Monday, January 17, 2011

Simple Moisture to Solve Winter Woes

I learn today the damaging results of winter.  This season, combined with the effects of drying heat in my home, makes us feel brittle and cracked.   There's barely any moisture:  we shock each other every time our bodies meet, our hair stands on end, and we suffer from congestion and raw skin. 

I wake up with sinus pain and achy joints.   As I tell my pharmacist all my winter woes this morning, I'm simultaneously piling up medications for congestion and sinus headache.  He leans over the counter and tells me my problems will more likely be solved by simple moisture.   "Save your money," he tells me.

That's a pharmacist with flair. 

Humidify whatever space I'm in.  Boil water on the stove.  Pour the boiling water over a tray of vapor rub.  Drink liquids all day long.  All day long.  In a season like this, we don't have the luxury of relaxing into our environment.  We assume a vigilance to make our indoor spaces suitable.

With these things in place--the liquids, the humidifier, the steam vapor--I then relax and breathe.  I drink deeply and breathe deeply to survive such a season as this.

The solution of simple moisture for what's physically brittle and cracked reminds me of my journey towards spiritual health.  I drink deeply of truth and breathe deeply of spirit--setting things in place in my environment to do so--so I might experience the kind of health that goes deeper than this cracked skin and congestion.

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Journal:  How am I adjusting my physical and spiritual environment towards health? 

3 comments:

Anna Barlowe said...

Love this! I am ALL about the moisture, all year round in fact. Humidifiers, tea, Eucerin lotion, etc. etc. I do think we have to take good preventative care of our bodies, since they are the "radios" for tuning in the signals our souls broadcast. If they're not working, we just can't hear properly, or act on what we do hear. Great insight, thanks!

Unknown said...

I just looked at my dry hands when I saw this! Nice. I will throw that pot of water on now and actually take a sip of the giant cup of water sitting next to me.

E.M.B. said...

Our problem was exactly the other way around today.
I accidently put chicken in hot oil. This created a whole puff of smoke that smelled like burning chicken all around the house. There was too much moisture.