By Steve Matson, UK
My family’s choices and my choices – what a difference they make!
Both my parents are now gone, but they proved that, like Mr Burns always says in the parody that is not too far from the truth, The Simpsons: ‘You can almost live forever if you have lots of money and great health insurance.’ The quality of life in this trade-off is questionable.
My mother was a walking encyclopaedia of things that can go wrong in your body. She had all of today’s standard old people’s ailments. She had smoked for years, so that gave her all the respiratory and heart related conditions. She drank a soft drink daily for most of her life. That should have ticked the diabetes box. She loved to cook and the standard fare was meat, two veg, bread, butter and a glass of milk. Breakfast was cereal during the week and a fry up on weekends that included pancakes with lots of butter, maple syrup and toast with butter. In the US they have State Fairs where each year the food vendors try new gastric delights for the visitors to consume; they always have a deep fat fried process in their making. My mother loved the Battered Deep Fat Fried Cheese Curds. I just can’t understand why she had cholesterol problems and four heart attacks, three strokes and a triple bypass! In the end she had her own cupboard for all her drugs. She never had a job after all of the children moved out, except retail therapy.
My father worked for 40+ years and retired from a global package delivery company. Growing up, from the middle of November till Christmas we never saw him till Christmas day. He would leave before we got up and we were in bed when he got home. His summer holiday was to spend his two weeks off by loading and unloading furniture for a local moving company. Once, he had a job moving someone down the street from our house and we went and watched him hump furniture in and out a truck for hours in the summer heat. He did smoke in his early years, but not a lot. He was 6ft 4 and had a good appetite, but never put a lot of weight on. He liked to play golf… more for the exercise rather than ability. There was always the 19th hole after the game for a beer. He did not drink a great deal and I don’t ever remembering him being drunk. He never said a lot or showed any emotion. His personal business/life was no one’s business but his. He retired and still could not stop. He did the charity thing where you drive elderly people to the hospital, wait and then bring them home. Life was good, he got to drive around, eat and drink what he wanted, play golf, go on boat holidays and as he used to say: he enjoyed giving the Indians in their casinos our inheritance. His whole life had been about being in control. He was a shrewd investor and managed his money wisely.
When my mother passed away, an error on the last will was discovered… it had been signed but never filed by the attorney, making it invalid. My dad had invested a lot of work into ensuring everything was safe. If the will had been filed, a small amount would have gone to the government in tax. In the end the government took half the estate in taxes – the tax bill turned out to be just over $2 million because of the error.
From this point, my father kind of quit everything he had been doing. His health started to go but he never did like doctors. He never did cooking but for the Sunday morning fry up; he was not a big fan of washing dishes either. So, my Dad loved eating out and enjoyed burgers to the point he could eat them every day; most days he did. When he did see the doctors, the cholesterol drugs, blood thinning pills and then the dementia started to show and this is what in the end took him, 5 years later when one night his heart forgot to beat.
My two sisters are both on blood thinners and medications for blood pressure or cholesterol, because there is a family history, their choice.
My whole family – sisters, parents, parent’s siblings and their parents – were all on drugs for most of the second half of their lives and so are most people I know! … Except for me.
I have considered myself not healthy, but at the same time not ill. Ill is when I have been carted off to the hospital because I could not walk. Once was a cold December night when I missed a turn on my motorcycle at high speed, that left me with two shattered ankles. The other was skiing in Iceland on Blue Mountain and yes, this was the first time I broke an ankle. This was in fact a whole new experience. I had spent my life doing dumb things that should have killed me but in fact I never broke anything, but I have lots of scars and stitches. For anyone who has never broken anything, it’s a strange experience and sensation … if you don’t move it, it doesn’t hurt!
I had put down never being sick to my body being such a toxic environment that germs could not survive. I rarely got ill, unless it was because I had broken something and instead of stopping me, it just slowed me down. I just carried on like the battery rabbit, but on crutches. My local NHS doctor’s office sent me a letter a few years ago enquiring if I had died, moved, or generally why they had not seen me in about 15 years. I was on a course of slow suicide with the life style I had been living….
Eight years ago I went to a presentation that a friend of mine had recommended as a ‘must do’ in London. What was presented there that day has changed my life. The speaker was Serge Benhayon. It was like coming home after being lost in the wilderness. I have been inspired over the past 8 years from the teachings that I have attended to make choices based on what is good for me and my body…I have never since looked back. The person I was and the person I now am, bear no resemblance to each other and this is all down to my personal choices on how I want to live. I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!
A few months ago my wife had a full private health check. The exam was 4 hours of all kinds of tests, internal, external, joints, x-rays, ears, nose, throat and all fluid tests; there was not an area of the body that was not investigated (there was no waiting at any time during the processes). The exam finished up with an hour with the doctor, who did the stuff technicians could not do, and you got to discuss any concerns you had medically. On completion you received a report that contained the results of all the tests with charts and curves, doctor’s notes and recommendations.
I was so impressed with the whole process and the comprehensive report, I booked myself for the same exam.
The results showed that with all the years of smoking, which in the end was 50 a day (I quit 15 years ago and swapped it for food), the main item the tests showed was some reduction in lung function which is hardly surprising. The only other item was that I could do with losing a bit of weight – in the last 5 years I have lost 32kg. I have seen dentists every year even in the periods when I was making bad health choices. I started seeing opticians annually when my arms got too short to read and later on glasses were cheaper than a bigger TV.
I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?
I had resisted going for check ups in the past, because I knew what bad things I was doing to my body and had no intention of changing my life style…they were my choices. Why would I waste my and the doctor’s time to be told what I already knew? (Only a bit of arrogance there!)
Now whilst UM has inspired me, I have made changes to my life, making choices for myself and for my well-being. With my new awareness of myself and my body, one that is like an older car that requires a bit more TLC…especially one that has spent most of its life rally racing. There are bits that have just about been worn out, but are still working fine if you don’t abuse them. I am far from a classic but have intentions of becoming one.
My plans are to have my annual check-ups and to keep doing the self-body checks for things that change; also to listen to my body, which is my best barometer of change. Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices. I now feel that the reason I have not ended up on multiple medications with medical conditions like the rest of family is because of the changes I have made to my life and the daily choices I make to take care of my body.
I feel that having been inspired by Universal Medicine about the power of choices, it is time for me to share with the world there is another way of living and to show that it is never too late.
Medicine and Serge Benhayon 
Steve this is a great story, that explains how in many cases it is no accident that we end up with our bodies in a state of ill health which can in many ways relate to our lifestyle choices or food and beverage.
Starting to be aware of our actions and movements is the beginning of self care and self love, going deeper in the fact that we are not just the man in the meat suit, but more an amazing multi-dimensional being and a true son of god. So the choice is ours, live with care and love in the support of that god, with the body as our temple or live in disregard as an un-god, and deny that fact. The world will try and entice us into the latter, as there is always money to be made and foul play at hand in the house of lies.
Steve what I got from this blog is your sense of humour and that life is about choices and for many of us we make ill choices without being aware we are making them. And too me this is what makes Serge Benhayon different is he supports us to understand the consequences of our choices. If after understanding the consequences we still make ill choices then that’s up to us as individuals and part of our evolution.
Steve, I loved reading about your family. The way that your family live is the way that most of us choose to live and currently the way that you are choosing to live is the way that most people are not choosing to live but as you say it is all about choice. Individual choices combine to make collective choice, our individual health combines with the health of everybody else to make our collective health and currently, worldwide we have chosen our way into very, very ill health. But that, in a way, is ok because we do have the power and the freedom to choose our way out of it.
Steve you are a walking miracle, I love that you have developed your awareness and understanding as such that you are now inspiring others to also deepen their love, for themselves, for others and for life.
Yes, that is a very inspiring point – he lives everything he is sharing with no attachment to anyone getting it. Yet even if no-one ‘gets’ it, he knows he needs to share it for those who are ready to bring more honesty to their lives. I, like you, so appreciate I had the opportunity to hear Serge and his level of honesty that cut through every picture I had created for myself to justify the level of exhaustion I was living.
Well, thank you for sharing! I love your comment about the prevention you offer your car that does not get offered to the body “I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?”
Steve this is a contrast in how many people live, the choices they make. There comes a point in time, where we do have to choose, what is best for us and our bodies. What we are doing or being is not working.
I loved the last paragraph, being inspired by Universal Medicine, as I concur with you. But the ‘it is never too late’ is exactly that, it is never too late to make changes to not only serve you, but everyone around you. Thank you for the sharing, inspiring for others.
‘The person I was and the person I now am, bear no resemblance to each other and this is all down to my personal choices on how I want to live.’ Yes! So to think just how much pressure we could take off the health services if we choose to live in a way that truly supports our body and health. And also I completely agree with this ‘I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!’ It helps as well if you have people around us that live and reflect this way of life … this is the absolute beauty of Universal Medicine as that is exactly what they do and it has supported me no end to turn my life around to the person I am today ✨
‘I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’ This is a gem of a blog and makes so much sense. I love your anecdotal evidence Steve as it certainly serves to prove the point that our choices matter as they have a huge impact on our health and wellbeing.
I am realising more and more how we pay more attention to our cars, than our bodies. I observe how the car is seen as a trophy and yet the trophy is right there, being walked, fed etc.
We wouldn’t feed a petrol car, diesel and yet we do the opposite to our bodies. We need annual check ups and road worthy testing, just like regulations for our cars. If cars aren’t considered safe to run on the roads if they fail these tests, then why are we putting our bodies out there then?…
Our daily choices will eventually reveal themselves in the state of our physical, mental and emotional health. Either we can end up as a walking medical cabinet (if we can still walk!) if we ignore and dishonour our bodies, or we can live a full, vibrant and harmonious life until our last breath if we choose to honour our bodies by listening and responding to what they are asking for, even if we get a chronic illness or disease. It all comes down to the quality of choices that we make in our day to day lives.
Yes, and it starts with a willingness to be honest. We can tell ourselves so many ‘suitable truths’ that in the end we don’t even recognise when we are speaking the truth or a suitable truth.
I can see the difference in the choices I make to the majority of my peers. But not in a “I’m better way” because anyone can make loving choices they just need the space to do so.
One thing that always catches up with us is our ill choices from when we are younger. As we age our bodies and health, good or bad will be a reflection of how we have lived.
Makes me wonder then how I will age with the continuation of body-centric choices governing my life.
There are children now bring raised that supports living with body-centric choices. What reflections will they have left in the wake of a full life?
We are our own vehicle driver and responsible for the way we move, we know our own vehicle better than anyone and can hear when there is a different vibration rattling inside that needs attention.
What is this about the relationship we have with our own body? We are the expert on that, and we know to avoid doctors or whoever/whatever that is likely to expose our poor choices just to bury our head in the sand to carry on as long as we can, while we would not dare trash our treasured material possession. I bet we all know the exact details of that ‘another way of being’ that we swear we are not aware of.
Steve perfect testament to the true healing that true self love and deep care can bring.
Super inspiring.
An inspirational account of the power of our choices; choices that harm and choices that heal. Like you, and your family, I used to be the maker of choices which abused my body, even though there was a part of me that knew exactly what I was doing. But coming to realise that it is the choices I make which either support me in life, or weigh me down with illness, disease, injury or extra weight, has been like turning a light on in me which had had the dimmer switch turned way down low, for way too long.
‘Why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’ Great question, yet we’re not taught in life that how we live, our day to day, moment to moment choices, affect our health in every way and overall quality of life. Inspiring to read Steve how our health is not a foregone conclusion based on family history – we have the choice to change our levels of health, vitality and wellbeing, at any time.
Great sharing Steve and the reality of what it is like to be around people family, friends and colleagues and we can be influenced or inspired to live like them, but when you are presented that there is a different way and it involves you having an honest and loving relationship with yourself then why not be inspired by someone who offers that. Serge Benhayon is remarkable in how he lives, what he honours and not holding back what he knows to be true. If that inspires others then so be it and I am super thankful to have meet Serge and to re-connect to what I have always known is my truth also.
It’s very clear the way you write about your family’s choices as well as the way their lives unfolded till the end. There seems to be an absence of purpose, which is exactly what you Steve have and most probably, the reason of your current healthy life. Congrats for your new choices and huge changes in your life.
“I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?” Such great common sense Steve – we wouldn’t accept it if we treated our car the way we treat our body – yet we live in our body 24/7 and it governs how we feel, our work, our relationships – everything. We literally cannot exist without it, yet we feel it’s fitting to completely malnourish and not look after ourselves.
I loved this comment because I found it really relatable “ I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?” A really great point that we all have a choice to either continue making choices that lead to ill health or make changes that support us, and when we do make changes our whole life changes too.
I’ve been amazed at how responsive the body is and its ability to heal if we work with it instead of ignoring it. The body is very harmonious and will naturally want to come back into balance if we are able to self care by listening to and honouring what the body is asking.
I feel that taking care of my emotional wellbeing has also contributed to supporting my health as being stressed really takes a toll on the body, it’s like driving a car which is constantly revving too high and using too much fuel. I have also learnt so much from Universal Medicine about self care and that the choices I make can be either disregarding (which I have done a lot of), or attentive to my needs by listening to my body and how I feel as a being (with thoughts, feelings and hurts) and responding in a caring way, including seeking support. Self care has definitely changed my life and my health and wellbeing for the better.
When we do start to make changes in the way we live such as booking ourselves in to have a four hour health check which perhaps we wouldn’t have dreamt about doing in the past it, shows us how we can let go of resistance if we so choose. Being open to making new choices may mean letting go of the arrogance and self righteousness running through our body but I know it is well worth it when we do.
The thing that I love so much about life, is how we can all inspire eachother, even through our mistakes and poor choices, there is still always something to learn.
I agree Shami but the trouble is that currently we are inspiring each other to go deeper and deeper into illusion. When we talk about inspiration it tends to be inspiring each other to train harder, study more, to be more successful, thinner, more talented, more famous, to ‘never give up’ but all of these things are all variations on the same thing and that same thing is who we are not. We are not any of our talents, we’re none of our achievements and neither are we our looks. We are the depth of God, we are Him already and so if we are inspired by anything at all then for it to be true inspiration it has to inspire us to move inwards towards the God that we all already are.
Sometimes people have major stop moments of things like a heart attack or car crash, and it gives them the opportunity to re-evaluate life, some do, and some don’t. Steve, I know you’ve had your fair share of those ‘broken ankle’ moments, but that didn’t get you to stop so how powerful are the presentations by Serge Benhayon to get you to turn your life around entirely.
I love your writing Steve it is so down to earth, relatable and interesting and I can also really relate with what you have shared here ‘The person I was and the person I now am, bear no resemblance to each other and this is all down to my personal choices on how I want to live.’ This is also the same for me and thousands of others after seeing Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. Someone shared with me the other day one of her mum’s parents lived until they were 110!!!!!! The thing is it is not the age we have lived to but what quality have we lived in. This is what is key ✨
Hear hear steve I totally agree our illness and diseases are founded on our choices. I love how you have totally presented just that and how possible it is for anybody to make different choices and the future would be far different to the one that is on track from the ill choices that can be stuck in.
The trouble with those ‘ill choices’ is that they are ingrained into our lifestyle and culture. When I read about how Steve’s family have ‘cereal during the week and a fry up at the weekend’ it struck me just how normal this is for so many of us. We simply don’t question it, in fact cereal is considered a very healthy choice by many, even though lots of cereals contain a lot of sugar and the milk that we pure on them isn’t necessarily great for the body either. ‘Working hard’ like Steve’s dad is viewed by many as a ‘good thing’ and so yet again, we don’t question it’s impact on the body or what’s driving the compulsion to work even through a holiday. Basically we don’t question our everyday life but it’s our everyday life that’s making us sick.
Thank you for sharing, it is snap shot of what many people experience in life and something that many of us assume is normal, the medicalisation of old age, where the pills and the cocktail of them keep us going until we eventually die, but the quality of life has been? This is the question we are neglecting to answer.
Sadly the description of your mother is true of far too many people in the world today. We are surviving on medication and putting up with a level of well being that is far from well, or truly being for that matter. The only real way I can see out of this dilemma is taking the responsibility for our daily way of being into our own hands by focusing on the quality that we are choosing to move in and the quality that we are bringing to every day objects and to ourselves and by valuing ourselves in and with that quality and allowing ourselves to grow from there.
Fantastic very humorous blog Steve love it! One of the things I got from it was that we are not doomed to illness and disease by our genes or family history but we can choose otherwise in terms of our lifestyle choices which can have a big impact on how our bodies end up. Perhaps the ‘family history’ factor in our health has more to do with copying or mimicking the same behaviours rather than genes? If that was the case then it makes sense that we can choose otherwise and do not have to go down the same behaviours and therefore the same medical conditions.
”I am the expert on my body and my choices” – so simple. We do know how we live every day.
What this shows is how forgiving the body is; to smoke and drink as much as you did and still recover from that – it’s a miracle.
Our choices… they can make all the difference in the world.
And whats great about this way of living that it’s not anti-drugs when it comes to medical conditions, sometimes we need to support the body with medication. But if our lifestyle is being maintained by covering up the ill effects with medication then our choices need reviewing.
Well, it sure seems that you have broken your family cycle of self-abuse via many of life’s potential indulgences, and it is no surprise that you aren’t on the meds like your parents and siblings now, even if they are definitely needed in those cases. I loved the overall feel of self-acceptance and no judgement for your family members while reading this blog, Steve!
It cracked me up that your hospital wondered how you were going and if you had died because they did not hear from you for so long! Probably the last thing they would expect was that you had changed so much that you didn’t put your body on the line anymore. It shows how there is indeed always a choice whatever our past choices have been.
Beautifully written Steve, it shows how much we abuse our own body and yet accept it as normal, when we honour ourselves and treat ourselves with loving care we make it our norm, and the more we do this the more society will see there is something different.
This story just goes to show what a difference we can make to our health and wellbeing when we listen to our body.
This blog is a great example how minor administrative matters can have a devastating impact on our life. It is worth checking these things.
“I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body.” How many of us do this? Do we expect our body to continue on whatever we put into it, yet regularly service and oil change our car? Since taking more loving care of my own body my health has improved – no surprise really!.
Indeed just like our car the body needs all its parts to be working well and together.
I love coming back to your blog Steve, there is humour in what is a serious message that we as a society don’t look after and care for our bodies as we should, and then wonder why we get many of the illnesses and diseases that plague us as we get older. Our body can only withstand so much before it has to say enough is enough and say stop and ask us to look at the way we are living.
It is definitely never too late. One little choice can turn our whole world around.
This is such a wonderful and relatable blog and shows how abusing ourselves and living irresponsibly is quite normal and equally how simple and beneficial it is to change all that with just a little bit of love!
What an indictment on humanity it is that anything less than love could be normal.
Great blog. Whilst our bodies can do all kinds of things when it comes to clearing with illness and disease, our quality of life and vitality is 100% related to our choices.
Wonderful to read about you tuning up your awareness and your body Steve… vintage cars are always the best 🙂
I too have been making choices that feels right for my body and have been experimenting along the way. What has been super inspiring is Serge and how he has openly shared his lived experiences and having that as a point of reflection that we do have a choice. We can do things differently that are honouring and supportive for our body and being.
There is no time limit when we choose to come back to what we have always been.
“I am the expert on my body and my choices.” So true Steve. No one knows our own body like we do!
It’s very rare these days to get to your sixties and be on no medication what so ever, except vitamins. In this day and age that speaks volumes.
” I feel that having been inspired by Universal Medicine about the power of choices, it is time for me to share with the world there is another way of living and to show that it is never too late.”
Well said Steve , yes there is a way of living , that is fun.
The most fun that any of us can truly have is simply from being ourselves in full but most of us aren’t living ourselves in full and so we have to resort to getting drunk, high, adrenaline rushes, hobbies, entertainment and food to have fun.
Definitely a chain I’d be happy to be the weakest link in.
OMG I love this blog, such a fun read although what you say is awful in many way. Awfully funny, awfully true in its awfulness for many and awe-full in terms of how far a little love can go!
I’ve often reflected on how much more care we will often give to our cars than our own bodies… which is what you very clearly call out in this article Steve. We actually do know what we are doing when we obliterate our bodies – that is the crazy thing.
It’s an interesting analogy and one that is true. We wouldn’t dare put the wrong fuel in our cars. Yet our other vehicle (our body) often not only gets the wrong fuel, but all kinds of other neglect and mistreatment. The car costs us directly when we disregard it but we seem to have accepted the cost of disregarding our bodies.
Yes, the harm does seem to be very deliberate, even calculated at times.
Your honest, deeply loving and very humbling account of your own and your family’s health leaves undeniable proof of the true and often unrecognised impact of our lifestyle choices. There is no doubt that the way we choose to live has a very significant impact on our health, one that it certainly pays not to ignore.
I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose? Such a great and true statement here Steve, and so gorgeous what you have chosen for yourself and your life.
One point to notice from this is , of course, how attention to detail is so important.
It is rare these days to read a story where the mould of ill health has been broken from that of the family line. Last month I was talking to a lady who had seven close members of her family, and all of them had diabetes. She had the attitude that it was only a matter of time before she was diagnosed with it, so she had resigned herself to getting the same condition as if it was inevitable.
Some people seem to accept family lines and what is hereditary. I’ve wondered if genetics or genetic disposition is what leads to the same conditions, or if it’s the accepting and expectation of a condition combined with the same lifestyle choices that lead to the same conditions. This blog is a great example of breaking a family chain.
Beautiful piece of writing Steve, and such settlement and acceptance of where you and your body are at now.
I’m so glad you decided to share what you have discovered about true health and true living because we all get to feel the results of that super loving choice. Thank-you most graciously Steve.
It is great to break the intergenerational pattern of self destructive choices and offer a reflection of a different way.
Thank you for your sharing Steve. I admire your ability to follow your own way , as opposed to your families path to destruction!
Becoming an expert of your body – now that’s something worth working towards. I can feel the freedom that they can offer you, it is like you become an observer and a scientist all at the same time. ‘Oh ok, when I eat this, I feel this way’, ‘When I go into this emotion, it has this effect on my body’ etc.. etc..etc… When we can observe our bodies like this, we get to know them super well.
It’s a great point Sarah that we can observe the body and how it’s affected and that emotions are a part of this, not just physical things like diet, exercise and sleeping patterns.
We can know what is happening in our bodies, but to actually do something about it is where we can evolve
‘I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’ Great question – we are able to bring such care and attention to those things outside of ourselves but at time neglect our own body. Lessons to be observed for us all here.
Great blog Steve, thank you. And perhaps the lightness that comes through your writing is also a part of your wellbeing. It seems to me that not taking life too seriously can be very supportive of our heath too.
I loved reading this Steve. A walking miracle (even if your arms are too short to read 😉
Life is a movement, as we all move through life as the earth moves through space and so the very basis of what and how we all live is therefore based on the movements we each make every day and these are what constitute the experiences of our world and these are the foundation of our lives both with each other and with ourselves. So, yes choices are a part of it – of what we have created – but the movement that led to the choice is perhaps far more powerful than is readily imaginable or understood.
I love the fact that we can at any time make different choices.
Our health is really super simple – make choices every day to look after our body and our well-being. Your example of the different choices you’ve made and the quality of your health is without doubt proof that our health is all in our choices, and our choices are all down to us.
Definitely Steve, it is never too late to step out of a family line and make your own choices and take care of your health just like you would take care of your car or otherwise you don’t want to be in the driverseat. And I am with you in that we are the experts on our bodies and our choices.
Absolutely it’s never too late to make choices and changes regarding our health, and we are 100% experts on our own bodies, meaning we know what is right for us or not at all points in time.
And what is ‘right’ for one person may well be poison for another and what might be ‘right’ for us at a particular time in our lives might be poisonous at another, which is why we need to consult our bodies constantly as to what they need.
Brilliant Steve, your description of your family is so vivid and to me could be any ‘normal’ family you meet. I especially relate to what you say about your Dad and the way some men operate like a closed shop – with habitual activities that keep others away with ‘closed for business’ sign up. When you look at life this way, just changing our diet or the place that we live is never going to solve the predicament we are in – nothing will change till we realise we’re not the rally car we think we are – but a precious diamond, a powerful symbol of God.
A great blog Steve that shows a snap shot of not only your parents’ life and how they progressed into ill health as they got older, but a snap shot of how many people in the world also live their lives, and how little care we really take of our body. This sentence is a great reminder and reflection that if we look after our body as we would our car, we would make different choices to ensure that our body ran smoothly and didn’t need medical intervention later in life “I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?
Awesome Steve, I love the car analogy you present … and how you aim to be a classic and you’re willing to take care to keep yourself in tune! Very inspiring.
The feeling that you got after the presentations from Serge Benhayon would seem to be a catalyst not only for a complete diet and lifestyle change, but also a feeling/knowing that there is a much bigger purpose in choosing to self care that you also aligned to.
Life isn’t about us but we have to make it about us in order to make it about everybody else. What I mean by that is that we have made life all about the ‘mini me’, the constant narrative of ‘what’s in it for me?’ but in reality there is no me, there is only the One collective Us. But we are each a patch of the collective us and so we have to focus on improving the quality of our patch of the collective Us in order to improve the collective quality of us all.
Thank you Steve for your great sharing! How amazing is the power to change from heading down the road of illness and disease to taking back the responsibility of looking after ourselves and our health.
There is always the opportunity to change and make different choices. Stepping up and taking responsibility for what we create and our own health can offer such a great reflection for others to be inspired by.
It’s not the first time I have read or heard of an attorney with shoddy workmanship making an error or not filing an important document resulting in the document another was relying on (and no doubt paid for the service to be completed) to ensure it was valid – and when it was found to be invalid it had a severely negative outcome for those relevant to the document of which they could do nothing. The irony is not lost on me that if the same error in principle occurred in health care or another industry an attorney could well sue.
