By Gina Dunlop, teacher, Brisbane
On my morning walks I connect with nature around me, which I love to do. I hear the birds singing, observe the lush magnificent trees, bushes and grasses, smell the fragrance and feel the entire embrace of nature around me. It is beautiful.
But on this one particular morning I could feel my body was aching in many places; I felt heavy and it was pretty hard going.
I contemplated how all those things in nature I was observing were in optimum health and function. Sure, there may be the odd injured bird or animal, but overall everything was functioning spectacularly. My body, a human being on this planet, is a living part on this earth as much as everything else – so why wasn’t I feeling spectacular also? What had I been doing that meant I had a body that wasn’t functioning to the best of its ability and was quite frankly feeling run down and exhausted?
When I got home, I began getting ready for work and realised I was actually sick and I needed to call in unwell. I went into regret and guilt. But on further reflection, I realised there was more – what I was feeling was an irresponsibility.
This was my third day off sick this year – on each occasion, I understood it was my body telling me I was living in stress and nervous energy; I was engaging in behaviours that were not fully supporting me to function optimally and allowing me to flourish.
So with this awareness, on this particular day I felt irresponsible. My body had been communicating with me on two prior occasions and I had deeply understood and linked feeling unwell to these stressful behaviours, but I had not fully dealt with them and here I was unwell again.
On this occasion I decided to do something about it. I spent my day resting and nurturing, but then sought support from colleagues and practitioners. I discovered some new work strategies and visited health practitioners with the willingness, openness and honesty to go deeper at looking behind the behaviours I had previously been exhibiting.
The results have been profound. My body doesn’t buzz with a nervous tension all the time, I am more relaxed and more joyful at work, I have space in my day to be joyful and playful with my partner and young children. I feel so much better!
Since attending presentations by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, I have been blessed with an understanding of how our behaviours directly impact our well-being and health. Our bodies are ideally designed to live in harmony and unison with our environment, like the nature I had observed and mentioned previously. In harmony, we have enough energy to function in optimal health, to accomplish all the physical activities we need to do in our day. However, unlike nature, we can load ourselves up with active thoughts, emotions, concerns, stress, over excitement, or consume food and drinks which don’t support us – these emotions and intakes use up energy we require to function – and more often than not, we ‘run out’ of energy.
It is then our bodies become dis-eased which, over time, leads to disease. The ease we should be living with is disrupted.
Just as nature continually evolves, so too do our bodies – as part of that nature – support us to evolve. Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.
How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living. How often have we felt this – we get sick – and it provides a moment where we can directly feel and link our illness to a certain way of living – a stressful time recently experienced, a few late nights, eating unsupportive foods. Or we bump into something, hit our ‘funny’ bone, even break a bone – it’s all a ‘stop’ moment our bodies are bringing us to in order to pull us up to reflect on behaviours which are taking us away from feeling awesome.
I, like many, had always felt a connection between behaviours and illness, but since listening to the presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I have deepened my awareness and acceptance of this inner wisdom and knowing and have brought this to all areas of my life. As a result, I am living with an inner joy and true confidence in myself, which I had never dreamed of attaining.
I am so appreciative of the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for bringing to me these ancient understandings of the science of life and how the world truly operates.
I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day.
Medicine and Serge Benhayon 
Great blog you have here
I’ve recently become more aware of the word ‘order’ and how that relates to our health and well-being, and the dialogue our body is having with us. I’ve started to feel that we are part of a greater order and harmony and when we step out of this nor only do we harm our own body, but we are pulled back to the enormity we are a part of. Illness is part of correction to bring us back to the grander order we belong to.
I can really relate to this blog as repeatedly I experience sinus infections. I am fine at this moment but it’s a reminder to take responsibility for the behaviours that lead to the sinus infections.
There are a lot of people who think that what Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine present are somehow new or far fetched. But if we were to look more closely we would all see and have the understanding that what is presented is ages old. Serge Benhayon is one of the many who have presented the Ageless Wisdom; he is one of the many teachers from an ancient lineage of masters. And like so many other teachers has drawn criticism because for many of us we like our comfortable life and do not want to be reminded that there is more to life than we think there is.
If we were deeply connected with our bodies then we would rarely need to take a day off work, work would be the very thing that feeds us.
If we didn’t impose on our bodies then they would naturally flourish but we do. We consistently and persistently bring in all manner of things that interfere with the natural functioning of our bodies. All of these disharmonious ways of living that we haul into and onto ourselves are created out of an energetic source called the pranic consciousness. There are literally thousands of different variations of the pranic consciousness but the ones that I know very well are beliefs, pictures, expectations, emotions and individuality, I have used them all excessively to the absolute detriment of my body.
“Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.” Bringing this understanding to our sick days is so supportive. Having had a migraine headache yesterday although it felt awful I knew my body was clearing a lot – and despite feeling a bit fragile today I’m off to volunteer.
Gina, this was perfect timing as my body is going through what feels like an unpleasant clearing. It has been loitering around for some weeks now and at times, I feel miserable to be honest.
Reading this has just reconfirmed that it is ok with what ever is going on, and to have the support of practitioners, is supportive and loving for me and my body.
I love reading these blogs/sharing’s, they remind me that everything is ok and if I need the support of modern medicine or a Universal Medicine practitioner, so be it. Thank goodness we have both.
I agree Shushila – having both western medicine and the support of esoteric medicine have both been instrumental when I have been ill.
” to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” For those who lack this awareness, illness can be seen as an attack, failure, can cause shame or embarrassment. If we can get beyond this and begin a dialogue with an illness, it becomes a wise friend brought to deepen our understanding of the relationship we’ve had with our bodies and life.
The consciousness around illness is all of the above, but also in extreme cases it has to be conquered or defeated. ‘Beating’ it is championed, but in trying to beat it we are missing the point of the illness in the first place.
Yes, I agree Michelle attempts to ‘beat’ an illness defeats the purpose, which is to bring understanding and true healing and not just removal of symptoms.
Seeing illness as an opportunity to clear poison from our bodies that we have taken in by not honouring our sensitivity supports us to understand why we have the illness and then to change the momentum that led to the condition. Healing is very different from a cure.. as you say Kehinde, a cure is the removal of symptoms, true healing is to rid the body from the energy that caused it.
I hear so many people wanting to ‘fight’ their disease. They just want to get better quickly and get back to their old ;normal ‘ life, which is what brought on the illness in the first place. We need to wake up and take more responsibility for our health – as a nation.
Kehinde, I love your perspective on illness, ‘a dialogue with an illness, it becomes a wise friend’, I had not viewed it like this. It does become your ‘wise friend’, so in this we develop a more of an understanding and in that understanding, we appreciate the intelligence of the body. And when we appreciate the intelligence of the body, more is revealed to us.
The stop moment that a sickness offers to us, is a loving reminder of the opportunity we always have to make a stop and listen our body at every time in our life.
So true Amparo. I had just such a one yesterday. So reading this blog today is a perfect constellation for me.
These days I too appreciate “How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like” they do, always letting us know what is going on for them, what needs changing, when we need to rest and so on. But it wasn’t always the case, as in the past I often used to get annoyed at my body’s messages and the fact that it was not functioning the way I expected it to. But I finally discovered that if I made the choice to listen to what my body was saying and then made more self-loving choices, I ended up with a body that was way more healthy and vital; yes, it was definitely worth stopping to listen.
This is such a timely read for me. We can learn to respond to what the body communicates to us, but looking back at how we have been living up to this point offers us just as much learning.
How we treat our bodies is akin to how we treat ourselves, how we live our lives and consequently how life treats us back.
What you have written would be a beautifully simple and practical lesson for all children; that how you treat your body is ‘how life treats you back”. As everything is interrelated, how we treat one part of our life affects everything else, so we are somewhat deluded if we think we can continue to treat our body badly and not have a consequence, often very uncomfortable and possibly painful.
Gina it’s brilliant that you could approach illness like this, I get the same irresponsible feeling – knowing that my choices or disregard for myself has ultimately led to me letting other people down. So the best move forward is to take better care and look into ways we can adjust our lives so that the same compromise is not made again.
We grow in wisdom when we deepen in the love that we are.
Taking a ‘sick day’ is an opportunity for a deeper healing into our own responsibility in the way we have been running our body.
“In harmony, we have enough energy to function in optimal health, to accomplish all the physical activities we need to do in our day.” We often fight with our bodies rather than work with it. When we learn to support, care for and honour it, it gives back to us and having unlimited energy for all the things we need to do reflects the quality of our Livingness.
If we have evolved from nature, how is it so that we are not in harmony with it? How comes we are the main predator and reason behind the extinction of animal and plant species? If our origins are from this planet, how come we cannot live in harmony with it? We are blinded to the truth of our origin, of our roots and in that lie we are excused to do whatever we desire.
“It is then our bodies become dis-eased which, over time, leads to disease. The ease we should be living with is disrupted.”
I love this line – so simple and so true. If we heed what is being revealed, we would arrest our out of control nose-dive into ill health and disease.
“However, unlike nature, we can load ourselves up with active thoughts, emotions, concerns, stress, over excitement, or consume food and drinks which don’t support us – these emotions and intakes use up energy we require to function – and more often than not, we ‘run out’ of energy. It is then our bodies become dis-eased which, over time, leads to disease. The ease we should be living with is disrupted.” This is such a common sense blog and this quote is so supportive, I agree as human beings we live outside of the harmony our natural environment lives to, and as a result of that disharmony we manifest illnesses. So simple and clear, thank you for all you have shared.
The more we are able to connect and listen to our body it offers us an amazing wisdom from within, yet when we make choices that are in disregard to what we know to be true our body gives us a nudge, we don’t feel so well and it is simply our body drawing our attention to how we are living, it could be as simple as going to bed late on a regular basis or working without taking a break, we have to lovingly look after our body for it to lovingly look after us.
The body has a standard of love that it doesn’t drop from, it won’t let me get away with an unloving behaviour. Everything is registered and eventually will be addressed in one way or another be it an ‘accident’ and illness or something else that gets me to stop.
We just simply have to love our bodies because of how honouring they are of us, they communicate loud and clear when something is not ok, they don’t give up and persist in reminding us that what ever we are doing is not working. We can either listen and make changes or keeping going until at some point the body will make us stop. I know which one I prefer.
Our body is the marker of truth, we can not lie to it, we can pretend we are fine but it will show us in what ever way it can when we have moved away from being the loving caring precious women and men that innately are within us all.
I love how you remind us that harmony is our nature. Anything but calls for attention, and our body commands it.
When we live in dis-eases we end up living with a disease, our bodies are made out of harmonious particles which communicate, thrive and grow from the energy of the Soul. When we prohibit this communication, the disease from our bodies is evident.
The more we honour what our body is communicating to us from the get-go, the more we do live in greater harmony, well-being, vitality and settlement. Living guided by the truth of our body we are essentially living in greater connection to our essence, impulsed by our Soulful light. Developing a loving and caring relationship with my body, which has changed my life and my general state of well-being, and deepening my relationship with The Way of The Livingness has been and continues to be inspired by the Universal Medicine, the living way of Serge Benhayon and the light of my Soul.
Stop moments are for us to appreciate so much how life and our body truly love us.
Sick days allow us to appreciate all the other days when we are well.
I love this….a powerful turn-around from feeling sorry for ourselves and, focussing on the pain and everything that is ‘wrong’.
Looking at illness as a message to review the way we are living makes so much sense.
Making self care normal and part of our everyday can be hard to comprehend. At the end of a fourteen hour shift, and obviously tired, I recommended to a nurse to take an Epsom salt bath when she got home to support her body. The next day she came in looking rested, thanked me and said she had only ever considered taking an Epsom salt bath after participating in challenge event or something similar. And yet her working day on her feet constantly, administering medication, responding to patient needs and sudden medical emergencies is a daily challenge and wears the body. It’s important to build into our daily routine space to nurture and support our body.
“Just as nature continually evolves, so too do our bodies…” Our bodies want to constantly expand- how much we accept this expansion gets reflected in our choices in life. The moment we choose reaction we are already out of the expansiveness that is otherwise on offer. Writing this comment a little rabbit appeared on the field in front of me. To watch that animal and register it was a beautiful stop to tune into my quality of being. How often do we allow these moments during a day, even when nothing is appearing on the outside?
Yes my body is tired and is telling me that the way I am being at the moment is stressful and am too much in anxious energy. A pertinent reminder to read today, thank you.
There is a really interesting point here about how what serves us one day, may not the next. Our bodies are constantly changing, evolving… do we keep trying to get away with the same we were living before, or do we respond to the new level being offered?
Great point Simon- it requires a constant reviewing of our choices all of the time. The moment we use something that worked in the past it can be a way of keeping us plateauing in our evolution. Because it would actually work like a reduction instead of an uplift that would otherwise occur by checking in, what is needed now and in what details.
Yes this is so true Simon and Stefanie. Something that once was evolutionary for us can become a comfort if we don’t continue to move and respond with the adjustments needed, that are being called for in line with the next level being offered.
Sounds like a ‘sick day’ full of purpose and true responsibility Gina!. If it were not for illness and disease as the body’s way of communicating to us our wayward behaviours that caused it, we would truly be lost as a humanity.
I love your honesty when you felt you were irresponsible when you were calling in sick again, not for calling in sick but for why you got ill again. We can think illness and disease come over us and not look at our own contribution to getting ill. There is much in how we are living that can make us ill. Food and drink are one but there is also how we think about ourselves, how stressed we are, if we take things on or make things personal and so on. And by working on these we can work towards more health and well-being. This would make such a change to our workplaces.
Getting used to viewing life as energy first and then the outplay of that energy in our every day lives brings so much understanding and allows us to look at what is happening rather than getting caught up in the drama with our reactions and emotions running the show.
Rest and recovery and of course stopping to read what led to the illness are markers that support our rate and level of healing.
Learning that every choice I make has an impact on my body has been huge. I used to think that I was connected to my body, but as I started to make different choices around food, drink, activities etc, I started to feel a bit more deeply, and realise that I was living pretty much from my head all of the time, thinking I was connected to my body but not really feeling anything. Starting with simple things, like paying attention to how my feet felt on the ground, how different foods made me feel, and associating choices with feelings, has supported me to start to let go of the unsupportive choices – and with that, feel a greater steadiness and consistency.
Our bodies are amazing in what they show us and it’s up to us to track back and understand that being stressed for example has an impact and rather than continually wearing that impact which our bodies do, we can find new ways to live. This is our very own feedback loop.
So true that there are lots of ‘stop’ moments in our day where we bump into something, knock something over, or just feel more deeply in our bodies and realise that we’re not at all still but feeling quite hyped up. All signs that we’re not aligning to our true nature – that we are making decisions that are putting us out of sync with the harmonious flow of the universe that our bodies are designed to be part of.
I love what you are sharing here Gina and it is very refreshing to hear someone write about illness in this way because so often we can just assume that it is random or an accident or it just happens to us but to go deeper and really consider the why we got sick and what was our part in it seems to me to be a great step to take in life.
We become our own ‘physician’ (and can give a lot more information to our GP or practitioner), when we become a student of our body and therefore our way of living. Suddenly we realise that we have been holding all the cards all the time – life is not happening to us, we are choosing it.
It really does pay to pause and reflect on what we have allowed into our lives that does not support us. When we feel exhausted, stressed, anxious or any emotion felt within the body, where we have responded with reaction of some sort, we have said yes to an energy that abuses the body.
Gina, illness is a dialogue between our bodies and ourselves and you listened. I love that you looked deeper into the cause of your sickness and did something about it. Too often, we feel unwell, accept it, treat symptoms but go no further. You show the value of taking responsibility for our own health, seeking support from practitioners and people around us
I loved how you acknowledged to yourself that you had been living irresponsibly due to the behaviours you had used that did not support your body, it is when we are honest with ourselves that we realise that we need to take responsibility for the choices we make, and how we can change those choices to better support us.
Whether we like it or not the fact is we as humanity have been living in huge irresponsibility – not occasionally but all the time. The sooner we are honest and admit this as you do Gina the sooner we can live what is true.
“Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.” One day, humanity will be more willing to accept this as truth, and we will have a very different view of illness and disease. We would have more respect for the way we are living knowing it contributes to whether we are healthy or not. I have recently broken my wrist which is a big stop moment, and where as before I would have seen it as inconvenient blip in my life and get frustrated with how it is limiting everything I do, I now appreciate what my wrist is offering me and where in my life I need to go deeper with my connection to God.
Absolutely Alison, there are no accidents, all orchestrated to make us more aware of how we’re living. Your willingness to receive the wisdom offered by your wrist confirms your evolving relationship with your body.
It is very revealing to understand that often the quality that we are working in and living in in life is the very thing that is draining and overwhelming us.
Yes it is easy to blame work or life’s challenges for our stress or exhaustion but I know for me that gets me nowhere in terms of getting to the answers as to how to change anything. Only when I look at the quality I am living in and my relationship with life and its components does anything really shift or change.
Jenny agreed, the way I feel at the end of the day and then how I wake up the following day is 100% down to the care and quality that I’ve taken with how I’ve been living and working.
Love this Jennym “the quality that we are working in and living in in life is the very thing that is draining and overwhelming us’. This should be at the heart of education for all of us. it is not about what is going on ‘out there’ but what goes on ‘ inside’ ourselves.
This is so true, I’ve been doing a little experiment with myself while at work and it goes like this. Saying no to any judgment thoughts that come in and replacing them with appreciation. What I have found is that I have more energy after work, I enjoy being at work and look forward to going in again the next day. It just goes to show how negative thoughts can drain us.
Positive thoughts can also drain us when their origin is not true. ‘Positive affirmations’ come from a form of energy that does not have it’s roots in truth, they come from the pranic consciousness, which is a consciousness that is hellbent in keeping humanity from the truth and it does it in the most cunning of ways. Positive affirmations are a prime example of that, who would doubt that something so positive could be harmful but buyer beware it is the impulsing energy that dictates whether something is of true benefit or not and nothing else.
I feel surrender is key when I am feeling unwell, no judgment, no reaction, just allowing myself to enjoy this space to reflect and rejuvenate is the best medicine I can give to my body.
Sometimes when I used to be sick I found it super hard to do nothing and just rest. But now I know and can feel the difference when you do simply let go and surrender to what is coming up to clear, be reflective and honest as to why it is and not resist it. When we do this then what ever the condition it can clear quicker.
Gina, it is interesting to read about how nature works harmoniously and yet as human beings we do not, this is a great question; ‘What had I been doing that meant I had a body that wasn’t functioning to the best of its ability and was quite frankly feeling run down and exhausted?’ It reminds that it is natural for us to feel vital and joyful and if we do not then it is important to look at our choices and how we are living.
Imagine if work places supported people to look at the quality in which they work and live to address the ever increasing absenteeism and lack of presence when they are at work.
Having the willingness to look at why you got sick, and then to take deep care of yourself and seek support from someone who could support you to unravel your behaviours up until you became ill is a complete turn around to how most people would view their illness. Your message here is a very clear one about the responsibility we have to take true care of our bodies so that getting sick becomes a rare thing, and when it does happen we take the opportunity to look more deeply at the reason why, and what we can do to prevent it happening again.
When I moved back to Japan and found out that when you take a day off sick it would be deducted from your annual leave I was shocked and angry that the company would not even allow the employee time to take care of themselves when they were sick. One of my colleague asked what it was like when I lived in England and they found it hard to believe that I didn’t lose my annual leave for taking days off sick and I took it as my entitlement, and they questioned how unfair it was that those who were clearly being less responsible in taking care of themselves were given those ‘privileges’ to take days off just because they were not feeling well when there was much they could have done to prevent those situations to occur in the first place. I may not quite agree with what they refer to as ‘self-care’ but they clearly had a point. And your sharing reminds me that there is a relationship to be built with the body we live in, and it is not about managing or finding a mid-point where we can compromise, but it is a constant deepening and surrendering.
For most of my life i would see being sick as a burden, it was not my fault – yet what I love in what you share is that it confirms to me how my life has changed because I have changed in it. I’ve gone from not taking any responsibility to embracing whatever life is showing me to grow and heal and evolve.
Going for a walk when we are consciously present with ourselves is a very healing thing to do. It can bring us back to knowing what is true for us.
Feeling our irresponsibility is the responsible thing to do. For it is only from this that we register what we need to change and make true. Pushing on allows us to fix and solve but not address the disregard that was there from the start. Thank you Gina for this sick note love letter straight from your heart.
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” The message is gradually being more widely accepted of how lifestyle choices have a direct and revealing effect on our physical body.
There’s so much love and awareness on offer for us when we allow ourselves the space to surrender to what the illness is communicating to us.
‘Love and awareness’ what a beautiful combination. Love leads to awareness and awareness leads to love, what a powerful combination.
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” I like that, viewing illness as a dialogue with our body instead of the usual thing of blaming our body for letting us down. When we do this it can expose areas of our life where we are not living lovingly. The key is to be totally honest in our dialogue or we will not get to the root cause of what caused the illness to show in our body.
We belong to a universal order that is governed by certain laws and rhythms that ensure that every piece and particle sings in harmony with the whole it is a part of. The moment there is discordance, a note will sound to alert us that we have deviated from this union. That is, the dis-ease will be made manifest so that steps can be taken to bring the unit of expression (in this case, our bodies) back in sync with the universal whole – the flow of life – it belongs to.
The trouble begins when we no longer see the bigger picture and therefore start operating as tiny individual units that live in seeming separation to each other and the universe we live within (and that lives within us). This is where the ‘bang’ and the ‘collision’ begins, shortly following by various forms of unrest such as ill health, misery, aggression war and the like. Thus, our path back to true health and harmony comes via taking responsibility for the part we play in the grand scheme of things and understanding that our every move (expression) matters.
We always have to read and discern every situation. There is a strong tendency to judge ourselves and others when we get sick but it is always a healing and judgement is never called for. Sometimes it is a message of something we need to correct and sometimes it is a release because we are doing great.
Great sharing Gina, it is so easy for us to overdo things not listening to our body when it is already asking us to rest, we can learn so much from feeling into what our body is telling us, even if we have to back track to feel into what choices we made in the first place, and we learn to make different choices moving forward.
To be able to understand and accept that any illness or disease ultimately comes down to our own lack of responsibility of how we live and take care of ourselves, is a huge step towards our own self healing process.
I love the way you talk about our bodies being a part of nature and that because of this fact they are naturally harmonious. Yes our choices can let us down and take us away from this harmony. Some great points here. Thank you.
It is ironic that we feel guilty when we make a self-loving choice, such as taking a day off when we are sick.
It is so glorious to listen to the body.
It is a huge wake up call when we are stopped by illness and injury depending if we want to stop and listen or simply wait for the symptoms to go.
This is a very useful link between how nature is and ‘us’ being a part of that nature and the choices we make within it. We, as human beings consider ourselves to be above or separate from everything else and yet more and more we are seeing the connection. A connection that was never lost because truly you can’t lose something that is intrinsically always there. We see nature as doing one thing and us being able to virtually do what we choose. But as we are seeing and saying we are nature, it’s one and the same deal as we all return back to the same place as our physical body shows. So we spend a lot of time and energy walking away from something that we can’t truly walk away from, all to prove that we can make it appear as though we can walk away, confused? Let’s keep the awareness growing of how and who we truly are as there is more to this all than currently meets the eye.
I am reading this, at home on a sick day myself Gina. At first I was down on myself for being ill and thought I had better just stay locked up at home. But then I felt what was needed was to get some support – and now after receiving some healing care from a friend my body feels so much more at ease and ready to rest. When we get ill our body is communicating something vital, so it’s important we don’t override or shut down from being open to hearing what it’s got to say, whatever the way or language that it speaks. Otherwise another year, another day we’ll be affected in just the same way. The offering is there for us to learn from, if we care to.
There is so much to learn about the human body, it is the most fascinating study because as we go deeper in to our general understanding of it, it opens up to us the truths of the universe.
The body is constantly communicating and facing my irresponsibility hasn’t been the big drama I make it to be when trying to ignore or avoid it. Facing my irresponsibility also allows me to see and feel my responsibility which feels very freeing.
It is great to rest and take care of ourselves when we get sick, but it is also important and wise to reflect back and see if how we have been living could have been a contributing factor to why we actually did get sick.
What I find interesting reflecting on ‘sick days’ is that we have a commonly known phenomenon of ‘taking a sickie’, which is done with the attitude of ‘well I haven’t been sick for a while so I’m just gonna take a sickie because it’s owed to me’! The interesting part is how far away from responsibility we have gone if we think it’s ok to do this even when we are not sick.
It is crazy that we grow up in almost ignorance to the fact our bodies communicate to us when it is undeniable that they do. It is such a shame we are not taught this from when we are young so that we learn to listen and honour the messages we are given around the choices we are making. It is a divine gift to be shown so clearly how our movements through life may not be supporting us to flourish so that we can then chose to change them… for ignorance only serves to perpetuate irresponsible choices.
The key is to keep learning, which you capture beautifully in the last paragraph of this blog.
Currently I employ about 25 staff and of course I factor in that people will and do get sick, what is interesting is how often. Recently we had a major “bug” going around and it felt like everyone was sick, most people were unable to work for a week. I had to cover lots of shifts and ended up doing three weeks in a row working 6 shifts, I did not get sick and still have not got sick. It’s not that getting sick is a negative thing, as it is actually an amazing way to release things that may be stored in our body but we have to ask ourselves if we are getting sick 4 or 5 times a year, how might we be living that may be affecting this number. This level of responsibility I picked up from Universal Medicine presentations.
The body is a very willing and ever-ready communication platform, sending signals all the time – the more we tune in, the deeper we can go and if possible, the more vital and joyful our life can be. Or, if a return to health is no longer possible, the more accepting, insightful and at ease we can be.
How we choose to live each day accumulates and just as indulging in alcohol at night can affect us the next morning, day after day of rushing builds in the body and affects it to. Every day it is our choice or not to living lovingly supporting our body.
Love this blog and the connection between feeling our irresponsibility when we get sick (as I sit here with a slight background headache). It gives us the opportunity to stop and trace back our actions that have led to this point in time when we are feeling rough, and maybe a little sorry for ourselves, but none the less presented with the realisation that our choices have not been loving. At the end of the day it all comes back to us and our choices, no matter what the illness.
I love that you connect being sick with our irresponsibility – perhaps this is why so many people do not call in sick when they need to because deep down we know what happens in our body and how this affects our work is our responsibility.
So wisely shared Gina – thank you. There is a natural order of the universe that when aligned to reflects the harmony of oneness which is seen as vitality and well-being, as is the case and what we witness in nature. Our bodies are constituted from universal components that are obedient to a natural order, and when we choose to move in a way that is in opposition to that order, through the choices we make, what transpires in our bodies is illness and dis-ease, as such the truth of our choices are reflected to us. Through our willingness to develop a greater degree of connection to our body and being we then begin to understand and realise that there is a great degree of awareness and harmony we can be living with, enriching our lives with a greater degree of love, truth and wisdom.
Harmony is the body’s language and no organ or body system would ever try to dominate; but we can run the body so, put an extra load on the liver for example through the way we are living which then reflects as disharmony in the body.
This blog opened up a whole new awareness to what I feel when I become sick. I only just clocked that I too feel my irresponsibility when I’m sick. Responsibility shows up in every aspect of our life. It just shows there is no area where it is not needed, and no area that is not effected by our lack of it or our embracing of it.
It’s about perspective. When there is illness we can view this as a communication or a stop moment to take stock of what has been the driving forces behind all our actions and behaviours. This is the body’s way of keeping us on track, of letting us know that we are loved and that we are in fact love itself.
A timely read for me as I head home an hour early due to feeling unwell. It’s great to recognise the irresponsibility at play here – observing it but not feeling critical of myself. I just feel very deeply that I do not want to continue on this merry-go-round and I’m being given a stop moment to have the opportunity to really feel this.
‘I have deepened my awareness and acceptance of this inner wisdom and knowing and have brought this to all areas of my life.’ Bringing this wisdom to all areas of our lives is the key to the joy and inner confidence of which you speak. It is all too common to live with parts of our lives going really well and others really not well at all and think we are doing ok …which of course we are, but life is so much more than feeling ok, so it is well worth bringing our attention to how we are living and caring for ourselves which is the foundation for everything else that follows.
Many people feel guilty when taking a sick day and feel the need to push through whatever is happening in their bodies. This then compounds the problem causing more illness and disease. To be self nurturing and loving allows our bodies to heal.
And lots of people don’t feel guilty at all. When I first came to Australia from England I was shocked to find that many people regard sick leave as additional recreational leave and make a point of using it all up every year. Interesting isn’t it how our beliefs shape our behaviour. One thing, sick leave, and yet two very different behaviours around it. Some people feel so guilty taking it that they crawl into work on their death beds and yet others can relax and enjoy a day of fishing whilst ‘off sick’.
There is definitely a connection between behaviours and illness. I have observed this in my own life and with other people as well. Illness and disease are an opportunity for us to look at how we are living and change it.
Once we start to reconnect to our body’s communication for what supports and nurtures its true state of being, then a vibrancy comes alive, alighting from within, and even though we may yet be clearing health conditions from the past, we can still live with a true vitality and wellbeing and joy in life.
It is a bit of a revelation once we start becoming more honest with ourselves, just how much we make choices, seemingly subconscious but in fact not, to sabotage ourselves, allow ourselves to run down, get into nervous energy raciness, stay up late, watch bad films rather than go to bed, and the many many other little factors that all add up to us running a way sub-optimal version of ourselves, and then struggle to cope with the life we have created. Starting with the honesty we can then discover the true self-empowerment that comes with acknowledging these false saboteurs and let them go to allow the life we are able to truly live.
super Gina, once we realise our situation is fully a result of the choices we have made leading up to that point, we have the option to take responsibility to understand how and why we have made those choices and to restore ourselves to the wholeness and truth that we are from. The trap is in the process to start feeling critical, ashamed or judgemental of those choices, but that is just another way to keep us from discarding all that is not of truth to allow ourselves to re-know who we truly are in full.
The direct way to a speedy recovery is to open to the understanding that we play a part in everything happening in our body. Just a few moments where we stop and hear what the body is saying to us through the symptoms we are experiencing is all it takes. It is this relationship with our body and working relationship with our practitioner that will allow the many levels of healing available to us.
Beautiful to feel how deeply you were able to connect to your body, and honour it in taking time to rest and recover from your choices, when we choose to acknowledge and observe how we have been living is a reflection of how our body feels, it gives us the opportunity to make more loving choices that support ourselves, our body, and from there all those around us.
It ought to be a really natural thing for us to rest when we are ill yet most people resist it. I know I did until I learned to valve myself more than what task I had to do that day/week etc. Our valve is there at the start of the day and is not gained by what we do.
The rest also comes into play when we add that one more extra job at the end of the day that doesn’t seem like a big deal but plays out loud and clear with the body and the push for completion that is shown through levels of depletion.
Your blog beautifully describes the oneness we all come from, and how nature beautifully reflects this back to us.
‘Our bodies are ideally designed to live in harmony and unison with our environment,…’ This I feel we often forget. So when something is up, or what we like to think of as wrong with our bodies, it’s important that we ask more questions of ourselves as to why and how we got to this point, because when living in harmony with our environment, there is no reason for all the ills.
A topic that would be worth being explored by every business in the world – living with making more responsible choices would lessen global sickness levels dramatically.
A great article, Gina, exploring illness as a dialogue with the body is such a revolutionary and refreshing perspective… And certainly one that needs to be put forward further in our society.
Having a two way dialogue feels much more supportive than a one way punishment or an affect from outside ourselves that we cannot control, change or have a say in its effects.
What you have expressed here Gina is beautiful and a wonderful lesson for us all, thank you for sharing your inspirational story;
“I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day”.
We are part of a supreme order and rhythm that is pure divinity and as such we are continually impulsed by this intelligence to move in accord with all that it sets in place. All animals and life forms on this earth, bar the human being, respond accordingly to this call. And yet here we stand, championing ourselves as the superior life form yet behaving in a completely reckless and wayward way with no respect to the universal order and harmony we are a part of but choosing to move in discordance to. For as long as we have this disobedience, we will have illness and disease in our bodies along with the many reflections from nature that continually serve to call us back to a truth we have departed from.
The last couple of times I have been ill and needed to take time off work have been amazing in that they do allow for those stop moments where I can be with these messages from the body. It makes that time being ill less emotional and reactive, time wise I heal quicker and if it’s a recurring illness I have found over the years the build up is much more acute. None of this would have been possible without the support of Universal Medicine and today I can say thank you to my body when it does get ill. In todays world that’s unheard of to have a healthy relationship with illness and disease.
Yes this is so true Gina, our bodies do evolve and it is our responsibility to continue to feel into what our bodies are doing, how they let us know where we are at. That illness and disease is a way our bodies share with us our choices.
Our bodies are the holders of truth as they naturally correspond to the grander whole they are connected with. It is only through our wayward mind that we can force our bodies to do differently and with that cause illness and disease in it as its way of clearing that which does not belong. Very simply actually but not understood by many.
A sick day is no different to a day at home where we can easily convince ourselves of all the jobs that need to be done when the body is speaking volumes to rest and reboot. The quality in our movements is what we reflect to others and this comes with responsibility to care and nurture all the way!
Sometimes we will stop everything to help a relative or friend and yet we don’t allow ourselves that same stop to look after ourselves. What I have found is that if I have stop moments during the day it is like I am putting myself on charge, like my phone, and fully charged and yet deeply rested I can start again, resuming a greater and more supportive quality than that I had allowed myself to drop to in my busyness.
There is a lot of guilt associated with taking a day off sick. I know I have felt it many times in the past. If I was off sick I would be catching up with work from my bed and still operating in the drive that got me there. These days I allow myself to rest and the guilt feelings are much less, however not totally gone. As I type, the word ‘shame’ also comes up, since I have associated being ill with being a failure, not being able to hack it etc.
How many of us have lived, or are living, with a body that is “functioning to the best of its ability and was (is) quite frankly feeling run down and exhausted?” I know that this is the way I lived for much of my life eventually coming to a place where I believed it was normal as that is how most people around me were living too. These days I know that to live (exist) like this is anything but normal, that my body when well cared for and respected for the amazing vehicle it is, will naturally be vital and healthy, and an absolute joy to live in.
That’s the trouble with reflection isn’t it Ingrid, when everyone around us is reflecting the same thing i.e general ill health and fatigue then we don’t question it. It’s often only when we are given the reflection of something different that we start to question things. And I have to say that Serge Benhayon castes such a contrasting reflection that his reflection alone is enough to shake many of us out of our self imposed slumbers. It really is time to wake up, we’ve been slumped over in an almost unconscious state for way, way too long.
” Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.” Yet so often we do not listen to our body, and certainly dont seem to be taught this by parents and educators. Instead we ‘battle on’. ignoring minor ailments until we get a major problem – and then wonder why.
I recently took my first sick day off of work ever – and after getting over the whole ‘they need me there/I’m being irresponsible’ thing, I was able to really look after myself. I slept, I had a bath, I ate supportive foods, I was in bed early and I genuinely looked after myself in a loving way. The question I ask myself now, when I’m feeling better, is why don’t I treat myself like that all the time?
How beautiful and amazing is this, ‘Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.’
“… these emotions and intakes use up energy we require to function…” – not only take they up energy we otherwise would have available as vitality but we are also consuming ‘ill’ energy while taking in emotions or intakes as they all come with an energy that is disharmonious to our natural makeup, so it is a double whammy.
The ‘ancient understandings of the science of life’ as presented by Universal Medicine and our body are an invaluable treasure that should be known by everyone and actually is naturally known by everyone but it is not necessarily in our awareness due to the disharmony we have chosen to live by; disharmony meaning we are not in line with or aligned to the inner knowing. Nature gives us a reflection of what equally lives inside, the natural harmonious rhythms of all parts as one whole, listening to the body is the key to access ‘nature’ within.
