987 thoughts on “Expectations and Illness”

1. Recently I’ve found that on the flip side when I am healthy, having expectations can make me ill. Last few days I’ve been enraged about a situation and it’s not been leading me down the path of vitality and health that’s for sure!

2. Leigh, for me ringing in sick for work, I would often be consumed with guilt for letting them down, and it is so true, the place doesn’t suddenly stop functioning, it continues without us. We, on the other hand are being asked to rest, our bodies are definitely communicating to us that they need some respite. Yes the illness is uncomfortable at the time, but with nurture, care and support from the right practitioner, we recover.

   In the past, my perception of illness has changed from it being a hindrance, to bringing more understanding to it. I now observe which part of my body has been affected and as much as many may not accept, the energetic component to this, I explore this.

   Illness is more than the physicality, it involves the whole body, mind, spirit and soul.

   1. Funny how we don’t get those “They won’t be able to cope without me” thoughts when we go on holiday or leave the job…Only when we get ill.

3. Having been ill for several weeks recently I have had the opportunity to explore my unrealistic expectations about how quickly I should get better and be back fully functioning at work. I tried to go back full-time and my body quickly showed me that was not possible and instead of beating myself up I chose to surrender and listen to my body in a way that I have never done before and this has allowed me to support myself to rest as well as gracefully accepting help from others without any need to justify myself.

   1. Helen, I too recently was recovering for several weeks, for me it was a bout of flu that lingered for many weeks. I was asked not only to rest but seek medical advice and support. As strange as this may seem, I could feel the flu was more than a virus, it was old stuff coming up for clearance.

      Resting or reposing is something I am learning to embrace when once upon a time, I was in so much drive that illness was a nuisance for stopping me in my tracks. While now I see it as a forum to going deeper into myself and surrendering to whatever is going on for my body.

4. How much we get played by thoughts is just incredible, and equally incredible is that all it takes for us to know ourselves again is to connect with our body.

   1. And it’s so quick as well! Those thoughts if left unchecked will have us believe we can’t escape them easily. But once connected to the body it’s game over for them.

      1. And once we connect to the body our next move is clear and there is no space for abuse.

5. Definitely, working with the illness rather than trying to fight it to keep the way of life we had created at our own expense is a great healing.

6. These days I find when I am ill any drive or push exacerbates how ill I feel.

7. When we appreciate the wisdom of our body it is wise to listen.

   1. When we do listen you can’t but appreciate. It is far grander than anything the isolated mind can produce.

8. We put so much pressure on to ourselves when it comes to being ill, mainly because we see it as a bad thing. Whereas in reality it is giving us the stop moment we need to clear the body and then to start living our lives in a new way.

   1. We put so much pressure on ourselves even when not ill. However when being ill, or when we stop and connect to our bodies the effect of that pressure is more noticeable.

      1. I agree Leigh, it does seem to be magnified, and what I have also noticed is the amount of anxiety and guilt that comes into play when we have to take time off due to sickness. Making that phone call causes a huge amount of tension in the body and then as time goes by we put a pressure on ourselves to recover quicker than the body is capable of. We definitely need a new way of looking at sickness.

9. Expectation comes from the pictures we carry, none of them true, and if we need to take time off due to illness we also need to be honest with ourselves as to why and how we ended up where we are, as it is through the choices that we make, that are either loving or not and we have an excellent opportunity to re-imprint them as we honour how our body is feeling.

   1. If we are honest with ourselves and find that these expectations not only are not true but the investment and attempts to fulfill them are what led us to being ill/unwell. It makes it easier to discard and not repeat the ill.

10. It sounds crazy but it’s true, it’s certainly been my experience and now I feel my mind is not the place of wisdom and truth that I once held it to be. That position belongs to the heart.

11. It’s so common to go back to work after a period of sick leave well before we should. But that drive to get back to work is coming from a mind determined to meet certain ideals or beliefs at the expense of the body and others (possibly infecting the workplace or making it harder for others by our ill presence)

12. I totally agree – it is often our own reaction that turns otherwise a simple matter of fact into an issue.

    1. Once I get down to understanding the energy behind any ailment the reaction dies. The illness or pain may remain but it’s the reaction that causes the writhing around part.

13. The more we look after our bodies and really honour how we feel, even when we do get ill, it is remarkable how quickly the body can recover due to the space it is given that it needs to heal.

    1. I remember having 2 wisdom teeth removed at the same time a couple of years ago. I took time off, rested and listened to my body and recovered in very little time. Another person was shocked by my painless recovery compared to someone they knew who had a horrendous healing period. My question to them was “How are/where they living at the time?”

14. Depending on how tightly we hold our expectations depends on our health I’d say. Because the tighter we hold on, the less we hear or understand the messages of the body, the further off track we go. The more we listen to the body and experience the harmony of being in line or on track with what it is communicating and feeling the less tempting it is to hold those expectations.

    1. True because when I connect the essence within me and my body doesn’t want anything to do with expectations and lets go with ease.

15. I agree there are many beliefs or attitudes out there around illness that definitely do not help matters or make us feel any better!

    1. And even ones that make us feel worse. Like the “can’t be off for too long” – I did that and had a month long chest infection as I kept going back to work then getting sent home repeatedly.

16. That’s the funny thing, we do not expect our cars to run on flat tyres, yet we expect our bodies to do so, and yet they never let us down (even when we think they do), they just keep letting us know what works and what doesn’t and the more we listen to them the more we live in rhythm with ourselves and life.

    1. When we have a flat tyre it’s very obvious that car ain’t going nowhere. Yet how can we be ill and still go out to work? By disconnecting to our bodies and living in ideals and beliefs that we have to carry on as normal and basically let someone /another energy drive our body around. I was going to go somewhere today (with a painful sinus cold) until I stopped in the morning, connected to my body, I called off the trip and went back to bed.

17. That’s the thing we consider illness a failure and it’s so easy to go into a drive to get it over with quick rather than just being with it and respecting and honouring the body and once we do it allows us to feel more of who we are, of life around us and we start to see that everything is there for a reason and we can embrace it or fight it but there is no need to fight it and in fact when we do we just compound the impact on our body, sounds obvious but something that is so easy to do, and reading this reminds me that life, with or without illness doesn’t have to be this way.

    1. Whenever I do something just to “get it over and done with” then end resulting quality just isn’t there and the same goes for our health.

18. When I read your blog Leigh I am realising that these expectations in life are everywhere and in everything and I can feel how when I allow them to dictate how I should be or live there is definitely a tension in my body that does not feel natural and I reckon this is the beginning of any illness and/or disease.

    1. Even ‘small’ things like expecting oneself to reply to an email or text causes tension and yet this is one tension in our day (or multiple times) that goes along in ‘life’. Yet the impact later of such impositions (that we are controlling) is much worse.

19. “when there is a cold sensation in my hands, often there are cold, hard thoughts in my head” This is an interesting observation and brings me back to the awareness of my body and being more open to looking at what’s going on at different levels – allowing myself to go deeper with my explorations, not in an analytical way but allowing my feelings more access and my body more voice.

    1. Sometimes my body gives me the same message over and over. A great reminder to day to check in with that part, even if at first I don’t understand it as the message has repeatedly been ignored, but eventually it will become clearer.

20. We hold each other in an idea of what an illness or accident is by making it heavy, depressing, seeing it as a burden, a pity instead of to go deeply within and feel the opportunity every illness, accident offers us to connect with the love we innately are, or to deepen this connection through healing what is ready to let go of.

    1. We hold each other in this with conversations such as “Oh that’s horrible! Poor you etc.” Or helping each other fight a disease rather than accepting it and seeking an understanding of why it is in our life. It can be a huge support when we open up to others to help read the energy of an illness. They can give us an angle we haven’t seen previously.

21. We tend to hold ourselves back when we flood ourselves with images in our head, our greatest guide is how our body feels and to honour that feeling.

    1. Hold back or stop all together. I was cracking eggs at work one day and noticed the more I was thinking the slower and sloppier my work became. Snapping back to the moment, feeling my body I was much more efficient and less egg shell in the mix.

22. This is a great point you rasie here Leigh, that it is often our expectations that become uppermost when we are ill, rather than taking into consideration the full picture of what our body is going through. If we saw illness as the body’s way of clearing something out in order for us to be healthier/ stronger/more vital, then our whole perception of illness and being ill would change.

    1. For the past three years I’ve really been shown to what extent we can hold onto these pictures and expectations despite what the body is exactly feeling. Without connecting to the body and feeling the energy of that which we are holding onto that grip can be mighty fierce.

23. Expectations are exhausting and the last thing we need when we are not well is added exhaustion.

24. I still find my tendency is to feel I have failed when I get ill as if I expect my body to just keep going whatever is thrown at it. Even just writing this I can feel how unrealistic it is but yet I persist in struggling to allow my body the grace to heal itself when required and thus I am perpetuating behaviour that is not self loving or honouring of where my body is at, at any given time.

    1. Whats lovely about the body is that when we connect to it it will tell us where that attitude towards it stems from. To disregard ourselves is not truly from us in the first place, thus nothing to give ourselves a hard time for.

25. ‘You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?’ Thank you Leigh, sitting here with a broken wrist surrendering to my body is key but sometimes thoughts want to creep in and put pressure on recovering instead of being in the moment and allow the healing that is there.

26. I hardly go to the toilet when needed, I’m gonna change

    1. Go for it! (Pun intended)

27. Expectations get in the way of accepting, let alone appreciating, what I experience. It’s a real party pooper.

    1. And when it comes to illness what if we appreciated being ill? What is it stopping? Is it asking us to consider that a part of life isn’t truly working? That it isn’t true for the body to live in the way that eventually broke it down. Appreciating our illnesses may reveal a whole lot more about ourselves.

       1. Yes and we get to love ourselves, warts and all, so to speak.

28. ‘the body would never willingly put itself into a situation whereby it would become ill or diseased.’ but we willingly go off our way to harm ourselves and abuse the beautiful body we inhabit. Logically this does not make sense.

    1. Such truth questions our intelligence, is living from our mind really successful? I can do and achieve a lot when driven from that mental commentary but it leaves me exhausted, highly anxious and feeling like a frantic hamster on a wheel.

29. I was ill last December and needed time off work. The noticeable difference to previous times of being ill was that I didn’t put pressure on my self to be better before my body was, I wasn’t worried. I just surrendered and allowed my body to be where it was at with what it was dealing with without any bad or negative feelings and I actually recovered quicker because of it. It’s surprising the effect these negative thoughts can have on the healing and recovering process and our wellbeing in general.

    1. Ruth this is a beautiful example of how to respond to illness and confirms srrendering to illness as an act of love, not weakness.

    2. It is really lovely when we allow ourselves that space to rest and recover. I remember being told horror stories of pain from wisdom teeth removal. But I used some days hoilday from work to rest afterwards and I had no pain and healthy again in a couple of days. Had I dismissed the situation and carried on as normal I reckon it would have been much worse.

30. Interesting isn’t it when we compare our relationship with ourselves and say cars or other inanimate objects. When a car has a mechanical or other fault do we blame it, have expectations of it or simply take it to the garage to be fixed. What you say is true Leigh, it’s often the feelings we lace illness with, guilt, weakness or failure that are more burdensome than the illness itself.

    1. I’ve never berated my car for being weak when it breaks down yet I do to myself when I am feeling unsettled and emotionally broken. It doesn’t make sense but now I wonder – is there an abuse of the fact that the body is designed to regenerate? A car breaks and stays broken untill we fix it. Our bodies take a lot of flak and works so hard to maintain and restore harmony.

       1. An honest observation Leigh. The body is much maligned, we trash it with food, poison it with thoughts, indulgences. Curious to see how we give it far less respect and care than we do material objects. We abuse the body because we’ve disconnected from it. When we return to that connection and align with the energy of love, we cannot abuse it.

31. A thought provoking and inspiring sharing Leigh. I can see how I often have expectations of my body that are not in its best interest. I have also felt guilty for not being well and causing more work for others through this, which is ridiculous when viewed with the wellbeing of my body in mind.

    1. It is really lovely when we allow ourselves that space to rest and recover. I remember being told horror stories of pain from wisdom teeth removal. But I used some days holiday from work to rest afterwards and I had no pain and was healthy again in a couple of days. Had I dismissed the situation and carried on as normal, I reckon it would have been much worse.

32. I love here Leigh how you make the very important point that it may not be the actual illness and disease that is the most challenging part of being sick but more our reactions and perceptions of what is occurring. For example if we considered that illness and disease might actually be the bodies way of clearing harmful energy from the body so that our being becomes clearer and lighter then we might view and understand these things in a completely different and much deeper way.

    1. Having to feel the root energy that led to the illness and feeling the divinity within underneath the offending energy – the war is going on much more at this level I’ve found than fighting the physical disease.

33. Expectations or assumptions can play havoc in the mind and hence have an enormous impact on our wellbeing. I have become aware recently how this can play out in a specific, reoccurring situation. What is it? Could it be that I don’t trust myself in the knowing of what is true because of a hurt I am still carrying from way back and I think that the negative thoughts are going to protect me! Why don’t I choose love and hold that love instead of wondering off in my head? There is never any excuse to justify not being love no matter how real we think our excuse is!

    1. It sounds so paradoxical that the negative thoughts and abusive behaviours ‘protect us’ yet I have (and still do) hold onto such as if there was no way of life other than to carry on in such a way. It seems crazy but I ask myself have I fully understood how much the world is shaped to support that way of living in so called protection? And then the question of have I exhausted the power of connection to love? Definitely not.

34. Oh yes, going to the bathroom when needed. I remember avoiding going to the bathroom when I worked in a very very busy cafe because I felt bad for leaving the coffee machine when I knew there were so many people waiting. I would go 10 hours without going to the loo just so that people got their coffee quicker. That’s outrageous. I can safely say that I no longer see that as reasonable behaviour.

35. “A way of life that brings a focus back to the body that we live with every day and not just remaining in one’s mind or headspace, as we have been taught and educated from young to believe is the way to be in life. Instead the body is given a far greater presence in life and its communications and responses to human life are vital, if not a basic key to true health, well-being and vitality. This has certainly been my experience thus far.” Awesome words of wisdom. It reminds me also to always question our supposed ‘education’ on how things are in life, by feeling how it sits in our body first.

36. “Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought. Like for example, if I am thinking about a worrying situation often my heart will race. So in this particular moment I clocked how all these worries were affecting my body that was already feeling unwell due to the viral illness. I then paused for a moment and came back to my body and the warmth that I know is there to support me and as soon as I did the thoughts stopped!” This paragraph is gold as it offers a healing balm for those of us who still allow our thoughts to rule and ruin us.

37. This has been great to read today, as I can see that the way I judge myself for being sick or unwell or my body not performing to the picture I have in my head… is the way I then judge others when they are going through something similar… ouch! If it is not already enough that our body has been under the influence and attack of beliefs of how it should be from ourselves, then add on the expectations of others and you have a very heavy, drained and upset body trying to cope with it all. No wonder we get sick. How you were with your body after saying no to the imposing thoughts, was gentle, loving and honouring… so different to the current ‘norm’. Thanks for sharing.

38. What a great thing to form, a relationship with your thoughts to question their quality! This would rule out any rash decisions and save us from so much unnecessary grief.

    1. Saying no to imposing thoughts is a great tool for life.

39. It makes so much sense to bring the focus back to the body, how we live and work together with our body 24/7 makes all the difference of the world and changes our perspective on illness and disease, we have a say in what will happen. It is our responsibility to treat the body with love and care.

40. It is amazing how many people put on a “sick” voice when they phone in sick as if they have to sound all droopy and depressed. When staff ring in sick I usually suggest they rest deeply, have a lovely, day, ENJOY being with themselves and take the time to recuperate. If they overdo it or spend time being miserable that will not support anyone or allow them to heal.

    1. I know that one Nicola, as if I had to prove it each time ( I have to call each two days to report back how it is going) I was really sick or still really sick.

       1. Yes it’s enough to make you sick!

41. Yes , expectations are pictures that keep us in holding pattern – great expose Leigh.

    1. And doesn’t ever allow us to expand and see another way.

42. Being sensitive to how particular parts of our body feel in relation to what we are thinking is definitely well worth being aware of.

43. We put ourselves under a lot of stress when we don’t accept when we feel unwell, our body is actually asking us to rest a while to catch up with itself, if we continue to push ourselves to go to work or get on with jobs that need to be done, it will become something more serious that will make us stop for longer.

44. I find expectations really narrow my awareness in life and limit my ability or even willingness to listen to my body. Instead I let myself be dragged around by the way I think I should behave, think, feel etc.

45. Reading this blog again brought me back to the openness of learning from our conditions/behaviours/ situations. Being open allows for support whereas if I think I know it all and I know what is right and wrong then there is no learning, only judgement.

46. I absolutely agree Leigh as reflected in many of the blogs on this site…. for those people who have adjusted their perception of illness and disease due to their understanding of it thanks to the wisdom of Universal Medicine, have experienced extraordinary healings of both their illness and the way they then move through life afterwards, seen especially in the way they treat and think about themselves and their bodies from then on…. there is no doubt we can be our own worst enemy or the instigators of our own blessings.

47. Before I begun studying with Universal Medicine I had a very strong belief around calling in sick. In fact, I thought it was not an option. Unless you were vomiting at work, in my mind you couldn’t go home and even when I did vomit once at work, I still cleaned myself up and finished my shift, if I had gone home, in my mind I was weak. Since become a student of The Way of The Livingness this has gradually shifted but Ironically I am so healthy now I very rarely, if ever, get sick but if I do, I am able to take care of myself and I consider that a strength not a weakness.

48. As long as the physical body is regarded as a functional unit that needs to perform, we will not discover its innate super form of intelligence provided by the particles that energetically make it what it is.

49. It’s funny how often we think our work or family or whatever can’t manage without us and that we are indispensable. It is only a question of time until we are dead and the world will still go on spinning.

50. I love how you describe your relationship with your body, thoughts and the awareness you have. This is absolute gold and something that is available to everyone without needing to pay for a prescription. If more of us prescribed this wonderful medicine to ourselves we would see a dramatic improvement in health and well-being and a huge reduction in the nation’s medical bills and costs.

51. “This experience has got me wondering – how much of our illnesses and diseases could be alleviated, or supported to not be as dire, if we were to take off the weight of our expectations and reactions towards the process of illness and disease? And is it actually the illness or our perceptions of illness that make it the heavy, burdensome, depressing or downright loathsome situation it can be?” You pose an interesting question Leigh. It has been shown that attitudes to serious illness do have an effect on that said illness. It could be said that the how we approach disease, not always the what we do, can make a difference to the outcome.

    1. How we approach a disease can be a reflection of how we approach ourselves. Change the relationship with ourselves and the relationship with any conditions we may have changes.

52. “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” Love this Leigh. Our body is giving us messages all the time, but do we listen? If we override these messages it can result in illness, our body giving us a stop moment, to reconnect with it, heal and make different choices for our future.

53. Something I have appreciated today is that I need not wait for illness to question the ‘slight’ aches and pains in my body. It feels better to address things, feel these aches and change my lifestyle accordingly while the issue is still ‘small’ (but no less important than the later stages)

    1. Yes, I agree Leigh and then next day the aches and pains or in my case the tiredness and heaviness has gone.

54. These days even though more people are suffering with physical illness, depression and exhaustion, more companies seem to be a lot less tolerant when writing their sickness policy, and giving less leeway to their employees. Maybe this is in reaction to more people taking time off sick and companies having to foot the bill for staffing sickness. I personally remember the days when sick days were genuine but also sensible on the employers side of things, and I might add very rarely abused.

55. Expectations harm beyond words when we make this our every move in all parts of our life. There is so much that comes with the investment game that we can so easily get caught up that stops us from returning to the simplicity we know is on offer.

56. Our bodies will always offer us the real perspective of what the truth is of any situation. We have an incredible intelligence in our bodies, yet we are far from maximising the full potential all that is on offer through this relationship. Thank you for sharing with us just how empowering it is when we do choose to connect to the wisdom of our bodies, rather than the badgering and lack of worth that transpires if we allow our disconnected minds to lead the way.

57. “Listening to the body when all around me there is the inclination, if not downright use of force, to ignore this innate inner wisdom is something that I am developing.” I know this kind of situation and had one last week. I did not pass an exam and had a huge reaction towards myself and in that could sense how hard I made my body in that moment. My partner lovingly said that ‘it was time for some extra deep self-love and care’ which made me even more furious (at myself) because I found at that time it would not change the result of the exam. Yet it stuck with me because it is actually the only way out of misery and feeling lost because of an exam result. And why not being super loving, caring and understanding with yourself in such a moment? It revealed to me how the normal response and expectation of the world in such a situation is to beat yourself up, be devastated or something like that but not many would consider being truly self loving to be the activity to go to, even though it is the only true response at such a moment in my experience.

    1. I totally agree with you Lieke and I too have believed that I have to make a mountain out of a mole hill and be really hard towards myself (which also leads to being hard and making mountains out of others mistakes or imperfections). But what I am learning is that I don’t need to go into that, I can be super tender with myself in any situation and it is far more successful than creating drama.

58. I have also experienced that feeling of having the heart racing when I’m going to communicate at work that I’m ill. It seems like I have to go through a thick fog before honouring what my body needs. Then I stop and ask to myself:
    Am I indispensable? No. Am I the only one who gets sick? No. Do I have to overlook what my body needs just because others don’t do the same or think that this is a selfish thing? No. Do I deserve the best treatment to be able to work in the best conditions? Yes. Am I offering a new option and example to others with the choice of taking care of myself? Yes
    Then everything gets simple and clear, my heart gets still and the choice is easy. No need of apologising, but the appreciation of this moment and everything I offer and receive with it.

59. Leigh it is very true we would never drive a car with four flat tyres, imagine the horror of seeing that on the road! We would be having thoughts such as “that person is damaging their car, it will cost so much to fix!” Yet we do this to our own body, another vehicle in a sense, and we ignore what others do to their bodies. It’s all so normal now to have a body that’s exhausted, that needs coffee to function, that gets pushed and shoved around, is ignored and used with injuries and illnesses and often doesn’t get to the mechanic…..I mean doctor! But we would seriously never do that with our car, but we do it with our bodies at much greater cost, including to our everyday quality of life.

60. Many times when being ill, I noticed that as soon as I made a doctor’s appointment or had to phone in sick to work, suddenly I would feel better and try to convince myself to go in, and I would agonise with myself about the decision to stop and take time to heal and get well again. What seemed to happen was I would feel so guilty for getting sick and having to take time off that inevitably I would end up going back too soon, and on occasions have been sent home again. This is a classic example of putting others needs above your own – I would not recommend it.

61. Connecting and listening to my body is a commitment to self but I am beginning to realise that unless there is absolute connection to self then everything that is seen to be doing is of no use and worthless as it has not one ounce of love in it.

62. .’ So in this particular moment I clocked how all these worries were affecting my body that was already feeling unwell due to the viral illness. I then paused for a moment and came back to my body and the warmth that I know is there to support me and as soon as I did the thoughts stopped!’ How wonderful is this. We have the power at our fingertips all the time. Can we choose to reconnect to ourselves and grow love in our bodies and change channels, so to speak, or not? We know the consequences.

    1. Until Universal Medicine I didn’t know that such changing channels was possible. It’s not about being positive, optimistic or thinking happy thoughts. It’s a complete shift where all those worries and issues do not exist. All by how we move.

63. I can so easily relate to your call to let your work know that you were sick and not coming in, and to how the thoughts that often race through our minds at this time – especially for me the ‘I’m letting everyone down” guilty thought – can make us feel worse than we actually are. And could it be because we are already preparing, bracing, ourselves for a negative reaction? How freeing it is though from those draining thoughts and fearful expectations when we can share honestly and openly without any guilt whatsoever – a healing session in itself and sure to be felt by the person on the other end of the phone.

