All Things Skin, Wellness & Faith
All Things Skin, Wellness & Faith
Crafting Effective Routines for Skin and Soul
Can simplifying your skincare routine and spiritual practices truly yield better results? In this enlightening episode we discuss:
1. Revealing the profound benefits of adopting a "less is more" approach. You’ll discover practical tips to identify your skin type and needs, cutting through the clutter of marketing-driven choices to craft an effective, stress-free skincare regimen.
2. I highlight the tranquility and effectiveness that simplicity can bring to both your skincare and spiritual journey, ensuring you feel more serene and grounded.
If you ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of spiritual content available, you're not alone.
3. In this episode, we tackle the concept of "spiritual gluttony"—the overload of spiritual books, teachings, and sermons that can leave you feeling guilty rather than uplifted.
Drawing from my own experiences, I emphasize the importance of balance and discernment, guiding you on how to filter out the spiritual "junk food." Let the Holy Spirit be your guide in choosing quality content, ensuring your spiritual diet remains wholesome and beneficial.
Hey, there you're tuned into another episode of All Things Skin Wellness and Faith, a podcast where you'll learn simple ways to implement skincare and wellness techniques from a holistic approach. On this podcast, you'll explore practical ways to address skin health and overall holistic spiritual well-being, while deepening your faith. I'm your host, natasha Diaz, a licensed holistic esthetician, day spa owner and a faithful believer and follower of Christ, and it's time to get ready to get encouraged and empowered as we dive into all things skin wellness and faith.
Speaker 2:Hey, welcome back to another episode of All Things Skin, Wellness and Faith. Natasha, here I'm welcoming you all back to another episode. I know it's been a little bit since we've had a longer episode, so I hope that this reaches everyone well, and I hope you're ready to tune in today. Today we're going to just hop into a little topic of simplicity. Simplicity at its best, really, when it comes to skincare, wellness and, of course, our spiritual walk. And when it comes to most things really, less is more.
Speaker 2:Our human nature tends to have us with the tendency to overcomplicate things. I certainly know that I am one that can easily fall victim to this. Plenty of times in many different areas, this has been quite the issue for me in multiple areas. Today's discussion we're just going to break down what it looks like in our daily lives from a spiritual aspect, and then also we're going to talk about simplicity at its best with one of my favorite subjects, which you guys all know, which is skin care. We're going to break down what it looks like to have a basic and simple approach to all things skin and then also within our spiritual walk. So, yeah, let's get into it.
Speaker 2:Sometimes I feel like we have a big illusion in our minds, and sometimes I feel like we can build it up that in our minds, if we do more, if we use more, that it tends to be better, that we're going to get a better result. And that is not necessarily true. We can easily end up doing too much and becoming overwhelmed, distracted, and that usually kind of leads us down a path to where we're quitting or where we're giving up, which is not good. And skincare and wellness this is so easy to get caught up in. I mean, there's so many different trends on the market, there's so many different things going on that you tend to just find yourself in this pattern of just trying this and trying that and before you know, you just have a whole collection of stuff that you have wasted money on, not exactly sure what to use when, and, yeah, it gets a little overwhelming. I mean me personally.
Speaker 2:I often see clients that will come in and they will have an abundance of products cleansers, serums, moisturizers, galore and it's like they're not really sure what works, what doesn't work, what to use when, or not knowing how to use it or why they're even using it. Most of it goes back to marketing, usually something like I heard it from this one, or I heard that this is really good. Or, within wellness, I heard you know this supplement works really well for this, or you know a different specific vitamin. I know there are a lot of different things within both skincare and also wellness that are easily trending. It seems to be an industry that is really on the rise these days, and so the marketers know that, so they're going to play into that. So we, as consumers have to have a little bit of knowledge, which can be difficult, but we really have to do a little bit of research and, you know, even at times, like I've said before, you know, the Google encyclopedia is not always the best thing to do, because that's one of the biggest marketing tools, but I often, you know, recommend trying to get some insight from a professional, either a skincare or wellness provider like myself. There are some physicians that have knowledge in that area. For me personally, I found that the physicians don't have a lot of knowledge in those areas. They have some, but that's not to say that that's the same case for every scenario, every physician and every situation. So you'll have to definitely feel that out. I think we can kind of tell who's who and who knows what and who doesn't.
