A snow fairy dropped something...

"Woops, did I do that?"

Yes, I believe you did. The warnings were a bit exaggerated, as it turned out, since after starting to snow at around 8.30 am, a total of 3 to 4 centimeters (about two inches) of snow fell... The day started off like Thursday did: dry and slightly frosty, but with a quite chilly breeze blowing in from the west. That was what cut my nuddhist morning exercise short, since I could only last about two minutes on my balcony, feeling the cold wind on my skin, while inhaling the clear air.

I went to work barefoot, using the same cold-weather barefooting configuration as on Thursday, enjoying the cool and exhilaraaing sensation of frosty sidewalks at the bus stop and on my way to work as well as making contact with Mother Nature's cold skin, walking on grass before entering the office.

Later in the morning, people were going "Awww" at work, seeing the first snowflakes dance outside the office windows, and about an hour after it had started, I went outdoors for a break and decided to refresh myself, winter barefooter style, enjoying the fluffy cool feeling of the first inch of fresh snow underfoot.

Of course, these bare footprints were later covered by a bit more snow falling, but I'm sure they boggled the minds of people getting to the office parking lot after me for a little while...

On the downside, people started throwing around lots of grit and salt on the sidewalk, as soon as the flakes hit the town... I opted for keeping my foot coffins on on the way home (also due to having to wait for the bus, not wanting to have my bare feet get too cold, by having salt on my bare soles, thawing the snow and cooling my feet down too much). It felt so clunky and awkward to walk in them, even though they are comfortable-fit, wide enough to accomodate my broad feet, too. But still, nothing beats the natural gait of walking barefoot.

So, Friday has passed, now it's just a Saturday shift ahead of me, before starting my leave... and I will use that time to refresh and recharge properly, too.

Dancing barefoot and skyclad with an Ice Fairy...

This is indeed what Thursday felt like, especially in the early morning, when I started the work day in my trademark and typical way, doing my nuddhist breathing exercise in slightly frosty air at -1°C/30F. Inhaling the morning air, my sinuses cleared up instantly and I was able to stand on my balcony for several minutes, doing a nice cycle of gathering positive vibes and waking up instantly...

Drinking my mug of coffee afterwards felt like taking a magic potion to invigorate and strengthen me even further.

The slightly frosty conditions made me use an item of clothing which is considered by most people one of the worst fashion sins of the 1980s: leg-warmers. Dancers world-wide rely on thm to keel their ankles and calf muscles warm during training, and winter barefooters can do the same to keep the feet warm and circulated, even when touching frosty ground.

This was a morning to remember and stick to the rules of frost barefooting:

• Do not wear metal foot jewelry, such as toe rings,
• Dress up warm, including leg-warmers,
• Generously apply bag balm as insulation and skin care,
• Keep moving - bare feet warm themselves up while walking.

Feeling cool grass with rime and remains of slush underfoot...

Splashing bare toes in puddles was impossible - all puddles were frozen solid.

After arriving at the office and feeling my feet tingle nicely while they warmed up, I saw the day starting off with nice warm colors, and a beautiful sunrise and cloud painting. From indoors, it could have been a proper sunrise for a warm spring or early summer day.

The whole day was sunny, despite earlier warnings about snow - and I made sure to spend my breaks outdoors, soaking up some sun, boosting my positive energy levels a little between the hours of diving into numbers, facts and figures.

The slightly absurd moment of the day was seeing Captain Obvious in action, of all places in the men's bathroom at the office:

OK, I guess people might not notice that there is something missing, defunct or out of order... so, of course, a sign has to be put up. Just like no one expecting hot liquid in a paper cup of coffee has to be reminded of it by a printed notice on the cup.

Although, I would love to hear about a lawsuit, where someone tried to use the missing urinal by sticking his member into the drain hole and getting hurt in the process - just because a sign was missing!

Well, anything can happen. I've heard today, that someone has started a petition in the USA to build an original-sized Death Star in Earth orbit in order to ward off enemies from space... the only obstacle might be the cost of more than 12 billion dollars per citizen to get this done.

