Chemical Minimalist

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Intro to Chemical Minimalism

 Here is where you get to know more about me. You get to find out my mission to help people live a healthy, energetic, and rewarding life. Here, we talk about using three steps in looking at our daily practices:

Notice, Awake, Aware

I will tell a quick little story of comparing a kitty litter mishap with toxin-free living. hahah!

So this is how I came to find my mission as a Chemical Minimalist. That mission is to help set up simple routines for families with the kitchen, bathroom, medicine cupboard, and daily routines. These routines help establish toxin free habits that can last for a lifetime for your health benefit.

It took me many years to find the way of the Chemical Minimalist. 

So when I looked over my Chemical Minimalist journey, I found some typical experiences that often come up. We can start to look at: 

Our Challenge 

How We Feel About It

Chemical Minimalist Solutions 

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Do I really have the power to improve my health?

I hear you. You are probably mumbling something like,

“Pam talks like this is an easy thing she did in her life. Well, it isn’t THAT EASY for me. Pam doesn’t know my circumstances. These circumstances prevent me from doing all kinds of good stuff I should be doing. I have tried before, and it doesn’t work.”  

I hear you. Please be assured I am not SuperWoman, who succeeds at everything in the first attempt. As an example - my battle in overcoming a sugar addiction is a recurring battle. I often fall back into the routines of consuming sweet and refined snacks. This battle is truly a fight with a sugar addiction. The difference is this addiction isn’t illegal. Maybe I would struggle less IF it WAS illegal. Being addicted to sugar is outside of the toxin-free life. (Shaking my head in shame.)

Improving Our Health Means Change, Which Seems Hard In The Beginning

When we decide to improve our health, it means change of habits & understanding.

The fact that you are here is a spotlight showing that you desire to improve your health and lifestyle.

My burnout faded away, being replaced with enthusiasm to carry me through my final years of teaching. 

Growth Mindset Helps Us Find The Power To Improve Our Health

I gotta be honest - I am still working to include Chemical Minimalism and reducing toxins into more areas of my life. At first, I didn’t want to reveal to you the areas in which I still need to reduce toxins. But if you are like me, it is comforting to hear from someone who is still working on it….just a few steps ahead of you...someone who says, “I just went through that! Let’s work on it for you, too!”

               So here I am!  

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"How Can I Possibly Reduce Toxins?!"

I know I know. I can hear you talking back at me right now –

“There’s no way to get rid of germs bacteria without bleach & commercial antibacterial products! Now you tell me those products are toxins? I’d rather live with toxins than germs!“

The pandemic of 2020/2021 brought our concepts of living clean to the pinnacle of irony. Most of the recommendations we heard involved frequently covering every surface with bleach or anti-bacterials. We were advised to apply hand sanitizer multiple times per day. It was at this point that most of us began to think:

*Germs are bad

*Bacteria is bad

*We have to kill all germs and bacteria to be healthy

*The only way to get rid of germs and bacteria is to use bleach and antibacterial commercial products

How Did Our Ancestors Handle Germy Threats?

When we look back in history, our ancestors faced many scary health threats: 

*Bubonic plague 

*Smallpox 

*Typhoid fever

*Black Death

*Yellow fever

*Polio

Most of those health threats were considerably more ominous than COVID2019. Yes, some people actually died from these plagues. Yet there were many steps our ancestors took to help reduce the germs, bacteria, and environmental threats. So let’s look at those historic approaches.

In historic times, people used a few basic natural tools to fight germs. They did not have a drug store, where they could pick up a prescription. Instead they used natural remedies. Here are some of those basic tools – 

-vinegar 

-baking soda 

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Why should I care about reducing toxins?Toxins in products can lead to health problems: 

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Is it difficult or expensive to get the tools for reducing toxins?

Are you read for some good news?

You already HAVE quite a number of Chemical Minimalist’s tools in your home RIGHT NOW.  

The rest of the tools are easy to get - but you generally won’t get them in your grocery store.

Never fear - I will describe the easy step it takes to get these tools. 

Are These Tools Difficult to Access?

IMPORTANT POINTS - These are Kinda Different to access (not difficult)

When you start this new routine, some of these tools take unique steps to access.

You probably will have to order these tools. Ordering can be easy

It can happen with just a few days’ wait for them to arrive at your doorstep.

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How can I lower the cost of my cleaning supplies?

There really are ways to lower costs for Essential Oils and Microfiber tools. Let's look at those first. 

Then we will consider the tools you already own toward the end of this lesson.

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What is Mechanical Cleaning? What is Chemical Cleaning?

Now let's look at the methods we can use to disinfect and clean.

Whether we are cleaning a counter, tub, floor, or furniture, these same approaches are used:

Chemical Cleaning

Mechanical Cleaning

Thermal Cleaning

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Are there toxins in my health & hygiene products? 

Take a minute to understand that skin is the largest organ of our body. 

Adults have about 8 pounds, or 22 square feet of skin. 

Skin absorbs up to 64% of chemicals in water. If the water has toxins, those are absorbed to the same amount.

Facial skin is even MORE permeable, and absorbs greater than 64%.

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Is Chemical Minimalism a drudgery to live with, or can it be fun?

This decision to improve your routines for the healthier CAN be fun!

It is truly a matter of how you choose to approach this step.

Just like most of life.

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What does Mindfulness & Joyful Refilling mean?

Now let's shift our focus upon toxic emotions.

Reducing toxins in our homes is the top layer.

Reducing emotional toxins is deeper.

It is the foundation of being a Chemical Minimalist.

If our spirit is detoxed, everything else in life flows with ease, like a quiet river.

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What does Mindful Living have to do with Chemical Minimalism?

Mindful living (Joyful Refilling) means:

Living with Moment-to-Moment interest in what is happening right here, right now.

This can apply to what cleaning routines we are using around the home.

It also goes further to a consideration of how these routines affect our health.

Our thoughts can fall into routines...loops...and repetitions.

Both good and bad thoughts can become routines.

Toxic thoughts can cause us to experience lower immunity.

They can lead us to anxiety, fear, and anger. Each of these emotions

wear away at our ability to fight off viruses and long term illnesses.

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Are there other areas in my life that can be improved?

Once I learned to mindfully listen to my body and God's nudges, I noticed other areas to work upon.

I began to get a bit more clarity on how reducing toxins as a Chemical Minimalist carries into more of my life.  

I won’t dive too deeply into these topics. I am aware that it may overwhelm you to change more than you are ready to do. God will point out to each of us new ways to reduce toxins.

It is important for us to Notice promptings.

Once again, we can go from Noticing, into Awake & Aware.

This may happen as we watch a video or read an article which alerts us to something new.

Other times, God prompts us with a question about a routine that we haven’t ever considered before.