Steve, your wit, humour and warmth is so prevalent through this blog. I absolutely love your style and find the whole thing so interesting, especially the way you have embraced a life of regard for your body like never before, just beautiful.
It is always gorgeous to read how people are inspired through Universal Medicine to start to make choices to live in honour of the fact that they are worth caring deeply for and can then reflect to others the profound benefits of choosing to bring a little TLC into their lives too.
In our choices we have the power to change to everything.
It had been over three years since I had last seen a doctor. I kept meaning to schedule another full body MOT. I have coasted a wee bit in the past three years, but have been more healthy than any time in the last 40+ years. I was cold called by the private health care people I had my Last MOT with, and they offered me 40% off for another, so a week later I had an appointment. The interesting thing was the pre-questionnaire, I needed to fill out! The pages of all the stuff that was a snap shot of where we have come to with the disregard to ourselves with the way we are living. The questions asked about everything that is now the norm for people to have and be living with; drugs prescribed, how inactive and fat are you, lists of illness we have, drinking, smoking, food, aches and pains, skeletal and sexual dis-functions, eyesight and hearing and the list went on and on. I had answered N/A to almost everything. I did have a few questions for the doctor and got a referral for something that had cropped up with in the last few months that turned out to be a bone shard, that is a calcium build up on the foot that I have had treatment to deal with. My final report just recommended losing a few pounds (work in progress), and I just had to smile at the elevated chances on their charts of me getting X, Y and Z because there was a family history of it. I also turned down the offer of statins as a just in case medication.
It’s amazing the extent to which we can give up on life when it seemingly ‘disappoints’ us. Once we take that concept on board, it’s a slippery slope to the kind of despair described here. If I don’t care about life, to hell with my health, with my demeanour, my work… and so on. And then… it’s a slow climb back.
You truly show through your blog that our health is completely connected to our choices…what an amazing turn-around you have had, Steve!
We can so easily fall for the ideals and beliefs of carrying on the same traditions of our family but what if they are far from supportive of what we know is true. Choosing to ignore the harm or carrying the harm is a sign of how our ties to the “ways of the family’ can be part of the ill health .
Reading this again really brings home the reflections we get from our family and friends. Prior to meeting Serge Benhayon and attending the presentations, I would have said that I was eating healthily/exercising and yes, compared to how I grew up I was, but during the presentations things that I never considered would start to be exposed. Health issues which I did not associate with food were blatantly obvious, and to the point where I would sit there and ask myself ‘why did I not question that myself’ – just goes to show how entrenched in our beliefs we are that we do not see the truth, even with our own body.
Responsibility. Serge Benhayon presents that we all have a choice to take responsibility for the way we live and this story demonstrates very clearly the benefits to our wellbeing when we take responsibility for caring for ourselves – let alone the reduced burden on the over-stretched health services.
How many of us put off going to the doctors even when there are changes in the body? Are we afraid of what the doctor is going to say and make excuses e.g. that we’re wasting the doctor’s time? You just never know… the indigestion that has been going on for sometime may not be indigestion after all, but signs that a heart attack is on the horizon. No matter how small I may think it is, I now book myself in to see the doctor as I feel it is no use grumbling if I find myself in a situation when I wished I had done it sooner.
‘My plans are to have my annual check-ups and to keep doing the self-body checks for things that change; also to listen to my body, which is my best barometer of change.’ How true Steve our body is definitely a great guide for us, and having an annual check up is a great choice, because it’s far better to be proactive in our health than just waiting for something to happen.
“Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices.” This is beautiful to read after the account of what your father lived through in his body and with his choices. His life taught you something and was not lived in vein, as you have learnt by observing his actions to modify your own to be more self-loving.
Steve I just love this blog and your very straightforward way of presenting that life is about the choices we make and choices do indeed have consequences. It’s amazing we would not consider driving our cars without insuring they’re fit for purpose and yet we do this all the time with our bodies, and I love your allusion to being a classic, we can all become that and there is a level of care needed to maintain it, so why not apply that same level of care to us. It’s simple common sense and deep down we all know it which is why many of us avoid the doctors etc. As you put it be beautifully ‘Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices.’
I love this Steve “I am an expert on my body and my choices”! It is “Never to late” to take responsibility for the decisions we make.
We drink too much alcohol and feel the effects in our body, we push ourselves to get the work done and feel exhausted at the end of the day, we lift something which is too heavy for us and wake up with a painful back, we overeat and end up with a bloated and uncomfortable abdomen, we get a cold or the flu because we have been staying up late and overdoing it, the list is endless yet we can’t seem to fathom that illness and disease is because of those choices we have made that abused our body. It makes absolute sense to me too that every choice I make either supports my body and my wellbeing or it contributes towards illness and disease in some way, shape or form.
Love your first sentence, Caroline! Doesn’t it describe to most people, what they just call normal life! We need to make listening to our body’s the new normal!
We are here, it’s all real, we can do things, choose to smoke, go to the movies or drive the car down south for a holiday, all these are true. But why are we here? Why are we not only here is a big one, but why do you stand where you stand and I stand where I stand? We will say choices, fate, genetics, or something similar to that is just how the world works. It’s not to say that these things have true parts to them but when you apply the bigger picture to things, still, why are we here? What is the purpose of our life or human life? To keep building the tallest buildings, the fastest cars, the nicest house etc., or is all this a distraction from the fact there is a large part of things going on before our eyes that is not seen by our eyes? I loved the article and it’s not a critique or a distraction from what is being offered by it but more a flow on from what it presents, we can try and always be better people but yet in thinking we are just people we are already making life too small. We are bigger and there is a much bigger part playing out; whether we want to be aware of it or not doesn’t change the fact it is happening.
That’s very true Ray and this article reflects exactly that to me. Awareness growing out of observation of another’s life choices. It’s like Steve clocked inside himself that there must be something more to him and his life than the choices his father made for living his life. It’s through sensing the “bigger picture” that he was able to come into contact with Serge Benhayon and accept his teachings wholeheartedly so.
Incredible! This is an awesome example of self responsibility Steve, and totally blows the whole ‘hereditary’ thing out the water too! We all have choices.
I love the fact that you have shared your story. It is invaluable. And your writing style is so real. A must read for everybody.
Steve, I may have said this before, but you could write an IKEA instruction manual and I would read it – I love how you write and express. It’s so real, relatable and funny. But it’s also inspiring for those who may have never considered their bodies – or just conceded that something is out of their control because it’s genetic. You are living proof that taking responsibility for your body can break a family cycle of poor health.
as a society we have become accustomed to a way of life that is keeping us ill, living with disregard, aggression towards our body, using it to satisfy all our desires – when the body is crying out for harmony and consistency. Add to the equation that we have medical systems which allow this to take place and offer endlessly developing and branching forms of treatment and management (which is a gift and very necessary) which we rely on too heavily to take away our ills, but it is us who are causing them.
It’s amazing what people will accept as ‘health’ – a life full of self-medication through overwork, excessive shopping, misuse of food, indulgence in drugs, alcohol, sports, cigarettes and so on; then a truck-load of prescribed medications to address the ills they have accumulated through these lifestyle choices. Can we really be so blind, or is there a wilful human spirit at play here, undermining the wisdom and natural sense of ease we carry inside?
Victoria, your first sentence was what I had called a healthy life style; except for the sports and the ‘prescribed’ drugs! Yes, we can, I was, really that blind by choice!. Because of my ill choices and what they are doing to me and people around me, this life just became normal. Until you can feel what you are doing to your body you become trapped and don’t even know it! Leaving this non-body supportive life style is always just a choice away!
It is so true Steve that as a society we champion the statistics on people living longer and lower mortality rates for certain illnesses etc but have we really questioned enough the quality of those longer lives. Is it just about living longer or about how we are living while we are alive and how much joy and vitality and health we experience on a daily basis?
Some one reading this article may well doubt their own ability to turn their health around, acknowledging that it is this doubt and unsureness that controls us is something to grapple with and possibly see as the truth it is, simply a series of thoughts we give our power too, nothing more.
Great story Steve. Open, Honest and with humour thrown in. I got my wake up call two years ago in Vietnam and am working hard on the moving parts in the body, so it can run smoothly for a little longer.
This blog has me chuckling all the way through with the gentle humour and honesty it is presented with.
So true Steve – to be an expert on our own body is the way to true healing and well being.
“I am the expert on my body and my choices. I now feel that the reason I have not ended up on multiple medications with medical conditions like the rest of family is because of the changes I have made to my life and the daily choices I make to take care of my body”.
By applying what we know to be healthy and mostly avoiding what we know to be unhealthy, one ingredient is the most beneficial – self-love. It is usually not mentioned when referring to all the outer things like food, smoking, exercise, alcohol etc but it is actually self-love that makes the self-care aspects truly healing and healthy. Without self-love we still support the body to be fit on a physiological level but still miss out on having a fully vital body and life that is encompassing of all aspects that make us who we are.
It is interesting how the blog shares the physical choices that we make in whether we choose to eat certain foods, smoke or drink. Our behaviour choices can be just the same. I grew up in a European family where reacting to situations emotionally was the way you got heard. I would notice my grandmother used emotion to manipulate a situation and watch each adult in her life pander to the behaviour. My mother continued to display this behavior and I knew deep down inside this behaviour was not true and would respond by reacting myself- the cycle continued. Having become aware of the work of Serge Benhayon I have now realised that my choices did not have to be like my family. It was not inherited and the way that I knew to be deep down inside was far from emotional but a quality of lived authority and truth. Thank you for sharing a blog that debunks the ideas and beliefs of how we can be conditioned into being like our family when every part of our body is feeling the opposite.
Steve, your family history clearly illustrates how our lifestyle choices play out in our body and all our symptoms are just the evidence of this fact.
Considering the history of family disease in your case Steve, it truly is remarkable that you have, by way of a few simple lifestyle choices, reversed an ill momentum that could have led you to the same place. We must never underestimate the power that is in our own hands to change our future nor underestimate the stubbornness of that part of us that seeks to override such power and succumb instead to the way we have been told it is that such illness is inevitable because it is ‘in the genes’.
Love the lightness Steve on what is a serious subject it just shows when we reflect back on our family that the choices they made make up the sum total of their life. I can see this in my life too that my choices before Universal Medicine were to dull my body and make sure I never really lived my full potential I was comfortable with what I had even though deep down I knew something wasn’t right. I ignored my body and didn’t take into consideration the true value of what it was able to offer. This is all slowly changing thanks to Universal Medicine, living my life less than my full potential harbours illness and disease. I am now making choices that are consistently improving my vitality and health and transforming how I see life.
There is nothing more intelligent than looking after the body as prevention not cure.
We are indeed experts of our own body, which is a great thing to be aware of when things start to go wrong with the body. If we ever end up in hospital or with the GP it is important to remember that we do know what is happening in our body and in that way we are a true support to our health professionals.
‘I am the expert on my body and my choices’ Brilliantly said Steve. And so we can take responsibility for that – it is very empowering..
A presentation from Serge Benhayon is like coming home from being lost in the wilderness. A cold, damp seemingly never ending wilderness that in an hour of listening to Serge disappears.
I love this analogy Heather. And to add to that . . . listening to Serge is like sitting by a fire, with the wisdom being spoken from a place deep within that has been felt and known, but not heard in words. Serge invites us to unlock the doors and step into the warmth and love that has always been there.
Taking care of our bodies and having annual checkups is simply a responsibility of a human being.
” I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?” It’s such a classic analogy but it is so true… We obey the road rules, service our cars, panic if a red light comes on, garage them so they don’t get damaged, maintain tyre pressure, fill with petrol …. the list goes on, but do we even consider the same attention is required for our body’s optimum performance, and our bodies have far more sensitivity, wisdom, feelings, sparkle, divinity than any mechanical car yet we override most signs feelings and symptoms. It’s all changed for me when I began to choose to note my body’s responses and things began to significantly shift, which has also supported a life free of ills and medications, and a vital body that is moving with purpose.
Steve I love your sense of humour and was chuckling away as I read your blog. You do cover a very serious topic though. It’s usual to hear of people on medication for various illnesses, so well done for turning the tide on what could have been the path you were heading for. I too take care to have my regular check-ups at the dentist and doctors. I agree we are the experts on how our bodies feel, and we do know when something is not right.
It is amazing what our choices can result in and equally so how powerful is the understanding that we do indeed have such a choice available to us! Because until Universal Medicine there was never an option to not blame others or situations for my life, never was there a choice in the state of my health or situations that I would walk into. For example at school we were taught to not drink, but with your friends not drinking is not an option. Or not gossiping or getting into a conversation where something/someone is to blame for how those in the conversation feel isn’t in that moment considered to be a choice available to us. But we always have a choice and thats awesome.
“I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?” Interesting that we may take more care over our possessions than our own body which is with us for life. What do we choose and with what quality – for our body and our health?
Great question, and makes you wonder why many do still choose to…, ‘I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’
‘I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’ True Steve most people are taking better care of their car than of their own body. No one wants to put the wrong fuel in the car, or too much because that would be a waste of energy but don’t hesitate to eat and drink what the body cannot cope with or overeat on a regular basis. And it all comes down to our own choices, feeling and taking responsibility or not for this fine tuned vehicle in this life.
“I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?” Isn’t it crazy we can spend so much time and effort on caring for a car – a house or doing a hobby etc – yet ignore the one thing we have with us all the time from birth to death.
The idiom “the proof is in the pudding” springs to mind! In that the end result is the mark of one’s own choices.
the analogy about people looking after their cars so much better than the body is very telling… You can relate it to one’s houses, even the way we look, well at least on the outside, rather than actually attending to what we are like on the inside… Imagine what it would be like if all the shields and masks were taken away and we were absolutely transparent so that everything that we held hidden on the inside was visible.
Unfortunately the way your parents lived and the choices they made were actually quite typical of many, the young and the old. As you say the money spent on health care maybe did prolong your mother’s life somewhat but I question the quality of that life, especially towards the end – after all our choices in youth do tend to catch up with us.
Steve we often see generation after generation repeat the same ill choices, the same patterns occur and the only real difference we see is those that drive themselves to success or dwindle in despair. It’s very rare to see fundamental true healthy living choices being made yet you’ve shown its possible and that lifestyle is actually far more important to our health in most cases then hereditary conditions.
Wow Steve, to appreciate the lifestyle you have grown up with and where you are today is remarkable. To stand beside your sisters and observe the impacts of self responsibility and commitment cannot be denied, the medicine offered by UM is undoubtedly game changing.
I love the way you have written this blog, very amusing, informative and inspiring and yes it is true we do not have to follow in the footsteps of our family when that family has made choices that are less than healthy. It is becoming much more accepted now that lifestyle contributes to our state of health more than anything else and we can be at the helm of this even if some of those choices may take a while to be fully loved, I meant to say lived but I will leave loved too for often we resist what is truly a healthy choice and it takes a while to really appreciate and love the choices we are making.
We are all born with a choice to live a life in line with our essence or invent our own expression and align to whatever comes along and takes our fancy. No wonder our body has to intervene and give us an illness to bring us back to our reality and our choices. Like a classic car it is what it is, it doesn’t try to be a bus, but we try and reinvent our selves into robots, machines, totally disregarding who we are in truth. Very extreme example there but it’s not far from the truth, life is simple when we live simply who we are, which allows the body to support us.
You are a wonderful author Steve – I thoroughly enjoyed reading your story and the unfolding of wisdom you share so simply and so naturally eg “Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices.” Love it!
You paint a very clear picture Steve that we do know what we are doing to our body and we have a responsibility to choose how to care for ourselves. Our health and how we feel is the cause and effect of the choices we make in the way we live.
How many days have we lived, all totalled up, with every body who has been alive? And how many of those were brimming with joy and delight? How many were full of Love and care for everyone else who was there? For in what you share Steve we can see that it is not the amount but the quality we live that truly counts. So no matter how many days have passed in your life till, its completely possible and totally viable to live full of Love right now.
Amazing story Steve! I loved your line… “It was like coming home after being lost in the wilderness” – this is so true, and is the beginning of any sort of true change, exactly as you’ve documented in your own life.
Hi Steve – thank you for sharing your observations about life, family and the choices that are made and their effect on the body. What stood out for me is how forgiving the body is and how patient. We can choose at anytime to deeply love our body through the food we eat, the exercise and movements we choose and the honesty in which we live. I loved your comment – ‘I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose? So simple and so true
When we bring responsibility into the foundation of how we live – everything changes. We no longer have to be a statistic relying on medication, because our medicine can be our way of living. Any one of us have an opportunity to change the past – it just starts with choice.
So true, it is for us to show the world there is another way, by living it! It is so easy to tell another what to do in theory but not do it ourselves. Been there, done that and got many certificates for it!! However, to hear you say “I have been inspired over the past 8 years from the teachings that I have attended to make choices based on what is good for me and my body” makes it all so simple. This is about the relationship between you and your body, listening and adjusting accordingly. That is good medicine!
“It was like coming home after being lost in the wilderness.” I can really relate to this Steve. It is indeed a wild crazy world ‘out there’ when we choose to run renegade to the love that we are. Making the simple choice to care for our bodies opens up doors that have long been sealed shut and with this comes a way of living that supports who we truly are.
WOW Steve I really enjoyed reading your story, what a fascinating account of the times we live in. Yesterday I was in the local shops and almost everyone around me including and especially the staff were overweight and many couldn’t walk very well. What they called small in the clothing was also rather big and the most clothes were on the oversize racks. If more people listened to what Universal Medicine is presenting we could save many billions in health care and a huge amount of suffering amongst people.
Wow, what a huge difference. Reading your blog really highlights how our daily choices can support us to enjoy a great healthy life or they can do completely the opposite. By listening to our body is key in supporting our body to stay vital and healthy. Amazing you are making choices to support your body and inspiring us that it is never too late to make loving choices to support, love and care for it.
An awesome story. We all have so much to share on our way back to soul.
A predisposition to illness and disease is just that and how we choose to live will determine whether or not we end up with a physical manifestation in the body. I knew this even as a teenager observing other members of my family and recognised that if I made different choices as to how I cared for myself the outcome would also be different.
Yes agree, it’s never too late to consider a new way of living. I am so glad I too went to a universal medicine retreat and loved everything I heard from it. Integrating it has had its challenges, due to how much I had to examine and turn around, but I have never looked back.
I love this sentence –” I am the expert on my body and my choices.” We are experts of our body as we are with it 24/7, seven days a week yet we do not treat ourselves as the experts that we are. So often we ignore the messages of the body and that is when the body has to shout a little louder.
It is so funny how we service our cars, we tend to the house, yet when it comes to us, we don’t think about us in the same way. That we do need the annual check up, we do need to feel that we are being looked after, but we need to take that responsibility. We need to take ownership for what is going on in our bodies, doing what we can to keep it fit and healthy, not screaming at us for attention through illness and disease.
It is so empowering to know that our choices can impact so strongly on our health and wellbeing. I wonder why so many of us do not choose to exercise this right to choose how we live!
We are far more than just the burden of our DNA. Our health can be positively impacted by what we choose every single day.
We often talk about hereditary conditions and things running in families, and what you share is just so important – more than anything, even the genetic stuff, what defines our health and well-being is our choice, and how we live and treat our body is the greatest medicine.
Our choices in how we are with our bodies do indeed have a physical impact.
Thank you Steve, an awesome read. It’s a strange phenomenon that we take care of our houses, cars, gardens, pets and careers so well but ignore our bodies! It’s the most precious and important vehicle we have. Serge Benhayon is a world leader in self-care, his presentations have inspired me (and continue to do so) to really lovingly take care of myself. It’s an enormous and very empowering wake-up call to go from ignoring the body and seeing ill health as normal, or something that happens randomly, to realising our every choice has an effect.
It’s never too late to start making more supportive changes. At one stage I felt like I was on an out of control health roller coaster ride. However I was inspired by Serge Benhayon to love and care for myself, and the more the relationship with myself deepens, the more care I give my body. As a result I am soooo much healthier now than I was twenty years ago.
“I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?” This is so true. This makes simple, clear sense.
The quality of our choices comes from self love and deep regard for ourselves and our health.
Crystal clear example of the power of taking responsibility for ourselves and our health.
Thank you for this case study. Quality of responsibility equals quality of choices.
Steve this blog is one for every waiting room. When you spell it out like that it makes so much sense that we do know exactly what is going on and our part in it when it comes to our vitality or ill-health.
It’s interesting when we reflect back on our life and realise that there is much to appreciate about ourselves and how this can in fact support the birth of new choices.
We don’t inherit all medical conditions. What we do inherit is behaviour, patterns and a way of living – and that is a choice.
Hi Steve. I love what you have shared and I love the responsibility with which you do so. You make it very clear who is responsible for someone’s ill health. We can try to pretend otherwise but the buck always stops with us. Even if the entire world is eating deep-fried cheese, we still know what we are doing to our bodies.
Just reading the paragraph about your mother Steve and her own cupboard of drugs and I realised how normal that is for many, yet so far from health.
I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading this blog Steve – such a powerful account. The examples you give on the enormous life changing effects that our day to day choices have on our health and wellbeing, are something to truly reflect on.
This is a stunning testament to the quality of your choices and value of the support you received from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. Thank you Steve.
Responsibility for our choices has never been cooler.. And is so needed!
Absolutely inspiring And thanks for sharing the back story! There are a lot of stories similar, but thanks to a man named Serge Benhayon you got to have a look and consider your choices. The responsibility you took is marvellous and is an inspiration for all.
Steve, this is very inspiring and just goes to show that we do not inherit medical conditions as many think but we have a choice about whether we choose the same lifestyles as our parents or not. Using genetics as an excuse for how we are is a big cop out and you have just presented evidence to support this. Awesome, Steve.
And your comment about the way we look after our cars in relation to how we look after ourselves is spot on. And something that I have pondered a great deal. I too have had these big health check ups and whenever I tell my friends about it they always react to the cost!! I mean, it’s totally crazy and incredible short-sightedness. Amazing that we would deny our bodies, as you say a vehicle that we live and move in every second of our lives, that small investment and yet we happily spend X times that amount on a mode of transport that we might spend one or two hours a day in and which is easily repairable or even totally replaceable. It’s idiotic. And because it is so idiotic we have to then consider how far we are living from our true selves that such idiocy is not even noticed.
This is such great wisdom so beautifully presented. Impossible not to be inspired and impossible not to want the whole world to read it. Could it be more black and white – that the choices we make determine the life and health that we get.
Thanks for detailing your whole family’s medical history and in doing so reflecting the benefits of making well informed healthy choices.
That is a big call and an inspiring one. “Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices” It is very true, you are the expert and doctors can support you far better if you are willing to take responsibility for the hours weeks and days you are not sitting in their office.
Steve your blog shows so clearly the results of the choices we make….and the fact that we can choose differently, changing our habits and lack of self care….. and how well the body responds when we take responsibility for our wellbeing….it certainly is never too late.
It seems to me that if we learn to listen to our bodies and respond at the first sign of disharmony – rather than when we are unable to carry on with our everyday lives – our health and wellbeing will be cared for much more proactively. The medicine of the future.
There is never a wrong time to learn about being more self-loving and self-caring. My experience of this has been transformational, from a life of seeking love in the world to one of choosing to be love. The difference is immense. It is like running on empty, to having a full tank. We just have to realise that the fullness is already within us all and we must choose to connect to it – rather than looking out into the world in the hope that someone will ‘have mercy on us’ and give us the Grace that in truth we already are inside.
It is never too late Steve, with that I agree. But what I like best is your analogy to a car – ‘I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’ Especially when the body responds so quickly to the tender loving care we are willing to give it.
‘I was on a course of slow suicide with the life style I had been living….’ a lifestyle that in so many ways was reminiscent and very similar to your family’s history. But as you have clearly shared Steve you have done a complete turn around and changed that trajectory. Well done you!
Some very strong truths in your article Steve, the lifestyle choices we make determine our quality of health.
That we can become so connected with our own bodies is both a tribute to what is possible, as Steve writes, and to what Universal Medicine is offering to support humanity’s evolution.
I just loved coming back to your blog Steve, a great reminder that in the end we, and only we, are responsible for the health and well being of our bodies. Unfortunately the majority of the world seem to be living exactly the opposite, doing whatever they want, treating their bodies as though they are indestructible and then when they are not working as they should be, leaving it up to someone else to fix them. Your family story needs to be shared world wide to show people that there is another way to live, that it all begins with self responsibility, and the results are amazing and potentially life changing.
In financial advice I often see people who would be far wealthier if they would have avoided just one or two mistakes in their life. Some lessons are very costly and it can be very valuable finding out what the actual lesson is rather than giving up or soldiering on.
Your blog is gold Steve! I found something that stood out for me the morning was the analogy of how we look after our cars so we don’t risk it breaking down unnecessarily. To me this just highlights how what you are talking about is basic common sense and that our bodies are precious and we if treat them as such, they will support us as well as they can, regardless of age.
Steve I am back reading your article this evening and it is a pleasure to do so. Your detailed description of your family health issues and the fact that you do not fit into the ‘genetic must haves because your parents had’ belief is refreshing and very powerful to read. A true offering to the world that leaves our health in our hands.
I once presented to an audience about the state of Mens Health, and asked the question what we should do about it, to which one particular audience member replied – but if we get everyone healthier, and they live longer, how will the planet cope? TO which I replied, the point is not about trying to live longer. We are already doing that. In 1900 the average life expectancy was 40. It is now nearing 80. The point however is quality of life. For surely 40 years of a life well lived is worth more than 80 years of suffering.