Speaker 2:But when it comes to skincare, you basically want to start off with just a few things and really that's all you need to get on the right track. There's a few steps that you want to break down to like keep it really simple, and I usually tell my clients this is how I guide them and I direct them and I kind of tell them. The first thing you want to do is identify your skin type and your current skin condition. This is going to allow you to have the proper selection of products for your skincare. This is going to help you keep it simple and this is going to help keep you out of that try everything phase. If you know what is going on with your skin directly, then it can kind of clue you in or, like I said, seek a professional's advice on some of the products that you'll need to use, and even then it can still get a little bit confusing. But knowing your skin type and the skin condition, which is two totally, completely things, is going to be key for finding products that will be effective for your condition and will be conducive to really helping you see and achieve results.
Speaker 2:The next thing you're going to want to do is operate in what I call the simplest form method. What does that mean? That means, while you may have a bunch of things that you are dealing with as far as your skin maybe you're you know you have some pigmentation issues and then you have some wrinkling and then a time to time, you know you have some breakouts. You don't want to go out and buy you know products for every single condition at one time and then just kind of mix and match and treat one thing one day and one thing another. The best thing you want to do and I always tell my clients when they come in this is the way that I treat within my practice is that you want to treat the skin's most prominent needs at that time.
Speaker 2:So, for example, if you have dry skin, we definitely want to treat dry skin. Before we even treat dry skin, we want to identify if your skin is dry or if it's dehydrated, because dry and dehydrated are two totally and completely different things. Dry skin is lacking oil and dehydrated skin is lacking water. So you can have an oily skin and have it be dehydrated, or you can also be dry and dehydrated. So figuring out that per se correctly is going to really be key in guiding you to the right products for that situation.
Speaker 2:Someone that was like an oily skin type but was dehydrated per se would not want to treat their skin with a lot of heavy duty oily products. You would want to treat your skin with things that provide water hydration, so that would be, just to give an example, a hyaluronic acid, because hyaluronic acid is something that draws water into the skin. So those are some things that will help you treat your skin properly, because if you have oily skin and then you think it's actually dry when it's actually dehydrated, you're going to put on a whole bunch of things that will treat dry skin and you will not be pleased with the results because you'll find that your skin it's too heavy for your skin. On oily skin type, this could actually cause some breakouts because it can be too much, or you can just find that it feels really, really heavy on your skin. So identifying the skin's prominent needs first is definitely going to be key.
Speaker 2:Now there are also two other effective areas that we need to find out what we are using for our skin, and that's basically like I said we want to look at what the main prominent problems are of the skin. But then we want to find out and kind of figure out what is the best way to use what when. So if you have a dehydrated skin and I mean this can get a little bit confusing, so I don't want to go on and on with it, but I do want to kind of give you guys an idea. But if you have oily skin and you feel that your skin is dry, you would definitely not want to use a cream cleanser. So just figuring out things like okay, so my skin is dehydrated or my skin is dry, and what area or what product am I going to put the need to treat that condition? Am I going to put the hydration more so within the cleanser which you really can't do with a dehydrated skin, but you can do it in dry skin or if my skin is dehydrated, am I going to put it in my hydration in the form, in the place of the serum or the place of the moisturizer? Once you figure that out, you can kind of narrow it down to what is going to best serve to replenish the hydration in that skin.
