There’s more to skincare than cleansing and moisturizing.
This is even more true when you’re dealing with eczema. Lotions and potions can keep the symptoms under control, but they can’t target the root cause. Like stress or a bad diet. And they can’t make the healing process easier to deal with.
That’s where self-care comes in. A positive attitude, a lot of tender loving care and the support of friends and family go a long way in keeping those flareups far, far away from your skin.
Don’t take my word for it. Long-time eczema sufferer and health coach Camille Knowles learned it the hard way. Her skin didn’t heal until she started taking better care of herself, inside and out.
When she finally cracked the eczema code, she developed the HOPE principles, a holistic toolkit to healing:
- H for Home: Creating the right environment for healing.
- O for Optimism: Choosing to respond to eczema in a positive way and see it as a friend that’s telling you what’s wrong with your life.
- P for Purpose and Pampering: Focusing on your dreams and passions, and pampering yourself in the process.
- E for Eating Well, Exercise and Ecotherapy: Diet and exercise help you keep inflammation under control and prevent another flareup.
Camille shares her story and her HOPE programme in her book, The Beauty Of Eczema. But you know what they say. Knowledge without action is useless.
To help eczema sufferers put the Hope principles into practice every day, Camille has created two more tools that’ll make a difference to your skin: the “Positive Scribe” journal and the “Positive Vibes” affirmation cards:
“Positive Scribes” Journal
It’s so easy to think eczema is a curse. “Oh, I’ve just had another flare-up, that’s life. Can’t help it.”
What if you could? Eczema rarely comes out of nowhere. Flare-ups rear their ugly heads when you’re cheating on your diet too many days in a row, are under intense stress because of a work deadline, or something in your life is just off.
That’s where the “Positive Scribes” Journal comes in. It has daily and monthly check-ins to help you stay on track and make sure you’re following the HOPE principles to a T. Because even when you know what to do, you don’t always have time or remember.
Here’s what’s inside:
- Morning rituals to start your day on the right foot
- Evening rituals to reflect on how your day went and how you can improve your daily routine
- Self-care checklist to make sure you’re giving your skin, body and mind everything they need
- Lots of self-care tips to nourish and pamper yourself
- Positive inspirational quotes
- Delicious self-care recipes
- Weekly challenges to help you achieve your goals faster
And don’t get me stated on the design. The “Positive Scribes” journal is gorgeous. It’ll put a smile on your face every time you open it. 🙂
“Positive Vibes” Affirmation Cards
Let’s get one thing straight: you can’t repeat a few positive mantras every day and have your eczema disappear overnight. It doesn’t work like that.
So, how do affirmations work? Affirmations don’t make your eczema go away. But they can change your attitude towards it.
Have you noticed how you tend to focus on all the things that are wrong in your life? Maybe a stranger just paid you a compliment, the traffic light turned green as soon as you were about to cross the street and your partner bought you tickets for that musicals you were longing to see. Yet your brain is still focusing on that nasty comment a stranger left on social media about your eczema flareup…
Science shows that affirmations help you rewire your brain so that it focuses more on the positive – rather than the negative – things in your life.
“Fair enough, Gio. But what has this to do with my eczema?,” I hear you ask.
EVERYTHING. A positive, loving attitude towards yourself changes everything. When you love yourself for who you are and are grateful for the good things in your life, something magical happens.
You become so confident that you feel beautiful even when you have an eczema flare-up. You treat your body with tender loving care, giving it all the sleep, exercise and everything else it craves so that flare-ups are way less likely to happen.
And you learn to see the beauty of eczema. It’s just a friend that shows up to remind you that you need to relax more, eat a healthier diet or spend more time with your loved ones. When you do, not only your eczema disappears faster. But the recovery process ain’t so painful anymore.
Price & Availability
Positive Scribes Journal, £24.00 and Positive Vibes affirmation cards, £19.99 at Amazon and The Beauty Of Eczema