I so agree with you, Samantha. The world has gotten comfortable like a favorite jumper on a cold winter day to blame any and everything other than our choices for the ills we are suffering. We will never be too old or young to except being responsible for our past choices and then move on with our life.
That is the beauty here – responsibility hides from no one. We are all capable of it, yet very few actually take it, regardless of age. We have an added responsibility in each moment of teaching the world, old and young, rich and poor, responsibility.
Steve I was recently thinking about your blog as I had been talking with friends about the power of choice, too many people unfortunately put their conditions and illness down to family upbringing and genetics. This to me falls very short of the truth, with blogs like this we are able to see the excuses and lies we tell ourselves in order to not deal responsibly with the choices we have made.
the power of choice, now this really beats the power of now hands down, as it brings back to humanity the awareness that we really have chosen to be where we are, and that we do have the choice now to lift ourselves literally out of the morass and into heaven.
Reading about the details of your family Steve and their illnesses is pretty much a mirror image of my own family.
Just taking my parents and two sisters into account, three of them have or had diabetes (I said had because my mother has since passed away).
Out of those same four people two of them had cancer and have since passed away with the cancer, one of my sisters has had tumours removed from her thyroid, which had the potential to turn into cancer.
Heart disease is also in the mix – one has a weak heart from childhood illness, two had a heart condition. Three of them were or are on high blood pressure tablets.
So just in those four people alone there is cancer, diabetes and heart disease, now this seems really high to me to have these serious health issues within such a small group of people, especially if this is representing just one typical family.
I did not count myself in this mix because I do not suffer with any of these conditions and I do not put this down to good luck either – I put it down to having listened to Serge Benhayon and having made some significant changes in my life.
When you describe meeting and listening to Serge Benhayon as – “It was like coming home after being lost in the wilderness” I was like OH YEAH. It was like that for me too, the truth and simplicity in which he speaks and presents is phenomenal. I was also lost in the wilderness and now I am fully committed to life and and love.
What a read – FANTASTIC. And you are correct Steve. It is never too late – EVER.
I really enjoyed reading your blog Steve; it reinforced for me that our health is certainly dependent on our choices, and in the long term the sum of our choices. I agree with you, it is never to late to take responsibility to make loving choices.
It’s never too late to start making different choices, and it’s never too late to start being honest about our previous choices. This is where I’ve found true healing and health and well-being starts.
A new beginning has magic. It seems as if the whole Universe was looking at me, providing me with everything to stop the ill momentum, let go and change direction towards myself. That magic lives in Serge Benhayon and he reminded me that it lives in me just the same.
Thank you Steve for for a really great blog, sharing the lives of your family and the consequences of their choice of living. it is true so many of our illnesses could be prevented if we were to make more loving life style choices. I love how you are becoming a classic with lots of TLC.
“I was on a course of slow suicide with the life style I had been living….” Steve, this applies to many of us until we realize, as you did, that we treat our car better than our bodies and we start to make more self-loving choices. As you say, “I am the expert on my body and my choices.” We all actually do know what’s not good for us but are often not honest with ourselves about it because it feels too challenging to move out of our comfortable habits and put in place the changes that we know we need to make. Your blog demonstrates how, by taking care of our bodies, we can avoid the ailments that plague other people who do not take the same responsibility for their health.
You are so right Benkt about our choices and our responsibility in this process. The days of the doctor fixing us up is now becoming more difficult. We are now presenting to medical staff the multi-symptomatic person that has caused antibiotics to be the panacea. This has caused us to now have infections caused by viruses that are immune to antibiotics.
there are so many people on medication for a big part of there lives, that it becomes extraordinary when you don’t, it is shocking but true. I feel it is all to the choices we make, that are either responsible and caring for our own health or just ignorant, with the idea, the doctor can always fix me up…
What a wonderful and pertinent analogy Steve. As you so wisely pointed out the choice is ours as to our purpose and how we express and live that purpose.
“I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose”
Steve you share a very real story about health and our responsibility. The way your body has changed is testament to how you have now changed your life and are caring for yourself much more deeply. The story of your parents is sadly a typical one – so normal that we can forget to consider if there is another way. Universal Medicine has shown me there is another way and it is completely in my hands to live that or not.
A really good write up on how the lifestyle choices we make determine our quality of health. If what Universal Medicine presents was adopted by all their would be very little need for hospitals
This was a great re-read thank you Steve and the conclusion so true and empowering, we are the experts on our bodies and choices.
It is, as you write, never too late to make different choices and the results truly show that it is well worth it.
A great blog Steve. So much I am sure I and others can relate to. I like the sharing “I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose, so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose? I agree if you have spent many years doing preventative maintenance on your car surely your body is more important for your wellbeing and deserves the best we can give.
Yes that is a brilliant comment made by Steve- “… why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose.” It is so simple to reconsider how we are treating our bodies when you put it like that. That’s true education.
To be truly inspired to re-connect with our bodies and then to feel what is happening , and THEN to actually act upn this information is one of the many blessing to come out of the courses that Universal Medicine present
Re-connecting to our body’s is only half the job as you have said Chris, to actually choose to find the source of what we are feeling completes the healing process.
…and to actually choose to change the way you are living too. That’s inspiring Steve.
Your story of complete turn around and transformation Steve speaks volumes of inspiration. Absolutely it is never too late to begin truly caring for and deeply loving ourselves, and to hear another, such as yourself, make that choice feels amazing, it warms my heart thank you.
True Lee – if we are honest with ourselves, then what is the quality of life we have settled for just because we are doing better than someone who is very sick?
Its a whole new area to explore and be honest with – what is true health, is it enough to just be OK or up and down, or do we really have to be honest with the fact that every second is a choice, and if we are not doing so well, then why is that,and why should that be dismissed just because we have good days too?
‘I have considered myself not healthy, but at the same time not ill.’ I wonder how many of us in society feel this way – shuffling through our everyday knowing quite definitely that there is more vitality somewhere but not having the understanding that it is all about choices.
‘I have considered myself not healthy, but at the same time not ill’. When you say it like that Steve life does not sound all that vital and enjoyable! It also makes me consider what is societies actual definition of a healthy body and wellbeing today is, and the fact that maybe its time we all started to question and redefine what true quality health and wellbeing actually is?
Yes Suse, what Steve says here is certainly not ‘true quality health’. The trouble is that while we are still functioning many of us just keep on going in a mediocre way until we are stopped. In Steve’s case he was offered a chance to be more aware of what he was doing and he made a change, otherwise he would possibly have gone down the same road as his family.
“I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none”
I agree with you Steve.
It is up to each and every person to take responsibility for the way they live and the consequences that flow.
Thank you Steve for sharing your story and your wisdom.
Well said Shirl but often not the case,as the level of responsibility we need to go to shows how far we have fallen off the mark with our current levels of illness and disease world wide.
‘I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’ Love the analogy Steve, wise words indeed.
Yes this is an excellent analogy I agree – the car of many people gets treated far better than their own body.
I loved reading this Steve and having known you for several years I can with authority state that you are indeed a ‘classic’ 🙂
The stark contrast between your parents health and yours just goes to show what Serge Benhayon has been presenting for a very long time, that genetics play only around 5% in illness and disease, but epigenetics – essentially our choices, is responsible for around 95%. So the question then comes, do we give up in the face of the 5% and expect a slow but inevitable decline into our elder years, existing with and resigned to a multitude of symptoms, or do we start making changes that will support us in becoming a ‘classic’?
Kevmchardy I agree, the mass irresponsibility for one’s own choices is a huge problem as it stands, and it’s costing our health systems (us) way more than they (we) can possibly sustain. Change must happen. There is only ever going to be ‘so much’ in the pot, the more that gets syphoned-off to cushion our irresponsibility towards our own health, the more problems are caused in other areas of society/life. The answer is most definitely a self responsibility, and particularly re this case, in the choices we make towards our own self-care and nurturing.
It’s time everyone started taking 100% responsibility for their health and not leave it up to others to fix when something goes wrong. Why should everyone have to pay for those that make poor lifestyle choices. I know this may seem a bit harsh but how will we ever learn
Steve, your story offers so much to readers – thank you! I was reminded of how broad the concept of good health is and that dedication to care and appreciation of our bodies is actually much easier than the alternative.
Such a much needed blog on the responsibilities of regular check ups. I often combine my yearly check ups with a car service making sure that everything I use to get my body around is well tuned.
Great point grounded05, Before listening to Serge Benhayon I neglected my body and would never bother with going for check ups, the only time I would take my car to the garage was when I could no longer get away with driving it. Since I have become more loving and respectful of myself this has changed I now see the importance of such self care.
Beautiful Steve. The choices we make in life and on a daily basis do reflect in our health and wellbeing and instead of blaming genetics or others we need to take responsibility for the way we are living. I remember this saying ” if you have nothing else in your life, you always have choices”. This is so true.
This is true Anne, we all have choices in our lives and these choices all accumulate to make our present day reality. From this reality we are given the choice of being responsible to clear and heal those past choices, or deal with them another time.
Oh I love this saying Anne, it is gold. Thanks for sharing.
Your expression is so unique and inviting I absolutely loved reading this. You are without doubt a classic Steve and from choosing to be an expert on your body and your choices, are now sharing your inspiration beautifully with a world that desperately needs it.
Not being ill definitely does not mean you are healthy – there is so much more to our health and wellbeing than just not being ill and we have much yet to learn on this topic….
Deep down we know when we are living recklessly and treating our bodies with disrespect, but it seems so easy to override that feeling and then go and seek someone who will happily enjoin us in our choices. This is a perfect example of someone knowing what they were doing, but didn’t want to get to confirmed by going to the doctors.
These choices are so beautiful and that you write about them makes it even stronger. It is so powerful to have testimonials about real living people who make a difference, who have answers for the health care system.
I love what you expose Steve- that lifestyle choices has so much to do with our health and vitality. We are not governed by our genetics.
And by taking loving responsibility for our own health we are truly supporting the already overburdened healthcare system.
I am continuously blown away by the hundreds of transformation stories I hear amongst the student body. All of them are based around people being more responsible. It amazes me the choices people used to make, and how they used to behave so they could fit in, based on how they are today. They were once unhealthy and are now healthy in their lifestyle. Health is not just if you are sick or not, it is how you are in every area.
Steve – this comes through with your beautiful story here too.
Steve this is remarkable, it’s easy to see the route you were headed, another busy drugs cupboard. It’s extraordinary how blind & unquestioning we are, until a simple choice is presented to us. As well as supporting an overburdened health care system, it can be hugely empowering to take responsibility for our bodies.
What you have written here Steve is living proof of the effects of our everyday choices on our health and wellbeing. The only way for us to have a sustainable health care system is to take responsibility for our choices and how they impact us and others.
Most people that are aware of the damage they do to themselves, say drinking and smoking for two easy ones, are they not just treating it like a victimless crime? Is this not the prime example of when we were young and that adults would say ‘do as I say not as I do, when you are an adult you can do what you want’. You are so right Elizabeth, what we do to ourselves does have an effect on everyone around us.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your in depth and at times witty blog Steve, and the point you made about it never being too late to change the way we live and the choices we’re making, that will support our health.
Great observations Steve. We do know the truth that the way we treat our body is the cause of many of the subsequent ills. Serge Benhayon has inspired me to a greater understanding that it is every choice I make in everything I I do, say and think that has a harming or healing affect on my body.
I agree Mary. It’s interesting that when we believe that illnesses are random and that they might get us, like the boogey man, it avails us of any responsibility to look after ourselves. But it doesn’t makes sense to me any more to not care for myself. It’s more than the thought ‘I should take responsibility of myself and take care of my body’. It’s a relationship that I have started to have with my body based on love.
It is interesting how we can fall apart when we have an unexpected setup. From your description there was still $2 million left in the estate which is enough for most people but if you consider that you have failed in your most valued undertaking – providing financially for the family – this setback can lead to a desperation out of all proportion to the actual impact of the setback. I have encountered this many times with clients and myself – often even when the worst happens, there is an enormous amount that can be done and simply accepting it and moving on can be very healing and a source of a lot of inspiration.
This shows clearly the effect of choices on our health and wellbeing. The way we care for our bodies is so important in the way we go in life, and the effect it has on our physical body is enormous.
Great story Steve, loved reading your blog. Interesting story about your parents but sadly a common one. So great that change is occurring albeit on a small scale but the impact the students of Universal Medicine make is huge as we are walking, talking examples of a true way of being, the health and joy we exude is certainly an inspiration to many.
A great reminder that we all have the choice to follow family patterns of behaviour or choose what feels right for us. It is when we observe the different choices people make without judgement that the greatest lessons are learnt.
You are such a great writer Steve, your blog is a great read.
These words caught my attention: “The speaker was Serge Benhayon. It was like coming home after being lost in the wilderness.” Hear hear to that and how wonderful does it feel to be home – I felt your connection to what is true and thus how easy it was for you to start cherishing that by nurturing your body, awesome 🙂 Thank you!
I agree Steve, it is never too late to change. I was arrogant about my health until it was pointed out to me that if I constantly had migraines and constipation this was not the sign of a healthy women. I had done a dangerous thing which was to compare myself to others of a similar age who had far more going on in their body and were on prescribed medication. I was smug and self satisfied – but this was not helping me to live a full and vital life. Like you finding Universal Medicine has changed so many of my old perceptions and has, with loving support allowed me to gradually change.
Absolutely Susan. We can choose to see our little aches and pains as normal and just how it is, or we can say, perhaps my body is talking to me, perhaps it is a conversation I should listen to. Life has taken a totally different turn since I turned my hearing aid up!
I know what you mean – these amazing messages have been there all along. We have searched everywhere for the answer but until we are willing to let go we are shutting ourself off from the most amazing wisdom.
That’s gorgeous – and most appropriate for me, as I realise that my lack of hearing is more about my choice and less about the quality of my hearing.
So true Susan, it is never too late to change. No matter when we start making better lifestyle choices, our body will love it.
“I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?”
We should ask everyone this question…
As everyone should be asking this question of themselves too Gail.
Thank you Steve Matson for your honesty and playfulness in sharing how you relate and have related to your body and has been a true healing for me to read. I can feel the compassion with yourself in how you have treated your body. This quality of looking to yourself is helping you so much in choosing now for the other way, the way to deepen your level of self care by looking after your body as the custodian of it. A way in appreciation of your body for what it brings to you and with the understanding of its delicateness and tenderness that it is.
Steve you are truly one of the courageous ones, taking the responsibility to make the changes you needed to bring more honesty and quality into your life.
I love this, we sympathise with ourselves sometimes so much so that we just remove all responsibility of what is really going on and don’t consider any of the messages that life is giving us. The one thing I always try to remember and bring back to the situation, is ” I can only change myself”, but also “this is the situation I am in, what can I do now.” When I bring it back to this, I can feel I take complete responsibility for my choices while not bashing myself from them, and because of this I find there is a lot less resistance for moving forward in myself.
Choice, … is such a powerful word… we make choices every day, in every thing that we do and say, and everyone of those choices has ramifications and consequences.
It is very easy to blame the ‘gene pool’ or ‘just the way it is’ but as you point out Steve, where is the self responsibility in that type of attitude? Imagine the drop in health care costs through every layer if we all stepped up and considered that the first step was to weigh up everything we did from the body’s perspective and chose self care accordingly!
I love this blog, it makes so much sense! No mystery really, just common sense and wise living.
I really enjoyed the simplicity and clarity of how you have made the link between our lifestyle choices and the effects on our body, thank you Steve.
A great blog Steve that I really enjoyed reading, Thanks.
It’s like when we are little we are taught lifestyle choices from those around us without questioning their quality. What I have learnt is that through feeling my choices and their quality I can either continue to hold myself in that ‘can’t question life as it is shown to me’ from young or accept the fact that as an adult I can choose to change my lifestyle. What you’ve shared here Steve is that family traits and lifestyles that are detrimental need not be carried on and that it only takes one generation to stop it.
I really enjoyed reading this article Steve. A revealing story of the effect of making different choices.
Steve, this is one of the most amazing stories I have read. With your family history, you would have had absolutely no problem being part of a collection of statistics. Thank you for sharing and proving that the quality of our lives is directly related to the quality of our choices. The turn around is phenomenal!
It is true Annie as a nurse this was very frustrating for me, it felt like an arrogance of “I can live any way I like and do anything to my body because someone else will be able to look after me”. I even met people who had the attitude that “life is short so indulge and enjoy it”. These are very difficult attitudes to shift and hence why the health care system is so overburdened. I appreciate how there was no coincidence for me in finding Universal Medicine when I did and something there inside me was ready to listen and put into action the simply practical wisdom being presented. In living that wisdom to the best of my ability I have witnessed how it may be subtly assisting others to also be ready.
Developing body awareness rather than being constantly run by my mind and what is happening around me has been a huge part of the lifestyle changes I have made too. I realise now how incredibly wise my body is. But like a lot of students of Universal Medicine and their inner-heart, I already had some awareness this was the case. I knew I needed to eat meat even though I wanted to be vegetarian. I knew I couldn’t eat bread but I modified the dose to reduce the stomach ache.
What Universal Medicine presented that has made the most difference is the fact of the two energies that we can choose to run us. One, the spirit, cares nothing for our body and wants us to do crazy things like ride motorbikes or smoke cigarettes. The other, the soul, is part of the one love we come from and are held in and would never choose anything to harm myself or another. Now I know it is constantly up to me to choose. This has been incredibly liberating having this understanding, and my body and health respond accordingly.
I love how honest you are with this line: “I had resisted going for check ups in the past, because I knew what bad things I was doing to my body and had no intention of changing my life style” That is so familiar, deep down we know what is OK for our bodies and what is not, but taking the next step of accepting responsibility was the biggest challenge for me, not the actually physical changes.
Steve – you would be a dream patient for the doctors (who genuinely care for the health and well-being of their patients) – one who totally was committed to playing your part in managing your health in partnership with the doctor, and making responsible choices of self-care. Imagine how frustrating it must be for doctors to see day after day complex conditions and deeply diseased bodies with no motivation on the part of the patient to start to take better care of themselves. Enough to drive them to self-medication! And further overwhelming an overburdened health care system.
It took until I was 55 and my first workshop with Serge Benhayon to finally begin to make sense of my life, and now 10 years later, and with an amazing turn around in my quality of well being, I agree without a smidgen of doubt: “that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!”. That realisation was a game and a life changer, and continues to be so daily, as long as I make the most loving choices possible in every aspect of my life. Thanks Steve for reminding me how far I have come – back to me!
“I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body.” This is a quite telling statement about our level of neglect in relationship with our body.
I can relate to that too, I have always without fail serviced my car every year since the first car I ever owned, now over 20 yrs and yet I have not given the same attention to my body. Great eye opener for me, I have not had this level of relationship with my body.
My Mother came home from an event where she knew the majority of people but had not seen them for many years. She made comment that everyone was talking about their health and what medication they were on. It is sad to think that by the time the majority reach 60 their main conversation point is their medication and health.
Wow Ariana, it brought tears to my eyes reading your comment. You feel so light and amazing. Thank you for breaking the sterotypes. I’m 42 so for you to say that you have more energy at 62 than my age now is amazing.
Wow you don’t read that very often!!! Go Ariana!!! Keep breaking that mould on ‘ageing’. 🙂 ❤
What better proof Steve that looking after our health is our responsibility and our body thanks us for it every day. Universal Medicine has shown me the way to a better life and I have yet much to discover.
You turn on its head what many consider ‘normal’ “My whole family – sisters, parents, parent’s siblings and their parents – were all on drugs for most of the second half of their lives and so are most people I know! … Except for me.” It is true many people consider it normal to be on different medication as they get older. Your description of how you are not living in this way and why is brilliant. Simple and common sense choices , create miracles.
Beautifully said Samantha. commonsense choices create miracles.
Great article Steve, I can relate to having parents on a truck load of medications and thinking health was the absence of illness, rather than a vitality that comes from my own choices.
It’s a shame that the NHS doesn’t provide an arm-lengthening surgery for those with poor sight! Irony aside, the picture you paint of your parents’ ill health is a very common story. The dark humour in your Simpsons quote is the stark reality of today’s society. We take much for granted and take little responsibility. I’m learning that the more I make the true choices to care for myself, the stronger my barometer gets and the temptation to indulge has less power.
I love your blog Steve. Is it perhaps lifestyle choices that we ‘inherit’ from our parents?
Good point Carmin! How much do we model the way we live on the choices of others, and then assume that any ill health or struggles in life is because of genetics? And if so, is it not worth considering that perhaps we don’t want to consider this as a possibility because this would mean taking responsibility for our choices and our health and wellbeing, and by avoiding this responsibility we can continue to blame genetics…
Steve – this also makes me question the throwaway answer of ‘it runs in the family’ There is such grace in the responsibility you have taken, and now a beautiful reflection to everyone who reads this, and your own family, if they choose.
We are all connected. Just one person breaking the trend makes a big difference.
Your blog will be an inspiration to many Steve, the way you write is not only very accessible but brilliantly light hearted. You are a testament to the power of choice. Thank-you.
Very much enjoying your sense of humour Steve, maybe you could write a book? Put me down for a copy.
I love what you have shared with the world Steve, “I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!”. Your family events certainly demonstrate the truth of that. Amazing that with the different choices you are making you won’t be going down those roads.
I love this sharing Steve has made too Jeanette, it is such a great example of what can happen with the same gene pool when different choices are made.
I completely agree Vanessa – I’ve had similar experiences with my family, even being told that it was inevitable that my health would naturally track down the same ill path – something I’ve never believed, as I always felt that our wellbeing comes from the choices we make, regardless of whatever predispositions there are.
I agree vanessahawthorn, to me the key inspiration in this blog is about our choices and how much our choices around the way and quality in which we live, affect our health and wellbeing. Underlying these choices is first acknowledging our responsibility for our choices, and then taking responsibility for our actions in relation to our choices.
Yes Vanessa It only takes one from a family to change their behaviours and choices to get off the rollercoaster of poor health and wellbeing.
Wonderful and Inspirational Steve as ever, humour is always essential, when describing the ‘body count’ of family ailments it really does serve, and how amazing that you have simply turned around and swim upstream. You should be featuring in men’s magazines… ( centrefold of course…☺)
Love what you have expressed here Steve. It does come down to being responsible for our own health and not relying on the medication and the Health System to fix everything. By caring for our bodies and making loving choices for ourselves this is possible.
Your blog is a great testament that by taking responsibility we are not victims to our family patterns, genetics and beliefs. Thank you for sharing there is another way.
You have reminded me of my father, Steve. He is an amazing man who has made substantial changes to his health. The biggest one for him was cutting alcohol out altogether. There was literally a day when he recognised what red wine was doing to him and he stopped. No will power required because he realised it was making him feel angry – a feeling he did not like or want to live with. The result was that he was able to slowly stop taking the blood pressure medication he had been on for years. He did this sensibly with the support of his GP.
So here is a man, now 73, with excellent blood pressure, excellent cholesterol. And he does not miss the red wine.
Like you Steve, he is a classic (yes you are) who has worked out that he is worth taking care of.
As his daughter, I have seen my very beautiful father restored to the loving man who hid that behind a glass bottle of red liquid.
I loved the humour in Steve’s writing on a serious subject, and I also love what you have written here Dr Rachel Mascord about your Dad. That is pretty miraculous as well.
“My whole family – sisters, parents, parent’s siblings and their parents – were all on drugs for most of the second half of their lives” – it’s so interesting what you mention here, as we see people who are reliant on medication to live as only people who are ‘old’, yet with people living longer it is actually as you have said here – that people are reliant on medication for most of the whole second part of their lives. What quality are we living out those years though?
Steve I loved reading your blog, this is so inspirational and how your life has turned around since meeting Serge Benhayon, you are now in the being then the doing, awesome share
Thank Steve for sharing with the world. It is amazing how simple choices and awareness can produce so much health, vitality and joie de vivre.
Steve, you are an absolute classic! love what you have shared with such frankness and humour! Your blog is testament to the incredible impact our lifestyle choices have on our bodies, our health and our well-being.
Loved your blog Steve. The typical diet experience by your mum brought back many memories of our meat and three vege meals with dessert after, alcohol and smoking all part of the ‘serve up’ and we believed this was ‘eating well’. Now eating Gluten and Dairy free, low sugar, over time I am noticing now more clearly the impact on the body, when I consume these ingredients accidentally or other and the power of the outcome e.g. no energy, weakness, heavy and bloated, exhaustion, loss of clarity and the list goes on. The Body is amazing how it responds to what is asked of it and the recovery when it is truly loved deeply in all ways brings the most profound rewards.
Beautiful article Steve, and I’m sure you are a vintage classic in the waiting.. I love how your story so powerfully supports the concept that ill health is not just genetics but perhaps to do with how you treat your body. By genetic theory, you too should be a walking medicine cabinet like all of your family, and were indeed once heading in that direction, but in 5 years everything has been turned around and you are enjoying the fruits of those simple lifestyle choices – that is, to support what the body is telling you is true for it. What a great inspiration.
In my opinion we need to pay a lot more attention to the effects on our health that our lifestyle choices have. As a society we are still inclined to turn a blind eye to these “lifestyle choices”.
Thanks for sharing Steve. It is down to choice isn’t it and taking responsibility for them. I’m enjoying as I turn it around, understanding about acceptance and how much nicer that feels to the body rather than the blame and frustration of old.
It’s lovely starting to feel my body starting to open up to me.
More and more I am seeing that it is all about the choices I make in any given moment. I have the power to change my life and this is so empowering.
As you Steve , I also believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease and as you have illustrated in your blog creating a healthier existence is quite easy just by incorporating the teachings of Universal Medicine into your life.