Speaker 2:And normally, usually, what I tell my clients is you really don't want to have a whole bunch of products. Like I said, the whole gist of this podcast, the whole topic we're talking about, is simplicity. So, like I said previously, less is more. So we want to try and identify two to three products that will facilitate visible change within the skin, because it's very important that you see visible change, that you have a visible change, because it's important that you see the change in your skin, because that's what's going to keep you motivated. Now, once you have these products and you have a clear understanding of how to use them and when to achieve the best result, the next thing you want to do is use them.
Speaker 2:Consistency is key. Often we start off well when it comes to like starting off something new, but you know there can be times that we tend to fall off and if that happens you know, no worries, no big deal. The best thing with falling off is making sure that you get back. You start back up and that you know you get back on the bandwagon again and you get back into your routine so that you can keep consistent. It becomes more of a lifestyle and you can keep achieving those results. And then, once you balance out those results and we achieve what I call the first level of visible change. Then you can start to progress and you can start to work on other things. So, like I said, if you are struggling with any type of dryness and I just use this because it's a really easy one to use dryness or dehydration, you definitely need to treat those first before we are considering pigmentation, acne, wrinkles, things like that, because if your skin is dry or dehydrated, you have a barrier on the top of your skin and what's going to happen is those products are not going to get down to the dermal layer of the skin because they're going to be blocked by that buildup of dry skin. So that is the initial thing that you want to do, with keeping your skincare regimen simple and making sure that you don't just end up with this box of products and a whole bunch of wasted money that you don't know what to do with.
Speaker 2:Now, when it comes to our spiritual walk with the Lord, it's really no different. If you're like me, you would want to absorb all the knowledge. Different If you're like me, you would want to absorb all the knowledge. You would want to take a deep dive into the Lord and you would want to you know, just kind of indulge in the truth and kind of know everything there is to know about the Lord within 10 minutes. Now, while it's good to have this type of thirst for the Lord, and he wants us to get to know him, the Bible says you know, taste and see that the Lord is good. And obviously, when you taste something and that you see that it's so good as the Lord is, of course you want more. Well, it's also very important that we pace ourselves. This is so, so, so important, important.
Speaker 2:This form of spirituality uh, what I is what I call spiritual gluttony and this is kind of what this can kind of lead into is just, you know, going out and buying a whole bunch of books, um, just absorbing a whole bunch of content, and what it does is, you know, you can, in fact it can, impede your walk with the Lord a little bit. You can easily find yourself with a surplus of, like I said, books, and then you know just a bunch of different teachings and sermons and a bunch of different people that you're following and you don't really have the time to like when it comes to the books, at least, because I'm speaking from personal experience. This used to be me with the books I mean you have again, just like with our skincare products, we're gonna have a whole collection of stuff that we're overwhelmed with and honestly, that can make you feel a little bit guilty too, when you go out and you buy all these books and you have all these things and you look at them and you're like, oh, oh, I just don't have the time. I really bought this with a good intention, but I don't have the time to read them. Then you kind of get yourself into a place of guilt and condemnation because then you're feeling like you're not keeping up with what you intended to do and, as with anything, you have to have a balance.
Speaker 2:Again, I'm focusing back Less is more. So when you start out, you really want to experience and you start out when you start out and you really want to experience the goodness of the Lord. Like I said, it's natural to want more. But in addition to that spiritual gluttony, the other thing you have to worry about is having a filter, and actually I want to revise that. We don't worry in Christ. So I'm not going to say the other thing we have to worry about. What I want to say is the other thing we want to concern ourselves with or be aware of, other than spiritual gluttony, is to have a filter. To have a filter to make sure that what we're consuming, what we're watching, what we're listening to is good, and this is going to keep us from falling into a place of a term that I've coined as spiritual junk food. So you don't want to consume something that is a little bit off.