There is great truth in what you share Gina. We are designed to be in harmony with nature and not fight against this flow. We are the only species on this planet that override the signals from our physical form, which basically means, we are the only species on this planet that attacks ourselves. Therefore, it is a convenient blindness that makes us then think we are the ‘most evolved’ species. In order to remove this blindfold we need to return to the basics and truly care for this physical form. This means we need to listen to the signals it is receiving from its environment and the subsequent messages it passes on that alert us very specifically as to the degree we have fallen out of sync with the rhythm of the Universe we are held by. I am also learning through the presentations of Universal Medicine that the greatest cure for dis-ease is to learn to live with ease amongst the ceaseless motion we live within. Now that is truly universal medicine, for it is what will help us all return to the great love we in-truth are.
Beautiful Gina. When we take responsibility for our own health and how we treat ourselves then we are less likely to have to take time off work where others have to take responsibility for our share of the work.
I have the feeling that nature is indeed harmonious, but had not clocked the level of ‘flourishing’ activity within it. It’s true, there is rarely injured animals or the like on my walks, sure there is the odd squashed bunny on the road, but other than that there is indeed a flourishing movement. This is a beautiful reflection of the harmony humans could be living in.
Thank you Gina for sharing . Our bodies are so awesome and intelligent and we have barely scratched the surface of what is there. I agree that harmony is the key to optimum health and wellbeing.
Boy oh boy Gina – you learned a huge amount! A lesson well learned and beautifully shared.
Just like nature has a purpose so to does the human body. Nature and the animal kingdom operate under a pulse. So, what is impulsing our body or more precisely impulsing our thoughts to act in a behavior that can cause dis-ease?
Unlike nature we load ourselves up with emotions and stress thoughts and concerns. This is true Gina this is our downfall as human beings and it affects us much more than we realise. This is one of the primary why we become sick and it was great you were able to make the connection between how you had been while at and your recent days off.
What a great blog Gina, the nervous energy can be so familiar that it feels completely normal until something happens and we can reassess. “How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” it is indeed completely wondrous.
Our bodies will always let us know what they need. It is our responsibility to listen and respond in a loving and nurturing way. I am learning this more every day as I battle the arrogance of my spirit telling me otherwise. When I come back to myself I feel the true message from my body.
Beautiful Gina, a wonderful example of what it means to evolve. It would be so easy to continue with the same pattern, using ‘sick days’ or other days off to manage yourself and the way you end up feeling, rather than deal with the reason you are feeling that way intermittently to begin with. And clearly everyone gets a better version of you every single day as a result.
“However, unlike nature, we can load ourselves up with active thoughts, emotions, concerns, stress, over excitement, or consume food and drinks which don’t support us – these emotions and intakes use up energy we require to function – and more often than not, we ‘run out’ of energy.”
Gina, this is something for us all to consider, from the perspective of our body and what it needs to support it to live, work and enjoy life. Not from us wanting to checkout, disregard, satisfy or pleasure ourselves. Each way of living makes a huge impact on our health and vitality. When living responsibly, our body regenerates, becomes tender and our vitality is most often enhanced. When living to satisfy or pleasure, our bodies suffer the consequences of such choices that see the body feeling stressed, emotional and exhausted.
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” Something to deeply appreciate rather than become frustrated by.
As you say it is irresponsible not to listen to the messages our bodies give us and there are consequences when we consistently do not listen. There is also a healthy way to live that means we do not put our bodies under the stress of having to give us so many warnings in the first place. That way is called The Way of The Livingness.
Yes, indeed our bodies have a lot to say and it is very valuable and important to listen to them.
Sometimes, when I am very loving and caring of myself, an illness comes on to take my body to a deeper level of sensitivity, so I can evolve to a deeper level of responsibility. In other words, the illness is not a reflection of doing anything wrong. Whether this be the case or that which Gina is offering that the illness is an indication of lack of self care, there is the same deepening connection to oneself and this is a great way to understand and work with illness rather than seeing it as an incumbrance.
I know this to be true too. So often I have gone into fight mode to try and rectify the symptoms, but I am getting much better at surrendering to what is being shown to me and allowing myself the space to go deeper.
This is such a powerful statement “So instead of seeking perfection in another, how about we appreciate and value each other, tenderly nurturing each of our strengths and qualities so we can learn from each other and be inspired by the people around us – our own family members. The more you appreciate and value yourself and each other, the more love grows.” Understanding and appreciation are such powerful qualities to share.
I love the sense of humility you convey Gina in the way you sign yourself off as a ‘Forever Student’. There is no perfection and there is always another level of awareness to open up to and I can feel your joy in acknowledging this and accepting it, knowing each new day will present a deeper connection if we choose it. Thank you for sharing this here.
The more I am able to connect to and to listen to the communication through my body, the greater depths I become aware of. It feels like there is an endlessness to this communication – which for someone who at one time felt reluctant to say ‘boo to a goose’ feels like a miracle. There is a definite sense that this communication comes through the body rather than is me or mine. It is an ever-present flow – just so long as we remain connected to it.
I love the use of the word wondrous to describe the way our bodies ‘speak’ to us. There is a feeling of wonderment in the communication that takes place once we are open to it – and being open reveals to us how we have been shutting our ‘ears’ off to this communication all our lives. It is a beautiful thing to reconnect to.
I know that ‘buzz of nervous energy’ so well Gina Dunlop and used to buy into the belief that it was necessary to get myself going and be productive throughout the day. But in that state I was – and still do when I allow it – get into rushing and not being present with what I am doing and hence make many more mistakes than I would otherwise. The quality of my work when I am in nervous energy suffers a great deal – and at the end of the day I simply feel exhausted. Ultimately, living this way is a state of dis-ease as you say.
As someone who has struggled to take time off work when I have been unwell I can really relate to what you have written Gina. It is taking time but slowly I am changing many unloving habits, especially related to how I operate at work where I have particularly applied a ‘push on through’ mentality. Our bodies put up with a huge amount but these days I am wanting to take my body into consideration in everything I do and I know it has helped to ease the burden enormously.
Hi gina I know u personally I never knew u had such a calming blog … I lov
Thank you Gina, your blog is a beautiful reminder to address any issues with our health before they get out of hand. Taking responsibility in this way is key to self-care and allows us to make more loving choices that supports not only ourselves, but everyone around us as well.
Love this blog Gina – Imagine if we were all energetically held to account for our sick days! I personally feel this would be fantastic as you have shown that taking responsibility allows us to connect to ourselves and live with true vitality.
Thank you Gina, I really enjoyed reading your blog again, after living a life time in push and drive energy, it has taken time for me to stop thinking how I feel, to actually feel what my body is feeling, and to take the time to observe the choices that I have made that led to my illness and then choose a more loving way of being, I am feeling much more respect in how i am treating my body.
I have also recently found myself very much immersed in the requirements of my job around me at the expense of the lived quality from inside me. Although I knew what was happening I had started to bite nails and fingers and just put it down to pressure and stress. It took a moment in which I was offered a true reflection of what was happening to realise that I was in a huge amount of self-harm in the choices I was making and way I was living. A huge thank you to that loving reflection, a constant guiding light.
I have always found it challenging to take time off from work if I am sick, and have rushed myself to get better so that I could get back to work sooner, only to find that this does not work and my body tells me in no uncertain terms that it has its own way of healing and knows what is needed for a full recovery. It seems to me that if we don’t listen to our bodies then it has no other choice than to clear itself in whatever means necessary, either by a common cold or something more serious.
Our bodies are always there, letting us know exactly what is going on in the extraordinary microcosm of a universe that is our bodies, and as we bring harmony and awareness into this relationship, it is from here then it is possible for humanity to take its place in the universe and reflect the harmony that is within everywhere else except on this planet of ours at the moment.
I love the way our bodies communicate so clearly with and show us in no uncertain terms when we are harming ourselves. That illness is a healing is a truth I have no doubt over. The take-home message for me reading this today is repeating illnesses = irresponsibility – the irresponsibility and arrogance of ignoring what we are being told by our body.
‘… our bodies become dis-eased which, over time, leads to disease. The ease we should be living with is disrupted.’ If we all listened to our bodies and understood disease as our body telling us that we have been making choices that disrupt our ease of living, then the world would be a very different place.
Thank you Gina for sharing your experience, how wonderfully wise are our bodies in the wisdom they are continually imparting to us, giving us the opportunity to heal, if we just listen.
taking the time to feel, to connect with our bodies actually are,… sounds really simple but the simplicity belies what this actually means because if we do take the time to connect, then our body is like the ultimate textbook and tells us exactly what needs to be done and when to do it.
So true, and it is awesome to be reminded that the nature all around us reflect the same beauty and harmony our body is made of. It has the innate intelligence to keep rejuvenating and regenerating itself given the right circumstances, and it is our choices that would be the determining factor. I have not been feeling very well for the last few days, and I was feeling my irresponsibility as well and your blog has given me a stop moment that was so needed. Thank you.
If you had gone to work Gina you probably wouldn’t have been very productive and you would not have developed a deeper awareness of where your body was at
‘How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.’ It is indeed beautiful how our bodies give back to us what is not our true nature. Just like you Gina, I have always known this but Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine practitioners have brought the love back in; to look at illness and disease with love and without the judgement I had before. And this is crucial in the healing our body is giving us in this dialogue.
Gina I do wonder that if we all reflected and appreciated illness and disease for what it offers us then whilst there would be a short term rise in sick days they would then drop off and the entire companies health would be far stronger. As you say “Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.”
Getting sick at work always puts me in a great internal debate whether to continue or to stop and rest. Do I drop everything and rest with the fear of being labeled as slack or a drama queen. Or do I push on? We are totally responsible for how we feel and how we feel is a reflection of the way we live.
It is interesting how we consider sick days. Some people, for example, will take a sick day even when they are not sick and then others won’t take a sick day when they are actually sick. Perhaps if we had a greater understanding of what our body is telling us when we are sick and the opportunity for healing that is offered to us, we would have a different attitude to sick days.
What particularly struck me when rereading your blog Gina was that we are totally responsible for how we feel and how we feel is a reflection of the way we live; our layers of choices. This can be quite daunting but also very freeing; I’ll go for the freeing!
Well said cjames 2012- I didn’t know what true rest meant until I learnt the gentle breath meditation which meant focusing and reconnecting within, and esoteric yoga which I have found has allowed me to deepen my connection and feel the momentum that I have been in.
Learning to rest in general is now something that eludes people… When there are so many distractions that we can indulge in and kid ourselves that we are resting, when we are actually not, because our nervous system is not getting a chance to sink and recharge. True rest is invaluable and enables us to be who we truly are during the day.
I agree cjames2012. Most people simply do not know how to rest. No wonder they have difficulty then when it comes to taking the rest needed when they are ill or post surgery.
Yes I agree Anne a dialogue with our body that is, as we start to deepen our relationship, one that is so giving, fruitful and wise.
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.”
Since I began listening to the dialog of my body, as you do, it has thanked me manyfold and I am beginning to enjoy the conversation more too as it doesnt have to shout so loudly any more!
I have had this experience too Gill. Having a day off which is unexpected opens up real space for us to stop and choose what we feel to do at that moment. This may be to simply have a day of self-nurturing or there could be more activity. I have found that, on days like this, even when I have been more active with typical ‘jobs’ I have enjoyed this just as much, with a real sense of freedom in doing them, free from obligation.
Getting sick is a great stop moment for us to have a look at our choices and what is needing to clear through our bodies. I don’t like being sick, but I have come to appreciate that it is a healing in itself.
Maybe we should rename ” sick day” perhaps we would see it in a different light without feeling guilty . How about a “day of Healing” or self nurture, not a day off, but one where we do spend the time nurturing ourselves as Gina has shared with us. Thank you for a loving sharing Gina.
I agree Roslyn, having a sick day does seem to bring up the beliefs that we have failed in some way, and it is viewed like that from our places of work. I’m ok taking the odd day off sick but really struggle when I get something which requires a week or two off – there is this pressure and added awareness that people are waiting and expecting you to come back to work. How many of us go back to work too soon, before we are fully healed. Maybe like you say if we renamed the time off sick to ‘day of Healing’ or ‘period of Healing’, the way we look at taking the time off would change.
It is inspiring how you took the sick day and reviewed what was going on for you that was not supporting you as well and how this led to ongoing support for yourself. Being ill can be what choices are being made presently, but also a letting go or clearing of old choices. In reading the situation it seems important to keep this in mind and both can lead to appreciating where we are at in our relationship with our bodies.
It’s so important to take a moment to appreciate that we can have this deepening relationship with our bodies – or a relationship with our bodies at all. Most people on this planet are not empowered to have this kind of relationship with themselves as subjective ‘feeling’ is not appreciated for the power and wisdom it is. We each have innate inner wisdom that speaks very loudly, and is there to assist us always. It is hugely empowering to connect to the simplicity of this, and to confirm to people that they do feel, and this should not be discounted.
So true. It is stunning how much easier and simple it is to listen to our inner wisdom. Suddenly we will realise, that we do not have to look on the outside for answers, but that deep down in our body we already know everything there is to know for any situation that we might meet in life.
I have taken two days off work this week as I had the flu and a very sore throat. For me it felt lovely that I did this, I can’t remember the last time I called in sick, but the support I have given my body and to just be with myself at home felt very loving. I did not go into “oh I should be at work” nor was I hard on myself. Then I also got my period and this came as always at exactly the right time!
I had for several weeks been noticing the restriction in movement of my left hip and a slight ache sometimes when I moved. After a Connective Tissue Therapy session I was amazed at how free it felt and how easy it was to do the movements that had otherwise been impossible. Such a simple technique, but with such far reaching effect.
Gina what is inspiring about your post is the fact that you took responsibility for why you become sick and worked on building a more loving and caring way of being around work and others areas of your life. This is vastly different from people who are stuck in a pattern of “getting sick” yet don’t know where, or choose not to look at why this is occurring. We accept sickness as normal and fight it, rather than appreciate the signs it’s sharing with us.
If I don’t listen to the early signs that my body communicates to me, I get sick. With the Universal Medicine courses I started to think further: if I am not well-known for my glory across the borders, I have not listened to the communication that the Universe has offered me.
“To view illness as a dialogue”. I love this little phrase and it has really helped me be so much more aware of my body and what it presents to me. What is my body saying and am I prepared to listen???
I love this too Anne as our bodies are such great talkers and they so appreciate it when we are listening to them.
This is a powerful little phrase, as it shows us that we can be empowered in the time of illness and disease, by virtue of listening to what our bodies have to say. In that we listen, and then act accordingly with what can support it next. It can then communicate back to us by way of healing or what we feel changes and thus the relationship of a ‘dialogue’ is formed. When we know this is possible, it can take a lot of the ‘hopelessness’ out of illness and disease.
What if we stopped dictating to life and viewed it as the two-way dialogue that it is?
“I am so appreciative of the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for bringing to me these ancient understandings of the science of life and how the world truly operates.
I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day.”
I love what you say here Gina, I feel exactly the same way since meeting Serge and embracing the work he presents. I rarely have sick days myself now, and don’t turn up to work under par any more. Taking loving care of the body and listening when it says stop is key.
Serge Benhayon has changed the way I understand any illness, ache or pain and I can see that ‘every stop moment we have in life is not an inconvenience or a nuisance but a gift.’ It is an opportunity to feel into the way I have been living that has caused my body to say ‘Stop’ and make more self-loving choices in the way I am with myself and others.
The other thing I’m thinking Dean is how I used to want to take sick days all the time. I was not committed to my work and would rather be on the beach checking out and many days per week I’d wake up dreading the day ahead or go through the day thinking it was boring. Time dragged on sooo slowly and I couldn’t wait to go home and watch a movie – aka check out . But by developing presence, self-love and care this has shifted too. I now look forward to my day and I love it when time moves slowly, I love just being with me no matter what. At times when I do not feel this and slip back into angsy-ness and discontent with where I am, whenever I think ‘get me out of here’ I know I have lost presence and connection with myself, I have stopped thinking about my impact on others andI have stopped honouring myself, and the gifts I am bringing to everything I do, no matter what it is. It feels yuk! All this from a shift in self-care, developed over time and Ive gotta say there’s a depth to self-love I have an inkling I have only just scratched the surface of.
A beautiful reflection for us all Gina in listening to our bodies and taking responsibility to heal what is causing the disharmony. I loved how you appreciated and rejoiced in the changes that you initiated. An awesome sharing, thank you.
“I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day”. I am a forever student with you Gina.
Yes it’s a wonderful dialogue listening to the voice of the body – it’s tailored just for you!
I love the fact that I am more responsible for how I live and how this affects me, others, my work, my colleagues. I have been able to give myself permission to stay home when needed but I am learning now to be more responsible as to why I need that sick-day.
Exactly, Katinka. Giving ourselves the worth to take a sick-day, but at the same time honestly looking at what caused this sickness and start working on this cause.
“I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day.” Hear hear Gina. Living like this makes everyday interesting and magical to say the least.
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” This is so great, our bodies speaking to us, gives an opportunity to really reflect at what we have put our body through, from food, to emotions, stress, nervous energy. It is a great moment to stop and make different choices.
Our bodies are indeed truly ‘beautiful and wondrous’ things Amita and I really appreciate the way Serge Benhayon has brought light to this fact in a way that clearly defines self-care and the way we live as the best medicine. This wisdom has been life-changing and very liberating for me, not to mention I have never been consistently healthier in my life than when I chose to live with a deeper respect, love and honouring of myself via heeding the signals and messages from my body.
Gina I love how you have brought this back to our responsibility to make changes to our way of living when our body shows us what is going on through getting sick, being in pain etc. The irresponsibility you nominated is a lesson for all of us. Not only are we being irresponsible in relation to our bodies, but the consequences of this are that other members of our team/organisation have to do extra work to pick up the slack we’ve created through not listening to the warning signals from our body earlier. We just can’t think that we exist in isolation from each other any more. What I do to myself affects EVERYONE.
I love the title of this blog and something that I can very much feel at the moment in regards to what am I learning from what my body is telling me. Or .. am I learning or just ignoring and overriding it! The power of choice always lies within us – maybe we (and I speak for myself here) just do not want the responsibility of it? But I know deep down to choose love and all that supports the body is actually easier not harder.
You highlight a very important point here, and that is, how ill behaviors can affect our health. Your sharing encourages me, to check, which behaviors do I still have, which are not good for me and my body and ultimately to let go of them.
It is so important to look after ourselves as you have shared here Gina. It is like the old saying a stitch in time saves nine. if we do not care for ourselves in the present we will likely have to take more care and more time out in the future.
Your comment made me chuckle Elaine as I considered what kind of stitches you are referring to…
Thank you Michael, yes it does sound a bit odd and I chuckled too. I don’t often do it now but I still do darn a sock or a pair of tights if a small hole appears. If I leave the hole it inevitably gets bigger, more uncomfortable and the garment finally ends in the bin. So if I look after my socks they will look after me and continue to warm my feet for years to come. If I don’t they will wear out sooner and I will have to get another pair. If we don’t look after our bodies in the same way we will need a new body. That’s fine but I would rather not have a long drawn out and continually dysfunctional life just because i have not dealt with the little ‘holes’ on the way. Possibly not a good analogy in 2015 when hardly anyone darns a sock and most don’t even know what darning is !
…but a perfect analogy when so many people are not listening to the communication from their bodies and only paying attention when they have a life crisis or need urgent medical help, surgery or stitches!
I can relate to this Gill, as I would have a mental chart of how ill I had to be before I would take time off and call in sick. In the past I would have a melt down just trying to decide if I was ill enough to warrant taking a sick day or two, let alone a couple of weeks. But as you have said it is the way our bodies can advise us to take a much needed break and give us the time to evaluate how we have been pushing our bodies.
You sum up so simply Gina how every stop moment we have in life is not an inconvenience or a nuisance but a gift. The parallels you paint between us and animals and nature are perfect – you don’t get a butterfly stressed out over its next trip. What stands out is how your willingness to accept and understand your responsibility allows you to return to your natural harmony.
I love this too Joseph – ‘how every stop moment we have in life is not an inconvenience or a nuisance but a gift.’ If an animal is sick, it licks its wounds, it finds somewhere warm and dry to curl up and it sleeps until it feels well enough to get up and get on with its day. There is so much amazing wisdom on offer for us to learn from the natural world.
Joseph, your comment about the butterfly gave me a strong vision of the buzz and nervous energy that our human race currently operates in. We are so many of us like a 24/7 service station in our minds, never closed for business, open to absorb the world. Yet there are some people who are living contrary to that way and understanding that letting the body lead is infinitely wiser and that creating time to stop is healing and rejuvenating.
It is very liberating indeed when we discover that we are responsible for how we are feeling. Not much can change from a sense of victimhood and we tend to stay stuck and blame others or circumstances outside ourselves, but when we take responsibility the doors open and there are plenty of opportunities to take charge and make some changes.
I agree Gabriele that holding ourselves as victims does not work. It is not a supportive way to live and it does not help us to move forward and heal the hurts. I have found it so empowering to take responsibility for whatever is going on in my life and this as you say brings great change.
Me too Gabriele and Elizabeth. And all that is needed is to listen to our bodies and heed the messages then great self-awareness, learning and opportunities to evolve present. It’s very simple.
If we all saw the irresponsibility in many of the reasons we were sick it alone could change the entire way businesses operate their sickness and wellbeing schemes. I understand that most people are sick at work due to lifestyle choices – what they did at the weekends, how much they drank – I know this was the case for me. This short term sickness causes the most disruption to the workforce. Yet we see our private time as our private time, regardless of how this affects the time when we are meant to be working. Rather than being guilty when we are sick, something that will and should happen if we are not taking care of the way we live, if we used that time to truly feel and heal, it would not be long before the rates of sickness would drop, benefiting everyone. As you’ve shared it’s not that taking a day off sick is bad – in many cases it’s deeply needed – but it’s about honestly addressing why that is where the true healing can take place. As Dean shared, it’s far better to earn a little less than be cranky and exhausted, provided we then don’t repeat whatever got us to be sick in the first place.
It is only since Universal Medicine that I can take a day off without feeling the shame and guilt of old. It would be a very rare occasion indeed for me to take a sick day for myself, yet I have taken a sick day to go and help others. I did not feel guilty since I was doing it for someone else. How silly and plain disrespectful of myself. These days are gone. And the amazing thing is that since taking care of myself I very rarely need to take a day off.
It actually is a gift from our body that creates the space to stop the ill activity and to ponder on what has brought us up to this point. We only have to come to the understanding that illness and diseases are the gifts in life and not a punishment and something that just happens by chance.
This is beautiful Gina, and indeed perfect timing as your blog is a even more stop for me to realize that being sick is not something to be hard at yourself or feel guilty. I feel that by being sick myself now, I have to lovingly embrace me feeling unwell and that this is my healing. Thank you. Everything you have shared it felt in my body – and is responding.
It is so easy to be your harshest critic particularly when you’re ill and the list of to dos grow in your absence. What is important is understanding that we, as a soul in a body, are way more important than anything that we do, and that these times are beautiful respites for us to take heed of how we are living, and an opportunity to heal what is clearly needed.
Yes that’s a great game we can play Danna, be guilty or stressed about being ill, and yet in that we’re just adding to the stress on the body and we’re not actually addressing what are the behaviours that may have led us to being unwell. So it’s about accepting the stop of the body and honouring it and then feeling the way forward from the body and not the mind.
Well said Monica, this proves to me that all patterns are moving in cycles. So whatever we do not heal or move forward with, comes back again. This also reveals to us that when we become ill, if not truly changed, we will have to come back to an illness again, until we get it. This is no play hard game, but actually a loving message from God that love is waiting.
This is a good point Danna – how we can go into feeling embraced or thinking we are not good enough when we are sick and that we are ‘getting life wrong’ – So hard on ourselves. I know this one and feel ashamed that I am not ‘full of life’. That actually our bodies have a cycle that they go through and when we need to clear and heal, the body needs extra rest and tender care.
Great point Danna. I would often over ride the need to take a sick day and push my body further than was needed at the time. Sick days are there to support ourselves to heal and rest and in doing so we come back to work with the vitality that is required to do what we do best.
Danna, this is lovely what you expressed here and great that you are seeing that to ‘ lovingly embrace me feeling unwell’ …’is my healing’. By doing that we can surrender and allow the body to heal in its own time by being a true ‘patient’.
Guilt in itself like all emotions brings disharmony into our bodies and will eventually stack up to such an extent that it will appear as a relatable illness.
Gina, it’s perfect timing to read this today as I am off ill from work and feeling the stop my body is offering, and how some recent behaviours are not supportive and my body in its infinite wisdom is showing me. So I’ve been deeply resting and considering how I’ve been living and how I can support me to be and live the love I am.
Monicag2, what a wonderful use of a sick day to re-evaluate your life and clock what is not working and give yourself space to reset your life so you start off afresh.
Thanks Gina for sharing how you approached needing to take a sick day, it presents a very different option to feeling sorry for yourself! And yet there was no hardness in the realisations or awarenesses that you came to, or the fact that you wanted to take responsibility for the situation.
I appreciated this too Fiona, the choice to simply honour where our body is at and to practically tend to supporting ourselves where we can.
Wonderful to read Gina. It is so important to listen to our body. Our mind can have millions of reason why we should work, but at the end I know now, that my body knows what is the best for him and if I wouldn’t listen, I would pay a high price later on.
Well said Alexander, our body always has the loudest say in the end.
I have similarly been inspired by Universal Medicine to be more aware, accept and appreciate the “inner wisdom and knowing” that I have within me and which in fact we all have within us. Starting to pay attention to and honour this inner knowing, has often prompted me to become aware of what needs attention well before it has escalated to a breakdown or some sort of a situation. This very much includes my health.
These are just the wisest words Gina: “How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” Just imagine if this was taught to every child from an early age, how the rates of illness and disease could plummet and the long hospital waiting lists could be things of the past. After many years of ignoring my body’s “dialogue” and paying the price for doing so, I now wonder at its wisdom and its messages are welcomed and acted on.
I find that there is a constant dance between my body and my mind. Often my mind wants to take the lead but I am learning that it’s best to allow my body to take the lead role otherwise the busyness and nervous tension just goes through the roof. I am getting much better at picking up when I am allowing this to happen and to change the ‘dance steps’.
Helen, after years of allowing my mind to take the lead I am realising how false that arrogant stance of ‘not doing stress’ was.I was just very, very good at burying it! Now I am learning to dig it out, and it has become yet another early warning system for my body to send. I dance to a different tune these days.
When our body takes the lead we can truly dance to the beat of our own drum.
Sometimes one of the hardest things about taking a sick day off work has been that it means earning less money even though the rest might do me good. Maybe it’s more a of a guy thing but I have often found myself very closely weighing up whether to take a sick day or push to do that extra bit of work to make a little more money.
It’s a much clearer topic when I share it with my wife. She says she would much rather we had half the money and I was myself, healthy and rested than have me exhausted, cranky but with lots of money in the bank.
Great lesson about money there Dean. Another one I have learnt is about not letting people down, so you turn up at work with a cold or flu…… and pass it on to everyone else! Been there, done both, neither had anything to do with self care, and both led to me having more time off work than if I had listened to my body in the beginning.
Great point Catherine. And what are we teaching others if we go to work unwell? I have seen in some places I have worked how people feel they have to work when they are sick simply because everyone else seems to. All we are reflecting to others in these instances is that we must override our bodies messages to rest and push on through.
I remember going to work for weeks when I had a cold that never left – It was only when I took a break and saw a practitioner that I got to feel what was really going on and address the issue that the cold went away. I was using work to distract me from not dealing with my issue. It was no surprise that when I addressed the issue that the cold went away.
True Catherine, putting self care first can actually save time. I find if I rest deeply when I first feel something come on I recover much more quickly. When I used to push through I would feel sick for a lot longer time and often get relapses so I would function at half capacity for months instead of just surrendering by taking some time to rest and allow the body to deal with it. There is some perverse part of us that finds it hard to stop the momentum even though the body is asking us to stop. It’s almost as if our world is going to come to an end if we stop. In a way it’s true because by stopping we step off the merry-go-round and have a chance to come back to ourselves which allows space for healing to occur.
Yes, I agree, great point Catherine. If we carry on regardless, we are living with a deep lack of respect, however if we choose to ignore it right from the start we are giving the thumbs up to the astral energy – an energy which is not love.
I know this one too Catherine – the thinking that you are carrying a torch, getting through and soldiering on – is misled as it shows no true responsibility – and a lack of care for all others.
Dean I love your frankness and honesty around taking a sick day. My mind would have agreed with you- pushing through to earn more money, but in truth- I agree with your wife In saying that I would prefer my husband being well- not exhausted, grumpy, demanding or controlling, to then earn more money.
I consider myself very fortunate to have a wife like Danielle – imagine if she partner was pushing for me to bring in the dollars! But no that’s not her style. Love is her style.
Very wise words from your wife Dean.
I remember doing exactly that too Dean. I would deliberate for hours on whether to go to work the next day and I then I would wake early for more mind wrenching deliberation all because I thought I needed the money. These days due to a deeper appreciation of myself I would not even consider working if I was not well enough. The interesting thing though is my definition of ‘well enough’ shifts in accordance with my deepening love and honouring of myself and others, and with this a more confident knowing of what I truly can and can’t do, what is needed and when.
Then from what you are saying Jeannette Gold, it is clear that deepening levels of love and honouring within ourselves directly changes the way we think of about something, therefore the way we feel about ourselves and treat our bodies will completely alter our thoughts. At the other extreme, treating our bodies poorly and without any care or respect invites a different set of unloving and disrespectful thoughts. Therefore we can conclude that our way of thinking is governed by the way we are, move and care for our bodies.
Money, recognition, duty, whenever we put these factors above the feelings of our own bodies we dishonour them, and deny others the opportunity to learn, by reflection, how important self care is.
Exactly Dean. It’s pretty clear to me that “…the way we are, move and care for ourselves” definitely affects our thoughts. Its an attitude shift that changes everything and how simply lovely is that! No more slogging it out trying to figure out ‘what’s wrong with me’, or continuously mopping up the aftermath of our disregard – just up the ante on self care and honouring and the rest will follow.
I like your thinking catherine bower. When we care for ourselves we set examples for others of how to. That puts a whole other slant on responsibility as parents, friends actually as everyone. A very lovely slant at that as it is one that calls us to self-care to the max, to go nuts with self-love because someone may be watching and be inspired to do so too. Gorgeous!
Jeanette this is beautiful and I can appreciate a deepening for me. The last two days I have been unwell, with a contagious bug. Learning to love me more over time has allowed, even in this circumstance, an opportunity to claim what was true for me. When I rang the office to advise of my sickness there was an ease in me I had not felt before knowing that this choice was absolutely true.
I also wanted to add that ‘sick day’, that term in itself is quite demeaning, perhaps we should call them ‘get well days’.
This is such a great point Dean, as men we often hold onto that ‘little bit more’ attitude – which weighing it up is never ever beneficial – not for the work to be done, ourselves and anyone else that knows us.
Sometimes I feel sick because I have not been as loving and caring for myself as well as I could have, and sometimes because I have been so extra loving that my body goes into a healing crisis to clear the disregard. Either way – they most certainly are get well days more so than sick days Lee Green, but only if they are embraced with the awareness and acceptance of what our bodies are telling us.
This is another gem (one of many) “I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day.” How awesome would it be if from a young age we were taught to listen to and honour our bodies instead of what we have at the moment, which is often to override and put our bodies into disregard.
“Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.” Thank you Gina I wish this was reminded to us on any visit to the doctor or hospital – it allows for a deeper pondering on what is going on and also asks us lovingly to take responsibility.
Absolutely Gina, when we let that guilt or shame come in it stops us from truly seeing the full picture. If we address illness with the understanding that inner easiness is our natural way, as you do here, our ability to heal is truly spectacular.
Gina I love the link you make between behaviours, falling sick and responsibility – and the honest look you took to see that in fact your body had been trying to let you know it was having a tough time functioning in the way you had been living. I’m also learning that at any moment I can check-in, maybe adjust my posture, or see whether I need to take a break, or question whether I’m actually hungry …or if I’m avoiding doing something or engaging fully with a task. My experience has been the more this conversation happens the more responsibility I am taking for my own health.
Thank you Gina I loved your post, what a different way of viewing illness and disease, not as something to get rid of, to over ride and ignore, but a loving message from the body, to take heed of the choices made, acknowledge what have been the consequences, and lovingly choose to bring loving care and tenderness to the wisdom that the body brings.
I have viewed illness as weakness for a long time. Stoically carrying on would be my motto unless there was no other option. The understanding I am developing of how the body is always re-balancing itself energetically through whatever means necessary, thanks to the wisdom of Serge Benhayon, is gradually changing all that.
Getting sick means that somewhere down the line I made some unloving choices. Our body speaks to us very clearly but I can make myself believe sometimes that I didn’t have a choice. When days are ahead that might disturb my rhythm I have the responsibility to carefully feel if I am not taking on too much, make sure that my diet is supporting enough and that I ask support when necessary.
I love your observation from nature being in optimum health and function. And then your questions ‘My body, a human being on this planet, is a living part on this earth as much as everything else – so why wasn’t I feeling spectacular also? What had I been doing that meant I had a body that wasn’t functioning to the best of its ability and was quite frankly feeling run down and exhausted?’ It is so needed we stop and consider the choices we are making, I know for sure I can take more responsibility to stop and truly feel what is there to feel instead of going on and ignore the small signals of my body during the day.
What a tremendous level of care and responsibility you hold yourself in and bring to your workplace.
Taking a sick day and not beating ourselves up for it is one step. The next one is really committing to the opportunity to bring ourselves back on track during this space in time. Honesty and self-love will open the door for this and responsibility will become a key factor.
‘Honesty and self-love will open the door for this and responsibility will become a key factor.” So true Michael Kremer the benefits to our health care system would be absolutely amazing if we all took responsibility and were honest about what was really going on – self love really does open the door to bringing ourselves back on track.
From taking a sick day today I can really see now how many smaller messages my body has been giving me over time. I appreciate being aware of these messages, even if it’s in hindsight because it shows me that anything outside the markers of warmth and the feelings of lightness I am experiencing more and more are now alarm bells I should be paying more attention to. Holding onto those previous markers of what ‘well and vital’ meant for me before now doesn’t help because my body is calling for changes in my choices and lifestyle to maintain that level of increasing wellness and vitality.
My previous markers of what well and vital were are now what I recognise as markers of being unwell and exhausted. I failed to realise that the ‘buzzy vitality’ that I took to be good health was simply a mixture of anxiousness, restlessness and more often than not an exercise high.
I find it interesting that there occasions when we will overide what our bodies are telling us and force ourselves into work as I have done previoulsy because of feelings of ‘regret and guilt’ or obligation to others. In doing so not only are we being disregarding to ourselves but also the people that we actually believe we are helping by attending work in this way.
This so resonates with me of late Gina, I have rarely taken sick days yet in the last few months have had two occasions when I have had to take at least two days off sick. When I read the blog and your clarity on irresponsibility, it struck me as being the missing key. I have been quick to note the illness and its effects, but not my living that preceded the illness. This is absolutely vital, otherwise I continue to live in a way that does not truly support the body, as revealed by the cyclical reoccurrence of my illness.
I am in awe that with all the miraculous advancements in science and technology, that it is in the simplicity of the ancient teachings presented by Universal Medicine, that lies such an understanding and appreciation of ourselves and our bodies. With this we can now choose to connect and listen to our bodies and the wisdom they provide and thus alter our living so that the true joy you have discovered is readily available and forever expanding. It is truly divine.