64. Everything we do or don’t do affects our body – for example, not going to the toilet and holding it in affects the heart rate, something that can be easily measured. We forget that it is not just about the bladder in these instances, a stretchy sac that accommodates the extra volume, but about the homeostasis and wondrous cooperation between all body systems and parts.

    1. I know that one well and it’s such a simple foundational message to listen to these days as it not only affects the bladder but as you say the heart and the mind becomes stressed, the body tenses and starts to drain on energy the more we try to push beyond what the body is asking for. Whereas when we go when directed there is an ease and lightness that returns to us almost instantly. It pays to listen to the body.

65. This is something I am looking at deeper currently, when the ache or pain comes up it can be almost automatic to adopt and identify with the ache or pain. But what if the ache or pain or illness is in us but it was NOT us? And that it’s a message to look deeper within to who we truly are.

66. ‘You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies’… hmm this is something for me to ponder on as when our list of things to do hangs over us and teases us like a proverbial dangling carrot despite being tired and exhausted we still push ourselves to get it all done. Great analogy Leigh, resulting in a great wake up call for me.

67. I agree with where the articles is headed and there are many ways we look at illness and disease and it usually has a negative spin. Like you’ve done something wrong and this is the punishment. Due to this we then try and avoid, run or push through anything to do with them. This is fair enough, because at this point we’re not truly supported in how to be in illness and disease. Even through this article, illness is looked at as a point to be avoided, when in fact could it be something that is not only a result of a choice or choices and our body giving us a point to heal these, but part of a much bigger outplay or healing that involves more than just us. When we become unwell often we are reflective and see why we got where we did, at time we make steps to support ourselves so it doesn’t happen again, but what truly happened? Like a cold or flu did the person on the bus coughing really ‘give’ us the cold or flu or yes was this a part but how did we end up with their illness? What is the bigger part at play in anything like this? The world communicates with us all the time, literally all the time and then we gauge, measure or choose what part we see or listen too.

68. We do tend to take far more care of our cars and other precious belongings than we do our own body, because we feel responsible for the things we own, yet somehow we lack responsibility for ourselves. If we don’t look after our cars they breakdown, and equally when we don’t care for ourselves we too suffer illness and disease.

69. Love the analogy of driving a car with flat tyres which seems so obvious but when I look back at the number of times that I have felt a failure for getting ill and then pushed myself to keep going and often ended up being ill for longer it feels all too familiar. Accepting that my body is clearing and the more I can support it in this process lifts so much of the heaviness of my own expectations around how I should be and about ideals and beliefs of e.g. not letting other people down and doing the ‘right’ thing. Choosing to treat my body lovingly and listening to its messages has been harder than I expected – there I go again having expectations around how I should be?! Now writing myself a prescription for love and tenderness without expectations…

70. Awesome writing, Leigh. Last year I took my first day off work…ever! I didn’t even get to the point where I’d phone my manager – I prided myself on going into work regardless of how poor I felt. Needless to say those days are over – I’m not perfect, but I’m definitely taking better care of myself.

    1. That’s awesome Nick. When we’ve been in a pattern for so long and start to break it that is well worth celebrating. And I know my body certainly celebrates when I drop the pressure to do something it doesn’t want to do.

71. The greater one’s awareness is, the harder it is to ignore what’s in front of you.

72. Thank you Leigh, I appreciated the simplicity you shared of coming back to the warmth of the body when thinking becomes negative in any way. It’s too easy to get caught up in the mind, yet the whole body is there and feels beautiful to connect to.

73. All expectations come from outside of us, when I connect to and listen to my body it doesn’t expect anything. In separation to my body the mind expects that I should say this, plan that, eat this and certainly not that. This is exhausting and coming back to this blog I can appreciate that with the support of Universal Medicine I have been provided the tools to root out and expose where these expectations have come from.

74. It is a sad state of affairs, as the saying goes, that we can feel guilty when we take time off work to recuperate from an illness and so often end up going back to work before it is wise to do so, ending up even sicker down the track; that really doesn’t make sense. And I have seen staff in offices full of a cold, sneezing and coughing, spreading their bugs with no consideration for anyone else, and the illness count grows. Self care needs to part of every business model, as well cared for and rested staff are definitely going to be happier and more productive, something every business owner would appreciate.

75. Since starting to read blogs like this, i have been so much more aware of how apologetic and frustrated I get when I am not feeling 100%, or how dismissive I have been of my bladder when I have needed to go to the toilet, and how much I simply override all the signs telling me I need to stop.
    These days, I stop what I’m doing and I go to the toilet…the next step for me is not rushing to get back to my desk. This I’m working on. It’s crazy, it’s like I now give myself permission to go to the loo, but then I make sure I’m super quick. It is unbelievable the expectations we place on ourselves when we start to unpick them.

    1. I’ve held off in the past, but in my waitressing work I feel more frazzled and get a short fuze when I don’t go to the loo. Rushing makes my feet hurt. Whereas if I go, I am clearer, lighter, less anxious and I work greater than when I put the work as being greater than me.

76. Going deeper with this I have found that while my thoughts can be traced back to the quality within my body. How I move my body can ensure the quality of my thoughts. We get trained to live from the mind and the process of returning to the body I have found started by entertaining the idea of listening to the body in my mind. Now if I make the choice to walk taller, wash my hands gently etc then the mind doesn’t need reining in, focusing with a strain or being dominant because it feels lovely being present with these more loving movements.

    1. Great addition, Leigh. By working with and engaging our mind in what we do, rather than fighting it, is far more successful in dissolving the negative thoughts and in time our mind and body work in tandem.

77. This understanding has also been revelatory in my own life Leigh, and you have beautifully expressed it here: “…the body is given a far greater presence in life and its communications and responses to human life are vital, if not a basic key to true health, well-being and vitality.”
    How simple the inherent premise is – listen to our body, and respond to what we ‘hear’ – and yet how intently we have been disposed to resist this, over and over again… continuing to behave in ways which we do know are harmful, damaging…
    And so the essential understanding also presented by Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon from day 1, i.e. the difference between ‘spirit and soul’, is also key to not only our own self-healing, but deeper appreciation of healing as a whole, and just who/what has been ‘running the show’ in our bodies, and having us live and treat ourselves as far less than the magnificence we truly are, and deserve to live in and by, every day.

78. An amazing pondering Leigh, thank-you. Taking away the burden of self-judgement, i.e. that we haven’t done anything ‘wrong’ if we are ill, is actually an essential part of the healing process. In what you’ve shared here, we can’t but recognise how self-judgement in itself is so diminishing upon our being – impacting on the true loving embrace in which we are capable of holding ourselves.

79. I have been off work ill for the last few days. The range of emotions I have gone through have been interesting to observe. Guilt because someone else is having to do my work, feeling I’m going to be behind schedule, the mess I may meet in my room because others won’t look after it the way I do, not useful because I am too ill to do any work at home, lazy because I have slept for a lot of the time. Accepting that my tyres are well and truly flat has been a bit of a struggle, but I’m finally surrendering to the fact that I need to rest, get myself well and that not doing any work is OK.

80. Re-reading this the part about overriding basic bodily functions caught my attention. As I am feeling more now and curious to know: what if expressing love was a basic bodily function? What if walking down the stairs with a bounce in my step was something I naturally feel to do? Because when I don’t, I feel exhausted and when I do, I feel more vital. Just like loo breaks are exhausting to delay and bring vitality when adhered to.

81. Being controlled by the expectations of our mind can be an illness in itself. When we give ourselves space to appreciate who we are this is a healing in itself that can be felt in the body.

82. Any expectation we have and hold on to is the precursor to some form of suffering as it will collide with reality to be exposed and disillusioned so that we can come back to the truth we left behind in the attempt to control life to avoid feeling an underlying hurt.

83. Great how you bring to the fore all the expectations and pictures we have of how we have to behave, all for ‘outside’ of ourselves, and ignoring what our body lovingly communicates. Inspiring others to honour their bodies can only benefit everyone.

84. This is so common, that people go into work when ill, great question to ask ourselves why, ‘why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?’

    1. It is a common occurrence to the point that it’s now (sadly) considered abnormal and even considered weird when you take a sick day! This brings in to question the quality of the work being done if people are going into work while ill. For me now I take my sick days, because if not it prolongs the sickness and delays the healing process. If I rest then I bounce back quicker than ever.

85. Reading this again I find the basics of this teaching to be unending in how it can be refined. The body is constantly communicating and it’s my responsibility to be willing to pay attention and follow accordingly. Not as a slave but in the knowing that this is the greatest support I can ever receive in life.

86. I was on the phone yesterday and we got into a discussion about Brexit. My heart started to race and my breathing became restricted. I hadn’t said anything but I knew I was to speak up about how I felt about it. I did and as I was focusing on my breath and my body I calmed down. Thoughts did come in about what the other was thinking about me but there was an acceptance of what was going on in my body. It is incredible what we can dump into our body but it is even more incredible when our body speaks to us loud and clear.

87. When we get caught up in expectations quite often we don’t even notice that they come laced with an underlying nervous tension which puts a huge strain and drain on our batteries.

88. What you have shared is very simple and yet very profound as it is not something people do everyday as their normal way of life, however such tools when in use and lived make a huge difference to the vitality and enjoyment of life that we lead.

89. This is a great understanding ‘These messages from the body have always been there, but now there is a responsiveness on my part that has learnt to listen to these signals and if I don’t, then the consequence is more ill health.’ Also in sharing that an illness or dis-ease can be a blessing either making us stop and reflect on how we are living or allowing the body to clear all the disharmony we have lived, ideally it would do both! As it is quite common to, once the dis-ease or illness has passed to go back to our unloving and disregarding choices of how we lived before we got the illness or dis-ease, inevitably learning and changing nothing.

90. ‘Listening to the body when all around me there is the inclination, if not downright use of force, to ignore this innate inner wisdom is something that I am developing.’
    What a down right wise sentence. Coming to terms that such a force is a reality, one that will feed us any thing and everything to disturb the essence of truth we feel in every situation, not only when we are ill, is by far the greatest healing element in our lives. We then begin to live more from the known truth of what we feel in our body than from the what ifs that run constantly past us.

    1. Being willing to see every thing is indeed work in progress but boy when I do accept what is in front of me, my body rejoices.

91. A great example of the power of our connection to the body and how the mind can only run-a-muck when we are not present. It’s beautiful to be reminded of this and to also acknowledge that these thought trails or negativity and doubt can be used as a marker to know when we have disconnected from ourselves.

92. I can definitely relate here – so many times I have felt guilty for taking a day off “is it actually the illness or our perceptions of illness that make it the heavy, burdensome, depressing or downright loathsome situation it can be?” The pressure we buy into and put on ourselves is definitely a choice I am working on not choosing!

93. This is so true Leigh and such a beautiful offering for us all to explore, as to how much we actually are affected by expectations. For as soon as we engage an expectation, we just as soon diminish and reduce the power of the wisdom we all equally hold within our bodies. This highlights just how vital and essential our relationship with our bodies are in order to live with vitality and well-being, as I have been discovering more and more the truth that is revealed through our movements and how our bodies feel as we move through our day. Building this awareness is what has allowed me to make choices that support me to live, as best I can, in connection to my truth and my body.

94. Fantastic blog, and i agree we wouldn’t drive a car with a flat tyre and what would happen if we did, it would become a greater damage to the point it may not even be repairable. I’ve been very sick over my life time as a child with asthma and as an adult. I could see how the trigger was closely related to how i was feeling at the time and what was going on for me. So as an adult i was not surprised when i was hit with another asthma attack. How i feel and think is very related to what happens in my body and how my body reacts to it. This shows how sensitive our bodies actually are!

95. Being ill this time around and coming back to this blog I found that all those expectations towards work not having as much strength as they used to, so today when I called up there was simply no space to be apologetic and the heaviness of such expectations simply wasn’t there. The more I feel the quality of behaviours, thoughts, expectations, foods etc the clearer it is to make choices that are more inline with how my body feels to be. It’s only a matter of doubt or hesitation or avoidance when I choose to not feel because in feeling we get a clear answer of what is true and what is not.

96. It’s beautiful to reconnect back to the body and see it as so much more than just the functional thing we have come to view it as and merely as a vehicle of transport for the wayward out of control mind.

97. I can understand this perception that the body is a failure when it doesn’t ‘perform’ to our expectations, seemingly ‘lets us down’. My question is: how far have we removed ourselves from true health, true care and understanding when we stubbornly refuse to see the symptoms as a need for some extra care, as you put it?

98. There is so much you have raised here Leigh, how we judge ourselves when we do get ill, I have known that feeling you speak of, when feeling guilty having to call work to say you can’t come in due to being unwell. Less so these days, as I have learned that it is more disregard to make yourself go to work when ill, but I can recall not so many years ago, feeling as you described. Also that the body is the marker of all truth and it is developing a level of awareness and self honouring, whereby we listen to the body and action what it is telling us, for me, an ongoing and daily commitment.

99. Having the awareness of the inter-connectedness of our thoughts with our bodily health as you share Leigh is truly awesome and you make it so obvious and simple by your analogy with a car.

100. Getting sick has been given a bad rap, it’s as though something is wrong with you if you get sick or take time off from work. At work when someone calls in sick instantly there is this do we believe them or not sort of attitude, partly because we can feel if they are telling the truth and partly because there is a judgement for being sick and taking time off to look after yourself.

101. I am really seeing the role expectations have at a ‘ micro’ level, they are outsider thoughts that try to interrupt the bodies natural rhythms, they are not supportive and are imposed.

102. I like your comment about driving a car with flat tyres…. It makes the ridiculous sound as ridiculous as it is.

103. If only we were taught from very young how amazing our body is, but that it is “breakable” in so many ways, what a different relationship we would have with it as we grew; a relationship that would not countenance any form of abuse, from ourselves, or others. Unfortunately we have not, and the majority of humanity live with the belief that there will be “an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff” if we somehow fall, and that then someone else will fix us, with not one trace of self responsibility in sight.

104. Expectations is a picture we conjure up in our heads and drive toward, that in itself is a force bought in to achieve a perceived result. Our bodies are not machines, they will let us know when we need to stop or heal as a result of how we have been living and treating ourselves.

105. What if we didn’t have to wait for illness and disease in the body? I am asking myself this question as well because what if there are emotional wounds happening and we champion pushing through them and pretending they are not there? Well that’s where the body comes back to us and shares that all is not well. What I am finding is that the body is constantly being pulled to share and express more and more and my expectations or wanting the more and more process to be at MY pace (which is conditional on the basis of going as far as I can with my expectations and not letting them go) is what is causing the tension in the first place which then leads to the dis-ease then to the disease and illness. We are not the ‘wrong’ ones and our body is not ‘bad’ for what it is presenting to us, it’s simply showing us the reality and results of choosing to hold onto these created expectations of how everything should be that has nothing to do with the truth of what is before us or within us.

106. I love it ‘you wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres’ sounds silly but with regards to our health that is what most of us do especially with things like exhaustion, where instead of stopping and listening to the body and supporting it we keep pushing through .. which eventually leads to illness. The body is definitely the marker of truth and it’s lovely that you are being responsive to this and not reactive like many of us do.

107. Our bodies are amazing in the way that they will show us immediately if we are not paying full attention to how we are treating them. By ignoring the signs and signals that are there in every moment of every day, we are ignoring the very core of who we are, and it can be at our own expense. Sooner or later there will come a stop point, when we will have to pay attention to our aches and pains. How we choose to look at and respond to these symptoms is then a result of our choices, and determines how we will heal and recover, or not.

108. it seems that we cannot help but be driven by images and pictures, expectations in general… And yes they are just constructions of our mind and as such so often do not bare any relationship to reality… And so we will continue to be living in an ongoing wave of disappointment as these images are not met until, as Leigh has done, we start to say no

109. After reading this I can feel the lightness in taking away the expectations, beliefs and the all sorts and just listening to my body without judgement or condemnation when I am ill, hearing what it’s communicating about how I’ve been living that it’s now having to deal with and making more loving choices. I love the line, ‘the body would never willingly put itself into a situation whereby it would become ill or diseased.’ Its love for me is profound, as is its natural way.

110. Having a disease is not a ‘fail’ but instead a moment to stop and truly reflect what had lead up to this moment.

111. I have been experimenting with the feeling of expectations in my body recently too. As soon as I feel my body go into a ‘stimulation’ of some kind I know that an expectation has just happened because I feel a raciness kick in, with a need to achieve, or a goal to be gotten to. I stop feeling the harmony and flow that was there before all the stimulation started. This really shows how destructive these pictures or images (expectations) of ourselves are on our bodies, let alone our thoughts and mental health.

     1. Even in small things like expecting myself to say thank you to someone today kicked in that raciness you described. Expectations don’t have to be big and obvious but even seemingly ‘small’ things – but isn’t that just being polite to say thank you? Yes but if there’s a thought and an expectation often it’s going against how we feel to express, which sometimes does go against the polite and acceptable social rules we are governed by and enforce.

        1. I love what you have shared Leigh. In what energy do we say thank you? A practised one that has no substance but ticks all the polite boxes, or one that comes from a genuineness within us, a true appreciation? It is beautiful to be able to explore how different each one is, because then we can choose which quality we wish to express in.

112. Your comment about cold hands and cold thoughts is interesting and has started me considering why my right hand gets so cold when I am doing my Uni assignments. It is very clearly related, as on the whole I have warm hands, so I have looked at how how I am sitting, how long I am sitting for as well as a whole load of other things. Perhaps this will be an interesting experiment to do.

113. In the past I know that keeping going when I was ill was championed by everyone around me. It was considered weak to succumb to illness. Now I can see the absolute sense of caring for myself especially when ill. When I am caring for myself my thoughts are naturally better, even when I am unwell. I have to say though that there is still a lingering feeling of having failed somehow when illness happens. Illness is an opportunity to clear those things I have held in my body that are not me and are not love. Therefore illness can be a blessing and more opportunity to deeply care for myself.

     1. Recently I’ve been saying ‘thank you’ whenever I feel something unsettling and often that kills any emotional turmoil that may build up. What if I did the same when feeling ill? Something to experiment deeper with here! Thank you.

114. ‘What I have learnt is that the body would never willingly put itself into a situation whereby it would become ill or diseased.’ On this basis, I create my own dis-ease Leigh by the expectations I put on myself and my body. Whilst I know this I have a new level of understanding of this basic fact now! Thank you.

115. Expectation is a disease unto itself, living out of sync with what is actually happening and creating a disharmony for everything around it.

116. There is so much stigma attached to being ill or the words “suffering a disease”.

117. “How much of our illnesses and diseases could be alleviated, or supported to not be as dire, if we were to take off the weight of our expectations and reactions towards the process of illness and disease?” This is a great question to consider Leigh, not only in illness and disease, but in all areas of life, as our thoughts and expectations have a great bearing on how we perceive situations and how we react to them.

118. It would be interesting to consider whether many illnesses are being contributed to by our thoughts and, if yes, by how much.

119. Just pondering on expectations and reactions and how this influences many parts of our life, not just that of experiencing an illness. Really that in itself is an illness.I was just reflecting on how I can still react and have expectations of myself and others and how this feels in my body and what it allows in terms of how I think. It definitely produces an unease with my body and an overarching tension in my relationships and how I travel through life. This is definitely ill health, but how often do we consider it as such or consider the eventual effect on our physical body?

     1. You raise a great point here Jennifer; one that needs unpacking a lot more to realise the impact of our expectations and thoughts on our health. This is revolutionary!

120. It is so important to live this in many ways, ‘A way of life that brings a focus back to the body that we live with every day and not just remaining in one’s mind’
     Our bodies show us the consequences of our choices, and are constantly communicating with us and bringing great wisdom if we choose to listen.

121. What I am learning on a deeper level now is that the expectations we place on ourselves to have life a certain way including ones such as ‘I shouldn’t be ill’ ‘It won’t happen to me’ right the way to ‘I need to do this job, I need you to be loving to me in a certain way, I need my ‘me’ time’ basically ANY expectation or picture of what life should look like is what causes us to get ill in the first place.

     So rather than looking at bacteria, viruses, fungi etc what if medicine included – ‘you’ve become ill because you have been living towards an unreal expectation of how your life ‘should’ be – could bringing how we perceive ourselves to be in life and how life should be be a great form of medicine?

122. Giving your body the space it needs to rest and recover when we are sick is vital, yet how often does an image of how we are supposed to be stop this natural process?

123. Expectation play an important/funny & devious part in our lives. Yet, since the day we begin school, or younger, we are flooded with them as the tools to navigate life.

124. ‘….when there is a cold sensation in my hands, often there are cold, hard thoughts in my head and the illness is no different in that it is showing me (without all the drama) that the body needs some extra care in this moment and it is not a failure.’ How beautiful is it to listen to our bodies like this and see them not as the enemy but as our dearest friend.

125. It is so true that when people get ill, there is a mindset that is put on like a comfortable old coat that has a lot of pockets and everyone has a list of predetermined expectations. What happens when we like wearing our coat all the time? We become controlled by the reactions of others, and the illness can become a hindrance. How many of us have gone to work when we were ill because we needed to go to work for any reason except our health when that should always be paramount.

126. Our bodies are amazing tools of communication, continually feeding back to us what is going on with it, what works for it and what does not. Listen to it and life becomes so much more open and joyful. Ignore it and override what it is telling us, and it will eventually stop us dead in our tracks.

127. You highlight beautifully Leigh how the body as a marker of truth, is constantly communicating to us the quality of the choices that we are making. Even when we are distracted and over ride the awareness of a choice in each moment, the body stills holds the energetic quality of that choice.

128. I can relate to the value of looking at the quality of my thoughts and checking the quality of my movements in each moment. More and more when I catch the negative thought trains I find it useful to move in a quality that is much more appreciative of what I can bring when I am connected to the all of me.

129. It’s astounding to observe the number of negative thoughts that can enter the mind in such a short time and learning to say ‘No’ to them I have found to be incredibly powerful. Some times I may have to be persistent but they do eventually leave my body and I am left with a clear mind to focus on being present with my body… it is indeed work in progress.

130. You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres. Agree entirely. And with me, I can take it further. Not only have I driven with flat tyres, but I have also driven across roads full of nails knowing all too well that my actions would burst my tyres. But still I carry on. It is amazing to feel and realise what I have willingly put my body through. Rebuilding that relationship with my body, learning to listen and take care of it is showing me so much. The turnaround has been amazing, astonishing – when only a few years ago I thought it was just a machine of function that you just fed and watered and kinda hoped for the best!!

131. I wasn’t feeling well last week but noticed the same feelings of expectations that I wasn’t sick enough to stay home, I had too much to do at work etc. and so I still went to work… What I found is that I was quite vulnerable and teary for a few days and it’s taken me much longer to recover, than had I honoured feeling unwell and taking a day off to rest. I’m not beating myself up but just observing how difficult it can sometimes be to let go of old patterns of behaviour, and what I am appreciating is being more aware of this and to have the opportunity to keep on working on this in the future.

132. Leigh I can really relate to what you say about pushing your body to do something that it does not want to do. I have done this recently because it has been necessary to get things complete for work reasons, but what I have realised and felt in my body is that in order to be able to do these things, I have to take more care of me and my body. And in doing so, my body is more responsive to what is being asked of it. So by staying more connected to myself, I am able to do so much more without having to go into the push to get things done.

133. Healing our perceptions is medicine in itself.

     1. This is huge. The ideals, the beliefs, the pictures we hold all pave the way for our choices on a very subconscious level. Letting go of these would bring a lot more true clarity to every situation.

134. It’s very true that it is ‘our perceptions of illness that make it the heavy, burdensome, depressing or downright loathsome situation it can be’; as opposed to a remarkable time of healing.

135. The way I am with my body does affect my health, it is not just stress which people still seem to have a hard concept understanding. I was supporting a family member with diabetes and you could literally see their blood sugar go up and down with stress. It wasn’t until they saw this that they could start to see the impact of living with so much stress was having on their body. It is so important to move beyond the physical and understand that we are a chunk of flesh impulsed by energy and electricity and what we do in any given moment determines the quality of that current flowing through us.