Speaker 2:And sometimes, when we are listening to a lot of different teachings from a lot of different people, christianity is very tricky. There are a lot of people out there with a lot of different ideas, a lot of different depictions of the scriptures, a lot of different meanings of what they feel is okay and it's not okay. And while the Bible is definitely complex, a lot of people have actually had someone say to me that you know, oh, christianity is just so complicated. It's really not. I mean, it appears that way to some people and of course, you know that's what the enemy wants us to think. So we can kind of just say you know what the heck with this? This is too complicated, but the key to Christianity and decoding it is actually simple.
Speaker 2:There's one thing you need and you need an interpreter, and in Christianity, our interpreter is the Holy Spirit. That's who Jesus you know. When he went on the cross, he left us and he said you know I'm leaving, you know my Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit I forgot what the exact words for, but basically what he referred to is that he was leaving the helper is what he called him and that's exactly what the Holy Spirit is is our helper. So once you have a relationship with the Lord, once you are praying, once you are able to be guided and led by the Holy Spirit, you have that filter in place and it gets easier to weed out some of that spiritual junk food Because, trust me, there is a lot going on out there.
Speaker 2:Just as skincare and wellness is very popular and trending right now, so is Christianity and religion and, honestly, you know Christianity. I struggled with that one. I'm sorry to be a Christian and struggle with that, but Christianity is, honestly, it's not a religion. A religion is organized, a religion is ran by man and that's not what true Christianity is all about by man, and that's not what true Christianity is all about.
Speaker 2:So, like I was saying, just as we have to be aware of skincare and wellness and the products that we use on our skin. I mean there's a lot of fancy jargon out there that they use to reel us in, and you know what. They do the same with Christian content, and we really have to be careful on what we're absorbing. Just as we want to be careful with what we're absorbing into our skin, we also want to be careful what we're absorbing into our spirit. It's very important that we put a lot of focus on this. I mean I can't emphasize this more. I mean we definitely want to take care of our bodies, we definitely want to take care of our skin. I mean the Bible does says that you know we are a temple of the Holy Spirit, but at the end of the day, on the other side of that is, these bodies will perish, but our spiritual life and our spiritual walk, that is going to determine where we go for eternity, and that is very, very important. So what I want to say with that is in the same way that you check your ingredients on your products, I want you to do the same thing with the content that you're absorbing into your spirit.
Speaker 2:Man, I mean, as a woman, we take a lot of time with our skincare. We take a lot of time. I know I do at least I can't speak for everyone, but I know I do. We take a lot of time looking at the ingredients, making sure that things are pure and organic and checking over that label. And, like I said, if we don't want garbage on our skin, we definitely don't want garbage in our spirits. John 4.1 actually says don't believe everyone who claims to have the spirit of God. It instructs us to test all the spirits to find out if they really do come from God or not. And we really have to do that. Just as we have, you know, the counterfeits within money and as time goes on, the counterfeits look more and more real. I mean we have the same thing within Christianity and I mean right now we're in the last days. The last days are among us and with everything, like I said, the counterfeits are just really starting to look really, really good and it's becoming hard to you know, detect who's real or who's not.
Speaker 2:This is with so many different things. I mean even within the skincare. Look at all the terms that they're using, you know, just to attract your attention. Oh, it's all natural, it's pure, it's organic. You know all these different things to reel you in Low in sugar, organic or non-animal made or whatever the terms, whatever the things that they want to use. They will use any and everything to get you sucked in. This can be done within the Christian realm. This can be done anywhere. We're talking sermons, we're talking books, teachings, advice from friends that are within the body of Christ.
Speaker 2:I mean, the enemy is at work and he is at work hardcore. So we have to make sure that you know we are on point with making sure that we're fact checking everything that we are absorbing and that can get kind of time consuming, especially if you're, you know, early on in your walk. But, like I said once again, I'm going to bring it back to that key statement less is more. The Bible tells us that the enemy is out there seeking whoever he can devour. So do not give him a foothold, do not let him in. The Bible also tells us that we must be alert. So we have to be alert. I mean Mark 13, 22 in the TPT tells us that the false prophets will arise. They're coming to deceive even God's elect, even the chosen ones.
