Getting clear skin - its easier than you think

Once a upon a time I would have thought getting clear pimple free skin was next to impossible I wondered why I was in my mid twenties and still had acne, but I had no clue as to how to clear it up. Most of us had been made to believe it was hormonal and that there was nothing that could be done. I had tried face wash after face wash, countless pimple creams as a teenager, I had heard about acne tablets, that were bad for your liver, only to find myself covering up the spots with foundation. Then something happened one day, a friend in her forties was using a zinc based face cream with spf protection. Within the first few days there was suddenly clearing up happening. I was in shock! For the past thirteen years my moisturiser had been a massive contributor if not the major contributor to this horrible continuing pimple population. Unfortunately that specific brand is no longer out on the market from what I can see, it used to be sold at Priceline, but there are at least a couple of gentle facial moisturisers out there.

Another big contributor is drinking water. Yes I know you’ve heard this one before, but it’s when you drink it. First thing in the morning always makes all the world of difference. I discovered this as shortly following the facial cream discovery I had started on a candida detox, and low and behold I started breaking out again. Luckily I came across a dvd titled Food Matters, which brought up the fact that if you’re doing a detox, start drinking water first thing in the morning so that you’re flushing out the toxins instead of them having to try to make their way out through your skin. To make your water more tasty, you can add a little bit of fresh lemon juice, some apple cider vinegar or flavoured stevia drops.

I’m not saying I have all the answers for clear skin, but this honestly shocked me how easy it was. Now I am very careful as to stick to organic foundations, that I might apply under my eyes only, or organic blush, eyeliner and more, as the more I move away from toxic make-up the more my skin reacts if I try to re-introduce it.
Perhaps hormones might be a factor for some, as I know some people’s acne problems would be considered worse than what mine was, but if it is your hormones, it doesn’t mean it has to stay that way, there are herbs and other natural ways to get hormonal balance back.

Oh almost forgot. Sugar. Cutting down on sugar and chocolate will definitely help. I’m still not sure whether it’s the sugar in chocolate or something else, perhaps experimenting with organic chocolate, dark chocolate, homemade cacoa treats, stevia sweetened chocolate, coconut nectar sweetened chocolate, you will be able to see which products your face and body likes.
And don’t forget packet chips. Big contributor to acne! And what did we always consume as teenagers during recess? That’s right packet chips.
I’m sure there a lot more contributing foods. Keep your gut flora/good bacteria in check by keeping your gut healthy and your skin should thank you for it. 

Compassion leads to forgiveness – self forgiveness

It all started a few weeks ago with a pretty cool synchronicity of events. Getting very fed up with apathy, apathy being the other side of the same coin as anxiety, I had asked from the heart for some help. You know, to the universe, to anyone up there listening. Within a week or two a friend I hadn’t heard from in quite a long time texted me to offer me a place, at a very discounted price, for some sort of success seminar. After a week or two I received a phone call from one of the coordinators of the event, and our conversation lead to us discussing the inner child. That very night I tried a meditation on YouTube based on building a better relationship with your inner child.

As of a couple of nights ago, I had no idea what compassion really felt like. Perhaps it started with focusing on my inner child and trying to love that child that seemed scared, angry and defiant. I felt like I had coaxed the child out of its defiance and into my arms, but what I had noticed is that initially I was angry at it, and I had to get beyond that to make any progress.

So here I was tonight, tapping into compassion, self compassion, for the sake of easing out of insomnia and waking up in a better mood and avoiding that ‘emotional hangover’ as its been called. What I found is that compassion towards oneself seems to lead quite naturally to self forgiveness. To finally look at myself through such compassionate eyes, i had realised how lacking in compassion I had been. My internal struggle, or a large part of it, and anger had started to make sense. I had been hard on myself, I hadn’t been compassionate, I had times where perhaps I eased up on myself or I felt sorry for myself, but that wasn’t quite the same as to look with kindness at myself and simply, just forgive myself! I believe now that you possibly must forgive yourself before you try to forgive anyone else, especially since you need compassion to forgive and you need to know what compassion feels like, really feel what it feels like in your heart in such a powerful way that it shifts something within you.