Steve have you considered submitting this to a Men’s Health Magazine – I think this needs to be seen by many men around the world.
It’s quite incredible, isn’t it Steve, that we can actually ‘walk around’ (well, many of us…) when we truly take a good look at what we do to our bodies. The resounding message I get from your great blog, is that it’s never too late to make changes in life that truly honour ourselves, never to late to care that deeply…
And, regardless of the experience of the generations before, and how we ourselves have lived before, there is a quality of life we can honour to the bone. We are so worth it.
Hi Steve when you said ‘You can almost live forever if you have lots of money and great health insurance.’ The quality of life in this trade-off is questionable.’ This is so true and making healthy life choices offer us a way of living which supports our body and well-being – we just have to be honest in the choices we are making.
How right you are Judy. In fact it is so very simple: take our responsibility, make loving choices towards ourselves, listen to what our body tells and shows us and from there everything else will unfold.
Yet as in our modern society everything is focused on seemingly scientific explanations and we are drilled from an early age on to constantly override our own feelings and natural intentions, the step back to simplicity is a big one. Thank you Serge Benhayon for showing that indeed there is another way to live.
Steve – I am taking your words ‘… I am the expert on my body and my choices.’ and using them as a great reminder of why every choice I make every moment of the day counts. Thank you.
Thank you Steve for another brilliant reminder for us to keep choosing to take responsibility for our health. By continuing to build this everyday allows our own bodies knowing to heal from the inside out.
Thank you for sharing this – ‘to listen to my body, which is my best barometer of change.’ I never knew this to be true until a few years ago – when I made the choice to start paying attention to my body. I had revoked all sense of responsibility of what happened to me in the hands of my mum or a doctor. But to now actually start listening – has shown me so many things I can start to address in the way I live, so I don’t need to wait till something big happens. That for me is true health
What a great article to share with the world Steve. Like yourself I met Serge Benhayon eight years ago, and I have never looked back. The following sentence could have been written by myself or many of the other students of Universal Medicine who have chosen to take responsibility for their health and wellbeing.”The person I was and the person I now am, bear no resemblance to each other and this is all down to my personal choices on how I want to live. I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!”
This is a great exploration Steve of your family, choices and your own health. What I really enjoyed was how you described meeting Serge Benhayon and how it made so much sense to you what he had shared, that it encouraged you to take greater care with your body. This effect cannot be underestimated, nor can the choices that you made willingly -of your own free will – to change and be as healthy as you know you can be.
How we self care is as important as breath is to life. Once we realise that, each and every change we make matters, the feedback from the body is very inspiring. To quote you Rosanna, “the best life-enhancing medicine”, is self care.
Steve this is such a potent line “I was on a course of slow suicide with the life style I had been living….”. That really stopped me and let me see how we can indeed bring on our own death sooner depending on how we choose to live! What Serge Benhayon presents and the example he lives as a very real possibility, is actually the best life-enhancing medicine anyone could ever wish for…the polar opposite to the slow suicide that you describe.
Thank-you Steve for sharing this. How easy it is for one generation to roll into another without questioning the choices we are making. I too have been inspired by the presentations of Serge Benhayon; the immense power self responsibility and making choices that support our wellbeing is a game changer.
” Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices. I now feel that the reason I have not ended up on multiple medications with medical conditions like the rest of family is because of the changes I have made to my life and the daily choices I make to take care of my body.” This is great Steve. We are all highly tuned classic vehicles and if we listen to our bodies and take appropriate action many illnesses can be averted. It is now even in the medical press that life-style choices make a big difference to our future health – seems a no-brainer to me.
Thank you Steve for a thought provoking blog. It goes to show that we don’t inherit and develop our family’s illnesses and diseases and it is very empowering to know that the way we live makes all the difference.
Loved your humour Steve I enjoyed reading your blog. It is crazy how we ignore our body until something goes wrong. I come from a family that has heart disease, and so it makes sense to have regular health checks. Keeping a check on our body is a loving thing to do, “Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices.”
Thanks Steve, you’re a positive role modal advocating the benefits of Universal Medicine teachings
So true Nicole,
“I feel that having been inspired by Universal Medicine about the power of choices, it is time for me to share with the world there is another way of living and to show that it is never too late”
Hear! hear!
Hear! Hear! Suzanne. Universal Medicine shows us another way of living that is inspiring and continues to inspire each day.
I agree with you Steve, it is never too late to change. Both my parents died of cancer at at young ages and I was making the same lifestyle choices as them and heading down a similar path, until I came across Serge Benhayon. I then started making different choices and I am more healthier and feel more vibrant at 56 then I was in my thirties and forties.
Our power to choose is huge. It is a wonderful example for all when a person chooses to break a family mould of unhealthy and unloving choices; to say ‘I no longer have to follow the rest of the family down this path’. My life was one of disregard and self-abuse before being inspired by Serge Benhayon that there was another way, and for me too, how I live now bears little resemblance to how I lived 15 years ago. I liken it to waking up from a not so pleasant dream.
I can relate to your comment Oliver when you ask yourself “Why didn’t I gasp at this the first time I read it?” referring to Steve’s blog. I guess I could have asked the same question of myself for it was a ‘normal’ understanding that I used to have about the plethora of drugs that were consumed by probably many of our family members. I feel for me, this was indeed an apparent normalcy of accepting that it was the drug-taking, that is pharmaceutical drug taking, that kept the body functioning.
I remember long long ago making a vow to myself that I would find another way, that when in fact I died I would die with a body that was well – a little naive perhaps of me, as I was only a teenager at the time of that pledge to myself, but the truth is that I did in fact find another way. in addition to the prescribed medications, of supporting the body and that has come about only after meeting Serge Benhayon and attending the Universal Medicine presentations and learning about the many ways of ‘good medicine’.
I’ve read this blog before and when I arrived at the following line “My whole family – sisters, parents, parent’s siblings and their parents – were all on drugs for most of the second half of their lives and so are most people I know”; I guess you could say ‘it hit me’. Why didn’t I gasp at this the first time I read it? It’s as though there are so many terrible things in the world, that we’ve been accepting this ill fate and poor level of living for so long, that’s it not considered ‘poor’ any more. This is a great article, written with humour and character which provides quite a number of thought provoking issues – that mustn’t turn into ‘non-issues’. Great job.
Loved the honest and humorous approach Steve, in describing your families’ lifestyle and medical conditions. It is a serious topic you are highlighting. The quality in which we chose to live our lives results in whether we live with vitality or sickness.
It is never too late to change the way we have been living, and reap the benefits as many of us are experiencing, since attending the awesome presentations of universal medicine with Serge Benhayon.
A great account Steve. A family history is not a death sentence.
They made their choices and you are making yours.
The outcomes for our bodies just flow in line with these choices, very naturally.
This line was a corker, about your dad’s passing from dementia “when one night his heart forgot to beat.” Beautifully expressed.
We do wear out these hearts of ours, sadly, more often from our choice to not care very much about ourselves, rather than from the outpouring of love for ourselves and others.
Your blog and your experience shows that a heart forgetting to beat is not an inevitability.
I love what you are saying here, Rachel. We are far too hung up on our family histories and actually use them as excuses to not make choices to be any different. Our organs are part of us and always respond to loving choices, but we can be so far away from ourselves as to live in total unawareness of each organ in our body and take for granted that organs will just keep going regardless. It is with love that they teach us that this is not so!
And it also gives us the clear indication that the genes doesn’t have to be the greatest determinant of us getting sick or not. It’s pure science that the choices that we make create a flow of energy in our bodies and then the body responds to the quality of these choices. Science doesn’t have to be hard or difficult to understand, because it isn’t really.
Wow Steve – what an amazing story expressing your own experiences of your life unfolding – before and after being inspired by the truth of how our choices may impact our lives. I really enjoyed feeling the playfullness in your words. Wouldn’t it be awesome if some of the beautiful men out there could read your blog and recognize the choice that is there, either to stay with the consciousness of ‘being invincible and having to tough it out’ while pretending there is no tenderness within or accepting that there is indeed a sensitivity within us all, male or female. So many of us are learning now about the responsibility we have to develop our awareness that we always have a choice and I also have found along the way that in every moment there is indeed a choice to respond to the energy of the heart or the persuasion of the head. I must admit that this awareness has only come about for me since meeting with Serge Benhayon and the presentations of Universal Medicine.
“My plans are to have my annual check-ups and to keep doing the self-body checks for things that change; also to listen to my body, which is my best barometer of change. Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices.” Good for you Steve. I have more check-ups now than I used to. I went to the doctor the other day and because of the care I have been taking of myself, I could feel that care from him too and he recommended a fasting blood test to check everything.
An amazing expression of the responsibility and self-care choices that are required to maintain a healthy body and way of living. Beautifully delivered with humor Steve.
I appreciated this elaboration of life experience with health issues and the great sense of humour that comes through. It has reminded me of a somewhat disregarding attitude I have held for my body and even though that has changed markedly, there are still little habits on occasions that reflect an attitude of ‘getting away with’ good health, rather than choosing what feels truly loving for my body.
Brilliant article Steve, thank you. I found this paragraph to be pivotal and probably the real reason why many of us avoid what we know will be the grim reality of the doctor and the dentist:
‘I had resisted going for check ups in the past, because I knew what bad things I was doing to my body and had no intention of changing my life style…they were my choices.’
No intention of changing, and knowing what bad things we are doing to our bodies – yes, we do know and we stay avoidant until ill health forces us there. Unless of course we get real and start to take responsibility for ourselves. Like you Steve, I was in arrogance until I began attending Universal Medicine presentations, and thank goodness I did.
Against all the odds … could be the title of this writing. With everything in Steve’s environment and upbringing he was able to, when presented with the quality of truth in expression, turn his life around. For so many people this is what it is like when listening to Serge Benhayon, it’s that unmistakable ring of truth. What a relief.
It is a joy to me to notice the benefits to my health and general well being as I am starting to learn to listen to what my body is telling me and adjust my life accordingly. I also love the fact that it is never too late. Thanks Steve, I enjoyed your blog very much.
Awesome Helen – I agree, it is never too late to turn your life around
I love this line Steve – “I am the expert on my body and my choices.” All it takes is to listen to it and not let those ‘thought-monsters’ in. Thank you for a great sharing.
In a sense I am not surprised by the difference in the outcomes between other members of your family and yourself due to the huge changes you have made to what you eat and they way you live along with the importance you put on caring for you and your body. The differences are stark and well worth reading about. This would make for an excellent presentation in schools.
Steve’s article highlights how, in the wider family of humanity, people exposed to the same conditions, have different reactions. In a room full of germs some get colds etc., some don’t. It’s all down to the choices we have made to listen to, and respect, our bodies before we enter that room. Even perhaps to choose not to enter.
If we needed feedback to know this to be the truth, this would be the article to show humanity. We all get a result from the choices we make.
Great confirmation of how taking responsibility and making different choices lead to better health and a fine dry sense of humour to boot!
Absolutely Gabriele, responsibility for our own well being is a must along with humour will see true vitality.
It is so true that the choices we make, the life style we live, show in our bodies. I’m close to 40 and the other day someone guessed that I was 24. That was a nice confirmation that I’m looking and feeling good from the way I now live, thanks to the presentations of Serge Behayon and Universal Medicine.
Daniel I get this comment often about looking younger and know that this is only possible by the choices I make daily to nurture my body with vitality.
Very true Daniel, those moment by moment choices have a huge impact.
Thank you, Steve. I love your analogy to a ‘classic car’. ‘Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices’. True words. We are in control of everything we do and say and eat. Our bodies are a constant marker of all the choices we have made.
Alison yes I totally agree with you. We are all in control of everything we do, say and eat. It’s also about taking responsibility for them too.
How right all of you are. It is truly taking this responsibility that will enable us to make different choices. Choices that are truly loving and respectful of ourselves and of everybody else at the same time.
Thank you Steve.
Thank you for sharing such a personal story Steve. We have had too many years of waiting for the doctors to find cures for all our ills; we have used our cupboards full of medications so that we can live unhealthier lifestyles. With our current culture of an unhealthy lifestyle it seems we are following/racing each other to a medical emergency. Universal Medicine is offering a holistic approach based on self-responsibility that judging by these testimonials is working tremendously.
Totally agree Bernard. I used to run a B&B and was often amazed at the amount of empty pill packets left in the rooms
A beautiful blog. In the past few years I too have been carrying out the maintenance checks with regular dentist visits, pap smears, skin checks etc. I care for my car with regular servicing, but have never given my body the same treatment until recently. The support I feel for myself by doing this is huge.
Life choices means we do have a choice – This is a great blog sharing the transition from one choice to another
Love the connection with the car and our bodies – so true. I have found by being caring, respectful and loving towards my body and having regular Esoteric Chakra puncture sessions it has helped clear my body so then I am able to express love with ease. Amazing blog – great learning.
This is a very interesting expose on your body and your life, very relevant.
We most definately are the experts on our body and choices Steve. Having regular check ups has become a part of my life since I went through menopause 5 years ago when I felt to get some routine tests done as a marker of where my body was at. To my surprise the bone density test came back with Osteoporosis. I see it as a blessing to know what is going on in my body rather than to have a silent disease with no symptoms. I know what I’m working with and have a great team of conventional and complementary therapy practitioners supporting me.
Great sharing Sandra! With a regular check up we get a reflection from our body we may otherwise miss. We can train our awareness, but sometimes we get a surprise here and found a ‘blind spot’. And I agree: good to know about so we can work on it.
Steve your lighthearted approach to the importance of building a body that is ‘fit for purpose’ allows us to really feel how we as a humanity have lost the plot with our choices. I relate to having a ‘classic body’, having come to the realisation that my body reflects the choices I make later in life; I now choose to rebuild, maintain and use this body wisely and respectively and amazingly my body is responding well.
I love the lighthearted article Steve. I found it inspiring that even though all members of your family had health conditions that doctors would link using genetics, you looked beyond that and took resposibility for the choices you were making. You now provide a great reflection for those around you.
I really like the way you write Steve it is very playful and insightful, but straight up. It is a great testament to lifestyle choices that you do not have your own cupboard for drugs to keep you going in the second half of your life! The WHO recognises that lifestyle choices impacts 80% of diseases, yet we live in a society that wants to remain reckless and oblivious to that fact. It is interesting is it not, that we can love ourselves so little to not be willing to make positive changes and that is one of the things that is so impressive about Universal Medicine – that swathes of people are inspired to make real life changes that are positive. You would think government agencies would want to know what we are doing right…
I loved reading your blog, so light and funny yet you raised some really important points as well.
“I feel that having been inspired by Universal Medicine about the power of choices, it is time for me to share with the world there is another way of living and to show that it is never too late.” So true, thank you for sharing.
Great blog Steve – Life choices make us who we are – funny how we haven’t realised that yet. Do’h! Thanks to Universal Medicine we are making a start.
What a lovely blog to read, lighthearted yet stating the hard facts. It is so obvious that life choices are directly related to our health, everybody knows that, but still the cupboards are full of sugar, fat and pills. Why? The world is so lost, nobody knows how to do it differently. These blogs will help getting the message out – there is another way.
Love your blog Steve, very precise in detail and to the point. You are an inspiration to many and you have proven that when we begin to truly look after our body, our body looks after us. You have broken the mould for your family and generations to come in reflecting back to them what self-care truly is. Well done you!
I also love your humorous way of writing Steve. It’s amazing what the body can withstand before it starts letting us know that we are not treating it right. I really can’t believe the disregard I had for this amazing gift of a body I have before Universal Medicine. I used to think “It’s my body I’ll treat it as I please” or I probably didn’t think too much about it at all, let alone feel it, or have any responsibility for the outcome of my actions.
Yes Kevin, in fact I did not think much about my body at all in earlier years, unless it was not functioning, reflecting a lack of care and a certain arrogance that it should cope with whatever I wanted to do or experience.
Great article Steve. Funny, illuminating and with such a powerful message shared in a beautifully simple way. Thank you
Beautiful Steve! When I read what your mother did eat I could not help myself but to adore my body and Western Medicine. Our bodies are able to manage so much rubbish we do with them…and if it gets to its limits, Western Medicine is there to support us staying alive. That’s great! But that can not be all of it.
I was pondering about this adorable body and why it may support us so magically to stay alive. Could it be that we are supported here to bring a change, to use ourselves for not just staying alive but to live a life that make sense? And if so, we can ask ourselves: do we take our chance? Do we make the most of our life?
Lovely to hear that you were and are – like many many others – supported by Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon to do so.
I love your humour Steve, and you share a great story here. Yes please share your way of living with the rest of the world. We all have genes but more important is we all can make choices based on how our body is feeling.
It is all about choices. That is what this blog shows us. Family history with illnesses and diseases are often attributed to genes. After reading this blog it is clear to me that we can all break a family pattern by the daily choices we make.
I have spent a good amount of time in the United States so your descriptively humorous story created a vivid (and comical) picture in my mind of your family’s lifestyle and how you eventually broke the mold by making different choices. Steve you’re living testimony to the fact that we are not and should not be imprisoned by the family we’re born into and our personal choices carry far more weight than genetics when it comes to true health and wellbeing.
Yes, true! We can re-learn to listen to our bodies- never too late!
Steve, it sounds quite magic the changes you made and the turn around after being inspired by Serge Benhayon. I agree, it is very inspiring to meet him and people who make self-loving choices!
Yes there is a much deeper picture here about quality of life that is a constant theme in the presentations of Universal Medicine. The western world’s ongoing medication just keeps the human body ticking over, and the statistics will show increased longevity in the general population. The national health systems will struggle to keep up with the over sustained aging population and dementia will increase exponentially. What is possible however is that we can re-learn how to listen to our bodies and from this connection, begin to return to what we are truly here to do.
Hi Steve – one of the best articles I’ve read. Very easy to relate to and so true. It’s easy to get used to what you described in the beginning with how we medicate and live our lives but rarely stop and consider it being not so healthy. I’ll be waiting for your next article to be released!
Isn’t it amazing and so great that we can turn our life and health around simply by the choices we make, and in that inspire other people too.
I enjoyed your true and humorous article, it’s very true how much care do we put into having our cars maintained so they don’t break down and perform the job we want them to do, and yet often don’t have that same level of care for the vehicle we live in, our bodies! Thank you Steve.
Wonderful sharing Steve, and what a turn-round. I especially like your conclusion – “it is time for me to share with the world there is another way of living and to show that it is never too late.” – This is so important and I feel your blog can and will inspire many others to look at the choices in life and where they may lead to …
Thank you Steve. I loved reading your article. I especially loved where you say ‘ I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’. So true. I always expected my car to take me where ever I needed to go, but really took very little care of it. Same with my body, I used it rather like a machine, and abused it too. Now, with an upgraded model, I absolutely treasure it and enjoy ‘taking care’ of it. Such a different experience, with my body and my car.
What amazing changes you have made Steve. I love how you say “I am the expert on my body and my choices” showing just how much responsibility you now take and what effect that has had on your way of life.
Brilliant. This blog blows away theories of genetics and familiar dispositions in one sitting. Why are people so reluctant to take responsibility for their lifestyle choices? You are a great example of how you can turn your life and health around, and actually look forward to becoming a ‘classic’ in years to come. It goes to show that living lovingly gives us reason not to fear growing older, but to actually feel great about how well we are looking after ourselves. An enjoyable read, thank you Steve.
Thank you Steve, for this humorous, entertaining and self-deprecating article, thoroughly enjoyed it. I burst out laughing at the common male attitude of:
“Ill is when I have been carted off to the hospital because I could not walk.”
But even though there was this attitude towards self, you were open to the inspiration of the presentations of Serge Benhayon – how inspiring is that! … that a regular guy is actually on the lookout for truth and a true way of living. Just shows, one can never ‘judge’ a book by its cover.
It is rare to read of someone who changes their ways before they have the shock and stop of an illness. Perhaps that is testament to the powerful qualities of the presentations delivered by Serge Benhayon and also your personal willingness to make changes Steve.
It is very easy to put ill health down to family history or genetic disposition, but this should really be put in the context of the health choices we make ourselves, and how much we are willing to live the preventative medicine of lovingly caring for ourselves.
Living with maximum care for ourselves might just make us re-evaluate whether genetics really does have as much say as is mooted in shaping our health destiny.
I really related to your blog Steve, especially the part about your dad at the end of his life, and your Mum’s ill health. The way you have changed the way you live – to care for your body is inspiring, the simple daily choices are the way to go.
Hello Steve, what a great and sometimes disturbing story. You show a common theme that I see with my life and those around me. Most of us don’t live life, life lives us. In other words we don’t think we have any control over what we choose, we are victims to life and experiences. I feel sad for your Dad because this is a similar story to my Dad. He worked hard, we rarely saw him, he was building financial security for the family and when it didn’t turn out he gave up. It is like there is a model that says, if you follow these steps then everything will be ok, work hard and provide, enjoy yourself but work hard and then you will be looked after. Clearly that model hasn’t worked for your Dad or mine. It is like we don’t look after ourselves in the hope that one day we will be looked after. It doesn’t make sense really but we still do it. Why don’t we look after ourselves now, still work hard but truly look after ourselves. In this model we wouldn’t have to hope to be looked after because we would have done it for years and so it would just be there for us.
I love how you have introduced the regular medical check up’s. I have been doing this for a time now and love how it feels. Again it makes sense if you want something to be a ‘certain’ way then start living it in each moment of each day. Then you never have to hope and wonder, it is just a part of what your day, it is a part of you. Thank you Steve.
So true Ray, start living it each moment of each day, and it is part of you. Simple but profound.
You have a great sense of humour Steve, loved your blog and I think many would resonate with what you share. For me both parents died of cancer quite young and had I not made different choices over the last ten years I would be buried right along side them by now.
Steve you have a wonderful way with words- it was like reading a comic skit but with very serious and important points. You are so true and I totally agree with when you say- ‘I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!’
It’s awesome that you take the responsibility to get medical check ups now and how great are your results from the choices you now make!
Very inspiring Steve and super funny. I love how you’ve shared light heartedly with us about your family and your own health history, and how your choices now are seeing a different trend to those in your family. I too often use the car analogy when chatting with people at work (particularly men) when they ask me about what I’m eating and why. We can all co-relate what we consume with our food and drinks to what fuel we put into our cars – I certainly wouldn’t put diesel fuel or even cheap low-grade petrol into a petrol car if I wanted it to run to it’s best or to run at all.
Amazing to see how it can be so obvious for us to look at the way another is living and see the way they are living is clearly contributing to their own health and well being. But yet for that person, they may not see it. Really shows there is more behind our lifestyle choices than what we may think.
It is strange how we think we are intelligent whilst we keep making choices that result in our bodies becoming more and more unwell. Then we turn around as we head further down this path of self induced deterioration and simply blame all our health problems on getting older. Pretty much everyday I hear people blame their poor health on getting older (and quite a few are in their 40’s) rather than taking responsibility for all the poor choices they have made.
Spot on Jane: “Our bodies are pure gold, and our daily living choices are ours to make. That for me is pure intelligence – that we are our own living science and we can experiment every day!” We are living science and worth to study : )
Enjoyed reading your Blog Steve, and thank you for highlighting the power of choices. It is these self caring choices to look after our bodies first that inspire others to embark in taking responsibility and self care for their bodies as well.
Taking responsibility for our own health is an essential first step and this begins one choice at a time.
Thanks Steve you article is a great reminder that we are all responsible for our own choices which is sometimes a bitter pill to swallow and the importance of starting to care for ourselves no matter how we have lived before.
‘I believe that life choices are the number 1 cause of illness and disease… bar none.” The World Health Organisation tends to agree with you, citing 80% of all disease worldwide is lifestyle related. Staggering when you consider Malaria, Aids, and all other communicable diseases barely make up the remainder.
Yes Adam that statistic is staggering, and although I would agree with the statistic just from what I see out and about (people are not looking well), it still is hard to believe, as we are all intelligent but it doesn’t make sense.
These 2 things just don’t make sense together:
1) We don’t like being sick or having poor health
2) We choose it through our lifestyle decisions.
It is so fascinating that we are even capable of doing this. It is like putting our hand on a hot plate repeatedly. It is fascinating (if not slightly disturbing) to realise that there is a part of ourselves (our mind) that can have agendas and make decisions that don’t truly support the person/body that lives the result.
If enough people have this going on, then there is a whole world health crisis of 80% of disease relating to lifestyle diseases . . . aka uncommon sense diseases.
I agree with you Rebecca, it is fascinating that we live like this and it is so normal that not to live like this is considered weird, creepy and abnormal, to say the least. And the funny thing is if you don’t indulge in alcohol or any of the other harm and disease inducing everyday substances like coffee, sugar and so on people generally think you have no fun in life at all. And yet
most of our populations are slowly poisoning themselves on a daily basis. Strange indeed that we are wired in such a way that we continue to do what is so obviously hurtful to our bodies.
It is indeed strange and, like Josephine wrote, we may not be putting our hands on hot plates constantly, but there is a part of us willing to keep eating, drinking and preforming actions that have negative results again and again – what? I enjoyed re-reading this blog and it just goes to show how we are far more in control of our health than we choose to admit and be aware of.
The genuine sharing of your insight, experience and choices is absolute gold for me to read Steve and your humour is classic. To me you are Classic Gold already and I love that you choose to look after you and your awesome self loving ways.
Thank you Steve for this amazing blog, love your humour so much fun to read and so simple. Holding our body fit for purpose, that’s such a great way to say it as it holds the responsibility we all carry for expressing from our body and who we truly are – Sons of God!!!
Steve, I love your lighthearted approach to this weighty subject. The analogy to a car is very true and one that raised itself in my household recently. May the car provide a smooth ride.