136. Dear Leigh Matson,
     I am reading your article again tonight and you offer much for our society to possibly begin to allow the grace of any illness to be understood for the end point it is. End point being that a way of living set in motion the energetic disturbances in the body, that over time has transpired into an illness, and to possibly ponder on the power each of us holds in being able to adjust our bodies again, through care love and respect, as you share.

137. It is no wonder we get illness and disease when we look at how we treat our bodies and run them ragged to get the job done, putting extra pressure on ourselves to achieve and like you have mentioned Leigh, meeting our self imposed expectations. So it seems to me that as long as we still see illness as a bad thing or being a failure, and not as a clearing for the body to catch up, we will always have an ‘unhealthy’ relationship with getting sick.

138. The way you’ve clearly shown the link between thoughts and the effect in the body is great to read about, the detail to which you now observe what is going on shows a deep level of care that is very inspiring. In simple terms, seeing the illness as a time to reflect on, learn from, is the very opposite to the “poor me” illness is associated with.

139. I too have felt guilty when I have had to take a day off and rung in to tell work. The conversations are always deflating with things like, ‘oh you poor thing’, and then the person either tells you about a similiar illness that they had recently or start asking you what symptoms you have. All of this taking you into emotion and feeling much worse than before the call. I also recognise that I was not good at being sick, I would be quite harsh with myself for being sick. Nowadays, I am much more loving and caring and know to listen to my body and check in with why my body is talking to me in this way. My body is becoming my gorgeous constant companion and someone I am learning to love spending time with.

140. We do not tell our body to breathe or pump the heart, our body knows and does exactly what is needed. Just taking a step back from it, it’s a complete tyranny the way we can be with our body sometimes – that we ignore the body, put some ideals ahead of it, and when it stops functioning in the way we have taken for granted, we have a hump. Unbelievable.

141. “The quality we move in impacts our results far greater than focusing on getting something done”, simple words – yet for most people living on this earth, in truth life changing if applied. As it brings back the focus to the body. Every example you’re sharing here I can relate to. And if there’s like a tight jaw, what is (was) my first reaction… Wanting to get rid of it (getting something done in your words), rather than being with my tight jaw and moving with it, rather than ignoring or fighting it. It’s great to write this I feel, as it is very confirming and revealing. Thank you.

142. “Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought. Like for example, if I am thinking about a worrying situation often my heart will race. So in this particular moment I clocked how all these worries were affecting my body that was already feeling unwell due to the viral illness. I then paused for a moment and came back to my body and the warmth that I know is there to support me and as soon as I did the thoughts stopped!”.

     This is blowing away every current way that psychology, psychotherapy, etc. works. In fact – how we all ‘think’ that we ‘think’. Where as you’re describing Leigh, it’s the choice to connect to ourselves or not will determine the warmth or coldness of the thoughts. We’re played with, much more than we’d like to admit or even hear about. Everything is energy, therefore our thoughts are energy. Recent studies actually show that there’s a correlation between the body and thoughts – it’s actually been shown that the body’s actually first – than the thoughts. Which means that thoughts stem from the body. Which in fact is quite logical if it is us that choose to connect or not to our body and innerheart. The result is exactly what Leigh’s sharing here so beautifully. The racy, cold, deconstructive thoughts stop the moment that we reconnect. A science that is simply beautiful and is True for every single one of us on this planet. With a world going crazy this is to be mainstream and become our new normal!

     1. Very true here Floris and the teaching of such is so simple. I find through body awareness I can control my thoughts which then control my body. If I don’t care about the quality I am sitting in, the body slouches, in comes negative thoughts which feeds more uncaring behaviours. Walking around with a tight jaw leads to tight and repetitive thoughts, I then bump into things, ignore messages and hurt my body more. The quality we move in impacts our results far greater than focusing on getting something done no matter what.

143. “What I have learnt is that the body would never willingly put itself into a situation whereby it would become ill or diseased.” The body knows love and wants to express it, we hold this back or deny it or don’t appreciate it, etc., and the body has to reduce itself and an illness ensues – we always have to bring it back to ourselves and take a closer look at our responsibility.

144. Expectation and the anxiety that comes from such simply comes from our desire to control life, when all of life is pointing to the fact that it is something that is clearly beyond our control. Thus why the key to truly understanding life is not so much control, as it is surrender.

145. So much Gold in the article Leigh, I can relate to every word you have said. By looking at illness as the enemy we have already set ourselves up to fail.

146. This is so true, the relationship we have with illness. It is definitely bad, or on the flip side, that we need to get over it quickly, not stop and feel what is needed. ie. your line ‘I can still feel the illness, but if I push myself to meet these expectations’ we do tend to push ourselves to align to other people’s expectations of us.

     1. This is so mad when I read this back. It is such an obvious thing, the way we do or act that is in response to the way other people think or what we think they are expecting of us. The pressure we put on ourselves in doing so – it’s never going to help us, only add to the load we are already carrying.

147. We can make it a new saying: “I am expected to be…” is the new “I am ill”!

148. “.. the illness is no different in that it is showing me (without all the drama) that the body needs some extra care in this moment and it is not a failure.” Huge and profound but such a simple act to follow. You’re not feeling so well, take extra care of yourself and honour that sensitivity by responding and moving the body in a way that will support it.

     1. ‘take extra care of yourself and honour that sensitivity by responding and moving the body in a way that will support it.’ What wise advice. The way we move our body affects every part of our body, and the quality we bring sings in our blood, so to speak.

149. I can relate Leigh Matson, I had this yesterday – “Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought.” The body is the marker of Truth, it does not lie. This was one of the first teachings through Universal Medicine that made a ginormous impact on the way I lived. In relation to yesterday I was confused to what was going on. I was aware of surrendering but worrying because of an expectation I was placing on myself and how uncomfortable my body was feeling. The feeling was intense in my body but I was reacting to what I was feeling instead of accepting and just being with the feeling of what I have been choosing in the past that was not supportive to my body.
     It was a great revelation, like being sick to actually being in the joy of the body clearing and redefining a deeper self-care and nurturing way to yourself while your body reveals and heals.

150. I agree Sally, as I have often gone back to work too soon and regretted it due to the fact that I had not fully recovered, and only went back because I put pressure on myself or felt guilty. There’s nothing worse than sitting there trying to work and get through knowing that you are not up to it.

151. The harm that comes from pushing our bodies is evident now more than ever. With the levels of exhaustion that our bodies can be pushed to, there in no wonder that our society is fuelling themselves with medicines to “keep the engine running”.

     1. I agree and though we are given the medicine often we still don’t stop. A couple of years ago I was given some medication and the nurse told me to go home take the dose then sleep as this supports the medication to work. This blew me away as I had never considered this before. In the past I took the medication, expecting it to do it’s job so I could carry on. Now as I also have a stronger sense of self care, I value and respect any medication I am prescribed.

        1. Same here Jsnelgrove36. Previously medicine was either a ‘patch up and carry on’ or something to avoid in an expectation to ‘heal myself’ ‘go solo’ or a judgement that I had to feel the illness as a punishment. Now I can see that I can take my own steps to addressing why the illness came about in the first place and at the same time take medication to support my body to clear the lesson faster.

        2. Great comment jsnelgrove36, it really brings it home how the medicines we take for say the common cold or even flu are designed now to patch us up so that we can carry on. Many adverts on the TV show an very ill person who is full of a cold and then they take the over the counter medication and then miraculously they are feeling better and getting on with their every day.

     2. Unfortunately often the medicine masks or delays the symptoms too. So unless we are being super honest we can feel better, when in truth we are far from it.

152. The moment we stop the thoughts which make us circling around ourselves like a hamster runs in a wheel, is the moment we allow the space to truly feel what is going on, what choices brought us here and what is needed to heal.

153. Like this picture: “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyre, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” – we have in fact to take care about how we did let the ‘air out’ of our tyre/life before we go back on track. Sometimes this is a rest, sometimes a consultation with a doctor/practitioner and sometimes it needs just a nomination, a taking responsibility about our flatness. But to judge ourselves or going into guilt, indulgence or even ignoring our state of being is not taking responsibility – it’s the opposite.

     1. Yes – if I do not listen, I will not learn.

     2. So true Sandra, when we go into judgement of ourselves, guilt and the like, from having ignored our state of being, this can be worse than feeling the illness or disease. It is not to be self critical, but to lovingly question ourselves, what has gotten us to the point? Why has the flatness developed? This fosters the awareness, to then in the future make other choices.

        1. The moment I do not criticise my body (or me) for its ‘flatness’ (or whatever it does show) but appreciate my sensitivity and preciousness, I take the responsibility about what is going on instead of denying it.

154. It is amazing to read how much our bodies can teach us on how to live in a supportive way if we are willing to listen.

155. Those personal expectations that drive us straight to the doors of illness and dis-ease are difficult to overcome, I find that they can be insidious in that I will not even know they are there, pulling my strings, until it is too late and I am flat out sick. The key is perhaps to be more honest with myself about why I make certain choices, and maybe in this I will be able to spot when actually I have gone way off the path.

     1. I am finding that if a certain situation or reaction repeats itself to start questioning if there is an expectation I am placing onto the situation to be different. For example I find that I tense up and clench my jaw on the right side a lot, and this has gone on for years but recently I’ve started to take notice. But today I question – am I expecting it to just magically go away or the answer as to why I clench to be shown to me in a certain way? Thus are our expectations blinding us to the true answer that can bring the healing?

156. Illness is simply the body’s way of communicating with us to tell us something is wrong. Yet we constantly override this simple truth by telling ourselves that it is “mind over matter.”

     1. It is crazy the game we play with our selves, when it so obvious that an illness is a way for our body to tell us something is wrong.

     2. That ability to override the body is huge and plays out in so many ways. I found myself in reaction yesterday over not wanting to understand why people would eat or drink things that their bodies clearly don’t like (the faces and ‘bleh!’ sounds that follow after a wheatgrass shot for example). All in the name of ‘health’, but reading your comment got me wondering – we can choose to override the body in the name of holding onto something – a pattern, behaviour, ideal etc we believe is healthy when the body says otherwise, so then – what’s our current wheatgrass? Thank you Adam.

157. Dear Leigh, what a great observation. I can relate to that so much. When I have had to take a day off due to illness, I normally felt even worse because of feeling so guilty for taking that time out for myself. Thank you for sharing your learning, inspiring me to say no to all the unnecessary stress I put on myself; on top of being ill.

158. I can feel how I have a lot of judgements about illness and disease – especially around them being a failure. You make some great observations here Leigh Matson about ‘that phone call to work to say your are off sick’ – those few moments waiting to report in to a manager are very revealing aren’t they. I find that generally, although there is a ‘sickness policy’ in many workplaces, there is also an undercurrent that sickness is to be discouraged and whilst ‘the right things’ often get said the underlying energy is there saying something like ‘we really don’t approve’ … or is that just me and my expectations talking? Something to ponder.

     1. I would say I have experienced the same Richard, certainly in my workplace I have felt this expectation that illness is to be avoided at all cost, taking days off is just not acceptable even to the point of being told by management to ‘just take a pill’. But is this not our global view on illness and disease? to just take a pill and ‘get over it’ rather than using that moment to question and feel into why we are in the situation we are in and possibly grow from the experience?

        1. As I read your comment Leigh I am left pondering what the impact of ‘throwing a sickie’ is. When we play such games we undermine the integrity of a system that is in place to support us leaving it open to doubt. This is then what we experience when we are genuinely unwell – that seed of doubt sewn that questions ‘are you really unwell – or are you ‘swinging the lead?”

159. Opening up to a new relationship with my body has been a great revelation – from once believing it to simply be a ‘carriage for the mind’ – to knowing it to be a true source of wisdom. I had been running on flat tyres for many years and my body was evidence of the fact. Learning to connect to it and honour it has been a wonderful choice to make.

160. ‘You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?’ The car stories often come to mind for me and I wouldn’t drive our cars with a flat tyre that’s for sure. I often relate a flat tyre to food: Ok I ate something that doesn’t support my body do I go into beat up and continue eating what I know doesn’t support my body for the rest of the day or until I am too sick to eat any more, well yes occasionally I still do that. I relate that to getting a flat tyre and getting out of my car and changing the tyre to getting out of my car looking at the flat tyre giving up and slashing the other three tyres.

     1. I never considered it in that way before but it’s a great analogy “I relate that to getting a flat tyre and getting out of my car and changing the tyre to getting out of my car looking at the flat tyre giving up and slashing the other three tyres.” Do we stop and accept the first ill choice or go ahead and make more ill choices, either way it doesn’t cover up or change the fact that we have a flat tyre but now we have one flat and three slashed! it’s crazy but in the drama we avoid that stop moment of taking responsibility and admitting why we allowed the first tyre to go flat.

        1. For me Leigh it comes back to my self-loathing which I sometimes still allow in that takes me to the slashing of the tyres. In the situations where I get out of the car and see one flat tyre stop and reconnect with myself I am able to appreciate the stop, understand where I lost myself therefore not go into negative self-talk in my head, accept the situation feel into where I lost my self and let go of the head stuff and re-connect with my authentic self.

        2. There is so much reflected to us in various ways. I am slowly learning to take responsibility and open my awareness to all that is reflected as an opportunity to learn about myself and grow rather than ignore and push on through only to be met with a more obvious and often more painful reflection.

161. It is so true that we fight how we feel, to do what we had planned to do. I know even though I feel the wisdom of listening to my body, I sometimes still push through, getting things done instead of really following what my body is showing me. And we really make things worse by creating a battle within us, by allowing thoughts that try to contradict And complicate what we know is wise.

     1. I’m the same Amanda, at times I will overide what the body is saying just to get the job done. However I end up paying for it later.

162. I agree Leigh, expectations do not allow us feeling the truth, what is really going on. As such they leave us feeling insecure.

163. We really do make life hard by the way we talk to ourselves. We can have three, four or five conversations before even having the real conversation, such a waste of energy.

     1. I agree Matthew, conversations going around in our heads with different scenarios is a total waste of time and energy, and once in that there is this loop affect which pulls to keep it going – so exhausting.

     2. Oh wow Matthew this is so true. I will watch myself next time this happens – it is such a waste of energy as well as laying a seed of energy into the conversation that will happen.

164. Leigh, I can so relate to what you have written here, ‘ I called work today to say I would not be in due to a viral illness and while I was on hold waiting to speak to my manager, all sorts of thoughts came flooding in. Expectations of ‘I need to be apologetic,’ ‘I need to show that I will be back into work tomorrow, no wasting time ‘being ill,’’ This seems to be the common way to be, at work the other day someone burnt themselves badly but carried on working because they did not want to let the team down, we seem to put ourselves last and do not want to be an inconvenience.

     1. That word inconvenience…It’s like being ‘inconvenient’ is the same as being rejected and dismissed. We avoid that rejection to such a degree that we will carry on working even if we are ill because we’ve been brought up to believe that we are only worth something if we are doing something. To avoid being rejected by another is to avoid the reflection of having rejected ourselves first that got us into the situation that led us to become ill, diseased or injured.

165. With a recent experience of feeling very unwell with cold and cough symptoms prior to a 13 hour flight home from Vietnam and Singapore, I chose not to fall into an old way of ‘trying to get over it’ in order to cope with travelling. it was amazing to feel how my body responded to my accepting and surrendering to this as an opportunity for clearing not something to wage a war at. Respecting my body’s request for constant hydration, being aware of even the smallest discomfort and simply letting go and dropping deeper into my body (thanks to Esoteric Yoga), supported a quality of deep rest throughout the journey.

     1. Working with our bodies rather than ‘pushing through’ and ‘soldiering on’ is such an amazing experience isn’t it. Giving up that inner battle lets go of so much tension.

     2. I have found this too how accepting how our body is feeling and not trying to DO anything to change or fix it, but simply stay aware and with it, does make a difference and we then more easily feel what it needs as support. .

     3. It is amazing how much our bodies thank us for simply to surrendering to its needs. When we learn to listen to what it is truly asking for, it will pay us back with love in bucket loads. The irony is that we tend to think the opposite and so often push through what our bodies are telling us. Thankyou for this reminder Stephanie.

166. Being ill is very exposing of the fact that we live to ideals and images outside of ourselves and trying to ‘live up’ to these pictures in order to feel ‘good enough.’

     Giving your body the space it needs to rest and recover when we are sick is so simple – a ‘no brainer’ actually, yet how often does an ideal about it not being ok to be sick get in the way of caring for ourselves at this time?

     1. Great point katemaroney1 “Being ill is very exposing of the fact that we live to ideals and images outside of ourselves and trying to ‘live up’ to these pictures in order to feel ‘good enough.’ “ Your comment highlights to me the importance of taking responsibility for my choices in life and I choose to feel my hurts that drive my ideals and beliefs whenever I feel I am being driven by a picture I have in my head of how life should be. There are still times where I have to get sick before I get to the bottom of old deep hurts and as you say giving the body time and space to rest and recover is important.

167. Leigh I am wondering how expectation truly fits into our experience of illness i.e. if a person never gets sick, does it therefore follow that they expect never to get sick and conversely if a person always gets sick, do they then expect that if someone in the office is sick that they too will get sick? I suppose what I am now asking is that is expectation really confirmation, as in we believe that expectation is about the future but is it actually more about the past because expectation is based much more on what has gone before than what is ahead. Hmmmmmm. And are we guaranteeing our future by confirming the past? Again as in ” I am a person who always gets sick therefore I know I’ll get sick as there is flu in the office”.

     1. “are we guaranteeing our future by confirming the past?” By confirming something as truth that happened in the past we set ourselves up for that to come around again. I would then ask – What if we confirmed and appreciated our present?

168. This is a great blog Leigh showing the pressure we put on ourselves by expectations and not really listening to our bodies and all the true wisdom this allows us from ourselves to feel and connect to. Listening and allowing from there is a far more loving real way to live, and allows truth and expansion in our lives and an honouring of ourselves much needed for our health and well being.

     1. When we are driven by our hurts that create our thoughts that we have allowed to create the pictures, ideals and beliefs that conflict with the messages our bodies are offering us we feel dis-harmony in our bodies. Dis-arming our negative untrue thought by letting go of our hurts and re-connecting with our bodies feeling the truth of the love that we are supports us to be true to ourselves our health and wellbeing.

169. No matter how far we get off track, our body always brings us back by showing us the consequences of our choices. This is such a great gift to receive, but there is an OUCH in it as well, of course! We can look at this with playfulness or with self-loathing. How do I choose?

     1. “No matter how far we get off track, our body always brings us back by showing us the consequences of our choices” at times I have been so arrogant that I have convinced myself that I can get away with doing certain thing and eating foods I know I shouldn’t eat with no consequences for my choices.
        To answer your question felixschumacher8 I used to always go into self-loathing and beat myself up for eating foods that I know don’t support my body, which often led to the merry-go-round of eating more foods that don’t support my body, they actually make me sick. These days I look at this with playfulness for the most part and rarely beat myself up with food – it’s my negative self-talk I still have to be aware of though. My body never lets me down when it comes to letting me know when I make unloving choices and I choose playfulness and am able to communicate much more lovingly with my body and therefore honour my body and respect the messages it is giving me with playful responses.

     2. Great reminder felixschumacher8. Thank you, I will take this into my day!

     3. So true Felix, our bodies will constantly bring us back to the truth and we have always available the choice to face our consequences with love or abuse. Saying ‘Ooops!’ has been a hugely supportive tool for me as it takes the feet out from self-bashing. Another one that I am currently questioning is that my body is constantly bringing me back to love no matter how many times I leave this love within, and each time the corrections and facing the consequences need to occur – is playing this game truly worth it? How does the body feel about this constant back and forth?

170. Today and yesterday I feel quite tired and my bowels were a bit unsettled. Nothing major, but what is special about it, is that I’m learning to be with it, honour my body’s signals and in that, letting go of the idea that I’m in control of my own health. I can greatly contribute to my body’s health by caring and nurturing myself, but in the end it’s my body that communicates to me what it needs. So in fact it’s more a cooperative way of working together (body and mind), instead of one part being dominant over the other (mind over body).

     1. ‘Nothing major’ by our currently accepted standards en mass in humanity. But what I am learning is that our scales of what is major, extreme or intolerable dismiss the very foundation of the feeling – the energy. One push of a snowball up the hill being dismissed allows for another, and another and another eventually it’ll come back down much larger and like the cartoons may roll us over. Our bodies know what it needs and when we get ‘our’ minds out of the way (because is our mind truly ours if it is able to abuse and ignore our bodies? if we are connected to something we value it and if we value and appreciate then we don’t abuse it) then as you say Floris these messages can be seen as supportive and we can work together and not the messages as a nuisance.

        1. Thank you Leigh, this is very True. If I would dismiss the ‘nothing major’, I would say yes to the energy at play, by denying or arrogantly ignoring it, rather than honour what is presented by my own body. I love the honouring that I can feel in your comment Leigh. We are to honour ourselves, simply for who we are and what is presented to us, regardless of how other people would cope (co-operate) with it – or not. There’s a deep, yet simple Wisdom in what you’re sharing. In this, every single one is important and you can tell that there are no rules, nor manmade laws to adhere to. Just a body that is presenting itself and offering a forever evolving cooperation. The choice is ours.

171. I pretty much operated from the head up much of my life, having lots of illness and accidents throughout. I would have had no true understanding about listening to my body and that illness is not a failure, had I not come across Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. My body, from the neck down has opened up to sharing with me more and more simply because I am now listening and feeling. I rarely have illness now and chronic conditions of pain no longer plague me. So much more supportive to be thanking rather than condemning and ignoring the body for what it reveals.

172. I love your last analogy Leigh – Would we drive around with flat tyres on a car? I know if I did I would certainly stop and get the tyres fixed. But it is interesting that we have this override and try to ‘push on through’ to get things done and to be tough. I certainly had this mentality and not wanting to let others down. All the while you are letting yourself down in the process. Being able to not see it as a failure and that it is your body’s way of communicating what ever it is that it needs to, is a very beautiful process which is worth everything when you listen and honour what it is telling you. I am still working with this and every time that I do, I am blown away with how much this supports me.

     1. I can relate to what you are saying Natalie with regards to not wanting to let people down, whilst at the same time knowing that I would be letting myself down if I did not stop and listen to my body. I used to find it very difficult to make that decision but not so much these days – now I am more aware of when I should stop instead of pushing through until I get very sick and need weeks off work instead of the odd day.

173. Illness can be painful, unpleasant and hard. But what your words illustrate so powerfully Leigh is that a great chunk of the difficulty comes from the picture we carry in our head of what ‘health’ is. For if you have a machine that is being misused, would you not want it to let you know? Would you not build-in a warning system to say ‘hey this isn’t the way you know’? For this is exactly what illness is in the end. Perhaps the fear and shame we experience is not to do with the illness at all but it exists because we get shown just how we have allowed our body to be moved with complete disregard? Perhaps this energetic dis-ease, of misoperation is what we really find difficult to admit and to see?

     1. What if it’s not the fact that the body has become ill or diseased that we react to but the fact that we were aware when the first warning system indicator lit up and we chose to carry on anyway? Or that we where aware even before then, knowing what our choices would lead to and chose it anyway that we avoid by making it all about the fight and blame. If this were so then we could say that we know every step of the way out to illness and disease and every step back to harmony.

174. I hated calling in sick I would get all these images of what they might say, compounded by my own lack of self worth and guilt that I should not be taking the time off, even though I was clearly unwell. This is slowly changing and the interesting thing is the last time I called in sick (which in now very rare), because I had accepted I was ill and needed to rest, I didn’t have the usual feelings of guilt and trepidation of picking up the phone I have had before.