So true Ariana, the connection to our bodies allows for the deepening of connection as love and as one.
Gina I feel this paragraph sums up our responsibility in life and it will be a joyous day when this becomes our way!
“Just as nature continually evolves, so too do our bodies – as part of that nature – support us to evolve. Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.”
It will be a joyous day when we join the dots and realise we have a part to play in the outcomes in our life both good and bad. Gina you have presented the missing dots here and I love your paragraph “Just as nature continually evolves, so too do our bodies – as part of that nature – support us to evolve. Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.”
Our bodies will always let us know what is going on with all aspects of us… imagine if wewere able to listen to and respond to every message that our bodies sent us… what an amazing step forward.
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.”-
I recently have found my inner thoughts not being supportive – causing me to go into unnecessary anxiousness . I feel I need to stop and feel into what my body is saying.
I love this article, showing us very simply and clearly, that cycles repeat themselves until we take the time and make the choice to choose and live another way. Our bodies do speak to us, often very clearly, and there is much to be learnt if we take the time to listen.
What I learned is that it is not only about the behaviour which supports me or not, but what is behind it. For example going late to bed or eating things which make me feel uncomfortable or having stress in a relationship (private or business) – I need to ask myself: Where does it come from? What and why I have made choices which lead to this? Coming behind these questions helps to stop unhealthy behaviours eventually. Trying to stop them without pondering, stops them for a while only, but then they come back again and quite often more intense.
Yes, to stop and as you say feel or ‘get underneath’ the reason for disharmonious behaviours and the choices we make that lead to these behaviours/patterns. Thank you, this is a great reminder for me to do this.
I love the authority and clarity of this article Gina, which comes from the understanding you have gained through your lived experience. How wonderful that you are living with joy each day now, by listening to your body and responding to what it is telling you.
So many people I know love to walk in Nature because it has a great rebalancing effect on us, myself included. But do we ask ourselves, how did we become out of balance in the first place and why do we rely on Nature to correct it? It is through our own irresponsibility that many of us do not ask these questions and/ or do not choose to find out.
It is an interesting question you pose Susan. I think that I have relied on Nature so much because it reminds me that I am living in a cycle. Constantly returning again and again with the opportunity to making choices and living from who I truly am.
I love how you stopped to feel the fact that your body had given you signs well before you came to the sick day and that it is through our own irresponsibility (not listening to our body and making different choices) that we end up run down and taking time off work.. This is very different from the ‘poor me I’m sick’ approach!
I agree, instead of being irresponsible by not listening to her body. She chose to be responsible and make the right choices before she had to call in sick.
I can feel more in reading this article today about how I don’t want to stop and feel what my past choices have been. It’s so important for us to feel these, in the depth they’ve either supported us or not, to then make the next choice and continue to evolve. The power of our choices constantly astounds me, as how simple and profound they can really be.
Amongst lots of really special stuff in this article, I love the point about our bodies continually evolving. This liberates us from the prison of trying to get to an end game and, if we allow it, offers up a deep understanding and tenderness with which to treat ourselves along the way. Thank you, Gina.
Hi Gina,
So glad to re-read your blog today as I have been really feeling the tension my body reflects when I try to be thinking about the next thing whilst still being in the current thing and its awful. So that tension if allowed to build brings me a stop moment of some sort. Coming back to my body every time I become aware I am slipping into ‘next’ allows me to release the tension and be present with what I am currently engaged in.
I have taken the occasional pyjama day over the years, and after the initial feelings of guilt I felt to honour my body and deeply rest. There is much to ponder on as to how I got myself in this position of being exhausted in the first place, I agree, and this would be the first thing to address. I love the line below, this can be a constant reminder to all of us to accept where we are, take it on board and evolve.
“I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day.”
Great sharing Gina.
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” This sentence stood out to me from your blog Gina. Our bodies are constantly talking to us all of the time and so often we override with our minds what we are feeling. I am finding that as I am deepening my connection with my body on a daily basis, I am able to listen more carefully to the signals that it is offering me.
When there is a connection to one’s body, as well as understanding, then there is also appreciation for when it gets sick (a natural process) to render having to take a day off sick – guilt-free, as opposed to guilt ridden, like so many of us experience. Through this connection we understand and live that the body is delicate and the importance of preserving this to outweigh completely any ideal, belief or guilt we may hold.
I love the simplicity of your blog Gina. Do we take the responsibility or do we not? It is amazing to hear what happened for you when you opted for taking responsibility and going forth “with the willingness, openness and honesty to go deeper”. If we are needing sick days or not waking with true vitality each and every day, we can ignore our body talking to us or we can listen and take our step forward as you have done. Thank you for the this inspiration and offering Gina.
” It is amazing to hear what happened for you when you opted for taking responsibility” It is when we take responsibility that actually our healing process can begin, as we can begin to see all our choices and how they also affect our life and therefore as we begin to act and change our choices based on this awareness we can begin to eradicate the illness from our bodies
Yes Oliver. Using our awareness to bring understanding to our ills is our best and the truest form of healing.
What a humbling and wise blog Gina. Yes, Our bodies are the marker of Our own choices. I more and more feel how loud my body is actually talking to me. Not only the misery, but also the Beauty, Tenderness, Playfullness, Delicateness that I am. I can feel that it is about letting go the beliefs and ideals that are in the way of me living the Amazing man that I am. But to go and live that it’s requiring constant honesty within myself, without perfectionism or without a need to do so. But just because it is the most natural thing to do. When I’ve made that choice, what a bath of Love am I experiencing. Thank you Gina. A very profound blog.
Reblogged this on florisvanderschot's Blog and commented:
Ons lichaam communiceert met ons. Continue. Zijn we bereid om te luisteren? Zijn we bereid om ons lichaam te volgen, terug naar de geweldige mensen die we zijn?
Well said Gill – why wait until we get sick when we know that all we have to do is simply give ourselves a few moments throughout our day to re-connect.
Wise words Gill and Tamara. Why wait until we get sick to give ourselves a ‘stop moment’ to tune into our body. “Stop moments’ can be an integral part of our daily rhythm until we truly re-connect and are ‘tuned into our body’ in every moment in whatever we do.
Indeed Tamara, those little moments where we stop to connect to what we did not really feel or allow are the gems which are able to bring us back to being fully in the present and aware.
A beautiful reminder Gina that we are forever evolving “Just as nature continually evolves, so too do our bodies”. There is a lovely assuring sense to feel and go with what the body is calling for.
Reading this blog actually hit a raw nerve for me as I had to have a couple of sick day off work in the last couple of weeks, and I have always felt guilty about getting sick and as I have had moderately poor health a lot of my life, I have taken a lot of sick days. When I do feel unwell I also go into a pattern of frustration of not being able to maintain a normal functioning body like other people. But since being involved with universal medicine and having sessions, I am actually learning to appreciate how well my body tells me where I am at. It really doesn’t let me get away with much, and it never has done, which I used to get so angry about. So what a blessing to have the understanding that through connecting I can start to read what’s going on better, and then make the neccessary adjustments so to feel well again. I am finally learning to appreciate my body’s sensitivity!!
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” I love how you say that illness is a dialogue, Gina. The body is forever speaking to us if only we listen and meet it for the love it actually is and connects us to.
I had a bad day at work, the challenges that I was facing seemed insurmountable and I collapsed under the pressure. So, my immediate response was to stop and ask myself ~ how have I been living in the days leading to this one day? What choices have I made that have left me feeling less than the full and cherished beauty of me? Once I was able to see this, I was more willing to take responsibility for my choices and the impact they have on the people around me.
Illness and disease as a dialogue between the body and the being, that is a great way of describing what goes on when we choose to pay attention to our symptoms and conditions and don’t take our body for granted.
Very true Gabriele. As children we are very connected to our body and its movements. We are educated to leave this connection as we grow and get to the point where it becomes a nuisance that breaks down and does not keep up with our demands. In this case illness becomes its mode of communication and yet many do not heed its calls.
I love it Gabriele. The body talks and we listen and there’s harmony… or the body talks and we ignore it and there’s illness and disease.
I love how you eloquently describe this Gabriele, that illness and disease is a dialogue between the body and the being. Being open to this communication takes into consideration that we are so much more than our body and what we see.
This is a great article Gina, it’s lovely to read how you already knew within yourself that the way we choose to behave will have an impact on our wellbeing and our health. This also makes so much sense to me. There is so much appreciation inside of me to share with Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for sharing this science with me. It only took one man to express the truth and it’s amazing how there are actually many, many people out there that know this and it’s now time to live it.
What an amazing learning our body can give us if we choose to feel and be honest . Thank you for such a beautiful sharing , very inspiring and the real way to deal with illness and so supportive.
Gina what strikes me about your blog today is the way you normally approach walks, connecting to the magic of God all around, the beauty that is present for everyone. I meet people when I go on walks that also appreciate this but the majority tend to be fixated on their exercise or running and are in a separate world unaware of the magic that is going on all around. It’s making me consider – how much of my day am I in my own world or ideals/beliefs about what I should be doing that I miss the true magic and therefore the connection to what true purpose my day holds. The foundation for your walk shows how you were then able to honour how your body felt.
I know being relaxed and joyful at work is something I truly crave! There is nothing to like about running on anxious and nervous energy as it depletes me pretty fast. And I just don’t see the point of working if I’m not going to be myself. So I’m learning too to completely let myself go, and just be me at work. When I do that I no longer feel stress but rather feel opportunities to learn and evolve.
So true Harry to let go and just be who we are is a joyous freedom that is energising and contagious.
Yes what a relief it is to let go of driving oneself on nervous energy and allow for the opportunities to learn and grow.
Great blog Gina. I remember hearing Serge Benhayon present that sometimes we just need a pyjama day. Giving ourselves and our bodies time to just rest deeply. Many would say this is indulgent but what I have found is that my body, the amazing scientist that it is, knows exactly when those days need to be, amazingly it always picks a day that I can somehow manage to stop without impacting negatively on others. When I give myself the space to have that day – which are not more than a few times in a year, my energy levels go through the roof and I more than make up for what I didn’t do in that one day.
Very true Caroline and a great sharing here, I agree that once honoured I also am able to more than make up for what I did not do in that day, and just surrendering without any pressures coming from any angle is amazing for the body, and learning to live each day in this way while actually working is something I am starting to work on, as this really allows the body to just be without being heavily impacted – energy and the way we move really is everything.
Caroline as I read your beautiful comment my body shouted loud ‘yes’. To allow myself and my body to just rest deeply is something I am still working on. To allow myself to have a whole day to do so is a challenge, but if I listen to my body, it seems to want to make this deeply resting experience.
I really enjoyed reading this conversation and this blog. I think it’s time I give myself some real space, without guilt or justification.
I can totally relate Helen. That space creates more space, something our mind can’t comprehend but our body knows oh so well.
I love to read about the “pyjama day”. In the past I never allowed myself to do “nothing” and the pyjama day is pure medicine, when my body wants to have a rest and then for me it is important not to override the signal of my body.
What a beautiful way of honouring your body and your life. It feels like you are really very aware of how you are within your moments and are very connected to what is needed to support you.
It seems absurd really that the one thing that is constant in life is that we take our body with us wherever we go yet we treat it so badly a lot of the time. It is time to treat our body as our best friend by listening to it and respecting what it is trying to tell us. The fact of the matter is that the body does not lie so we are guaranteed accurate messages from it every time. It is time to drop the arrogance of putting our bodies to one side while we fill it with all sorts of things that do not agree with it and actually harm it.
Exactly Elizabeth Dolan! “It is time to drop the arrogance of putting our bodies to one side while we fill it with all sorts of things that do not agree with it and actually harm it” this includes false ideals and beliefs about how to be, think, behave and express ourselves. I find they are the biggest impositions I put on my body. You are right our body has a natural flow and it must be expressed.. otherwise we are causing our own disease.
I really relate to imposing on my body through the ideas and beliefs of being good and responsible. Pushing and driving my body past what it naturally does in harmony, particularly using nervous energy to complete things under pressure.
Love what you say here Elizabeth. If we all treated our body as our best friend from early years on, how different would we all be as adults?
Anne I was just contemplating this the other day when speaking with young people who were choosing to put off giving up smoking until they were older. How often do many put off looking after our bodies until later, when often the effects of the disregard are all too real. I know I have and it feels awful. But the body is amazing how it’ll respond to being cared for.
As little children we are so responsive to our bodies – hungry and we ask for food, not hungry and we do not eat. If we hurt ourselves we cry. If we don’t like someone we don’t pretend. And those little bodies are so tender and fluid.
Somewhere along the line of “growing up” we learn to ignore our pains, and our hunger. We learn to eat when we don’t want to. We pretend to like people when actually we don’t. And our bodies become stiff as boards and buzz with nervous tension.
So how beautiful Gina, to take the sick day and use it as a day to reconnect with your body and to really pay heed to its messages.
” To view illness as a dialogue”. I’m just back from an overseas trip and have this awful headache for the last 2 days. I know it is related to the stress of going back to work and the amount of work awaiting me. I can let it go to my head or choose to listen to what my body needs and give it my utmost attention in preparation for tomorrow.
Our body is always communicating to us and if we don’t listen it will speak loudly with a bump, a break or an illness. A great blog Gina
With what you have presented Gina I can recognise the depth of responsibility you talk of. Having been sick a few times this year – it is absolutely me that is responsible for the way my body talks – yet I am quick to look for another reason and not grasp fully the responsibility I have as a part of the makeup of the natural world.
As I sit in bed with a sore throat this blog is presenting me with some great choices. To listen to what my body is telling me and deepen my connection to it. I love learning and bringing more and more understanding to life everyday. The forever student – true humility and openness to evolve, learn and grow.
The body lets us know in minutia detail what is going on and what our choices have been. I know from experience how easy it is to ignore signs and signals from even the smallest of ailments, let alone the bigger stuff when we really get sick. I am learning to not ignore the detail and let myself see where I have been in disregard and change my patterns and behaviours.
I agree Elizabeth, when we realize that we are part of everything, we take the focus back to the big picture and see that it is never just about us, but how and what we are contributing to or affecting everything. What an incredible level of responsibility we hold if we choose to.
What a beautiful world it would be if we were all attuned and in rhythm with nature and all listened to exactly what our bodily needs were. Would true harmony be possible then? Would it be possible to cause harm to ourselves or others?
Love the way you express this. “consult my body on ALL the decisions I make”. This is gorgeous. And a very good idea. For your body is the only part of you that knows the truth.
It’s so interesting how with machines we are so practical and willing to look at what might be clogging the system, lack of oil, neglecting regular servicing. A plumber will look at the pipes and see what is causing the clog and warn you against repeating the offence. Gina this responsible link that you are clearly making connecting your choices to your body can be very challenge for people to accept.
The majority of the time we are unwilling to look at the root cause as a society, and the bandaid that goes on top seems the only topic that most of us are comfortable to discuss.
This to me shows that our disease primary cause is emotional. This hurts more than any physical pain and thus we will do anything to escape.
In truth it is impossible, as there is no escape, only delay. It’s a beautiful design really, what goes up must come down, what goes in must come out… the body is the marker of all truth and will continue to reflect our choices without judgment… whether it be a slap in the face disease or a gentle nudge or bump.
The question is: are we going to get honest or shoot the messenger?
Great question Sarah and very true. You have reminded me to get my car in for a service. It is interesting that in this world where we know that we are to look after our bodies, that we are even presented by society the illness of that. I mean we are presented with many ways to look after it, but many do not truly offer true health. As we have been presented from Universal Medicine & Serge Benhayon that everything is energy. So if the energy behind the health industry is ill, as in to make money or for recognition or self gain, then what is being presented is in fact illness and not a true healthy way at all. Life becomes very interesting indeed when you are willing to understand and see the energy behind everything.
Maybe not shoot the messenger but certainly fill it with food that won’t support it, or run it hard or exercise beyond whats needed …etc.etc.
Yes Lee, I agree we do all these things.. food that doesn’t support and so forth but what my comment ” are we going to shoot the messenger? ” meant was this: After we make countless choices that are ill, we then blame the body when it tries to communicate this to us.
Example: “My bloody legs aren’t working like they use too” or “My fingers are so sore… god dam arthritis, that’s what happen your stupid body when it gets old, never get old.”
These two quotes were from people I had a brief interaction with this week, were not old and they were also people that I had only met once, strangers . I found it interesting as there is a sense of blame rather than questioning why these things are occurring. Also people thinking these kinds of health conditions are a normal part of life? One of the first big false perceptions, rather than viewing them as a disharmony and therefore the illness representing a dis-order in the body/daily rhythm of the individual.
Shoot the messenger of course Sarah! Shooting the messenger seem to go hand in hand with, fighting the cancer, battling the disease, and defeating the depression. All this shooting and fighting seems to be the current language used when people are relaying how they are coping with an illness. I know my father’s words were he was fighting his cancer. It was a shame really it was as if the fighting was what was required of him. It is time we embrace whatever illness or accident that comes to us as an opportunity to look at the root cause so that true healing can begin. True healing is gaining a deeper understanding of how the way we live impacts on our body and making different choices that really support us in all areas of our life .
Yes, yes, this link you have made is between the shooting and the battling and fighting is exactly what I was referring to. Its a style of language, that is revealing the deeper you observe it. I know I have been guilty of this kind of language in the past too, fascinating stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Gina, I just took a day off sick this week and had the same feelings of regret and guilt but had not considered that what I was really feeling was irresponsibility of my choices leading up to that point. Thank you Gina for the reminder to keep going deeper.
I used to bump my head or hit my arm into something and get quite annoyed or angry with myself for this happening and in that I would sometimes just go on with whatever I was doing, not fully allowing myself the time and space to feel how my body was after something like that occurred, let alone work out why!
These days, after starting my studies of me with Universal Medicine, when I hurt my body in any way I notice this more and let myself feel more how my body is in that moment, and then back it up by gently working out why?
I love the self -responsibility that you brought to this episode of illness Gina – realising that the sick day was an opportunity to really explore what was going on for you in this cycle of living a certain way and becoming ill as a result. This is a huge amount of honesty in itself. Why do we live in a way where we experience illness as the end result and see this as a normal way to live? What can be done about the patterns of behaviours and choices that keep this reality happening? Why do we settle for anything less than feeling vital and potent in everyday life?
All these questions have true answers in the realm of understanding who we are and why we are here. Universal Medicine brings this understanding with such a simple language that it really is powerfully life changing. We are divine, and settling for anything less is ill health.
How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.’ Yes all this information is available to us if we are willng to listen. A wonderful gift.
I really enjoyed reading this blog again for I have always loved walking in nature. I can feel this harmonious balance within us and within our environment if we choose to connect with it. Our bodies are made to be this way, a constant flow and rhythm, the same as nature – then there is harmony in our world.
Gina that was a great reminder for me not to override what my body was telling me very loud but what I didn’t want to hear because I didn’t want to be ill. To be ill means that my colleagues had to do all my work and that is not what I wanted to do and so as usual I override my body. Since I read your amazing blog I was starting to realize that I put my work over me and that there is something wrong with this.
Our bodies are a powerful reflection of how we have been choosing to live our daily lives. What usually happens when someone is ill e.g. with flu etc., is blaming others for passing on the illness instead of having the understanding that we are the ones responsible for anything that happens to us, be that an illness, accident or disease. And I agree Gina, nature is a beautiful reflection of how we can be harmonious in our living.
My body is speaking rather loudly to me at the moment and reading your blog is really supporting to read. Thank you Gina. The way you are with your illness is beautiful.
Very true Lieke, it is really beautiful the way Gina is with her illness and it’s also reminded me to be more aware and observant of what my body is trying to tell me.
Thank you Gina for such a wonderful reminder that listening to the body shares the greatest message of all with us, from the smallest bump or knock is simply telling us that somewhere along the line of choices you have been making, are not supporting you to be connected. Nature is not pushing the boundaries of its natural rhythm, that is if we don’t interfere with it. I know when I am in harmony with life, everything flows, there is no need to do, just like nature.
I have returned to this article today as an inspiration and support in letting go of the ‘fight’ (resisting surrendering to the wisdom and support of my body)
‘Just as nature continually evolves, so too do our bodies – as part of that nature – support us to evolve. Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.’
I could read this paragraph again and again – it is a golden nugget of a foundation for my day. Thank you, Gina.
I like your comment “Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.” That’s so true and if we don’t listen to our body it talks louder and louder until we become crippled with illness and disease and have to finally take responsibility for our lives. Through the teachings of Universal Medicine I have learnt to respect for my body and are more aware and connected and read the messages my body offers me and respond with Love and tenderness.
It is interesting how we have “sick” days but we do not give ourselves “wellness” days. Take this further and imagine if every day was a “wellness” day where we took stock of how great we were feeling and why that was so. That way we could appreciate the great choices we were making rather than thinking we felt great for some random reason.
Everyday as a well-ness day infused with appreciation for our care and attention. A model of living that certainly floats my boat! Thank you, Elizabeth.
I’m in that boat with you Matilda!!
Elizabeth. I love it “Wellness” days. May be we need to appreciate what we have in this life, and look at some of the choices we could change for the better.
Wow Elizabeth what a great idea! I will introduce the wellness day right now to my routine and I will also recommend it to my clients because we need this way of looking at us as a more normal way of living.
What I love about the idea of wellness days, is that it would set a marker for us. For so many of us “well” is just “not sick”.
Wellness days should be every day. maybe we need well-ness days to begin with, then every day will truly be well.
Dear Gina, your article clearly shows the link between our choices and the impact this has on our health and well being. This line stood out for me ‘The ease we should be living with is disrupted.’ ~ as a reminder that it can be simple if we choose it to be, that is to honour our feelings and impulses, to care deeply for the body, and to not take things on from around us. Thanks to Serge Benhayon (a true role model for the teachings of Universal Medicine), I now know this is entirely possible.
‘Knowing’ the truth of illness and disease can be very challenging and confronting because we are then asked to take responsibility and be accountable for the choices that we make. ‘Knowing’ is also very empowering as it supports us to grow our awareness in making loving choices and evolving our self-care. In true appreciation of this growing awareness and the ‘Way of the Livingness’ as shared by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
It is amazing that we are supposed to be the most intelligent of all the species on this planet and yet probably the most ignorant when it comes to understanding our bodies and what they truly need. Thank you Gina for sharing your journey of awareness.
It is true Gina that we need to honour our bodies signals when we aren’t well and heed them. If we just push through and continue on in disregard we will take longer to heal and more severe symptoms will arise to get through to us. We don’t need to feel guilty if a day off is needed, a stitch in time saves nine.
Thanks for sharing this Gina. I am feeling unwell this morning as I read this blog and it has helped me stop and reflect on what has lead to this. The choices I have made but also how I choose to support myself while I am feeling unwell.
Great blog Gina, reminding us of taking responsibility to stop, feel and listen to the innate knowingness of our body and soul constantly letting us know if our daily rhythms are in harmony or not.
The greatest gift we can give ourselves is the space to heal, and in truly honouring our bodies the greatest most amazing healing can take place.
Beautiful blog, what it presents to me is that everything that is happening to my body is telling me something, and that when I listen there is the opportunity for true healing.
Learning to truly live again by listening to the body’s constant communication changes the world.
It’s so lovely Gina that you are a ‘forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day’. This too allows me to connect to that same ageless wisdom that is always available when I choose to honour my body and not let my mind rule the direction of my day. It was a great reminder for me that at the end of the day it is up to me whether or not I choose to be ‘irresponsible’ and that the way my day unfolds is entirely my own choice.
The normal approach to a sick day is that of “poor me I’m stick” yet when you say “on this particular day I felt irresponsible” it gets to what’s really going on. Not only do i find, if I look back, that leading up to getting sick their were a number of not great choices but that I didn’t listen and take care of myself when the early signs were there. The impact and irresponsibility for myself is bad enough but then everyone else has to pick up the pieces. I used to be resentful to get sick on weekends as that was my time but be ok getting sick during the school week or work week – most likely due to overdoing it on the weekends. It’s very empowering to bring back my choices into my health, sickness and vitality as it takes something I thought I was the victim of to something where I am the person responsible for my healing with the support that is there.
Thank you very much, Gina, for this article, for sharing your realisations and wisdom accessed as you develop your dialogue with your body. I am at the moment really considering and bringing to my attention the hugeness of taking full responsibility for the way I care for myself as a foundation for everything I do, and know that too often I override my innate body wisdom to fit in with the world around me. Your writing inspires me to look at the impact of this on myself and others.
Yes our body shares the greatest message of all with us, yet we dismiss it so often. Sometimes not to lose face with our friends or workmates, we treat it with little respect.
This behaviour always leads to the same result, illness and lack of well being for the body, and ultimately where we can no longer do what we would like to do.
Interesting he? What ‘face’ do we lose by not treating us carefully, or is there anything really worth it to treat us disrespectfully? The end result is not pleasing us – so the intent should be researched. Good point!
We can learn so much from observing nature in fact that is what it is there for. Overriding how we feel will always have bad results in the end so it is up to us whether like nature we can be in harmony.
Gina I really enjoyed reading about the awareness you have developed. It feels so supportive to feel for ourselves how our behaviours and choices impact upon our health. I know when I feel something rising in my own body I only have to look at the way I have been choosing to run my body. I begin to question the food I have eaten, the choices I have been making and if I have truly been honouring myself or choosing to override what feels true. I too have found my awareness has deepened greatly since being connected to Universal Medicine, but today more than ever I am choosing this for myself because I know that this feels like the truest way for me.
I love that Gina: “Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution.”
What we call in – has to leave us one day again. Because we are enough, as imperfect we are. The more we accept our true being, the more old called-in stuff has to leave our body – till we are free to fly again.
And fly we will Sandra!
Thank you Gina,I too have been inspired by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine to learn from my body and to listen to it in a way that is supportive and nurturing by taking responsibility of the choices that I make, no matter what is going on at that point in life.
I love in your last section that you write both about awareness and acceptance. Acceptance is the key – quite often we are aware of something but we can avoid acceptance. Either avoiding taking responsibility – for something we have done, or accepting our grandness that we truly are.
“Our bodies are ideally designed to live in harmony and unison with our environment, like the nature I had observed and mentioned previously.” Nature has this amazing ability to be in harmony with its environment, it is human beings that choose stress and tension that takes us away from this. We know this is our choice as to how we live our lives as we also know being in Nature supports us to bring us back.
Gosh. Imagine if everyone in the world who got sick, actually stopped and took this level of responsibility for their illness. That would be huge. Gina this is awesome what you have shared. Have you taken it back to your workplace? That would be so inspiring for everyone. Maybe there should be a system in place at workplaces. If you take a day off work through illness you then have to fill out a form listing the irresponsibilities that you have allowed in to your life that resulted in you getting sick. That would be a game-changer. And it seems fair.
I like that Otto, filling out a form listing our irresponsibilities would be perfect to see where we are not listening to the body and pushing or over riding what it is telling us. I have a cold and a cough and I can feel it is because I have over the last month or so been going to bed later and later. I could feel myself getting tired and finding it more difficult to wake in the mornings but I waited until I got a cold before I was willing to stop and change my sleep patterns. Seeing going to bed late as an irresponsibility and then listing it makes it more real and tangible and highlights what I have been doing to get sick.
And if you had to claim that and admit to it in front of your boss and colleagues then that would sharpen your responsibility immediately. I know it is only a small example, but it actually shows us a lot. The simple fact of going to be too late might mean that your company and your colleagues lose you for a day or two. Thus you are letting them down, letting humanity down. This is a perfect metaphor for the bigger picture and for how our actions have an effect on the whole. I know that when I think big like this, it certainly focuses my level of responsibility. I’m getting quite in to this idea of mine!!
Yes Otto, it would be very interesting and a game changer if we had to admit our responsibilities to our boss.
Ben I agree with you and Otto, if we had to face our bosses to explain being away from work, a genuine reason would be no problem.
Those who pull sick days for no apparent reason, they would find it harder to explain their actions. Openness and honesty is the best way at all times.
Anything that would sharpen my/our focus as to the choices I/we make would be super supportive in the development of honesty and open-ness with ourselves and the world. Who is writing the next employment contracts?!
When we consider that we are captains of our own ship WE are the boss. And the level of integrity Otto speaks about, where if we less than our fullness we let down not just ourselves and our colleagues, but the whole of humanity, is a real stop and consider moment. We need to constantly monitor and support our true levels of energy, be fully with ourselves -who knows when humanity may call on us to serve, and find us not there.
Wow, couldn’t agree more, as much as it would only add to the ouch of the responsibility needed to take a sick day but my word would it sharpen up and bring a completely new level of accountability into the way that I live
Absolutely Oliver, well described. I can imagine if this was the type of responsibility the world took then actually there would be far more quality in the work that is produced in the world. Knowing that everyone there working is living responsibly.
Wow Otto, that’s huge, if we had to actually account for our irresponsibility/responsibility to others we would certainly have to look at our illness and become aware of where and when we had or hadn’t listened, and the lack of care we had given ourselves. This would surely go a long way to developing a deep honesty and connection with ourselves.
You are right. But isn’t it crazy that we baulk at the idea of accountability to others…but what about accountability to ourselves. Why is that we need to be pulled up in front of others before we take a look at our actions??
We all know. That is why there are no excuses. No-one can claim ignorance. So many times I have been pulled up peers, colleagues, bosses, parents, esoteric practitioners, etc….and what kills me each time is the fact that I knew…and thus the only person that I am lying to is myself. That is what hurts. Feeling that irresponsibility. And now as I develop as an adult, as a man, as a human being…it is all about, more and more, making those responsible choices myself, so that I don’t need to be pulled up by others or don’t need the exposure by others, to wake me out of my slumber of irresponsibility.
Otto, I love what you are bringing and on so many levels I completely agree. Basic responsibility for our action and their causes is too commonly skipped over. I am here to challenge your little idea as it is possible that your theory lacks a little detail. The reason being – putting someone in front of their boss to explain why they have created their illness through their choices might end up being the cause of more illness due to the sheer pressure… (the self critic that we are prone to as human beings.)
There are a myriad of multidimensional causes/reasons for illness and disease … example: I agree that they are born from choices but are they current choices or past?
When I lived in total disregard with drugs and alcohol my body was simply trying to survive and did not have the energy to communicate through sickness. When I came to Universal Medicine and put a stop to all the drugs and partying it finally had a chance to clear out the years of ill choices. From the outside you might have thought I was sicker than ever, but I was playing catch up from past choices. This is just a small example but what I feel is, it is important we do not make illness a ‘dirty’ word – rather bring appreciation that the body has such a tangible way of communicating with us and thus arresting and supporting us back, if we choose. I know my body is more vocal in its communication now than in the past due to giving it the attention and space and stillness to actually be heard.
I am not saying you are making it a ‘dirty ‘ word, but thought this comment thread could be a great catalyst to start the conversation about it and see if anyone had anything to add? I find this a fascinating topic.
This is so great what you write Sarah. And you are absolutely right, illness is considered a ‘dirty’ word and instead of running away from it or trying to sweep it under the carpet with a concoction of denial and fear (of what might be wrong with us …and what might have got us here in the first place), we need to accept it, address it and, as you so rightly say appreciate what our body is saying to us, and what out body is doing for us – in your case clearing years of abuse. Our body is the marker of truth. Thus an illness is a truth. In your case it was true that you had been living in disregard thus your body had to clear all of that. Standing in front of our colleagues and accepting responsibility for our illnesses may appear to be a ‘harsh’ suggestion – and I guess that depends on the reaction (judgement) of our colleagues. Though my feeling is that they would be very inspired by our honesty, humility and willingness to see the bigger picture – a picture that they too can see, that their bodies can feel, but that they are choosing to ignore.
Love your reply.I feel like I understand so much more of what is being shared here.
I was coming from the perspective that there would be a lack of understanding from bosses for how sensitive we actually are as human beings but what I feel you are saying and I agree with now is maybe we need to talk about it, so people get used to it. Rather than pretending that we caught a cold or the weather or my son was sick or I had an accident and every other excuse under the sun. What I am realising is I actually already do this.
Example: when I eat chocolate, even dairy free chocolate- I can’t stop sneezing. I openly share this with my colleagues as it affects them. They try to relate my condition back to pollen or the seasons which is untrue reason for my hay fever, so I share with them that my sinus issues are my bodies way of clearing stuff out and letting me know that something is not fitting in my life. They see this sensitivity as a burden and they will reply with “I’m glad that’s not happening to me, my body loves chocolate and I can stay up to what ever time I like and I am fine.”
What I am introducing is when physical/pain or sickness comes cycling around to them and they do not relate it to anything, I bring it back to my experience and they clock it and see that their back pain or some neck issue may not be as random as they thought.
I am their boss so it’s possibly different maybe then if I were working for them. In saying this nearly all the staff I employ have changed the way they eat and live ever so slightly since beginning working there, many minimising gluten or diary out of their diets, reducing or quitting caffeine consumption. So no matter what they say, the way they live shows that they know more than they are letting on.
As an adjunct. I have an ongoing relationship with skin moles. By accepting what is going on and by living with this issue rather than just burying it, I have actually really loved the increased level of self-care that it has necessitated. Applying sun-cream with extra diligence, sitting in the shade, wearing long sleeve shirts. All of these acts become pleasures as each time I take care of myself, it is a form of deep self appreciation. Not to mention the excuse to buy a couple of very dashing fedora hats!
I do love this Otto a complete check in for people not focusing on the absence but the awareness preceding.
And doing so without any judgement. I have recently felt so strongly that any judgement completely limits the opportunities for truth to be seen and thus evolution to be embraced.
That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard Otto! Let’s introduce it!
YES Otto, this is the type of language and communication that we need to open up in the world. It is what will truly start to change the world.
Sarah – in relation to what you say above. Yes. The key is to be having these conversations, to start expressing the truth of what we all know. What you say about your sinuses and dairy chocolate is game-changing. It’s ginormous. If you extrapolate that out to the bigger picture of medicine, to the zillions all over the globe, then what you know (through your own lived wisdom) is absolutely priceless. Indeed, I would take it further and say that sharing this with your colleagues is not just an inspiring thing to do, it is actually your deep responsibility. It is all of our responsibilities to be expressing the truths that our bodies are showing us. Which brings me back to standing in front of our colleagues and explaining our sick leave!
I couldn’t help but wonder while I was reading your blog Gina, about how often during the course of my working life I have overridden my body and pushed myself to go to work when my body was screaming for me to notice the signals it was sending to say that I needed to stop, rest and change something about my lifestyle. ‘Irresponsible’ is definitely an apt way to describe this pattern and something worth pondering on further.
It is interesting to contemplate that illness is a reflection of my irresponsibility. No wonder when we get sick we want to go back to how things were before as it is a way to avoid taking responsibility, stepping up and delivering what we are here to bring to humanity.
I agree Suzanne, for me responsibility comes when we are able to reflect on this without a drop of harshness or beat up, but simply look at what it is that led to the ill in the first place, and seek to make the changes needed. This is something I am constantly working with and becoming less and less harsh or irresponsible with myself.
“It is interesting to contemplate that illness is a reflection of my irresponsibility.” I love the way you have put that, Suzanne, it has given me much to ponder on as I start my day with a sore throat developing.
It really is quite extraordinary how our bodies bare all that is true. To know that an illness or disease is our body’s way of telling us that we are not looking after it, is pretty amazing and when you think about it for only a few seconds, it makes perfect sense. If you stand naked in the snow, your body will tell you about it, equally if you stand naked under the full blown sun for a while, your body will let you know about it. We accept that our body can tell us when it’s too cold and when it’s too hot, but we seem to give up responsibility when our bodies try to speak to us through sickness. Could it be because it’s much easier to take a layer of clothing off or add a layer on to appease the discomfort, than to take responsibility for why we have fallen ill in the first place? We are very good at picking and choosing when to be responsible, and I suspect that this attitude has a little to do with our ever rising cases of illness and disease and not to mention the pressure we place as a society on the medical industry.