Speaker 2:So I mean those of us that are even well deep into our walk, those of us that you know, may really know our word are still, you know, no different than those of us that are, you know, at entry level per se, the enemy is very, very tricky. So, again, it's really, really simple. All you need to do is to keep it simple, and this is what I say, because I mean even a person like me who likes to dive into the word and likes to study. For those of us that are, you know, just getting started with this Christianity thing, just, you know, turning back to it, you know, maybe we were raised with it with our mothers, but you know, we didn't really pay attention to it. Again, less is more. All you need is two things the word of God and the Holy Spirit as your translator. What you need to do is find a version of the Bible that works to your understanding.
Speaker 2:For me, I like the new King James. King James is not really. I'm not there yet. I know that any Bible connoisseur or theologian would definitely tell you how to do King James, but for me, I really have to be able to digest it and understand it, and I'm just not there yet for the King James version. I'm working towards it, but I'm not there yet. So, for right now, I'm utilizing the New King James, which is very, very close to the King James.
Speaker 2:The NLT Also. I love the TPT, but the thing with the TPT, that's the Passion Translation. The TPT only has the New Testaments, the Psalms and the Proverbs, so you'll have to refer back to either the New King James or the NLT to get your Old Testament stuff. But still, I mean TPT still works. It's really really good for me to just travel with, because it just I don't know the way it's worded. I find it really really good for me to just travel with, because it just I don't know the way it's worded. I find it really really interesting.
Speaker 2:And then I also like the message. The message is more I don't know if I'm describing this right, I guess you could say more poetic it groups the scriptures together in two and three verses, so it's hard to use the message if you're trying to compare between different translations. So if you're using the message, I would definitely say have like NLT or New King James as your backup. The NIV is also good. The only thing with the NIV is that I've recently found out that they've omitted certain verses, which I'm not surprised. So that's not a good thing. So, like I said, what I recommend is either the NKJV, which is the New King James, the NLT, which is the New Living Translation, the TPT, which is the passion translation, or also the message.
Speaker 2:The next thing I'd like to say is study If you're really deep in your walk and you're at that level. For me, I have a concordance. I have several Bible dictionaries that are specific to certain topics. I also have about four or five different versions of a physical copy of the Bible and I like to dissect, I like to look up words, I like to get the true Greek and Hebrew meaning.
Speaker 2:If I hear a sermon or I hear something from someone and it doesn't lay right in my spirit, I'm definitely going to go back. I'm going to use those tools, along with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to dissect and to test that spirit, to make sure that whatever that person is teaching is not only accurate but is in the right context. And this is like not to speak against, you know, any specific pastor, teacher, preacher or evangelist, because we're human, we're not perfect. I mean, even I myself could speak something error. Now I wouldn't do it on purpose, but you know, I'm not God, I'm not Jesus, I'm not the Holy Spirit. So there's. There definitely runs a chance that you know something could be used out of context. So we have these tools that we can use, that we can go back and fact check.