175. This is a great and much needed topic Leigh, I learnt this one the hard way having recently placed work as a priority over my own well-being, not wanting to ‘let the team down’ – however not only did my body suffer, work and relationships also suffered. I did no one any favours, no one benefitted and it made me sicker. Giving our power away to work or any other situation is easy to do, but losing yourself in the process, what quality are we bringing to others anyway.

176. Having now commenced listening and responding to my inner wisdom – through support from Universal Medicine, what is evident is that I can’t force my body through situations any more. Any a small amount of push gives me feedback and I feel the harm I’m inflicting on myself. This is an awareness I truly appreciate understanding and honoring as I go.

177. “What I have learnt is that the body would never willingly put itself into a situation whereby it would become ill or diseased.” This is a very simple statement which holds a lot of wisdom. We as human beings can find this going over our limits ‘normal’ and sometimes even ‘good’, yet, it does not make sense really. Today I noticed how uncomfortable I felt about taking deep care of myself, it is like the whole world is saying: “disregard yourself, that is ok”. Yet my body feels great when I honour it and do not put it into a situation that harms it – simple science!

178. It’s amazing how we can feel apologetic for being ill, like in the example of calling in sick to work. There is such an ingrained judgement and belief that being ill is a bad thing, instead of looking at it as a time of deep rest, recovery and clearing that needs to be honoured.

179. Hi Leigh, your article was perfect timing. I just met with a friend who very joy-fully disclosed that she recently had a tumour removed from her body. I was so surprised by how fine she was with it. When I asked why, she went onto tell me what a blessing the experience had been and how much she learnt from the experience. There was such a stillness and wisdom in how she spoke. Clearly reading why her body had formed the tumour and how she was choosing to live differently because of it. Truly remarkable what can be achieved when we listen to our body and not fight it. Thank you for a beautiful blog.

180. I too have felt the kind of panic you describe Leigh in making the ‘I can’t come in’ phone call to work. What an extraordinary phenomenon – and what an additional loading on the body – that is, as you say. A solid sense of self-worth is required so we can make those kind of calls in a non-reactive way, leaving the body alone rather than placing it under more stress and strain.

     1. The panic that arises from the expectation and perception, based on previous experiences in our childhood, that we can’t express our feelings or honor how we feel to be and work or not work is a huge stress that doesn’t get talked about enough. Just today I got into a panic about multiple coffee orders needing to be delivered and the expectation to get them all done as fast as possible was a huge stress on the body and I did not get away ‘scot free’ afterwards as my body communicated with exhaustion and massive hip pain. In the past this would have floored me for the rest of the day but instead I chose to allow myself an oops and understand that my body knew that this was not the way to work. I chose to place that pressure on myself rather than appreciate that I can and did have enough space and support to complete the task. And it has been a clear message that working in such a way and holding onto these pressures and expectations, stemming from a judgement of needing to ‘be better, work faster etc’ is not healthy for the body, mind or our relationship with ourselves and others.

     2. I can relate too Victoria, feeling like the admission is a confirmation of one’s feebleness or not being up to the job and therefore of less worth. Holding that image, is deeply harmful to oneself and to the workplace that often collectively has the same view, which only adds to the pressure and undermining of all employees. If we live and work from a place of true self-worth, then the quality we bring to everything would be true – imagine a workplace lived in this quality and where everyone supported each other to live fully themselves.

181. Surely one of the most damaging things we can do to ourselves is treat our bodies as purely functional vehicles, dragging ourselves through the hedge and back again as we race around acting out all our ill-ideas and beliefs, behaving as if the body were unbreakable. And for a while it might seem so… until our choices catch up with us. How to be with the body in tenderness and respect is a lesson we all eventually have to learn, and often the so-called hard way, through illness and disease.

182. Illness is not a failure – how helpful would it be if we were all at home with this understanding? If we understood illness as simply clearing that which is not compatible with the body, that we have arrived at this point via our choices? Granted, illness does not feel great, and there are particular diseases, and treatments, such as cancer and chemotherapy and radiation therapy, which can feel terrible. A deeper understanding of what is going on would however go a long way to alleviating the shame and devastation and dislike we feel for ourselves and our circumstances in those moments.

     1. You make a good point here Victoria about the shame of becoming ill – often it seems that we judge ourselves for getting a common cold, as if we are lesser for getting sick, and then the shame of having to take time off from work to recover. There does seem to be some seriously warped beliefs around getting sick and then allowing ourselves the space to process that illness out of the body.

183. I love your analogy of the flat tyres Leigh – it highlights how ridiculous it is to push our bodies when we are ‘running on flat’ ourselves.

184. Our body is the only thing that will never lie to us… but we still have to choose to listen.

     1. That’s true Steve. And I suspect if we continually choose not to listen, we will eventually reach a point of devastation so humbling and profound we will have no alternative but to start to listen.

        1. You are right Victoria, the body will never stops telling us to the point of shouting…it will always have the final word.

        2. I agree Victoria and Steve, and it is interesting why we wait and ignore the clear messages for so long until a crisis must befall us. for to stop and heed the call, means we must usually look at something we have not been willing to look at but rather bury and carry on pretending it is not happening. To stop and look honestly is the only way though to then understand what is running us, what we are being manipulated by, and from there we are able to step forward in greater freedom to be our true self than ever before. It is definitely worth it.

185. My eyes have been hurting for a week. Sore, tender, aching. What am I seeing that I am not accepting? Why the fight? It’s amazing what the body can tell us and that illness, diseases or the most simple of aches are all there to support us, to help us, to guide us in our evolution. Our bodies are our best mates, our greatest confidants.

     1. And just like our best mates they never let us down by holding back on truth.

186. It is possible to embrace illness as the life-changing event it is meant to be, and with that to bring more love in to your everyday life through the appreciation of each individual person, and especially of yourself.

187. The societal view of illness and disease is as you say Leigh, that it is bad luck and to a degree seen as undeserved. You are also spot on regarding how our bodies do not wish us to get ill and I would add are doing everything in their power to bring us back to harmony. This attitude therefore simply reflects irresponsibility about our lifestyle choices that go against living harmoniously and thank you for taking it to the degree you have, about even how we hold expectations can affect us in a very harming way.

     1. What we think certainly has an effect on our physical wellbeing, on the health of our body as demonstrated by the study of psychoneuroimmunology.

        1. Yes Gabriele, our thoughts and emotions have definite physical consequences on our body; epigenetics is another fascinating area of study showing us that we are not ‘victims’ of the seeming lottery and prophesy of our genetics but rather our choices in how we live actually have an influence on how and what our genes express. Brings a whole new dimension to the study of our body and responsibility

     2. Yes – well said Simon. We prefer to see illness as something that is randomly visited upon us, as if we were the recipients of some sort of bad luck lottery… then we expend a whole of energy better used for healing engaging in the ‘fight’ against it. In truth we are fighting ourselves and a process designed to bring us back to harmony as you say, to homeostasis,. Far better to surrender to the process.

        1. This whole thing about ‘fighting’ illness needs to be dismantled. Any fight against illness is a struggle and war against ourselves. How much faster would we heal should we surrender to the process, giving our bodies the opportunity to heal within the grace we are giving them.

188. I agree Elizabeth – our body know exactly what to do, in order to create harmony in our body, as long as we don’t interfere and provide a deep loving connection to our body.

189. What I like so much about your sharing is, that through your sharing the relationship to our body becomes so tangible. The body is the marker of truth and I agree with you, if we would listen to our body, the body would tell us all the time, what it needs, i.e. the chance to get ill is very low.

     1. And if and when it does the healing time is faster I have found, not only in myself but in many others. The student body’s testimonials on their relationship and recovery from illness and disease is nothing short of amazing.

        1. I agree Leigh, many stories of remarkable turnarounds that cannot be denied. Our bodies certainly do thank us for taking notice of them and the capacity for them to heal, without our minds getting in the way and overriding them, is greatly enhanced.

190. Leigh what an amazing blog in the way it portrays how certain images affects the energy that we align to. “Everything is energy so therefore everything is because of energy” as presented by Serge Benhayon, so the image of being sick certainly only perpetuates dis-ease. Then “how much of our illnesses and diseases could be alleviated, or supported to not be as dire, if we were to take off the weight of our expectations and reactions towards the process of illness and disease?” So! “These messages from the body have always been there, but now there is a responsiveness on my part that has learnt to listen to these signals and if I don’t, then the consequence is more ill health.” Listening to the signals and not getting caught in the images that hold us in the ill energy is all part of our evolution.
     For more about Serge Benhayon go to;
     http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=SERGE+BENHAYON

191. It is quite amazing how much stress, which can lead to actual illness, that we self-inflict through the expectations we put upon ourselves. Thank you Leigh for delineating this so well.

192. Whenever we put mind over body we lose out.

     1. Great point Kehinde, when our mind is in control, choosing to go right or left doesn’t matter when we are already lost.

193. Expectations are the perfect way to guarantee that we don’t feel great about ourselves and that we don’t enjoy or appreciate all of the beauty that is available every day in life. I’m amazed at the trillions of tiny expectations that we have about everything, and the impact these have on our body if we play them out. I love how this blog brings it back to the body, and feeling what is true for it, as this is the only true way forward to exposing any expectations or ideals that we have.

     1. I agree Danielle, by placing expectations on ourselves about the way we are meant to be is extremely capping as it prevents appreciation and seeing the loveliness that is there in the first place. The impact of living with expectations puts the body into tension and hardness and over long sustained times can lead to illness. But when we get ill we don’t make the association with expectation, we just put it down to one of those things, or say that’s life…we just get sick. How freeing it is to know that illness first comes from our choices. It changes the dynamic of being ill completely.

        1. Absolutely Rachelmurtagh1 – it’s deeply empowering and inspiring to feel that we have the capacity and power to not wait for the illness and disease but actually connect deep to ourselves and energy to identify and stop any expectations or ill patterns we are doing before they turn into the illness or disease.

194. What can be brushed off as a seemingly irrelevant behaviour or thoughts when we are younger can and will catch up with us many years later. Allowing an energetic configuration to find a home amongst our body will disrupt the body as it finally makes its way out through the body to clear itself. It is no surprise we have named it dis-ease.

195. As well as towards illness and disease when becoming aware that our choices = our experiences, I am learning that even having expectations and reactions towards our choices is not allowing ourselves to feel the truth of those choices. The truth is we are not in essence any of those ill choices, we made them and illness and disease is showing us what the outcome of such choices brings. Illness and disease support us to make more loving choices and not repeat the unloving choices.

196. Very true Linda, we are numb ourselves and tense up when we try to live up to expectations that hold no truth and really no expectations ever does.

197. “And is it actually the illness or our perceptions of illness that make it the heavy, burdensome, depressing or downright loathsome situation it can be?” I feel sometimes we make it worse for ourselves with our perception of what the illness is and we start to analysis it in our heads and see images of worst case, adding to and dampening how we are feeling, often we make it worse for ourselves. We need to stop going into our head and getting caught in the images and look at illness from an opportunity to heal.

     1. A great example of this I can share is having gotten burned at work, initially I did tense up, huge pain and tears. But once I settled down I noticed that the expectations on now my day being ruined and I won’t be able to move properly etc made that area hurt more. When I stopped and claimed that I was choosing to relate to the burn in that way it was if all the pain dropped, yes it was still sore but it was like the tension in my body made the area hurt more – like it was being unnecessarily poked when I moved. The body itself isn’t emotional about illness and disease I am learning, our emotions make the situation worse than it need be.

198. I have found stopping and asking myself: Where do the expectations come from? Are they self imposed, is it something I have taken on because someone said it to me as a child, what image do they create?

199. Such great questions offered Leigh. It just doesn’t make any sense at all that we over ride our bodies and keep pushing through any illness. Does this start when we are young and our parents need us to keep up and get off to school etc. so their day isn’t disrupted? Do we perpetuate this cycle in our younger generations?

     1. Great questions Sandra, I do feel parents may not assess the true importance of a sick day for their children when their bodies need it. I find as a mother, that the days I clear my schedule to be at home with a sick or overtired child have always been a great stop moment for me too.

     2. This is something I’ve never stopped and considered but reading it certainly brought with it a stop. Is the way we have been parented/parent before the school years actually building us up to take on these expectations over how our body feels? If adult life has been shaped for us to meet a non-stop stream (or sea) of expectations then that will be our default way of relating to the world, including our children. They then get shown no other reflection but to ignore the body and strive to fit into the boxes and pictures that the expectations endlessly provide.

     3. That is a good point Sandra, I remember when I was young we couldn’t go out if we had a sick day because we may been seen by the truant officer, or a neighbour. Then when the school day had finished it was ok to play out. So even at a young age there was this guilty feeling that you may not be sick enough to be off.

     4. Wow Sandra what great questions you ask. I know from my upbringing that I disrupted the family rhythm when I was ill and therefore I stopped it being ill so to speak. Later when I was grown up it was such an ingrained behavior that when I went to the doctor because I was not able to work anymore – they were so shocked about how ill I was that this reflection made me start thinking what I was doing. There was not an ounce of selfcare at all in me and it took me a little while to stop this ingrained self destructive behavior. I definitely would have been a mother who would perpetuate this cycle on my children but I chose to not be a mother. For me overriding the body is a form of disease and we as a society need a serious reflection of what we are really doing.

200. ‘There is such a negative view and relationship with illness and disease in the world today’ – this is the line that stuck out on this blog and I agree with you Leigh, that this negative view is why there is such a rise in illness and dis-ease and our medical and health care systems are exhausted. Add to this mental illness which is now getting more noted, things have gone from bad to worse as they say.
     Thanks to the teachings of Serge Benhayon and applying this to my daily life, I can honestly say that I no longer have exhaustion, which I feel was the underlying cause of why I used to get sick.

     1. And the exhaustion I have been finding often stems from the expectations and negative relationships and everything that comes from our disconnection to ourselves. The expectations to meet what is outside of ourselves are the very thing that run us down then make us feel worse when ill.

        1. So true. Amazing insights here and all over this blog. Leigh, you have initiated a much needed conversation. Great appreciation for your expression and for getting this subject out there. Our bodies are screaming at us to sit up and start listening.

        2. Our bodies are screaming and yet we have created solutions that support us to not listen. The expectations, roles, distractions and emotions in life all support the ignorance. But the body doesn’t give up on us, it just gets louder and louder. What Universal Medicine has shared is that it makes far more sense to listen rather than be forced to listen when the messages get too loud and break us. And from experience these solutions have been held onto and invested in for a very long time and sometimes the break is needed. Having our arrogance and ignorance broken down is not a bad thing or a punishment we must endure but a great healing.

        3. So true Leigh. Such wise words. if we can change our way of thinking – such that we treat these illnesses and diseases as a great opportunity and healing, then we can learn and evolve.

        4. Furthermore Leigh…what I can sense is that actually the choice to think of illnesses and diseases as a ‘bad thing’ is a very, very conscious choice. A clever trick that we kid ourselves with. A way to avoid the responsibility of the choices that we have made that got us there in the first place. We use pity, sympathy, sadness, anger etc…to keep the whole experience negative. For if we were to keep ourselves open then we would see the full picture and would have to take responsibility – far easier to play the “Woe is me” card.

        5. We keep the experience negative so that we stay small and avoid being aware of how powerful our choices really are. But if we bring it back to the body we get nothing but the truth of our choices and a clarity that is saying ‘it is worth being responsible and keeping things negative is not the way to live’.

        6. Leigh. What you say here is super important and great for me to hear as I can enjoy too much the ‘theory’ of it all. But actually it is so incredibly simple; all the complexities, nuances and reasons become irrelevant when you just bring it back to the body. God gave us this divine measuring device. It is pin-point accurate. it is lightning fast in its diagnosis. And it is 100% there to help. I will listen.

201. ‘Expectations of ‘I need to be apologetic,’ ‘I need to show that I will be back into work tomorrow, no wasting time ‘being ill,’’ ‘I can’t be ill because work won’t be able to manage without me’ etc. As well as the judgments of ‘you should feel bad because now you’ve placed more work on people’ …you get the idea’ perhaps the perceptions we have of others expectations are because of the expectation that we are placing on ourselves. Much like judgement, these come from us first, not others.

     1. Blaming others for having the expectations we have in our heads avoids the fact that we have allowed those thoughts and expectations in. Blaming anything outside of our choices never helps, it only makes matters worse while we pretend to stay small, helpless, ‘innocent’ and arrogant to the fact that we can choose to harm or choose to heal.

        1. Bingo! “Oh, I’m sorry, I feel so guilty about being ill.” Do you truly? Or is it possible that you’d prefer to hide under your blanket, rather than take full responsibility for the choices that may have made you ill.

     2. It becomes quite clear that these expectations are possibly far more deleterious on our state of wellbeing (or lack thereof) than the actual physical condition. As Leigh states: “This made me feel even more drained and worse than I did before.” Is it possible that our body, if left unhindered by the emotional baggage, could recuperate much more quickly and return to harmony?

        1. Absolutely Gabriele, the real damage is done by our own emotional reactions to the situation we find ourselves in rather than any event or thought in itself – we seem to have mastered beating ourselves up.

202. This blog is a clear example of the amount of times we over ride the body and ‘expect’ it to keep up going time and time again.

     1. What you write here nb made me see that we treat our body as if it is not a part of who we are. It would make a great difference if we would experiencing life through our bodies again, for that’s how we evolve.

        1. I agree Katinka “It would make a great difference if we would experience life through our bodies again.” And I like to add that we all would benefit from this, as my feeling is that the cost for the healthcare-system would be less as everyone would take more care of themselves.

203. I used to work in a big company where some would work and push themselves hard despite being ill and were seen somewhat heroic; and others who were taking sick leaves so constantly that were seen somewhat lazy and unreliable; and I kept thinking ‘How sick do I have to be before I can say “I am not well”?’ We did not know how to be unwell. We saw illness and disease as something that would come upon us and had to be prevented no matter what. When we come with an image of how our life should look like – in this case, disease-free – we miss out on amazing healing and evolution life is constantly bringing to us and appreciating them for what they are.

     1. “We did not know how to be unwell.” I would say from experience of talking with others at work and myself that this is not an isolated situation. If everyone is taught to ‘push through’ then how will anyone ever know how to deeply rest and take care of themselves while ill if there are no living examples around us? This was my experience before Universal Medicine, who do show how to ‘walk the talk’ so to speak on living a life that respects the body’s messages.

204. Learning to listen to our truth is the best medicine on earth.

     1. Learning to listen to our truth and expressing it, definitely is the best medicine on earth Matthew!

     2. And it’s a Universal Medicine that covers all bases – preventative and curative.

     3. And it’s pretty cool having people like you around Matthew expressing such pearls of wisdom. Bring ’em on. Loving your work.

     4. Absolutely it is the best medicine.

205. It’s interesting when you write about thoughts and how your body feels Leigh, as this is something I have been playing with myself. A little while back I had an experience which stood out for me and has helped me ever since – I was having very hard thoughts, which at the time seemed to have its hold on me, so I chose to do some ever so gentle exercises and instantly I noticed the thoughts had nothing to hold onto.

     1. That is a beautiful experience you share Julie, a very simple true sharing that can support all of us.

     2. I too have experienced something similar, when stressed or tense if I wiggle my toes or shake my arms or walk in a different way, the harsh thoughts often get shaken off literally! The body’s movements, how we care for it and its effects on our mental health needs to be studied more.

206. I contracted flu for the first time in over ten years and didn’t see it coming although the signs were there. It taught me vulnerability and fragility, both of which I needed to feel and gave me time to step back and reflect on how I got there. I saw how trying to ‘overdo’ things and control, led to build up in intensity all of my own making that was not necessary. Illness brought me back to gentler place within, to trust and surrender.

     1. Just reading your comment brought me back to a gentler place too kehinde2012, thank you.

207. “…when there is a cold sensation in my hands, often there are cold, hard thoughts in my head.”

     This is great Leigh. I love how you have connected very simply the relationship between our bodies and our minds. A truth we seem all too willing to overlook. Our illnesses are not a curse, nor are they random and in need of sympathy. Our illnesses are a marker for the amount of truth we have either lived or not lived and therefore are there to show us and guide us back to the love in our hearts.

     1. Our illnesses are like rings of a tree, they can tell so much about how we have lived in the past.

        1. Wow Steve I like what you have shared – it is such a wonderfully simple and not dramatic way to look at our illnesses.

208. In order to override the all that we are, we need to set in motion the all that we are not. This is how we come to ignore the vast amount of wisdom that pours through our bodies from our creating source (God) and in so doing craft a way of living that is based entirely on who we are not, at the expense of who we truly are.

     1. To not be who we are, we need to set into motion all that we are not. Boy, no wonder there is so much exhaustion in the world. Brilliant Liane, thank you.

209. A great sharing Leigh. It seems that as soon as we have an expectation of what we ‘should’ do, we have already separated from ourselves and in this ‘gap’ thus created, in floods a whole host of doubts, insecurities and fears that are all there to upset the solidness and stillness that is our natural state.

     1. Liane I like your description with this “gap” which we create if we are not in our flow but instead trying to fulfill our expectation. This is really like an unknown disease for me – a lot of us are not aware of it to the extent that we are believing that is our normal way of living.

210. I agree Leigh, attending the Ancient Wisdom Teaching presentations by Serge Benhayon has given me the opportunity to bring more focus to my body and choose to listen to it again. It continues to confirm the innate deep wisdom our amazing vehicle of expression is (the body and mind as one).
     “These learnings have come about through my involvement with Universal Medicine and the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom as presented by Serge Benhayon”.

211. A great analogy here Leigh with the flat tyre .Driving a car with flat tyres would feel a very bumpy and uncomfortable immediately and be audible to the anyone in the car. This would have a knock on effect and cause more damage to other parts of the car if continuing to drive this way. Exactly the same disregard we bring to our body when not listening to the loud signals the body is constantly communicating.
     “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?”

     1. This is so true Stephanie. Why do we not treat our own bodies with the same respect and love as we do our cars? When you think of it in this way it seems ridiculous.

        1. Your comment reminds me of a conversation I had with a lady one day at a training course. She had just arrived having driven from home and related to me that on her journey, a passing car had ‘kicked up’ a stone which then came through her open driver’s side window and whacked her hard on the temple. She said to me ‘it was lucky I had my window down, wasn’t it? – or the window might have been broken’. I just looked at her and she realised what she had said. Yes, we treat our cars with more love and respect than our bodies – and it is ridiculous.

        2. What a great story, and what a great reflection you gave her.This is a good example of how we value our possessions more than our bodies.

212. I too have put my tasks ahead of going to the bathroom in the past. If my body could talk, it wouldn’t be very happy with me at the time. We tell our kids go to the bathroom when you need to, don’t hold on to your urine as its not good for the body.. So why do we do it? Do we feel our childs body is more important than ours? I wonder….

     1. You make a good point here Jody, as often we can see with others what they should or shouldn’t be doing because we know that their actions will or could result in illness, but at the same time we are good at overriding those same feelings with ourselves.

213. ‘What I have learnt is that the body would never willingly put itself into a situation whereby it would become ill or diseased.’ We always have a choice. To listen to our bodies or not… and even when we do override our bodies and get ill its so important to still listen and honour what it is that our bodies require.

214. Back in my college days I took a course called medical sociology. It was all about the expectations of what a sick person adapts to and should act like. It’s like wearing a warm coat on a cold day – an act with out thinking. It can invoke: sympathy from others; you are not expected to work: the list goes on and being ill allows everyone to play their parts. Nowhere in this process is there any investigation of: Why did I get ill? We are too busy just putting on that old comfortable coat.

     1. I love what you share here Steve, we fall into patterns of behaviour, ‘that comfortable old coat’ and we do this to avoid feeling what might be on offer with the circumstances facing us, and to avoid considering that how we’ve been may not be working. Instead we reach for that coat and we don’t want to know if it fits us or not, or even it it’s appropriate – it reminds me that in each situation we must assess and discern what is what and feel what is needed.