My car is a bit of an old banger, and it may have to last a lot longer, so I have it serviced when necessary, and try not to strain the engine by driving considerately – and its good for fuel consumption. My body is a bit old too, and if i listen to it ‘ticking over’ I can make sure that it is serviced every day (right food, rest, sleep) BEFORE it develops rattles and rust.
I had a good laugh reading your blog. Our bodies are definitely like cars. The upgraded model is the one I currently drive, but there have been many prangs along the way!
I have been wearing the brakes out on my car of late and the accelerator has been getting a bit stuck.
That made me chuckle, Grounded05. I think most of the dents in my car can be related to moments when I wasn’t making the choice to be connected to my body – and connected to a wall instead!
I just re read your blog and love what you share and can see the way your parents lived. What is kind of scary is that their diet is actually considered normal today and because of the results that such diets cause to the body, there are so many people suffering from disease and illness and not seeing that there is in fact another way.
The care we take for our cars is often so much more loving than the care that we are prepared to take for our own bodies. This is so true too, and again shocking really!
I re-read the blog today and I love the humour you use to bring across a point. It seems it all comes down to personal choices and that means personal responsibility for our own wellbeing thanks for a brilliant blog Steve.
“I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?” – love this relation from body and car. And the “is it fit for purpose” question is leading me to ask: the purpose of a car is quite clear – it should drive properly – but what is the real purpose of a (my) body? I heard Serge Benhayon say: our body is a vehicle of expression. If that is so I have to ask myself: what do I express through my body and what I am able to express with this body?. Because if it’s true that we are from God and we are love, the purpose of my body is to be able to express this love I am. And it is my responsibility to make my body able to so. So to care for my body is to care for love to express – ins’t it so?
Yes spot on Sandra. The body is indeed our ‘vehicle (car!) of expression’ and as we are from God and carry his love, then the purpose of our body is, as you say, to be ”able to express this love’ that we naturally are. Thus, we have an unwavering responsibility to not only maintain our body to serve this divine purpose but also to re-store our ‘vehicle of expression’ so that it may express this love in full.
That’s so true Anne and Sandra
Such a lovely way of looking at it Anne and Sandra, and it makes our daily choices very clear, “Is doing, saying or eating this going to build the love in my body or not?”
The simplicity in this is so beautiful.
that’s so true, sandra! To care for my body is to care for love to express! I can ponder on this for hours:) because I can feel the truth which the sentence reveals here.
Yes Doug, and I would say we are not just ‘willing to live in a body that is not fit for purpose’, we are creating and supporting that ‘not fit for purpose’ body. And I agree, that’s an interesting question to ask. Why do we do that? Why do we sabotage our purpose? …but while we ponder on this, let’s already start to care more for our body : ).
I agree Sandra – I’ve just realised how important it is for me to have a fit body so that I can live IN my body joyfully. Before I’ve not really considered working out and looking after my body in that way as very important but I’m now starting to realise the for me huge importance of that. I’ve just signed up with a gym and have for the last few days been working out, not hard core stuff, but about 30 min on the tread mill then some other exercises and I can already feel the positive feedback from my body. And I love the sauna afterwards…
I agree Sandra too, that many of us are “creating and supporting a body that is not fit for purpose”. I see many people around me including family members and colleagues that are run-down, exhausted and stressed and always coming down with coughs and colds and I wonder: Why don’t they ask why? They just accept it as a normal part of their lives, or many seem to blame it on their age! Many do appear to be on a path of self-destruction and one way out of this would be to live as an example of a “body fit for purpose”, so that they see that there is another way to live. It’s just a choice to love yourself, and whilst I ponder on that I shall continue to make more and more caring choices for myself.
I agree Matts. Looking after my body supports me throughout the day to make choices that have made me steady and not craving a quick “pick me up”.
Yes, and it is also the best tool for discovering what is true – I have a good mind but my body is a far better tool to discover what is true. Far better.
Sandra, I had never thought about it like this before, what a lovely take on the importance of caring for our bodies. I will carry this with me, thank you.
Absolutely, Sandra. Love what you are offering here. And what’s the point in keeping a perfectly valeted car parked and hidden in a garage somewhere forever? Let’s go for a drive.
Love it Fumiyo! Thats offering the next level. Yes, it is great to have a well cared car/body, but it does not serve if not used. And that’s the fun part!
Steve, your point about yearly health checks is a wonderful claiming of truth for your body. It is an opportunity to see how that previous year is lived and from there more loving choices can be made for the future.
Great example of the simple choice to choose differently, and love the reflection of your car in relation to your body Steve. What’s apparent to me is that when we own something, like for eg a car etc., we tend to look after it more, and the reverse being true when there is no ownership. And so when we start to own our bodies, it is natural that we start to care, and deeply care for it.
Steve. Thank you for sharing your story, and being so open and honest. I can relate to some of the things you have done in life. At the end of the day we all have choices to make – do we carry on in the same vein, or change for the better? Thankfully we chose the path that has led to a happier and more fulfilled life.
I really enjoyed our story Steve, love your sense of humour and frank honesty. Inspiring too that a change even to true self care even after many years of disregard can have a major positive impact on our health.
When you get to feel the difference in how your life is and relationships with other people you realize that as you said it is never too late. Reading your story helps me to appreciate the choices I have made for a more self loving way of life and to share these choices with the people around me.
What an amazing story of your life Steve, one that I know will encourage others to know that it is never too late to change; that with a choice to take greater care of you and your body, your body will respond accordingly. There is no room here to blame anyone for where you find yourself, as it’s all about self responsibility, and from there making choices that will change the way you live. Yes I agree, we are the experts when it comes to our bodies and our choices, and it’s never too late to make a different choice.
Thank you Steve, this is awesome to read, I very much like your sense of humour. Yes, it is incredible how we can turn our lives and health around by making different choices. I am with you on ‘that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease’, we can change so much by taking care of ourselves more responsibly.
Awesome, Steve, to point out how people tend to take better care of their cars than themselves. It is wonderful that you are now taking better care of yourself than you would your car and reading your article reminded me of the movie Grease when they fix up an old hunk of junk into ‘Greased Lighting”! Sounds like you are on your way there.
This is a beautiful blog Steve, thank you. What better way can there be than to be the expert of your own fine classic vehicle, empowering and most in-joy-able 🙂
Steve,
Very inspiring to see and read how you were able to change your health to where you are with choices you made!
Yes, it is all a choice on how we are today, it is the choices we made as no one but us makes our choice even though we may think someone else is making them at times, it is just us making them. If only we took responsibility for our choices! We are a result of our choices be it in our mental, physical or emotional state of being. Reading your sharing really highlighted on what level of depth our choices can affect us. I love your analogy of body to a car. So true! Taking responsibility for your choices leaves us feeling light and then we are not resentful towards anyone or anything. That has been my way of living with choices that I make on how I feel rather than any outer influence.
Your blog is inspiring Steve and it proves that it is never too late to change for the better. We have to be honest and realise that we really do cause the illness we may have by our choices and that those choices can be changed at any time.
“I am far from a classic but have intentions of becoming one.” This made me chuckle, Steve. Becoming the mechanic of my own “classic” car, with support from all at Universal Medicine has ensured I don’t stay in the pits or off the road too long these days.
Thank you for sharing your story Steve. No it is never too late to make new choices which lead to true change.
Wow Steve what an inspiration! I loved reading your story. When we make choices that support our bodies miracles happen and your article is a living proof of this especially in relation to the history of your families health.
I loved what you said about your body being liked a fine classic car which requires an expert to look after it and you’re the expert. So true…We are all the experts on our own bodies, all we have to do is listen and not override what is truly felt in each moment.
Loved how you spoke about your families ailments and lifestyle so candidly, without judgement- much of society lives this way; but what’s so inspiring is how you have turned your life around by making simple loving choices and listening to your body.
What a great article showing how we can really change our lives by the inspiration form another. Serge Benhayon is reflecting the truth to how we can live and support ourselves through living medicine and supporting the much needed and over stretched medical system out there. He is inspiring others with his livingness and the knock on effect as seen in this blog is really beautiful. Thank you for sharing this.
Taking responsibility for your choices and your health is one of the most liberating experiences available to us. No longer are we at the whim of accident or chance – we chose how we are to feel in each moment.
What an inspiring read. You are inspiring me to go for a check up Steve! Thank you.
Wonderful to read how the writer did not end up like his family, spending the second half of their lives on medications, and the turning point was meeting Serge Benhayon and common sense at the same time. Also wonderful that Steve’s article reflects that we all know how to live truly healthily, yet just can’t beat the many barriers life presents, until we are reminded we are so much more and that life is about offering others all of us, selflessly.
Imagine if we all understood and truly ‘got’ that all our illness and disease is a result of our choices – bar none as you express Steve. Placing the responsibility on genetics, bad luck, catching it from someone else, has always felt ‘wrong’ to me, even before I met Serge Benhayon. How come ‘I caught the cold and the next person didn’t?’ Asking myself ‘What is happening for me to have caught the cold?’ just feels plain old sensible!
Great comment Bernadette. If we don’t care lovingly for our own body, we can hardly blame someone, or something,else, when we fall ill.
Steve, I love your analogy of your car and your body. How preventative maintenance on your car was a given but on your body, was overlooked. It makes complete sense when you put it that way. For many of us it is easy to take great care of our cars, the vehicles that support and carry us from place to place, yet we forget to notice that our bodies are performing the same function!
Thank you Steve for a great blog, and what amazing changes our choice can make to every part of our lives, as you clearly show. I remember the first time I heard Serge speak – I too knew that I had come home.
That was one awesome blog Steve! A very inspiring read! Thank you!
What a great factual, informative and playful blog, Steve. You are a blessing on “wheels” to your remaining sisters if they choose you as a fine role “model”, and to the many men who take more care of their cars than their bodies. You are showing all, by your choices, another way.
Thanks Steve, this really is a news worthy story and one that humanity needs to hear. I can feel my body changing every day as it responds to my choices of how I breathe, how I eat, how I sleep, how I move and how I express. In the past I made abusive choices such as alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and non-nutritional food. Even though I am in my elder years, my body is appreciating the loving choices I now make. Like you “the person I was and the person I now am bear no resemblance to each other”.
Hi Steve, thank you for sharing your story – another amazing piece of research right here : ). I have done the same research – and can say my choices to change some old habits has had profound results for me too. Like you said, I would not want to drive around a car that’s not up to the task, so I don’t want to walk around a body that’s not up to the task.
Thank you Steve, great blog. I used to visit the dentist every 6 months out of fear, now it’s every 9 months because I’m worth it. Prevention coming from self love is so very empowering and confirming.
I love the line “listen to my body, which is my best barometer of change”. Thank you for writing this great blog.
Wow Steve, awesome blog, thank you for sharing your experience, and what a turnaround you were able to make for you. “I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!” – I fully agree, and it’s a constant reflection. Thanks to Universal Medicine, we have and are continuing to learn to keep on checking in with our body.
Steve, I love what you have shared very inspiring thank you. Our choices, our responsibility sooo self loving.
Thank you Steve for your article – there indeed is a lot of ‘food for thought’ in there and it would appear that ‘food’ as such played a big part in the life of the family. How beauty-full is it and freeing to know we have a choice as to how best support our body, and I am finding it commences with simply listening to it.
Steve, I like your sense of humor and the way you write. It was lovely watching you changing over the last six years since we first met. Now knowing your family choices and your own ones makes it even more profound. How powerful you are in taking responsibility for your own life and health and what a difference it makes!
I agree with you Sandhya….it is so true and the simplicity of it all is taking responsibility and by considering our choices we can make a huge difference in our health and lifestyle. Their are many people walking around now as living evidence.
It is so true how if we take responsibility and really consider our choices in life how different our health and lifestyle can be.
There’s a great candour to the way that you write Steve. The detail and background you include makes it so easy to relate. On top of being so honest it feels like there’s no judgement in you for any of the choices your family or you have made. In my experience this is crucial to us making a new start. May you continue to run smoothly and effortlessly like the rolls royce you are.
I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!
I totally agree Steve and this is something everybody needs to fully understand.
I enjoyed reading about how it is never too late to change our daily living choices. It is so easy to believe that the way life is for us now is our only choice.
There is always room for a more loving choice… never too late for that.
Great point Fiona – It was so common in my family to make comparisons with my particular health issue to theirs – as if it was expected. Genetics got the blame.
Not any more as more self loving choices are lived in my day my body is returning to much better health, vitality and joy.
Wow, I love this blog, so honest, fun, inspiring and it put a smile to my face! What a transformation. Taking full responsibility pays off! You should have presentations at schools, for kids. Presenting by telling, drawing and making it fun, just like this blog. Love it. Thank you.
Your Love for your body is an inspiration, Steve. To undergo such a change against a consciousness as thick as it can be in families is a huge service for all of us. Thank you.
I can feel your common sense throughout this blog Steve, and I agree with what you wrote too Elodie, about how obvious some things become once lovingly pointed out for us, such as the car analogy. Thank you Serge for making common sense more common.
Working in the health industry I often hear people talk about how their illness is due to heredity. There is often a denial of the fact, that their lifestyle choices play a major role in the cause of disease or illness.
Even in my own family, the majority of my relatives are obese with problems such as diabetes, asthma and heart disease. Given that I have never been to keen on a staple diet of take away food and coke, as is the case with many of my relatives, it is probably safe to say that these health problems have a lot more to do with choice than heredity.
It is so empowering to realise you dont need to follow in your parent’s footsteps, either developing certain health conditions or in the way we live (and often abuse) our bodies. It is so common for people to do the ‘head in the sand’ routine and hope illness and disease will not develop. It is so much better to take care of ourselves and make choices that support rather than harm our health.
I love your playful approach – it”s in your writing but I can feel it to be in the way you live as well. It really breaks the old consciousness that being self-loving and healthy are a drag, a hassle and only full of sacrifices. Appreciate everything you have gained here – and know it is for all to see and feel too.
Gemma, I totally agree!
That old consciousness is rife. Don’t drink? In bed by 9? Don’t eat dairy ?(especially cream and cheese) What a dull old thing some think I have become – till they see that I am joyful, bright, healthy, and occasionally very daft!
well said Gemma, and I have found that instead of saying no to things we should not have (as in a regime, rules, diets) and then feeling like we are missing out, true self care is about saying yes to what makes us feel good, healthy vital and joyful. How could that ever be a drag?
The ‘Yes’ and ‘No’s have swapped, and how amazing are the results….such a simple message that Serge Benhayon presents – in many different ways – equals, Joy, Vitality a lightness in our step!
Of course there are times when the body may present something for us to look at and we have tools and understanding to feel it and heal from within, by continuing to refine our daily choices. Self care is continually deepening.
Steve your candid humour and honesty here is inspiring. I love how you’ve spelt out that our health and how we feel in our body is our own responsibility and therefore down to our own choices.
Yes Robyn, I agree their is no getting away that we make our own choices and it makes us personally responsible. Not only do we impact ourselves by ill health etc but we affect the ones around us.
Thank you Steve, as you say we are the experts of our bodies, and our choices. We can choose to be very aware of how our choices affect our body in every moment ,of every day. This awareness can bring much greater clarity and help us to operate in a vehicle that is very much ‘fit for purpose’.
This blog is a very poignant sharing about choices. What I am realising about choices is that we are the only ones who can make choices for ourselves and no one else. We choose what we feel, no one else. We choose what we eat, no one else. We choose how we treat ourselves and others, no one else…and so on. This way of living brings with it a personal responsibility like no other I know and Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine brought this to my attention and then supported me to implement it into my life. I am now building on this daily and it feels great because as I take more personal responsibility for me this then takes the pressure of those around me as I am not putting the responsibility onto them anymore. It is a work in progress but so far it feels like a much simpler way to live.
The personal responsibility that Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine introduced to me has changed my life, and continues to do so, as I stop playing other peoples ‘games’ of ‘should I do this’ ,’what do you think of that’ and simply offer them a overview of their alternatives, and support for whatever decision they make. It is, as Robyn says, a work in progress, definitely a much simpler way to live, and gives responsibility back to those who may otherwise become dependent.
I love how like you Steve there are so many people who say they went along to a presentation by Serge Benhayon and from that moment on changed their life forever. How amazing that you turned your life around and started to make healthy loving choices. What a miracle and a blessing to show us we are not at the mercy of our genes.
I love this Samantha – – “we are not at the mercy of our genes” – so true.
So true – our genes are not a diktat for our life – rather our simple daily choices, one by one.
Hear hear Sam – our daily choice holds the key to a different way of being – Epigenetics is showing us this, not genetics.
Thank you Steve for sharing your story. I can relate to it because I have a family like that too. I love that you highlight that its all about our choices!
Great story Steve and yes our life is governed by our life choices and only we can be responsible for them and the consequences affecting our life in regards to health.
Steve, your story has so many messages in it and you tell your story so eloquently.
It is so empowering to know that we are responsible for the choices we make and thus influence the consequences. In many cases it seems that the genetic argument is just a cop out and means we do not have to be responsible. Your story is a beautiful example of this.
I loved your blog Steve. Why do men find it so hard to go to the doctors? Deep down we know what we’re doing to our bodies don’t we …
Steve you are an inspiring man, loved the way you made light of some very serious issues that affects many family trees.
Loved your story writing, full of humour and poignancy. I laughed at your quote “I just carried on like the battery rabbit, but on crutches”. How amazing the turnaround that you have made to an awareness of what’s good for your body by “making personal choices on how you want to live”. Also you demonstrate beautifully that we can break the family mould of perpetuating illness.
Super true Steve, it is never too late ! It’s amazing what a change in choices can do, and what the results from other choices are. It’s incredible to hear about the differences in you and your family…Wise choice.
Thanks Steve, this was such a lovely blog to read, and clearly highlights how the state of our own health is completely reflected and parallels the choices we make.
I like what you say about: “I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?” This is so important to feel, that it’s often the body we take for granted, that it will function under every stress we take it through. You gave me inspiration with doing the annual check ups for my body, just as with a car.
Thank you Steve. You are living proof that we have a choice as to whether our genetics becomes a reality – done through simple loving choices.
Thanks for your sharing another way of living Steve. I was impressed by
“preventative maintenance ” for the body, such a loving commitment to our health and well being.
Having observed you and your family for several years at workshops with Universal Medicine (no I am not a stalker) I can emphatically say what an immense and touching privilege it is to read of your path. I agree lifestyle choices, and even moment to moment choices, affect our bodies significantly. I also agree that regular check ups to see what is really going on inside the body are essential. Thank you for sharing your story – a great read and empowering to boot!
I loved reading your story, Steve. Thank you. It inspires me to keep listening to my body as it will tell me what it needs. As I read I could feel no judgement of your family, only an acceptance of them and the livingness they chose for themselves. What you reflect back today to your family and all you come in contact with may just offer what Serge and Universal Medicine offered you. Then they too may chose a different way.
I really like your writing style, your message, and how I feel after ready this blog. You manage to express great truths with humour, taking us on a journey with your family without putting them down, and sharing how you are with yourself in a most beautiful way. Thank you Steve.
Thanks Steve. We either wait for the change to happen to us or we make the change. That approach is up to us.
Just goes to show it’s never too late to start taking care of yourself, listen to your body and have a joy-full life. You are already a “classic” Steve!
I am a big fan of preventative medicine, working in a busy Naturopathic clinic it is a Joy to see someone come in because they care about themselves and want to contribute to society rather than be a burden on the health system by ensuring they are supporting their bodies the best they can. It is a sad yet common phenomenon that people care more about their car or other material possessions than their own bodies. It is great to read your return to loving choices that support you and thus all around you.
Zoe it’s incredible to think about it like that but its so true, we are taught to get regular car servicing and so we do – yet we don’t do the same with our body! It is lovely to feel the reflection you receive when people come in to take care of themselves rather than simply because they are sick. It inspires me to look at re-addressing my relationship with healthcare.
A great story of change and personal responsibility to defy your family of origin’s rather extensive list of medical conditions. Thinking about the battered deep fried cheese gives the me the heebie geebies, let alone how it might compromise the running capacity of our ‘vehicle’.
I love reading how you have turned your life around from your awareness of how your parents had lived their life and becoming involved in universal medicine. My change came about from a long term illness – but I see that as a good thing, that it has made me look at my choices and now I am taking responsibility for how I live my life.
My favourite line in this blog is :
I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?
The first time I heard Serge Benhayon use the analogy of the car I was blown away. It was so bleeding obvious that it was embarrassing. For years my car received more attention and more services than I had ever given myself. Serge has inspired me to treat my body with respect and love as it is the vehicle for my everyday life.
Thanks Steve. It’s so interesting how we can, as you say, practise preventative maintenance for our cars, but not take the same level of care for our bodies, the very vehicle we are living in every day. I am constantly surprised by the way my body responds to the way I am with it and how I can make changes simply by choosing to be more present with me.
Wow Steve, you are stepping out of a cycle here. If we believe that we will end up a certain way because that is what “runs in the family”, then, I feel it is much more likely to happen. It is inspiring to hear how you are challenging all and taking responsibility for your health through your daily choices.
Beautiful article Steve, we so often forget to stop and appreciate who we are and how the choices we make in life are and always will be our responsibility.
‘I am far from a classic but have intentions of becoming one’, I like a man with a plan and the courage to change, don’t forget you can still race a classic.
A great article Steve. It seems such a simple choice to make, to take true responsibility for our choices, yet as you have shared, we so often choose to live our life our way and to hell with the consequences. It is lovely to feel that you have taken a different path from those around you and are now sharing your experiences here.
Thank you Steve you paint a picture here of two possible ways and make it appealing for all ages to take inspiration from how you are respecting and listening to your body now combined with comprehensive medical check-ups.
Thanks Steve – and I agree, the car analogy is such a great one. Funny how we can care for cars better than our own vehicle (the body), until we learn better.
Thank you Steve! It always baffles me how we have a habit of showing more care and consideration for our cars and/or possessions instead of our bodies! It really does expose the arrogance we must live in thinking we will somehow get away with living in a way that clearly harms the body.
What a fabulously empowering blog- thank you Steve. You have turned the tide of ill health that runs through your family and that ran through you simply by making more self loving and caring choices. What if all those who read this open and honest account did the same – this would shift our communities trend of ill health and relying on Doctor’s, the health system and medications for the answers. The beauty of this is that its not about the latest technology and research discovering ‘ cures’ for cancer – it comes back to each of us taking that loving responsibility for the day to day way we live our lives. Our bodies tell us the truth of how we are living all the time – if we just take that time to feel it and listen to it. You have Steve and you are living proof that we can turn around our own ill health by being more self caring – as you said more TLC – thats the truest prescription for returning to our natural true vitality and well-being.
This is a great reminder Steve that our bodies are like a car and built for purpose. Without the right fuel neither can move in the quality it is built to.
“I am the expert on my body and my choices.” I love the strength of this line – presented as an inarguable fact.
Beauty-full Steve Matson .. going against the trend of genetics that is a story that should be told, and a story that is miraculous against science. Making choices — you make it sound so simple where it is a trend that NEEDS to be followed.
It is simple, I have done the same turned chronic back pain and mental self-abuse into a body that drives like a straight-bodied Audi RS 6 improving by the year, not depreciating.. just elegance and style captured in the detail !! Who wants to go for a drive – jump in and join the ride against the trend!
Great investment, I too wish to remain a timeless classic in my older age.
After all as you said ‘you maintain a car to fulfil its purpose so why wouldn’t you do the same with your body (which is driving the car) :P.’
Who cares about money in the bank when your 80,
I want a timeless classic to remain (not in the sense of physical appearance but of wellness, good health and vitality)
This is an amazing reflection of committing to the knowing that we are worth it and therefore taking the time to ‘keep our body well tuned’ and when it shows signs of needing a little attention, to not over-ride these messages, but take the opportunity to explore what is not going so well that may have led to the need for booking an extra service.
Thankyou for sharing, that’s quite a comparison. It’s interesting that today it’s seen so normal to be sick all the time or have something Wrong with you… Quite silly when you think that we do this to ourselves…
Life and the way you live it is definitely about choices. It was also a great reminder to me about looking after my own health, in particular getting more regular health checks, which I sometimes put off due to fear. Loved the car analogy too.
Thankyou Steve for a great read. Yes it is never too late, no matter what our upbringing or environment, there is another way, you are living evidence of that, Steve.
Thank you Steve for sharing your story with us, I really loved your reference “I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body.” So true that for most of us we take better care of our cars than we do of our bodies. We would never miss a car service or stop to get something checked if something went wrong with our car, yet we often can go for years without a regular check up on our bodies or even stop when something is wrong. I wonder if it is because we don’t want to know what we are doing to our bodies? It’s hard to admit we are abusing ourselves with the choices that we make and even harder when we don’t know what to do about it – thank you again Steve for sharing that there is another way.
Thank you Steve for this refreshing and amazing read. I love your humour and the analogy of your body and your car.
This is the kind of article that changes the world! Why don’t we read this kind of super inspiring stories in our newspapers? There should be journalists searching the internet for gems like this, instead of the sensationalism and lies that are published every day.
Interesting how the financial catastrophe had as much an impact as any bad health habit, possibly even worse.
I love your article Steve and your point Andrew about ‘slow suicide’. So many of our choices lead us on to making yet more choices that really affect the body. We are distracted by our minds, thrilled by an experience and numb to our body. I was a bit of a thrill seeker too, and had bungee jumped at Victoria Falls years ago and my body was screaming out “no” but my head was saying “jump”, just to say I had done it, that is crazy! I realise now that all extreme sports are about a need for recognition due to not feeling that we are being met. Many people are left maimed and disabled due to this psychological issue, yet the media glorify this ridiculous behaviour that could be easily addressed. All these sports are calls for help.
