So many designers and tech industries today are leaning more and more towards ‘human centred design’ (HCD) approach. Let’s talk about it today.

I have been both the providers and customers within the healthcare system, same as other people around me. That scenario alone explains that our healthcare revolves around human interactions. Also the very reason HCD is so important as part of the building blocks of basic fundamentals of innovation. By putting human first, we can then starts to show the problems. design.

Basically, there are four drivers in this world as Vijay Kumar summarised in his beautiful inspirational talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk7P1YAKcjA

This weekend alone, I learnt that a user/technology pushed innovations such as ALT Vapor devices have significant influence to the users by putting HCD design in their ideation process.

Image retrieved from altvapors.com

One of an ALT vapour user shared with me over the weekend how this simple beautiful technology helped her reduced her spending on their weekly tobacco purchases by half. And not only that, they felt so much healthier and more productive. It literally, redefines the user’s perspective on why they even consume nicotine in the first place. They were then able to evaluate their decision of why they keep buying smokes even if they knew it is bad for them. Which eventually helps them realised that what started as an innocent habit had brought them to where they are today, financially and physically. 

It is clear to me how this product alone can be so desirable to the users. It is not only through because of its aesthetic but also its functionality. The device was able to create a new piece of habit on the user, and replaced the old one without “withdrawal” effects. And yes, I am talking about the likes of cigarette gums, patches and so on. Studies shows that these alternatives are proven less efficient because it had not the same ability to create such instant relieve for the users that vapour provides.

References:

• • Vaping much better smoking cessation aid than gum, patches, major study finds.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk7P1YAKcjA
  • Drugs, gums or patches won’t increase your chances of quitting.http://theconversation.com/drugs-gums-or-patches-wont-increase-your-chances-of-quitting-89767
  • Nicotine Gum and Patch Don’t Help Smokers Quit Long Term.http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/09/nicotine-gum-and-patch-dont-help-smokers-quit-long-term/
  • E-cigarettes twice as effective as patches and gum – study. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/e-cigarettes-twice-effective-patches-and-gum-study

This is going to be the last entry for my ‘High-functioning Fibromyalgia’ blog series! Thank you, Lord! So let me tell you how I escaped from a devastating condition called Fibromyalgia. For those who hadn’t been reading my previous posts, fibromyalgia is a condition which made my entire body simultaneously in pains. There are days when the aches and pains are so great, I have to stay in bed all day with no energy, brain fog, and the worse part is the inability to communicate effectively (I was scrambling for words pretty much every second I get. English being my second language doesn’t help it either). The presence of this condition in my life has definitely changed me from the person that I knew. People around me who knew me noticed how much I have changed and unable to speak in an articulate manner.

In my own journey of managing fibromyalgia, I met at least about three people in my life who are currently still suffering from fibromyalgia. It broke my heart to see how common this condition is amongst New Zealanders.

This life experience had been an inspiration for me to study the condition even more. It angers me to see so many Fibromyalgia patients are not getting the treatment they deserve. They are not even promised with a way out of their predicament. Nobody I’ve met who have described to me their fibromyalgic symptoms predicts or even have any form of suspicion that this condition will hit them later in their life. For the most part, I have met the most proactive, productive and generous people who are now battling their way out of fibromyalgia. So, it became clear to me how crucial my mission help these people has become.

If you want to read more about my journey of living with fibromyalgia. Here are the quick links:

Part 1 – The reckoning.
Part 2 – The daily interventions.
Part 3 – The management. (part 1)
Part 4 – The management. (part 2)

If you feel moved by my story and want to get involved in the design process for creating a technology that can help fibromyalgia patients, please get in touch with me here.

Love,

“…design thinking with a context creates impact!”

I used to thrive for originality in everything that I do and create. Later in life, I discovered that being original isn’t always the best way to go. I see too many designers are hustling their way into inventing or creating new ideas when the originality of it isn’t actually achieved at the end. The thing of ideas and creations are long established in human civilizations for decades. So, instead of approaching innovations through new creations, we could build upon the well established basic ideas. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not entirely against new inventions. I think they are great when you can achieve the unicorn idea. The problem with that is, it is so rare and difficult to accomplished. I am merely emphasizing the 

Have a look at the Japanese brilliant inventions, they are truly the world’s leading design pioneer. Their creations are almost always presented very neatly, fresh, and mostly functional and efficient. (Alright, not ALL of them are, but you get the idea!)