Speaker 2:And the Bible tells us to study to show thyself approved. So you always want to keep the written word on your heart, on the tablet of your heart, and that comes from Habakkuk, I think it's. No, that's right division. Make it plain. I don't have that exact scripture, but the Bible does say that Keep the written word on the tablets of our heart. So we always want to make sure that we are studying, that we are taking that time to have a specific place and a specific time to sit down with the Lord in prayer Because, like I said, it's the Holy Spirit that's the translator and the number one reason that people get so confused with Christianity and with reading their Bibles is because they don't involve the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:They just sit down and they just go and they try to read and they try to figure out on their own what the context of the text is and what it means and sometimes, if you don't have the Holy Spirit, there are parts of the Bible that can actually look like they're contradicting. We need the Holy Spirit to guide and to lead us. The Bible is alive, so I mean we definitely need to have that time where we sit down with the Lord in prayer and we ask him Father, I'm going to read your word right now. I need you to guide and to lead me through this. I need you to even show me what it is that you want me to read.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's a lot of Bible plans out there, there are a lot of teachers and again, I'm not speaking against anyone, but there are a lot of people that will tell you. You know, I even bought, for example, I bought this one year Bible, the one year Bible to get through the Bible in one year, and it's like you read a Psalm, a proverb, and then it's either a scripture from the Old Testament or the New Testament, and I started off with that and the Lord just told me, like okay, that's not how I want you to read. I want to speak to you and I want you to be instructed by me, not just going on this walk alone. So that is one of my four or five Bibles that I have, but I don't utilize that one because there is no man or no woman out there that can instruct you on the perfect Bible plan. It has to be led by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:I literally go before the Lord every day and I sit down and I say okay, father, what is it that you want to speak to me today? What is it that you want me to read? Today, I will also play what I call the random Bible game, where I will take my Bible, I'll say a prayer the prayer like I just said and I will open up my Bible and I'll just kind of open it up randomly after saying that prayer and let the Lord literally show me what it is that he wants me to read. And I kid you not every time I do it, either on the Bible app on my phone I'll do like the random scroll with my finger, or I'll just randomly open up my Bible after asking the father what he wants me to read. And every single time he leads me to either I answer to a question, something I've been pondering on, or there's just a revelation. So again, I can't reiterate, and I think I do on every episode, because it's so important to have that back and forth dialogue with the Lord, to have that back and forth conversation with the Lord.
Speaker 2:So, finally, I just want to encourage you to just keep your skincare and your spiritual regimens simple and consistent. Our God is so good and he's sovereign. He can actually direct you with both the right products, the right skincare professional, the right Bible version for you to read, the right reading plan and the right church or ministry to join. The word says that you have not because you ask not, so just ask him. He's so faithful to meet your every need. All we have to do is ask, believe and receive.
Speaker 2:So, father, I just want to come before you today as we close out today. I want to come before you, Lord, and I just want to say thank you, father, for blessing my lips. Thank you, lord. I just want to say thank you, father, for blessing my lips. Thank you, lord, for just guiding me through this episode. I just want to pray for every single person, lord God, that is under the sound of my voice, that is listening to this. I just want to pray, lord, that you would impart on them a spirit of wisdom, guidance, lord God. I want to pray, lord God, that you would just show them and lead them, lord God, as they abide in you, as they seek you, lord. I pray, lord, that you would lead them down that straight and narrow path that leads to you. Father, God, I thank you once again for allowing me to put together this episode and I just want to pray for blessings and abundance to all of my listeners. Thank you, father. In the name of Jesus, I pray Amen.
Speaker 2:So before we close up officially, one thing I do want to mention is that I do do online skincare consultation. So I know I gave you guys a lot of information. If there's anyone that's listening that is out of the local area of the Massachusetts Rhode Island area and you cannot get to me in person, I do offer online skincare consultations where I can kind of lead you and guide you to some of the right products that may be effective for you and help you get you on the right path. So if you want to book that, you can just book that online through my website, which is wwwallthingskinorganicnet. Of course, I still offer prayer as well, so I do no cost, of course, because we do not sell the word of God.
Speaker 2:I can do online prayer, I can do Zoom session prayer calls or, if you just want to email me, you have something that's pressing, or if you just you know have any type of Christianity rush, then I will do the best that I can, with the help of the Father, to lead you in the right direction. You can email me with prayerwithnatasha at gmailcom. And also there's a new feature that's been made available, I believe. I'm not sure if it's on every single platform, but I know on the Apple podcast it does have a little area where it says that you can text. So right in the podcast I think it's right underneath the show notes you can send me a quick text with any questions you have. All right, guys, this has been such a blessing coming before you. Again, I thank you so much for your ears. I thank you so much for your time Until the next episode, be blessed and be a blessing. I love you all. Bye for now.