     2. This is very true Steve, illness is a state of being that people respond to by assuming roles. There is a particular way to be if you are in the role of the ‘sick person,’ in the role of the ‘carer’ or ‘concerned friend/colleague.’

        These roles are not static and will appear differently between people but many of us have a role of some description we assume in response to ‘illness.’

215. Realising that being sick is a message from our body to stop and listen to it is a real way to live in honouring our body and its messages to us. If only this was taught to us from a child how different our lives and way of living would be honouring who we are and learning form everything we are shown.

     1. I agree, Tricia, it is a stopping and pondering what the body wants to communicate to us.

        1. There is much more to what is going on than we are aware of and the understanding we are bringing through is about trusting the body and allowing its wisdom to guide us. Everything is as a result of the choices we have made as we live our lives.

     2. Illness is also a great way to clear ourselves. Unlike relief, the clearing can be permanent if we don’t recreate what needed to be cleared from us and our body.

216. The body talks to us always. The illness is actually providing a moment to pause and reflect on how our thoughts about ourselves or lifestyle may have caused the illness in the first place. So illness is our evolution – a moment instead to celebrate. To feel a failure instead of appreciation is another insidious perception society has set up to stunt the opportunity for individuals to evolve.

     1. Gina, yes ‘illness is our evolution’ and yet we often fight it, and part of it is our perception and what we in society consider should be the way, but the thing that struck me on reading your comment is that we are very stuck on what we want, having a very strong idea of how it should be and demanding of ourselves and our bodies that they meet that standard no matter what, and we do not like illness because deep down we know it’s calling us out on how we’ve been living, the quality we’ve approached things in and it’s saying to us, ‘not this way’, and it’s asking us to take responsibility, to understand that what we allow affects us, all of us, and that we do not get away with anything, and it’s saying no this is not the way. It’s a gift and it requires our humility and grace to accept it and the learning it offers us.

        1. What I realized out of your comments Monika and Gina, is that often we have ideas, ideals and beliefs how it should be and react concerning those ideals, and as such we miss the wonder and miracle the actual moment offers to us.

        2. The bodies messages of discomfort, illness and disease simply being “it’s saying to us, ‘not this way’”. The gentleness that I felt while reading this was tangible. I have for a very long time and still do at times react to a discomfort or illness as a punishment that deserves to be treated harshly – even writing that feels wrong! More and more now I am experiencing this simplicity of the bodies messages that don’t come loaded, the loading comes from the mind, whereas the body is simply stating “Not this way”. Thank you Monica.

        3. Leigh I love how you’ve called out that loading that comes from the mind that we place on the body, and how the body simply shows us the truth, no judgement, it just is.

        4. Beautiful Monica. What I felt in your comment is the two-fold deception we hold with illness. One, ‘having a strong idea of how it should be’ – that having perfect health is the goal; which leads to the second aspect to fool us, that illness is a sign of failure. As you say, these are simply convenient ideas and pictures society extols which relinquishes us of responsibility. How much in our lives and within society do assumptions and pictures provide us get out clauses from taking full responsibility and denies us the gift of true evolution to know who we really are?

        5. Gina, what a great expansion, I can feel how any outcome we desire is often tied up with us not wanting to take responsibility and to avoid evolution, and as I write this, I can feel how much I can operate in this way, looking for a convenient truth rather than the truth.

        6. awesome Monica – getting to the crux and root cause of why we set up pictures and desired outcomes – so we can avoid seeing the real truth that is presented in each and every situation – so we can be looking always ahead to the outcome, taking us totally out of what is unfolding for us in the moment. A total abdication of responsibility.

        7. Yes it is Gina, and it’s great that we are now allowing ourselves to see this game we’ve been playing for aeons.

217. Often people, when they have discovered they have cancer, stop to reflect on how they are living and get a strong understanding their condition is related to their lifestyle and environment. Then why would a headache, cold, or virus be any different?

     1. Great point, why do we stop to reflect only when there seems to be a serious illness or disease, but we ignore all the warning signs like headaches, migraines, colds, virus or fever ? Or we put them down to its just nothing serious body goes through things like this. In truth these are warning signs that something is not right. If we reflected more seriously on these we could look at changing our lives to prevent serious illness and disease.

        1. Yes; if we listened to the milder warning signs, we wouldn’t need the big ones. I love the awareness I now have around a slight twinge I may feel and know it is my body having a dialogue with me. Even if I don’t fully understand the message, having this deep connection with my body feels exquisite.

     2. I agree – if it is true then it is true for everyone and in all situations, whether the condition is temporary and relatively simple or long term and complicated.

     3. Gosh how great would it be for modern medicine to live this understanding. Instead of just treating the illness/disease, actually look at the associated lifestyle choices. There is currently an ad on TV that says headaches and migraines can be related to posture and of course recommend the right medication to treat this, yet why does the ad not go that next step further and ask “why are we sitting in a way that harms ourselves?”. What if this was a campaign and everyone worked towards supporting each other to look at their posture – then we wouldn’t need medication. Simple really.

        1. Bringing the question in of why our posture is such a way that brings us the headache is hugely empowering. If we went from that angle then we wouldn’t need the medication if the postural issue was addressed by our choices in how we move. But then the world is as such where responsibility is avoided with a barge pole and there are those more than willing to pay for and sell a magic pill to make the discomfort go away rather than getting to the root. The pain may go but if the root isnt dealt with it may not just be a headache that we have to deal with. Recently playing with my own posture I can feel how I have been exhausting myself by how I hold my body. What if how we held our bodies was a huge dose of great medicine that we have in our hands (and shoulders and spine, hips and feet) right now?

        2. Gosh Laura – reading your comment helped me to see how much society perpetuates us to NOT know. The power of media could be so huge – imagine all the ads providing us with tips to truly understand the root cause of the condition. But then we wouldn’t need their drugs, and they wouldn’t get their profits. Greed and corruption will long hold back this opportunity; but one day we will work together in harmony and brotherhood to support each other in a true way back to vitality and knowing who we are and why we are here.

     4. Very true, all illness is an opportunity to reflect on the choices we’ve made to lead us to that point.

        1. One day we will see it for the true evolutionary process it is which gets to the root cause of the illness and changes behaviours – as opposed to our current definition of evolution being the invention of the medicine to fix the medical issue.

     5. I would agree that the ‘mild’ conditions are just as important to stop and reflect on as the ‘big’ conditions such as cancer. At the same time we have a whole mix of arrogance and comparison in the world that has us believing that unless it completely stops us we can keep going. I have had niggling conditions for years and not bothered to address them and sitting here now it makes me wonder – what if we were able to accept and share how sensitive we are and that even the ‘little’ things do in fact matter and are worth giving care towards, no different to say cancer.

218. Thank you Leigh for your blog. The perception around illness is indeed ‘failure’. When actually it is appreciation which should come to mind, because it is a moment when we are listening to our body and responding to what it is asking for or showing us, thereby offering an opportunity to change habits, lifestyles and behaviours.

     1. I agree ginadunlop. The opportunity to change the way we have chosen to live that hasn’t supported us. The body has spoken loud and clear that there is a pull to change.

     2. Gina to consider and appreciate illness is so far from the normality we find today yet for all those I’ve met who take this route, a route of appreciation and willingness to look at why they got sick, it’s been life changing. I know when I’ve become sick or ill when I appreciate what my body is showing me then I have a very different feeling in my body.

     3. Great point Ginadunlop, what a turn around it would be if instead of condemning ourselves for being ill we appreciated our bodies for the message it is giving us – I can see it now, someone at work says I’m feeling ill and we say congratulations, I will see you after you have rested your body and then we will discuss what the illness has shown you.

        1. What a great sharing! I currently work in an industry where, each day it has to be electronically announced who is away and for what reason. There is great focus on who is sick – and calling in sick feels like a great sense of failure. When in fact, the job is actually a very demanding and high stress job and what it reflects is an industry which places too much load on its employees and not enough attention to their wellbeing; so it feels like when people look at it, they are thinking, okay, who is not coping so well at the moment; it’s actually quite a solidarity moment, however it’s caught up with a lot of other stuff too. Each time I call in sick, though it still puts me in a spin of emotions. One day it will be like you have shared.

219. I remembered this awesome blog this morning Leigh, when I was deciding to have a sick day. First when I woke up I was trying to figure out if I needed to have a day off sick or not… then I stopped and went ‘your trying to work out from your mind whether or not your body needs to rest?!’ It was very simple after that, felt my body, it was no-way can’t work, need to rest and that was it, and emailed my work place. It’s when we go into our head about having a sick day that all the negative thoughts start tumbling in. Listening to my body is very clear with no emotion.

     1. Deciding to have a sick day should be no different when your car is not running right. We take it to a shop to have it analyzed. You have a choice to carry on and the problem gets worse or you leave it to get better. With our body we don’t need to have our body analyzed… we only need to feel what it requires.

        1. Spot on Steve, we only need to feel and listen to our bodies and follow through with what it is communicating.

     2. Good point Aimee, it is the head which causes the conflict, because we have already felt the illness in our body to even be considering taking the day off in the first place.

        1. It is very basic to take care of ourselves whether we are ill or not. The feedback is just more immediate when we are sick and it is great when we then follow our impulse.

        2. I agree, Julie and Aimee, we have a long past of following ideals and beliefs, which are in our head. To start to listen to the body and surrender to its state of being is a loving choice we can take.

     3. I agree Aimee, the body is clear in its messages with no emotion.

     4. What is truly touching me, is how much our ideals and beliefs guide our thoughts. And my question is, why does those ideals seem to be there only after feeling sick, for me it does not make sense. They must have been there already before, and perhaps was one of the reasons why we feel sick, just because those ideals do not belong to us, and perhaps because we give our power away to these ideals and thoughts we get sick. The illness wants to give us a signal and often we stay in the vicious circle of our emotional thinking.
        Great when we are able to get aware of this and come back to the truth of our bodies.

        1. I experienced this today Kerstin where my body needed to rest but all these thoughts were there of: keep going, you’re away on holidays and there isn’t much time left. I knew these thoughts were not from my body, because my body would not be saying keep going. How we think does affect our bodies but it’s super clear that our bodies would not be encouraging us to push, drive and harm ourselves.

        2. What I am finding is that by coming back to the body more, these ideals and beliefs have their entryway into the mind via the body. Every time for the past couple of weeks I wanted to reach for some nuts my right hip would flare up and become tight and uncomfortable, holding them made the feeling worse and the thoughts to eat louder. Truth comes from our bodies and when we choose to reject the truth we have to reject the body first that then allows the mind to take over.

     5. Beautiful Aimee. I used to get so stressed when needing to make the decision to stay home from work due to being sick. After phoning my employer I would then spend the next 3-4 hours stressing and worrying about the fact that I was not at work which was probably more taxing on my body than being at work would have been. What you present here is much more honouring.

     6. So true Aimee and what is beautiful is that lack of emotion allows space for us to change our ways, whereas the expectations drive us into the same routine that got us sick in the first place.

220. This is such an awesome question to pose Leigh and we should really start to have a close and honest look at how we treat our bodies. Our bodies are way more important than our cars, a car we can replace, our bodies are our vehicle for this life. So as you say and ask here: ‘You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?’

     1. We can replace a car but we can’t replace our bodies. Even with all the transplants and replacements in the world, our being is with this body for the duration of this life. And if we throw reincarnation into the mix, how we treat this body is our platform and building how we will treat the next body.

        1. So true we can replace our car but we cannot replace our body. Our being is with this body for this life. So it is up to us how we treat our body in this life as it is our reflection for our next life.

     2. Agreed Annelies, yet it has got to the point where we do replace parts of our bodies like they are spare parts, I wonder how far we are prepared to go before we question why the parts need replacing, well, question beyond the standard, “that’s life” or “these things happen” Yes, but “why is that life” and “why do these things happen”?

        1. People are identifying themselves with their illness and even are proud to have a new knee, hip or two new knees and hips. It has become normal to replace parts of our body when we get older, indeed “these things happen” the “why” question is too hard to ask, I guess.

     3. A great question Annelies. And the answer. . .

        Because we are looking outside our own bodies and our own selves to ideals to tell us how we need to live and be. This includes how to have a relationship with illness. The going ‘ideals’ are that you are a better employee, harder worker, more committed friend, tougher or better mother if you put yourself second during illness and ‘solider on’ despite it.

        1. Great point katemaroney1 – this ‘putting ourselves second’ is plague-like in its proportions. If we don’t think about ourselves we can ignore all the little niggles and ‘messages’ from our body to take more care – and we are a ‘better person’ for others – and will have a lovely eulogy to look forward to when our bodies finally give up on us.

     4. Well said Annelies; just yesterday I heard in the news that our health system is bursting at it’s seams; the costs of our so called ‘health’ care – more like ‘illness care’ is totally blowing out and the Government is not sure where to go with it all. No wonder when we as a humanity have taken on a way of living and being with ourselves that is so self-harming and lacking of any true self-care. Our bodies are now clearly telling us that we cannot keep going like this, or our Health Systems and our Governments will go bankrupt.

221. Yes Elizabeth, illness and disease is a true healing and an opportunity to stop, contemplate and reconnect.

222. Fine tuning our response to the bodies messages is a process of clearing all the expectations and beliefs I have placed on my body, to continue to function without any consideration of how the body actually knows and is ‘ the marker of all truth’ is being in total disregard for the amazing unconditional loving support we are being continually offered. As you say Leigh we would not treat a car, say a Ferrari in the same blasé way we treat our bodies, and a car is mechanical and can be replaced but we are far more than even the body that carries us, we are reflections of light and divine wisdom and to be cherished.

     1. Even when not experiencing illness or disease, even if we are experiencing dis-ease or discomfort in our bodies that is already a warning sign. It lights the icons on our dashboard flashing and I know from my own experience that when something comes up on my car dashboard I pay attention. And yet that same focus has not been a consistency or even a consideration in my life in regards to my body. As you say Merrilee our bodies are not just there to function and deserve greater care and attention and our respect for it’s messages than we currently have in the world today.

     2. So true – often we do treat cars – which are ultimately disposable better than our bodies. How is this possible, what type of thinking do we align to that supports a denial of how our bodies are feeling?

        1. The thinking of a slave driver I would say Sandra. It is as though we think our body is there for us to flog.

223. The expectation to push through and keep going is certainly a big one, and I know the guilt of letting people down or adding to someone else’s plate only too well. Yet I also know what it is like to have someone in the office but not working at full strength, it is often not appreciated which builds resentment from the person ‘sacrificing’ themselves for work compounding their illness.

     1. brilliant Lucy. Work situations are often not geared to make space for this kind of understanding, they are geared for function and productivity. clearly a sense of ‘people’ is needed to be re-introduced.

224. Thank you Leigh for opening just a great discussion. When we make life about expectations we become the slave driver of the body to fulfill these expectations and we flog it and when it is not working we get frustrated and guilty we are not living up to what we or others have laid on ourselves so we take medication so that it can ‘soldier on’ or we take time off in a state of constant worry or unease. All is clearly a setup to keep us always on the back foot. When we start to understand that the body is intelligent and that it is constantly talking to us we can start to listen to it and we form a connection that we can work with and learn from. It is crazy, cruel and loveless how we have been driving the body without connecting to it.

     1. You’ve summed up dis-connection and connection here beautifully Kathleen and something I am sure many can relate to when questioning the relationship they may have with their bodies. We can choose to be our bodies worst enemy or we can choose to lovingly listen and honour it’s intelligence. I am still having to remind myself each day that this choice is within my ability in every moment but the way the world is currently set up it is a choice that will be needed and reminded of for a while still. Expectations are a goal addiction if not an outright plague.

        1. Yes Leigh, expectations make us cruel slave drivers of our bodies.

     2. Kathleen your last sentence brings it all into perspective. What is going on for us to treat ourselves this way and expect the same of others? When we do connect to our bodies and hearts there is no way we can impose this crazy, cruel and loveless way on the divine beings we truly are.

        1. Spot on Sandra, the way we treat our bodies is reflective of the way we really are with others. We may appear to take care of our selves by presenting well yet still treat ourselves with utter contempt and disregard. We all are capable of being quite superficial if we are not in connection with our body .

225. The way you describe your way of addressing these expectations Leigh, is like you have border guards, running passport checks on all these thoughts, looking to travel in to your body. It is beautiful that you have this process of questioning to see if these thoughts are truly loving. So much of what ends up coming to us, is not kind or clear. The less we entertain these harsh instructions the more we give our body space to be and do whatever it needs to do to bring us back to the truth.

     1. What you have picked up is lovely Joseph. Our body when allowed runs with immense order and great wisdom, and is a great ally in our deepening appreciation, understanding and expansion in life. It is well worth paying attention to when harsh and unloving thoughts try to sabotage so that we give our body the space it needs to do its wonders.

        1. I like the expression Golnaz… when the body needs to do its wonders…
           It is so simple and brings everything back to the body.

     2. I love this analogy Joseph. Our hearts, our arms, our jaw, our toes are all like the border guards. If the heart, jaw and arms or toes have tensed up, contracted, gone hard then that is the alarm raised for a choice we have made to allow these thoughts to slip in past the first security gates. What I am finding is that now if the thoughts come in they have already slipped through the first set of gates. I have allowed them in in order to not feel what I am feeling and take responsibility in expressing what I feel. Still working on coming back to the first set of gates but I appreciate how responsive my body is to the energy of my movements, thoughts and what I express.

226. I love that Harryjwhite. The simplicity is reintroduced when we accept we know ourselves inside out, have already lived this as a child and surrender to living our tender, loving, playful selves as adults.

227. Cool. I love the simplicity of the way you have made this point, Elizabeth. Illness can come up when we have allowed a deeper level of awareness and can therefore clear patterns and behaviours through a period of illness.

228. For me it is definitely the ‘perceptions of illness’ that dictate how burdensome or severe it is. And, shame about being ill, along with pride for appearing to never get sick, are two things that rear their head. Neither have the understanding and openness to respond to my body’s signs and signals with care and immediacy. I have just put a blanket around my shoulders and recognise that in the smallest of caring gestures the ‘toughness’ of my thoughts melt…

229. I have been thinking about all the expectations and images that we have of how things have to be or should be and how it sets us up for dissapointment and how we compare one event to a previous one instead of just seeing each event or relationship or moment as fresh and new.

     1. beautiful point Rosie! Life is so much simpler and more open when we take this approach.

     2. So true Rosie. Our expectations crush any opportunities for expansion and growth and we can often miss the amazing learning when something presents differently.

        1. And often, the only reason why we want it the same as the last time is the control factor, the predictability… rather than being open for whatever presents itself.

230. What’s offered here is that; thoughts become evidenced in the body – energy becomes matter. You’ve shown expectations are actually disruptive to a naturally harmonious state and therefore expectations are harmful to our health. I certainly notice how my expectations can set me up for reactions or to behave in a way that’s not in fact natural or harmonious.

231. Yes, these expectations around our bodies are very heavy. Something as simple as wearing enough clothes can elicit a lot of looks and comments.

     1. That is something I have noticed too Christoph, the expectations to override our body’s feelings have become an accepted way of living in society. Great example is that at work I get comments pretty much every single day when I come in or leave work with three pairs of trousers on (thermals, jeans, jogging pants). It’s winter and I feel the cold, so in order to care for my body the jogging pants support me to not feel cold. But this is novel and even strange to those around me as the expectations to not care to this level of care are so thick.

232. It is very sad Susan I agree. And what is so alarming is the amount of products, substances and consumables out there designed to support us to over ride our bodies when we get sick. Flu remedies, pain killers, drinks full of hormones and caffeine and sugar laden snacks all substances that over ride our finely tuned and extremely sensitive hormone, nervous and immune systems. It is therefore extremely impressive that Leigh is choosing to feel and honour her innate wisdom in the face of such a force. It is not something we are encouraged to do, but given the rate of rising illness is something we need to be taking on board big time!

233. I think we have all felt a huge amount of judgment around our illness, a sense of failure, a resentment in ‘I really don’t have time to be ill.’ or just ‘I knew my lifestyle was not supporting me but I was getting away with it for a while. All this drama impedes the healing process and it is as simple as “body needs some extra care in this moment and it is not a failure.” Thank you for keeping it real Leigh.

     1. There certainly is a sense of failure around being ill Bernard, and those that carry on regardless see it as a badge of honour.

234. So true, when we tell people we are sick, or have an illness or disease, we always feel sorry, give sympathy or get emotional. But how about seeing it as something that needs to happen and that this is the way of the body to clear itself and that it is a big healing? Then maybe we don’t have to feel sorry but reflect back and empower the other in their own responsibility and that there is a reason for this to happen.

     1. Getting emotional or giving and seeking sympathy only makes the situation worse no different to expectations. Expectations are like specifically configured emotions they go through a set pattern and cycle from judgement, disappointment, blame, shame, sadness then fear of judgement. From my experience based on how my body feels after going through an emotional moment or realising that I have gone into sympathy, for myself or others, is not healthy.

        1. Amen! Wel said Leigh, love it.

     2. Yes feeling the fact that illness is the bodies way of restoring harmony means that it is to be appreciated and not sympathised with.

        1. Absolutely, but what we do is keep people in the role of victim, like they have no responsibility at all and that illness or disease are just bad luck. This is so far from the truth.

235. When our body shows us signs of illness, the most loving thing to do is to stop and feel what we need to support us. Often the tendency is to want to get ‘back to normal’ as quickly as possible, as if the illness is an inconvenience, particularly if it comes at a time when we are very busy, or have events scheduled. But maybe that’s exactly why it has happened at that time, so that we get the message – the timing is no accident.

     1. Great point, Sandra, flagging up the push to ‘get back to normal’ ignoring the fact that there will be some learning on offer, with our bodies waving a flag for us to respond to and develop from. So no more rushing to ‘get back to normal’ but more of, ‘OK, what is on offer here for me to review and refine the way I am living’.

        1. So true Sandra ….the timing of any illness is no accident.

     2. Whatever the illness small or large but especially small, should be the elephant in the room. We need to listen to what our body is telling us.

236. A gorgeous blog Leigh, reading your words really brought me into my body to feel what it needed in this precise moment, to lay, rest and recover from a weekend spent moving house. From here I could connect more deeply with a health issue that is going on in my body and make better friends with it, knowing it is my body communicating how I have been living and the opportunity for me to make different choices. I feel super surrendered and comfortable with what is happening in my body and that feels very nourishing right now. Thank you for such inspiration

237. In workplaces now, it is quite common for someone to ‘work from home’ when they are sick with a cold or virus. It is often because they don’t want to spread their cold or virus to others, or so they can keep working in a gentler way without travel and the hustle and bustle of the city. In particular, Managers do this, and in doing so, they set a precedent amongst staff that you find a way to keep things going when you’re sick – work from home, take some pills…but keep going.

238. Leigh – you’ve covered so much in your blog that many people face with illness – whether it be a cold or a more debilitating illness. I’ve noticed how men tend to surrender to it when they have a cold or flu, and will rest but that’s been taken and twisted as being weak and even given a label, ‘man flu’, as if resting and taking time out is a weakness and that the expectation is to pop some pills and keep going.

     1. Your comment has stopped me in my tracks to consider the underlying, unkind impact of ‘humorous’ catch phrases such as ‘man flu’. Every time we use it we are cementing the attitude in our world that taking care, responding to our bodies’ signals and surrendering to what is on offer to learn, is a weakness and something to be derided. All the while longing for a time when we can be tender, honest and caring with each other, and knowing that sensitivity and fragility are in fact great strengths.

        1. It’s always bothered me when I’ve heard this term ‘man flu’ used as it is a direct put down and says ‘come on, man up and get on with it’, and sadly, it often comes from a woman, possibly a partner or close colleague, and of course, it speaks volumes about the person saying it and how they don’t give themselves permission to stop and honour the rest their body is calling out for.

        2. Well said Matilda, I never really considered the term ‘man flu’ in that way but it feels like it is belittling a man for not being able to override how ill they feel, and is loaded with expectations that they should suck it up and get on with it.

