Euphrosene Labon

Wednesday 17: Cancelled a trip into London for a press Christmas lunch do as bits of my face are so dry they are red raw. And that is despite using only gentle emollients. Actually, Johnson’s Baby Lotion and Cocoa Butter products are fine, as is Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream.

By trial and error, I discovered it was the E45 cream which had caused the rawness - so that is out now too. Anyway, since the patchy geisha look (thanks to the ever dependable Sudacrem) is not quite how I want to socialise, I am now skulking and sulking. And looking like a half-finished clown. Sigh.

Having had oily skin all my life, this is a horrible ‘new’. My own fault, I suppose, as, for the last couple of years, I have been using various treatments for melasma. In the process of trying to get rid of one skin condition, I seem to have given myself dermatitis!

Later: I ended up spending the entire day, stuck inside, sans maquillage, plastered in Elizabeth Arden. Not a pretty sight, but it seemed to control the dermatitis. Also not a pleasant condition, as it feels like little creatures crawling all over your face.

Which reminds me of another thing I nag The Almighty about : the underwhelming human characteristic of deterioration. If it is not the mental variety, we have the pleasure (not) of physical deterioration to look forward to. Sheesh.

Re the mind body connection: flaking and peeling skin relates to a few things including getting rid of old ways to allow the new to emerge, but also being unable to let go. Annoyingly, the layers being peeled away are not the melasma bits!

A corporate blog tells us that people do not trust corporate blogs. Not much better are personal blogs at 18%. But then trust increases if we feel we know someone.

I gather the way to win trust is through consistency, transparency and authenticity. At least with my openness and honesty, my readers must surely trust me - even if they have a mental image of someone physically repellent! (Thank God for mirrors that love me!)

PS I disagree with Debbie Weil on ghostblogging. An empathetic writer should be able to accurately convey the thoughts of a CEO or whoever is too busy to do the blogging themselves. And yes, I am open to any ghostblogging opportunities!

PPS Message to H: yes I quite like Firefox.

Euphrosene Labon Mind Body Spirit Artist Author Writer

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Johnson’s Baby Lotion, Cocoa Butter, Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream, Sudacrem, melasma, dermatitis, The Almighty, mind body, blogs, ghostblogging, blogging

Tuesday 9: Every time I think I am being religious about backing up, or saving particular files, I discover something relatively important has been missed out, and that is despite creating yet another folder especially for fresh activity files. Or adding new contacts, like those I met yesterday at the Arun Business Partnership networking at Ford Open Prison.

My sense of direction must have got nobbled though, with the last minute palaver of organising business cards. The layout was totally wrong and I ended up binning the lot. Even using the postcard paper didn’t sync correctly, so I had to reduce the words and image and plonk it in the middle. Odd, since the labels worked perfectly.

Anyway, I managed to get lost, but did remember to leave my mobile in the car, and any recording equipment at home.

The room we were in was a bit like a very large boarding school common room, with terrible lighting, and an overall greyness. But everyone was very friendly and we were served (non-alcoholic) mulled wine and nibblies by a group of ‘offenders’. It seemed odd to call them that although I suppose they are or were. They certainly didn’t look as one might imagine prisoners to look or sound like. Unlike the time I (briefly) did some prison visiting at Pentonville (years ago). There again, it is an open prison for mostly white collar offenders.

The pinched nerve pains had been receding, but, unfortunately, last night, I was in agony and unable to stretch or do the things I would normally do to relieve it. So I ended up leaving after an hour and a half.

Perhaps it was getting a Christmas card from someone who has had a manically busy year with lots of business and remembering how little prospecting I have done. Whatever… just a small amount of ‘allowing’ resulted in someone ringing with a potential job. It may not be right for me but at least it means I get some results with proper consciousness.

PS Ma is nothing if not consistent. For Christmas, if she is well enough, she is going to the NandD nearest to her home….

I have been asked by various family members to spend time with them - and I am truly thankful for that. Yet, this has been a troubling year for me. Peace and quiet and watching daft stuff on the box is what the inner doctor has ordered. Spending time en masse invariably involves effort and I need to make myself 110% again.

…And, if I was wavering, speaking to Ma earlier confirmed my concern: I want to go home, said she.

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backing up, Arun Business Partnership, networking, Ford Open Prison, Christmas

Tuesday 2: In the spirit of sharing and New Age touchy-feely, this is my tip for the day: I set up a recurring alert in Outlook to prompt me to tune in and allow. You know - remembering to include the Almighty, and reminders of my goals and desires. The only thing was I saw the reminder heading but had to look in the body of the message to get my personal affirmations and other spiritual/butt kicking prompts, and eventually gave lip service to it rather than proper focus.

My calendar is now on Google Calendar and I ticked the box to send me emails as prompts. And, wonders, I can read the whole message at a glance. And, of course, tune in.

Meanwhile… despite being half-baked about prospecting, the salesperson in me knows when to kick in given even the teensiest opportunity. Like this morning when the National Contributions Office called to say I had overpaid. I did a pitch for A Little Book of Self-Coaching Tips, mentioned the others, and got a contact name for a director who is keen on that kind of thing.

Later: Went to L for the family support meeting. Ma combed and plaited her hair and reminded me that we had plenty of time, so I ate my veggie sushi lunch and then we headed down together. We were the first ones there and Ma settled herself down and started to read the agenda.

This isn’t for me, she said, wanting to go back upstairs again. After another five minutes, someone else turned up, but that wasn’t enough to stop her twitching and so I took her back upstairs. I can’t say I blame her as it was terribly boring and I too was struggling to be interested. Shame on me!

PS Yet another justification for my blog, books and even art:
For 2,000 years in the history of the West, the self-help book stood as a pinnacle of literary achievement. … The assumption behind this long tradition was that the words of others can benefit us not only by giving us practical advice, but also–and more subtly–by recasting our private confusions and griefs into eloquent communal sentences. We feel at once less alone and less afraid. - Alain de Botton

PPS Customer Services at Scottish Power sent me two threatening letters about being … wait for it…. a whole £9 in arrears. Yes, that is NINE POUNDS. Yet, checking my online account, I see I am actually £99.95 in CREDIT. Guess who got a shirty email this morning?

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Would you guess I was in terrible pain when this mugshot was taken ten minutes ago?

New Age, alert, Google Calendar, National Contributions Office, Scottish Power