I love this comment, you draw some very relatable examples to our off and on button when it comes to listening to the body’s voice. I often see illness as a gift, I know that may sound strange but it is a very tangible way of communicating to me when I am off, like a metaphorical slap in the face…. sometimes it’s the only way to get through, there is something sobering about it. It can slow me down when I am going to fast, make me quiet when I am speaking too loud, and bring a new level of awareness to the care needed in any given situation.
That’s great Sarah, ‘a metaphorical slap in the face’, maybe that’s why we don’t always listen to the body, we react to the slap in the face? It is such a different experience to listen & understand what the body is telling us with an illness or injury, it takes the reaction out of it, it removes the ‘why me?’ and it allows true healing, as we understand there is an opportunity with every ache & pain we experience. That is truly a blessing.
Thats a great point Mark. If I am completely honest I still at times to react to the “slap in the face” it made me laugh your “why me?” call, as it has always been my go to line after the initial reaction. Depending on the condition and what emotional hurt the condition is representing determines my willingness to be objective. When things are really raw, I can just defend and divert in protection and fear of being exposed. That always hurts more than the physical injury or discomfort ironically.
Well said Sarah. It is so perfect what our body brings to us if we just aren’t listening. It knows us so well, that if we need some ‘strong words’ so to speak, it speaks up. Pain could be seen as the way our body turns up the volume if we are ignoring our truth.
That’s spot on Vicky. The more I dig my heals in and refuse to move through an issue the louder my body pumps up the volume. It will stop at nothing to show my truth and weed out poison. I complain when I am in pain but secretly I love that my body is still on speaking terms with me. When I was going through a bad patch with my body and treating it like sh#@ with copious amounts of drugs and booze, it went through a stage of the giving me the silent treatment. I was seemingly be ‘able to handle staying up for three or four nights without sleep and endless drugs and drinks and cigarettes ‘ Once I made a choice and slowly became a student of the livingness…all of a sudden when I tried to drink alcohol again my body red flagged it, my hang over the next morning of two drinks almost killed me and I used to drink 50 plus drinks in a night and wake up “fine”. To me this reveals that the more willing you are to work with your body the more it will work with you.
Sarah I love everything you have expressed in this thread. Your honesty is so deeply refreshing, how you are able to expose things about yourself that are not supportive without criticism, harshness or judgement and in fact often with a great deal of humour is a true way forward in healing. We have been educated to believe we have to be perfect and hence place a great deal of pressure on ourselves to be so and in the process block what needs to be heard out of the fear of having to admit we are not perfect, you break this mold and inspire us all how beautiful it is to stop trying to be perfect and just be you.
Well said Caroline, it is the ideal of trying to be ‘perfect’ that holds us out of the honesty and therefore stunts our evolution or next step. To observe the human condition and our own part in the mess, is the first process in healing. Sometimes I feel like I should be embrassed to share certain things but I am not, the service it brings to be real and how in that imperfection everyone seems to grant themselves permission to do the same is magical. That part is easy for me what I find more difficult is holding myself in complete solidarity and power, without lessening myself in anyway, allowing people their process and possible jealously, that is my achilles heel (there I go again, exposing myself but oh well, I say bring on the evolution!).
Well said Sarah! I couldn’t agree more that I feel sickness and illness is a blessing.
I love how you have expressed the same thing as me but so simply, its cool how we all express so differently. I find your writing sweet and endearing.
Thankyou Sarah 😀 ❤
such an amazing comment! I agree, when do we think it’s different to when our body tells us it’s cold or hot. Our body is the one telling us all of the messages we receive and gives us all of our thoughts.
I even find that my body is willing to communicate the most subtle details all of the time. When I am cooking in the kitchen, My body is the one to tell me I need to move more, because I can tend to get a little nervous in the kitchen and having racy thoughts which make me anxious when I’m cooking. But when I move gently my whole body returns to a natural stillness and my mind and me we all enjoy the whole experience of cooking. It’s those simple things that I really enjoy about life. Moving in the kitchen is FUN!
Absolutely Elizabeth, our body is a truly patient teacher and often begins to whisper before speaking, ever louder until we get it or not. Thankyou Gina for your beautiful description of walking in nature, and the harmony and connection that it is constantly reflecting to us all.
Today my body is releasing some pain quite randomly in different places, unlike in the past where I would just get on and get over it, I now have a connection and relationship to feel what it being communicated. This signal for me is loud and clear that there is something ready to be released and with the support of a Universal Medicine Practitioner I will understand this communication. How different are my symptoms now … I would have totally ignored this or not even felt necessary to do anything after all I’m not sick. Well that’s the point my body is communicating a disharmony which is a precursor to illness and I now have the awareness and responsibility to listen and feel.
Amazing Merrilee, when we have discomfort or even illness and disease in the body often we see it as a problem, an issue, or something bad when really what we are missing is that the state our body is, is down to the way that we have been living and therefore the problem or issue is just an element of our life that we are not coping with
I feel as well that as we are being constantly pulled up into greater and great expressions of Love that this is how our body evolves so that illness and disease is not always about something going wrong but that its clearing an energy that is not in line with the greater expression that the body is then designed to express next. So the illness occurs in the body to bring attention to what needs greater attention, letting go off and developing. The body is with out a doubt a divine design, and communication.
When we look into calculating rates of pay for different jobs, allowances have been factored in for public holidays, annual holidays and sick leave. You wouldn’t dream of not taking your holidays, why then not take your sick leave too? (providing you are genuinely sick of course). A day off at the beginning of an illness may prevent a week off after it has got much worse. And a few days off if you get the flu could prevent a chain reaction of time off for everyone who caught your flu. Be aware of your body and take time off when you get sick, your work will benefit from it.
A beautiful blog Gina, I just love the thought of being a part of nature and evolving along with it. I attribute the recent improvement of my health to what I have learned from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine in the last five years.
Gina this is such a great and important subject to share. I know whenever I start feeling overwhelmed or anxious in my body about what I need to do next or tomorrow or next week, my body is in dis-ease and there is no harmony. I can see how much of a choice this is now, and a self-responsibility for me not to get carried away with all there is to do and take one moment or job at a time…. as if I don’t, my body is not supported to do what is there to be done.
Hear hear Aimee, Your strong words resonate deeply with me. I too can feel the absolute dis-harmony when I start to “THINK” as opposed to just being in the moment. I find I tend to work myself up so much when I escape into my mind and I can feel how much of an effect this has on my body!
Well said Aimee, this is what I am realising and putting attention to.. it’s all those times I live in dis-ease, as small as it may be to some, it will affect my well-being and my work performance.
“However, unlike nature, we can load ourselves up with active thoughts, emotions, concerns, stress, over excitement, or consume food and drinks which don’t support us – these emotions and intakes use up energy we require to function – and more often than not, we ‘run out’ of energy.” I love this description Gina, nature is so beautifully void of the complication we bring to living – if we listen our bodies will show us the key elements that keep us vital for life.
I agree. There is such simplicity in nature yet we as humans try to make it so complicated and take on so much stress and over thinking that ends up harming us in one way or another.
Gina, as I read your blog I am reflecting on the fact that my body has felt quite tired today and what may have triggered this tiredness. What is my body telling me?? To look at our behaviours in this way and using the body as a marker makes so much sense to me and makes me totally responsible for my health and wellbeing.
Gina I love how you have observed nature and then related it to how you live. Nature does not push the boundaries of it’s natural rhythm, When we don’t interfere with nature and it is left left alone, it works in perfect harmony, Each part works well on its own but when you step back and look at the whole it works together, simply and easily. I know when I am in harmony with life because everything flows without me having to do anything,….. just like nature.
Nature offers a lovely reflection for us Alison as you have shared. The animals rest when they are tired, stop eating when they are full and generally live in a balanced and harmonious way. As I am reading this blog and comments this morning and feeling a bit unwell I am looking to nature to offer the reflection of how best to support myself while feeling like this.
This is so true. Taking the time to stop and appreciate each moment and each action without perfection brings a harmony that is hard to resist and so needed in the work place.
Gorgeous Alison, life does have a flow and in its amazing complexity it is very simple. We can tend to get in the way of this flow and think we know better, yet you watch animals, and they do not fight, destroy or eat like we do. They live in harmony and only eat what is needed. We could learn a lot from observing nature in all its glory.
Nature is so beautiful how it never imposes on us but just offers us its reflection in the love it comes from letting us know we can be the same if we accept we are everything it shows us of itself – its beauty, its sparkle, its majesty, its power, at the same time reflecting its harshness, its desolation, how its been abused and how it has to correct itself to restore its harmony. Forever showing us more about ourselves. If we are willing we will accept its gift to us.
Such a wonderful reminder that to really listen to the body and all that it is saying down to the smallest bump or knock to the body is simply telling us that somewhere along the line the choices you have been making are not supporting you to be in connection with your Soul. Our Soul is the foundation where harmony, stillness, joy. love and truth resides.
Simply and critically said and seen like this it draws my attention to the urgent and beautiful responsibility we have to be aware in all our moments and details. Thank you, Natalie.
The body is the marker of truth. I am trying to listen to it more and more, even if I don’t always like what it says.
I can relate Lee, I don’t always like what my body is telling me and the fact of the matter is that whether I like it or not the truth is the truth.
I smiled in recognition of now knowing that the body is the marker of all truth and as Vanessa said, ‘I don’t always like what my body is telling me and the fact of the matter is that whether I like it or not the truth is the truth.’ If only I had realised this before, when I was feeling I needed to take time off work.
It does feel a bit urgent at times Matilda as I see so much illness and disease around me and there lies a responsibility from myself and my body that has come to know another way. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine presented another way to me, a way back to my body, to re-connect with it, care and support it and myself, and then be the detail of that in my every day life.
Thank you Natalie, it is so easy to discount the body’s messages, and create a lot of ‘noise’ to drown out the loving truth that it is bringing home to you… but now instead of seeing it as annoying, I am learning to respect what the body can tell us .. and in doing so have discovered how deep the level of disregard and trashing of the body occurs on a daily, even by-minute basis. Now respecting and listening to the body’s wisdom allows a connection and spaciousness that brings far greater understanding of self and life around me. And as this develops steadily it is now easier to not take things on from others, and easier to allow others to be – no more trying to control situations. Hugely liberating.
Well said Annie. The body holds so much wisdom and is the barometer of truth so to enable us to change the way we are living and in caring for ourselves. The body does deserve respect as it is a super reflector of our health and wellbeing.
Natalie reconnecting to our Soul is the greatest work that We will ever do and it is our greatest responsibility.
Meeting Serge Benhayon has truly changed my life, I now have learned to appreciate how my body is the marker of truth and the result of lifestyle choices that I make, the more responsibility I choose in the way I take care of my body the more harmony and wellbeing I get to enjoy and share with others.
I have experienced this too Francisco, since meeting Serge Benhayon and attending Universal Medicine work shops. While I still get sick from time to time I live a level of health and wellbeing the is truly amazing. I also now support myself when I am feeling unwell rather than battle through it.
This has been my experience too. Although I ‘knew’ that what I did to myself affected my body before I met Serge Benhayon, there was an incredible arrogance that said this was ok and I would find a short cut around it so I could continue to do whatever I wanted. This is the beauty of the body. When it can take no more abuse, it speaks loud and clear, which can be the humbling experience many of us need.
Well said Francisco. You have mentioned responsibility in your comment and I know there are many people that may not want to actually live responsibly. I was one of those people for a while, and I still find there is always more responsibility to take, no matter where I end up. I have found that living responsibly actually helps me to be more joyful because if I am responsible for myself, I know I am looking after the people around me.
Thank you Gina, for reminding me to not go into stress and run on nervous energy. I often choose to go into these behaviours and way of functioning when I am very busy with work. But I find that it actually doesn’t help with the situation. I make more mistakes, take longer to do a task and the quality is compromised. So it is not supportive at all but I find myself choosing this energy automatically. Now, I am learning I can stop and choose to come out of it. To focus on one task at a time, to be fully present and to work with quality and not nervous energy. When I feel my body is in disharmony, I can choose to bring it back to harmony. I am learning to recognize it more and to be more aware of what builds up leading me to go into disharmony so easily. The more I learn to stay connect with myself and my body, the easier it becomes too for me to not choose nervous energy or stress.
This is a gorgeous article Gina, I had a recent experience of a few late nights and not taking care of myself like I usually do and as a result I am now suffering with a cold, it amazes me how the body speaks so clearly and that if we do not listen to it and go into disregard then the body gets poorly in some way.
I love your blog Gina. Our bodies are amazing and will always reveal to us the truth of our choices. Our responsibility is to feel that truth and it’s effects. I’m beginning to learn that working with my body in a self-loving way has benefits for me and those around me.
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” To view illness in this way would mean that people took healing into their own hands so much more and began understanding medicine as preventative rather than getting hit with worsening symptoms until something has to be done to keep functioning. Thanks to Serge Benhayon I have learned that the essential practice to live this way is body awareness practice. We hold connection and presence with our bodies so we deeply feel every choice we make. Then, we can’t ignore our bodies and get so much joy out of looking after them.
Awesome comment Simon. It is so amazing to take responsibility for our own health and to fully listen to our bodies, it is constantly communicating to us. It naturally works to harmonise all the ill choices we make and clearing it every moment. But when it is overloaded it does a major clearing and that is when we fall ill or sick. It is a way of telling us to stop what we are choosing and if we don’t listen to our body it sends a bigger and louder message the next time. Like you said, we can’t ignore our body, it is precious, powerful and highly intelligent.
From listening to my body over the past couple of years I have really only just started taking some time off ‘sick’. I never would have dreamed to take time off work to be sick. I wouldn’t have ever though it ok. But, over the last two years where I am re-learning to listen to my body and know when I have over done something I am allowing myself to have those days off sick and truly rest and rejuvenate. On one level I do feel there is some guilt around not having looked after my body correctly in the first place but on another level I am grateful to be honouring my body and allowing it the time and the space to be able to heal the nervous every or tension that I go into when achieving tasks at work, or trying to ‘fix’ all the problems that are present. I really thank Serge Benhayon for supporting me to honour my body and because I have chosen to do so I am becoming much more able to work more efficiently at work and not take on so many of the problems that are constantly and consistently presented.
Gina, your question about what is it that human beings do that affects their health so much is great. Why indeed are we so unhealthy? It really is time to look at the way that we are living and to realize that we can make different choices. Every moment we have an opportunity to change simply by listening to our body and paying attention to what it is telling us.
‘Why indeed are we so unhealthy?’ Great question and one that many of us have asked. But I have witnessed people blame the environment for their ill health and I have even gone along with this myself. But in fact, I have come to realise in recent years it is all due to our choices. The way we choose to live, the food we choose to consume, the way we choose to function and relate to each other. How much of what we choose is truly loving and supportive affects how we feel. I agree, ‘Every moment we have an opportunity to change simply by listening to our body and paying attention to what it is telling us.’ Thank you Elizabeth.
So often we take time off when unwell without looking at what may have led to us being ill in the first place. We then rush back to work not having fully recovered because we feel guilty for being off work. It’s great Gina that you were able to take stock and change some behaviours that you realised were not loving and that contributed to you needing time off. I love the line where you say “I have space in my day to be joyful.” Fabulous.
Love the choice you made to take full responsibility for your health Gina…if we were taught from a young age to nurture ourselves and to listen to what our body is telling us, humanity in general would be much healthier and the cost to the healthcare system would be greatly reduced.
I have this appreciation for and knowing of my body like never before since I met Serge Benhayon and listen to the teachings of Esoteric Medicine and Universal Medicine. I now listen, mostly, to what my body presents me with. As soon as I feel a heaviness, an elevation or any sort of disturbance I want to know why, I realise I am not quite myself and immediately look at how I have been living. I, like you Gina feel irresponsible when I become ill and know how much this effects many people.. but I also equally know how important it is to allow the body to deeply rest and heal, no matter the circumstances of your arrival at that illness – to be able to do that without guilt, is also a step up in the responsibility stakes.
Yes, to accept the body’s process and take full responsibility, lovingly and without guilt, by allowing space to rest and heal.
I have felt this too Gill. Sometimes I can indulge in too much rest which becomes inactive loafing. This actually makes me more tired!
Many of us will know about ‘duvet’ days or sick days, whether we feel exhausted from illness or the way we are living. Some of us will attempt to push through, even if we feel very ill, two different approaches, with a similar outcome, both involve not truly listening to what our bodies have to tell us. I used to have these days of ‘sickness’ and they are now very rare. It is interesting to consider why we have days off ‘sick’, and it is also great to honour when we do require time to rest and recuperate. An honest appraisal of how we feel, supports our daily life.
Great blog Gina. Our bodies being designed to live in harmony is something I had never considered until I came across Universal Medicine. I used to just treat my body as functional and with very little respect, so this was a new concept to me but totally made sense. Now I take much more loving care of my body and the signals it gives me, like – it’s time to have a break now, or best not eat that food again, or perhaps I’m feeling stiff and I’m needing some exercise. When I honour these messages not only do I feel healthy, I also find that I’m more open to feeling more from my body.
I am becoming more and more interested in my body. It is fascinating to learn how the body works – I would love more of this to be taught in the education system. I am 33 and am still discovering how my body operates. The more I discover, the more I can care for and honour my body and its physiology. The more I care for my body, the better I feel and the less likely I am to get run down.
Fabulous – to use your sick day to stop and feel what your body is communicating to you and then seek support to allow yourself to receive the healing. We are meant to be well and vital, just like nature and if we’re not, we need to be conscious of why. It’s breaking the consciousness of just battling on and repeating the same unsupportive behaviors.
If you can take the time to convalesce when it’s needed and create that still space for yourself to simply be, it can be a deeply healing experience.
Indeed it is really a different form of intelligence to listen to the body and use its wisdom and communication to guide our choices, rather than relying on the solutions that the mind so readily offers as a way out of the affray it originally created.
For me I find when I ignore the small gentle warning signs my body offers to tell me that something is not quite right, and my body is struggling to work in harmony due to the way I am living, it communicates louder with another warning and continues to do this if I continue to ignore the signs until I am so unwell I am forced to stop, feel and take responsibility for what I am doing to my body and listen to what it is telling me.
Great blog
Gina, it’s beautiful how finely tuned you have become listening to the messages presented to you by your body. I’m also noticing the space you are giving yourself to do this. I am feeling the push of life this week and all the things that must be done. I am also feeling the space I have to be able to be in the rhythm that is necessary for my health. It’s amazing that the spin of the world hasn’t affected me as it usually did and that I now feel I have the tools I need to be in each moment as it comes. So no anxiety. I will continue to feel what is necessary, and be open to the support that is offered.
“Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution.” So why is it that us humans choose to override what the body is trying to tell us and “soldier on” until our illness immobilises us or we have an accident? Are we not respecting and honouring our body?
I know in nursing- guilt comes up when you are sick- as if you are superhuman and can’t get sick, or you have a responsibility to others, duty of care; staff numbers will be down so it will be a problem finding someone else to work etc
But, what quality of care are you bringing to patients if you are unwell?
Thanks for sharing Gina. Anything that happened to the body – a cold, 24hr illness, extreme emotional state, injury – always had a story attached to it. This alway shifted responsibility or blame outside of myself. When these situations occur now, I reflect on what has been happening in a different way and truly appreciate what they have to offer. There have been times I have invited others to consider illness/accident as a message to be opened rather than something that has happened to them, and have been met with a great deal of resistance. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine offered me the opportunity to consider these experiences differently. For this I will be forever grateful.
I can’t help but ponder if, for instance, many workers truly felt into their bodies on a given day, how many would call in sick. There is a common belief out there that one should ‘soldier on’ regardless. This generally being achieved by using any means to mask the body’s messages so, aches, pains and general symptoms are over ridden and ignored. This is creating a situation where the body then needs to speak so much more loudly to be heard. We are our bodies, it makes no sense to dull or cut off the lines of communication.
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Absolutely Barbara. How many of us listen to the messages early on in the piece before they get louder and more frequent?
A moment to stop, feel and reflect may well arrest the issue in its tracks before it stops us in ours.
We can carry so much guilt around looking after and nurturing ourselves. It has been drilled into us over the years and we have taken a lot of time learning how to not care for ourselves, how bizarre is that?! And a huge trick to keep us away from our true nature, grand power and beauty.
That’s so true Jenny, I have experienced a lot of guilt in the past for taking time out for me when my body has been screaming to stop, nurture and recharge, I now have developed a level of body awareness that supports my body to be in harmony and full of vitality.
It is so true Gill, that to take a moment to and feel where we are at is so important. If we did that a little in each day perhaps we would not override things to such a point where they develop and manifest in sickness where we need to take a sick day.
Great article Gina, our bodies are such a source of wisdom if we actually stop and listen to the messages they are continually offering us at every moment. I agree in full with you sentence here “Just as nature continually evolves, so too do our bodies – as part of that nature – support us to evolve. Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution”. I have the deepest respect and appreciation for my body.
What an amazing instrument we have to help us evolve – our body. If we truly listen, it is constantly sending us messages. My body is quite naturally showing me all the time what I need to do. Are the cells of my body alive and singing today? And if not, why not? Thank you Serge Benhayon, I am forever grateful for the understanding that ‘the body is a marker of all truth’.
So true Elizabeth, the body is truly patient, offering us little signs that thing aren’t quite right all along the way, until we ignore the signs for so long it has no choice but to offer us a sign we just can’t ignore.
I always used to take the martyr approach to being unwell and would push on through and get the job done. These days if I’m sick, I take the time I need to fully recover. I give myself the time and space to feel into what is underneath the symptoms and process the big picture. I have learnt to listen to my body and take the time to support my body to restore the natural order and harmony every cell is designed to function in.
Yes I have noticed too that if I am upset I can easily bump into something even if it is only a mere touch and this is telling me that I am not making enough space for myself and to just be still – reconnect to the stillness inside that I have obviously lost. This only takes a few seconds or minutes at the most. Of course the longer I go ignoring these signs the longer it takes to regain myself and/or sustain this new found stillness which so supports me in my day.
I guess honesty can work both ways. You can be honest and say, ‘I’m exhausted, stressed etc. I need to take a day off.’ – and that day off would be needed. You can also be honest by asking why you feel that way. To use it both ways strikes me as best use of this medicine that we are all capable of administering to ourselves.
The first part of honesty in admitting we are exhausted, depleted and stressed many do well …to delve deeper than that and ask ourselves ‘why?’ and to take some responsibility for exploring that ‘why?’ and making the needed adjustment is asking for our full commitment.
I’ve never really looked at getting sick as being irresponsible and what comes to mind is how much other people’s rhythm is affected when someone is off sick, especially if others have to take on the workload. It’s hard to take on a project within mid stream, because there is so much research that has to be done in a short time, which puts pressure on the others because their work load is falling behind.
I love your comment about ‘stop’ moments and can so relate to them – as I get to really feel what Serge Benhayon is saying to me so my body comes up with more and more little ‘stop’ moments and now I appreciate them as a reminder to look at how I’m living. My best moment ever was having a heart attack – but why wait for that before understanding what you’re doing to you? Thank you Gina – great blog
Great Blog Gina. Unfortunately the only way many of us stop these days is when our body forces us to. Of course, most of us do not take the stop to reflect on how we were running our bodies that lead us to getting sick. Instead we wish to blame it on the latest virus, or on the business of life for getting us so run down in the first place. We consider it normal to get sick, as it is normal for everyone around us, but we do not contemplate on the possibility that a virus is not the cause, but rather the catalyst, and that we have the capacity to live in such a way that makes our body much more immune to such disease.
What Universal Medicine teaches us is that we cannot avoid the practical realities of life for the most part. Life is busy and it is intense, but it is not so much this intensity that burns us out, but rather the quality of our being-ness. After all, anxiety and nervous tension actually do not enable you to get things done any quicker. Yes, it makes you think quicker and think that the world around you is moving faster. But in truth it is not. Your legs can only move so fast, but what is happening in this example is that you are burning up energy unnecessarily, making you less capable to deal with all that needs to be done.
Very well said Adam. It is a great trick to believe that we are moving along in our work and our life efficiently fuelled by nervous tension, stress and anxiety when all the while this is depleting us, wearing us down and a constant drain on our natural spaciousness which hinders our capacity to Live a full life.
Agreed Adam, we tend to act like illness or sickness comes out of nowhere or that we are fighting a battle against it, rather than viewing disease as the body’s communication tool. I think if we can really get super honest with the little bumps and colds, when or if bigger things come along, we will have more chance of looking at them objectively without judgment and with more ease.
I had also viewed being sick as a hindrance, something that got in the way and came from bad luck. To now have a different perspective is indeed a great blessing Gina. The key part about a sick day or the body showing that something is in dis-ease is then how I am with that. I’m increasingly willing to look at how had I been living that bought me to this point and with that I feel the true gift of illness come in – allowing me to choose, if I don’t resist, to change this by getting underneath what is truly going on.
“I contemplated how all those things in nature I was observing were in optimum health and function. ….. My body, a human being on this planet, is a living part on this earth as much as everything else – so why wasn’t I feeling spectacular also?” Until I read this I had not considered that practically all in nature functions at its optimum but we, as humans, do not. With that realisation it is really so obvious that we are not in harmony with ourselves or our environment. It is like the fact we cannot see our own noses.
I had copied these exact words from Gina’s post when I read yours above Jonathan! Connecting with the truth that we are part of nature, and when we are not at optimum health, not only do we not see our own noses, we don’t see and smell ourselves in the roses either!
Jonathan I too had the same realisation when I read those words, in fact I had a real stop moment while I contemplated the enormity of what I had just read. It is so obvious that nature not only works in a natural harmony, it displays this to us constantly, so why haven’t we been able to see and learn from it. No wonder there is so much dis-harmony in the world when we ignore the constant and amazing example of true living that is right in front of us.
Thank you Gina, this is a great blog to read about what a sick day off work can truly offer. An opportunity to really give yourself the space and time to reassess, adjust and reconfirm that true sense of self.
yes it is in the reassessing that Gina has shared the key to evolving not just writing it off as being sick, but taking that responsibility for the ill choices that lead to the illness in the first place.
Sickness days are really wellbeing day because to recover from being sick requires us to look after ourselves.
I like what you are getting at here Elizabeth.
They are days of self-care and rest from the accumulation of lack of care that has resulted in the unwell being in the first place.
I love this way of describing Elizabeth, this is so much more uplifting. When we do take responsibility for what has made us stop, made us sick in the first place, we need wellbeing days to care and nurture and no self bashing.
I like that Elizabeth “Sickness days are really wellness days” recovering from being sick does require us to look after ourselves and if we take the time as soon as we begin to feel something is out of balance, prevention is better than cure.
🙂 I really like that notion too Elizabeth
Shami, I can certainly relate to the belief that I had to be an “indestructible machine”, especially as a mother, but even machines need to be looked after, and running myself to the point of emptiness and exhaustion would only ever result in me being very sick for quite a few days – or more. These days, with the increased level of care I now take of myself, those bouts of emptiness and exhaustion are now a thing of the past.
Thank you Gina for your investigation into why you felt sick, you present the facts with clarity and wisdom. We can all upskill in the area of self care, it will save our health systems billions of dollars and we will have more productive and harmonious workplaces and homes.
I can’t remember the last time I had a sick day, but I do remember the feeling of guilt that surrounded it, and a sense of failure. Like I am supposed to be this indestructible machine that keeps on going, and any signs of fatigue or of being worn out are all signs of a weakness that perhaps I had been trying to avoid or hide from view. Suddenly I was vulnerable, sick and exposed to the reality of how I had been living. This was unpleasant, but I took in the lessons and changed the way I worked.
Beautiful blog Gina.
Realising some time ago that there was a connection between how I lived and how my body ‘behaved’ didn’t prevent me from putting all sorts of rubbish into it.
Not until I discovered Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine did I begin to understand the detail of how I was with my body in EVERYTHING I did, affected me in every way.
Fast forward a few years and I live a far gentler and caring way with myself, appreciating that when I’m not my primary care concern, every aspect of my life is diminished as I don’t come from the fullness of me.
Sounds like your day off was extremely fruitful.
Having a sick day, when you aren’t actually sick, is still championed by a lot of people – a day off, a day to rest, a day for ‘self’, yet the rest of the team have to pick up the slack and feel the effect it really has.
And what we believe we leave behind or shelve for the day is still there waiting for us upon our return
A great point Vicky, taking a ‘sicky’ when not actually sick, affects the whole of the work team. Are we willing to feel the responsibility of the choices we make and how they affect us all, in fact all of the time ?
Yes Vicky, but I feel this attitude is born from lack of understanding of how to honour one’s self moment to moment and there-fore needing to take something as dramatic as a whole day in order to make up for lost time. Not saying that it justifies the behaviour, but to me it screams that as a society we are poorly educated about how to truly take care of ourselves.
I think a lot of people are happy to take sick days off but my feeling is very few actually use that time to deeply rest and nurture – for example 4 hours of XBox is not deeply nurturing.
Yes there is a real distinction made here by Gina, do we take the time to really stop feel and reconnect and self-nurture with what is truly needed or load ourselves up with more things which are in disharmony with our bodies.
Dean a great point you make here, I certainly used to use sick days to relieve myself rather than truly rest, recover and be honest with what led me to become sick in the first place.
Great point Dean, I once used some sick days to push myself to complete other things at home when I had begun to feel marginally better. It did not serve me well, as I got sicker and couldn’t do anything at all and took longer to get back to work. I learnt my lesson!
Jeanette reading your comment just bought back a memory of being unwell at home but because I was so used to being on the go all the time I found it impossible to just lie and do nothing and so pushed myself to do some polishing !
Great point Dean. Taking sick days off can give us an opportunity to stop and truly rest. I wonder if we find this difficult to do because we are stuck in a way of living that just wants to keep going whether at work or at home, whether we are well or ill?
100% agree Dean, and I am only learning that it is OK to take sick days like Gina here is describing. When the body feels unwell, taking the time to recover and in that learning to deeply nurture and really take the time to heal… (no xbox or TV really ~ just soup and keeping warm and attending to little self nurturing things). I have had to have some significant time off this year as my body has been running in overdrive for quite a long time and it’s really starting to heal, deeply. The more I truly rest the more energy I have each day..
Great blog Gina. Yes, our body is amazing in letting us know very clearly when our choices are not loving ones – thoughts, emotions, food choices or behaviour.
I love how you didn’t stay with feeling guilt and regret but felt responsibility. I know I’ve often got stuck in the guilt trips, but going to responsibility means I can choose to make more responsible choices and this feels very empowering – whereas with guilt I can choose to be trapped by an endless eddy of feeling bad.
Karin I can relate to this if I go to feeling guilty I can really start to indulge in all sorts of drama and it takes a lot longer to get to the responsibility bit.
I can feel that going into feeling guilty actually keeps me busy and stops me from surrendering to the healing that can occur when I am unwell. Allowing myself to accept how I feel creates so much ease in my body, so it can get on with supporting me.
Thank you Fiona, this has really helped me to work out what I go into when I feel unwell… and it is exactly what you have shared, I feel guilty for feeling unwell and am not okay with that so keep pushing through which of course leads to feeling further unwell and the vicious cycle continues. Lovely: “Allowing myself to accept how I feel creates so much ease in my body, so it can get on with supporting me.”
Yes Karin the guilt factor can really tie you up in emotion and more and more drama. It’s a never ending cycle, but if we choose responsibility it empowers us forward and opens up a pathway of learning from our choices.
So Simple Gina, Thanks.
We are part of a natural cycle that we can simply be with or fight. Fighting it will make us unwell.
Golden!
There is certainly much more to the cycles and rhythms that we live in than we are generally taught. While it is accepted that women have a cycle in regards to menstruation, it makes sense that there is more to cycles than just this and that they affect everyone. As a man I have certainly felt that there is also a rhythm to how I can live and that there are times where I know I need to take it easy and give my body deeper rest. The openness to accepting this and not pushing on through is for me a great thing.
So true Simone, It’s like going against the grain. Every choice we make can either support us or harm us dependent on if we choose to honour the body or choose to ignore it and/or over work it.
I totally agree Simon. Really I think we have all fought our natural cycles for a very long time… but thank god Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine have brought the truth and reality back to life.
Yes perfectly said Simple Simon 😉 I have experienced this, and a real example of ‘we are what we align to’ is that I remember when I didn’t want to go to school and faked being “sick”, that I actually had to call in that energy to pretend, and actually then felt really bad, unwell and Sick! A result of my choices, and not being true. Another option I now see would have been to openly express what is going on for me, and face what I am not wanting to feel.
I second that Simplesimon88. I DID fight it – and I WAS ill. A lesson well learnt, now if I feel to override those rhythms that tell me how I am each day I remember how ill I felt – and I don’t want to feel like that again.
As it says in the name, very simple. But if we choose to ignore it and fight the natural cycle as I have before, and I have become ill due to the fighting of this.
Your article presents a real paradigm shift in the way to consider the purpose of and response to illness and disease. When we view illness ‘as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living’, it immediately puts us in the driving seat, at cause and in full responsibility, if we so choose. Living in harmony with the body and in full respect of the communication it provides us, is the most natural way to improve our quality of life and ensure our quality of being.
Thank you Gina, Cathy and Serge Benhayon, I agree, our body is a marker of our true health, we have to be responsible for all our ills.
I absolutely agree Greg. Health and wellbeing is about our responsibility with and to ourselves.
Absolutely Mick, the responsibility is to make loving choices for our-self!
Absolutely Greg
Love this, Cathy: “Living in harmony with the body and in full respect of the communication it provides us, is the most natural way to improve our quality of life and ensure our quality of being”. The realisation that my body is indeed in a constant state of communication with me was a very powerful one, and something that I realised I was not paying attention to (I still need reminding every once in a while). But once I did, wow, did things start to change!
this is a very interesting perspective… that our body has its way of talking to us, letting us know what is truly going, but it doesn’t hold back for a convenient moment to express itself, simply says it as it is. Hmmm it sounds like we should really listen to our bodies, that they are a repository of wisdom that is built in to all of us, if we simply choose to listen.
Thanks Gina this is a lovely blog a great reminder of how our behaviours impact our wellness, and the last line brings it home beautifully, “grow in love and wisdom, every day”. This is the thing for me, too easily I can carry around the knowledge that my body is communicating to me and yet I don’t act on its messages or delay the action is calling for. This is allowed by seeing time as linear and so I can say to myself “I’ll do it later” but really there is only ever now and the only question is: “do I want to love and care for myself or not?” I want to love and care for myself every day, and my body is my great teacher and friend in developing this care.
The body does communicate with us if we are willing to listen, and discover the behaviours that do not support us or our growth. When we are ill there is always a learning, a stop to reconsider, to ponder, to recorrect a situation we have been allowing. As you say in your blog, we already know that our behaviours can bring about illness and disease as a blessing to clear them. And when we hear it from Universal Medicine it is a confirmation of what we know inside.
Calling in sick always poses an interesting question for me, what I feel is a great irresponsibility in whatever I have done that led me to this point. So from there I have to decide whether it’s possible to suck it up and keep working, or whether I need to honour my body’s need for rest, that way I am in respect of both myself and of others.
How refreshing. When most of us ‘feel stressed’, we look to our environment for a cause, so I might for example say (and I have on many occasions said), that ‘work is making me stressed’, but you said that you felt unwell because you were ‘living in stress and nervous energy’. This is so different. By taking responsibility for the fact that ‘you’ were living in stress and nervous energy’ instead of saying that something was ‘making you stressed’, you also gave yourself the space and opportunity to change the situation.
