I had about two days where I failed to stick to the pattern, but now I’m used to it. :) The trial is a success!

I recently started meditating and then journaling first thing in the morning, sometimes between going to the toilet and eating breakfast. Now, since I can’t think of a better trial, I will meditate and journal as I have been doing for about a week or so already, except now it’s a trial.

Here are the rules:

• Meditating for as long as I feel like, gradually going longer as I get better. (I’m currently doing two minutes, but starting tomorrow, I’ll do at least three.)
• Journaling for at least fifteen minutes – constant writing.

That’s it. :)

An update about going barefoot, now that I’m writing anyway:

I’m still walking barefoot. Last Friday I jumped over the edge of the pavement thing at the parking lot by the Kiwi store at Kringsjå, and landed in the leaves. I also landed on a broken bottle neck, cutting myself, but I didn’t realize before I got home. I wore shoes for three days – when I did go out, that is. I felt like Minotaurus, wearing those hooves. :S I found it hard and uncomfortable to walk with shoes, so I will try to avoid it as much as I can. My wound is almost completely gone, so I walk without shoes, fearing no infection anymore. :)

Some people might say I’m “dirty”. I don’t mean in a sexual sense, even though that is subjective as well. I’m talking about my not showering very often, and going barefoot for days without cleaning my feet.

During my second raw trial, in September one year ago, I first noticed that I started smelling less. At one point I hadn’t showered for a week, yet smelled nothing at all. Now I sometimes smell, and I think it’s when I eat a lot of fatty food. Last year I was going low-fat. Nevertheless, I don’t smell half as much as before. I used to smell slightly sweaty no matter what. As a consequence, when I broke my trial off after two weeks, the smell after/during P.E. classes was surprising. I’m glad to be rid of that problem. Now I only shower when I “feel dirty”, which happens every week or less.

When I first started going barefoot, I washed my feet every day… for about a week. Since then, I’ve simply used the doormat. The second week or so, someone asked me if I washed my feet when I got home. When I said I didn’t, this person was disgusted. Last weekend, I was at MDG’s stand at Karl Johan street in Oslo. Some guy walked past me as I offered him a flier, saying that he “wouldn’t accept anything from someone walking barefoot at Karl Johan”, apparently disgusted. He said something about bacteria and stuff, as well.

To me it seems like society at large is mysophobic. As far as I remember from biology in high school, contact with dirt is good. It keeps the immune system active. Children who grow up in “sterile” environments are much more likely to get sick later, and more severely at that, because their bodies aren’t used combat germs. As for me, I’m not afraid of getting sick, due to my boosted immune system. ;) I even pick up the peanuts I drop on the floor and eat them. Others could have a reason to worry, but I’m actually doing them a favour.

I used to think in the same way, and probably still do to some extent – I wash my hands after using the restroom, for example. After I started going barefoot, I’ve become more at ease with dirt. As a bonus, I save water. And anyway, it’s just dirt. :)