I'm not kidding about this... 1,600 people already signed it:
http://mashable.com/2012/12/04/white-house-death-star/

After work, I spent a little time receiving the usual gapes of disbelief from mainstream people, while doing a little barefoot shopping at one of the city malls, going first to an ATM and then to a drugstore to replenish my supplies of skin care products for my feet: two tubes of moisturizing urea cream.

And now, the week is almost done... with the Friday and a Saturday shift ahead of me, now only 1.75 days separate me from my leave. Oh, speaking of Friday, I mustn't forget this (since midnight has passed and Friday is now here as I'm writing this, it's well in order to celebrate it):

There is a certain sense of anticipation and suspense about Friday, courtesy of the weather service telling me about snowfall imminent, forecast to start on Friday morning, after the beginning of my shift, continuing during the day, predicted to bring us 10 to 15 centimeters of cold, white stuff (four to six inches for the non-metrics). Regional news programs have been busy on Thursday evening to warn us about the consequences to traffic - which might be severe, considering the after-work traffic bound to happen on a Friday afternoon.

So, I might be in for a little snow-footing tomorrow and on the weekend, too...

The peak of the week has been scaled!

Yes, indeed, the week at work has reached the nice point from where the rest of the week feels like an easy stroll downhill towards the weekend... in my case, it's also a (barefoot) stroll towards a week of leave. The only little bump on the way is not being able to evade a Saturday shift before that - so, it's 2.75 days to go until I have a week of leave to relax and recharge before the end of the year.

I hope that I will be able to spend some quality time barefoot outdoors, too... although the forecasts for the next days and next week tell me of frost ahead - there might be snow showers tonight, leaving the streets white and slippery tomorrow morning... Will there be a little snowfooting ahead when I go to work tomorrow? A chance to leave some barefoot prints in snow? We'll see...

This was, what my Win7 weather gadget told me this morning...

Since Monday, early morning temperatures have been near frost level, and I already forfeited the toe rings, applied bag balm and made sure to bundle up warmly, in order to keep warm enough overall. When standing at the bus stop, I did my toes workout to keep the circulation going: clench, stretch, wiggle, repeat... And it worked just fine.

As long as the toes stay pink, there's no reason to worry.

After energizing in the usual way in the morning (very invigorating at 2°C/35F), I had some extra Nature moments at the bus stop on the way to work: hearing an owl hoot in a garden nearby (the trademark "whoo-hoo-hoo" sound, as known from thriller movies), and then, several minutes later, seeing a car hit the brakes to avoid hitting an animal running across the road... Sleek, brown, fast and with its equally trademark bushy tail, a fox ran past me, only about three meters away, disappearing with a swift leap into the nearby shrubbery...

Maybe this was a foreshadowing of some more special moments, when having some time off to take barefoot winter walks during work days. For now, the next tasks and goals are to finish the week at work, by help of my positive power gathering every morning and spotting the beautiful moments.

(By the way: even a few minutes of meditation help in gathering good vibes - and it's not even necessary to sit in the lotus pose... meditating can be done standing, while walking slowly, sitting or lying down in a comfortable posítion. The main thing is to focus on unfocusing and breathing.)

I survived Monday!

Indeed, the much-dreaded first work day of the week, coinciding with the first work day of the month, too, has passed.

It's a little more than the usual office stress, when I have to do the reports on the past week, back-to-back with the monthly statement, fixing the bills to be sent to our client, again juggling facts, figures and numbers, being in charge of monetary amounts of more than a quarter-million Euros each month. This kind of responsibility often upsets my stomach and bowels a little, making me go to the office bathroom several times more often than usual...