I have had the privilege of working and studying amongst the brightest-minded designers, brilliant artists, and ever-so-engaging scientists in New Zealand and I can’t stress enough the importance of including the users/customers into your design ideas before releasing any kind of products into the market. It’s been far too often that I ended up chucking away a cheaply designed product that is too hard to use or don’t serve its purpose as well as its intended.

Let’s be mindful of our end-users because they are the ones who created the demands of product markets. Without the users, a product has no value or purpose in itself. Somebody taught me a very important lesson today, “…design thinking with a context creates impact!”. 

If you like to discuss more this topic with me, feel free to contact me. I will try to get back to you as soon as I can. 

Love, 

Herb Robert

This fantastic weed-like plant is called Geranium Robertianum or commonly known as Herb Robert. I thought very little of them when I first discovered these in our garden, I tend to pull them out and throw them into the compost. Little did I know, this wee fella has more healing properties than over-the-counter anti-inflammatory tablets at the pharmacy. They grow wild and very tough on whatever the weather throws at it.

The other benefits if this beautiful herb is for treatments like diarrhea, kidney stones, and even a mouth wash. The active ingredient of Herb Robert is used to prevent the formation of kidney stones while improving the function of your liver, gallbladder, and kidney.

I had a terrible mouth ulcer during Christmas time last year. I know, what a timing, right?! Well, needless to say, I wasn’t able to enjoy most of the food served to me on that day, I was gutted. Then I remember my introductory lesson to the herbs at our garden with my lovely in-laws and I was eager to try it. So I picked on the leaves and the flower and chew on it the next morning. By the afternoon I was already stuffing my face with the most delightful Christmas feasts without a pain. Even my throat was so swollen and painful before that, which makes eating very unpleasant. After eating a small amount of these fresh herbs, I noticed the difference straight away.

So, next time you do the gardening, see if you can spot these guys. You might save yourself from going to the doctor for getting a decent anti-inflammatory medicine.

How to serve: I researched how to best consume them and get the maximum benefit out of it. The first one is to dry them out and brew them as tea. They aren’t very aromatic, unfortunately, so I tend to mix them with other loose leaf tea or honey. You can also consume them fresh by adding the leaves and flower buds onto the salad.

Feverfew White Bonnet

Another brilliant natural medicine I was introduced to was Tanacetum Parthenium or Feverfew White Bonnet. I hear you say, it looks like Chrysanthemums or Chamomile? It is simply because they are from the same family. They also have a very similar scent to the chamomile. The word “Parthénium” in Latin translates as “virgin” or “virgin goddess” because of its known health benefit on women.

These lovely herbs are famous in the 18th century as the world’s natural Panadol on patients who suffer from arthritic pains. On even earlier time, the Greek doctors prescribed Feverfew for treating menstrual cramps, irregularities and labor pains. The name Feverfew derived from the Latin word “febrifugus” to address its healing property relating fever symptoms. Today, Feverfew is used to treat migraines, nausea, cramps, dizziness, relaxing the nerves, and vomiting.

How to serve: The active ingredients of Feverfew can be utilized as a tea or tincture. I like to dry them and brew them on hot water along with other tea or by itself.

Lemon Verbena

Last but not least, Aloysia Citriodora or Lemon Verbena which came from the Verbenaceae family which can be identified easily from the beautiful citrusy aroma. They grow easily in full sun on cooler areas and semi-shade in hotter climates. Unfortunately, a subzero climate can easily kill them. In that case, you might want to grow them in a glass house to prevent them from frosting.

Lemon Verbena has an anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-oxidant, digestive, and sedative property. It has also been used to treat anxiety, reduce fevers, Insomnia, boost immunity.