Yes a funny species we are indeed. I’ve never heard of a bird call in sick…
love the humour in this image Matts.
It is so simple and such beautiful thing to do – listening to my body, letting go of any drive and feeling new depths to go to in my daily rhythm. Thank you for the great reminder Gina.
Your description sounds like a sick day well spent in the pursuit of a much more responsible and deeper level of care and nurturing that can then provide a solid and true foundation for daily life, be it at work or at play.
I love what you have shared here, Gina, about our bodies talking to us. I have come to really appreciate and am often properly blown away by my body’s dialogue and the speed and clarity with which it will respond to situations or choices I have made. That can be food – that before it has even reached my mouth, my body is saying yes or no to – a sensation in my mouth, discomfort in my stomach or a stiffening in my shoulders – all of which then alludes to the fact that way before physicality there is energy at play.
A willingness to listen to my body has founded a relationship and awareness beyond anything I could have possibly imagined. An awareness that also reveals so much about our world.
This is lovely ‘So lately I ask my body to show me all what brings me too a more loving way of living. And quess what…when you are ready…the body Will show you….’ Our bodies are very wise, we have so much to learn here.
Just your title Gina got me thinking about my past and having a sick day or two.
I learnt nothing because as soon as I could physically get on with the ‘doing’ I was off busy busy doing doing. No wonder I was a health statistic.
Today thanks to the teachings of Serge Benhayon I can’t actually remember the last sick day off work since my surgery in 2008.
I put that down to taking deep care of myself on a daily basis and ensuring I get the rest and sleep I need, so my immune system is not depleted. It’s what I call common sense medicine and I am living proof it works.
I love how you looked to nature to feel how other creatures who also live on earth are in optimum health – it seems we can see ourselves as different from this and often put up with a less than ideal way of feeling. How awesome that you have seen that getting sick is an indicator from your body that how you are living is not as supportive for you as it could be, and using this opportunity to seek support to make some changes in your life – very inspiring!
Getting sick is our body’s way to communicate a message. It is truly important to read well what the body is communicating for us to understand, learn and address the issue at hand. A sick day is a wonderful opportunity to deepen our own relationship with ourselves.
‘Illness as a dialogue’ – yes complete change around for me. I thought illness was something you worked through. it makes so much sense instead to stop and listen……and review our choices.
The more I take care of my body through diet, exercise, observing not absorbing, focus on being present, deepening my rhythm, abiding by the repose and motion cycle (this one I am still much in development stage) etc. the more I can read the subtle messages the body is giving me and I adjust what ever is needed accordingly and then I don’t need the big stop moments because I am listening to all the little ones.
I love the detail I can feel you got to in life marylouisemyers, there are so many different facets to health rather than just right sleep and the right food.
Gina this is so beautiful and very revealing. I have noticed that as I take more responsibility for my choices I get sick less often. When something does come up for me it is an opportunity to stop and reflect on what has been happening in my life. I often find after being sick different choices are made.
Sometimes when the body is in need of deep rest, I do take a sick day. It can be from accumulative exhaustion or from processing my head off. When I do get sick these days it only lasts for a couple of days at most and I’m back to work.
Learning to live in a loving way feeling and honouring our bodies is a real gift to learn and the inspiration and reflection from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine is leading this true way for humanity to reconnect with. This is true healing and brings the understanding to medicine as a whole. Thank you for sharing such a great blog and awareness it brings.
What a cool blog! Thank you so much for sharing it, our bodies and life have so much to teach us if we listen. I also loved how you pointed out when you needed to phone in sick the guilt you felt was actually the irresponsibility that led to that point. I know I definitely feel guilty if I have to let people down, and I can clearly see it’s because my choices have led to that point.
I love how you take responsibility for getting sick and halting the choices that brought you to be sick in the same way again! Making way for a new way of being with yourself and your work.
In the past I would only take time off work when I was very sick, not when my body showed me initial signs. Gina, you honouring and taking the day off to nurture and then take support and reflect as to why you were feeling unwell in your body feels so supportive. If we pick up on the slightest uneasiness in body and honour and feel that, then we may not even have to go down the path of being miserably unwell, as we wouldn’t have allowed ourself to build up the momentum in our body. Our body is always speaking to us in the way we feel in it, so if we truly listen to it, it will guide us on what’s going on and then we can make choices from there. Thanks for your sharing.
It is marvelous to know that despite of most of us choosing to live opposite to it, we are actually designed to live in harmony and unison with all around us and have it within us to accomplish all the physical activities we need to do in our lives. I have personally found that the more I listen to my body and honour what I become aware of, the more ease and flow there is in my day despite of what might be going on around me. And yes when I do not listen my body has a delightful way of making me stop with some physical message, such as a knock or an ache and if I really ignore it some infection or illness. You have provided a great example of how we can work in appreciation and honour of the amazing reflection we get from our body.
Thanks Gina, “the willingness, openness and honesty to go deeper” this seems to be the key for me…not just seeking support to get better or to fix it…but to look beyond the surface.
Great point Joel as we so often look for the quick fix or push through before getting better, if we stop at all.
So no more running for the sticky plasters to cover up the ‘wound’ – but developing an appreciative relationship with responsibility, as we are offered more and more opportunities to learn. Love this. Thank you, Joel.
What I absolutely love about this blog Gina is how you have called out our irresponsibility when we get sick but then don’t make any changes to the way we live so often become sick again. It’s so easy to go into a story about how or why it’s ‘too hard’ to change at work, but to continue running on the hamster wheel, especially when we have the awareness to understand that our body is communicating with us that something needs to change, is completely irresponsible and self-disregarding. Thank you for sharing your unfolding.
I enjoyed the simple part of the message here about how we can use sick days. It is an opportunity to rest and heal, but also to look into the choices we have been making that allowed us to get run down. This seems very important yet this level of responsibility is not so much addressed, allowing chronic illness to rise in our communities, as well as absenteeism. Yet it is not a difficult question to ask, how have I been living to get like this? Also the answers are there in the repeated patterns of behaviour in our lives. The beginning of change is to acknowledge what is going on and that is an empowering start.
I remember deciding to take half a day off at the hint of the flu. Usually I would push it and try stay at work as long as I could until I got really sick. Then I would be out for 3-4 days. On this day I took the half day off to stay in bed and rest. And guess what – this time the flu never took hold. It was wonderful to feel the power of listening to my body and taking action to support it… And it paid off.
That’s such an important piece of info Dean. Think how much production could be increased if a) we listened to what our bodies were advising and b) employers understood that time was needed BEFORE the illness took a strong grip (rather than after the horse had bolted so to speak) – when the symptoms are so pronounced it seems ‘time off’ is deemed ‘deserved’ and justified. Crazy.
Yes we seem to have an unhealthy relationship with being sick – whilst this is a clever play on words it is also a common reality.
There must be a way to approach illness that in addition to the usual visit to the doctor includes deep healing and understanding about the condition rather than a desperate last minute reaction to quell the symptoms and get back on with our distractions and comforts
And there is… and it involves a lot of self-regard, taking the space to nurture and care and to feel and review what is happening at the time, and honouring the fact that it is our birthright to rest and not something that has to be earned or deserved.
Honouring the body, the remedy for illness and disease.
So simple and true! Thank you Sally.
So simple, so sweet, so practical and so self-lovingly responsible. Thank you, Dean.
So much Truth here. I have recently become more acutely aware of nature with all its perfection, beauty and balance and the messages it sends and reading your words has brought greater understanding and sense of responsibility about my (and our) place in that. Particularly tuning in here, too, to the importance and beauty of simplicity highlighted in the comments, which has evaded me most of my life – looking forward to seeing where that goes.
Your reference to nature and its natural harmony and function really are a wake up call. Exhaustion and illness have become so common place, as has obesity and addiction, that we’ve lost our natural marker for the way to be. We are accepting these lesser states of being and all the while we have the simple answer – listening to our own body. Thanks for the reminders to keep listening and taking responsibility.
Gina, it’s lovely to reflect not only on the fact that the majority of us are clearly aware of the fact that the way we live affects our health, but that what is important is to deeply accept this, and from there we can start to truly learn how to care and love ourselves.
Thank you for sharing this Shirley-Ann, this is GOLD! I can feel how the way I care for my body would deepen even more if I treated it like it was a Ferrari 🙂
So beautiful Gina. Our bodies do speak to us all the time. The more we truly connect to it the more we listen and the more we listen the better care we take. ✨
Yes and the more we listen we do not need the big stop moments .
“I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day.” I love this line, thank you Gina. Me too.
I agree Jeanette – I love this line too. The depth of wisdom on offer from my body constantly amazes me, and is something I am loving learning how to learn more from. Being able to listen to it is the first step in the process – and that requires a stillness. For me busy-ness and motion very easily override the stillness that allows me to feel exactly where my body is at and what it needs in that moment. Re-building this stillness as a foundation for me to work from is therefore key in allowing this wisdom to be lived consistently every day.
Hi Gina, I have been learning lately how to feel the tiredness in my body and to take responsibility for it. Not to blame these feelings on any outer situation or person. But just to lovingly observe that I had made some choices that were not so great, and then choose some new ones, some new great choices. This has shown me that in every moment there is the possibly for change.
That’s the good thing about life, Shami, in every second we can choose. It’s our choices that put us in a certain situation and therefore it’s our choices that can take us out of those situations.
The power of every moment and the appreciation of the miracle in the smallest details. Thank you, Shami.
This is a great article Gina, reading this I can feel how we as a society are so far away from living harmoniously like nature, ‘Our bodies are ideally designed to live in harmony and unison with our environment’, I can feel how it is more common to make unloving choices and live in disharmony and that it is unusual for someone to actually take care of themselves and live in the way we are naturally meant to. Thanks Gina for writing about this.
It is great we can learn from our bodies and be loving and respectful in taking the responsibility for our behaviours that led to the illness in the first place, rather than going hard on ourselves for having done something wrong, which I have been doing a lot, which made the illness worse.
Absolutely Ariana, It is amazing how you say that we wouldn’t treat other people that we care for the way we can treat ourselves. Once I started to see how hard I was and brought gentleness with myself then I could start to feel that I actually was extremely tender. This has most definitely had an enormous impact on my health for sure.
I totally agree!
Ariana this is so true. When I judge myself I can feel the physical pressure I put myself under. Conversely, when I am compassionate and accepting of myself and others this pressure lifts and a sense of well being arises.
The cost of absenteeism at work has always been a highly reported issue. In the case of taking sick days it is very obvious as the person is simply not there and unable to do their work. However there is a hidden absenteeism that is very rarely discussed. What about if we also took into consideration the extended lunch breaks, the use of the internet (for example) for private use, being half asleep or completely exhausted with difficulty concentrating….and the list of distractions could go on. This is another level of responsibility that can easily be overlooked in the workplace. Why? Because it looks like you are there, even if you aren’t really working.
That is very true Vicky.
This is such a great point Vicky, thank you for exposing this. I will observe this today while I am at work and check the number of times I fall for distraction.
So true Vicky. You’ve reminded me of one I can to succumb to: spending time being stressed with my work load yet not actually doing any when I could simply do one thing after another and reduce the work load in that time I was using to be stressed.
so true Vicky.
This is a great point Vicky. It is not simply about whether we are at work or not, it is also about the quality we bring when we are at work.
That’s a great point Vicky. Lack of productivity and focus at work is huge, and hugely related to exhaustion I feel. Often I think if everyone really tuned in to how exhausted they were feeling, we’d have to have a national exhaustion/sick day!
Thank you for your a thought provoking blog Gina. You certainly made a wise and constructive use of your day of sick leave. Serge Benhayon has certainly inspired me to take responsibility for my health and always look to the behaviours or reasons that led to the illness.
Hi Elizabeth, you have mentioned the big word here, ‘responsibility’, yes, we need to take responsibility for the behaviours or lifestyle that led to the illness. It is amazing how we can begin to heal when we embrace our responsibility.
It is a blessing when we view our bodies and health, as speaking to us, and when we become unwell to listen to our bodies and look at how we have been living that caused that to happen.
Rather than the usual way, of thinking that we just get ill, which allows no responsibility to change how we have been living.
I agree, we have yet to learn that how we live and are in life is the reason we get ill.
What a crazy concept – taking a sick day because your body is unwell and needs some care! Most of us haven’t learnt how to listen to the body, and when needed take that extra time to support the body. This is a great blog for looking at developing self-care that extends to body awareness, and making choices to support ourselves, so we can then be there for others.
“The results have been profound. My body doesn’t buzz with a nervous tension all the time, I am more relaxed and more joyful at work, I have space in my day to be joyful and playful with my partner and young children.” This is beautiful to re-read Gina. How many of us, when stopped by our body, really take the time to deeply rest and self-nurture, lovingly bringing ourselves back to our fullness – so we can be there, for ourselves first but also for everyone around us – loving ourselves and loving others.
On re-reading this blog Gina this part stood out ” [I] visited health practitioners with the willingness, openness and honesty to go deeper at looking behind the behaviours I had previously been exhibiting.” This level of self responsibility is very inspiring – how often do we go to see someone for support and expect them to fix us? In the past when I have chosen this, it is about a quick fix and no lasting changes can be made. My body then has to send the same message again, but the next time around the message is always louder and a bigger stop. Choosing to care for my body in a gentle and loving way is supporting me to develop true self responsibility.
I am starting to have much more of a loving relationship with my body from meeting and knowing Serge Benhayon and attending Universal Medicine courses, workshops and presentations.
Beautiful Blog Gina I injoyed ready very much. I love your last paragraph and the one before…. Serge Benhayon a wondrously wise gentleman.
Thank you Gina for the reminder that when we are ‘unwell’ to ponder deeply on the path that lead us to be unwell.
My thoughts precisely Andrew: to ponder is to give-up the blinding we experience when we’re incessantly busy, or don’t give ourselves contemplation time.
Thank you Gina, I enjoyed reading your blog again – appropriate reminder to appreciate all of me and to accept with grace where I am in my position of evolution. My focus seemed to be drawn to your last sentence “I am a forever student ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom every day.” – your words seem to feel and sound like tiny bells in my body.
As I read your comment Roberta, it is a reminder for me too to accept where I am and that my body has spoken loudly – ‘rest deeply’ were Serge’s words to me, which also came via Natalie Benhayon, so I got the message! Honouring this instead of trying to soldier on as I would have done in the past, is so much more loving and my body is responding in its own time.
This is so lovely how we can learn from our body. Life becomes so much more simple and we can become so much more healthy and vital when we understand this.
Simple our lives will become if we understand that it is our body that clearly knows what is good for it and what is not, and when we stop listening to the interfering thoughts of the mind that reiterate what it has been told somewhere but not really is connected to the body. It is all that simple, as the only one that knows the body well is the body itself. How amazing is that if we allow that to be our normal and accept our body for the intelligence it actually contains.
I love reading your comment Rebecca and all, as I love the reminders of the fact that my body holds all the wisdom my head cannot fathom, and to keep coming back to my body, not my mind, for reference.
Wow I love it you hit the nail on the head here with your comment nvanhaastrecht.
‘Simple our lives will become if we understand that it is our body that clearly knows what is good for it and what is not, and when we stop listening to the interfering thoughts of the mind that reiterate what it has been told somewhere but not really is connected to the body. It is all that simple, as the only one that knows the body well is the body itself. How amazing is that if we allow that to be our normal and accept our body for the intelligence it actually contains’. nvanhaastrecht.
Our lives would be very simple if we lived from our body and stayed out of our mind and the interfering thoughts that come through it. Our bodies do hold all the answers to the questions/illnesses presented through our bodies for healing.
I agree Rebecca , our body offers us so many messages, inviting us to start a conversation with it and we then have the opportunity to respond according to what is truly required.
I agree Rebecca,it is being honest and letting go of the ideals and beliefs that get us caught up in living from the head and having the willingness and commitment of connecting with the body in order to access the wisdom within.
Yes Rebecca there is so much more to be revealed if we just allow ourselves to listen.
Yes definitely – being a forever student is not as bad as people might originally think… There are no text books or study guides – our guide is our body, and all we have to do is listen. Simple as that!
We are forever learning more about our body and how to support it, hence we will always remain a forever student. It’s great as there is no end goal, we are constantly learning and evolving.
I’m a big fan of this sentence too – we have so much to learn, there’s something delicious and deeply humbling about being a forever student, and learning more every day.
I remember the only time I ever used to take sickies was when I was still up from the night before partying or so hung over I couldn’t move. They weren’t taken when I was actually sick – I’d push through that…OMG those days used to hurt, and I didn’t learn much at the time either, cos it would happen again the next month, but that seems a world away these days – no drugs or booze or a collective month off work because of the not so great choices I made.
I remember those sickies too Jaime….and they hurt, and my life was miserable. Now my choices are a long way from alnighters
Great to feel Simone and an inspiration to all that are in the first momentum.
Wow Jaime, what a reminder, a blast from the past! Those awful days of hangovers, promising myself I would never do that again, only to repeat the process at the next party. Now I can enjoy gatherings and get up the next day knowing I didn’t abuse my body with alcohol, wondering why I ever did that to myself. Fitting in with social behaviour, being part of the group, feeling anxious, settling nerves with alcohol, all this craziness has gone. Now I can just be me!
I remember those days well even though it feels like a lifetime away. I can’t believe what punishment the body has to put up with when we are totally numbed out and not able to feel what needs to be felt.
Thank you Gina. This is a timely read for me as I’ve been in bed with tonsillitis for the last few days – I can sure get cozy in the victim mentality but there is no power or understanding there of what is actually going on, it blocks my awareness and makes it impossible to listen to my body’s messages when I’m hiding from responsibility in my mind. From this I know a deeper level of care must come.
I love re reading your blog, as it reminds me how the harmony of nature is a great point of reference assisting us to be able to check in and feel how our body is.
Looking what in fact has caused us to call in sick and take a day off in the first place will be the key that can allow us to open the door to take the responsibility for it and by that change our patterns.
Thank you for sharing this Gina. I too feel that there is much to learn from our choices and our bodies. If we listen and connect the dots it can allow us to live a more harmonious life.
Dear Gina, your blog has made me stop and really feel my body and appreciate how glorious and delicate our bodies are – it is amazing and very normal the wisdom our body shares with us, and very very powerful if we but listen.
So true Vicky, and also, the affect on a family when one member has ignored messages from their body and become unwell.
This provides an opportunity for dialogue between all family members as well as each individual taking responsibility for and acting upon their body’s messages.
There is so much to look at here. How we are responsible for our health, how important it is to self-care and self-love also how important it is to rest when we need to, how important it is to listen to the body and respond to it rather than react and override it with the mind. Another thing I have recently been aware of is the lack of support when people are off sick from my workplace, so not only do we need to support and take care of ourselves but need to do this with others as well.
We don’t usually think about the affect a sick day has on the whole team, yet the fact is everyone has to feel it when someone is off sick. The whole team is affected. It brings a whole other level of responsibility to our choices at work and outside of work because the knock on effect is larger than most like to consider.
I love what you are saying here Vicky. It can also have a positive effect as when we listen to and nourish our bodies enough to take a day off sick, this also reflects to other team members how important it is to self nurture and gives them permission to do so.
Great point Vicky – this blog highlights and reflects the great responsibility we have on a much bigger level than us – we often don’t think about how our every choice affects other people – be it our words, actions or thoughts.
It’s a great point you raise about the irresponsibility of not listening to our bodies when they are communicating with us.
Thank you nikkimckee “the irresponsibility of not listening to our bodies when they are communicating with us.” I have never thought or in truth avoided thinking about it in this way – this is true and something I will apply as of now.
It really is crazy that we have taught ourselves not to listen to our bodies and to override what they tell us.
It’s quite sad actually that we have this innate wisdom and beauty inside of us, that is calling us each and every moment of the day, yet at times we can choose to override the wisdom it shares with us. Why? Could it be if we listened to it, yes we’d feel all the times we have not been true to ourselves or loved ourselves – but even more so would we get to feel the true depth, beauty, divinity and enormity of the love we all are and come from originally?
Actually it’s an infinitesimal win!
Amazing approach Gina and great point Judith as there’s never been a more crucial time than now to start taking a high degree of responsibility for ourselves, and so relieve the struggling healthcare systems as well as keeping our companies productive in economically difficult times. Sounds like a three-way win to me.
Hear Hear rosannabianchini I agree. The level of responsibility I feel we all are being called to is much greater than us – it is now about all of humanity. By stepping up and taking care of ourselves this undoubtedly has a knock on effect – it already has, just by looking at the before and after pictures of Universal medicine students, reading their testimonials and also seeing the way in which the Benhayon family and now many other choose to live their lives, is the ultimate living proof how self care, truth, love, commitment and responsibility are the foundation to a life full of health, joy, productivity and vitality.
Yes absolutely Rosanna – a three-way win for everyone!!
I love how you nail the irresponsibility Gina…you also highlight how essential it is to nurture and hold yourself lovingly when you become aware of this…otherwise it just begets more irresponsibility in the form of self-flagellation (which changes nothing and just consolidates more of the same behaviour). That you took time for your body to heal and truly rest is so key — I am often doing the ‘push through’ thing and it is certainy not sustainable.
This is an amazing approach to health care Gina! That you were willing to detect a pattern repeating itself in the way you were getting sick and were able to nominate and let that go – this is gold. If we take on that level of responsibility we do not only support ourselves tremendously but our health care system and work places as well.
Absolutely Judith everyone benefits when we choose to take this level of responsibility for our own health and wellbeing.
Thank you Gina what a difference it would make if we truly understood what energy we make our body walk in through a day, and feel its joy and claim it, or feel its ill at ease and make new choices before it becomes a disease.
Paul I love how it feels to read your words”…. what energy we make our body walk in through a day”. What energy indeed! I can feel the connection to the choice I have of walking with me and that means all of me. Thank you
I have observed in nursing that there is a belief that if we take sick leave we are letting the team down, and we must appear very unwell to take time off – a sense of “non deserving”/ lack of self worth, and feelings of guilt come up if we choose to honour our body. Some staff members accrue the sick days, stating they may need them for a hip or knee reconstruction in the future.
Why wait until something like an accident, severe pain or incident occurs, that stops us in our tracks, to observe how we are living our lives!
Thank you Gina for a great blog, I can so relate to how patterns of behaviour bring on illness; when I over do the doing, beyond what is honouring to my body, I begin to feel unwell. I am still learning how be aware and check in with where my body is at, and slowly bring change to that unloving behaviour.
It’s been an absolute blessing to learn from the presentations of Universal Medicine that I am not a victim of disease but that my health or otherwise is completely up to me, based on the choices I make.
Same here, indeed an absolute blessing to learn this. We are not victims of disease but we are actually fully responsible for them.
It seems that when I get too sick to go to work and I sit there at home, it is an opportunity to feel all of my choices up until that point, and I don’t like to feel how irresponsible and reckless I have been with my body – I have never viewed getting sick like that before, but it makes sense.
I love the simplicity of this analogy. The vehicle that is carrying something super precious needs to be considered and taken care of carefully.
Our bodies are amazing – In the past I’ve let my mind get away with thinking it knows best and overruling all the signs/signals I was being shown. Being brought to a halt many times with various ‘unwell’ moments/days – finally I get the message to listen and to feel what is truly going on. Thank you Gina for this awesome sharing.
Overriding illness and going to work because we feel we should, or it is expected of us, does not serve anyone. Our standard of work will be poor, we may be off work later on for longer, and also pass on what we have to others. Also, more importantly, it does not give others the opportunity to feel how unloving it is for ourselves. If we claim the truth of deeply loving and caring for our bodies and well-being, that is serving, and could bring about a change in every workplace. I feel there are more sick days taken off these days because everyone is so exhausted and run down, because of not taking the time to heal before returning to work during those times they were sick.
So often Gina we just carry on, only stopping when it is absolutely necessary. And I have seen how this can actually be mistaken for being responsible itself, because often the work that needs to be completed is placed as more important than the person doing it.
Well said Shami. It is interesting to ponder on the quality that the work is completed in if the person completing it is not looking after themselves.
So true Bianca, if the quality that we complete or achieve things in is done in anxiousness, nervous energy or a rush, it lacks the fullness of who we are and often requires us to return to fix or redo. Similarly we carry that nervous tension in our bodies until some point of injury or illness manifests itself to clear.
I agree, Shami. We are even taught that it is irresponsible to leave a task half-completed or that we are being lazy. There is a huge ideal in many cultures around “working hard”. Heck, the “American Dream” is built on the ideal that if you work hard enough you can be anything. But at what cost to our body, our vehicle that carries us through life and through which all that we are can be expressed?
When everyone in the world learns the teaching of Serge Benhayon, that the body is the marker of all truth, we will then more than likely have reigned in illness and disease from the rampage it has been on. Learning to listen to the body is the best medicine we have at our disposal.
I agree Kevin this will be the beginning of the end to sickness and illness. Listening to my body has changed how I view being ill, it is no longer something that just happens, but it an accumulation of me being irresponsible and in disregard of what is truly going on in my life and how I am living.
How lovely and profound to be able to actually learn from our bodies… could it even be that our bodies are the ultimate teacher? And if they are the ultimate teacher, the bearer of true wisdom and learning , consider how much respect they deserve. In the world there is much respect paid to people who seem to be bringing a wise philosophical take on things, and here we have, built in , so to speak, profound and true font of wisdom that never stops teaching.
This is lovely cjames2012 – our bodies our definitely the teacher – we just need to be the students that listen to what it is saying and honour this, instead of overriding with the mind.
Great Point Cjames, when I consider my body to be the bearer of true wisdom and learning I really get to feel the responsibility I hold in making sure I treat it in a way with absolute care and nurturing for everything it needs in order to express the true power that I am.
Beautifully put cjames! Having been a very mentally driven person for as long as I can remember, when I allowed myself to really listen to what my body was trying to tell me, and had been saying for a long time, I began to realise just how much wisdom is there- literally at my fingertips! The teacher I am for myself knows more about me than anyone, and is forever teaching. All that is needed is to listen.
What really stuck out for me was the feeling of irresponsibility, this is exactly what I feel but hate to admit, the irresponsibility that my choices that I have let play out have caused me to call in sick. As I haven’t wanted to admit to the irresponsibility, many times I have overridden the need for a day off and continued to work, in a disregarding, “ill”, manner, which is again just another form of irresponsibility and disregard. I see now how a day off can bring a humble stop, if allowed, and offer the opportunity to take responsibility for one’s choices and make the choice to live differently.
“I, like many, had always felt a connection between behaviours and illness, but since listening to the presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I have deepened my awareness and acceptance of this inner wisdom and knowing and have brought this to all areas of my life.” We’ve been having these feelings for centuries and longer, so it makes total sense we listen to what we already feel and therefore know.
Beautifully said Sylvia and Susie, creating a vehicle of love to hold all the magnificence we are.
I loved your blog, so often we are living in a way we choose not to see. Many times my body may feel tired and I’ve not gone to the level of care you chose. Reading this I felt how much deep love and care your action created and how my actions could create the same.
The other Sunday I indulged big time in sweet foods and TV. So much so that the following day at work I was exhausted like I’d been up all night, having actually slept for seven hours. I had to go home early… which taught me that the way that I treated my body on my ‘day off’ was not in regard of the world that I lived in. I just did whatever I pleased with little regard for the consequences. My body is an amazing vehicle that is here to serve humanity, but I used it to indulge. It felt like my body was saying, “Hey! What are you doing? We’ve let this stuff go, but you keep going back to it… It’s time to live closer to me, deeper in my senses and from there we both evolve.” Learning this lesson, I aim for my rest days to be truly restful and nourishing, living according to the rhythms of my body and not the numbing wants of my mind.
It is curious for me to read this from the point of view that in workplaces I have administered ‘unlimited sick leave’ – It was the most productive workplace with over 500 employees. Every employee was valued and if unwell was genuinely supported. It failed after 5 years as one or two people took advantage – a couragous experiment that allowed permission for people to take sick leave. An opportunity to promote self connection outside of expectations – I heard a recent report that the compulsory sick leave of 10 days is highly ‘utilised’ but not with genuine illness but people taking a ‘sickie’ When we lose our individuality we set a chain of events that is harming to self and others.
It feels like if employees were allowed to take sick leave when needed and encouraged to reflect why it had happened, at their back to work interview (with appropriate support being offered if required) that this would foster more self responsibility and improve productivity, because employees feel when they are being treated as an individual and not just one of the masses. In my workplace there has been a clampdown because of one or two abusing the system, which has led to resentment that we are being penalised while others were allowed to get away with flouting the system.
I have found that when I don’t listen to my body when it is trying to tell something and ignore it just gets louder and the stop that is waiting for me just grows. It is amazing the way the body speaks to us about the way we have been living and gives us the feed-back to re-evaluate how we have been living.
I really love how you observed every one of those things in nature were at optimum health and function. I generally walk in nature every morning and see lots of birds and critters and just love how it all works so harmoniously, even when surrounded by a big city. Seeing breathing and observing nature is such a great way to start the day.
I had noticed a level of tiredness creeping into my day so have made it a point to pay more attention as to how I feel throughout the day. What I noticed is that sometimes I feel like I go into using a “turbo boost” of energy. I noticed the moment where I did this – I had been caught up in the drama of getting something done. I paused when I realised this and took a moment to stop and reconnect then proceeded to do what needed to be done. I could feel when I pulled in that “turbo boost” I really went into an over drive and the focus became completing the task and everything else came second. When I don’t give over to the “turbo boost” I can stay focussed on how the task is getting done rather than the what. It still gets done just in a much more supportive way for all involved, and when I maintain this connection it doesn’t leave me wanting something sweet to eat as a treat.
I can relate to this ‘turbo boost’ Nicole. I sometimes resort to it to get through the day. But it makes me even more exhausted and my body becomes hard and tense. It is definitely not worth it.
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” I agree Gina!
I was recovering from an illness lately and it is amazing how the body is staying light when we support ourselves in listening to it and how small things are bringing a change.
I would agree Kerstin, the small things make a huge difference.
yes Kerstin that is so true every little choice that we make to support ourselves is worth gold because in those moments of choice we are saying I am worth looking after and listening to. That my inner knowing actually knows what is best for me.
A beautiful blog and confirmation that there is so much more to illness and disease than it being a random occurrence, something hereditary or caught from someone else. No matter what has gone wrong with me, be it a common cold, a virus, a broken bone etc., there has always been a direct correlation with me needing to stop and look deeper within and the stop has always been a blessing. The stop has always pointed out, in one way or another, a clear indication that I have been living in a way that is disharmonious to the whole body.
I agree Shannon, there is so much more to illness than we are often taught.
“Since attending presentations by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, I have been blessed with an understanding of how our behaviours directly impact our well-being and health. Our bodies are ideally designed to live in harmony and unison with our environment, like the nature I had observed ,,,,” Listening to my body since being inspired by Serge Benhayon has truly transformed my life. The more I observe, listen and feel, the more messages I am receiving from my body – which of course has been telling me things all along, only I was numbing them all out with distractions and stimulation of various kinds.
What a timely read for me Gina. I woke this morning, several hours later than I would nomally after a night of watching TV on my ipad, in bed! I no longer watch TV during the week, because I don’t have the time and have also started to appreciate that it is not conducive to a good night’s sleep. Come the weekend, I knowingly throw my routine out the window as if I don’t need the support of my choices anymore, and each time, without fail, I am reminded that it doesn’t work. If I watch TV or a movie before bed, I wake up much later the next day and I feel drained and groggy before having even started the day. My productivity is cut in half, and I feel blah as a result. It’s not that I can’t ever watch TV, but I find when it’s before bed, the stimulation is too much for me, so I go to sleep with a raciness that although subtle, is there, and I toss and turn for ages before settling down.
The body tells no lies…
Elodie, considering that it is all too common for people to watch TV or a movie before going to bed, this is a revelation. It goes to show that once we have gotten so familiar to feeling a certain way, we can start to think that that is all there is. Once waking up late, groggy and flat has become the norm, it is so easy to not ‘think’ that there is any other possibility. Only when we hear or feel someone who isn’t making the same choices, do we get to see that there is indeed another way.
Thank you Gina, you have shared much of your lived wisdom here. It is amazing as you say that the body has this ‘dialogue’ with us to let us know whether the choices we make in how we think, act, move and eat are supportive and nourishing to the body, or not. Our body communicates this to us all the time, well before illness and disease but we are not taught to truly listen to our bodies as a general rule. The body is not given its rightful place so that we are educated about the depth of wisdom and communication that it can provide. As a result we do have much more illness and disease than could be otherwise. For people to make fully & truly informed decisions about what they do with their bodies, they must be free to know the subtleties of how the body communicates and be able to honour that. We all of course have the choice to dishonour it too, and that is our own free will.
I have loved deepening my relationship with my body and its communication – supported by the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom through Serge Benhayon, and many esoteric practitioners along the way. This relationship is allowing me more joy, vitality and healthier choices in my everyday life. That is certainly something worth celebrating!
That’s a great point Amelia – illness and disease is never the first message we receive from our bodies… It is usually a result of us ignoring and ignoring the communications over a period of time, and the tension just builds up resulting in us needing a real ‘STOP’ moment that allows us to finally see just what we’ve been choosing.
Very true Susie. Usually the first messages are very simple, not complicated and there to totally support us to understand a change is required. This message is quiet though and takes awareness and inner stillness to be heard.
Indeed Susie and Vicky, to be able to hear and respond to the messages that our bodies are constantly communicating requires those stop moments, where we can reconnect to our inner stillness.
Agree Susie and Vicky, it is those ‘stop’ moments that allowed us to reconnect to that stillness that is within us and to know that we are that. I am making these more and more part of my life.
Yes Susie, we are offered many signals that could give us cause to stop, it is up to us to pay heed of these and thus avoid the bigger crash. Illness and disease shocks us yet we are always given the warning signs, tuning in and listening to them is all it takes. If we aren’t vital and energised then that is a stop in itself.
Actually being able to stop and feel my body is something that I have not done a lot of in the past. More often than not those little signs were ignored and on occasions this has led to a major crash. For example, feeling unwell and knowing that my body was telling me that I was getting the flu. I could stop and rest, give my body a chance to do what it is designed to do, fight whatever is causing the problem. But no, I have to push on, tough it out until the flu runs its cycle or I crash and spend 3 days in bed.
Feeling and acknowledging what my body is telling me allows me to have a much clearer choice, I can still ignore it, or I can stop, listen to it and do what is right for me. More often than not, today I choose to listen to my body and most of the time I like what I hear.
I understand what you mean Brian, what I have learnt from Universal Medicine is awareness. I am aware of how my body feels inside on the good days when I am at my peak and I can feel what is happening when things start to go wrong. And I am learning what to do to fix them, before they become serious, it’s usually little things like something I have eaten or a late night or maybe stress at work
Our bodies truly are amazing. We just need to honour and listen to them more.
Simple and something we can all do more of – thanks Vicky! 🙂
This is an awesome reminder to appreciate what the body is so willingly telling us on a day to day basis. The more I deepen my relationship with my body the more I understand and appreciate that it is so very wise.
And wise our bodies are Natalie. It is much wiser than I tend to behave myself, dishonouring my body in this. My body allows me to do so but knows ways to stop me and to remind me who I truly am. Slowly I start to accept and allow the wisdom of my body to be my guide and to lead me to the glory of life it knows it is part of.
After reading your Blog I again feel a deep appreciation for my body. I certainly don’t always treat it that way but I can feel in this moment how graceful I can be with myself and my body in everything I do and think and my body relaxes just by the thought of it.
A great reminder Cherise.
Stopping, resting, and nurturing ourselves, being open to go deeper at what is behind our behaviours, will lead to an honest dialogue with our bodies, it is there we will find the true wisdom within.
Gracefully and simply put Wendy, our bodies truly are the markers of everything we have lived and are well worth listening to.