It is amazing how in control of our lives we are through our choices. Each choice, no matter how seemingly insignificant, plays it’s part. I can’t pretend I am a victim anymore and neither do I want to (well most of time 😉
Thank you Steve for this very funny and also honest and open sharing about your family history. It is true and you are a living testimony, that our choices influence our health and wellbeing much more that genetics and the ‘it runs in the family’ one.
Thanks for sharing your family and personal story. It feels like you have already become a shiny classic.
I have just turned 50, so you have offered a great point of reflection for me to get more regular health checks and support to maintain my own amazing vehicle
Interesting point you raise here Steve that perhaps some of our lifestyle choices are a bit like ‘slow suicide’. We know they are bad for us and we know they will probably kill us in the end but we keep doing them anyway. Maybe because the changes and the decline is deceptively gradual and we are usually doing these behaviours as some kind of escape or distraction or medication, we are lulled into some kind of thinking that says it is normal?
Steve – I like your reference to “fit for purpose” body! It seems to summarise a healthy attitude towards oneself.
Awesome article. We all have to stop and appropriate ourselves when something dramatically changes in our life, this change might come from eating different food, living more lovingly, having self-care in your work place and at home. I know that I have had all of these categories change in my life and it was because of what I heard from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine inspiring me to make changes.
Rolled right away from the tree Steve. Love the way you shared this gritty before and after.
Alan your funny…..Steve I recon came from another tree entirely its called a soul tree, where brotherhood blooms. Thanks Steve for you sharing.
Thanks Steve for a great sharing. There are some family tree reflections popping off the page at me. The part where you share you are now doing preventative caring for your body – I have also started. What I got to feel reading your story is how great this preventative care feels. Like going to the dentist because you want to have a check-up feels so much more supportive than the angst of going because of a toothache! Skin checks (I live in Queensland Australia) why wait till something yucky emerges from the skin and worry if it’s nasty? Have the check-up and know your clear and not waste energy on worrying if something might be wrong. It’s wonderful to live in a body with confidence that it supports what I do when I care for me.
Preventative medicine is much easier on our bodies and it gives us peace of mind as well. If we know we have been looking after ourselves we have less trepidation about a visit to the doctor, or to use an example for me, the dentist. I always knew when I was worried in the past about a trip to the dentist, if I hadn’t been looking after my teeth by eating too much sugar or unhealthy food, I would have less confidence that I would get the all clear and not need treatment. Whereas if I had been living cleanly (pun intended) between visits I would actually look forward to my dental appointment.
Thank you Steve for this great sharing – I recognise a similar pattern in my family particularly with my parents and grandparents (farmers) their work ethic was to work hard, save hard (for a rainy day situation) pushing their bodies to the extreme – even if in pain to carry on (must not be seen to be weak) eventually even if a physical pain didn’t show the stress and strains did – This pattern I too inherited for many years – until I attended a UM presentation with Serge Benhayon – I chose to change those patterns (gently)
Thank you Steve. My parents also taught me a lot about how not to live by observing the choices that they made about diet, relationships and mental health. UM is the vehicle that has taught me that there are other ways to choose how to live.
Thank you for sharing. I totally agree it is never too late to change. We can make choices that can dramatically improve our life, health and well being. Some people want to make those choices but are not shown how or feel lost as to where to start. By you sharing your story it will inspire so many people and show them the way.
Love this article and the reflections with the power we have in our life to make changes lovingly and that it is never too late to change when we see true love presented to us.
Great sharing Steve, thanks. I too have only recently really looked after my body by getting medical examinations and blood tests. Last year I was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, an autoimmune condition that affects the thyroid and this metabolism. I only found out that I had it when, just out of curiosity I decided to get a blood test for the first time in 40 years! So that feeling of needing to get the blood test and acting on it has allowed me to get onto treatment and early intervention. A year later and my blood tests are now telling me that whatever I am doing keep it up, because the symptoms of the condition are all but disappearing. Like you Steve, I know the onset of the disease and now the remission have been due to my life choices.
Why is it that if we eat chilli and our nose runs we can make the direct link that the chilli has helped our body to clear the mucus it was carrying. And often we see that as a good thing, ‘ahh clearing the sinuses.’ Yet for so many other direct choices we seem to not even be able to make the clear link. Some how things that happen to us become accidents, chance, a bout of bad luck, hereditary, just the way it is for me, seasonal. Really?? What a huge article in all you have presented Steve. Bringing it back to
self-responsibility, true healing and the direct link to cause and effect and how our every choice impacts our bodies health and well-being.
He he..’especially one that has spent most of its life rally racing’…totally with you on that one! Loved your story and the humour in which you share it whilst also conveying the seriousness of the topic that we all have – no matter what our family backgrounds – an opportunity to take great care of ourselves and to change our future.
What an inspiring blog, Steve. I love what you say ‘Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices.’ Classic cars are at their best when they have been lovingly tended to. It’s the same with our bodies and our choices and like you, I am finding that it’s never too late to start showering ourselves with the love and tenderness that our bodies naturally respond to.
With such frightening statistics on world health as Elizabeth refers to, we must ask ourselves – what are we missing. All those billions of dollars on research and pharmaceuticals, and no cure for cancer or other pandemic diseases? In fact the opposite is occurring, world health is declining.
I love your comment Steve, ‘I am the expert on my body and on my choices’ and how you exemplify your ‘livingness’ as good medicine. I think we need some extensive research on the way we live being part of the answer to reversing these tragic statistics.
Perhaps you, and the many others who have discovered this truth, will form a body of living examples as evidence strong enough to turn the heads of our medical scientists and government health departments. I hope so, for it could save many people, not to mention squillions of dollars that could be much better spent on humanitarian and Earth focused projects.
Well done Steve
You illustrate so clearly and loudly Steve how we as human beings ignore our bodies and inflict so many experiences or lifestyle choices on it without caring for it and then look for a medication to relieve us of symptoms or the consequences of those choices.
Hi Steve, this is the second time I have read through your blog and this time I felt to really relate to the appreciation of what you have shared. There is something very special about your experience because it is so different to the ‘norm’, the ‘normal way’ that we see health and well-being playing out in our families and societies. Thank you for sharing that there is indeed another way, and how ‘normal’ that now feels for you.
Thank you Steve for sharing your story with such lightness even though it is quite serious if we look at the rate of illness and disease in the world today and the inability of our health care systems to keep up. What you show and what i myself have experienced is that our day to day choices make all the difference in our health and wellbeing. I come form a family with a large array of illness and disease in their ‘gene packet’ and I was ill in many ways from a young age. By the time I was 21 I had a long list of chronic illnesses and ailments and my future was looking dire.At the age of 25 my body broke down completely and I was left debilitated and unable to participate in life. By making big changes in the way I live and relate to myself, inspired also by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I was able to take my health into my own hands and am now 90% of the way to full health and recovery.
There is another is another way and we have the power within ourselves to choose it.
It would be too easy to blame the outside or genes why you got sick wouldn t it ? Unfortunately most of mankind doesn’t take responsibility for their own choices. Great to hear and getting evidence of how daily choices can change your body and its constitution tremendously.
WOW where would illness and disease be at if we all showed ourselves a little more TLC? That would be the cheapest cure ever.
I love how claimed you are with regards to your choices, and I love, love, love the analogy of your body as a car!
Wow Steve, that reminds me so much on my family….thank you for sharing. Good reminder of how powerful choices are!
It’s funny isn’t it, that with all our smarts, that the thought that perhaps I can change my choices and look after myself, doesn’t come easily. Serge Benhayon is very inspiring and somehow cuts through to the truth of true intelligence. We can all be the same inspiration as you have shown.
Thank you Steve, this was a great read and it is so true that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease. I feel that the medical profession has known this for a long time but the general consensuses is that most people just want the pills and the band aid treatment as they prefer to think that illness and disease is simply something that has befallen then, just bad luck as they, like I was before Universal Medicine, are not prepared to take full responsibility.
A true inspiration you are Steve, thank you for sharing. Testimony that no matter how dire the outcome may look, giving up need not be part of it.
It is very empowering to know that your lifestyle choices affect your health and wellbeing. Thank you Steve for writing your story and reminding me and others that it’s never to late to choose another way, a way that is caring, loving and honouring of the body we live in everyday.
Steve, I can very relate to your article. My father was taking more care for his car than for himself. If he would have treated his car as he has treated himself the car would not have lasted long. It is incredible how loving our body is constructed that we are able to live many years against it and it still works. When there is originally so much love in our body, why not appreciating this and treat our body respectfully and lovingly?
The WHO organization tell us that 80% of illness and disease is lifestyle related. The whole world is struggling with the question of how to get people to change the way that they are living so that they can support their health. You are a living example of how it can be done.
What you share Steve is important… it is our choices that land us where we find ourselves in life and beginning to take responsibility for these is what I hear you doing. l’ve done a similar thing, begun to live differently, bucking the trend in the way I choose to eat and live, and am now, at age 50, healthier than either of my parents at the same stage in life,
Life offers us choices, particularly the one modelled by your family which a person can take on board without question and which can override everything we know to be true. This sharing speaks loudly for the many opportunities and ways our own innermost is there always to speak to us, inviting us to a way of living that is about Love, self care and truth. Because you took one of those moments and listened and responded to change, you have this beautiful story to tell and the amazing body and life to live out for others to observe – Thanks Steve
I love this classic quote Steve – “I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose”?
If we looked after our bodies as much as we do some other things in life, our health system may not be in so much crisis. This is a great blog Steve, and shows that self responsibility is the key to enjoying a life of health and vitality
Our choices to lovingly care for ourselves do definitely make a difference to our health and wellbeing. I also was introduced to Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon about 8 years ago and your words “the person I was then and the person I am now bear no resemblance to each other” hold true for me also. Your writing has reminded me to appreciate just how far I have come. Thank you Steve.
An amazing and powerful story Steve, and inspiring how you turned your life around, showing that we all have the power inside to change our life through the choices we make. I love this truth you share: The person I was and the person I now am, bear no resemblance to each other and this is all down to my personal choices on how I want to live. I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!
Steve what stands out here is how much of the world is caught up “Living Longer” but how we then ignore the “Quality” of life. In many cases and from my experience I’ve seen grandparents and family members live quite old yet their quality of life for the last 20 years was very poor. What is different about your blog is it shows the importance of quality over quantity.
Thank you for sharing Steve. I loved the analogy of your body being a fine classic car that needs an expert to help keep it that way!
Life is full of amazing choices sense the Way of The Livingness thanks to Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon. My daily rhythm contributes to make the choices that builds love in my body so I completely agree Steve. When we build a rhythm based on sound choices this builds a healthier more vital body.
Very inspiring and heart-felt article. It really is that simple, what we choose is what we get back. I too have grown up with a family that has had severe health issues either from their diet, smoking and excessive driving and I would get so scared and anxious that I had the same problems to look forward to when I got older. Thinking “it just runs in the family’. But it is my choice to not live like that anymore and I chose to quit smoking and start eating better only in the last year and already feel and see the difference. I am even inspiring people I work with to look at their lunch options as I bring in a Salmon or tuna salad that took 15 minutes to prepare rather than eat fast food like I used to for convenience. This article has made me recognise the areas in my own body that I could bring more awareness to and to enjoy the transformation, rather than see it as a burden or strain. Thank you!
So what you are sharing in this post Steve is that even with all the years of self abuse in how we have lived our lives is that we can choose to change and take more responsibility by supporting more loving choices for ourselves and reflecting that to others.
Personal health is a personal choice, and it is nice to be reminded of this by this interesting post. I feel that all too often we wait until our bodies react to what we are doing to it instead of making that conscious decision to love and respect our bodies and to treat it with the care it requires. The old saying resounds in my head. We are what we eat!
Not surprising that our western diet and lifestyle choices, have created in our society the greatest threat to mankind. Diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cancer and lung disease. Trillions of dollars are going to be needed to treat our society due to the choices that are being made.
I salute Universal medicine for their focus on conscious choice to love and respect our bodies. To take responsibility for what we are creating by the food we choose to eat.
Healthy food choices are not a diet, but a way of life that is essential if we want to live life to the full.
Thank you Steve, it is lovely to read the respect you hold your body in now. As a child I was always taken to the doctor if I was ill and would get medicine if needed, then once I was older and delved into different alternative therapies I went to the extreme and would often be very negative about going to the doctors – and say things like ‘they just want to give you medicine’ and ‘they wouldn’t know anyway’. Once I started attending Universal Medicine presentations and understanding how precious and important my body was, and that it is the result of all my choices wether they are loving or not – my whole outlook on going to the doctor changed. I now appreciate and feel what my body truly needs, and enjoy going for check ups with my doctor or seeing a Universal Medicine practitioner.
I love your blog, very inspiring and thought provoking too. It made me think how most of my friends and family are quite physically and / or emotionally unwell. They would rather push through an illness and consider them as inconvenient nuisances that try to stop them continuing on living the way they do.
I was the same until Serge and Universal Medicine showed me that our “bodies are the marker of all truth”. If I pay attention my body tells me everything from what I need to eat and when to eat it, what people and places feel safe or not, if I am thinking of ideas that won’t serve me well and likewise if they will. My body can read what other people are feeling too, and what people really mean beneath the face value of their words.
Our bodies are incredible, and they need, as you say, to be honoured and loved and cared and well treated so that it can continue to guide and support us through life.
Thank you Steve. I agree, it is never too late to start making more caring choices for ourselves.
I loved the quote: “I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?”
It really makes one ponder as to – if you’re not keeping your body in good order, is that because you think you don’t have a purpose?
Great article.
Love that – ‘I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!’ So true and so interesting that we don’t seem to embrace this as a society. ‘I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’ Such a great concept.
Thank you for your post. I realize upon reflection that I have generally lived ignoring my body. I eat according to comfort and which ever emotion happens to be at the fore. I ignore discomfort and have given very little thought or even respect to what I am actually doing to my body. You are right we treat our cars in a better way. No more. I will eat now differently, not perfectly but with some awareness perhaps. I have declared war on unloving shoes as a start to removing some of the pointless discomfort and irritation I have allowed to go on all of my life. Thank you for reminding me to step up the self care.
Quality of life comes from the choices we make, good and not so good choices are for us all to feel. The longevity that can be aspired to is of little value without the quality.
“‘You can almost live forever if you have lots of money and great health insurance.’ The quality of life in this trade-off is questionable.”. Having the external means to get us ‘fixed’ when the body is full of illness and disease is great, but no true substitute for self-care and personal responsibility for the way we live our lives every day. Insurance will pay out when it’s needed, yes, but at what real cost to our vitality and true quality of being on the way there? Merely a win-lose in favour of the insurance company.
32kg WOW what a testament to the changes you have made
This is so true Golnaz, very simply and beautifully written, ‘Whenever someone takes great care of themselves they reflect a lovely quality and it is very inspiring’
“You can almost live forever if you have lots of money and great health insurance.” The quality of life in this trade-off is questionable. “So many elders are living longer, but what is their quality of life? With dementia on the rise ….etc. Choosing to live with self-care and love, you show there is a different choice to be made and thus a different outcome – health and vitality.
Spot on Sue, we only have to visit an old peoples care home to see the results of that trade -off. Steve has shown us how the choice of self-care and love can offer true health and vitality.
Very true Gill, and with the insight we have with Universal Medicine and all it’s teachings we are naturally ahead of the game.
Whenever someone takes great care of themselves they reflect a lovely quality and it is very inspiring. You show beautifully here that choices of taking care of ourselves make a definite difference to our life and our health and that it is never too late.
Beautiful Steve your sharing really does show how our choices to live lovingly and care for ourselves really does make a difference to our health and well being and how it is never to late to change things. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine are pioneers in bringing this awareness truly into our lives with the love and honouring of humanity we are missing.
Steve, it’s great hearing you claim ‘I am the expert on my body and on my choices’
and feeling the new loving relationship you have with yourself.
It’s wonderful to read how much love you have for yourself and how you choose to take care of yourself. Sometimes we seem to forget that our body is with us 24/7 and carries all of our choices. Why do we in fact take better care of our car and not for our body? Something to ponder on….
Very true Mariette. Having known Steve for some years before encountering Universal Medicine It is lovely to see the love that he has developed for himself and the care he now takes with his body-car.
Certainly no-one would run a system with the level of sophistication that our bodies have 24/7 without regular checks and a full maintenance programme
This is quite a timely moment to re-connect to this blog in the week where “research” has stated that getting cancer is mainly just bad luck. We are in denial about the role we play in our health, every choice matters. I would hold my hands up and say I have been arrogant and complacent about my own health at times. It would do us a great service as a society to address our own health with the care and attention that Steve so brilliantly described in this piece. Nature or nurture, nurture every time for me.
Great blog Steve.
I always thought my body was a temple, but as I get older, failing to care for it as I should, it could suddenly become a ruin.
” …..there is another way of living and to show that it is never too late.” In stark contrast to the news today that getting some cancers is a case of bad luck, this post demonstrates how making healthy lifestyle choices affects the quality of living, vitality and health.
I love your honesty, Steve, and appreciate the way you say it all without self pity or judgment. And if it was all genetics, I should have Alzheimer’s by now and have had at least one heart attack – so maybe it’s not all in our genes? Could it have something to do with out choices and self-responsibility? Your article definitely supports the latter.
I love this, Gabrielle, the list of ailments I should have if I were to accept the unavoidability of my gene pool! This is a playful way to fully appreciate what working with Universal Medicine has brought to my life.
Thank you Steve, for your honest writing. What strikes me is the fact that we tend to take better care for our car than we do for our bodies and although I have the intention to go more regular to my GP for a check-up for a long time, I haven’t done this up to now. Thanks to reading your blog I will make an appointment today and make a stop to this self-abusive behaviour I am trapped in.
It’s lovely that we can begin to see a trip to the GP as a self-loving choice, and that by not going for check ups this is in fact self neglect. It totally changes the perspective of what health care is. Our part in health care is of paramount importance. If we avoid the GP are we not just avoiding ourselves and the truth of our health?
Great blog Steve. Nothing is set in stone through my choices I have steered away from becoming an overweight, alcoholic, walking pill bottle, totally dependent on an already collapsing health system to someone the complete opposite to this. All down to choices which I have made. Not to say that I didn’t have a truck load of help along the way.
‘All down to our choices and a truck load of help’…….I can definitely relate to that Kevin and it makes a lot more practical sense than blaming our genes for our ill health.
For me this article sums up so much about the joy and power of responsibility. Once realised, the victimhood we often align to, of being at the mercy of our gene pool or circumstance (nature and nurture) becomes futile, foolish and ultimately irresponsible. Thank you, Steve,for your writing and clarity.
I absolutely love your blog Steve – “Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices”, this is awesome. So often we take advantage of how resilient our bodies are to self-abusive choices, when instead of taking advantage of this fact and running our bodies into the ground, requiring lots of medication to keep going, we could be using this energy to support our bodies, to look after them. How much would all of our lives look different?
I completely agree with your comment Steve that lifestyle choices are the no.1 cause of our illness and disease. This just makes complete sense, that how we live will impact how well or otherwise we are. It seems too easy to just go through life convincing ourselves that it is fate and out of our control when clearly we have a massive influence on the level of health we keep ourselves in through our diet, sleep, rest, social activity, management of stress, and daily activities and interactions.
So true Stephen, ‘when clearly we have a massive influence on the level of health we keep ourselves in through our diet, sleep, rest, social activity, management of stress, and daily activities and interactions.’ It seems crazy that the norm in society is that we are just unlucky to get illnesses and disease and that it is no way related to our lifestyle, although it does feel like that is starting to change.
I love the style in which you write, poignant, loving and humorous. As I stay with family around Christmas I find your article especially reassuring, taking care of ones body is never too late and making those loving choices makes a difference.
As I reflect on health in my family I must include general mental health too, ones general outlook on life. If I don’t deal with my hurts I know I can think things, say things that can will create an air of despair/ bleakness for myself and those around me. Or, I can bring a breathe of fresh air and lighten up the place. The latter is definitely the way to go.
Although I know it, thanks for being a living reminder that no-one is destined to make unloving choices – they are choices after all.
Universal Medicine has offered us all the opportunity to develop a quality of living which blows society’s ‘normal’ quality of living out of the water, and although developing this can be uncomfortable and confronting at times – because we are asked to take FULL responsibility for our lives and our lifestyle choices etc. – in my experience it has been well worth the commitment, and it keeps on showing itself to be so, each day.
Well said Conor. We are raising the bar on quality of living, not in the material sense but in the health and wellbeing sense. Our health is in our hands and Steve’s article clearly demonstrates just how much we can change our destiny if we really choose to. And yes, it does require 100% responsibility and when one takes that on board, as you say, it is well worth the commitment.
Hi Steve – a great example of how deep disregard for our bodies can lead to illness and disease and how making healthy lifestyle choices can turn your life around. My body is constantly showing me the results of how I have been living – a twitch here, a painful movement there, giving me the opportunity to adjust my choices in every moment.
A gorgeous testament from the body to taking responsibility for ones choices in life. Thank you for sharing this with us all Steve. You are already a ‘classic’.
Thank you for your testimony it is inspiring, showing that you are not put down by possible generic illnesses.
Steve, thank you for your excellent blog proving that we all have the power to change everything in our lives when we embrace responsibility, self-love and care.
Thanks for the great read Steve! Once you’d mentioned ‘The Simpsons’, I carried on reading, imagining your story unfolding like an animation, including the motorcycle crash where you didn’t really get seriously hurt, just like in an animation. I recognise it when you say that you rarely got ill and just kept going like the battery rabbit because I have always shared the same slightly arrogant sense of being indestructible, eschewing doctors and hospitals and just ‘ploughing on’. I love your analogy of the classic car at the end and the pay-off, that it’s never too late to change. Great blog Steve!!!
A great flag up of that arrogance that I too have carried that I am somehow ‘better’ than others for not getting sick, particularly because it meant that I was furious with myself when I did get sick and often pretended I wasn’t sick when I was. Nonsense and so uncaring. Thank you Steve and Jonathan.
I find it interesting that when we get signs like ill health, that could be a wake-up call for us to start to look after ourselves more, we can still choose to take the tablets and not realise that we can make a difference to our health. Your story Steve shows us the possibilities to make a change.
Thank you Steve. What you have shared is instantly recognisable to me and I’m sure many others. In my own family, this past five years, four of seven siblings died aged between 55 and 67. Each one had chronic and preventable illness or disease caused by lifestyle choices. .At 63, and inspired by the work and teacheings of Serge Benhayon, I have chosen a different path and one in which I treasure and care for my body. I often use the car as a metaphor for body on courses I present. I find it works well and helps people to see and question why it is they give much more care and attention to their cars than to themselves.
Steve I love the way you write, it is so real, factual and comical. A delight to read.
I love your line, “Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices.” This is true in every sense. We are the experts on our bodies and choices and yet we can get so surprised when our bodies start to reflect our ill choices by making us ill!
Yes it is true Universal Medicine’s teachings inspire us, never do they tell us what to do. And in our own choices we learn, we learn what is beneficial to our health and what supports us in our daily life and what doesn’t. It really is that simple. Do we choose to ignore what is happening or be aware and begin to look after ourselves and live the consequences of our loving choices?
This is a great shake down of all the belief systems we have that keep us in the illusion that we are powerless – a falsehood that many people stay in all their lives. What Steve has written turns all this on its head. We always have choices, we are always responsible, we are in charge of ourselves and it is never to late to choose to get back into our own driving seats.
Absolutely Matilda, ‘This is a great shake down of all the belief systems we have that keep us in the illusion that we are powerless’.
A call for responsibility and more self-awareness indeed!
To be ‘unlucky’ or have ‘bad genes’ is to live in comfort.
The world is not getting healthier and illness and disease is only increasing.
The responsibility to change that should not be in the hands of an already suffering health care system, but in the hands of ourselves.
Steve – this only shows the possibility there is to make a difference if we no longer play the victim and start to value ourselves in full.
Thank you for sharing – this is a new way of looking at medicine!
Very true hvmorden, we look to a struggling health system to fix our problems, when we hold the resolution to many of our issues in the way we live everyday and what we ask our bodies to consume. Responsibility and awareness are our true tools that can enable us to turn around some dire health issues and free up a struggling system for those who truly require its services.
Fantastic Steve, a great sharing. Your article totally puts to bed the idea that genetically we are doomed if we have parents who have certain illness and diseases. It is all about choices, and if we make good loving choices then we can live our lives to the full in a way that inspire others to do the same, no matter what our family history.
Great Sharing Steve thank you so simple to see how we chose to live and our choices and how this effects our health and how it is never to late to listen to our bodies and make changes.
Choices in life, hmm, I never used to realise just how important they are and how it affects us for the future after that next choice we make. Great examples, Steve, of the power you have had to make such changes.
Well said Gill! Steve has shown beyond any doubt the life changing result of his loving choices.
The automatic assumption that the illnesses your parents/relatives have gotten you will then develop yourself is almost an excuse to live in comfort… If someone has it drilled into their mind that because their mum was diagnosed with breast cancer, they are inevitably going to get it too, why would they choose to live healthily or make self loving choices? What you have presented Steve is totally the opposite – your daily rhythm and choices have torn through the ideal of illnesses always being passed down the family and you are now as healthy as can be! Let it be an example for all.
So no more excuses and wallowing in being a victim of our gene pool, circumstance, upbringing etc. We are the masters of our lives and through our choices can change everything. This is the power and joy of responsibility. Thank you Steve and Susie.
Well shared Matilda, we are masters of our own lives and through our choices we can change everything. Yes the power and joy of responsibility is amazing.