How to serve: The Lemon Verbena aromatic property makes the best tea infusions. Its versatility makes it perfect for baking, cooking, alcohol drinking, and even in a salad. One way to get the best out of its flavor is by adding mint leaves and infused them in vinegar for a lovely light salad dressing.

Until next time.

Love,

Today is the day that I finally had the chance to redeem myself. So, I thought I should share it with the world, because there may be people out there who are still out of luck trying to save their Rotring pens. 

The beauty of these pens is that they have an in-built pump just in between the nip and the cartridge chamber. Once we unclogged the pump, the pen should work beautifully for years. I have tried googling on how to clean these pens but there aren’t that many useful ones for the Variant II. So here’s my way of cleaning them.

To begin, you want to disassemble all the removable parts. There is a bit just before the nib that needs to be removed to expose the mechanism around the pump

You can twist it with your hand or removing the cap on the top of the lid by pressing the button until the cap comes off the lid. Then use it as leverage.

Once, these are removed, dunk the nibs into a bowl of warm water. Or if you have the Rotring Cleaning Solution, you can use that. I used warm water and it works perfectly. Leave them submerged under water overnight.

Next, shake the nib to feel if the pump has been free of clogs. You can even hear it swishing about inside the nib head as you shaking it.. Once you achieve that, take a piece of paper towel, holding the nib head with the nib facing upwards and continuously dab it on top of the paper towel. This can get really messy, I suggest you protect the table underneath the paper towels with something solid, like the lid of a plastic ice cream tub when you do this. The remaining ink should come out of the nib nicely and make sure to dry them before assembly.

Use the paper towel to remove excess water from the pump area of the nib.

Make sure the cartridge chambers are free of ink inside by washing it under running water.

Then, you can start refilling the cartridge chambers with Rotring ink.

Assemble the pen back and begin shaking the pen forward and backward. You should now have a perfectly working fine tip pen.

I hope you enjoy my post today.

Happy drawing!

Sincerely,

Salt water bath

Recently I stumbled on an article about the “floating therapy” and how it can help Fibromyalgia patients from chronic pain and sleepless nights. Floating Therapy is also a great way to wind down from daily stresses at work. The downside of this treatment is that it is not cheap. They charge for about $90 per hour every session. I went and did research on what makes it the so-called floating therapy. Floating therapy is done using bath pods filled with salted water. The saltiness in the water that creates buoyancy, the same effect you get from swimming at the Red Sea in Israel. The salt contains in the floating therapy water is not just any ordinary kitchen salt, but sea salt. The kind that had been used for healing inflammations or blisters in the old times due to its unique mineral rich composition and healing properties. The nutrients including magnesium-chloride, potassium-chloride, calcium, Sulfur, Iodine, sodium, and bromide.

Now, the question is, where do we get these sea salt from. And the answer is, the supermarket! Yes, fortunately, we can get Epsom salt from the supermarket these days. They are not located in the normal seasoning isle because it isn’t for consumption so you will have to go to the beauty and cleaning product isles instead. Also, you can get them from the pharmacy or in any of the local organic shop. I got mine from Pure Nature. Apart from providing a large range of essential oils, Pure Nature also sells a myriad other wonderful organic ingredients.

Here is my favorite bath salt recipe:

1 cup of Epsom salt

1 tsp of dried lavender petals

1-2 tsp of mixed essential oils (I prefer Lavender, ylang-ylang, orange sweet/citronella, and chamomile infused oil

1 tbsp of sweet almond oil

1 tsp of goat’s milk powder

1/2 cup of ground oats

Soak in for at least 30 minutes to an hour. (Yes, it is a long time but for these nutrients to be absorbed into your skin, you need to allow some time. With that said, this can be the perfect opportunity for you to start a book reading or listening to a podcast! There are so many productive things you can do, it’s amazing!)

Do this once or twice a week and see if you can tell the difference. My sleep has certainly improved since the first time I dipped myself in the salty bath. I hope it can help you too.

Note: You don’t have to have the extra ingredients like I have done here, but soaking in salt water can dry your skin, which is why I added sweet almond oil, milk powder and ground oats onto the recipe.

That’s it for now.

Enjoy your blissful bath!