239. It makes so much sense that at times our bodies need to clear out what is old, re-fresh, rejuvenate, restore and re-connect to full vitality and well-being. Cars receive and oil change, computers get de-fragged, rubbish is thrown out every day. Why would we consider our bodies in any less light and treat with any less care and regard than the mechanical items that support our everyday living?

240. Every moment in life is precious and this includes being ill. Life has become so much about the doing that we do not feel worthy when we are not able to do as we normally would. Illness gets a bad name but we could instead start to wonder what is it about our lives that we do not feel worthy when we cannot produce? This blog is amazing in that it challenges this exact fact… Why do we not feel precious all the time?

     1. Well said Lieke, “why do we not feel precious all the time?” Is it because we have been sold the image that we are only worth anything when we perform and not when we just be? Feeling precious just for who we are does not fit in that image but is exactly what we have to learn. Life is not about achieving anything, it is about living our light and preciousness to the best of our ability in all that we are.

241. Part of the reason we react so much to the news of illness and disease is that we do not like to own how much of a role we have in the quality of our own health. We arrogantly believe that our body should be there at our call and beckon, and then when it lets us down, we ridicule it. Thus why we so loudly declare that we need to fight cancer, when in truth, fighting is the last thing we should be doing when confronted with such a disease. For what are we fighting when we say such a thing? We are fighting ourselves, for cancer is always produced by the very body that enhouses us. It is not a foreign object but rather our own body showing us something is deeply wrong.

     1. Great comment Adam, we indeed ridicule our body when we deem it has let us down! Put in this way I can see how we drive our bodies to the ground and then are frustrated and upset with it when the body breaks down and can no longer get up and perform. We are in fact like cruel slave drivers.

        1. Hi Kathleen, indeed we are like cruel slave drivers to our bodies and even when our body gets sick we tend to treat it in the same way although it is actually healing itself from the abusive way we have treated it. There is no respect, understanding, appreciation and honouring in this way of dealing with our body, something it actually deeply deserves, as our body only is and provides us its full service unconditionally so.

        2. Spot on Nico this is a great way of looking at it. The body needs to be fully honoured appreciated for the service it delivers, instead of being driven, abused and disregarded.

242. Thank you Leigh and Elizabeth, absolutely, “illness itself is always the healing” and thank God it is, otherwise our bodies would build to be in a much bigger mess. The truth in healing as presented by Serge Benhayon makes so much sense, and the loving choices that are possible because of how much we have healed.
     For more about Serge Benhayon go to;
     http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=SERGE+BENHAYON

243. Seeing it this way, Elizabeth, ends the self-destructive cycle of guilt and shame.

244. We have become slaves to the machine… by our own choices. When we started our current of any one of our many jobs that we have done in the past, were we told as part of employment it was unacceptable to company’s bottom line to be sick? Is it ironic that by us choosing this mind set it contributes to us getting ill.

245. “And in my body my heart was racing at a thousand miles an hour.” This line describes perfectly how our body response to the thoughts fed by our expectations, that our body gets terrified by those thought as they do absolutely not match to the state our body is in and causes it to go in stress or the fight or flight mode. It is worth to considered that this reaction of our body is naturally there to save us from life threatening situations like a fire or natural disaster and that for our body these ‘expectation thoughts’ are no different to that.

     1. Thank you for this Nico: “this reaction of our body is naturally there to save us from life threatening situations like a fire or natural disaster and that for our body these ‘expectation thoughts’ are no different to that.” In this I can relate it to my body going into a tense state when reacting to something I feel. There are no reactions lesser than any other, they are all equal and deserve to be treated as such. But in a world where the energetic factor is ignored, and our ability to feel, I can certainly say for myself that there has been a perception held whereby what I feel and reacting to it and dealing with it has not been held as equally important as staying alert to physical threatening situations – driving my car for example requires a lot of attention and rightly so. But is that same alertness given to the energies constantly around and coming through us?

        1. Wel said Leigh, it all comes down to taking responsibility to live life in full including the energetic aspects which we tend to ignore but are actually equally or even more important than the temporal life aspects.

246. I have noticed that when I do listen to my body, those around me notice and notice quite strongly even if nobody says a word.

     1. Hear Hear Jenny!!! spot on.

247. Yes Elizabeth, we need a complete paradigm shift when it comes to understanding the true purpose of illness and disease. I certainly held the view that it was a failure to get sick for many years. Interestingly enough this was fostered by my studies in Naturopathy… you would think that might be one place where a deeper understanding might exist. This was not the case, it wasn’t until Universal Medicine that this deeper understanding was offered.

248. Leigh I really love the way you’ve expressed what you have here… one standout was ‘the body is given a far greater presence in life and its communications and responses to human life are vital, if not a basic key to true health, well-being and vitality’. You have captured the essence of what Universal Medicine presents and what is required if we are to truly turn around health and wellbeing.

249. You pose a great question Leigh, to consider how less a burden illness may be by the way we approach and respond to it. It would be medicine in itself if we approached an illness with a different style of questioning, like.. ‘what is this aliment showing me?’ or ‘whats the body discarding?’. Having a relationship with our body by understanding the way it communicates with us could be like having our own personal physician.

250. Illness is such a clear message from our selves that we need to stop and reassess how we are being. The “push through the sickness” attitude is like sticking your fingers in your ears so you can carry on regardless. Our body is incredibly wise, and can tell us so much about ourselves if we give it a chance to.

     1. Naren my relationship with illness has certainly changed in recent years, and I love the point Leigh makes that “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies”. As what I get from this is we would stop, look at why we got the flat tyre, get it fixed and work at not getting a flat again. In most cases as we don’t want to pay for another tyre, but a tyre only costs a few hundred pounds – our bodies are truly priceless.

        1. That’s a good point David, a tire only costs a few hundred pounds and if our cars constantly kept breaking down we would seriously consider how we are driving or what is causing the situation because the costs and time to keep repairing it would not be accepted. And yet the costs of treating the rising illness and disease rates are not given the same attention.

        2. And for many of us, the state of our car’s health gets far more attention than our own. It is a bit of a backwards state of priorities.

251. I have gone back to work too soon also Gill, and the last time I was off with a chest and throat infection and had to take two weeks off. Rumblings of when are you coming back started to filter through to me from work and I ended up going in even though my body was telling me you are not up to it. It has to be one of the worst feelings sitting there at work whilst you know what you need is to rest deeply.

     1. This time however I have approached a cold very differently, instead of waiting until my chest and throat became inflamed and I got really ill, I took two days off to look after myself. I could feel the benefit of allowing myself those two days to rest up and my body is coping with the virus differently.

252. The view we have of illness and disease, we could also say the relationship we primarily have is what leads us to seeking for ourselves or feeling sympathy for another. This only keeps us trapped in the beliefs that we have of illness and how we have to be when we are ill.

     1. Yes good point Jennifer, our view of illness and disease is primarily founded in being victim to it… this does not support healing whatsoever, and fosters seeking outside ourselves, and expecting sympathy from others, as well as being sympathetic towards others as you say.

253. I only ever considered illness as something to be endured or to be gotten over with or to be dealt with. Once I realised that illness can be an opportunity to clear and as a learning experience, these illnesses have become much easier to deal with.

     1. I agree Christoph. The moment we would fight a illness, we make it worse. When we realize, every illness is there for a reason and every illness reflects to us back, how we have lived before, the healing can start.

254. I like that Leigh, “you wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres” how true we can easily treat our bodies worse than our cars.

     1. So true! That struck me too. We would never put the wrong oil or petrol in the car and we value the importance of regular services. Yet we do not bring the same dedication to our own bodies.

255. Yes Leigh this key expectation, that we should be well all of the time, seems to be part of what is making us ill. When we understand and listen to what our body and life has to say without reaction we are informed and made wise in the most beautiful way.

     1. I agree Joseph- the pressure we put on ourselves to be well all the time is what is creating the stress- not allowing the body to discard what it needs and when it needs to, and learning to read what the body is trying to say re our life choices.

     2. We should not have any expectations of our body, but through movement and our choices allow it to build vitality. When we let go of the expectation there is more space for healing in the body and evolution to take place.

     3. This is a great point Joseph. Building a picture of what a well body looks like and expecting that from our body is like expecting it to be sunny all the time. It serves us much more to understand the loving dynamics and order behind the weather conditions as well as the illness in our bodies, which will support us in deepening our awareness and responsibility.

     4. “We should be well all of the time”, I can relate to this one very well. With such an expectation we put so much pressure on ourselves, I have the same feeling like you, this behavior can be part of what is making us ill.

256. It is quite uncanny how our thoughts affect our body and how we run our body affects our thoughts and it can go on and on, a vicious cycle away from our true awareness. But in the midst of it we still do have a choice, at any point we can choose to stop and bring our attention to our bodies and be honest about what we feel in that moment – and this is a turn around deepening our understanding and awareness. Our body is always our great ally whether ill or not.

     1. Golnaz what you say is so spot on… ‘Our body is always our great ally whether ill or not…’ This is so true, and yet it is not the way the vast majority see it. We do not grow up with anything like this view… and we would take far better care of ourselves if we did have the understanding you are offering.

     2. This is so true Golnaz, I am also starting to see that the relationship I have had with my body has been one of function at best and it’s only of late that I am seeing my body for what it is my best friend and ally.

     3. Yes Golnaz, it is always our choice, if we listen to the body and start to heal, or if we don’t, and then life becomes even harder. I like the fact, that it is always up to us, if we start to heal or not – there are no coincidences.

257. Well said Leigh – ‘ There is such a negative view and relationship with illness and disease in the world today, such that if you say you are ill or have a condition it can bring up responses or reactions in others such as ‘That’s life,’ ‘Poor you,’ ‘That sucks’ etc. But when I give myself the chance to pause and feel how my body relates to ill health, all that heavy emotional loading is not there, it is simply a moment which I can learn from. For example: when there is a cold sensation in my hands, often there are cold, hard thoughts in my head and the illness is no different in that it is showing me (without all the drama) that the body needs some extra care in this moment and it is not a failure.’

     1. “When I give myself the chance to pause and feel how my body relates to ill health, all that heavy emotional loading is not there, it is simply a moment which I can learn from. For example: when there is a cold sensation in my hands, often there are cold, hard thoughts in my head and the illness is no different in that it is showing me (without all the drama) that the body needs some extra care in this moment and it is not a failure.’”. There’s such great Wisdom and Warmth in these two sentences. I feel very held when reading these lines. As if I’m absolutely understood and held whatever happens within my body to which I might react, go into drama. Because the latter is the ‘normal’ in daily society, there’s so much fear towards illness and disease which puts an (awful) lot of stress and pressure on both ourselves as well as the medical system. How freeing would it be if we but allowed around the world that illness and disease are just a way of clear communication to us that we are to take extra care of ourselves. We could joyfully share our experiences and learnings, rather than be quiet and withdraw from life. Thank you Jenny for your great Warmth, Wisdom and Love.

     2. Jenny I love what you’ve shared here that ‘it is simply a moment which I can learn from’ and it simplifies everything and brings it back to listening to the body and feeling what next and where do we need to go to from here. The body communicates without emotion or drama and we can simply hear that or add drama, and in fact often we add that drama as a way to ignore the clear message the body is sending , or to deny the knowing of how we’ve been. And as you say Jenny we have a choice in that moment we can take extra care with the body or deny it, and why would we deny it as it is just showing us the truth of what is going on?

258. Leigh this sentence got me: “What I have learnt is that the body would never willingly put itself into a situation whereby it would become ill or diseased.” That is also my own experience as it is always my will I am using to put it over my body needs.

259. You have exposed the underbelly of expectations Jonathan. They fall into the same category of ‘Wishes’ and we know the outcomes invested in them!

     1. Yes Steve I agree, wishes do come from expectations, and show our investment in something being a particular way. That sets us up for disappointment and with that, we lose our spark. Expectations… and all that then follows, is definitely NOT good medicine!

260. I love your sharing Leigh, it has brought more understanding to what is happening on a daily basis concerning expectations. They are sometimes hidden, that I almost cannot recognise them as expectations.

     1. So true Kerstin. The honesty in viewing and seeing the debilitating impact of expectations Leigh has introduced here is very liberating. It shows the unnecessary complication we can so easily weave into our lives through our adopted beliefs and expectations and that we are the masters of turning it round for ourselves.

261. The work you speak of Susan seems so important, but nothing is important enough to take us away from who we are. I find it a daily challenge to bring this wisdom into my life, but it is a path well worth walking.

262. ‘What I have learnt is that the body would never willingly put itself into a situation whereby it would become ill or diseased.’ Truth. Pure and simple.

     1. So beautifully simple.

     2. Lucy that’s true it is our choices and movement that create these conditions. As we move with less appreciation and less acceptance of our selves and everything around us we bring in energy to bring us down and through this illness and disease can start to grow. It is so important to self appreciate and accept the amazingness we all are, the essence we are all from the one unified light of the universe.

263. It’s true about not driving a car with flat tyres. Last night I put myself to bed early and although I could have slept for longer, it was very rejuvenating. This is something I would like to do for myself every night, not just when I am feeling exhausted.

     1. Yes Annie, it is very supportive to head to bed early, and nothing feels more deeply nurturing at times than to do this when it’s not out of sheer exhaustion.

264. Great questions we all would do well asking of ourselves Leigh. It can be so much simpler than we often make it for ourselves. To have a relationship with our body where we are building harmony, like you say Leigh, as simple as attending to our basic bodily functions at the moment of the call. When this loving attention is given, we afford ourselves the space to best equip ourselves for what is needed next.

     1. Well said Giselle; developing a loving relationship with our bodies really need not be complicated; responding to how we feel is so simple and straightforward if we do it consistently and don’t allow a momentum of disregard to build up.

        1. Exactly Susie, living in a loving way with ourselves need not be looked upon as a daunting task requiring great preparation, but a simple awareness and honesty about how our body feels and responding in kind.

     2. Beautifully said, Giselle, that way we don’t have to worry about trust-issues anymore, because it is we ourselves who decide if we listen to what is given to us for support – or not.

        1. Interestingly Felix the more attention I pay to the constant communication my body offers, and respond accordingly, the more trust I build for myself, in turn allowing the magic of God to be felt.

     3. Yes, this is something I have noticed too. That attending to the signs my body gives as and when it gives them (going to the toilet being a simple example) actually makes life feel more spacious. I am sure this is simply because my body is not then living in the effort and stress of managing and suppressing its basic functions.

     4. I like your words “loving attention”. Love is the key to expose all the unloving behaviors and once we start to care for our body lovingly, it will change our life and the lives of the people around us as well.

265. Leigh I love what you have written about the effects of worries, how they take you away from your inner connection and how they deplete the body. You also write “I then paused for a moment and came back to my body and the warmth that I know is there to support me and as soon as I did the thoughts stopped!” Thankyou for sharing this as I recently have also been connecting to a warmth in my body and found this powerfully healing for discomfort in the body, but I hadn’t thought to connect back to it in these kinds of situations.

266. I was pondering why this phenomena happens. why most of us push through illness in total disregard of our selves and our bodies. I think we just don’t want to stop our wild momentums, for if we stop we might be confronted with the truth about how we really feel. And how many people feel amazing, joyful, vital and healthy most of the time?

267. Expectations that are harmful are not only those associated with illness but in fact any expectation, even if the expectation is for something that would be beneficial in our life. They are harmful as by having an expectation we put undue stress on ourselves to achieve it; if we do not achieve it we feel a failure and experience emotional stress; and by having an expectation we narrow our vision of our potential to that which we know when there is always more than our imagination or experience can imagine.

     1. Well said Jonathan Stewart, expectations are indeed very harmful. It’s actually setting up a game between wrong and right. If I’m expacting myself to always be in time, there’s no gracious space for me to allow my day to unfold. Expectations and ideals and beliefs go usually hand in hand. All of those do make us think / wonder that life should be a certain way – a fixed way that is I mean. The Truth is the polar opposite. There’s just things to be done and we’re impulsed to do them. If we constantly choose to listen, than there will be always enough space. Rather than time.

     2. So true Jonathon any expectation is actually limiting our potential. It is a contraction in our bodies, as we want to control the out come. Any contraction as you offer causes a stress, which in itself can start up illness.

     3. Jonathan, we seem to have pictures about everything – how we should be, how the world should be, and work, people, our body etc, etc. Learning to accept everything exactly the way it is, even the so called bad is a platform for joy in life, as well as for appreciation and contentment. When we can stop fighting how life is by expecting it to be different, we can connect to a wisdom within to understand life and evolve from that point.

     4. Jonathan I love that you’ve raised this, that any expectations are harmful, even good ones, actually I’d say especially good ones, as we put ourselves under huge pressure to achieve them and feel obliged to enjoy them, when in fact we’ve shut ourselves off from the magic around us to achieve them and put our bodies under undue stress along the way. Yet I feel how powerful expectations are, and how much control comes in here, how I want to control things, and control life through my expectations; I want to map it out and have ‘a’ lead to ‘b’ etc.

        And Floris’ comment stopped me ‘There’s just things to be done and we’re impulsed to do them’ – it blew my mind actually that it’s that simple – things to do and impulses to honour – and I can feel how different that is and how this requires a way of living that absolutely honours who I am in every single moment, that asks that I live fully present. It shows me both what is possible and the responsibility that comes with that – I cannot live from impulse if I am not honouring the body and how I am with me, there’s no room for expectations in this scenario whatsoever, it’s a complete paradigm shift in how we live and how we are. Thank you everyone for the discussion, it’s really rocked my world today and opened up whole new understandings and enquiries.

        1. I agree Monica, Jonathan and Floris have taken this to another level. The ‘good’ expectations are deadly because they are much softer than the harsh critical pushing and driving thoughts. The ‘good’ expectations are not questioned and paint a picture of security. I am finding my expectations require a huge amount of energy to maintain and the controlling of life is painful in the body.

           I can’t say I have consistently opened myself up to the fact that there is always something to respond to from within and trusting in that takes away any need to plan ahead (obviously we plan our days but what I mean is there would be no need and investment in situations occuring as our mind likes to repeat and perfect over and over again). It is a complete paradigm shift and one I am curious to explore. What is the impluse in this moment?

        2. How lovely to read the summary of all the comments Monica. It stopped me too:-). I reflected on these revelations and realised that the things that we are impulsed to do are actually in accordance with the rhythm that we choose to live. To a certain amount of responsibility – which differs from person to person – ‘belong’ a certain amount of impulses. And these are growing according our own choices and ‘progress’. It never stops and is forever adjusting where we’re at. This is taking a lot of pressure of regarding expactations, perfectionism, etc. Thank you all for this beautiful dialoque between the four of us.

        3. Floris, wow, what a gift to read this morning, to paraphrase you ‘to a certain amount of responsibility …. belong certain impulses’ or that we are impulsed based on the level of responsibility we are prepared to take. That completely knocks perfection and comparison on the head – I determine my own impulses based on how aware and thus responsible I choose to be. So there is nothing further to do but live me with the greatest awareness and responsibility – to be love in other words. I love the ever deepening awareness we all get when having these conversations, thank you one and all.

        4. I love reading your comment Monica. It’s such a confirmation of the Wisdom that ‘lives’ within everyone. As I read your comment I smiled at the Wisdom that came out of me when I wrote the comment. At the time I didn’t realise how Beautiful and revealing (also to myself) it was. It is indeed amazing how we inspire each other and grow everytime. Wow.

     5. Good point Jonathan, “by having an expectation we narrow our vision of our potential to that which we know when there is always more than our imagination or experience can imagine.” This greatly exposes the limitations that expectations have on us, and importantly this ‘limitation’ will be experienced and witnessed by the body also, there will be no escaping it.

     6. Expectations as you have said Jonathan are not just for Christmas. They are a form of gambling, we bet ourselves for a ticket to hit the big prize… that never comes. We get tunnel vision if we stay on this track and everything around us slowly fades away.

     7. Well said Jonathan, expectations feel to me to have some sort of a drive attached to them so naturally where there is drive there is stress and I see how as you point out they can narrow our vision of our true potential therefore capping and creating tunnel vision limiting our expansion and evolution.

     8. I agree Jonathan. As crazy as it may seem, our expectations are merely tools we use to set ourselves up for failure because we have deemed that we are not ready to handle the immense responsibility and joy that comes with living the love that we are.

     9. I agree Jonathan – the moment we have expectations, we are not connected to ourselves and others. They create a separation within us and to others. In such a situation we are telling the world – you have to be in a certain way, otherwise I don’t accept you. Acceptance of ourselves and others is the key to heal the expectations.

268. Leigh a great blog raising many important points. To choose one today, would be to look at the fact that we load illness and disease with so much more ‘stuff’, including emotions, than there ever needs be. Why? Because the truth is it serves no-one to do so, all it does is alleviate one from taking responsibility for ones behaviour and actions that causes the dis-ease in the first place…and then the cycle continues with no evolution or learning, but more emotional luggage.

     1. Great expansion Jenny, we do indeed load our illnesses with all sorts of emotion and drama, the better to not truly assess and feel how we’ve been living that has taken us to that point. It serves no one, ourselves or another and perpetuates a way of living which does not support us. When we approach illness for the gift it can offer us and be open to considering what may or may not be supportive in how we live, we open a door to a new more truer way.

        1. Yes , great point. the drama we create on top of the illness or injury completely distracts us from acknowledging self-responsibility and the opportunity for greater awareness and learning .

        2. Absolutely monicag2 and Jenny creating drama on top of illness injury and or dis-ease does not support healing it is a distraction that adds stress to an already stressed body.

        3. I love how there’s no such thing as coincidence and how your comments have taken me back here today. God really does have a sense of humour – I’m currently ill and feeling an old pattern of how I want to create drama around it rather than just sitting still and being with it, and so here I am reminded once again that drama doesn’t serve. Life really does support us when we allow it, and sometimes it’s about surrendering and allowing the body to show us the truth. So thanks for the redirection here today, it feels like a gentle poke from on high to remember that life can be simple and there’s no need to fight.

        4. Happy to be the conduit to bring that poke through to you monicag2

     2. Well said Jenny – especially I like your words “emotional luggage”. To react to our hurts and feelings in the body doesn’t make sense. When we do this, as you say, we basically create more chaos in the body, i.e. feeling the stuff within the body without judging is very important.

269. I love the way you talk about expectations of the way we feel in the body. My body races a lot too when I think worrying thoughts. This happens much less these days because I now know I have a choice to think them or not. Coming back to the warmth of the body as you so beautifully describe takes us out of the head and the worrying thoughts just disappear. The racing then stops too. I would have found this hard to believe a few years ago, but now it is a reality.

     1. Yes Rebecca, letting go of the ‘rush’ that I experience in the body when I engage in worrying thoughts, brings myself to a deepening, a surrendering to myself, to a place of deeper understanding and appreciation.

     2. I have also found that returning to my body when I have allowed myself to be temporally pulled out that what pulled me out just becomes a vapor without substance and disappears.

        1. I love the feeling of solidity that I have in my body without the anxiety that happens in my head. I used to have to work at it constantly as the anxiety was such an ingrained pattern. Now I can recognise it as soon as it starts to happen, and I can literally choose not to go there. It is a wonderful feeling of empowerment, and has changed the way I relate to people and situations.

        2. “I have also found that returning to my body when I have allowed myself to be temporally pulled out that what pulled me out just becomes a vapor without substance and disappears.”
           Beautifully described Steve I have experienced the feeling of returning to my body and as it fills with the loving warmth of my being the vapour of what is not me disappears.

270. Thank you Leigh for your sharing. It seems to me we feel guilty for feeling ill even if its unpaid work there is the sense of letting someone down, if I am not well enough to do the work I committed to on that day.. There is that sense of needing to not be seen as slack , but in pushing our bodies we can end up having to have more recovery time !