I like your comment about us being the masters of our lives Matilda. With it there is such a freedom and feeling of empowerment. Responsibility is an action that must go hand in hand with this power.
Responsibility – it’s seen by some as something to be avoided, but viewed like that Matilda, as having power and joy, it becomes something to embrace. I love the way you put it.
A beautiful tribute to not rolling over and being a victim of circumstance, but shaking down, taking responsibility and making choices that support a purposeful, loving life. Thank you, Steve.
What you bring here Steve with your own experience and the observations of your family, throws a real light on the Nurture versus Nature debate. How much say do our genes really have?
Great question Rosanna, and the genes we inherit have been created by something. Could it be that the family behaviours and patterns have more power than we actually realise, and that we inherit these just as much as our genes. If family patterns that lead to ill health can be changed by loving choices this shows us that we cannot blame the genes all the time. An inconvenient truth perhaps that many do not want to realise.
Great comment Rebecca posing the possibility that family patterns have more power than we realise. I know, when visiting close relatives, I can see clearly bahaviours that aren’t supportive to ones body.
Any pull to follow suit reflects to me that I seek approval rather than true health and the choice to love myself whatever the norm around me. I have the opportunity, like Steve, to reflect back to my family hereditary diseases are not inevitable.
Absolutely Rosanna, ‘the observations of your family, throws a real light on the Nurture versus Nature debate. How much say do our genes really have?’ A great question.
It is indeed so easy to just blame somebody else isn’t it. We have all done it. How about really feeling what is good for us or not and shifting the responsibility to us.
This is s true testament Steve to your choices and your livingness, something that your have built yourself by your own experiences. I find this very inspiring.
Steve I love how you have shared that the choices you make can either follow others and impede your health with a lack of awareness OR you can choose to bring an awareness into your life and take responsibility for you own health and wellbeing and break free from old patterns and ways that have been followed lives after lives because that is the way the family does it. I also have brought my awareness closer to home and have been making some amazing self loving choices and feel incredible for it.
Very true Natalie, we can choose to break with the family traditions on how to live our lives and when we do, we afford ourselves and our bodies the opportunity to feel incredible, or not, depending on what we chose. I was continuing down the family history of self abuse and depression and my body was suffering for it too. Meeting Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine was a huge turning point that enabled me to know that I am worth loving. Self love and self nurturing is a powerful healer.
Thank you Steve briliantly written and such a great sharing of our choices that cause our illness and disease so obviously seen in this.It is never too late to change and what an amazing reflection this is.
This article is absolutely brilliant Steve, a great reminder ‘I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!’
A great distillation of ‘modern’ ill-health in all its complexity, specialisations, and hyper reductionism – in the end it comes down to our life choices – actually a single choice. And then the next one….
Reading your blog has reminded me of how reckless and unappreciative I have been with my body and took all that it did for me for granted on countless occasions. It was on my radar that I should eat healthy and exercise but I have since found out that even my idea of what healthy meant was in fact also abusive i.e excessive exercise, martial arts, yo yo dieting and the obsession to loose weight at any cost.
Looking back I accepted all your chooses as being normal and knew deep down that something wasn’t right but I wasn’t clear enough myself to say “why are you drinking every night after work or why are you smoking two packs a day?”. I had the belief that you worked hard and paid for everything, so you should be allowed your vices – you deserved them.
Back then if anyone was to tell me that in the future that Steve would stop smoking, drinking, going to the gym, not doing crazy things and putting himself in danger and all the other changes he has made, I would not have believed it. I am just glad that we are both here to see that it is possible.
Julie I am really glad too that both you and Steve are here living your love and inspiring others that they too can live with more love and vitality in there lives.
It is so true Julie, we regard our vices, drinking, smoking etc as some sort of reward for working hard, like we have earned the right to abuse ourselves. Both you and Steve have shown us that it is never too late to turn our lives around and make life about love and true care, and not as you say, about abusive choices.
I agree Julie with your words, “I have since found out that even my idea of what healthy meant was in fact also abusive i.e excessive exercise, martial arts, yo yo dieting and the obsession to loose weight at any cost.” We counter unhealthy choices such as over eating with other unhealthy choices such as over exercise!
Rachel I too fell for that trap of replacing one unhealthy choice with another. I used to over exercise but felt it was a good thing. It’s only once I started listening to my body that I changed how I exercised so I was not pushing or hurting myself. Well done Steve for showing us how through choices, it’s not a fait accompli that you will have the same illnesses as other family members.
Julie, I too am very glad that you are both here to see that it is possible! It is funny how we can ‘reward’ ourselves with ‘vices’ that do precisely the opposite of reward. It reminds me slightly of someone furtively eating some over-the-top confectionary and saying, ” Oh well, a little of what you like does you good” or some such phrase.
Thank you Steve, beautifully confirming read to feel the power behind self-love and self-care
Joshua a great point, it shows just how tangible the seemingly intangible is and the power of choices.
Your lifestyle Steve with motorcycle accidents and broken bones and a body too toxic for germs to take hold sounds all to familiar to me, I was seriously on a slow suicide mission and under the illusion that this was all part of the fun. Thank God for Serge!
You said it Kevin, a lot of people treat their bodies as the bin that takes all the repercussions of their choices – all for the sake of ‘fun’.
Very true Rebecca. Only yesterday I witnessed a colleague talk about eating loads of chocolate. I said something like ‘that would make me feel sick’, and she said ‘yes but I have fun at the time!’ It’s totally her choice how she wants to treat her body, but I know this is not how I want to treat mine. The ‘fun’ at the time is simply not worth the consequences, and the ‘fun’ turns out to be not very loving to ourselves at all.
I keep returning to this blog as a confirmation of the power of our everyday, every moment choices…they can literally re-write history.
Its great to stop and see it like that and its spot on. Reading what Steve has shared shows the changes from the every moment choices are so profound – what a contrast to how things could have been.
I agree Matilda and David, through our moment by moment loving choice, we become game changers.
‘My body is like an older car that requires a bit more TLC’ No more slacking on the maintenance for me Steve!
Thanks, Steve, for presenting with such gentle humour the fact that it is possible to defy those family health patterns and destinies that could so easily come your way, by instead working with and listening to the wisdom of the body. I know several people who are so resigned and accepting of what they think will carry them off, because there’s a lineage of evidence behind them telling them so, that they have past caring and don’t see that the choice is still very much in their own hands. As you so rightly say, we are never too old to start to make changes.
Very true Cathy, we resign ourselves to “the inevitable” without any consideration that the way we live our lives might make a difference. Our bodies are capable of such amazing feats of recovery and healing if only we give them a chance and treating our bodies with gentleness, clean foods and drinks, rest, exercise and a healthy approach to work does result in miracles. The choices we make everyday can either be our medicine or our poison, its up to us to decide.
True Cathy, making healthy choices every moment of our life breaks the belief of fate that so many of us are subjected to.
The quality of our lives is what matters, I love that message Steve. How long we live or how much comfort, safety and contentment we live in, do not compare with the amazingness we can live every day by returning to feel the truth of all we are in essence that is buried beneath the familiarity and comfort of even uncomfortable patterns in our lives.
Joan I smiled as I read your follow on from Steve’s article. How much marketing material will need to be re-written when the quality v quantity life message gets out?
Kathie I love this as there is so much out in the world about quantity is everything, more, more and more is what its all about – true quality was not something I had experienced before talking with Serge Benhayon.
A gorgeous confirmation Steve that we can re-write the rules and never need to indulge in victimhood. Thank you.
I agree Matilda, we hear people just giving up on certain conditions, ‘because its in the family’ before the conditions have developed. And they live in anxiety, waiting to start showing symptoms. How crazy, when we can make small changes to our lifestyles that put us back in control of our health.
It’s interesting to observe how we all have the choices to make, but often follow the pattern of what we’ve done in the past, or what people around us have done, without feeling truly into what is the correct choice to make. You’ve nailed it Steve, to make the different choices now.
Well, it sure seems that you have broken the cycle left by your father of never expressing feelings and holding everything inside, by the mere fact that you wrote this blog, Steve. Thank you for sharing your family’s dynamics and showing how life and our health is about choices, not merely hereditary momentum.
I love your comment Michael, as yes Steve writing this blog is evidence that he has broken that cycle of keeping everything inside. This blog is inspiring for so many of us as proof that illness and disease is not necessarily hereditary
recently at a family funeral everyone was lamenting that they didn’t understand why there was so much cancer, hands up in the air shrugging of shoulders. I would just say simply that 70% of cancers are lifestyle related, no one wants to fully acknowledge we have a major part to play in our health and what the end game looks like. Of course this does not mean we are to blame but rather that we need to accept and empower ourselves to make loving choices and that does impact on the body.
It is super powerful to come out from under the powerlessness of being a victim of hereditary momentum and to accept the responsibility we all have to take loving care of ourselves. It is also super important to not then fall into the powerlessness of blame, but to step into the joy and power of our choices and responsibility.
So true.
‘to step into the joy and power of our choices’. For me that paints a picture of unloading the weight of hereditary traits, and moving forward free and clear, knowing that whatever illness we may develop is our own responsibility.
Well said Michael, the very act of Steve writing in this way breaks the mould. It is so gorgeous and inspirational when men share themselves, they have so much wisdom and humour to share.
Indeed Michael, it is so liberating to feel that WE are responsible for our health by making the choices that support our bodies. And we can break habits of a life time at any time.
I love this article for the realness and exposing of how many of us live today and the choices we can make if truly shown that there is another way.
Thank you Steve brilliantly exposing.
This is an inspiring read and a testimony that it is not necessary to live in fear of the illnesses of previous family members just because this is what we have been told is likely to happen. How disempowering is this and certainly not a way of encouraging us to look at and change patterns of behaviour and lifestyle choices that we have that may lead to the illness. Thank you, Steve for your honesty and sharing.
I agree Julie, it is extremely dis-empowering to think that cancer or any disease is caused by external factors or hereditary ones alone and that we have absolutely no role in it. By making different more supportive choices and changing the way we live has huge effects on our health and well-being.
I agree with you Jane, an excellent point as it must be extremely scary to have an illness and feel the complete victim of it and think you have no role to play in it.
Its so liberating to know you are not your familys’ ailments, but can make choices, and take the responsibility for change, by looking at our lifestyle, which could be part of a family pattern, and listening to our body when it tells us what no longer serves.
So true Julie, we can make different choices that take our bodies down different paths. If we all behave the same, then yes the likelihood is that we will get the same diseases. If we chose to self nurture and honour our bodies, we give ourselves every opportunity to live a healthy, vital life.
In reaction and rebellion to what I saw around me growing up I was determined to not live the same way. However as my decision was not based on living more lovingly with myself and others, although how I lived looked different to the environment I grew up in, it was still the same; as I wasn’t truly caring for myself. Accepting this and getting on with being responsible for my own well-being is allowing me to see more of the disempowering life style patterns and choices I make.
Absolutely Jane, “the truth about epigenetics and life style choices need to be shouted from the rooftops”. We are NOT our family’s illness. We are all responsible for our choices.
It also focuses on the important question that is our quality of life and what (in honesty) is our quality of life. Like Steve says we can have money and great health insurance but what are we ignoring/overiding about how we are really living. For me another word stands out here; and that is function. I was not fully aware of this word and in fact how I had been just ‘functioning’ in life and not truly living until I had met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. Functioning is getting by, it is not living. Serge is a very wise man to learn from.
Same for me Vicky. I was certainly not living life, only existing. When I was in that ‘existing’ life I had no idea that there could be another way and now having experienced the ‘living’ life, there is no going back. Thank you to Serge Benhayon for showing me there was another way.
Reading your comment Tim I realise that I lived a life of ‘existing’ made bearable by distractions such as trips to theatre, cinema..but the play would end , the film would finish. Because through UniMed I have been made aware of a connection with me that is available 24/7 I have a permanent ticket to live my life… and I can choose the seat with the best view.
Having a body that is ‘fit for purpose’ is my responsibility in the way I treat it. I cannot misuse it and abuse it and then expect it to perform like a top of the range Rolls Royce. Simple really.
Very true Mary. We do treat our car better than our bodies, imagine asking it to get us to work on a can of coke and 20 cigarettes? We would not get very far, yet these products seem to be quite a popular fuel choice with humanity. I used to feel like a clapped out old banger, but since quitting the poisonous stuff, chocolate, alcohol, caffeine, sugar, gluten, dairy, my body seems to run very smoothly indeed and I certainly feel like a Rolls Royce now.
Great analogy Mary and so true. We often treat our cars better than we treat our bodies. Something is so wrong when we value our material possession more than the bodies we live in.
Indeed very simple Mary, and yet we somehow expect our bodies to defy all logic and to do just that. We just think that somehow we can get away with things, even when this makes no sense, and when we accept the basic principle of cause and effect in all other areas of our life.
Great blog and in some parts very funny, I loved the way you described treating your body like a rally car, but at some point turning it maybe a classic! It is so true that many of us pay attention to caring for our car more than we do our own bodies…There definitely is a choice here and it is one that can improve well being astronomically. I have filled out a private health application form recently and it is very obvious that these insurance companies know the cost of peoples lifestyle choices on their health, there is nothing complicated about it, my premium was low because I have started committing to looking after myself in the last ten years. Had I been a smoker, drinker, had an unsupportive diet and no exercise the story would be very different. Taking responsibility for our own well being is awesome. Thank you for sharing.
What an awesome revelation to know, that we can alter the course of our health and wellbeing, through our self loving and self caring choices.
I agree Elizabeth, I actually have done this as before I didn’t even bother with any sort of retirement plan as I knew that how I was living, the excessive drinking smoking overeating total lack of self care would lead me to an early grave, thanks to Serge and Universal Medicine I’m going to have to rethink things about retirement. It’s a good thing I now feel so good there will be no need to retire and should be able to go on working until I absolutely need to stop.
Exactly Elizabeth, that understanding of taking responsibility for our own choices and not blaming others for things that happen to us is huge for me. I used to be able to see that others could make changes quite easily, but not me, my choices were already fixed . To learn that I have a choice has been very revealing of how long I’ve been a passive participant in life until recently .
I feel exactly the same Gill. It seems like such a simple thing to do, but choosing to take take responsibility for my choices was never in my awareness until Serge Benhayon presented this fact. It is so liberating to know that when we take full responsibility for our choices there can be no-one to blame but ourselves for what happens in our lives.
It is so easy to blame our genes for our illness and disease, yet we have a choice at any moment to change. It really does come down to being more loving in our choices. Before Universal Medicine I would never have considered having a health check unless I was seriously ill, yet I would send my car in for a service when it was due. Looking after ourselves and making loving choices is true medicine instead of waiting for illness to strike before we do anything about it.
I agree with you Steve, there is a tendency for us to look after our cars better than we look after our bodies, after all I wouldn’t put diesel into my car when it clearly runs on unleaded. So, that said, why would we drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and eat food which are not suitable for the body and never will be? It makes no sense.
‘I wouldn’t put diesel into my car when it clearly runs on unleaded. So, that said, why would we drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and eat food which are not suitable for the body and never will be?’ – That’s a great question Julie, and we also all know how incredibly harmful these toxins or foods can be to our bodies, so logically there is no reason to consume them.
I had a brilliant conversation with my sons and a friend in the car last night about the myth that we can ‘never fall far from the tree’ (a saying that supports the notion that we are beholden to who and what are parents are – the tree). We had such a rich bank of people we knew (including ourselves) who through their choices make a complete mockery of this powerlessness.
I agree Steve, that there seems to come a point in life where the greater majority are on a list of medication, and that age where drugs are part of a weekly and daily diet, is happening at a younger and younger age. The story of your family is evidently not an unusual one. It also seems as you describe with your mother, that once one drug is prescribed it’s common to then add others to the cocktail. I have watched those in my family travel with bags full of medications which have grown and adapted over the years, and those who are physically fit and active also having their fair share of daily medication to keep the physiology running at a better level. I went for a check up at the doctors the other week and he took my pulse, I was slightly taken aback by the surprise with which he said to me that my blood pressure was ‘perfect’. This let me realise that there is most definitely an expectation that by the age of 52 there should be signs of illhealth and disease. Making great choices about diet, sleep and excercise, as Universal Medicine has presented, play a huge role in bucking this trend.
This is a great sharing Steve on the Preventative Universal Medicine that is available to us all. The miracle is in the detail of looking after and living healthy loving choices each moment of everyday. Accessible to all who so choose to take back control of their health and wellbeing.
I agree Mary, we do need to look after ourselves with lots of tender loving care – something for me was not even on the radar growing up. Going to the doctors was a rarity and not because we were never ill but because it was not common practice to go unless you were seriously ill. All our childhood illnesses were treated at home without consultation, as my parents and their parents before them.
“I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?”
This is a great line that deserves to be printed on front pages of newspapers because the question makes so much sense and helps us put into perspective where our priorities are so that we may question them and begin to care for ourselves as deeply as we care for possessions and people around us.
This is a great article to read for a man as well – I’m similar in that I never used to go to the Doctor, or the hospital as it just never seemed important enough. For my 40th Birthday my present to me was a full check up much like the one you describe. It was a fantastic thing to do, and something I plan on doing regularly from here on in.
That’s great Simon. I received an invitation from the doctor to receive a full health check recently because I am now over 40. It made sense to go and felt great to take responsibility for my health in this way. It is something I too will be doing regularly.
Self care health checks and taking responsibility for how we live is the message here thank you Steve for sharing this with such inspiration and truth. Yes we all have a choice and a reflection of this is such a gift for everyone.
No more being a victim of our gene pool, upbringing or circumstance….’phewweeee’. I love this blog as an invitation to put ourselves in our own driving seats and claim the joy of responsibility. Thank you, Steve.
Beautiful to read, how you changed your families history of ill health by choosing different choices from theirs, on how you live your life and care for your body. This is a beautiful healing for you and also for your children. Steve, I love the humour you share through your writing.
Thank you for sharing this Steve, it really is a fantastic insight into how all of us can change our state of being by the most simplest of choices.
Beautifully said Fiona, I find that sometimes I have to really make a leap to trust that that simple choice is enough, and then am astounded by what comes back to me – often a confirmation that yes it was, more than enough.
Quite right Steve, it is never too late. And regular check ups is just simple self-care.
Your great blog tells it like it is Steve – that it’s our choices in our everyday living that determine the quality of health and life we experience. Well done for breaking the mold and thank you for the inspiration you bring.
I am forever inspired by all the stories that break the myth that we are victims of our genes, family or circumstance. The simplicity with which you have shared the power of choice is inspiring. Thank you.
I agree Matilda, it is inspiring and enlightening to know that we can alter the course of our health and well being with simple, caring choices. We are not victims to our physiology, we are in charge of it! It’s a message that needs to be spread far and wide because if offers so many the real resolution to many ills that can be prevented and saves our precious resources for those who truly require all the help, healing and support that western medicine has to offer.
Steve thanks for sharing it is really awesome to read your journey. I love how you said ‘I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’ – How you have chosen to make changes to your lifestyle and way of being is truly inspiring.
Fabulous blog Steve, loved every minute of your way with words. That’s quite a buck that you’ve made in the evident trend of your family’s health history. I agree that our life is the culmination of all the choices we make and that to make self-caring and loving choices for ourselves around even the very practical, but important things, like food, drink and sleep will have a major cumulative, positive effect. As you say Steve, you’ve become your own expert on this and the proof is in the test results.
I agree Rosanna it’s an amazing difference through the choices made and Steve is a walking and living testimonial to his choices.
You are right Steve, it is never too late. Change can happen the second we allow it too. I loved reading this because it’s probably a very similar situation for so many families. We grow old, we get on, we need medication for ailments, we slow down, but we can still indulge.
But what if there was another way to grow young. And do this simply by listening to our bodies first?
I’m no scientist, but given how my body has changed and how much more energy and vitality I have now – from when I was 24 to now 28 – I’d sure like to keep listening to it as I grow older 🙂
“My plans are to have my annual check-ups and to keep doing the self-body checks for things that change; also to listen to my body, which is my best barometer of change. Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices.”
Beautiful Steve, we know our own bodies best and there is always support out there if and when we need it.
Great Blog on showing how choices affect many peoples lives through how they live.
What an eye opener of these choices and the resulting health and well being and our responsibility in this. Thank you Steve and Serge Benhayon for presenting this.
It’s taken me a long time to realise that I don’t have to copy my parents choices. When I first left home, I went the complete opposite to anything my parents stood for, but later, when I had my children, I turned back to some of their ways. The great thing is that I now have so much more understanding of my choices, thanks to the presentations of Serge Benhayon, and like you Steve, I have changed the course of my history by my choices.
I know what you mean Gill, I thought I was making all kinds of different choices compared to my parents but then discovered I was heading down the same path with regards to my health, as in being over weight, eating the foods which were making my body sluggish, similar health issues.
Like you say, thanks to the presentations of Serge Benhayon we now have a deeper understanding of our choices, which has the added bonus of improving our health and changing the course of history.
Thank you Steve for opening up this discussion with your blog.
“Eight years ago I went to a presentation that a friend of mine had recommended as a ‘must do’ in London. What was presented there that day has changed my life. The speaker was Serge Benhayon.”
What a friend. I like the idea of looking up on the Internet ‘What to do in London this weekend?’ and finding a Serge Benhayon presentation in the listings. It certainly should be. For the thousands that have now been inspired to make self loving choices, despite what they are told around them, can testify to the value and worth of even these few hours to the rest of their lives. As you have shown Steve, your choices can defy the odds, and they are most definitely worth it.
What an inspiration you now get to be to others, so that they too get to see it is our choices and not only our genes that effect our health. Thank you for sharing your story with the world.
Thank you for sharing your story Steve, it’s really lovely to know more about you and your family and I love the way you write it is very easy to read.
I can really relate with what you have said here ‘The person I was and the person I now am, bear no resemblance to each other and this is all down to my personal choices on how I want to live.’ It is important to share there is another way to live just by simply making different choices. You are the proof that it can be done.
Well said Jane, Serge Benhayon’s integrity and living wisdom has inspired many many people to turn their lives around, the result of which can be witnessed in health and wellbeing, relationships and work. We are all living proof that taking responsibility for our choices on a daily basis can have astounding results.
It is possible that life-style choices can defeat genetics. This should be a doctor’s first point of call, as well as testing and treatment etc. So many of us shun personal responsibility for our health, expecting the medics to make it better. When cured we revert to our old habits and hey presto, the illness returns – and we wonder why! Is it just fate or bad luck? I know since discovering Universal Medicine, my health has improved dramatically and I lost some weight – all this as a side effect to the amazing information that has been presented to me by Serge Benhayon for the past 7 years – information which I can choose to feel and accept, or reject – no coercion.
Top blog Steve and testament to how we can change our lifestyle by choosing to make loving choices that truly support us and that disease doesn’t have to run in the family.
Well said Tim – you’re totally right, Steve is sharing with us that ‘disease doesn’t have to run in the family’… He is walking evidence that our DNA and genetics are never set in stone; self loving choices can change everything.
Hi Steve, I loved how humorous you’ve made this. A pleasure to read 🙂 I particularly feel inspired by the message that your parent’s choices don’t have to be your own. You don’t need to follow in anyone’s footsteps, family or not. And what an amazing outcome your own experience of this has had! Thank you for sharing
A beautiful blog Steve, addressing a serious subject with lightness and humour. We are so truly blessed to have found Universal Medicine and the wisdom that we are offered. The great thing about it for me is that it all makes such sense, and it also supports us to have a simpler lifestyle where we can fully enjoy and engage with life.
Absolutely beautiful to read Steve, and only goes to prove the power of one’s choices. It doesn’t matter what everyone around us is choosing, or being genetically the same as another, by our own individual choices we can make a difference initially to our own future, and then as you say as an inspiration to others.
So wonderful to read and it made me laugh but also take on board the serious side of our choices, self care and the responsibility we can all take for ourselves.
It is a great highlighter of the ways we can choose to live and eat and with the help from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine this is really changing peoples lives around and introducing a new trend in the way we live with love, integrity and true health and well being.
Thank you Steve for your beautiful sharing.
I agree Tricia, It is amazing that Steve has been able to present something which is nothing short of a miracle in such a simple and easy to follow story. But the enormity of it was not lost on me, and the difference are choices can make is phenomenal.
Great blog to read Steve, of you watching your family making their own decisions without any judgement but seeing the consequences of their actions. It was interesting earlier this week, watching a young teenager on work experience in a healthcare establishment where I work, and watch her watching a lady struggling to breathe through her day, tied to an oxygen machine tank wherever she moved. The teenager had admitted half an hour earlier that she smoked in a discussion about life choices. She may or may not stop smoking, that’s now her choice, but she is more informed about the consequences of her actions now.
Now that would be a great remedy for alot of people I know – to show them people that are living the consequences… it would have helped me when I was smoking, alot more than the adverts on the packets which never really had an impact.
You are right Simon, being shown the consequences of a certain action is going to far more compelling than any advertising campaign could ever be but when you put a persons ‘choice’ into the mix, then that saying, ‘you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink’, comes to mind.
Great point Simon – showing people the consequences of things like a life of smoking or drinking, by asking those who have first hand LIVED it to present on how it affected their bodies/lives would be an incredible way to educate everyone, but particularly children on the true effects of these drugs.
Very inspiring Steve, with the choices you have made for yourself.
I love the humour and the honesty with which you have written this article Steve. Wonderful analogy between a car and our body, showing the carziness of some of our choices. And what a great example you have provided by expressing the changes you have made within your life by taking care of your choices.