However, I felt well-prepared for that day, having done some powering up and recharging on the weekend, as well as drawing positive energy during my usual morning exercises and the barefoot way to work. This Monday morning, the air felt quite cool at only 2°C/36F, and the nearly frosty ground proved to be a real challenge to barefooting, especially when standing at the bus stop. Walking worked fine to keep the circulation going, but when waiting for the bus, I had to do some toe workout (clenching, stretching, wiggling, repeat...) to keep them from becoming too cold. Despite applying a protective and insulating coat of bag balm onto my bare feet, I could feel the coldth pool at my toes, due to my still wearing the usual silver toe rings.

But, it turned out to be bearable, and I arrived at the office nicely refreshed and also relaxed, after walking on cool and wet grass before entering the office building, thereby taking some Mother Earth energy inside with me. The sky was cloudy and hazy, and so I witnessed another energizing and awe-inspiring sight, as Mother Nature had dipped her paint brushes into the fiery dye pots again to present me a really impressive cloud painting at sunrise:

During the day, the weather unfolded as this fiery sky had portended: with a cold drizzle falling, occasional sleet and snowflakes dancing through the slight rain as well. But since the temperatures stayed just above frost level, there was no snow lying on the ground to kiss my bare toes on the way home. However, the now wet ground intensified the cold sensation on my toes around my toe rings, and I made a note to myself to take them off, before taking the next barefoot walk to work.

So, today it's Tuesday, I am ready to face the rest of the week at work with more ease and I'm happily continuing my count-down to having a week off after four more office days (including today).

Today's strategy at the office:

Telling my colleagues, that today is one of these days:

Doing reports on last week and having to do the monthly statement requires me to concentrate and therefore lock out as much disturbance as possible...

Celebrating the weekend... barefoot and skyclad, as usual.

Yes, I have used the weekend properly to relax and recharge... while I was able to gather positive power during the week at work, using the full moon's cool radiance as well as the rare but cherished moments the sun shone, I celebrated the weekend days the way I most prefer: being naturally skyclad indoors and always barefoot when leaving the house.

With winter beginning according to the meteorologist definition, temperatures have obeyed that statistic rule and dropped down near frost level at nights and just around 5°C/40F during the day. Therefore, happy outdoor nudity such as depicted above is out of the question at the moment. But I still observe my nuddhist morning exercise, stepping out onto my balcony naked, inhaling the morning air and powering up before work. And even though the ground now feels considerably cooler, I still walk barefoot on the way to work and back after work... all it takes is a slight adjustment in outfits, by dressing up warm to keep my overall body temperature high enough. That is the simple recipe of winter barefooting, and enables me to walk barefoot even in slight frost. The other trick is to keep moving, since the stimulation of the soles triggers circulation and thereby helps my bare feet in warming up themselves.

Here's happy feet images from last Friday, plus the full moon and midday sun, helping me in gathering positive vibes:

At the bus stop, gazing at the moon peering through between clouds...

Bus stop bare feet, feeling cool pavement

Industrial full moon near the office, before work...

Feeling Mother Earth underfoot before entering the office...

Gazing at the sun, during a break at work, powering me up on Friday - facing the weekend ahead.

I hope that I will encounter more such views and powerful moments next week to keep me positively charged... My first challenge is tomorrow, Monday, when I have to do the reports and statistics of the previous week, as well as the monthly statement for November, too... this means, juggling around a quarter-million Euros again... It's also a first beacon of hope towards a longer period of relaxation, since it is the first of five work days separating me from a week of leave.


For  now, I will linger in the positive mood, drawing up some more good vibes from taking a short barefoot walk before going to bed and doing some nuddhist breath meditating, too. Going into the night this way, then waking up tomorrow and starting the day likewise should provide me with enough strength to face the start of a new week at work. I trust in Mother Nature to fill me with Her unconditional love and healing.

Did this policeman ruin it for winter barefooters?

This picture is now all over the internet as well as featured in TV news worldwide as the Samaritan act of the month. NYPD officer Lawrence DePrimo, working on a counterterrorism post, saw a barefoot homeless man sitting on 42nd Street near Times Square and saw that the man's feet had suffered blistering damage from hypothermia. Without second thought, he went into a nearby shoe store, buying socks and boots out of his own purse and gave them to the man.

