Gossip

Gretchen Rubin talks about gossip in The Happiness Project. Basically she vows not to do it and comes up with all these shoulds around it. She doesn't come up with any reasons why it's not good except that if you say something bad about another person, that it gets transferred to you, which in itself is a pretty good reason. But aside from that, I'm unsure if it's bad or good. Let's take The Bachelor. The other night I went over to a friend's house and we talked about it a lot. That's total gossip, but is it bad? I do think it's bad if what you are saying/putting out into the universe is criticism and judgment.

I believe that what Carolyn Myss says is right - that every thought is a prayer. We create our lives with the thoughts we think, so I do believe it's good to focus on the good. With that thinking, it's probably best to talk only about issues that directly relate to someone present, that way you're more constructively trying to work things out. Versus - did you hear so and so's marriage has gone bad? Sometimes if I find myself gossiping in a judging way, I will turn it on myself and ask if I'm ever that way and then - is it a problem?

I also think "gossip," this is how we a) figure out our own morals, b) try to understand each other, c) work out our social/community morals. I think it's sort of unnatural to repress our urge (need?) to talk things out. In my opinion, I think it could be spiritual bypass to not talk big issues out. Now, I get judgment is not all that useful, but if we can talk about these things while examining our judgment we could grow from them.

In short I do think it's bad to talk badly about people without examining yourself. And I think it's best to be circumspect about how you talk about people too since it reflects on you and it's good to consider what you're putting out in the universe.

Beautypedia

I have a very strong affection for Consumer Reports, Yelp, Cnet, anything that reviews products so that I may make a more informed buying decision. Years ago I was wishing for something like this for cosmetics. For some reason, the market has found it acceptable for cosmetics companies to make all sorts of incredible claims that are simply not true. I have always wondered why this is not better regulated.

Just the other day, my friend Tami and I were saying we should find some sort of goop to put in a container and just claim that it'll make your face as soft and wrinkle free as a baby to make our fortune. I can't lie like that though. It turns out I have some integrity. Oh, the misfortune.

Soon after my cosmetics review longing, I was in a bookstore and I noticed on the bottom shelf a book that was called "Do Not Go To The Cosmetics Counter Without Me," by Paula Begoun. She calls herself the cosmetics cop. This book actually reviewed every last cosmetic and cosmetics company and said what the product claims were as well as what the product actually did. She tells you what works and what does not work. And now, much more recently she has a website where you can subscribe and get all the most updated ratings online (or on your phone w/internet access while you're considering buying something). Heaven.

No more ridiculous purchases for me based on impossible claims. It's reprehensible what these cosmetics companies do to get your money and I'm eternally grateful to have some guidance.

Sunscreen

I love to research in order to find the BEST of just about everything. I also like to find it at the best price, but that's another entry. In any event, a friend of mine who is a nurse and worked in a Dermatology office turned me onto a website that reviews sunscreens and cosmetics for efficacy and toxicity. Here's the link: http://www.ewg.org/cosmetics/report/sunscreen09

You probably know that sunscreen is the most important beauty ingredient out there. It's the best way to avoid signs of aging like sunspots and wrinkles. It's important that you lube up early and often if you care about your skin and you might want to use something that actually works. For some reason we're a bit behind in the U.S. in terms of having sunscreens available to us that are optimally effective. The good news is we are catching up. Still, pay attention, not every sunscreen is worth your while.

Beauty Secrets

This is something I'm going to constantly update.

1. Underground acne - tea tree oil. Get the undiluted stuff. Put it on the spot, sparingly. May take a couple days of treatment. Definitely works.

2. Make-up remover that doesn't sting your eyes. No more tears baby shampoo. Yep. It's awesome. Thanks Laura.

3. Facial redness - Use that Physician's Formula green stuff if you're seriously red or Jane Iredale's matte powder if you're just reddish.

4. All cosmetics - subscribe to Paula Begoun's Beautypedia ($25) so you can check out her reviews of beauty products. She's awesome.

5. Hair - if your roots are a little greasy but otherwise your hair looks great, try hair powder. Bumble and Bumble used to make this, don't know if they still do, because I've had my bottle forever. I have brown hair so I can also use bronzer.

I accidentally created a blog.

I have been thinking about starting a blog, and I sorta clicked on the wrong thing while reading a friend's blog and what do you know? Suddenly I'm writing this, a real live blog.

I want to write some things down that occur to me, that I love, that interest me. I like to share cool stuff. I like to know cool stuff, and hopefully this can also be useful to others.

My current love is The Happiness Project, a book by Gretchen Rubin. This is about her and her life, but it's applicable to each of us. She found herself "pretty happy," but not as ideally happy as she could be - happy, but sort of going through the motions. In any event, she did a ton of research which appeals to me GREATLY, figured out what areas she wanted to focus on, and developed a plan for twelve months of working on being happier. There are all sorts of wonderful discoveries, ideas, and generally cool and useful methods that she talks about. It's also well written which means I want to keep reading it. Every time I sit down to read a little more I get all excited and inspired.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is this one: "One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself." You should definitely read this book. Who doesn't want to be happier?

I love this sort of stuff.