     1. I can relate Roslyn, if we are not “perfect” in the sense of always being able to function then there can be an apologetic kind of shame, when instead it just is what it is, and also an opportunity to evolve and heal. Always being available is a big one for women too because we are so identified in “doing” for others. When our ability to give stops, for example in illness, we can feel uncomfortable and “less” because we are so invested in that role and relying on it for worth. There is a purpose in illness because of the stop moment it provides and all that it exposes, offering us opportunities to see the truth and choose a new loving way of living.

        1. Yes these stop moments are vital or we end up with the same old same old. When we consider the bigger picture, as it were, being ill really is a blessing however we look at it.

        2. Melinda that reminds me of the elderly. I know someone who is recovering from an illness, and now dependent on others to help with daily cleaning tasks. She does not know if this is temporary or her new reality, but the psychological adjustment feels greater than the physical adaptation because of the self-worth issues and a lifetime investment in doing for others that you succinctly describe.

        3. You have described it very well Melinda, ‘When our ability to give stops, for example in illness, we can feel uncomfortable and “less” because we are so invested in that role and relying on it for worth.’ I always felt guilty, it exposed the pressure I had put on myself to fulfil what was asked of me and how I had identified with my role. It also was a way to not surrender to my body to what it needed to heal and just to go on with disregarding and even neglecting the body signs.

     2. Absolutely Roslyn. When we take time out to truly rest it often means we not only get better quicker, but our bodies rejuvenate and we bounce back even brighter than before!

        1. I have also experienced that quicker recovery time. By truly resting and feeling what it is showing me it is a small break to rebuild myself.

        2. I have also experienced a quicker recovery time when I give myself the time and space to fully deeply feel into the message that comes with the illness and process the core issue.

     3. Its quite interesting really because its very natural for us to work, so illness brings not only the challenge of surrendering to our bodily needs, but to also be at ease with doing nothing so that we can get better quicker. I find these days the more I surrender to being ill, the faster it passes through.

271. Listening to our bodies is something that we innately can do, but choose to override it with our thoughts. The question is, why would we do that.

     1. Perhaps it is that what comes with listening is a responsibility to heed either warning or call, thereby opting instead to not hear, and therefore forfeiting in the moment the healing on offer.

        1. You got it Giselle, we have a choice to responsibly feel the true message our body is giving us, or override/justify it with our mind thereby “forfeiting in the moment the healing on offer.”

        2. Beautifully said Bernard “we have a choice to responsibly feel the true message our body is giving us, or override/justify it with our mind thereby “forfeiting in the moment the healing on offer.” My experience has been that when I forfeit the opportunity to heal by overriding and justifying that fact that I have to push on through what I am feeling to get things done I go into beating myself up for missing an opportunity to sit with myself and fully feel what my body is presenting for me to feel heal and let go of.

        3. Beautifully said Bernard “we have a choice to responsibly feel the true message our body is giving us, or override/justify it with our mind thereby “forfeiting in the moment the healing on offer.” When I choose to responsibly feel the true message my body is offering me my experience has been very freeing when I sit with and listen to the innate wisdom my body offers as a healing, an opportunity presented to let go of the dis-harmony in my body attached to the underlying hurt that has led to the presenting ailment in my body and deepen my connection with my true self.

     2. Shami I found myself sick recently and it was only when I allowed and listened to not only why I got sick, but what was the reason for my choices that led me to be sick did I start to heal from the sickness. Something I could have listened well before I faced the consequences of my choices. Somehow we resist the grandness of love we are and as a result that itself leads to our bodies getting sick.

        1. Great point David My experience has been the reason for my choices that lead to my illness and disease is direct result of the underlying hurts I carry and by listening my body I have an opportunity to release the root cause of my illness and dis-ease my hurts.

     3. My feeling is Shami you know the answer and that this is an opportunity to explore why we continue to override even when we know what is going on, if this is so then we need to be looking at how much we want to move forward and come out of the comfort of how we are currently living.

     4. Shami are we really allowing it to override with thoughts, if so, where are these thoughts coming from, are they really ours, or is it an energy we are seeking which is passing through our body through movements? Something to ponder on.

     5. Shami for me it is often about expectations I have imposed on myself, such as not to let the team/client down or fear of been seen as weak or malingering. It is purely a head trip because once I am willing to make the call that I need to rest, all tension leaves my body and the healing begins. It is that tension that leads to the illness in the first place.

     6. We avoid feeling our bodies as we can feel our innate sensitivity, tenderness, stillness and from here our strength and power – all that has been rejected and as such our own hurt at turning away from this previously.

     7. In my case I overwrote all my feelings with my thoughts, because I didn’t want to feel all my feelings in my body. I was running away from the hurts. Since I started to deal with my issues, I can feel my body better and better.

        1. Same here Alex and even today I still find myself doing such. But the difference is now that I can feel to a greater depth how avoiding my hurts with all these thoughts that can be heavy and critical or sound very reasonable and make sense on some level (these are the more evil of the two) – caused by my choices – creates greater suffering than facing the choice and feeling the result. Feeling brings understanding and healing, living from thinking prolongs suffering.

     8. Recently I’ve looked at this question as well and if I were to honour and listen to every message, the love I have for myself would increase and that it would stand out. Have we gotten to a point where we fear loving ourselves deeply and responding to everything and anything that is needed? And if we did love ourselves deeply we wouldn’t but be able to share this love with another, bringing up the awareness that we can all deeply love ourselves equally so.

272. We are one of the most complex and delicate creatures with a life span whose length we choose. We can treat this body like a skyrocket or a beautiful flower. I have tried both and know which one I prefer… when I stopped investing in outcomes.

273. When I read the lines concerning expectation I find it interesting, because it exposed to me how those expectations keep me in a vicious circle, expecting me to be different to who I naturally am, naturally taking care of myself. Those expectations do not leave me calm with my choices, but bring in doubt and desperation in order to make me racy and uncomfortable.

     1. Yes well said kerstinsalzer15, an expectation is easy to spot if we are looking, as it leaves us feeling tension in the body… and not as you say ‘leaving us calm with our choices’.

     2. Very true Kerstin, especially when we have pictures about ourselves, how our life or we should be. These pictures create a lot of expectations and tensions.

274. I can relate to this one too Gill, just shows how much we do judge ourselves and others when such a simple and honouring act (looking after yourself when ill) can effect us to such an extent. Definitely one to let go of.

275. Loved this article Leigh with this section particularly resonating with me ‘And is it actually the illness or our perceptions of illness that make it the heavy, burdensome, depressing or downright loathsome situation it can be? This was certainly my experience in the past, whereby I thought myself a failure for getting ill, and pushing myself through the pain to ‘fight the illness’ was seen as a good thing. You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?’ I feel our expectations particularly around illness and work seem to put undue pressure upon us. I notice so often how people choose to push through, working while ill and not truly honouring what they feel. I’ve noticed too that this way of being is supported by a consciousness that says not working you have let people down – I see this communicated often and I know it then feeds back to those who are ill feeling judged, unsupported and inclined to feel they must work. It makes sense that the way to stop this way of being is to honour what we feel, by truly beginning to connect to and listen to our bodies.

     1. This consciousness that says we are letting people down if we are not working I feel comes to us because we have allowed ourselves to be slaves to the systems we operate in, rather than us putting ourselves and others first before the systems. It really is no wonder we get so demoralised and sick when love of ourselves is so far back on the agenda.

276. Yes Elizabeth we don’t always stop to consider what the quality we would offer at work if we were to turn up sick because of feeling guilty.

277. “I can still feel the illness, but if I push myself to meet these expectations I am now more aware of the impact that such a push creates in the body through discomfort, aches and pains. These messages from the body have always been there, but now there is a responsiveness on my part that has learnt to listen to these signals and if I don’t, then the consequence is more ill health.” This is completely awesome Leigh, I agree 100% that once we are open to listening to what our bodies are telling us the messages become louder and clearer the more willingly we listen.

278. It is quite incredible how we have developed this ideal and belief that feeling ill is not good, we can feel guilty for it if we do fall ill. That we really can’t see getting sick as a positive in some way. Any type of illness or disease is ‘always a clearing’, which if one has lived a life of irresponsibility and not wanting to be honest with oneself, that yes I can imagine why people would not want to see it for what it is.

279. They sure are different scenarios, what I love about listening to my body is it gets me to pay attention to the way I am living and the choices I am making.

280. What a great blog packed full of gems. In relation to: “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres”… you also wouldn’t go to the supermarket and fill your car up with treacle. I am sure we can all share many such examples – so instead of spending zillions in research, perhaps we could simply ponder why we are so abusive to our bodies and then surprised when they break down?

     1. Haha, yes Nicola, if you put it like that it sounds rather stupid how we are approaching our health and trying to deal with illness and disease. It is like we just do not want to see the obvious.

281. ‘The body is a marker of truth’. This statement is profound and when one truly understands and connects with what it presents.

282. Generally in life we put a lot of expectations on ourselves and this causes a lot of ill health. We have actually forgotten that at our core there is no-thing wrong with us and that we can just Be.

283. It is a very good point you make, Leigh, when you say, “… there are socially acceptable behaviours and ways of relating to the body that have impacted my relationship with my body…” There is so much that is socially accepted as ‘normal’, if not even beneficial, that is in fact harmful. Learning to listen to and honour one’s body as you describe is so important in re-establishing harmony in and with our body.

284. Wow Leigh, your beautifully simple observations really shatter some long-held popular beliefs – “…when I give myself the chance to pause and feel how my body relates to ill health, all that heavy emotional loading is not there, it is simply a moment which I can learn from.”. It’s quite amazing how when we give ourselves the space to be curious rather than critical, or simply going along with our usual patterns of responding to situations, we open ourselves up to the opportunity to learn and develop.

285. Leigh, great that you called your workplace and not just ignored your state of illness. This is part of the responsibility we have for our bodies. In the same time it is a moment to stop and get aware what behaviour or pattern did cause the illness so that we can evolve from it. Interesting that often we have guilt feelings about being ill, but those guilt feelings do not let us observe without judgement what has led to the ill state in the first place, but are keeping us in a vicious circle of feeling bad.

286. So many people suffer viral illnesses and ‘push on through’ regardless, or we have a backache and, because there are already staff shortages, we feel obliged to go to work and not rest. We disregard ourselves in the name of ‘being good to our colleagues’ but how much are we contributing to everyone’s ill health if we don’t rest when we need to?

     1. Exactly Carmel – we may think we are ‘doing good’, but if we care to look at the bigger picture the reality is the complete opposite, we add to the collective abuse by consistently repeating this pattern.

287. Reading your blog reminded me how I also used to ignore and override the need to go to the toilet and I didn’t even realise I was doing it. Now making the choice to live in a way that is more aware of what and why our body is communicating to us, I am much more aware of the basic things and some more of the subtle things, and it definitely makes me a more consistent person.

     1. if we questioned the majority of people I wonder how many of us would be aware of how we override the basic functions of our bodies? In the teaching profession where I work there have been countless times where I have heard teachers say they haven’t had time to go to the loo! We have been so conditioned that we believe that what we are doing or working on seems so much more important than taking care of ourselves. This doesn’t feel right – we have accepted self abuse as the norm. Blogs like these are exposing our mindset and when out in the light of day, our ideals around pushing through simply don’t make sense…

        1. I have also know people in the teaching profession who have said to me they control the amount of water they drink or don’t drink it at all because they can’t leave the classroom to go to the toilet – i t seems things are spiralled out of balance.

        2. Yes – a little bit loopy as technically you are not supposed to leave the kids unattended. However it is possible to go in between lessons. It really doesn’t kill the kids if you walk up to your classroom a minute or two late if necessary!

288. Yes, every illness, every ailment, even every time I bumped something accidentally or dropped something, each of these have presented a strong learning experience. I just needed to feel what it was.

     1. Beautiful Christoph! We have so many experiences, we could say “just happen” but the fact is everything is learning experience.

        1. Yes, there is a lot more going on than meets the eye. That is actually a very nice fact.

289. That’s a very good point, just recently I realised that I had chosen to follow another’s fears and anxiety over money. In my life I have never been homeless or too poor to eat, but my parents have at one point or another. To feel that this was not my anxiety and that I don’t need to reenact the struggle of not having enough, felt freeing. It is still lingering due to the fact that it may not have stemmed from my life situations, but I have chosen to weave it in and colour my own life choices, this is being broken down piece by piece.

290. Same here, nothing in academia can compare to the constant teachings and lessons that the body is willing to provide should we be willing to sit in class and pay attention. It’s like any relationship if we were having a conversation with someone we are far more responsive and able to work with them if we pay attention. But if we are thinking about something else or looking at our phones we look up and say ‘what was that you said?’. Our bodies are no different.

     1. I am equally in awe of the constant teachings that life and nature also reflects. We in fact have so much support to live in such a way that allows well-being if only we were to pay attention to the constant communication that our bodies and life are giving us.

291. I can relate to what you have written here Gill, especially the agony of having to make that dreaded phone call to work, like you say what a relief once it’s over. Why is it that this simple act can cause such anxiety in some and it appears not so with others?

     1. That is an interesting question you ask Julie. “Why is it that this simple act can cause such anxiety in some and it appears not so with others?” Could it be that some of us carry more anxiety because we have created that for ourselves in other areas of our lives? I too have gone into great anxiety about calling in sick to work, and have been known to drag myself in, only to be sent home again. Whereas in fact it is much more loving for everyone if we take care of ourselves at home rather than taking our illness into work.

292. I can so relate to those awful feelings of guilt that get in the way when you make the call into work to say you are ill. Why do we feel so bad about being ill? Leigh you have gone some way to highlighting how expectations are a big part of the issue.

293. How much easier it would be if we simply committed to truly love and care for ourselves and let that be our way in life.

294. Leigh I always find analogies helpful: You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies’, Sadly, this is what happens, we often care more for our cars than ourselves. Or we drive our body as if it’s a machine, and forget it’s part of us. Whereas we can truly befriend our body and listen to it.

295. Leigh such a exposing article, you seem to have unearthed something that up until your article felt pretty buried. Great that you have brought our attitudes around illness into the light.

296. Yes Susan, expectations are like a wet blanket that hangs over us and affects all our relationships and work. I can relate and my body shows me straight away by being hard and tense. I’ve heard recently of several people who are on stress leave from work or close to it because of expectations they have on themselves in the workplace and at home.

     1. Indeed Aimee, as soon as I have expectations on how a situation should be or how I want another to behave my relationships with others are immediately affected. It puts a weight or pressure on life and people to look a certain way according to my pictures. All this I experience as a tension and hardness as I try to control life by applying effort.

     2. I can relate to it all getting too much Susan, and then I can either see what I have chosen or blame someone or something else for the pressure. One continues the merry-go-round and the other offers an opportunity to heal and make different choices. I find it’s when perfectionism creeps in that expectations run riot.

297. Leigh great questions you ask at the end. My thoughts about illness and disease most definitely has an impact on how much I honour and care for my body when I’m sick. I’ve used illness as a way to stop, an excuse to let it all go, feeling bad and being hard on myself that I’m letting others down. When we have expectations on ourselves, do we ever really stop and listen completely to our body and what it needs?

     1. Great point Aimee, having a sick day myself today but still super aware of the workload I have left behind which will have to be attended to by my work colleagues, and still wanting to be plugging into the progress. I am so aware of the expectations I place on myself especially when it comes to being ill and how I am more than willing to help others out when they are ill, but still do not want to be a burden when I come down with something.
        This is why conversations like this one are so important, as it seems that it will take some doing to change our perceptions of illness.

298. When I read your blog I feel the preciousness of my body and the support it offers me through illness and disease.

299. Leigh there are many really interesting points you raise in your blog about illness, health and recovery. One thing I loved was considering “when there is a cold sensation in my hands, often there are cold, hard thoughts in my head and the illness is no different in that it is showing me (without all the drama) that the body needs some extra care in this moment and it is not a failure.” it shows that there is always a relationship with everything – in every way. I know I don’t like getting sick and this is the same for many others, yet if we fight it we actually make the matter worse and end up not wanting to learn the lesson our body is sharing with us.

300. This brings a true understanding of illness and disease in our daily lives and how we can choose how we live and what we create by our very livingness. A beautiful blog that says so much thank you for your simple inspirational sharing.

301. It’s crazy how we can get caught in ignoring our body functions for various reasons. I remember when I was younger, I would be scared to leave my room in the dark and so, would hold back going to the toilet. This holding back then behaviour has not completley gone, sometimes I find myself now when I am In deep sleep, turning and tossing to then realise my bladder wants to be emptied. It’s like there is a memory my body remembers, what to do.

     1. Someone shared with me, wanting to go to the toilet at night is a sign I am holding on to nervous energy from and in my day and to let go of the whole day before I go to sleep. This is still work in progress!

302. It’s crazy what we put ourselves through instead of just allowing ourselves to be.

     1. I know Vicky, it makes no sense how we can justify put our bodies on line rather than just allowing ourselves to be. The incessant drive and need to prove ourselves so we are accepted is crazy, logically it makes no sense but yet many of us are caught up in its grasp.

     2. It is just like a small child that picks at a scab causing it to take forever to heal.

303. This is a great point you raise here Susan, that because of the expectations we put on ourselves, we can so easily then transfer them to others without realising we are doing so. So often I have gone into blaming another for the pressure I feel under, whereas what I am realising now is that I am the one that has put the pressure on myself and have to be willing to look at why I have done that.

304. Thank you for sharing this article and exposing the ideals we can hold on illness.
     I liked the part you said, we wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, instead of rest and care? Another one that came to me was, when our children are ill, we get them to rest up, with lots of care and nurturing. We wouldn’t expect them to still go to school. So why do we expect it from ourselves? Why do we put ourselves under that pressure? It’s like we’re saying, our children are worth it, but we’re not …..where is the self love, the self nurturing….we are so worth it. We are role models for our children, they are watching us, What are the children going to grow up with….. thinking this is the norm. This is what adults are supposed to do…..every choice we make affects others and our world.

     1. Yes Jody,
        Our children live not by what we say, but by what we do. Here in lies a subtle, yet profound truth.

305. I have found that since reading this blog and the comments I have become so much more aware of any desire to over-ride what my body is asking for, like going to the toilet and am much more willing to respect my body in small ways.

     1. Yes Shevonsimon and those small ways in which you respect your body help build a momentum of deep care for yourself.

306. “These messages from the body have always been there, but now there is a responsiveness on my part that has learnt to listen to these signals and if I don’t, then the consequence is more ill health.”- So true. A great reminder that our body is a marker of truth and speaks loudly if we just stop, feel and tune in, instead of allowing our mind to control our actions, which often lead to us pushing ourselves to override it.

     1. I agree Loretta, our bodies are like the canaries in the mines, instantly even before hand, they can alert us when something is not quite right, They give us the opportunity to change and make a different choice if we want, or we can override what our body is telling us and then have to learn it from a bigger lesson. The choice is always ours and the more we listen to our body the more everything in life seems to flow, at least this is the case for me!

        1. Hi James, love this analogy ‘ our bodies are like the canaries in the mines’ and the message it conveys of our internal alarm system. Sometimes our pre-occupation with life drowns out these signals. I find asking the question ‘ How am I really feeling?’ slowing down, pausing to truly listen, are all part of building a loving relationship with my body.

        2. I know what you mean Kehinde, asking myself ‘How am I really feeling?’ is a great question. I have found one of the most supportive ways for me to do this has been to go for a walk as it always supports to bring me back to my body.

        3. I love what you both share here James and Kehinde and I experience the same if I am really open and care to listening to my body it has a lot to tell me.

        4. What is interesting Judith is the more I listen to my body the more I become aware of the really subtle and seemingly minor messages it is sending me. It is amazing how supportive my body is at calling me back to being love.

307. Susan I appreciate here how you have highlighted that because of the expectations we place on ourselves we therefore place pressure on another. Most often we blame others for the pressure we feel we are under without truly nominating it is there because it is self imposed.

     1. Michelle it’s interesting on what you say how we put pressure on our selves through expectation and then blame others. The other day someone said to me you put pressure on me, in truth there was no pressure I put on him , but it was he who put pressure on himself as he had an expectation on how he should be and behave. I said to him, just be you, you do not need to hide or pretend to be something you’re not, just to fit in.

     2. I agree Michelle and Susan so much of the pressure and pressures we feel come from how we treat ourselves. I feel it is such an interesting thing to explore within yourself, to really stop and observe how the thoughts and choices you are having and choosing affect the quality of the way you live.

        1. I find it quite interesting that when we are being hard on ourselves it is quite difficult for us to see the wood for the trees, getting so caught up as we do in the overwhelm of it all. Quite often it takes someone impartial to point out what is going on for us before that exploration can take place, but once that space is created where we can understand what we are doing to ourselves then revelations begin to happen.

     3. I so agree with you Susan, this blog gives us an awesome opportunity, to reflect on how we are with our own expectations……the damage these expectations can cause to our body is…. Huge. It is so easy for us to go into the momentum of pushing ourselves, to meet these expectations we place on ourselves. It makes so much more sense, to listen to what our body is telling us and honour it.

        1. It seems so crazy to me that our default mode is to push ourselves beyond the limitations of what our bodies can handle and then champion it. Turning this around for myself is still a work in progress. I feel I am only just at the starting blocks when it comes to living my day in the natural delicacy that I am made of and not going hard to get things done!

     4. I so agree with you Susan…this blog gives us all, an awesome opportunity to reflect on any expectations we may hold and how this affects our body and the damage it causes…. Huge. It makes so much more sense, to observe and listen to the messages our body is telling us instead…..as the body is the great marker of truth.

308. “These messages from the body have always been there, but now there is a responsiveness on my part that has learnt to listen to these signals and if I don’t, then the consequence is more ill health.”
     Well said Leigh, it takes our desire to respond to the subtle messages our bodies offer us to begin to turn around any level of dis-ease in our bodies.

     1. Its a great point Leigh, the body has always been speaking to us, but now with the grace of Serge Benhayon’s teachings, I for one can hear it.

309. Dear Leigh Matson,
     What you have written here exposes the many ideals we have about illness and disease that are in fact lies, that compound our illnesses. I am coming to understand that tiredness is an illness in itself, that requires immediate connect to and with, as my body knows why I am tired and what it needs to support it to return to its natural vitality.

     1. Thank you Leigh for your comment saying tiredness is an illness in itself. Just a few days ago I experienced a few hours of feeling very exhausted which I related to a restless night. Then a realisation kicked in that I had been in an abusive situation for some time and I decided to stop the abuse. Minutes after there was no feeling of exhaustion or even tiredness left in my body and I felt totally okay.

        1. Thank you Katinka,
           This conversation completely shakes to the core the beliefs that tiredness is lack of sleep, stress, or over work. All of which affect our bodies, but abuse, either from others or our choice to not care deeply for our bodies, lies beneath the other more obvious reasons for tiredness.

        2. Yes Leigh, and it is time to be real and admit to ourselves that stress and over working are forms of self abuse that lead to tiredness and worse.

310. “We would not drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?”
     I love this line and the whole topic of conversation, what a great thing to explore. How much of how ill we feel actually comes down to attitude and self care during the break? This blog is a real eye opener, thank you Leigh, there is much to say here.

     1. Interestingly, we are not so apologetic when it comes to car problems – we stop and listen because there is no other option. It’s true that in terms of our bodies, we often push well beyond the initial point of illness – until there is no other option, but to stop; because we too are flattened and unable to go anywhere.

        1. True Kylie, how often do we stop because we have got to the point when we are forced to? What if we stopped well before that point? Wouldn’t we be giving our bodies the time and opportunity to repair and heal much more quickly?

        2. Great point Kylie, its just so matter of fact when we have a car problem and we just go attend to it as soon as possible, no matter what the cost, it has to be done if we want to get from A to B.
           With our bodies it feels like we always find a way to wiggle out of what is needed and have an attitude of ‘I’ll survive” and
           “what ever doesn’t kill me will only make me stronger”, none of these sayings even make sense but we cling to them instead of being honest enough to admit we are wrong.

