone else read it?

Anyone else having a go at being aware?

Anyone else got any tips at this stuff?