According to the NY Times, the homeless man's face lit up on seeing the gift, and he most politely thanked the officer, before walking away in his new boots.

Thanks to a tourist from Arizona who snapped the pictures with her cell phone, this act of kindness, normally unnoticed, found its way into the tangles of the world wide web and has been clicked on, liked and shared on social networks hundreds of thousands of times.

Just as we enter the advent holiday season, such an act and the picture of it, perfectly fit the mood to warm the heart of people, making them go "Aww!"

Now, most news media were stressing the fact, that the homeless man was barefoot and that socks and shoes were given to him. Being a barefooter myself, my automatic initial reaction to shoes is "they're bad!", which makes me walk barefoot as often as possible, including in the colder seasons. I have found shoes to be detrimental to my gait, causing pain in my ankles, knees, hip and back, when I have to wear them for a longer period of time. Walking barefoot alleviates those symptoms by making me walk in a more natural way. To me (as well as to many barefooters around the world), shoes are merely tools to protect us from the effects of cold or from dangerous environments. In this sense, Officer DePrimo did just the right thing by buying the homeless man socks and shoes to protect his feet from the cold (I hope, he also got him something to treat the blisters... otherwise, the chafing inside socks and shoes will cause him more pain than good!).

Now, about the initial question in the title of this posting: did Officer De Primo ruin it for winter barefooters? Are more people now approaching those who choose walking barefoot in colder weather just for happiness and health reasons, in order to perform another Samaritan act?

Regardless of the seasons, most mainstream people view barefoot walkers as being weird, crazy or even still believe the old cliché of barefoot people being poor or homeless. Very often, gapes of disbelief, disapproval, sneers and snide remarks are what barefooters all over the world encounter and have to endure. Not to mention, that the old myths of bare feet being unsanitary, driving a car barefoot is illegal or health department regulations prohibiting barefoot customers in shops and restaurants still exist and prevail in the people's minds.
There are various interest groups on the internet, ready to inform interested people about the facts, debunking myths and pointing out the health benefits of walking barefoot.

On the positive side of perception and interpretation, walking barefoot is a sign of being a free spirit, of reliving the innocence and playfulness of childhood, when playing barefoot on summer grass, splashing bare feet in puddles or burying our bare toes in mud were part of a happy life. On the negative side, people associate bare feet with blatant nonconformism, not obeying the rules of society, and being one of the "dirty, barefoot hippies" who once protested against war and lived a crazy life, full of drugs, sects and immorality.

Most mainstream people I encounter when being barefoot around town, react in the sense of that negative perception, believing that I'm just a weird and crazy dirty-soled hippie... Actually, that is not untrue in a sense, since I do believe in the values and virtues of the original hippies: unconditional love and compassion, peace, a strong spiritual connection to all kindred gentle souls and our great Mother Nature. And especially that connection to the Earth is best done by touching Her with my bare soles.

Therefore, I take pride in being called weird or crazy.

And a lot of barefoot people out there are of the same spirit. There are, however, also people of the more "mainstream" sort who walk barefoot mainly for the health reasons. They do not belong to the "hippie" category at all, but share the same reasons for walking barefoot: health and happiness. And they're facing the same reactions and prejudice.

Some of them have already been approached by police officers in the colder seasons, asking them if everything was alright and making sure that they're not some funny farm inmates on a barefoot day-out. I had that happening to me, too, when a police officer on a motorcycle drove past me twice, then stopped, dismounted to ask me, whether I was alright, if my feet were cold, etc., and then checked my ID. After he was sure that I wasn't on the loose from an asylum, jail or hospital, he went on his way. Of course, I told him, that I prefer walking barefoot for health reasons, since it improves natural gait and lessens strain and pain on my joints... but still, he remained a skeptic.

I just hope, that Lawrence DePrimo did not set a precedent to apporach cold-weather barefooters in general as possible homeless and poor people whose bare feet just call out to be shod, reinforcing the prejudice of bare feet meaning poverty.