Love,

so I thought I should show you the Mgsupplement of my choice for a reference. I am not saying that this is the best one out of all, but I want to show where to look when deciding which Mg supplement product you are after. I particularly have digestive issues since I was little so Nutra-Life’s Mg is by far the best choice for me.

While discussing on the choice of supplements, I was advised to try the CoQ10 enzyme supplement also. Though there hadn’t been a lot of study behind it, it is by far one of the nutrients which Fibromyalgia patients seems to have deficient from, along with iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B, D and many more. The staff kindly handed me a couple of CoQ10 samples for me to try at home. It is known that the effect of CoQ10 takes about 5 days when taken daily with food. So I will report again next week on this.

I must also indicate the importance of consulting your supplement dosage with your doctors. Taking too much Mg can result in stomach upsets and change in bowel movements, so please be advised.

If you live in New Zealand, make sure you take advantage of this great promotion at your local LIFE pharmacies. Don’t miss out on their BUY 2 get 1 FREE sale on either Nutra-Life and Go Health products, you can get them at the store or through convenient online shop here.

Read more about CoQ10 on Fibromyalgia patients here.

That’s it from me for today.
Take care everybody.

Love,

Throw Back Thursday

Curated by Caleb Hyslop

In this week’s ‘Throw Back Thursday’ I would like to talk about a special local shop in Dunedin.

This week’s TBT goes to a local shop at the heart of Dunedin called Drake Leather. Drake Leather has been creating high-quality handmade leather purses, belts and satchels for 43 years. The design is very sophisticated and robust. Even after more than four decades, the owner says he is still learning. I think this is a sign of a true master in any craft.

Luxury cruise ship passengers, connoisseurs of epicurean finery and lovers of all things made to last appreciate the range of excellent quality products on offer. Those with a nose to know will be drawn to Drake Leather by the unmistakable scent of quality leather from half a city block away. Unlike so many of the cheap knockoffs made from inferior composite leather which degrades quickly, a patron of Drake Leather has the confidence that their purchase will last the test of time.

Easy to find, just 5-10 minutes walk away from the Octagon in the city center makes it an attractive destination for visitors, tourists, and discerning locals. The products on the range make excellent gifts for special occasions such as Father’s Day, a graduation, or for a lasting souvenir. Especially complimentary to this is the personalisation of embossing that Bill Drake offers to guarantee a unique touch to your new leather treasure!

I haven’t been blessed with perfect facial skin. I battled with a severe acne from a young age. It is certainly not a pleasant experience going through youth with a terrible acne problem, especially for a girl. So, yes, I totally understand how other people feel about it. I hope that by sharing this extensive list of the most commonly used essential oils, people can find the confidence to whip up their very own elixir at home! It certainly is a very useful skill to have, plus you can save lots of money from not buying those expensive skin products that don’t always help.

First of all, let’s have a look at the various uses of essential oils:

1. Bath
   Mix 5-10 drops of essential oil to carrier oil/body wash and pour into bath water
2. Aroma Diffuser
   Add 5-10 drops
3. Beauty & Bodycare
   Add 1-5 drops per 10 mg cosmetic base
4. Compress
   Add 3-5 drops to a bowl of hot water
5. Steam Inhalation
   Add 2-5 drops to a bowl of hot water
6. Room Freshners
   Add 2-5 drops to a mixture of dried flowers, oil burner or wooden ornaments
7. Aromatherapy Mist
   Add 10-15 drops to 30 ml water
8. Topical Use
   See dillution guide below. Make sure to add essential oils to carrier oil for a proper dilution

Great options for Carrier Oils: Sweet Almond Oil, Jojoba Oil, Argan Oil, Olive Oil, Rosehip oil, and many others. Let’s not forget also, Witch Hazel and the wonderful Aloe Vera extract . Check out this link to learn more.

Dilution Guide for Essential Oils

Number of drops per ml

Recommended dilution:

• Toddlers: 1%- 2%
• Children: 1.5% – 3%
• Adults: 2.5% – 5%

Healing Properties of Essential Oil

Scroll/‘touch and drag’ side ways to see more. You can also filter your search by name.