Think Yourself Beautiful

Primrose Matheson, founder of website www.primroseskitchen.com, reveals how the power of positive thoughts can improve your appearance

Let's start off with a universal truth – you are entirely the creator of your own reality with your thoughts, feelings and beliefs. With this in mind we need to be aware of what we are saying, thinking and believing, to make sure everything is in line with our goals and desires.

The Hawaiians had the right idea when they created their language, the word Aloha for instance means ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’, but also ‘love’ and the ‘breath of life’. In this way, wherever the Hawaiians go, and meet people, they are spreading the love through a simple word.

Pure and positive

Keeping our thoughts pure and positive is something we all struggle with. We find ourselves in what the Buddhists describe as ‘Samsara’, a continuous cycle between death and rebirth, happiness and unhappiness, through our attachment to things in our lives. This leads to a desire to grab hold of things in our life, like our youth or our relationships, rather than going with the ebb and flow, in and out of life, valuing each step of the journey as an opportunity for growth.

The challenge is to remain aware and keep our connectivity to our heart. This means constantly checking in with ourselves when we experience emotions and feelings that we don’t like. The cause of these feelings nearly always has its root in fear. Our challenge is to go beyond this fear and make it our friend rather than our foe.

In relation to beauty, our fears surround wrinkles and spots and getting old. These are things that are not in the moment, they are all worries of a future that does not yet exist. Our need for the latest creams and gels and techniques stem from a desire for a quick fix and demonstrates our inability to give ourselves the time and attention in the moment that we need.

Water drinking is a prime example. A simple, easy and effective solution for reducing wrinkles, but it takes the effort to plan, fill up a bottle, and attention to drink it throughout the day without forgetting. We don’t want to have to be responsible so we give the responsibility to the, often useless, creams and gels instead or to the plastic surgeons!

Meditation

Meditation forces us to slow down and be on the spot, in touch with our emotions and our desires rather than rushing around thinking about the past or future.

For healthy vibrant skin try the following each day for a month, picture in your mind how you wish to see yourself. Maybe it’s an image of you with no blemishes, with brighter skin and a sparkle in your eyes, maybe it’s you running around with a lot of energy.

Picture this vision in your mind's eye whilst focusing the attention between your third eye – eyes shut.

Feel in your body the sense of happiness and joy that you know you would feel from looking this way, allow it to absorb into all parts of your body from the area of your heart, feel your heart expand.

Breathe deeply in and out and go back to your breath if you have trouble sitting still.

Sit in this space for 10 minutes each day. Each time a thought comes into your mind go back to that picture.

Alongside this, throughout the day, you can repeat this affirmation to yourself: ‘I am happy and grateful I am beautiful with perfect clear and radiant skin.’ Or ‘I am full of energy and vitality.’

Daily mantras to stick to

- Cleanse daily with a natural chemical free face wash

- If you are prone to acne then cleanse morning and night and exfoliate with a chemical free exfoliator – you can make a good one out of ground almond and soaked oats

- When you feel a tightness on your skin, you know your skin is perfectly clean

- At night use a chemical free toner and a light night oil if you are prone to dry skin

- In the morning, use a chemical free moisturiser or pure oil like Rose of Mosqeta

- I love the Suki range as my skin tends towards dryness, they do some great balancing products

- Use chemical free make-up

- Chemical free is important as most of the products we use regularly are used to using and are readily available contain parabens and petroleum's which are drying long term, and toxic to your body

- When out in cold and wind, use a scarf around your face to protect it!

Visit Primrose's website for more tips and healthy living ideas www.primroseskitchen.com