This afternoon, I'm working on an upcoming presentation for Piece County's Cancer Survivor Conference. My class will be all about prevention. Preventing stress and unnecessary chemical exposure. In our world of speed and ease, sometimes our health gets lost in the dust. If a splash of prevention will alleviate even a speck of stress or damage I will talk until the cows come home.
As I'm gathering my key points, a lovely lady called me today. As we were chatting, she shared with me her own frustrations with "normal old" cleaners. She had used a "household" chemical that ended up causing her to be over exposed to a nasty little chemical - which gave her asthma! This is not uncommon and actually a pretty high insistence in the cleaning/restoration/building industries. While on the phone, she also told me about a friend who lost her eye from working with a toilet bowl cleaner! I would love to say, these are rare incidences but I can't.
What is true is that we have all gotten so used to using chemicals in our food, on our bodies, to clean with to paint with, to make and to create with that we are not weary any more. These products that are sold in our grocery stores, just a couple isles down from our food, must be safe...Right???
Here is what I know:
We as a society use way too much chemical to get most jobs done- needlessly
These chemicals are usually over kill for the job- too aggressive and too dangerous
We have stopped using systems and physics but now rely only on the strength of chemical to get the
job done
Many chemicals:
especially cleaners, pesticides, paints, disinfectants and fragrances are sprayed into our air
Chemicals get accidentally mixed together all the time
We are habitual by nature and become desensitized to what we are around all the time
The labels, which are not great but still helpful, are rarely read or followed
Safety measures are rarely implemented
Change takes effort and so finding safer alternatives gets put on the back burner of our long to do lists
We forget to ask questions about our chemicals- what, why, how, when, where????
We apply lots of chemical and then leave them behind....
We don't know where to start or how to use safer products and so we give up
I'm not against modern improvements and our business is based on using chemicals to assist our work. But what I am against is not pausing those few seconds to ponder our next step. It is in those precious seconds of questioning our next move, of listening to the little voice within, of pausing to ask for help that makes all the difference in the world.
If you can, please come visit my upcoming presentations.
If you cant, then I ask you a favor?...
Before you use a chemical in your home or on your body...
1. Pause - learn to pause and ask questions
What are you using?
Why are you using it? How long have you used it? How do you feel when you use it?
What is it? What is in it? What is that?
Have I read the label- do I understand this product?
Is there a better, safer, milder product or way to go forward?
2. Practice Doing no harm- always use the mildest and safest way
Is this product safe for me, the environment, the material I'm working with?
How am I using it? Did it get into mouth, get on my skin or into my lungs?
Is there a safer way? Can I prevent needing this product?
3. Leave nothing behind!
What is lingering behind?
Did I remove this product-completely?
How do I feel?
4. Go outside and breathe
Unplug for just a second and go outside. Breathe in fresh air, look at the sky, the trees the water
We typically spend 80-90% percent of our time indoors
Our homes are usually 2-5 times more toxic than the outdoors.
Sometimes our best solution is to look at life from a new angle.
Hope to see you on Sept 13th! As always, wishing you a healthy, happy and residue free home!
Denise
