Do you take as much time to make yourself beautiful inside as you do on the outside?

Woman applying mascara

Many natural-living sites have articles or blog posts that teach you about chemical-free beauty products. (Even me: see this article and this blog post.) But if you look like Miss America but act like Atilla the Hun, you won’t be attractive to anyone who gets to know you.

Do you regularly find yourself doing any of the following?

• Complaining
• Gossiping
• Throwing a tantrum (slamming doors, screaming, giving your partner the silent treatment, etc.)
• Having hateful thoughts toward someone you believe wronged you
• Arguing in order to prove yourself right

If so, perhaps it’s time to put away your makeup kit for a few days and use the extra time to focus on what really matters: your attitude.

A negative attitude is not only annoying to the people around you, but detrimental to your health, as well. Are you aware that negative thoughts disrupt the delicate balance of your bodily fluids and make you considerably more vulnerable to illness and disease?

Furthermore, when you walk around with a dark cloud over your head, you can’t see the light that surrounds you. And if you are blinded to all the good things–a faithful spouse, helpful friends, opportunities, sunrises and sunsets–you will become stagnated in your life. Your mind will tell you that you can’t achieve your goals, and you will believe it. You will walk right past wide-open doors of opportunity to improve yourself spiritually, financially, physically, and emotionally.

However, when you have a positive attitude, the opposite happens. You believe bigger, and therefore achieve more. You see others as helpful and friendly, and they respond in kind. You take every opportunity you can to better yourself, therefore life is constantly a fun challenge and you continually grow.

And, of course, you get healthier in the process.

So how can you go from grump to great? Here are five steps to help you along the way toward increased inner beauty.

1. Recognize, write down, and release grudges.

If you are holding on to unforgiveness, the only person being punished is you. Seek Divine help, and then psychological help, if necessary. Announce out loud that you forgive so-and-so for thus-and-such. Let as many cleansing tears fall as necessary, but do not continue holding the grudge.

2. Make three positive statements for every negative one.

Whenever you catch yourself saying something negative–whether about yourself, someone else, or a situation–make yourself think of and say aloud three positive ones. The more you do this, the more you will get tired of doing it and eventually stop saying negative things just so you won’t have to think so much.

3. Start a Gratitude Journal.

Every evening for a month, write down five things that happened that day for which you are grateful. After two weeks, you will probably be looking for things to be thankful for during the day, and your complaining will drop off so much that your friends will ask if you’ve started taking a new medication.

4. Use essential oils.

If you’re a woman like me, you may be perfectly happy for two weeks out of every month, but as soon as you ovulate, boy, watch out! If PMS is the main culprit for your negativity, essential oils such as lavender, chamomile, and (especially, I’ve found) rosemary can turn your bad mood around in a matter of minutes. The absolute best and most effective oils are provided by Be Young.

5. Phrase your goals as questions.

This puts your subconscious to work, both in keeping you in a more positive frame of mind and in finding answers to questions, with little work on your part.

For example, if you want to get out of debt, ask, “How did I get out of debt so quickly?” If you want to lose weight, ask, “Why is taking off thirty pounds so easy?” If you want to eat healthier, ask, “Why is it so easy for me to stick to a healthy diet?” Whenever your mind brings up a related negative thought, shoot it down by asking your goal-question.

(By the way, The Goals Guy is an awesome resource for people who need help putting the right focus on the right things in order to achieve their goals.)

Tired of hearing yourself whine? Or of your irrational mood swings? Put these steps into action, and begin to transform your life in a wonderful, positive way!

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P.S.–Did you know that nutritional deficiencies can lead directly to negative thinking and emotions? Read my personal story at http://maqui-and-friends.com.

Perhaps if I had known about natural acne cures when I was a teenager, life would have been a little less embarrassing.

Just a little.

These days, I usually only get a pimple when it’s “that time of the month”, and my husband never seems to see it so I don’t care. However, you may have a bigger acne problem than I, or a compelling reason to care (say, you’re trying to impress that guy you’ve had your eye on).

If that be the case, the last thing you want to do is run to the pharmacy and put some cancer-causing chemical on your face in the name of beauty. In my teenage experience, those toxic chemicals didn’t seem to help that much, anyway.