It is important to see illness as a dialogue rather than beat ourselves up as having failed. We have the opportunity to deepen our relationship with our self care and self love. We are always unfolding and enriching our lives when we live like this. Thank you Gina for this blog.
I agree Amanda that it is important to see illness as a dialogue rather than beat ourselves up as having failed. As you say, we are always unfolding. Illness gives us time out to review the way we have been living and to make more self-loving changes. Lovely blog.
Thanks Gina, you make a very valid point when you say that nature rarely gets sick and yet being from nature we can override so much of our innateness that it makes us sick. Crazy really what we do to ourselves! And yet also so simple for us to listen to that natural way of being and living.
I agree, Henrietta, we are supposed to be greater than the animals in nature, so proud of our intelligence and thinking abilities. But we don’t listen to what our bodies are telling us. We’re not very bright, when we can’t look after ourselves. Yes, it is crazy what we do to ourselves.
So true, Beverley.
I agree Henrietta, and yet even when nature is sick or damaged it is often at the hands of humans, who live so out of sync with the rest of the earth. We, unlike every other animal, do not live in harmony along side nature, and take more than we need. When I watch nature programs I am astounded at the perfect balance and sheer harmony that so many animals, insects and plants can live together, and not get out of balance. The prey-predator relationship is perfectly designed, the habitat is flawlessly unique. Any yet the same harmony cannot be used to describe the relationship the apparently ‘most intelligent’ species has with nature, but this is simply a reflection of the lack of harmony within our species, between our families and friends and fellow human beings.
Well said Rebecca. I feel your comment exposes the enormous arrogance that we have in thinking that somehow we can live outside the laws of nature. Thankfully our bodies show us just how impossible this is. The natural world is perfectly balanced and aligned to harmony and we stomp around it in with our great big boots on wondering why we get sick and feel awful. Time I feel, to reconsider how we live in this world!
I agree Rowena – we can no longer tout intelligence and that we are a part of nature or that what we are doing is natural – we have lost our way and it has lead us to a place where many things are okay that would never have been before. However it’s never to late to change – simply in the way Henrietta describes, taking responsibility for our bodies and our way of life.
Henrietta, you are highlighted that there is a natural way to operate and that getting sick isn’t actually natural. Most people think it is ‘natural’ to get sick every winter because of the weather. We design and deploy flu vaccines each year to combat the ever changing strains of flu.
From personal experience I haven’t gotten sick from the flu in many years, and when I did it was always a reflection of how run down I had become and the suppression of my immune system that would occur. Thereby the sickness was a marker of how ‘unnatural’ I was living to make me sick. After all we aren’t designed to be run down and exhausted, so the sickness is a healing in a way because it enables us to stop and repair ourselves to work another day.
I feel what we really need to understand is that when we are sick it is our body or soul telling us something, there is a reason for it. Still we are not willing to see, look and accept this along with the responsibility of how we have lived. Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon are an inspiration in always lovingly bringing us back to the truth of what we have missed or don’t want to see.
Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon are like a decoder.
Allowing us the tools to deconstruct life to the finest details to enable us to truly thrive in life.
It’s absolutely amazing how our bodies are designed to live in harmony and in unison with nature. How when we get out of sync our bodies evolve just like nature. How illness and disease are the bodies way of clearing anything that does not support us. How beautiful and wondrous are our bodies to be able to tell us about our harmful choices and behaviours. Thank you Gina for such a special blog.
Great piece of writing Gina. There is not one man made machine that, if it runs out of sync or not in tune, will eventually stop working. Car engines, lawn mowers, computers, the list is endless. Everything needs attention, but why wait until it is desperately needed and on the brink of failure, by then it is usually a lot worse. The human body is the ultimate re-harmonising machine if we listen to the signs and provide it with care and nurturing.
Yes a great reminder to listen to the small murmurings that something is amiss, rather than wait for the big halt that we do know is inevitable if those early communications are ignored.
Great point Matthew. Often we are more aware of the machinery, appliances or even plumbing than we are of our own bodies. We wouldn’t keep driving a car that was clearly showing signs of something being wrong, nor would we use an appliance doing the same, nor we would not attend to blocked drain pipes. But it can be quite common for the body to be ignored and its signs of ill health pushed to the side.
Yes so true Jane and Matthew. If we don’t treat our cars properly they break down and stop. We need to understand that getting a cold, flu or just feeling under the weather is the same as the petrol light flashing, the engine making funny clanking noises or the tyres going down. It is extremely strange that we don’t take the same care of our bodies as we do our cars. I have found out now that my body runs best on hot water, not builders tea and prefers plenty of green veg rather than lots of biscuits. It’s not rocket science, but somehow we do seem to have missed the point when it comes to naturally looking after ourselves.
It’s not rocket science but why do we as humans ignore the signals we get from our bodies, or fill them up with fuel that makes us feel sluggish, tired, put on weight and eventually develop symptoms? We are supposedly the most evolved species but when we look back in nature, animals don’t do what we do with our bodies.
I agree it is a good analogy to consider how we treat cars and machinery, then compare this to how we treat our own bodies. We can even consider what we do before a big event and the fact that we know that sleeping and eating well helps us perform better..yet we don’t do this consistently.
Yes staying a well oiled machine makes loving life a lot easy.
So true Jane. I feel that just like taking care of our cars, we are more than capable of providing our bodies with all they need, and we do all feel the warning signs when we haven’t been listening. It is interesting to note the difference between the expectations, push and drive that we place on our bodies as opposed to other ‘things’ we take care of – as there is a pressure that overrides what we feel in our efforts to constantly be more, or to feel ‘good enough’ that is always at the expense of the body.
So true Matthew. I loved this quote: ‘How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living’. We know we have to look after our cars and yet sometimes don’t respect or give our body the same attention. Crazy!
It’s a question really worth asking, why we accept living less than the abundant vibrant quality that we are and that is reflected to us in nature all around us. What choices do we make that take us away from this vitality and why do we accept it as normal and ok? I often wonder why I don’t make the choice to feel optimally well, why do I keep repeating the same choices that leave me feeling less energised than I could. Thanks for writing Gina and sharing your experiences.
It’s a great question Stephen. Why do we accept living less as normal and ok?
I have come to realise that because something is common it does not mean it is normal. There are many bad behaviours and unsupportive choices that are being made regularly in society as a whole but our bodies are clearly telling us that this us not normal.
I feel we need to reclaim our natural loving way as being normal in life, even though it does not always seem to be common.
I have come to understand that it is very important to observe what is going on with the body and that we don’t feel sick or rundown for no reason. Universal Medicine introduced personal responsibility into my life, and I have taken notice! What I may have over-ridden in the past I now pay attention to, and I know that there is no ill in my body unless a choice I have made has led to this ill. It is forever deepening, but because I am addressing how I treat myself and what I put into my body, I feel better than I ever have in my life.
It’s incredible Jo, isn’t it that no illness, disease or event for that matter happens by accident or due to bad luck. There is very often something we can learn from these events about the way we’ve been living and looking after ourselves (or not looking after ourselves!). Looking at life in this way has certainly started to move me out of victim mode and placed me more in the driver’s seat of my life. Much more empowering!
What we learn from illness, disease or, as you say Shevon, ‘events’ can be very simple. Like today – my back aches a little – because I moved the cushion I use to support me in my chair. I know if I don’t put it back, that little ache will become a big pain!
So true! I have issues with cars which is no surprise as they relate to my body. So rather than avoid driving it’s about me taking responsibility for how I live and trusting in living in this way. I can already feel nothing comes into my life or my car that I haven’t somehow invited!
Yes Shevon – even a bump, a cut finger or dropping something has something to tell me about the choices I have made. Normally it is telling me how I have lost connection to presence and stillness, but I usually view these things as positive as they remind me to pay attention to the quality that I am doing things in.
I have been noticing in the last week or so how finely our bodies respond to every choice made, as I have allowed myself to become more deeply aware. Yesterday I pushed a little to get through some work. The impact on my body was huge in how it had hardened to cope. The choice to keep coming back and letting go is a daily commitment to my health and well being.
This article actually feels like two articles in one where the first part presents the ‘dilemma’ if we can call it that and your understanding of what was at hand. The second part feels more philosophical where you present how this understanding you’ve come to actually fits in with science and evolution.
Yes Carmel, I have thought I am lazy if I am not doing something. Now I know that rest and quiet moments are so restorative and enable me to maintain more consistent rhythms in my day. I loved your concluding sentence Gina “I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day”.
So well said Sally, I agree that it is strange that we feel guilty about taking care of ourselves when we are sick and can’t go to work. I wonder if this guilt comes from the ideal that we must put everyone before ourselves to be a loving and good person?
it is easy to let our bodies get run down and exhausted and to override the message with activities we feel we ‘simply have to do’ when resting may be the most productive thing we can do in that moment. It’s a fine line between laziness and needing rest, and feeling guilty at not doing anything is an old pattern from childhood: ‘Don’t just sit there – do something!’
Good point Carmel, the idiom that springs to mind from my childhood is ‘the devil finds work for idle hands’!
Gosh Carmel, how often did we hear that one! but in a way it’s interesting that it’s not so often used now…could this be because when we were children we were either actively playing or helping out, and if neither of those, quite possibly we were resting. Whereas these days there is so much more to draw our time away – that hours can pass on a computer, tablet or a phone and there is not the signal from our bodies to stop and rest. So it appears that children now are more often than not doing something and rarely ‘just sitting there’!
I agree, Carmel, feeling what is true for the body is a super important principle to live your life from, as it reliably guides you and prevents the mind from kicking in with ‘shoulds’ and ‘have to’.
There are so many exquisite points in this article. This is just one that I felt throughout my body instantly, thank you, Gina – ‘Our bodies are ideally designed to live in harmony’.
Yes matildaclark this is such a key point. I love the reminder that we are already whole, we are not broken, we do not need fixing. We simply need to remember who we are, that we are whole, we are already complete. It is when we live in a way or make choices that are not self-loving, then our bodies will remind us through an ill that there are other choices we can be making.
Sally when we are genuinely sick we need to honour our body and rest, it is so easy to override this due to guilt. What we don’t realise if we ignore the rest the body just gets worse and we feel worse in ourselves. We are then not taking responsibility for ourselves or others who would be affected.
‘to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.’ This line shows us what a lack of understanding there is normally in life, that we do not recognise illness as a clear message from the body. Thanks for sharing.
Gina, I like the way you have described illness and disease as in fact a way for the body to take care of itself. Recently I have come to see that even feeling tired is a signal from my body that something is amiss and needs addressing, whereas before tiredness could be pushed through, and it was only when an illness came along which made me stop completely that I would actually pay attention to how I was living and the choices I was making which were perhaps not so supportive.
I love this, Shami, the gentleness and respect of actually listening to our bodies sooner, responding to the initial signals of tiredness or a bumped shin, before the illness or more serious injury. There is such sweetness available in our relationships with our bodies. Thank you.
Very true Shami. My body used to have to really put the brakes on with either a deadly migraine or a splitting headache before I would stop and take notice, and even then it wasn’t really taking notice, it was just being forced to stop. These days I am more in tune, so that my body does not need to scream at me in this way and feeling tired is definitely the first signal that all is not right. How amazing to be able to feel, acknowledge and respond to that simple message and not need the big ones spelt out in bold capital letters to show you that it’s time to stop and address the situation.
As I learn to listen to my body it speaks to me more and more and I can no longer ingnore all it is telling me. Such a beautiful blog showing the responsibility we all have with our health and how we live our lives and how we go to work or do not through our choices.
Beautifull sharing, thank you Gina.
I have found this too tricianicholson the more I am willing to listen to my body and its wisdom the louder it speaks to me and this is a wonderful support.
“Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.” So true Gina, it all comes back to self-responsibility – making true choices.
In years gone by I would feel the aches and pains but never put it down to something I was choosing to do, which was the cause of it. I would expect my body to do what ever I wanted it to do without consideration that it may not be up to it or that I may be exhausting myself due to the way I was living and my choices.
This is a great blog for pointing out how we are irresponsible with out bodies but we don’t have to be.
Our bodies are great informers of how we are truly living life and shows exactly the way we choose to either abuse it or to feel more deeply, connecting and being guided by the clear signals given back to us. A beautiful sharing Gina.
Taking responsibility for our health and wellbeing by looking at the way we live is so empowering. It supports both the individual and the collective.
The power of responsibility is blowing me away very beautifully so at the moment and I love your comment, Elizabeth, about it supporting us individually and collectively, thank you.
True Elizabeth and knowing this and living it are super important.
Wow Gina- Thank You! All in all, an incredible blog, opening my eyes to new awarenesses.
The harmony of living we see in nature is something to aspire to bring to our own lives. We have to be honest about the many ways that bring us closer, or put distance to that harmony. And our bodies never stop reminding us.
I enjoyed reading your blog again Gina, and the words that stood out for me this morning are “I am living with an inner joy and true confidence in myself..” – claiming it, claiming who you are – I love that reminder, thank you.
I so feel the inner joy we can have when we are with our bodies, making loving choices, honouring our natural rhythms.
This is responsible perspective on being sick and taking sick days….often we direct the cause of our unwellness onto our environment or what’s going on outside of us e.g stress, work demands and so forth….but there is a responsibility back to the choices we are making in how we are living every day that affects our state of wellbeing….which not only affects us but others in our lives….either directly or indirectly.
I always love your writing Gina. What an awesome blog on what taking stock and true responsibility for ourselves and our own wellbeing really entails.
Since coming to the work of Universal Medicine, my awareness of how directly I can and do affect my own health and wellbeing – via my choices in lifestyle, the patterns I may run on (e.g. nervous energy..) – has expanded e-nor-mous-ly. And I have experienced similar significant changes to my vitality, the energy I have for my day, my ‘zest’ for the day and life and yes, inner joy (absolutely) as a result of taking responsibility for myself and realising that I can make changes, and, that there is tremendous support there if I need it.
My doctor today just told me that according to extensive blood tests, hormonal levels and the rest, my ‘physical age’ is about 10 years younger than my biological – just showing how real an effect such choices can have upon our health and wellbeing. I’m not only ‘testing’ as vital, but far better than average on most indicators. And, I feel it – just superb. So we have to ask, why IS there such a resistance to truly looking at what’s in the way of feeling truly great within? ‘
I always wanted anybody else’s body rather than mine because I got sick a lot. Serge Benhayon helped me to understand that my body was showing me how I was living, was I taking care of myself, living on my emotions, and is my guide to change this. Now I love my body and am very grateful for the wisdom it shows me, which I can learn from and grow and become more balanced.
I too find that if I am living on my emotions, I tend to feel unwell either in my body or my energy levels deplete dramatically. It took until attending courses at Universal Medicine and listening to presentations by Serge Benhayon that I began to understand the direct relationship between when I am living in and from my emotions as opposed to living just being me, that is feeling connected to me.
This is such a great point ruthketnor, how we can reject our body and compare with other people’s bodies and not accept our own. It is beautiful that you have come to the understanding that your body is your self help guide 🙂
I love the way you have expressed that your body is your guide to change the way to living. That’s exactly what it is… the most perfect guide we have to take us through life. We just need to tune into the language of its communication.
So true that the body is the wisest thing we can listen to. Instead of being in my old way of getting on and ignoring what I feel, like you the more I listen to my body and honour it the more it feels awesome and supported. Like I am nurturing everything that it speaks to me, from walking to fast to get some where to trying to fit something in before I need to be some where. Every last thing I choose has an impact on my body.
I agree Natalie..every thing I choose has an impact on my body. When I choose to deeply care and look after myself I feel very lovely and if I take the time to appreciate this choice it is like this quality is confirmed in my body and it supports me to keep choosing to self love.
So simple, so practical and so liveable. Bringing attention and care to the way we walk (is there rush or reticence) talk (is there control) eat (more or less than our bodies need) rest etc. Thank you, Natalie, Bianca and Gina, for bringing to life such an accessible way to develop a loving relationship with ourselves and life.
I like the way how you took responsibility for yourself during your sick days in honestly wanting to understand yourself and your processes more deeply, Gina. And the outcome in your case is more vitality and love that you now bring into your work and workplace and your family, so everybody gets a benefit.
Thankyou for sharing Gina.
The way in which I used to live before attending Serge Benhayon and Universal Medience presentations, I had no idea that illness and behaviours could be linked and clearly didn’t want to know or take any responsibility for any of it … Being sick just happened and the way we acted and behaved – well that was something you did, how could the two be possibly related? … Well easy, once you know that everything you do affects everything and really – Everything.
Jaime, I had the same view too. I didn’t want to know that illness and behaviours could be linked! It was quite a moment of realisation when I found out that everything I do affects everything and everyone! I can still feel that part of me doesn’t want to accept this fully.
Just as nature regulates itself the body regulates itself. So whenever we have a pain or disease it’s just a regulation. We can either focus on avoiding that fact or look in a loving way on what the body needs to tell, just as you shared Gina! It needs to be honored that the body does regulate itself.
I had many occasions where my body thankfully talked to me loudly. To listen to this voice is the greatest way to support yourself and change destructive patterns which are causing the actual disease.
Yes! It’s amazing that the body itself is the way to get out of the destructive patterns we put our bodies into. This is the power of conscious presence with our body.
Exactly Rosanna and Steffi.
Deciding to listen to our bodies is like deciding to look into a mirror – suddenly we will see very clear what is there to be seen for what it really is and not what we think it might be.
Then it is up to us to address these patters with love and understanding so that we can choose differently and let go of them.
Rereading your blog Gina, I feel an enormous and almost overwhelming appreciation for Serge Benhayon and the awakening he has offered me resulting in increased responsibility for my choices and the impact every single one of them has on the state of my wellbeing and therefore the state of our collective wellness. Everything matters, never a truer statement.
No one can deny that our bodies are speaking to us, however whether we choose to listen to what it is saying, is another thing.
I agree Tony and there is always a finer and finer kind of listening to be done if we choose to feel it.
That is so true Rosanna, the more we listen the easier it gets, if we choose.
I agree I feel on some level we are aware however many of us do not want to see that, this is where education comes in to bring about a greater truth, to help us really see. This is where Universal Medicine comes in.
Yes, our life can be like a giant dot to dot and Universal Medicine is fantastic at filling in the lines.
I used to feel my body was talking to me, I just didn’t know how to interpret what it was saying. I am now able to thanks to the presentations that Serge Benhayon has given about the intelligence of the body and this has supported me to connect to my body in a whole different way, so I can now understand what my body is saying which has in turn supported me to make the changes that my body calls for.
Your honesty and willingness to take responsibility as to why you needed to take the sick day is inspiring. True healing occurs when we look at the root cause of why we have the ill in the first place.
A lovely blog thank you Gina, and so great that you listened to your body and took time to rest, if you had ignored it you may have had a bigger stop further on.
It is amazing what you can learn from the body – how to walk, eat, sleep, exercise and live, if you stop to feel and listen to its messages and innate rhythm.
Every choice we make and the results from those choices are shown in our body. Our body speaks to us constantly, the question, do we listen?
Thank you Gina for sharing this profound understanding of health and well-being. I love the way you share taking responsibility for harmony in your own body gives you space in your day to be joyful and playful with your partner and young children.
Everything is connected. Opening to all that is happening around us and within us means making choices that are loving to self and loving toward others. Everything is affected. Another opportunity to make the choice for loving responsibility and being tender with ourselves, rather than being harsh and passing judgement.
“I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day.” Hear, hear Gina. I am finding my body is the best self help guide around 🙂
Well said Bianca. We can’t get a better self help guide than our bodies as they experience everything all the time as they are with us 24/7.
I like this Bianca, our body is our self help guide. I certainly have found this and the more I listen the more my body guides me.
Beautiful Gina – I too am a forever student 🙂
I love how our bodies show us everything, there is no getting away with those late nights or that extra bowl of food. I also love how you talk about the irresponsibility of doing these things that then create a sickness in our bodies and mean we can’t do our work or that we do our work with less joy and vitality than we may otherwise. It’s great for us alll to start thinking about these things.
I agree Kate with your words “….our bodies show us everything..”
and I am learning that if I listen to the promptings of the mind and not to the inner part of me, my body soon reflects discomfort as a result of my choice. I am also finding that the body doesn’t wait until next week or next day to let us know the result of a mind driven choice – I am learning it can be instant, resulting in “oh why didn’t I listen to my body”?
Kate… not having those late nights I have mastered with ease… but that extra bowl of food is still a struggle! I can feel that it makes me feel drained the next day and dulls me considerably in that moment and for a while afterwards. My body shows it to me clearly and loudly and yet I choose to override this communication often. It’s time for me to look underneath and feel why I choose this!
Me too Rachel, late nights were easy to walk away from, but food has been more difficult because I’ve had such engrained habits with it, and it has been a comfort all my life. But I know feel so irresponsible if I’ve eaten too much and then feel dull and less vital. It means I shine less, and everyone misses out on the joy that I feel when I haven’t dulled myself with food.
Yes Kate – our bodies really do show us everything, and often it is very hard to get away with disregarding them and choosing to do things we know are not supportive.
I also felt to add that I love how you have been able to feel the irresponsibility in how you were living that led to you feeling unwell. This is a huge realisation, as calling out irresponsibility can be challenging as it is not something we want to feel sometimes. But I feel the call to live more responsibly is upon us. I am certainly feeling the pull!
Yes well said, Robyn, listening to our bodies gives us a constant and clear sense of what has caused the pain or tension we are feeling, and it is up to us as to whether we want to take heed of that and learn or continue with the same behaviours regardless. How stubborn and irresponsible must we be to do so, rather than being open to discovering the truth and evolving from it?
Or how disconnected from our bodies and ourselves are we that we don’t even think about illness and disease in this way? I know I certainly didn’t until I started studying with Universal Medicine and listening to Serge Benhayon present on the amazing intelligence of our bodies and how they have so much to share with us if only we take the time to listen.
I agree. It’s great that Gina has shared to this level.
Thank you Gina. This is a beautiful example of how we can learn so much from our bodies and it is what we then do with this that can make an enormous difference to our health and well being.
Hi Gina,
Nature truly is a marvel as is our body. Nature knows itself inside and out and what to do to nurture and sustain itself. We are still working on this but once we start to connect back to our bodies and what illness and disease are offering us – it is very powerful and revealing.
This article and comment has opened up another level of understanding about how we are nature and that we are part of the big picture. Trying to work in isolation from this is a constant conflict that depletes us all. The simplicity and wonder of letting ourselves be part of the big picture is an ongoing development I am now committed to.
It is to me common sense that how we live, how we are with ourselves and how we carry ourselves throughout our day will have a direct impact on our health and wellbeing. Serge Benhayon has deepened my understanding of this so much more to be not just about how much we do in a day and how much sleep we get, but to know that the emotions, beliefs and ideals that drive us also have a huge impact on our health.
Yes Brooke, it is not about “how much we do in a day and how much sleep we get”. It is about the way in which we do all these things. Our expressing quality. For me, this makes an enormous impact on how I feel at the end of a day and how I sleep at night!
Absolutely Robyn, quality not quantity as they say… I tend to get around 8 hours sleep each night, but the quality in which I wake up differs hugely; sometimes I feel super exhausted and almost physically cannot get out of bed whereas other times I get up quite quickly and feel much more energised… Fascinating.
Great sharing Susie. I have this too. Where I will wake up feeling like I need more sleep (even though theoretically I have had enough) or wake up feeling ready for the day. I find that the quality of my sleep is impacted by what quality I have lived my day in and in what quality I go to sleep in. This is something that I really need to place more focus on as it feels like an important part of the day. It really sets us up for how we feel going into the next day.
I agree Brooke, it’s definitely about quality not quantity. I had an experience a few days ago where I came home from work and felt frustrated by something that happened during the day. I felt a bit grumpy and quiet. I didn’t want to go to bed feeling like this, as I know sleeping doesn’t make it go away! So I spoke to my housemate about it and got to feel what it was. I went to bed feeling clear about what had happened, what I’d gone into and by doing this, I came back to the tenderness I’d felt earlier in the day. Consequently I had a really great sleep, woke feeling refreshed and started my day feeling lovely.
Great that you spoke to your housemate Sandra. I realised reading your comment that I try to work things out by myself and don’t allow others to support me by opening up and talking to them.
Like you Gina I am again looking at the irresponsibility of the way I have lived and how I end up being exhausted by the constant drain on my body and the impact this has on my nervous system. I am learning that as I listen more deeply to my body, and not let my head over ride these messages, the more my body is opening up and more willing to listen to the wisdom of my body. I know when I listen to these messages they are like little love letters inviting me to love myself.
That’s a lovely way to put it Susan, ‘I know when I listen to these messages they are like little love letters inviting me to love myself’. Beautiful.
It does feel beautiful when I open up my heart and see that life is offering me these opportunities all the time and all I need to do to change is to change my choices to ones that are more committed to life and to serving.
Great blog, Gina. Once we can accept that the body has all the answers, we can surrender and be guided by its wisdom.
I love what you are saying here janetwilliams06. the body does all this for us automatically. All we need to do is surrender.
Stress is a lot like an unpaid credit card or a parking ticket the longer you ignore it the worse it gets to deal with. By listening to our body’s early we never need fear the knock on the door or the bad letter in the post again.
I love this analogy sjmatsonuk. Simple but very true.
I love this analogy. Well said.
Great analogy sjmatsonuk, ‘Stress is a lot like an unpaid credit card or a parking ticket the longer you ignore it the worse it gets to deal with’. Living in a way whereby we really listen and honour our body is essential for life.
Great analogy sjmatsonuk…love it!!!
From being one of those people Oliver who constantly lived off nervous energy the resulting impact on my body has been enormous. Tight sore muscles and a contracted way of living that effects every choice, coupled with exhaustion, does not make a fulfilled life. I too am working on each thing that ‘takes me out” and as a result my nervous energy is reducing and I am holding back less.
Nervous energy is interesting to observe and feel in the body, I have used this as a drug and have found that it can really take you off track of keeping things super simple and feeling what is actually needed in that moment, so holding back less would make perfect sense Rachel.
Beautiful blog and so much to be learnt here about how our bodies evolve along with nature. Nature is magnificent and it reflects this back to us, who we truly are. When we do not feel the same as this in our bodies it is a great opportunity to stop and gain a deeper awareness as to what lies in the way of this magnificence.
Such a great practical blog, I also evaluate how I feel on my morning walk and every so often I can feel that the bounce has gone out of my step and it would be wise to have a rest day.
I love that Kev – evaluating the way in which you walk each day is such a simple and practical way of checking in with yourself and how you feel, which is very important to do.
Super beautiful, Kevin. No bounce – rest required. How sweet, wise and simple is that.
I agree Kevin, sometimes a rest day makes the world of difference – not only to myself but also to my family and the people I work with too. Pushing and fighting through when feeling sick is not always so wise.
Hi Gina. I love how you asked the question – “What had I been doing that meant I had a body that wasn’t functioning to the best of its ability and was quite frankly feeling run down and exhausted?”. Taking responsibility and actually perceiving the answer.
What has supported me and my health is being consciously present with myself and my actions. Honouring my body and my feelings in full – acting on those feelings. When I make it about connecting to people with everything I do this brings a strong purpose that supports my quality of presence. I can deliver what’s needed with the right amount of energy and I do not become drained!
That is a really good point, it’s like looking after ourselves but not the whole way. Or being lazy and not changing the patterns in our life that do not support us or our health. So awareness and reponsibility is needed as well as a willingness to change.
It’s incredible now, the completely obvious and conspicuous drain on my energy reserves that contracting, or being in nervous energy has on my body. Much of the time these days I am in my body; I’m working earnestly on each of the things that ‘take-me-out’. I can only imagine the result of having lived a whole life in nervous energy and contraction and what that must do to most of society – could this be why so many people need coffee to function I wonder??
Great sharing Oliver. It’s amazing that you responsibly and caringly bring your awareness to those things that take you out.
Coffee is one of the ways people function in life, as are drugs from the doctors, emotional issues, even anger – all of which take your energy, rather than rejuvenate you, which tells me that our society is very lost and really not doing well.
In Australia as a full-time worker we get 10 paid sick days a year. Some people think it is their right to take these days off, even if they aren’t sick. This is known as ‘having a sickie’. When you think about it, this is quite an attitude to carry around. This attitude actually affects the whole workplace.
It is a great point Vicky and an arrogant attitude at that, and yet it is played out in many different ways.
This is a great point to raise. I know my irresponsible ways have created illness which has resulted in days off sick. I know it’s been a huge added pressure to those who’ve been left to hold the fort as well as the financial drain. (I’m becoming much more aware how being irresponsible has a huge effect on how I am when I am at work.)
The added workload of those who have to fill the gap when someone is off sick and the service being disrupted affects many people. Of course being ill is being ill and I love how this article asks me to look at my responsibilities.
But to take a ‘sickie’ when one is perfectly well as an extra holiday must mean those who do it can’t have realised just on a basic level how important they actually are, or else they’d have clocked how disruptive taking a sickie is, as the notification given is usually last minute. I love how this article is also asking me to feel the potential in what I can actually bring to work.
Yes Karin it’s so true. I feel that people may not be aware just how valued they are in there workplace and when “sickies,” are taken just as a day off and not for actual sick reasons it really does make a significant difference to an entire workplace. That is a big responsibility that I’m sure many are disregarding.
Vicky wow, 10 paid sick days a year is a lot. You bring up an interesting point though, how many people feel like they have to make the most of the opportunity even if they are not sick. It would be interesting if some of those days were taken to deeply rest and nurture ourselves and to look after yourself when you really need it. This nurturing can be done throughout the day every day though, and eventually you may not need any sick days at all. Could it be possible to have full vitality and enjoy being at work? I wouldn’t have thought so, but I now know it is totally possible, thanks to Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon. Taking my health into my hands, responsibility.
I love what you say here Natalie. I have glimpsed how possible it is to live feeling that work is no different from the time I have outside of work – both are equally vital and joyful.
True Natalie, that’s the essence. ‘Nurturing can be done throughout the day every day though, and eventually you may not need any sick days at all’ And as you say this transforms the way we feel about work. I love being at work, and can do because of how I feel in my body (gorgeous) Nurturing has become part of my daily ritual.
It is interesting what you are sharing here Vicky. If we are able to feel how doing our part in our job supports all others, we may not be so quick to ‘chuck a sickle’. In order for this to be a way of living though, a deep sense of responsibility needs to be felt for humanity and our fellow workers. We would then know that our part in the whole is vital and looking after ourselves to continue to be ready and available to commit to our part becomes essential.
It’s true that what we choose to do affects everyone else. Calling in sick puts everyone else under more pressure. How many people really consider this before living in a way that makes them sick. And how many people even care?
I certainly didn’t consider it in this light before Universal Medicine in regards to how I am and how I live and how this impacts on all others. It really is a process to allow ourselves to come to this understanding.
I agree Vicky – it’s an attitude that doesn’t consider other people – the effect on the workplace and the other people in it.
It is a great point Vicky. We are fortunate in Australia to have these 10 days available should we need them but I see them as something there to support me not a right that I have to take them. I do feel more employers could encourage people to use these days for proactive health checks, such as an annual dental visit or GP visit, so that little symptoms are addressed early and don’t then result in louder symptoms and possibly time off work.
It is lovely how nature reflects back to us Truth like this Gina. Having a sick day is a very loving thing to do when one needs it but not owning why one needs to take it can be very irresponsible and disregarding. At least it is like that in my experience from what I have observed in myself and in others where by one takes sick day after sick day after sick day often for the same sickness or illness that keeps reoccurring again and again.
I recognise this Joshua. I was freelance and worked very hard and often collapsed for weeks at a time, and let all sorts of people down. I used to think, -oh I’ve done it again-, and know I needed to change but did not know how. Since meeting Universal Medicine the collapses have happened less and less until recently when I had a big one. I realised that I had not been recognising and accepting at a deep level what I needed to deal with that was keeping me in this same pattern. Now I have got the message and am truly paying attention to my healing, but without the support of Universal Medicine Practitioners I would never have got there.
To me sick days were because I didn’t like my job and I see how this relates to this article because I was not truly looking after myself and therefore totally not bringing great energy to the job – the job was only reflecting back to me how I was with myself. This is very different now after many years studying with Universal a Medicine. Now I totally relate to how sick days can be a stop, not to recuperate short term but to bring more responsibility to ones life, including the work place.
So many great points here Simon about our relationship to our job and why so many don’t enjoy their chosen field of work. If I don’t like my job, but the job is “only reflecting back to me how I was with myself”, then it is a perfect opportunity to look first at how I treat myself and feel about myself. I’ve found there are changes to all aspects of life when I am loving towards myself.
Great blog Gina, getting sick can be such a great way to check in with ourselves and look at what is really going on in our body. I love that you took a look at your responsibility for how you felt and then sought support for areas in your life which contributed to this illness – I know from experience that once I have felt better after an illness, I have often just gone on living the same way and no surprises in that it repeats itself!
“Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution.” This is an idea that during my first few years of listening to Serge Benhayon I found difficult to accept in full. Surely, for anyone who’s health-conscious and makes healthy choices, any illness that arises must have been imposed on us by toxins, infected people, and other things outside our control? Surely we are not responsible when we are doing all we can to support our health? Illness is a curse! But as the years went by, I could see more and more truth in the clearing power of illness, and could no longer deny what was going on in my own body. Yes, we have all been too disharmonious for too long, and much must be cleared from before our ‘healthy choices’ in order to return to that harmony with all things which is a characteristic of nature. So illness is really a blessing in disguise!
Wouldn’t it be amazing if the second language we had to learn at school was to converse with our bodies! It brings a whole new meaning to Body Language!
Oh yes Rosannabianchini, that would change the whole medical model in one generation! We would also have doctors trained to ask people questions to help them understand what may have caused their illness, and to then provide the medical treatment they needed. Now that would be true healing.
You share something so fundamental “How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” This ‘dialogue’ has the potential to be so healing if we are open to engaging with it.
Yes, what struck me is the responsibility then chosen in dealing with the irresponsibility! To recognise that being sick was due to choices made is one great thing, but then to actively seek out support and new strategies in dealing with the behavioural patterns that lead to being sick in the first place is another truly awesome thing. The deeper levels of awareness that are being offered to us all the time is something I truly appreciate, and when I hear of other people’s experiences with this I am simply encouraged to go deeper with mine. Thank you.
Cool blog Gina and a good illustration of the fact that you cant bypass the fact that we need constant care and nurturing and when we don’t, the body lets us know through injury, illness or disease.
Gina we live in a society that chooses to ignore the messages that our bodies bring. I for one, ignored mine even when it was screaming at me. How different would our life be if rather than turn away from our bodies, we turned towards them for the counsel that they undoubtedly are.
Gina, you have so clearly expressed so many things here – our process of evolution, our reflection in nature, our responsibility to ourselves, our work and everyone – are just the few I received from my first reading. The way you have taken responsibility for your health and well-being is particularly inspiring Gina – thank you.
I love taking sick days when I need them. I call them self loving days. There is no agenda to them, there is nothing that needs to be done, just a day to stop and truly listen to what my body is calling for. I find that when I honour my body in this way I recover a great deal quicker than if I had pushed through another day of work or if I had chosen to do things around the house instead of fully resting.
Thank you Gina for sharing this. A true marker for the way that your life is lived will be reflected in the body. The body never lies.
Awesome to read this, Gina as I had a day recently where I woke up with pains I really needed to listen to. Yet I had been feeling for the whole week before that I needed a ‘stop’ day, to catch up with myself and deal with mounting responsibilities – I even planned it, yet when that day came I realised I’d left the computer at work and couldn’t do all I needed to, so I went to work anyway. Things got put off again and so it was no wonder my body woke me up (quite sharply, I might add!) with pains to be regarded and not disregarded – AGAIN. It is crazy that I overrode my warning signs and kept delaying the inevitable, making myself sick in order to deal with my ‘stuff’. I’ve learned that putting things off only makes it more difficult in the long run.