Thank you Steve – how amazing is it that when we are told everything is genetic, you half ended up highly medicated for multiple illnesses that should in theory “run in the family”. Your story just shows how taking responsibility and changing the way you live can be so life changing it alters the course of fate.
Well said Rebecca – Steves “story just shows how taking responsibility and changing the way you live can be so life changing it alters the course of fate”. Soo many people think they do not have the choice or the power to change diseases which run in the family, and this is proof that it is possible to reverse the family trend by simply making better choices! We can no longer say we are pre-destined for any illness.
So true James – we can no longer say we are pre-destined for any illness but how many people know this and that it is not just changing the way we live but that it includes the way we think. No excuses and taking responsibility can be life-changing, a great topic for family gatherings! I can hear a deadly silence around some tables, or a lot of discussions, depending on the level of shock as the penny drops. Dropping epigenetics into the conversation would be a good one to stir into the soup.
I feel that a lot of people deep down know this Lorraine but as soon as the ‘cancer’ word comes out people will do anything, well almost anything to avoid it. We get extremely comfortable and content with how we are living so long as we don’t say have cancer or are doing better then those or some of those around us. I know I did – it was easier then actually saying I have a choice and could be responsible for my life. By looking at the family scenario it would be incredibly powerful for say a mother who has recovered from breast cancer to explain to her daughter the way she was living that results in the breast cancer and so her daughter could make more loving and more nurturing choices now instead of waiting for the cancer to make the loving changes in her life.
thank you for sharing this…and the person that you are now. It is so beautiful to see you unfold
Thank you Steve for illustrating, with your life, how powerful our everyday choices are. You show a clear picture of where you were headed and how you changed direction with Serge Benhayon as your catalyst.
The question “Are my choices bringing me TO myself or AWAY FROM myself” comes into the fore.
Thats a great question – “Are my choices bringing me TO myself or AWAY FROM myself” and something I’ve often overlooked when trying to get somewhere or hit some target or goal in my mind. Yet your question is so simple – no room for arguments – just what is. I can see in what Steve writes an incredible turn around and most certainly choices to come back to himself.
I agree joabillings, we are so certain that almost all illness can be traced to our genetic and inherited DNA, bit this blog blows that all out of the water, showing that our choices to be loving to ourselves is greater than the genes past down to us.
Living proof. That is what you are Steve. So many of us have turned our lives around from the dire way that it was headed if it hadn’t been for what Universal Medicine has brought us. What I can really feel in your words is the responsibility to love yourself that you have claimed and are choosing to make your way of life.
Beautifully said Jinya, the power of Steve’s decision to love himself is very palpable and yes he is living proof that self care can deliver incredible results.
I love your blog Steve, full of humour, inspiration and honesty. The car is a classic example, it simply will not go if we do not service it. The changes you have made speak volumes and you are turning out to be the car of your choice, one that is a shining example, showing everyone you meet that family history is no excuse to not take care of yourself.
Steve I love how your sense of humour has gently presented the ridiculous manner in which we chose to live our lives….’I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’…. a brilliant article, thank you
Yes it’s a great analogy. I also think about I’d never put diesel into a petrol engine but I’ve often eaten or drunk foods that have slowed me down and lose vitality.
I just loved this blog, it was such fun, and so interesting to read. The fact that it was packed with wisdom was an added bonus.
This blog blows away the myth that we are doomed to get illness and disease simply due to the gene lottery. It is a testament to the power of self care and the daily choices we make that can directly affect our bodies and our health. We are in control of our health not genetics.
Thank you Andrew and I agree as I was without any doubt a medical statistic and today with taking control of my own health and well being by making daily choices that support me things are very different. I have vitality levels that really are incredible.
Thank you Steve Matson for sharing your story and inspiring an open discussion here for us to comment on.
So true Andrew. We blame genetics for all manner of illness and disease because we want to avoid our responsibility and choices. What Steve has shown us is the power we all have to alter the course of our health and bring ourselves into a healthy old age without all the pills and potions we seem to have so readily accepted as the only way to deal with our health issues.
Very true it confirms it is nothing to do with ‘gene lottery’.
Definitely a topic worth study! It has always struck me that the few mystery results that pop up in experiments or people who defy the statistics are either dismissed as anomalies because they do not fit the desired results or story being painted, or they are studied as holding some secret cure for everyone. As you say Andrew, it is a testament to the power of self-care and self-loving choices.
Well said Naren. There is nothing ‘secret’ or magic about people who defy the statistics. They have simply made good choices to look after themselves. It’s baffling that people are baffled by this!
It is great that we have articles like this which openly blow these thoughts into oblivion. The truth of the power of our own responsibility and awareness in our choices is paramount.
Thanks for sharing your experiences Steve. This is inspiring. Your blog so clearly shows the two extremes of the quality of health we can have that is dependent on the choices we live. As you say it is a choice we make for ourselves.
Every moment is ours for the taking. Simple choices with huge results. Anyone can build away from being a victim of life to being a fully engaged, vital and responsible participator in life. Every ‘right now’ is our moment.
I had that light bulb moment too Jane, from Serge Benhayons presentations. To know it doesn’t have to be that way was a revelation and through making different choices my health and my life has had a huge turn around.
I so enjoyed reading this and can concur that the power of our choices is huge and how we live really does impact our health.
Great blog Steve. As you point out, many of us care more for our cars than we do for our bodies, in their annual service, MOT, oil and water changes etc. We wouldn’t put rubbish into a car that needed 5 star petrol, yet we do exactly that to our amazing bodies. Rubbish in equals poor performance out. Since meeting Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, I too have turned my life around. It is never too late. At 64 I feel, and look, better now than I did 10 years ago.
I agree Sue, a great analogy with the car. If you have a petrol engine you wouldn’t fill it with diesel, but we put foods into our bodies that aren’t even meant for humans! (Crazy or what)
This is a very real account of how our lifestyle choices can affect our health. Thank goodness you attended that presentation 8 years ago with Serge Benhayon and have decided to make the choices that you have.
Great blog, love it Steve. Our choices definitely are the cause of all illness and disease.
So simply explained.
“So simple” is the key to making things last. Easy to remember, easy to feel and easy to put into practice. Steve’s blog shows how that simplicity can have dramatic effects.
Absolutely Kevin, our choices are the cause of all illness and disease, I have proven this to myself in many ways by reversing the choices and seeing the condition disappear. That is more scientific to me than any number of double blind controlled studies!
Thanks for this great article Steve which clearly shows how by starting to take care of ourselves, being responsible for our choices we can turn around a family pattern of poor health and lifestyle.
And that’s where the fun comes into it Jane – I definitely take things too seriously sometimes however someone suggested the other day that with all these things, suck it and see! Have fun with experimenting to see what works for you and what doesn’t…
This is what has been so wonderful about the way Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine present, it is never prescriptive. Alot is presented that is truly inspiring and worth considering, then you can just try things out and learn from what you experience for yourself.
What a testimonial, Steve, to self care, taking responsibility and the opportunities presented by Universal Medicine – proof that we do not have to be victims of circumstance (our gene pool in this case) but can re-write history with our choices. Thank you.
Indeed what a wonderful testimonial. I loved the analogy of the car and laughed at the choice of becoming a classic. The way you have assessed your life as well as expressed your understanding and choices are truly inspiring.
Yes Matilda Steve’s testimony is great proof that we are not the victims of circumstance, that it is down to our choices. I too like many others are experiencing this re-write from the inspiration of Serge Benhayon Universal Medicine presentations.
Absolutely Matilda, the power of choice, isn’t it brilliant!
A great point Matilda, it is absurd that so many people live ignorant to the fact that genetics isn’t everything. Taking responsibility for one’s choices takes a lot of pressure out of the equation of life, but in the long run, does it really improve the quality you live with? I’ve learnt from experience that living irresponsibly only blinds me to being aware of what’s really going on in the world for the sake of a ‘comfortable’ existence.
Great point Matilda and also Cheryl “that living irresponsibly only blinds me to being aware of what’s really going on in the world for the sake of a ‘comfortable’ existence.” The paradox is that the ‘comfortable’ is not really comfortable, in fact in reality can be very uncomfortable, it is just that it is familiar.
True, Jonathan. Comfort is an illusion.
You’ve said it all here Matilda. The proof is in the pudding!
I totally agree Matilda this is an incredible testimony. I have noticed a remarkable difference with Steve and how he has become more light, loveable, playful and vital in his day to day way of being… deeply inspiring.
Very well said Matilda, this sums it all up beautifully.
Steve, I love reading your story and how you shared your observations and conclusions so beautifully and I enjoy how you use the car parallel – it makes it so easy for people to understand who are not that familiar with this work yet. Thank you
Brilliant blog Steve – I love the analogy of the car, it is actually very accurate when you think about it!
Love it Steve. It feels like you speak to all those that have had the pleasure of meeting Serge, and I love how you approach the situation with your family in such a light and non-judgemental way. I really respect the choices you have made as I have made some too after seeing there is another way from attending a presentation by Serge. It’s funny I thought I was healthy until I met that guy and the people that have been attending workshops for a good amount of time. It’s amazing to see the results of people actually listening to their bodies.
I loved reading your blog Steve. Really puts things in perspective. Your families story is the norm in the world today. There really are not many people in the world today over fifty who aren’t on various medications suffering from chronic medical conditions. Meeting Universal Medicine students has been such a huge inspiration to me. Elderly people who are living full and vibrant lives reversing the trends of what is presumed in old age. As you say it is all about choices. To realise this and embrace it the the greatest and most healing medicine there is. Loved your blog so true and very funny!
How honest to say that actually in the past you knew what bad things you were doing to your body but continued to do them anyway; a great testament to Universal Medicine that you were genuinely inspired to change these ways. I know I have been too. Thanks Steve for the lighthearted way in which you shared this with us.
So well put Steve. I was really shocked to see that the medication my parents take on a daily basis takes up an entire drawer in their bedside cabinets! Thanks to Universal Medicine, we have found a way to make every day our medicine, feeling what our bodies prefer and what makes them sick, learning to nurture and cherish ourselves rather than live in peril every day. I am an ex-smoker, ex-drinker and ex-drug user and well know the awful feelings that come from such an existence. Today I too am a changed woman and all thanks to heeding the wise advice of Serge Benhayon. It is time to tell the world there is a very solid and practical way to deal with our health issues, based on self care and self awareness. If we all choose to take responsibility for our health, it can free up our exceptional health services for those who truly need it and bring real resolutions to the current crisis facing our National Health System in the U.K and other countries around the globe.
Well said Rowena, it is time to tell the world about self care and self awareness. The zero self care route has exhausted itself and is leaving health systems around the world for ever calling for a larger slice of the funding cake or in other words bankrupt and requiring bailing out. It is the norm to take no care of yourself and then to expect the Health System to fix you, where is the sense in that? If everyone started to take responsibility for caring for themselves as advocated by Universal Medicine, we would start to turn the corner and see improving health as a species. It is vital for everyone to take responsibility for their part in maintaining their own health.
Absolutely, Rowena and Doug. The years of depending on doctors to fix us up enough so that we can carry on driving ourselves into the ground are crippling our services, and burning out the people who we have charged with maintaining the system (and us). Universal Medicine is showing a practical, simple and effective way to not only avoid so many of the illnesses that are attributed to modern-day lifestyle choices, but to also bring harmony to all facets of life.
Steve I love this blog. My mother has so many ailments and isn’t a fit and well lady- which is a normal thing for a lady her age statistically speaking. I see that I too will be very similar to her ailment wise through the way I can be with myself. I have a history of this and went to the doctors today requesting a few tests so that I can fully support myself if there is a problem with the pain I often feel. I am also changing my choices so that i no longer abuse my body in the way that I move and what I eat so that I can fully support my body to become fit and vital. All a great start.
I love your blog Steve. It’s very inspiring how even though you come from a family who are heavily into fast food, always being active/in motion, and doing the absolute opposite of taking care or looking after their bodies, you have such a strong commitment to live a healthy and joy-full lifestyle…. Incredible.
This is a marvellous example of the benefits of true self-care and how, in truth, it is true medicine in collaboration with orthodox medicine. It is also written with lovely touches of wit.
Wow, what a fantastic blog – so honest and incredible isn’t it – how our choices may seem to separate us from those close to us yet in truth, they can be inspirational. I’d love to hear how your siblings are in response to your lifestyle choices – another blog maybe?! Keep us posted! And by the way, you must be well on your way to realising the classic you are already.
Great blog, Steve, thank you. I wince to think what I have put my body through in the past, but agree that it is never too late to turn your life around, one choice at a time.
It is lovely to hear you share your inspiration Steve … We do have to laugh at ourselves and the ridiculousness of some of the choices we have made and what can happen when we wake up!
Steve. What a brilliant blog. Your family history, and the changes you made to your way of life after meeting Serge Benhayon. Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon have had such amazing effect on so many lives.
I love that you are flying in the face of convention and are on your way to being a beautifully restored classic! You are living proof of what happens to us when we choose to listen to our bodies and take care of ourselves.
It’s an appealing state of being to recognise your own expertise Steve as the owner and operator of your classic car (body). I enjoyed reading your story, it is quite something that you have bucked the trend of ill health in your family, and this surely owes much to the care you have taken for yourself as chief mechanic! Perhaps the genetic story isn’t all its made out to be and that we can be active agents of the change we want to see in how we live and feel.
Completely agree, and I understand that science is slowly but surely coming to the same conclusion… that genetics are not the pre-programmed instruments of destruction that it was once thought they were, but in fact the way we live and the choices we make impact very significantly on the health and wellbeing of that cell and organism. This will be a very interesting field to watch over the coming years.
Awesome, Steve. I love the humour you write with. The changes that you have decided to make in breaking what looks like a bit of family tradition of prescription drugs is nothing short of remarkable and shows what can be done by simplifying life and paying attention to what our bodies are telling us.
Hi Steve, thank you very much for you blog. I can relate to a lot of things you describe and meeting Serge Benhayon and listening to his presentations have definitely changed my life, too. Since then I listen more to my body and I am more care-full with it. My lifestyle choices have changed in regards to food, sleep, caring for me and my body and so much more. When I recently saw my doctor for a check up he was really surprised about my fantastic health and superb blood values. Additionally, he appreciated my high level of contentment and vitality.
I love the way you compare our way of handling our body to how we care for our cars: “I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?” and “Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices.”
Yes, our body knows exactly what it needs and what is best to keep it vital and healthy – we just have to listen to it.
Steve, you are indeed a testament to what I also know to be true, that it is our choices that determine our health and wellbeing. The changes I have witnessed in you over the years I have know you have been almost unbelievable but there you stand as living, breathing proof that this is powerful medicine indeed.
Steve, this is a refreshingly honest and humorous piece of writing. Thank you for sharing your story. I can feel the fragility and humility of human life, and how lack of awareness can lead to just going through life with a somehow surprising level of ill health and a long list of ailments. You are a fantastic example of what the gift of awareness can do. You have turned your life and health around completely, and as a result you are no longer a statistic on the list of the unhealthy contributing to the overwhelming cry for help from the health services. You have taken responsibility for your own health and in turn are experiencing the benefits of this. No longer can anyone say that they are destined to be the way they are because that is how their family has always been. We always have the power to take control of our own lives. Thank you for being a living example of this.
Thank you Steve for sharing your amazing journey thus far. We can so easily be “persuaded ” by our parents\family to follow their way of living life and not till an illness\accident to start to question what’s really going on here? and, when we are ready to make those changes! It’s no ” accident” that an opportunity opens up for us to make self loving choices. Thank you
Thank you for this great blog. Yes, we are responsible for our own health and wellbeing and all of our choices are shown in our body. How we feel today is the result of all the choices we have made. You are a true inspiration Steve, because it shows that even though your family members are all on medications, that this does not mean that you have to go on the same path. You are the conductor of you own life, how beautiful and powerful is that.
Wow Steve, a great article about choices and I love your humour, especially when you mention your arms got too short for you to read. The comment you make about how we look after our cars better than our own bodies is so true – ‘I have spent years religiously practising preventative maintenance with my car, and not my body. I don’t like to drive in something that is not fit for purpose… so why would anyone choose to live in a body that is not fit for purpose?’ A question we could all ask ourselves.
Your sharing in this blog Steve really shows us life as it is and life as it can be. From disregarding the body and living life in the fast lane, like your analogy of a rally car, to observing the body, taking care, getting health checks. The rally car is a time bomb waiting to explode with a heart attack stroke or diabetes and now to healthier aging vehicle but on its way to becoming a classic. I love it. There is honesty and truth in what you are expressing Steve intertwined with humour. It is a sad reflection that whilst we may be educated about food we never stop to really consider the body until we are stopped, usually by severe illness. It’s great to hear that it is absolutely possible to find a way of living which restores vitality. Thank you.
A brilliant, and amusing, example of how our bodies clearly show the results of our choices. One particular point that I can really relate to is the avoidance of health practitioners because I arrogantly think ‘I know’ that they will point out something that is wrong. Yes I know my health is not where it should be and that will only be the first part of the meeting with my doctor. The other part I seem to forget in favour of avoiding my choices being exposed as ill which is the purpose of the meeting is to find ways to heal the illness! By avoiding that moment of having to be accountable for my situation I avoid the moment of working towards healing my situation.
Steve what a great article – it amazing to see such changes and also how so called “normal life” is when you go along with everything instead of choosing to take care of yourself. It’s so ironic that most of us take more care with our car than our body. We know if we put the wrong fuel in our car, don’t get the tyres changed or get the car serviced that we will end up with either a car that does not start or one that crashes. Makes me consider what areas I neglect.
Thank you Steve for your blog I enjoyed reading it and the light hearted way you have written it. It is crazy how we abuse and dismiss our bodies until something goes wrong and then wonder why. I know I have done this and the knock on affect this has had on my health and well being. I could recognise similarities in my family and how I had taken on many of my mother’s and father’s ways of looking and listening to my body which was basically, ignore it and get on with functioning in life until something goes wrong. Since attending Universal Medicine courses I am slowly learning to listen to my body and appreciate the little signs it gives me before they become the hospital trip or the accident waiting to happen.
Steve, I love the detail and humour you bring into this gorgeous article. I am seeing amazing changes in you now, as you have taken, by choice, a different level of self care and responsibility with yourself.
“…..the self-body checks for things that change; also to listen to my body, which is my best barometer of change. Like a fine classic car you require an expert to keep it that way – and I am the expert on my body and my choices”.
And there is more of you to blossom forth!
Great blog Steve, many people accept their health issues because ‘it’s in the family’. You are living, loving proof that this does not have to be so.
Thank you Steve, I especially enjoyed reading the very honest way in which you view yourself and your family, with no judgement just a lot of awareness of the choices that people make.
Thank you for sharing Steve. I too since meeting Serge Benhayon back in 2003 am now living a completely different lifestyle to the one I was. I was out of control, desperately seeking for answers, lost and depressed but still trying to get something out of life. Like you, I have come to realise I too can say that: ‘life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease’, it is all too easy to say God gave me cancer and/or not take any responsibility for the way you have been living in complete disregard to your body, or say that was just an accident but for me that was never enough, and whilst we can accept it – deep down we all know our responsibility we play in what happens to us and how we are living.
Thank you for sharing with us Steve. The relationship to lifestyle and food that you mention in your family sounds very familiar. The changes you have made are solid proof to me that we can make a huge difference to our bodies in the way we treat and look after them. As you mention the likeness of the physical body to a car, there is no way we would put muddy water into our fuel tank and expect it to go and most drive with a little caution so as not to dent our ‘vehicle’ Apply this to our body (our vehicle) and with regular MOTs (health checks) and oil changes (lifestyle changes?) likened to keeping an eye on what foods we eat, we could go for miles (years) and look pretty good in the process. Even more so if we apply the car cleaning and polishing analogy to ourselves as well, we could look great for years to come, just like the ‘Classic’ you mention.
I love your blog Steve. Your lovely sense of humour runs right through from start to finish and makes it such a joy to read. It feels from the details of your family’s medical history, that there is no doubt that your health would have been in similar shape if you hadn’t been inspired to make the changes that you did.
Too right – a great article on the power of choices.
I agree Steve. I too used to resist going for a health check-up as I was aware that it would tell me what I already knew, that what I ate and how I was living was causing many of the problems with how I felt and my sense of well-being. I didn’t want anyone else telling me what I was not prepared to tell myself. When I listened to a presentation by Serge Benhayon speaking about self-love I began to see things differently. Self-love was a totally new concept for me and I realized I had been living in self-abuse. Introducing self-love into the way I live is a wonderful adventure with the result that I am feeling healthier and younger rather than just enduring the inevitable aches and pains of an aging body as each year passes.
Gorgeous Mary. Yes it is that simple…we are either living in self-love or self-abuse. Every choice is either abusive or loving. And it is the accumulation of these choices that determines our overall health as so beautifully demonstrated by Steve.
Thank you Steve for sharing your life in this blog with us. I experience the same with my family: the difference in choices makes a difference in the quality of life.
And I love what you write about your attending your first presentation with Serge Benhayon: ‘What was presented there that day has changed my life. The speaker was Serge Benhayon. It was like coming home after being lost in the wilderness. I have been inspired over the past 8 years from the teachings that I have attended to make choices based on what is good for me and my body…I have never since looked back. The person I was and the person I now am, bear no resemblance to each other and this is all down to my personal choices on how I want to live. I believe that life choices are the number one cause of illness and disease…bar none!’ I totally agree with you.
Steve. great blog. I love how you draw an analogy between your body and a car, and the craziness of the fact that we wouldn’t drive a car that hadn’t been regularly serviced but we do this with our bodies. But I think you’ve hit the nail on the head why – we know deep down that the way we live impacts on our bodies and many have no intention of changing that, so prefer to stick their heads in the sand until eventually their bodies catch up with them and say stop. And yet as you show here, no matter how we have lived previously we can change, and making choices based on what our bodies truly feel can deeply affect and impact the body. Our bodies really are amazing tools if we respect, honour and listen to them. And indeed take into account what they require which differs as we get older, but the most important thing I get from reading your piece is that taking responsibility for us, our choices and being loving with us is key to loving a vital and truly healthy life.
Thank you Steve what an awesome blog on truth and that there is another way – I enjoyed the honesty and moments of humour in your writing and the realness…simply exposing the truth that our bodies represent our lifestyle choices and that it all comes back to that. Thank you for speaking your truth and giving back.
What an inspiring blog… through your sharing, you have definitely shown people, about the power in our choices. Thank you.
Thank you Steve, I love your writing style and how you expressed your family’s choices. The abuse of the body as you described so well, I can relate to too ~ more in the past but it is still a stark reminder of our responsibility and how we can live another way; simply by choosing to!
Thank you. So honest and inspiring.
Great article Steve, the changes you have made in your life are simple but effective. The foundation that you have built around your choices to be loving in everything you do, is enduring and inspiring unlike other health fads. I too have made similar changes over a 10 year period to my very unhealthy and unsustainable lifestyle as you describe racing from the beginning of one day to the next. I too have made these changes after attending a presentation by Serge Benhayon in Australia in 2004. It is all about connecting to our bodies and being brave enough to feel what is really going on, deal with what comes up and then choose differently in how we live and express ourselves. I am sure you will make the elegant Astin Martin Classic category one day! Meanwhile enjoy waking up each day feeling like a new Ferrari!
Great comment Alannah, it is all about being brave enough to truly feel the effects we have on our own bodies. And yes, here’s to waking up feeling like a Ferrari, it far out weighs the benefits of owning one!
So true Steve and thank you for sharing. We choose our parents for the experiences that they share with us, so that we can learn. We own our choices, but they own theirs.
I hope that in some small way both my parents, who passed over some years ago now, will benefit from my own healing as, like you, I learn to feel what my body is telling me so that I too can make more healing choices.
So true, Steve, it is never too late! The tiniest changes that you can make to your every day life make all the difference. Universal Medicine have inspired me in many ways, but doing the little things consistently is one of them, like a 15 minute walk every morning, just for me… It doesn’t have to be a big deal to become the classic car rather than the old banger!
Amazing Steve, this shows that ‘it’s all in the genes’ is not the case. You bucked the trend so to speak because of the changes of lifestyle. Our health lies in the choices we make.
Beautiful, Steve, showing how we can change our inherited genetic tendencies through our choices. Something it would be so valuable for everyone to know
I agree, genetics isn’t always everything! You may have something running in your family (for example blood thinning pills) – but we may not be as linked by blood as we may think we are…
Totally agreed, Joan – I can now see that there is a sense of giving up when we concede it is genetic. Steve – and many others inspired by Universal Medicine – prove that this isn’t the case.
I loved every word of this blog Steve, it was a pleasure to read. And I too am unrecognisable to the 13 stone, smoking, drinking woman I was 11 years ago when I came across Serge Benhayon and his presentations. Simple truth and stunning results in bodies we want to be in! Classics in the making!
It is astounding to hear about and to see the changes in you and the changes in Steve, (and many others) that are all the result of choosing to stop, feel, question and make a different choice. Simple, effective and life changing.
It’s lovely to see a classic example of what is happening in society yet how choices can absolutely take you down the road to health. Great that you’ve written this honest account of how it is Steve and great that you’re taking care of yourself to become a classic yourself 🙂
What a fantastic blog Steve. This is one that can definitely be shared and understood by everyone. Your light-hearted-ness is very refreshing. Thank you.
Steve, this is a delight to read, I love your humour, and it is very inspiring for those who know a diet of burgers isn’t really all that good for them . . . And when you say ‘The person I was and the person I now am, bear no resemblance to each other and this is all down to my personal choices on how I want to live.’ there are many students of Universal Medicine who can say the same thing and in you I have certainly seen the changes over the years – you are inspiring to be around, and your inner light shines for all to see.