Allow me to offer you some natural alternatives, six natural acne remedies to help you clear up your skin without poisoning your precious body.

1. Wash your face with oil, not soap.

This may sound contradictory, but is actually much more effective than using either just soap or only water. Applying oil to the skin actually attracts the oil in pores. Use a mixture of castor (not more than 30%) and other food-based oils, such as almond. Then steam your face by draping a warm, wet washcloth over head to draw out the oils. Wait until the cloth is cool, gently wipe off the oil, and repeat two more times. More specific instructions are found at this site.

2. Never scrub the skin on your face.

Scrubbing only aggravates the acne.

3. Use mineral makeup.

Be careful who you buy from. One mineral makeup company whose initials are C.C. contains a few hazardous chemicals, and forces you into an autoship program that is almost impossible to get out of without canceling your credit card. All high-end cosmetic companies that have added mineral makeup to their line continue to add chemicals to the supposedly “natural” makeup.

Be Young Essential Oils carries completely free mineral makeup, made from organic and nontoxic ingredients.

If mineral makeup isn’t your bag, then at least stick with water-based, rather than oil-based makeup.

4. Don’t touch your face.

I know that’s hard to do, but try to get out of this habit. It adds more oil to the skin, and can aggravate acne–unless you’re willing to drape a hot washcloth over your face every time you touch yourself.

5. Eat a whole-foods diet.

And stay away from foods you have a known or suspected allergy to. Both a diet with more than bare minimum processed foods, and eating foods your body reacts to can bring on acne like gangbusters. Also, make sure you’re getting enough zinc, as a zinc deficiency can cause acne.

6. Use a clean pillow case every other night.

Your pillow case picks up a lot of oil from your face while you sleep. Change it often.

Put these natural acne remedies to work, and you should begin to develop that clear complexion you’ve always wanted!

I’ve been searching high and low for a chemical-free shampoo that works, and the search has been going on for some time. The qualifications I’ve been looking for are:

1. it would not have any chemicals (or at least no chemicals rated above a “0″ on the Environmental Working Group’s hazard scale), and
2. it would leave my hair looking and feeling clean.

As I prefer to shower only every other day, it also has to have “staying power”; i.e., keep my hair looking good for two days in a row. If you’ve ever gone on a similar quest, you understand how difficult it is to find completely safe body products that are as effective as their conventional counterparts.

The shampoo I have been using, although labeled “natural,” has a few chemicals rated in the 2-3 range on the EWG’s hazard scale (see this article on natural skin care). A couple of months ago I tried a homemade recipe using liquid castile soap. My hair looked clean enough, but felt sticky coming out of the shower and a tad greasy after drying. And it didn’t have the staying power I wanted.

Recently, a friend gave me a shampoo bar. It worked a little better than the homemade recipe but still left my hair a bit sticky. Also, it rates a “2″ on the EWG hazard scale. A chemical-free, all-herbal shampoo from the local health food store made my scalp itch.

Finally, using the EWG site, I found Nurture My Body brand of shampoo rated as a “0″. The ingredient list is mostly botanical, and none of the ingredients–as far as is known–causes any health concern. So I ordered it online, and used it the morning after it arrived.

And felt like I’d discovered a piece of heaven.

Although I had a little trouble getting the pump to work (my husband had to open the bottle and unstick the pump tube inside), the shampoo worked beautifully. It rinsed completely clean, and my hair felt like silk after it had dried. The next day, you couldn’t tell I hadn’t washed my hair that morning.

Nurture My Body shampoo does have two chemical-sounding ingredients, decyl polyglucose and lauryl polyglucose, but both are given a hazard rating of 0. Besides, the first one actually is derived from corn and other botanical sugars.

I believe my search for the perfect chemical-free shampoo is over. Nurture My Body is chemical-free enough for me. And it really does “Nurture My Body,” making me feel like I’ve been in a spa, while protecting me from nasty and potentially dangerous chemicals.

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Learn the principles of living in optimum health.

Looking for natural, chemical-free treatments and cures that work? Try undiluted, unadulterated essential oils.

There is no better supplement than Masaji. Find out how it changed my life here.

You’re improving your health; ready to get really free? Check out my other blog, freetoliveyourdreams.com.