I wanted to just say how much I enjoyed reading your article again Gina, and the comments that follow – there is so much we can appreciate and learn from the experiences and wisdom of other students of the livingness, and I appreciate that generally our awareness of how we have behaved and lived in the past has been revealed as not so loving nor true, but thankfully, due to having met Serge Benhayon and attending the Universal Medicine presentations, the truth of our past choices has been revealed, giving us all the opportunities to reflect on our patterns, ideals and beliefs. How totally awesome it is that we chose to be here at this time – how amazing we are.
We are constantly always learning from our own body, it will repeat the illness until we recognise how we have been living and treating our body, only then we can make choices to change. Like you say we are forever students always learning, this is the beauty we are evolving with each learning.
Why do we have to wait until we become ill, before we start caring for, and nuturing our bodies? Would it not make more sense if we were taught from a young age about the importance of caring for ourselves? This might very well reduce the level and severity of the illnesses our bodies have to deal with.
Great point, Elizabeth. Listening to and looking after our bodies should be taught as a fundamental principle of life from an early age, and this would change our whole approach to wellbeing, disease and our health services.
This is such a beautifully expressed and written blog, Gina, and a reminder for us to listen to our bodies all the time, and not override the messages they send us. It comes down to what do we treasure most, our naturalness, love and responsibility, or the instant gratification of food and the dependency on being accepted and recognised.
If the attitude to illness changed amongst humans, and we were open to the idea that our bodies are communicating to us, how will that affect our healthcare providers? How will that affect the gazillions poured into researching cures for this and that? How will that change our outlook on responsibility? Quite a lot I reckon. And what have we got to lose? Err… preventable illnesses. Exhaustion. A crippled healthcare system with doctors and nurses stretched beyond their limits. What do we have to gain? True and consistent well-being. Abundance of energy. The love that we are.
You are absolutely right Jinya. There is nothing to lose and much to gain if responsibility is top on the agenda.
You are right Jinya, the benefits of taking responsibility and listening to and honouring our bodies are countless – it does not make sense we have to wait until our bodies become ill.
Never in all my working life have I heard anyone say as you have Gina that I feel irresponsible for being off work, guilt yes but it is a much deeper reflection of how we live to go beyond guilt to the root of why we are ill and accept responsibility for our part in this. Controversial perhaps but ill health relates far more than we are often willing to accept to how we have lived.
Absolutely Stephen. It is beautiful for us to bring responsibility lovingly so to ask why we are sick and also just as important to honour our body honestly for where it is at and what it is feeling when we do need to rest.
Universal Medicine does indeed a herald a new way of being for the future, where we will take greater responsibility for our choices and see illness and disease in a different light. As you say, Gina, to understand “the science of life and how the world truly operates” is the greatest gift to be given.
Absolutely Janetwilliams, Universal Medicine is the future, what it presents, the teachings it offers will revolutionise our understanding of what health and well-being is and consequently the way our healthcare system works. A look at the student body of Universal Medicine, and the before and after photos read along side your account Gina, shows how this can begin to look http://www.universalmedicine.net/before–after.html
For our bodies and life to be our school for learning how to grow in love and wisdom, I like this , rather than books or what is being said outside of ourselves. For as you say our bodies are always communicating with us about every choice we make.
Right at the start of the blog is your comment about seeing nature – and that phrase of being natural came to mind. It’s always perplexed me that us human beings seem to have this innate ability to override what feels natural. Only the other day I was scoffing down an overly large packet of nuts that made me feel uncomfortably full and very sleepy for the rest of the afternoon, and I was left wondering why is it that human’s override what is natural? We have been granted the gift of free will, and yet all too often we abuse it for some momentary satisfaction.
It is wonderful that our bodies talk to us and alert us to our harmful choices and behaviours and very loving that you took the steps to rest, nurture and support your body.
It is good to take responsibility but it is also good to have support. Where I work currently if you are off sick for more than 3 periods in 1 year you then have to go to a disciplinary meeting!!!!! I understand wanting to stop people from taking false days off sick but this just makes it more stressful for people that do get sick. It is very unsupportive.
So true Vicky and I believe this is happening more and more in workplaces. It feels like this has been a missed an opportunity to first look at how staff are caring for themselves and support them to take better care and then question what is going on if a pattern emerges. However to call it a disciplinary immediately puts people under stress and they are more likely to feel like a victim than feel empowered to take better care of themselves.
I agree Vicky, support is of greatest importance, especially from your place of business. Disciplinary action doesn’t teach responsibility but instead instills stress
Wow, I’ve never heard of that happening before Vicky! Imagine working for a company where there was a health-related KPI that you come up with yourself – something that you want to change or work on that you know is causing you health issues, slowing you down or causing you to be less than you are. That would be amazing…and become normal. One day!!!!
Gina, I love how you start your blog looking at nature. Our body is part of the earth and it is only our mistreatment of ourselves that puts it out of harmony and it lets us know – but do we listen? By taking responsibility as you did, it is possible for us all to turn our health around by making more loving choices.
Great blog Gina, I love how you talk about the responsibility that we have when getting sick and how irresponsible it is. To live in a way that makes us feeling less than we truly are is irresponsible if we are feeling sick, exhausted, a bit out or whatever. Not being in our fullness is irresponsible.
It’s true Gina that our bodies do speak to us. It is simply up to us to be willing to listen.
Gina, I felt too that there was this strong relationship between choices and how our body feels – I also appreciate too that “since listening to the presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I have deepened my awareness and acceptance of this inner wisdom and knowing.” I know I can take the very smallest of signs as a communication that can feed back how I am and what is supportive or not (and it doesn’t need to be the food or sleep choices that I initially was aware of), it is in any one thing that we make a choice about that will have an effect on how well we are or not.
Thank you Gina, for this lovely reflection of nature, and of you. I too enjoy my morning walks in nature and the opportunity to be with me in the world.
I love what you have delivered here: “so why wasn’t I feeling spectacular also? ”
Too often we settle for so much less than spectacular, and why?
I love how you exposed that getting ill is a stop moment for us to look at how we have been living and to address it. This feels to me to be a very responsible way to live.
Dear Gina,
I love how you revealed that it was actually irresponsibility that was being exposed in how you were feeling. I, myself am right in the middle of feeling the irresponsibility that I have been choosing, and your article is so very supportive for me. Gently nudging me to firmly support myself to be responsible and honour the loving commitment that is needed here.
Indeed Leigh, it’s super important we listen to our bodies and get to the bottom of what it is they’re trying to tell us, as feeling sick or ill could be a number of things.
The level of responsibility you are presenting is amazing. Rather than being the victim of life and illness, you recognised the part you played, and the fact that steps needed to be taken to change.
Thank you Gina what a great article and reflection. I too am so appreciative of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for bringing truth and the science of how our bodies and life really work together with the importance and knowing of energy with true love as the underlying depth to everything.
I too am so very appreciative of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for all they have presented about how we live our lives and how illness, disease and accidents don’t just happen – I absolutely know this for myself and there is magic in being able to see what it is that’s led us to become sick. It’s in no way to give ourselves a hard time but to very lovingly see that there is something that needs to change, and then to make that change in the way we feel will work for us.
“The results have been profound. My body doesn’t buzz with a nervous tension all the time, I am more relaxed and more joyful at work, I have space in my day to be joyful and playful with my partner and young children. I feel so much better!” This is beautiful to read Gina, thankyou for sharing your story. Changing the way we are living, thanks to the insights brought to us by Serge Benhayon, is profound and far-reaching.
“why don’t I feel spectacular this morning?” A great question, and answered honestly such a support in my day. Thank you Gina.
Indeed Elaine something you’ve reminded me to ask each morning as I reflect on how I’ve been living.
Such a great question to ask ourselves each morning elainearthey – and to celebrate and appreciate when we do wake up feeling spectacular, as that will support us on the days when we don’t, to see what it is we’ve being choosing for ourselves.
Great to link your sick days and how you have been living and to be willing to refine how you take care of yourself. This is not how most people understand sick days but it would be quite a different healthcare system and work place if more of us were responsible in this way.
It’s a joy to feel you so empowered, Gina. Looking at illness in this way will one day save our medical systems. Thanks to Serge Benhayon for the ongoing inspirations.
Great point, Felix. If we all took more responsibility for our health there would be a lot less people crowding hospitals and medical centres.
The potential for this outlook is tremendous for the medical profession… When it is embraced and a responsibility taken by each patient for their health, the burden for the system to carry everyone will be extinguished. An equalness will occur and perhaps the systems will come out of bankruptcy and out of crisis?
I love how you came to realise that actually all those bumps and bruises were all signs telling you that something wasn’t ok and that this dis-harmony was showing you this. I know I have brushed off at times these super important messages and have ended up in a very uncomfortable if not painful situation.
Really great comment Gill that inspires me to understand that to make real, loving changes requires commitment and a willingness rather than my sometimes sporadic tokenistic gestures!
A great reminder Gina of the level of responsibility that is actually true for us to live.
Thank you for sharing Gina. When I woke this morning I was feeling quite unwell, although not with a big head cold or flu.
Without having obvious symptoms of being sick, to others or myself, it was hard for me to justify not going to work.
Following reading your Blog, I felt to take more responsibility for myself, resting instead of pushing myself through, which
was clearly not what my body needed for the day.
I totally agree Gina, illness and disease can be blessings (not that it feels like this at the time) but it can be an opportunity to stop and reflect on how we are living, how we arrived at this place (illness) and gives us the opportunity to change and changing behaviour that is disregarding or self abusing is a huge blessing.
Thank you Gina for a truly thought provoking blog . I agree with your comment ” I am so appreciative of the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for bringing to me these ancient understandings of the science of life and how the world truly operates”. To know that the illnesses and accidents are our bodies talking to us and asking us to listen and change the way we have been , and the need to self nurture and look deeper into the ways we have been living in disregard.
Roslyn I too appreciate the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for bringing to me these ancient understandings of the science of life and how the world truly operates. Years ago I would have questioned these teachings…. what really…? an illness is because of my choices and that … an accident not just an accident.. really? Yes, to my great joy I know this is true and can track why things are occurring as they are. My feeling of old victimhood has gone as has the feeling of life being like a pin ball in a pin ball game from which I bounce intermittently from one event to another. I know my choices affect EVERYTHING, rather than this being a daunting prospect I find it incredibly empowering.
I can relate to your image of life being like a pin ball machine where you are the ball bouncing around with no control. I too used to feel like that, at the mercy of life. Even though we can’t control the world, or other people, we can certainly take control of how we choose to live. I also have been inspired by the teachings of the ancient wisdom as presented by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, to take control of my life and be more responsible about the choices I make. I no longer feel at the mercy of life and also feel very empowered by the way I am now choosing to live.
A great reminder Gina to actually use the time off when we are sick to deeply connect with ourselves and our body. I used to just ‘wait it out’ by watching lots of tv and only rest deeply if i was exhausted. I am now learning to see this as an opportunity to really be with me and listen to what my body is telling me about the choices I have made up to that point. Allbeit still a work in process, as at times this can be very exposing.
I agree Carolien, it is a work in progress, because it is so very revealing. Yet how grateful I am that what has been revealed for me to date has already changed dramatically how I live, this so supports me as I continue to expose what needs to be exposed so that I can continue to live with my loving tenderness and deepen this way of living, as it is the only way of living that I have found that fully supports myself and equally, all others.
I agree with this Carolien, ‘A great reminder Gina to actually use the time off when we are sick to deeply connect with ourselves and our body. I used to just ‘wait it out’ by watching lots of tv and only rest deeply if I was exhausted’, I used to do the same, I would just indulge in watching films and wait for the illness to pass instead of connecting with myself and truly nurturing myself.
Such a beautiful insight into the wisdom that is there within us – waiting to be connected to. Sometimes it takes us a while to truly hear what our body is communicating, but what you have shared here is awesome – in that when we do listen we are in the perfect position to make true and lasting change.
Our bodies are the most amazing tool which shows us everything we need to know. Thank you Gina for your sharing.
And what I like about Gina’s article is how simple it is to make changes in our life if chosen.
And all we have to do is take notice of what our body is saying, and get the best support we can when we need it. Sometimes that support is from my GP or medical specialist, and/or an esoteric healing practitioner.
It is wonderful reading how you have taken the time to consider how those bumps, broken bones and illnesses might be a way of your body communicating to you, and how you have honoured your impulse to explore this and you have as a result deepened your awareness and acceptance of your inner wisdom and knowing.
Gina, you have written an awesome blog on a topic that everybody can relate to, as we all have been sick at some stage or other in our lives. It is very inspiring to read how by taking the time to listen to your body and looking at what was fueling the behaviour that led to you feeling sick, you were able to see and do something about how these were impacting your life.
Yes and to call out this behaviour is a testament to the level of responsibility your willing to go to in order to deal with your choices rather than ignore and get caught up in the treadmill of “chucking another sickie”.
Great point Elizabeth – we are all given the opportunity from time to time, to feel how we are living in a pattern of dis-ease, or abuse of our bodies. What is lovely in Gina’s blog is taking the opportunity to listen to what the body is saying, an opportunity that can be fed back into how we are living, making us more responsible in how we are living day to day.
What our body shows about the way we are living is awesome. So often when people get sick they say they just need some TLC (tender loving care) goes to show we know what is missing in our life when we get sick..
Emily that’s so true – we do know, but we have got into the habit of ignoring what our body says.
Great call Emily .. the saying says it all returning to tender loving care.
This is a great point Emily- we do know what is needed when sick but don’t always realise this tender loving care is a daily commitment and if and when illness or disease does occur we can see this as ” the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.” So true and how amazing can our healing be when we see ill health in this way.
Great point Jsnelgrove36. Without a daily commitment to TLC the harmful and even abusive patterns continue unchecked – that is until the body goes STOP. I also love how the body does not stop there. It not only asks for a daily commitment but each day we are also being invited to live and experience a growing level of TLC.
Beautiful jsnelgrove36 and Vicky, the importance of living the daily commitment to TLC which is forever growing and on going.
Yes Emily, and that TLC comes from us in how we live every moment of every day with what we do, think and say. Our body guiding us.
Once I realised the enormous difference it makes to me and my life to take the time to listen to my body and nurture myself deeply and ritualistically as a normal daily intention I was stunned how loud my body yells at me at times when I slip into more neglectful, dishonouring patterns. I have come to understand that we are as precious and fragile as the day we were born and deserve to be treated with the same loving attention, tenderness and care, TLC, as we lavish on our ‘bubbas’. I also wonder why I lack consistency with my TLC when it is so lovely and obviously supportive in so many ways.
Yes so true Emily. We all know about TLC, and Gina’s post shows us that is it important to apply it to ourselves prior to feeling ill so that we reduce the need for the body to get sick in the first place. I am still learning to apply this principle to myself every day, with astounding results. Then the odd times that I do feel un-well now stick out very evidently and I can then see clearly where the TLC rule was not applied!
Bringing TLC to our selves every day, as you say Rowena, can make illness less likely to happen. Our awareness rises, we’re more likely to spot dis-ease when it approaches and seek help, slow down or stop. This is true medicine.
Exactly Rowena, this is definitely my experience too. It’s an incredible science. When I become unwell, these days the reasons why are very very clear, as there is often a trail of disrespecting choices I’ve been making. It’s been great to have this awareness and with that I am much less likely to turn up to my doctor’s door not knowing what happened.
Great point Emily.
Well said Emily. Tender Loving Care, part of our daily rituals and rhythm, and forever evolving.
Ahhh Emily, so true! Our bodies respond so well to TLC, especially when we are not sick. This is something our bodies are continually alerting us to.
Yes, and if I were to pay attention to loving myself every day, not just when I get sick, I’d be feeling amazing. A great reminder.
So true Karin. Why is it that we reserve self-care for when we are ill?
Yes so true Emily. Connecting and building our own levels of TLC is what our bodies need to function with vitality and love everyday. It’s the only way to take loving responsibility for our choices made in every moment.
Great point Emily and taking time to care for ourselves when we are sick is super important and will help our bodies heal. However, if we only give ourselves TLC when we are sick, then nothing really changes – it’s like driving our car recklessly or carelessly and then going to the panel beater to have it fixed and then returning to the same way of driving.
Yea true Sandra. It makes no sense for us to only care for ourselves when we get sick…
This make me think how our bodies are always communicating to us, how absolutely everything we do has an impact on our bodies. Also how much sense it makes to make choices from the wisdom of our bodies, it is the only way to ensure sustainable vitality and joy. And to go against the messages from our bodies is self-abuse.
Gina your blog really resonates with me as I felt quite ill this afternoon, had to miss work and lie down for a few hours. I went from feeling alive and joyful to feeling unwell and exhausted in a very short time. I had a lot of pain and realised that I have not been present with nor fully honouring my body whilst exercising the past couple of days and my body was suffering the consequences.
Thanks Jeannette, I had a short spell of feeling unwell recently, and just taking a bit of time to stop and listen to the subtleties (or not so subtle actually) of what my body was communicating meant that I could learn from the messages and was able to move on quite quickly – an effective process rather than languishing in feeling ill for days on end!
This is so true Janet. The beauty of this is that you use the space well and to serve you, rather than just to indulge or feel sorry for self.
Reading your comment Janet has reminded me how important it is to be reflective and keep asking “why has this happened?” rather than just accepting being unwell and brushing it off until the next time. I am learning so much about myself by being more aware of my body and the messages it is constantly sending me.
We can ‘get by’ by putting sticking plasters on our issues, but the cut or sore does not heal until we accept responsibility for it as you have shown so beautifully here Gina.
Most of our medical system is made up of a sticking plaster approach with pills, potions and surgery for just about everything. Our over burdened health system would look quite different if self responsibility was added to the mix.
True Sandra, I am understanding more and more how self responsibility is linked to everything we do, every issue we face and the ramifications of this is our systems getting blocked up and breaking down. We need to look more deeply at what is stopping us taking more responsibility for our health etc. – there are so many layers of blame and shifting responsibility in our society that it has become the norm to point the finger else where. Not until I ask myself: “how have I contributed to this for myself?”, can anything really shift. The systems can be worked on for greater efficiency etc., but nothing will truly change until we understand what true self responsibility means – a whole exploration into our hurts and unresolved issues.
When we do things or make decisions in our own lives that are not self loving it is often easy to see or feel the impact of these on our own bodies. But perhaps when we are making these seemingly little personal choices it is easy to forget the bigger picture and how interconnected we all are and that our choices are actually having a far wider impact on many others?
‘In harmony, we have enough energy to function in optimal health, to accomplish all the physical activities we need to do in our day’. I’m beginning to feel this truth for myself as I build more self caring rhythms into my life.
Thank you Gina for putting it so simply ‘we can load ourselves up with active thoughts, emotions, concerns, stress, over excitement, or consume food and drinks which don’t support us – these emotions and intakes use up energy we require to function – and more often than not, we ‘run out’ of energy.’ This was how my life was for many years and I was constantly pushing through exhaustion and perplexed that I didn’t have more energy. I love how you relate this to nature and how we have this reflection of everything working optimally to inspire us that this is how it can be if we are in the flow of life and listening to the communication from our bodies.
Hi Gina – I can relate to feeling guilty about taking time off work – when really if it is truly needed – it allows us a stop moment to look at why we are ill and what’s behind it.
Yes illness and disease are a clearing, and I am realising the importance of giving our bodies the space to feel this.
Gina, this is so beautifully and truthfully expressed – thank you. Our bodies are a divine gift to us, an instrument can guides us to live harmoniously, if we choose to. There is a natural rhythm and flow that we are designed to live with, which is reflected in nature itself, and when we are not in this rhythm and flow we are in effect in dis-harmony or dis-ease. I love how you have highlighted this so clearly and brilliantly. And when we chose to pay attention to this, take responsibility for how we are feeling we can begin to live and appreciate just how harmonious and vital our lives can be. I am constantly learning and deepening this for myself also. ‘Just as nature continually evolves, so too do our bodies – as part of that nature – support us to evolve. Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.’ – again beautifully said Gina.
Thank you Gina for writing such a gorgeous article. I really love the part where, on your morning walk, you used the harmony felt through nature all around you and correlated this to how you were feeling in your body. It helped you recognise that you were feeling unwell. Nature is a great point of reference, and connecting to this harmony that is naturally there certainly reveals that we, as human beings too, have the same capacity and potential to live in harmony, and it really is a simple choice.
I love how you said this Gina – “Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.” This perspective opens up the possibility of learning with the illness or disease, discarding what isn’t a part of our true nature and bringing more of our essence out.
I love this reminder, Fiona, that illness and disease are a way of clearing what is not us, so that the beauty of our essence can shine out.
Gina it’s really wonderful to read about the responsibility I have about being well for life- whether it’s work or not. In reading your blog I’ve realised I’ve been saying to myself: “as long as I get through the tasks of my day I’m being responsible enough” – I haven’t, because I’ve not looked at the quality of my day and said, actually where is my vitality?!
I know what I am accepting as passable isn’t a fraction of what I could be living if I took true care of myself and took the steps to support myself with what it is there to do in my day. I don’t have to hold onto old beliefs about life being hard or me not being able to manage because these old beliefs are encouraging ways that are killing me slowly. So thanks for the reminder.
These old ways aren’t worth what they cost in terms of my quality in my day with people. I really felt the price of this to those I worked with last week. No-one could have complained about how I was on a normal scale of performance, but I knew it was not what I could have delivered and that felt horrible. So what a great blog to remind me. Thank you.
Thank you for your honesty Karin and I am recognising that there is always another layer of responsibility to connect to and ‘getting by’ feels horrible even if no-one else could fault it I am painfully aware that I am not bringing all of me to a situation. Letting go of old beliefs is key to freeing myself to bring more quality to my presence and allowing my vitality to shine out.
Nature is such a perfect example of harmony and is certainly a huge classroom for us all to gain an education in and from! More and more people are coming to an understanding that the same beauty we can all see in nature (if we choose) is also right there inside of them. What a great ‘graduation’ present!
I love how you have described that our body is having a dialogue with us. The question is then how much do we care to listen?
My answer to that Vicky, speaking for myself, is not as carefully or as completely as I could. My body often shows me something and yet I avoid the messages because I don’t want to really delve too deeply and face what it might uncover… the discomfort of feeling my actions, choices and behaviours.
What a wonderful reminder of how innately wise our lovely body is and how important it is for us to listen to it and let it guide us to live a health full life.
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living”….this should be health slogans everywhere!
I completely agree that illness is always a healing or what you might call a clearing and more often than not alerting us to current behaviours that are not supportive. However, it is not always the case that we are clearing current unsupportive behaviours. Sometimes we can actually be doing very well and living in a harmonious way and our bodies clear a very old or past behaviour. As with everything else, we always need to discern on each occasion what the message is. It is a wonderful thing to enter into developing a clear communication with our bodies, as they are very wise and truthful.
Very True Nicola regarding very old behaviours coming to the surface. Communication with oneself is truly the key to awareness.
Top blog Gina and a great reminder that we are connected to everything and that ‘things’ just don’t happen. Our choices make us who we are and our bodies will let us know our choices, in no uncertain terms if need be, if we listen.
I love how you’ve brought in our irresponsibility when we take sick days if we haven’t been taking care of ourselves, have ignored or overriden signs our bodies have given us. It puts pressure on our colleagues to cover our workload or let’s someone down by us not being there to do our bit.
I also loved this point Sandra. The irresponsibility to continue to repeat behaviours that do not support and so have a direct impact on everyone in our lives. Gina has given us a very real and tangible example and given me much to ponder and learn from.
I reflected on this yesterday when I woke with a stomach ache and for a moment contemplated taking a sick day, and then felt into why and what had caused it, and there it was, my own irresponsibility for how I’d eaten the previous day. I love how my body shows me instantly where I’ve been.
So spot on! Those stop moments are a chance for us to consider how we have been living.
This is beautiful Gina. What an amazing gift for everyone to be brought up to listen to our body and all it tells us. To take responsibility for our choices and life and not to ignore things, push through and look for someone or thing to fix us. Stopping and listening to our bodies really does bring a stillness, love and knowingness to our lives and that of others.
I love this, Gill, seeing illness as a dialogue. A great and non-judgemental way to look at our symptoms and an awesome relationship to have with the body.
A simple, clear and very relevant blog Gina. It’s powerful to know that we have all the wisdom we need within us and tools to make our bodies healthy and vital. If only we were taught as children to connect and listen to the wisdom of our bodies and not just learn the three Rs.
The human body is more than capable of handling life with ease, so why have we got the modern plague of exhaustion? As you have put it so well Gina Dunlop, it is because we are loading and abusing our bodies with many things by wilful choice, that go against the natural flow and harmony of our bodies. This bizarre situation – which you will never find in the rest of nature – is due to the fact we have a human mind which is run by the human spirit, who has its own different motivation for being on this planet.
Very true Andrew, we are the only species on this planet that has the capacity and wanton will to actively poison, harm, neglect and abuse our bodies and then have the audacity to wonder why we feel ill! The joy of living in harmony with our bodies is immense, when we nourish and care for ourselves with real tenderness, our bodies run like a Rolls Royce and the ride is pure perfection.
I love your analogy Rowena of the smooth running car and that our bodies can run like one if we choose to allow it. It is deeply ironic as you say that we actively choose to harm ourselves and then complain when we get ill or say that we don’t get why it is happening. Evidence if there ever was any for the fact that our bodies are being used by the spirit that doesn’t care if we run our bodies into the ground! I know in the past when I have been in disregard I would ask “why am I doing this to myself?” but with no understanding or foundation of self love or self worth I would over ride those thoughts and allow it to continue.
Gina, what you write is amazing. You make big changes after only the third day off sick. I wonder if it would take me just a touch (three years?) longer than that! Three days is amazing.
Gina this is a beautiful reminder that our bodies belong to the Universe and as such follow a rhythm and a flow that is much bigger than us. We have the free will to choose to dance out of step to this but when we do, we invite in a discordant note that has no place in a body of love and so we get sick. I love how you have made the correlation of our bodies being a part of nature and as nature evolves, so too do our bodies if only we take the time to enter a dialogue with them. We are given EVERYTHING to help us grow, but it’s what we do with it that determines our ultimate state of being.
Thank you Gina, this line in particular really stands out for me “it’s all a ‘stop’ moment our bodies are bringing us to in order to pull us up to reflect on behaviours which are taking us away from feeling awesome.” This is gold, when we realise that we are making our body accept a food, thought stream or emotional state that clearly is poisoning it, we give our selves the opportunity to address our choices and examine our behaviours that lead to illness in the first place. I am forever appreciative of the teachings of Universal Medicine for truly supporting me to identify many very un-loving choices and build a loving, considerate relationship with my body, so that feeling well and joyful is now a daily rhythm, not some chance experience in a depressed existence.
I totally agree Gina, that our bodies are constantly giving us messages and showing us what is working and what is not. I have recently become aware of the little things, like dropping something, or bumping into something, and realising how even these little clumsy moments are signs that I am not paying attention or am day dreaming, they are a little message to come back to being present with me, my body and what I’m doing -it’s quite magical actually.
The wisdom of our bodies, they do indeed communicate with us, we just have to listen. When I listen to my inner guide, I alway know my next steps to take or when I need to stop and take some rest which my body deeply appreciates which opens up further the flow of communication between myself and my body.
Beautiful what you share Gina, makes me realize deeply that there is a “natural” rhythm of everything, nature is “naturally” a part of, as also my body is a part of, when I do allow this rhythm to become the rhythm of my body. And that illnesses and diseases and every not harmonic and joyful moment shows the drop off this rhythm, that once connected, provides everything for everyone in every moment… wow!
The wisdom of our bodies… they do indeed communicate with us all the time, we just have to listen, and when I do listen to my inner guide, I always know the next steps to take.
This is very powerful to read Gina, ‘overall everything was functioning spectacularly. My body, a human being on this planet, is a living part on this earth as much as everything else – so why wasn’t I feeling spectacular also?’ It is a re-reminder to me that our bodies can be feeling spectacular and this is a natural way to be, I can feel because mine often does not feel this way that I am dulling it with food, or overriding its messages, pushing myself and not expressing fully.
Hi Gina, thank you for the reminder to continue to go deeper with the realisations we are given and the reflections from our bodies well-being. Having just had a sick day and knowing that my way of living develops my level of well being actually saying it is irresponsible to live in a way which promotes dis-ease is much more honest and to the point.
Great blog Gina, we are responsible for how we feel, our own health.
Gina what rang true with your blog is the point that by taking a day off you were not being irresponsible but responsible in picking up on the behaviours and way of living that was not what you were feeling in nature. A great call to stop, reflect and build on.
I was listening to the birds and becoming ware of the approaching morning light as I read your blog. Nature is a great reality check to feel how in line with its wonder we are living. It was so great to read a story of not just bettering or managing your way through stress/tension/illness but one that actually changes your whole way of being with yourself. your relationships and in life. We have to do the work ourselves, to undo the patterns that have become the norm – but it is so worth it. This starts with the choice to no longer accept the norm and to look honestly at our life.
I love the clear contrast you draw between the flourishing life of Nature and its creatures and your own dis-ease on the day you describe here, Gina: for me, that demonstrates how we, too, are part of Nature and that the loss of our part in that amazing rhythm is indicative of an imbalance we need to address within ourselves. It’s a fabulous analogy you draw here and one I, along with yourself, hold to be a great truth.
I agree our bodies talk to us and we do know this and are often actually very aware of it, but we are not so willing to listen to it, as it calls us into responsibility asking us to change our ways, refining all that which is not working and making wiser choices.
There is nothing better then a stop physically to get you to look at what is going on in your life and the way you live. My body is telling me that something needs to change. It is about listening to the body and receiving the message the body is sharing.
Thanks Gina for your reminder of how we are connected to everything like nature but yet through choices that hinder and do not nurture or support we can go out of balance and then into disease .By listening to our bodies rather than our minds we can bring it all back into a balance that truly works and supports . Even though I understand there is no magic cure , but with honesty ,commitment and love it is very possible to change things for the better.
Our body provides us with all the wisdom we will ever need and it never ceases to amaze me how much there is to learn when I pay attention.
Our bodies are amazing Patricia….so much wisdom and all we need to do is listen!
Sadly, we have become very good at ignoring the body. On the other hand, our body is always providing us with strong messages about what’s going on with our health – so turning things around with our health doesn’t have to be a difficult process.
Gina, I love the gentle way you have written this powerful blog. You make some pertinent comments and I agree that “we can load ourselves up with active thoughts, emotions, concerns, stress, over excitement, or consume food and drinks which don’t support us – these emotions and intakes use up energy we require to function – and more often than not, we ‘run out’ of energy.” This is exhausting. By making different choices it’s incredible feeling how the body responds and our energy levels increase and a feeling of vitality and joy occurs.
I’m with you Rachel, Thank you Gina for such a gentle but powerful blog. There is so much here for us all to understand our bodies and the messages they give us. I especially love how you have shown how even the small things like bumps on the elbow is a loving way the body says – you are an amazing human being, you are love – look what you are doing to that love that you are.
That’s a great question Gina, “so why wasn’t I feeling spectacular also?” When asked with that word ‘spectacular’, it really highlights how we so often just settle for less! Why shouldn’t we want or expect ‘spectacular’ each day? My guess is the responsibility you wrote of Gina, it would need to be there on a moment by moment basis, and in those moments we are prepared to overlook this and take the familiar option.
Great point Rosanna, when I ask how I’m feeling, much of the time it’s based on better or worse than the day before, but not compared to spectacular.
‘Why shouldn’t we want or expect ‘spectacular’ each day?’ – great question Rosanna. I know I certainly settle for a lot less in my life; having a ‘good’ day is the best things ever get, as often there is at least one or two things that ‘go wrong’ (like overeating, going to bed late etc.), that in my eyes ruin the entire day.
Thank you Gina – a really clear and gentle blog on the relationship between our health and our choices. I love how you have definitively made the link between nature and our bodies and that it is all part of the same rhythm and impulse. I think it interesting that many people do not feel the fact of this link or try to ignore it. We are so conditioned not to feel the signals the body is sending and yet all of nature does this perfectly reflecting to us how natural it is should we choose to do so – should we follow suit, as you say, there would be far less dis-ease!
It’s a great point you make about being off sick and feeling the irresponsibility of making the choices which got you there in the first place.
It does seem that having to make the decision to stay off sick is very difficult and one I have struggled with for my whole working life and feeling like I’ve failed in some way for getting sick, or letting others down.
As you say Julie, many people are reluctant to take time off work and if they do feel they have failed and let people down. In many ways if don’t take time off we are failing ourselves and may push our bodies further towards more serious illness.
A beautiful reminder for us all Gina of the responsibility our bodies are always pulling us up to live and embrace.
It is crazy to think about it, how we have a harmonious set of systems within our body, perfectly designed to keep things flowing smoothly, and yet we clog them up and severely challenge them with emotions, thoughts, reactions, food that does not agree with us, alcohol etc. I love how you have spelled this out, Gina, and showed us how different it can by simply adjusting a few key patterns/choices in our lives.
Great Janet, you make it sound so simple and normal, why wouldn’t we do it!
Oh yes Janet I agree it is a great joy to feel the harmonious set of systems within our bodies. What makes me so humble is the way how everything works so simple and easy together. To discover that we with our way of living are destroying this harmony is indescribable. So it is wunderbar that Gina showed us how different the body can work again by simply adjusting a few key patterns/choices in our lives.
A very good question Lisa, “why wouldn’t we do it” Why do we consistently knowingly act, think and eat in unsupportive ways? These questions are really worth deep exploration.
I agree Janet. When we really stop to think about it it is crazy that we pollute ourselves with substances and emotions that prevent our bodies from working harmoniously. We have become so conditioned to doing this that to most it seems abnormal not to. It does take work and commitment to consciously make those self loving choices – but so worth the results to the body and how we feel about life in the end.
And we pollute our body with emotions as they are seen as being a positive thing. Like, harness your emotions to get you through or to raise you up. How different it can be when we remove emotion from our everyday life and live with a greater steadiness, that I find leaves less likelihood of the sickness developing as we are less trodden on by the days events and less susceptible to feeling unwell.
Great point Janetwilliams06.
You make a great point here Stephen. Emotions are actually championed as a good thing and are encouraged, but they actually take us further away from who we are. I remember having a conversation with someone once about emotions and he told me he loved them because they made him feel alive. Without them he didn’t really know who he was because he had lost connection to his real self and needed something to fill the void. I know that this was certainly the case for me – in getting emotional I had something to cover up the lack of self worth and emptiness with. Without dealing with that emptiness I kept myself spinning in the behaviours and emotions in ever decreasing circles!
A great post Gina and a great reminder to all of us about being Responsible and to look at why we need time off sick. I am self-employed but take my work very seriously. Like you when I am not well the guilt stuff comes in but the Truth is I know why. It had something to do with how I was living “irresponsibly”. Although this is very rare now I still have my moments where I will indulge in food I know is not going to support my body or just eat a little bit more than needed and then Boom, I feel lethargic, irritable and don’t get the tasks completed for that day. Now that’s what I call not being responsible and there is a price to pay. My body cops it and I feel yuk.
You have just reminded me once again to ensure I take note when these moments occur so BIG Thanks Gina.
‘I was engaging in behaviours that were not fully supporting me to function optimally and allowing me to flourish.’ What a great realisation, Gina. But an even greater realisation, I feel, is to acknowledge that even though you recognised that you had been engaging in behaviours that were not fully supporting you to function optimally, you still took the self-care to take care of your self and your body in that moment in time and not beat yourself up for getting to this point in the first place, and allowed yourself a sick day. The gentleness and care with which you treated yourself is lovely to feel.
