Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability December 18, 2011

Brene Brown studies human connection — our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk at TEDxHouston, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity.

 

A real “Good Morning” February 5, 2010

How do you feel when you look yourself in the mirror each morning?  I immediately notice my dark eyebags and how pale my skin looks. My freckles waving and screaming “good morning”! and that is something I cannot bear.

How to improve that morning feeling? …. with some “preparation” the evening before!

Our mirror reflects the way we treat ourselves. Beauty is not a general concept. You can have a very objectively beautiful face, but to me if it doesn’t look healthy it may loose its beauty.

In the ancient times, beauty was also much associated with heatlh. Something that we have mostly forgotten these days.

It is not how beautiful you look, but how good you feel.

So the very first tip is: feel good about yourself! You have something unique and with a little care you can discover what it is and make it shine to the world.

But let’s start with some tips on how to wake up tomorrow more radiant than yesterday:

• Go to sleep when you feel tired – I know some days you may think it’s too early and that you’re going to bed with the chickens.. well sometimes those chickens are right!  Get rest when you need it. If you force yourself to be more tired you will add tiredness to tiredness and it will become more difficult to gain your energies back. It is not how much you sleep but the costancy of sleep. Leonardo Davinci used to sleep 15mins every 3 hours. In this way he was never tired and could perform more in his day. Of course we cannot apply weird sleeping patterns to everyday life, like Leonardo did. But we can improve our own to manage our lifestyle at its best.
• After dinner, add some Lavander oil to a bowl of warm water in your room. The scent will allow you to relax better. Otherwise you can directly apply it to your skin (above and under our eyes) before going to sleep. Lavander scent will improve your muscles’ rest and your skin will also feel less tense due to the tiniest muscle’s relaxation.
• Drink water (or tea) in the evening before bedtime. Water purifies, cleans, detoxicates. It is important to hydrate our body when going to sleep for at least 6 hours.
• And last but not least, use a good night time cream or lotion. Here I suggest you to make it yourself following Jeanne Rose’s recipe Night-time Rose Creamy Lotion from her book “Kitchen Cosmetics”:

• • 20 fl. oz. Almond oil
  • 16 fl. oz. Rosewater to which have been added 1 oz. dried red Rose petals, this soaked for 3 days, then strained out and removed
  • 3 oz. Beeswax Essence of Rose, if desired

To make: Into a water bath or the top of a double boiler put the oil and the wax.  Heat until the wax is dissolved and then remove pot from the fire.  Add the Rosewater slowly, beating all the while, and beat until it is cool.  At this point add the essence of Rose a drop at a time, if you like.  Beat the creamy lotion until cold, pour into a bottle and store away for use.

To use: This lotion makes an excellent Rose Cold Cream to remove old grimy dirt or makeup.  Simply apply with clean fingertips and remove with fine tissue.  Then you might take a teaspoonful of cornmeal in each palm and rub the hands and face well with it.  Rinse with warm water and then cold.  Pat the remaining fine film of cream into the skin for night-time smoothing.

Why: Almond oil and Rosewater as we know is an excellent moisturizing lubricant for normal to dry to sensitive skin; cornmeal is a gentle tonic stimulating to the tissues and acts as a “beauty grain”.

Tip: Whenever making fine cosmetics always use a porcelain or glass pot.  Some beauty experts recommend stainless steel cooking pots but these often leach poisonous heavy metals into the enclosed liquids.  Nonmetal is best for herbs.

Good luck with preparing yourself for tomorrow! Let us know how you’ll feel after this preparation ♥

At Femzine we promote individualism, creativity and self-care.

Hello world! February 5, 2010

and welcome to Femzine. An e-zine that will help us modern women use ancient femine tips, applying them to our urban city culture that does not allow us the time and relax our ancestress. Each week we’ll rediscover something new, questions or requests are welcome of course. We will set up an “advise tool” where we can exchange tips or share our deepest knowledge. There will be  monthly interviews with independent female artists to support them and help them better expose their ideas and works to the public and finally we will pick our fashionista each month and interview her about her style.

At Femzine we promote originality.