Awesome Gina. I love how you shared that all those little bumps, bruises, colds, coughs and cuts can actually just be ways of our body telling us to slow down or take more care of ourselves. This is also super true – ‘Just as nature continually evolves, so too do our bodies – as part of that nature – support us to evolve’, our bodies and nature working together, what a dream team!
Ha ha – great point Susie and what a great harmonistic flow there is when the two work together. This further confirms to me how much we are interlinked to all that is around us and if we live in alignment with the natural ebb and flow of life; listening to our bodies, we are less likely to be out of sync and ‘out of order’ as Stephanie has said.
Love that Susie a ‘dream team’ we sure are onto a winner.
I really appreciate the way Gina saw reflected in nature how life should be. Nature doesn’t prevaricate, question why, it just does what is necessary in each moment – spectacularly so.. When our bodies speak to us, we don’t need to question why either to be equally spectacular.
So very true what you have shared here Catherine, nature certainly doesn’t question why, the simplicity of this holds the secret for all of us. To humbly surrender and allow the body to run the show. Yes it is scary to do this, it brings up my very own culmination of questions why. What I am discovering more each day is that each question why exposes itself as a jolt in the harmony that I felt before the question popped into my head.
An inspiring blog Gina. Since attending presentations with Serge Benhayon over the past 7 years it is amazing to have access to my own personal science laboratory – my body! I don’t always like what it shows me, but it has proved to be very wise, reliable and trustworthy when I listen to it and when I don’t it let’s me know in no uncertain terms that I am ‘out of order’.
Absolutely Stephanie. I love the reference to science. Life in itself is one whole big science experiment and our bodies and what they communicate to us, play a major part in this.
The work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine is borne from an arcane wisdom that we all already have in our bodies. Thank god for them for bringing this back to the fore once again.
I love this Gina “I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day” and can totally relate to what you have said in this article. The teachings of Universal Medicine and The Way of The Livingness has inspired me to stop and feel the nervous tension or rush that I have lived in, and often for no reason, other than choosing it myself. I’ve come so far from where I was in regards to being in nervous tension, only just 5 years ago, but every week, or even every day I realise there is a whole new depth of surrendering available for me to connect to. I’ve felt how I can continue to let go of the tension and holding in my ways and in my body, and surrender to allowing my body and myself to be deeply still and not buzzing, which can then be taken into every part of my day, including any movement.
Throughout my twenties I regularly had sick days off work due to burnout which would result in colds and viral infections. Over the last few years, as I have been taking more care of myself and speaking up more and harbouring less resentments, my body is not breaking down in that way so often. What is interesting is that I would not become ill just from burnout, but also when there was a situation to face that I did not want to deal with.
Gina I love the 3 strikes and your out! That is: the third time you where ready to take total responsibility and not ignore what your body needed. Wow this is huge and great flow on effects as you have shared. I bet some of the people you work with are feeling inspired by how you are caring for yourself and the joy you are living with every day.
Thank you Gina, your blog is very timely as i ponder what is happening in my own body. It is a wonderful opportunity to go deeper and truly nurture your way through it. I loved the symbolism and reflection of nature and all it offers us. These times ask us to be truly honest and to take responsibility for the choices we make
Thanks Gina for the emphasis you have put on really paying attention to the body as our bodies are our greatest navigation tool, they always reveal the good and bad choices that we make.
It is very inspiring when you write that we can view illness as a dialogue with our body – and this on top of all the small bumps and near misses that also tell us how we are actually living.
Puts a new spin onto sick days Gina…perhaps we could call them ‘wellness days’. And to think that the answers to most of our questions are immediately accessible to us 24 hours a day, by simply connecting to the messages that are constantly fed to us by our bodies.
Gina it is beautiful to have the constant awareness of how the body communicates to us, and every time it does so, I feel my relationship with the body has deepened. I also love how this relationship is always evolving, that there is no avoidance in taking responsibility.
Gina I would always feel bad about taking a sick day and talking with people I work with they say the same, yet what is interesting is that many of us only take sick days when we are at crunch point and can’t continue and then still feel bad about it. What you’ve shared however is are we simply feeling the irresponsibility of the fact we know we are doing things that make us sick. I am sure most sickness at work is a result of the way each of us have been living therefore if we know we could have made better choices it doesn’t feel great to have to face that. More to explore on this.
Well said David and Gina – what makes us feel guilty is not that we are sick but the knowing that we did make ourselves sick, that we made choices in an unhealthy way AND that this is now affecting the world around us. In fact we are guilty now because it is seen – our unhealthy, non serving choices are becoming obvious.
Funny thing is that we are sometimes even angry about our body when it is ill (=reflecting us our choices) – like we did hope to get away with our unloving manner…if just this body would not reflect everything….
HA! We should be thankful for every reflection we got and take the design of our body as it is: a blessing.
I love the way you take responsibility for your own optimum health so you are always available for work. ‘I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day.’ Beautiful.
The part you shared about feeling irresponsible Gina really stood out to me. So many times I have felt guilty for being ill and chose to push through and go to work regardless. Which never helps because the whole time I am there all I can think about is being in bed – there is zero commitment to being at work in those moments. What this blog has got me wondering is – what if I accepted that my health is a result of my daily repeated choices? And if so which ones are causing my body to respond or react in the way it is?
The part you shared about feeling irresponsible Gina really stood out to me. So many times I have felt guilty for being ill and chose to push through and go to work regardless. Which never helps because the whole time I am there all I can think about is being in bed – there is zero commitment to being at work in those moments. What this blog has got me wondering is – what if I accepted that my health is a result of my daily choices?
A beautiful wise sharing from your body’s experience – it doesn’t come any clearer or direct than that. Thanks Gina
Dear Gina,
yes, so true what you write. The point that our body shows us by illness and disease how we have treated ourselves is more accepted by people.
But what struck me today in your article is the ‘irresponsibility’ which I have been that makes not only my body ill, but also affects my colleagues and family for example. As they have to take over my work at that time. I don’t mean that we have to bash ourselves for this, but while recovering from our illness it would be great to get aware what kind of behaviour has led me to where I am and so being able to take more care of that in future. By all means if we are ill, we shall honour the stop our body offers to us but listen to what it has to say to us. An ongoing process.
I love the clarity and simplicity of your blog, Gina, it reminds me to stay connected in and with my body all the time. When I’m out, it reminds me by bumping into things..
“How beautiful and wondrous that our bodies speak to us like this – to view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living.” Our bodies always tries to pull us up, it’s a matter of listening.
I love your closing sentence Gina – “… ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day.” This is wonderfully expressed and a great reminder to constantly listen to what the body has to say. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Gina. An amazing sharing. I feel from the fact that you honoured what your body needed on that day by choosing to take a sick day, you were infact being completely responsible. True responsibility is how we are with ourselves and each other.
Nature, including our bodies, is a great big mirror constantly reflecting to us how to live more harmoniously with ourselves and others and constantly sending us messages of what needs to be left behind that is not us so we can evolve to be more of who we are.
Catching those ‘active thoughts’ and seeing them as choices and making a choice in that moment is so liberating. It seems like my head expands from the inside and my body comes alive.
This is a great example being sufficiently aware to see that being ill was a consequence of previous actions and really inspiring that you honoured what you felt by taking the day off, instead of going to work and deepening disregard of yourself by trying to push through.
“Just as nature continually evolves, so too do our bodies – as part of that nature – support us to evolve. Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.” Love this Gina, thankyou for a great blog. Responsibility for ourselves, our health, our lives – its all in our hands.
Thank you Gina. Isn’t it great that we have such a clear indicator as our body showing us with illness and disease to look at how we are living that doesn’t fit with the natural harmony we are.
What an insightful blog Gina. It shows that when we feel unwell, taking time off is just the beginning. Going one step further, taking responsibility, and doing something about it, in the way you did, ultimately brought you back to true health. I remember when I took sick days (not many) I would wallow on my days off, not really seeking to understand why I felt exhausted, and not always knowing what to do. Since working with Universal Medicine my body has become the wise friend I listen to more and more.
beautiful Gina ‘In harmony, we have enough energy to function in optimal health, to accomplish all the physical activities we need to do in our day’, it is interesting reading this because it makes me aware that often I do get tired or I am not in optimum health and so it feels great to reflect then on how I have been living because actually my natural way of living is to feel vital and harmonious, not sluggish and a bit grumpy or maybe overwhelmed.
Thank you Gina, I really enjoyed reading how dedicated you are to your work, family and to your self. So dedicated in fact that one sick day was enough to call you to a stop and to make big changes.
Thank you Gina for so clearly showing how the messages from our body guide us and help support us, showing the dis-harmony and then dis-ease for us to clear. It puts a whole new and truthful understanding to illness and sick days, reflecting how we are living and the responsibility we have with this and to deal with things. This is something I am learning all the time and how expression and truth is the only way to live. Great article to read and ponder on.
Our bodies are totally amazing are they not? Constantly showing us when we are living in a way that does not support the body to be in harmony with life and nature as you so beautifully put Gina. So many want to write illness and disease off as ‘back luck’ or ‘something that happens’ but when it is embraced as the body’s way of clearing ill energy, it can be felt and seen for the magic it truly is. No it is not always pretty – but neither is how we got there in the first place.
The body we inhabit really is amazing. It is a remarkable tool, highly calibrated to detect our ill choices we make. We may at times spend decades ignoring the messages it is sending, and a major breakdown sometimes gives us the full stop to start listening to the messages it is sending, or we carry on past the point of no return. Ether way it is still our choices that will decide which path we will take. When we start to reflect on our choices and take responsibility for our part, true healing happens.
Great sharing Gina in how overriding what our bodies and situations are telling us. That there is something that we need to look at if there is dis-harmony at play. What I love is how you understood that all your choices leading up to that point of feeling sick were what created it in the first place. That there is a responsibility that we each need to take for ourselves to live and be together as one in harmony and super important this is.
I love the honesty in this blog. These words stood out for me ”I was engaging in behaviours that were not fully supporting me to function optimally and allowing me to flourish.” This asks me to look at some of my behaviours and whether they support me or not. Thank you Gina.
This is great Gina, thank you for sharing your experience and how you came to having a greater conversation with your body. My body used to talk to me and I rarely listened to the obvious signs it offered. Since allowing the conversation with my body to be a two way experience, looking after myself has taken on a whole new meaning and the relationship with my body and how it functions is much more harmonious. This last sentence sums it up beautifully.
“I am a forever student, ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day”
With your blog you reflect back true responsibility Gina and this is very much needed, in a world where there is so much illness and disease. Our body is talking to us 24/7. The moment we start to listen, we can have a constant dialogue with it and start making different choices. This is the way forth to true health and vitality.
Gina I so appreciated the level of honesty you were willing to go to when you had your third sick day off work, this to me is truly evolving. How often are we prepared to really take responsibility and examine our behaviours like this and find out what led us to an experience of sickness, albeit a minor one, and then be able to change as you have done.
It is so beautifully said by you Gina Dunlop, that our bodies are telling us to look at our behaviour when we have lost our ‘being awesome’ feeling. And that is exactly what I am working on, to build a deeper relationship with my body and to understand that my body is the marker of truth that I have to appreciate as such. Now you bring me another aspect to it and that is watching my ‘amazingness’ that I can feel in my body. Thank you Gina for bringing this to me.
I love that point Gina where you came to the awareness that any illness we experience is linked to having been irresponsible somewhere in our lives.
Gina, your article reminds me of how much we need to stop seeing illness and disease as the enemy but instead see them as an opportunity to look at how we have been living. Our body gives us warning signs long before we get ill, but how much do we pay attention to what the body is telling us? It is quite humbling to know that the body never lies.
This is a great point Elizabeth. I would love to see some health pamphlets distributed across the globe – Illness: friend or foe? There is so much to discuss here that would have a radical impact on global health.
Great article Gina. It’s interesting what can come up for us when we feel we need to have a sick day, especially the feeling guilty and letting down our work team. In the past, I have gone to work unwell, only to find that the day was quite difficult to get through, to only feel more unwell by the end of the day. But had never considered not only why I had become unwell or even why I continued to push myself through my day when I felt sick. I can still feel the stubbornness that stops me from simply being honest and say – stop, you need to rest – in the belief that I can keep going no matter what. This remains a work in progress for me and your blog has been very enlightening.
Thanks for sharing this Gina. If we listen, our bodies are continually providing us with feedback about the way we live and function within the world. If we listen to this feedback we can develop a truly harmonious way of living.
Hi Gina,
By no coincidence, I am reading this blog as I sit cuddled up in my dressing gown feeling the guilt that I should be at work. Yes, I’m taking a sick day!
I noticed that I was feeling out of sorts when I woke this morning. For a while I deliberated on whether or not I should go. I decided not to, but immediately the guilt got hold of me. I started saying to myself, I’m not sick enough to have a sick day! I’m not well, but I’m still functioning!
But you have exposed a deeper level of awareness to me. This guilt is not so much about not being there for my colleagues, but that I am responsible for the way I am feeling. Yes, that word ‘responsibility’ is what makes me feel guilty. My body is clearing all the ill choices I have made. It is reflecting to me the dis-ease and disharmony in which I have lived, including the layers of hurt, fear, rejection and protection that I have accumulated. It’s a readjustment.
So, if this is the body’s way, then why wouldn’t I offer myself time out to rest? I’m taking it easy and going to see a practitioner to support me through this process. It makes sense to give myself space to heal, not beat myself up further…
Thanks Gina!
I agree it really looks at it from another perspective, so it’s nothing to do with guilt but more about taking responsibility for how we have lived.
Linda, your response comment to Gina felt so real – while you were actually taking the time to re-connect with you, giving your body time and space to re-gather its’ parts to afford a level of wellness, equanimity and harmony within once again – interesting to note that our spirit loves to play those games of ‘guilt’ and ‘self-doubt’ about our choice to self-love and listen more closely to the body. How awesome has been the awareness, as shared with us by Serge Benhayon, that we have the choice to listen to our body or listen to the other stream of energy that sources our spirit.
Thank you Gina, what a wonderful blog about the lessons our body can offer us.
‘It’s all a ‘stop’ moment our bodies are bringing us to in order to pull us up to reflect on behaviours which are taking us away from feeling awesome.’ Awesome and inspiring read Gina. Thank you.
I have such respect for the wisdom of the body, and all it communicates. Our bodies are ever calling us back to harmony, our natural state, such an awesome set up. We just have to pay attention, and be prepared to honestly look at some of our unsupportive choices.
Gina, this is a revelatory blog, thank you for writing it. Our responsibility is to live as a student just as you have mentioned and to take responsibility for our choices and subsequent behaviours and actions, all from the wisdom and understanding that we are ‘not our choices’ but we are in control of them and can make them from the understanding and love we hold for ourselves.
Thank you Gina for highlighting that it is our natural way to live ‘spectacularly’ and in touch with what our bodies are telling us. I would add too when illness does strike – and sometimes we don’t always know the root cause – we can also approach this with the same sense of grace as we did when we were well, to the best of our capacity.
What really resonated for me in this blog is that our bodies are in constant dialogue with us. Sometimes, it has to shout (ie a major illness, disease or accident) – which can point to the fact that we ignored the whispers… At other times, even when the body has shouted and we cannot ignore it, we can still miss or avoid the opportunity for a deeper healing because as soon as the symptoms are manageable, we revert back to doing what we were doing previously, until once again the body is forced to shout. Regardless, the key here is that the body NEVER stops communicating… It is our choice as to how much we are willing to take responsibility for listening to it…
I like how you have shared this Angela. It’s true the body never stops communicating and it is our choice if we listen to the quiet whispers, or need the volume turned up to hear the shouts. I have on many occasion listened to the shouts only to ignore what the message was once everything had returned back to normal… this is crazy. When connected to my body it’s quite amazing how the quiet whispers can be heard easily and there is no need to create a further drama.
Thank you Gina for the reminder that we are responsible for how we are with our bodies and how what we choose affects not just ourselves but those around us…
Love this Gina, “How often have we felt this – we get sick – and it provides a moment where we can directly feel and link our illness to a certain way of living – a stressful time recently experienced, a few late nights, eating unsupportive foods” – with this, you take sickness and us into the realm of personal responsibility. Very few of us do choose to consider that our lifestyle has any part to play as instigator of our illness/sickness…because if we did admit or see this as being the case, we’d then have to make different choices, which would be uncomfortable. So perhaps illness has also something to do with keeping the level of comfort in place, in addition to not taking responsibility.
Thank you Gina. What you have written makes so much sense, it’s actually really simple when we choose to listen intently to our bodies, which simply shows us very clearly how we have been living. I know myself, I have engaged in behaviours I would like to just ‘get away with’, but fortunately the body does not allow this. The body creates humility which in some cases is desperately needed to halt the abusive behaviours.
Gina this was so awesome to read. I sheepishly remembered the many sick days I have taken in my life and the huge lack of responsibility that allowed me to continue living in a way that made sick days necessary. I am hardly ever unwell enough to have to take time off work anymore but the same pattern still shows when I am feeling a little ‘off colour” at work. For example, if I do not sleep well may not get as much done or do things with the same diligence and attention to detail. It is great to be reminded of the fact that taking responsibility actually results in a lighter, more joyful way of being.
Illness and disease are our bodies way of saying something is wrong, but if we don’t look deeper and see what the cause is, we will become sick again until we get to feel what it is we are doing to our bodies that is causing the illness in the first place. This is what I love about what you write Gina by noticing that you have had three days of work with sickness this year and that you were able to back track and find the cause. This is what I find so amazing about the body that it can speak gently or loudly depending on whether we are listening or not.
“… a stressful time recently experienced, a few late nights, eating unsupportive foods. Or we bump into something, hit our ‘funny’ bone, even break a bone – it’s all a ‘stop’ moment our bodies are bringing us to in order to pull us up to reflect on behaviours which are taking us away from feeling awesome.” I enjoyed these sentences; so simply describing the magic of the order of the universe and how every turn is an opportunity to evolve (if we listen to it).
Great blog, it is a subject that we all experience. The way you simply share the truth behind ilness and disease is very inspiring. Our body tells us everything. Even bumping in to something is a message from our bodies. I am learning to build and deepen the relation with my body to feel and know what it is telling me.
I agree Diana1975, in her blog Gina has shared a truth that is relevant to us all, as we all experience illness at some time during our lives. I too am on a journey of deepening my relationship with my body, and I appreciate having such a wise teacher with me at all times.
This is very inspiring. Your appreciation of the body as the nature’s offering to us human being to experience our lives in on this planet – has opened up a wider perspective for me. Thank you, Lucy.
Hi Gina, I enjoyed reading your insight-full expression – describing your walk in nature in relation to how the body is feeling. I found that just your reference to walking in awareness in nature is a reminder to me to choose to factor in the space to do this on a daily basis once again. I have ignored the callings of my body to walk the beach this week, endeavouring to ‘catch up’ with all those things that call to be caught up with after having been away across the oceans for some weeks, and now experiencing throat and respiratory discomfort after the 31 hours travelling time of the return journey. I find that the body calls gently to be listened to – otherwise it will actually make us listen to it by dis-ease and dis-harmony displayed while it clearly presents or expels that which is not the most loving way to be. Thank you for the reminder.
Such a power-full blog Gina, to lovingly address what your body was saying to you on your walk. What a great reminder for us all to take responsibility for the way we have been living which may impact on our health or energy levels.
“Unlike nature, we can load ourselves up with active thoughts, emotions, concerns, stress, over excitement, or consume food and drinks which don’t support us – these emotions and intakes use up energy we require to function – and more often than not, we ‘run out’ of energy”. What a great and simple way of explaining how we ‘run out’ of energy, the consequence of which results in illness.
Great reflection and also taking responsibility for your choices. What I have noticed in the UK is how people would be a bit of a martyr and even if they were sick, would go to work saying ‘no no I’m alright!!!!’. That was years ago – now I feel more people take time off because they are too stressed or not looking after themselves. It shows that as the pace in the world has got faster, the level of self-care and self-love has stayed at a low.
In recent times, I know that there is a complete and undeniable connection between how you live and any form of illness. The sickness/injury/disease is a ‘stop moment’ – a blessing really. It allows you to feel what you were running with, and a clear choice is given change or continue down the same path and this will be the result. Some of us can be stubborn, so it takes a couple of broken legs/health scares to get the message through.
So simply explained Gina. It is wonderous how our bodies give us clues as to what is really going on, but do we always choose to listen?
“To view illness as a dialogue, alerting us to behaviours which do not support optimal health and living” The body gives us a wonderful opportunity to stop and feel what we have chosen that has not supported us, if we choose to listen to it. Then there is the further choice to change and not repeat the behaviour that brought on that illness. This could be viewed as taking true responsibility for our selves.
Could you share a little more about the paragraph, “On this occasion I decided to do something about it. I spent my day resting and nurturing, but then sought support from colleagues and practitioners. I discovered some new work strategies and visited health practitioners with the willingness, openness and honesty to go deeper at looking behind the behaviours I had previously been exhibiting.” As your results do sound profound and I can be one to get deeply caught up in nervous energy when not wanting to feel something. This would be of great support, thank you Gina.
Hello Gina, this was a big sick day. Bringing in the ‘irresponsibility’ you felt is very responsible and what that bought to you seems huge. I love the overall picture you have taken to your ‘sick’ day and that it just wasn’t you waking up sick and then moving on. You were open to ask ‘how did I get here’ and not just see it was one day in isolation from another like we often do. Thank you Gina for a more balanced and full approach to not to just a day but how we arrived a any given day or point.
I can relate to what you are saying all too well, as I have had my fair share of illness this year already and its only May. I am becoming more aware of how my reactions are registered within the body and has to come out some how. And because the reactions are far from being joyful, they manifest as a dis-ease, in this case an ear, nose and throat infection – which took forever to clear. Gone are the days when I see the body as an inconvenience for getting sick, but now as a marker of how I am living and reacting to life or not.
Gina, thank you, what a beautiful and wise blog to read this morning. I love the phrase ‘illness is a dialogue’, and how loving for everyone near and far it is to take responsibility to the level you share here. These simple but profound pearls of wisdom have the potential to completely change the world.
Thanks Gina for sharing this reminder to check in deeply with ourselves so that we become more aware of how our choices are affecting our wellbeing. I especially like the reminder to observe the rhythm of nature to see how harmonious it can really be.
Thank you Gina you highlight so beautifully that we are constantly receiving messages from our body that let us know that we are living in some way that is disharmonious or in dis-ease. So we actually have a choice to attend to it then or let it continue until it manifests in some sort of injury or illness.
My experience is that our bodies not only speak to us, but always speak the truth.
Absolutely true Carmin, our bodies speak a truth that we can easily ignore or override but the facts cannot be changed.
So true Carmin. I Often say that very thing to patients that I am caring for and everyone understands what I am saying and knows that this is a truth.
Absolutely. I totally agree. Our bodies always continue to communicate to us even when we choose to not listen.
Thank you Gina for this reminder how its our true nature to feel spectacular every day. Really this is the normal way for us to be.
I love how you use your walk and connection to nature as a way of feeling into how your body feels. Shouldn’t it feel as joyful and spectacular as nature expresses to us in every moment? If not, then why not?
This is an inspiring reflection on self awareness and self responsibility Gina. You ‘went there’ and the vitality you have found pulsed through this blog. I love your analogy with nature and how our dis-ease means we have departed from living -naturally. Thank you.
Yes Bernadette, from living naturally and AMAZINGLY. If as a society we had this as our reference point, that it is in fact normal to feel amazing and gorgeous from the inside out every day, perhaps we would look at illness as a different way. Not cursing it, hoping it doesn’t happen to us and then trying to fix it with whatever we can so that we can going the way we were, but seeing it as the communication from our bodies that it is — that we need to deepen our nurturing, loving relationship with ourselves to feel an ever deepening of feeling amazing, for this is our natural way.
Yes Bernadetteglass, I too love the analogy, seeing the reflection in nature and asking ourselves whether we are living in harmony with this reflection – this is beautiful. The first paragraph blew me away ”On my morning walks I connect with nature around me, which I love to do. I hear the birds singing, observe the lush magnificent trees, bushes and grasses, smell the fragrance and feel the entire embrace of nature around me. It is beautiful.” Wow!
Taking the time to look at what is running us is a real gift to ourselves and very important to be able to function at optimal health, with true responsibility. Having the awareness to look at why I keep getting sick is something to appreciate too.
Hello Gina, I laughed when I read the first part of your blog because I just had a picture of nature and how balanced it is and then I picture ‘us’ as a race of people and how unbalanced we are. How birds all fly together etc and how ‘we’ tend to want to fly solo. I can just imagine a bird in mid flight deciding to turn back to the nest because it’s not feeling well or strained a wing or similar or it had something better to do. Your blog just opened my eyes to the balance that nature brings us, if we are willing to see. Thank you Gina.
Gina this is a great reflection of how our choices impact our bodies. Thankfully our bodies never lie and are always guiding us around what supports it. The trick is to listen, as you have simply shared.
“This was my third day off sick this year – on each occasion, I understood it was my body telling me I was living in stress and nervous energy; I was engaging in behaviours that were not fully supporting me to function optimally and allowing me to flourish.”
I love this sentence and love how you then take it to another level, by taking the opportunity of being sick to see what you have done to get yourself sick. It is taking responsibility and not blaming being sick on someone or something else.
I can relate to being in this ‘nervous energy’ or for me a sense of overwhelm or simply needing a stop. What I have come to experience for myself is that even if I do take that ‘time out’ that I thought I needed I have used it irresponsibly to escape from whatever it was I didn’t want to feel. And most often than not would then find that it is actually in my choices to re-connect to the naturally (un-anxious) me and keep moving from this stillness that supports me truly.
When I seek a ‘stop’ moment, I always find it by connecting to my breath or inner-heart and from there realise I never want to escape anything after all and in fact, have all the tools and wisdom I need to deal with whatever is happening at the time.
I agree Gina, the body is always having a dialogue with us…pain, illness, disease is the way that our body communicates to us when we have strayed from a loving way of being and living. It certainly gets our attention and we innately know when something isn’t right. There is so much wisdom in the body always guiding us to love if we choose to listen. Or as I am sure many have experienced…overriding those small nudges and clues from the body and pushing through life, only to eventually be forced to a stop when the bigger nudge of disharmony is felt in the body.
It is just amazing in how far our body’s health and wellbeing is the consequence of the choices we make and have made in life. Its ability to heal and clear is just enormous.
Great points Gina. I know that in times past I would get sick with flus and colds 3-4 times in a single winter, and although I would say it was due to stress, I would do nothing to change the stress. In fact I believed that stress was normal, just something that we all had to put up with, and some people were better at it than others.
But nature reflects a different story. And it is not as though it is free of stress, because nature must cope with us and our various assaults upon it. Imagine if nature were more like us! It would be on the verge of collapse almost all of the time.
The fact that it is not is a sure sign that we humans are way out of line, and have some lessons to learn as you have offered Gina in this reflective blog.
This is a great point to consider Rachel…”nature must cope with us and our various assaults upon it. Imagine if nature were more like us! It would be on the verge of collapse almost all of the time.” Often we can think of nature as separate to us, but as we are a part of it we have an equal responsibility with what we are loading it with. Not only the obvious things like rubbish etc but also the emotional and mental loading.
Your comment about nature Rachel is quite interesting and reminds me of what animals do when they become unwell – they rest, sometimes for a couple of days. We had a wallaby rest in a warm and sheltered area of our yard for a couple of days. It was aware that we were around, but wasn’t perturbed. It was very clear that it needed to rest. Then it left. We do have a great deal to learn from our animal friends.
I feel that it is a common belief that stress is ‘normal’ and some people even believe stress makes them more productive. I love the way Gina debunks these beliefs and has listed the ways we load our bodies with active thoughts, emotions, stress, bad food choices and other behaviours that actually take the energy away from having an ease-full energetic body that is in harmony with the life around us. It makes perfect sense that the way back to an optimum way of being is to listen to our bodies.
It’s quite simple and easy to be able to listen to our body and how we feel but the problem is we ignore it and try to push through and we certainly don’t stop and look back to the circumstances that lead from point A to B so that we can learn from them and make adjustments in our life.
How many of us when we feel tired for example, reach for a pick me up like something sugary or a coffee rather than stopping and honestly wondering why we are tired and what changes we can make to stop us reaching that point again?
The way we live can support our level of health and wellness or our level of sickness. If I run around stressed all day my body is going to feel that stress and the consequences of it and eventually that stress will make me sick. Being able to tune in to how I feel and see what I have done that has added to that allow me to choose a different way of dealing with life’s pressures to the point of living in a way that supports me to be more caring and respectful of my body in the first place. Living this way supports me to be in tune with my body’s needs and helps to prevent me from adding to the burden of what my body has to deal with everyday.
I agree, Rachel. I do hear what my body is telling me -particularly when it comes to food -but I often ignore the messages! It is accepting the responsibility of making more loving choices for my body that I am working on.
Absolutely Rachel, we all have choices to be responsible and really take care of our bodies – it doesn’t mean we don’t get sick, but when we do it is deepening our relationship to our body, and this is an awareness and commitment that pays off 10 fold.
It is beautiful that you share this, I recently had the same experience and felt my illness to be a reflection of what I lived with for quite sometime. It helps to rest and connect to this behaviour and see it for what it is/was.. a behaviour that is non supportive of living my everyday life.
Gina, what a fabulous sharing. Being ill is definitely our bodies saying stop, but if as you show we don’t go further and consider how we’ve been living to get there, then we are indeed being irresponsible. Nature deals with those things which don’t work for it cleanly and simply and so can we, as long as we let go our need for complication and become honest in how we are with us and those around us. I like that you took this sick day to go deeper and see where you’d been irresponsible and addressed it and that your body since has reflected that – this is a miracle, and a fundamental change in how life can be lived and you’re living proof of it, thanks Gina for the inspiration.
Beautiful blog Gina. What you write about has been my topic of interest the last couple of days. I am more becoming aware that what my body is telling me with for instance feeling heavy, a pain in my foot, a headache, a blocked nose and so on. I find it really beautiful to feel its wisdom and as you shared too, when I listen to it and make a effort to understand the message, it is deeply supporting me to live in a more loving and light way with myself.
Gina totally relate to this but are left wondering what it was you actually did that supported such a significant change…. be great to have a deeper understanding of what supported you.
Yes, would also love to hear more Gina. Such a great topic to write on!
Thank you, Gina, your words capture the power that is available to us all if we pay close attention to our bodies and what is reflected to us – “ever learning from my body and from life how to grow in love and wisdom, every day.”
Thank you Gina for sharing your learnings from needing to have a sick day. It really is quite amazing what our bodies do tolerate, but there is always a limit of how many unloving choices we can make without affecting the body’s ability to function properly and fully. Making us feel unwell or giving us an illness is the body’s way of communicating with us. Sometimes we choose not to listen, as it’s ‘inconvenient’, but this means that the body has to up it’s message to get our attention, which could mean a broken bone, to make us stop and feel how we are living.
Gina, I too have been learning of the immense wisdom of my body, and every day it still has more to show me. I have also learned, sometimes the hard way, that it speaks very clearly if I ignore it, often stopping me in my tracks if I have switched off completely from it. These stops are usually very painful and/or very miserable, so gradually I have been willing to listen, and now love the relationship that my body and I have. I still have lots to learn, but in my body I have the wisest and most patient teacher.
Beautifully said Ingrid. “I still have lots to learn, but in my body I have the wisest and most patient teacher.” Understanding that pain and illness is caused by my behaviour and the choices I have made gives me the opportunity to look back and take responsibility for the cause and effect.
The body is very wise and patient but I have found that if I keep ignoring it, it has to scream at me to get my attention.
This is great blog and I love Ingrid when you say “in my body I have the wisest and most patient teacher”. Like you I still have so much to learn and am so thankful to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for re-introducing me to this ‘patient teacher’.
“I contemplated how all those things in nature I was observing were in optimum health and function. Sure, there may be the odd injured bird or animal, but overall everything was functioning spectacularly. My body, a human being on this planet, is a living part on this earth as much as everything else – so why wasn’t I feeling spectacular also?” I often watch the birds and animals when out on my walks and wish I could be as vital as them, your blog offers some insight as to why I don’t, thank you Gina.
This is very true Natalie, animals do offer a reflection of vitality that we humans often lack, you rarely see an animal push itself on through and definitely not when it doesn’t have to as we humans do with work, at the gym and in many lifestyle choices.
You speak a lot of truth here Gina. Why is it that we should feel any less than well? We have the power to choose what is truly supportive for ourselves, and deep down we know when we have not chosen well. There is always a consequence to any choice that is not supportive.
Absolutely Rebecca “We have the power to choose what is truly supportive for ourselves, and deep down we know when we have not chosen well.” What beautiful barometers our bodies can be if we are prepared to observe without judgement and take responsibility for the choices we are making.
Gina, this is a very timely reminder for me – to stop and feel what is going on in my body and the impact of certain behaviours on my body. You have described so beautifully how nature reflects to us the magic of being in true connection with oneself and the harmony which comes from this.
Yes Anne, it is nature’s flow, rhythm, magic and quality that always reflects back to me who I am..
I agree, Anne. I can go into drive (and overdrive) without actually checking into how I’m feeling. Inevitably the body gives out and I have to stop.
“Just as nature continually evolves, so too do our bodies – as part of that nature – support us to evolve. Illness and disease are the body’s way of clearing anything that does not support us and they are part of our evolution. It is the body’s way of talking to us – alerting us to our harmful choices and behaviours.” I have experienced this too Gina and wonder, what if we listened more, took the time and space to really look at our choices and where they lead us, without any judgement, surely then we and our world would be a much healthier, more harmonious and loving place.
Over the last year I have taken quite a few sick days and come down with quite a severe chested cough. I know that it is the choices that I have been making but find it so difficult in learning to make other choices. Your blog is inspiring because I can feel the potential of vitality when we do make continuous healthy loving choices. Thank you.
Yes, our bodies are amazing in communicating to us there is something to look at. Great, Gina, how you took this as a moment to take responsibilty for your choices and change them. I experienced the profound connection between my body and my choices last week when I was sick: as soon as I starting doing too much my fever would go up. A simple and loud talking body saying: I need more rest to recover.
This is great Gina. I agree, before Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon I’d read there was a link between emotions and illness and dis-ease. But today, through listening to the presentations and attending courses and workshops and having esoteric healing sessions I can feel when I become ’emotional’ and I’m actually seeing that it’s a choice. I’d never realised until now that living off emotions and nervous energy can be like a drug BUT underneath all of this there is a very still place within us, that when we choose to re-connect to, this the emotional spin becomes very clear to see and feel.
Beautiful expressed Gina, the wisdom of my body amazes me all of the time, how it does stop me and give me the chance to heal what does not support me any longer.
What a very clear description of how illness and disease start in our bodies Gina and the strong responsibility you take in listening to what exactly your body tells you and and then taking appropriate action to deal with it is very inspiring.
Imagine if we all on our sick days took the time to reflect on the reasons we have become sick, and not go into blame or consider it bad luck but instead deeply look at how we may have influenced our health state, there can only be benefit for our long term health in doing this. After all no-one wants to be sick and there is nothing to lose by doing so. I had a bit of a cold this week but not enough to be off work, I realise now that I didn’t take the opportunity to reflect on what choices brought me to that, I know it was my choices, thank you Gina for your sharing that brought that to my attention.
I agree Stephen. The usual approach to being sick or having time off sick is that it is random or happening to us from outside or even inevitable. Stopping to feel the choices we made to get to that point means that we take full responsibility for the impact we are having in the world. If we pay attention, nature is in fact very responsible and that is how its balance and harmony are maintained.