     2. It is a great conversation to have Sarah, I recognised reading this how apologetic I have been when I need to have a day off work because I’ve been unwell… how I change my voice, don’t dare allow myself to feel good about it and continue to do things around the house instead of truly stopping. Time to blow the lid on what surrounds illness and disease!

        1. I love what you share here, as I total relate. I hardly ever get sick but when I do I find it extremely hard to have a day off without feeling guilty and or doing so much at home that its not a day off at all, its time for change for sure.

        2. And then we go back to work with the guilt of not spending the day ‘getting well’ or resting, and then have to pretend that we are feeling better because we took the day off…. how crazy is that! And bottom line we’ve distracted ourselves away from listening and giving our body what it needs. If my children were sick I wouldn’t expect them to drag themselves around the house cleaning, tidying and catching up on chores. If I did they would definitely say no!

     3. So many people, I have been one of them do drive cars with flat tyres and turn up the radio to ensure they can’t hear or feel what the car is telling, screaming at you! It’s time to turn off the radio and pay attention to the messages our body is telling us.

        1. Its true Steve, how ridiculously arrogant we are to think we can override the direct, clear communication our body affords us. As if our head is in the drivers seat, when clearly our wheels are already in motion by the choices we’re making.

        2. Spot on Steve, I have been there and turning off the radio is a great start.

311. Hi Leigh – there is so much to be pondered on and if we are honest we all run away with our thoughts and create moment, situations, exchanges that don’t exist. Reflecting on your comment – ‘Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought’ – we can all learn much from observing our thoughts are the way they influence our level of wellness. If we claim the love that we are, then to allow judgement, doubt, value will be exposed for the disregarding way there are. This is a very practical and honest blog that we can all relate to.

312. Thanks Leigh for a blog filled with comments that make me wonder how did we get so far off track in accepting that illness and disease is offering a clearing; a lifting of something that was imposing on the body and didn’t belong in the first place, rather than something to be seen as an attack and an inconvenience. Our whole level of self care is instantly under scrutiny when we change our way of looking at illness and disease as self responsibility stands at the forefront.

     1. So true Helen, Leigh’s blog calls for us to completely transform our understanding of illness and disease, something largely regarded as a complete nuisance and something to be fought or over-ridden. Our immune system is constantly evaluating and the destroying everything that does not equal who we are. It is an immense and constant job that is taken on by minuscule cells in the body, forever checking, examining, protecting and defending every inch of us. Once we see that illness, disease, tumours, infections etc. are the body’s way of ditching what does not belong inside us, getting sick is not something to fight, it is something to surrender to, honour and appreciate. Once we do that, we can then figure out what we did that made our bodies have to get sick in the first place, be grateful that it’s coming out and then make ever more loving choices so it doesn’t have to repeat the process.

     2. Helen what you have shared about the true purpose of illness is of huge significance. We currently see illness as the enemy, something to be conquered and overcome. If we understood that illness is the body’s way of maintaining harmony at its core then it would change our relationship with it.

     3. Yes Helen it just goes to show just how disconnected we have been from our body. It is as if we have only considered that the body be something that we drive without needing to pay any particular attention to how we are driving it and the impact this is having on it.

313. This is a great question Leigh…”You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” We are not taught from young to honour and respect our bodies, and that our choices have consequences…in fact we are not taught to be truly responsible for ourselves, our bodies and the way we live – until Universal Medicine came along.

     1. Yes Paula, we are taught from a very young age to “soldier on” and to ignore the symptoms in our bodies, medicating if we are feeling too unwell. Because this is considered normal it highlights the lack of nurture that exists culturally at the moment and it is awesome that this is being talked about and exposed openly – it doesn’t make sense to me that society is like this!

314. The combined momentums, ideals and beliefs of the world and those we align to certainly do feel like a “downright use of force” to inhibit our ability and inclination to listen to our bodies, no matter how loud they are speaking to us. You have certainly highlighted the fact that our minds are being used against us to override what should by all right and logical conclusions be our choice to aways honour, love and care for ourselves.

315. I agree Leigh – illness can be actually feel light and clearing in the body and head. Not buying into any emotional drama and simply appreciating that old stuff is finished with making way for truer choices that support well-being.

     1. Yes Sandra, I agree, the last time I was sick I actually felt quite light in my body, like I was no longer holding on to something emotional that was weighing me down. It was quite a remarkable feeling really.

     2. This is such a different way of viewing illness Sandra and allows us to make the link between emotions and ways of thinking or behaving which may be contributing to manifestations of illness.

316. Here is a blog I wrote on Expectation and it’s impact on me. I love how Leigh relates this to the body. https://truthaboutsergebenhayon.com/2016/01/07/expectation-the-lead-balloon-affecting-the-true-me/

317. Leigh – this is absolutely fantastic. I am not often sick and in the past when I have been I see it as if I have failed something. I have the expectation that I should be healthy. And so when I am sick, this expectation plays out and illness becomes something heavy and burdensome. Recently I was sick and I did not take this approach. I allowed my body to do what it needed to do, I had an understanding of why and I embraced the illness as a clearing. Now on the other side of it, my body feels like it has gone through a very big change and a welcome one.

     1. When we understand and embrace illness our body can actually be quite unwell while the deeper sense of ourselves can still be feeling well. I have experienced that embracing and understanding my illness allowed me the space to care for my body and myself and to not become immersed or involved in the ‘story’ of my illness, removing myself from being ‘sick’ and depressed, and feeling sorry for myself as I once would have.

        1. Yes – physically we can be quite ill but we can be in great health. I remember a friend who was sick on and off for a year or more. Others were commenting on how unwell she was, but all I could see was her radiance and to me (and her) she had never been in better health.

        2. That’s true Nikki, depending on our understanding and inner connection we can be quite unwell but joy-full and radiant at the same time.

318. Well said Marika, when we are casting out expectations, we are usually holding expectations for ourselves too. This then does create judgement, instead when we observe more and bring appreciation, firstly to ourselves and then others, we definitely bring much more understanding.

319. Your awesome blog Leigh is so perfectly timed as I am just coming out of an extended period of being unwell and I am aware of the expectations of what comes next trying to sneak in. In the past I would be thinking that I needed to get back to work as quickly as possible, for all the reasons you gave above, especially guilt for having been away for so long, but this time I am doing it differently. I am truly allowing myself all the healing space that my body needs and this I will express honestly to my boss, without any expectations.

     1. After being ill myself even after this blog I am finding that listening to my body is not reserved for when the body is broken down and ill. Listening to the body is vital for life, not just when we are forced to. As such I might be able to work but my body is now showing me much louder that I can’t just push and drive and work as I did before the illness. Trying to do so has prolonged the end of this illness and is exhausting.

        1. It is so easy not to listen to the body, treating it somewhat like a second thought. But when the listening begins, the wisdom pours forth and a new way of caring for ourselves is apparent.

        2. And when we do start to listen we become more and more aware of what not listening is actually creating in our lives and in our relationships. We start to wake up to what has been allowed to carry on in our ignorance and absence to listening. I am finding this is rocking a lot of beliefs around ‘reaching a self-caring and self-loving’ peak, but the resistance to going deeper is not working and my body is making that loud and clear. There is no peak and no end to the depth that we can access when it comes to this communication with the body.

        3. Relating to everything you have written here Leigh. I too “thought” that I was ready to go back to work, but once again was overriding the truth that my body was presenting. This time although it didn’t take too long to get the true message my body still copped the impact of that momentary override. I am beginning to understand the huge hold this ingrained and very disregarding behaviour has had on me; such a huge lesson and one that I am committed to learning in full.

        4. What I am also starting to acknowledge what I already knew is that that world doesn’t support us to honour how much time we need to heal, it’s always an expedient ‘hurry up and get it over with so that we can go back into motion’ This way of life simply doesn’t work because our ill choices to keep going in that ill quality is what got us ill in the first place. To then patch up as much as we can so that we can return to that ill energy and those ill choices is revealing of how much we’ve invested in these choices and expectations.

320. I love it Leigh, how you are building a relationship with your body and are giving us a very practical guide here how this can be approached; I particularly like how you deal with your thoughts as thoughts driving me crazy is something I can relate to.

     1. Judith I too can relate to the thoughts driving me crazy, there was a period when my thoughts used to take over and before I knew it those thoughts would cause me conditions through over analysing, I would have so many expectations too. A friend of mine said to me the other day, your problem in the past was you over analysed life, had expectation, which you cannot do. She said you just need to be and live. They were wise words from and old friend.

        1. Expectations lead to disappointment which leads to judgement and criticism and so on. All leading us further away from responsibility and truth.

     2. Thoughts are a huge issue and can lead you down garden paths that do not support you, it is therefore so vital to have the support of Universal Medicine and the Gentle Breath Meditation, as it brings much clarity to what is actually taking place.

        1. I agree Amina. Our thoughts can so easily lead us astray, but thanks to the amazing support of Universal Medicine and the Gentle Breath Meditation, we have something that is able to bring back the focus and as you say clarity of what is actually going on. From here we can reconnect to our bodies and feel the impact of those thoughts, and then in every moment have a choice to not let them override what we are truly feeling.

     3. It has made a huge difference to me to not identify with thoughts. Really it is only a question of which energy I am aligned to and the thoughts are a consequence of that.

        Sometimes I can have a judgemental or certain kind of thought which is not the way I usually think or who I know myself to be. In a situation like that I don’t scold myself for having a ‘bad thought’ or even give it any energy other than to note it.

        If it persists then I find changing my body posture or bringing more awareness to my body and my presence will change my energy and then that thought will no longer be in my body.

        If that does not work I need to look deeper at my livingness and what energy I may have let in. Serge Benhayon has given us all the simple, practical tools of life and the freedom to use them or not as we choose.

        1. I love your approach Nicola! I also find that unloving thoughts bring cold and damp into my body, like Leigh has observed my hands or feet may become cold – that is always a good marker for me to check in with my body, make sure I am present and bring all of me into my next movement.

        2. Thank you Nicola for this comment. If something is repeating in our lives then even if we change our movements if we do not question the energy we are using to move in then we continue to go around in circles. And ouch for me as I felt how I have allowed things to circle and accepting that because the outside movements have changed then I must be ok and no further questions. Truth is everything is energy and if this isn’t in our awareness then we are running in the energy of lies that never questions the energy we are expressing with.

     4. When I accept that a lot of my thoughts are ‘crazy’ I release the vice like grip they have, and there is then space for an unhampered ‘conversation’ with my body to take place.

        1. I agree Matilda, when we stop to identify with our thoughts we are suddenly free to explore life from another dimension.

321. So true Marika, the mind is definitely held as superior over the body, we learn that the body is not so important and it does not have much say in our lives, but what if the body holds all the wisdom of the universe? What if all our true intelligence comes from the same particles that our bodies are made of? We would really miss out in so many ways.

322. I agree Gill, I used to feel really guilty about taking time off when I was sick, but now not so much. At the moment we have five members of staff and four of us (including myself) have come down with either a cold or this stomach bug that seems to be circulating.

323. Is it ‘our perceptions of illness that make it the heavy, burdensome, depressing or downright loathsome situation it can be?’ This is a great question Leigh, and one I am asking myself as I witness someone passing over. Does it have to be a sad and emotional time, or can it be a celebration, a chance at more intimacy, an opportunity to reflect on all the love that this there, all the time?

     1. This is an enormous point you make Simon and the answer I feel you have and know, we are so lead to believe that we have to be sad and emotional, and if we are not then we are not being respectful or considerate. I feel that it will take quite a lot for the world to see things in the way you have expressed, however it has to start somewhere.

        1. Yes Amina and Simon. Death is fraught with expectations of sadness and grief that the opportunity to feel the love that has been there all of the time is missed. It doesn’t have to be someone dying or someone’s death as a catalyst to express the love between one another.

           And Amina it’s so great to expose the beliefs beneath the customs surrounding death. It’s not so that if one isn’t distraught when a loved one dies this means one didn’t love them as much as if someone is inconsolable. Often need gets very confused with love.

        2. Awesome comments. When my father passed away 27 years ago when I was 20, I had been travelling overseas for almost a year and got a phone call telling me what had happened. There was no doubt I was shocked by the news but I remember I had no idea what to do, so I just decided to follow what I’d seen on tv, had a cigarette and something strong to drink. The people I was with had such expectations that I would be emotional that it became my reality. It was only the next morning when I got up really early and sat watching the sunrise alone that I could feel what I was feeling.

        3. Yes, I often feel there is almost a pressure to be sad about what others see as misfortune, yet I view neither sickness nor death as unfortunate but a result of choices we make, to wish for sympathy would mean to me that I am not taking responsibility for my choices, yet this should not be equated to coldness for I certainly care about other people, deeply so.

        4. That’s big what you’ve shared Stephen and something I very recently noticed as well that pressure to feel sorry and have sympathy for ourselves or others because there is illness and disease. It’s like a hooking feeling that says ‘keep me away from feeling my choices by distracting me from the pain’. Sympathy only allows others to sit and wallow in emotions and sadness and has never really sat right with me, it has always felt uncomfortable when the room gets heavy and weighted down by sadness and ‘woe is the situation’. Yes it is upsetting and uncomfortable when there is illness or death in our lives but loading it with ignorance and lack of acceptance doesn’t help the situation.

324. Yes I agree Marika, it’s like judgement closes the door on love, expectations open the door to conditional love and acceptance allows for true love.

325. “And is it actually the illness or our perceptions of illness that make it the heavy, burdensome, depressing or downright loathsome situation it can be?” Great to ask the question Leigh. It has taken me a long time to understand that it is ok to be ill, I am not a failure and it is the body’s way of asking me to look at something in my life. Now if I am ill, I no longer feel guilty for taking the time off, knowing that is a self loving and supportive way to look after my body.

326. I love your sharing , Leigh, as it inspires me to clock more my expectations towards myself, and they really make a feeling of disease.

327. This article has caused me to reflect on my own perception of when I get ill, yes I make excuses and push myself beyond what I know is true for me at the time, because I have decided this either shouldn’t be happening or that others will not cope without me – all of this is clearly not true! Thank you for writing this Leigh, time for me to bust some more ideals and beliefs that are no longer serving.

328. This is a beautiful account of listening our body and the support it shows us if we are willing to listen and it makes such a difference to our health re illness and disease. Seeing ill health as a message and way of healing our body and the responsibility we hold ourselves for this is a huge support and breakthrough in medicine itself. Where do the expectations come from that we place on ourselves, as they are not from us, but imposed on our bodies and our choices as to how we choose to live.

329. What a great question and one that needs to be asked by both individuals and Governments if we are going to be able to meet the increasing demands that will be put on the health care system in the near future – “This experience has got me wondering – how much of our illnesses and diseases could be alleviated, or supported to not be as dire, if we were to take off the weight of our expectations and reactions towards the process of illness and disease?” If we were to see illness and disease as the wake up call it is to look at how we are living then we would have a far deeper appreciation of what it is all about and treat ourselves within that process very differently.

330. This line resonated within me, Leigh: “…is it actually the illness or our perceptions of illness that make it the heavy, burdensome, depressing or downright loathsome situation it can be?” I actually awoke this morning feeling quite heavy-hearted and found myself wallowing in the ‘everything’s wrong’ thoughts, yet though I recognised these were not my usual quality of thoughts, it was a good opportunity to ask myself how they got there in the first place. I realised that I needed to bring some extra care to my body, making time for a bath before I began my day and that the thoughts were not there to drag me down lower (though if I continued to indulge them, they easily could), the thoughts were there as a direct consequence of the expectations I have regarding the ‘should be’s’ in my life. My heart isn’t heavy but my thoughts were and it was having an overall effect on my body. Reading your blog this morning has helped by confirming to me that realigning the perceptions in my mind back to the truth my body holds, allows a deeper trust and acceptance of the ancient wisdom that is in my body, too.

331. Wow when you boil it down Leigh you’re saying that we can willingly let our bodies run according to or in reaction to an expectation or a thought, rather than the care it is actually calling out for. It makes sense then as to why illnesses can drag on.

332. Leigh I like how you say, “Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought.” This is wonderful, because you are not just accepting them, and your curiosity has led you to discover the effects they have on your body.

     1. Its such a simple diagnostic tool, that you have to wonder how we got to the situation where we live in a world which actively encourages us to ignore it.

333. It has taken some years to re-train myself, but now I can say that I listen to what my body is telling me. This will always refine and go deeper but it is important to claim that I have stopped the self-abuse and am living in a way that honours my body. I have even learned to rest when I need to and not to use food or drink to bolster my energy; this one took a while but it feels amazing not to rely on an outside source for my energy.

334. Agreed Leigh, when illness is embraced as a gift from our body to learn, accept and deepen our relationship with ourselves, it is an entirely different experience from the usual resistance and feelings of failure that we have been conditioned to have.

335. Your words here Leigh leave me considering the very nature of expectations in all of life. Today I can feel how I have had expectations about the future and how others will react, all based on past events and a certain perception of life. It feels like these expectations are just a form of control that has developed, to override the simplicity of being with my body, just as you describe.

336. I love what you’ve shared here Leigh about the expectations we have of ourselves, and our bodies. There are things I sometimes feel like I want to do, because it’s ‘what we do’, and to see my friends – like going out late, because it’s cool and fun. But what I’m feeling is that there is nothing cooler or more fun than feeling steadier and solid within myself. It’s not about me stopping myself from doing things that I used to do, because I’ve judged them as ‘bad’, but more that, when I feel that steadiness and solidness (which I’m feeling more and more of the time, the more I make these kinds of decisions and drop the expectations I have of myself and how I ‘should’ be), the more I want to keep making decisions that keep me feeling that way.

337. “Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought.”. I’m inspired by not only the relationship that you’ve built over time, but even more so that you’re taking responsibility for them by re-connecting to your body when your thoughts become racy, disturbing, etc. To me this is actually pretty amazing Leigh! You’re actually telling us upfront that the quality of our thoughts is a choice. If we connect to our bodies – which is our responsibility to do so or not – than we’re offering ourselves a completely different space. How important is our body then?

338. It is very true that for the most part we are so unaware of our bodies we often miss out on the initial warning signs that something is not right – warning signs that seem simple at the time but could on the long run save us a heap of complication.

     1. Yes so true, because we have been taught to override our bodies from a young age and to place everything outside ourselves as being of greater importance.

     2. I am learning to listen to these warning signs, as they are very subtle and easily missed if you don’t want to see them.
        Only now am I willing to look at them as warnings, in the past I have written them off for this reason or that but refused to link it together as the bodies message to me, simply because I was not ready to see.

339. “Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought.” This is a great skill to have developed, Leigh, and one that all would benefit from learning and would be so beneficial to be guided to develop at an early age.

     1. Absolutely Jonathan. It was unthinkable to me to think that I could choose which thoughts I have, at first It was a bit mental and then after that I discovered it was a body thing, and the more I loved, respected, cared for and listened to my body the move my mind started to settle down and have loving thoughts equal to what was in my body.

        1. So simple Harry, yet huge as it is counter intuitive to the prevailing wisdom… its a simple way of living with profound effects and I can absolutely agree with your statement about how the mind settles down and will follow the feeling of the body if we let it.

     2. I am also developing the same relationship with thoughts and where they are coming from. With out this awareness we become like a train on the track and just accept these ill thoughts as the only way and just normal.

340. There are many things we think make us sick. Have you noticed it is always something, a colleague at work, a person on the bus, the passenger that had a cold on the airplane you sat a row behind or something we ate (that’s a classic). We tend to find blame in something out there, outside of ourselves. What if it has everything to do with all the thoughts and actions we have done to ourselves and in actual fact sickness comes from the inside, in bundles of energy from all the thoughts and actions in the first place.

     1. Great call Matthew. Our choices have consequences – simple as that.

     2. So true Matthew, ‘What if it has everything to do with all the thoughts and actions we have done to ourselves and in actual fact sickness comes from the inside, in bundles of energy from all the thoughts and actions in the first place.’ From what I have observed this makes complete sense, if we as a society were more aware of this truth then there would be far less blame of others for our illness and more responsibility would need to be taken for how we are living.

341. I love your example of driving around in a car with flat tyres – unthinkable really but easily and without a second thought we do that to our bodies and don’t give it a second thought.

     1. Yes, it really brings the point home I agree Gabriele. We often treat our vehicles with more love and respect than we do our own bodies.

342. You’re so right Leigh, we wouldn’t drive with our tyres flat and we wouldn’t pump our cars with the wrong fuel, and yet we do exactly that with our own bodies that we have with us all of the time. The disregard we hold our bodies and thus ourselves in is utterly crazy and it’s a big wake up call for humanity to eventually see this.

     1. This is such a good example of driving with flat tyres. Of course we wouldn’t, but we certainly do something similar with our bodies, and there is an expression – driving on empty – which is used to describe how we push our bodies beyond the limits.

343. The expectations we put on ourselves can be very damaging and they are self inflicted, how better would we feel if we didn’t do it to ourselves?

344. ‘The body is our marker of truth’ – It is such a blessing to have a constant marker living with us, walking with us and talking with us that shows us which choices we make that aren’t true or loving, and the choices we make that are actually supportive. The body cannot lie, and trying to justify the messages it sends us e.g. bloating, bruising, stubbing toes, getting sick, exhaustion, haziness and so forth, is incredibly difficult! Our bodies show us the truth in such a simple and easy to understand way, and we can learn a lot from listening to them.

     1. It is indeed a blessing. Reading your comment it really hit me what a blessing it is but that so often I don’t see it as a blessing but as a nuisance. I get frustrated when I get tired instead of appreciating what my body is lovingly telling me. Even though I now honour that tiredness and rest, I haven’t taken it to the next level of appreciation.

345. Leigh, you raise so many great questions here, and I had many aha’s – I was recently ill from work and I felt guilty, wondered how they would cope without me and your questions brought me up as I realised I’d put greater pressure on my body due to my expectations of how I thought I should be rather than just simply accepting and allowing my body to be; effectively I apologised for myself and my ‘faulty’ body as letting the side down, and that is so revealing of my attitudes to my body and how society supports this thinking. And as your blog clearly shows that’s crazy, we would never drive a car with flat tyres, and we wouldn’t apologise for it having flat tyres either, we would just state the facts, and fix the tyres before we’d attempt to drive it. So with our bodies we can just accept what they show us, without layering them and pressurising them further with expectations of how we think they should be – what I feel here is that we can meet our bodies, build a deeper relationship with them as they are, without apologies, and in that I can feel the honour we can bring to them. Thank you for such a great blog, it’s really inspired me to look and consider more deeply how I relate to my body.

346. I love what you’ve written here Leigh. I experience the same thing and my body reacts quite suddenly to the quality in which I move, walk, talk and behave, and the choices I make often directly affect my thoughts as well. We like to think that thoughts are just ‘random’, and that self judgement or self worth issues are a ‘random’ occurrence, as well as anger, frustration, guilt and judgment of others… But what if these thoughts can only enter because we make choices that leave an opening for them to do so?

     1. Great comment Susie. It’s amazing to feel how sensitive our bodies actually are, once we start to make choices to become more aware of what we’re feeling. And empowering to feel that we can actually shift the quality of our thoughts, and by extension, our relationship with ourselves and others, just by relating to our thoughts in a different way, and making choices that support us to be aware of what we’re feeling. It’s so simple, but it’s actually kind of life-changing stuff.

        1. Absolutely Bryony; it is such a groundbreaking realisation that we can change the quality of our thoughts just through moving in a different way and changing our choices. This puts us in the drivers seat of everything that happens in our bodies, and means that we no longer have to feel attacked or cornered by self abusive thoughts, as we have a method to stop them.

     2. I agree – great comment. It all comes back to how we choose to be with ourselves, the energy and quality we choose each moment – will then determine the types of thoughts we will experience.

     3. So true Susie, if what you pose is true it certainly brings a whole lot more responsibility to us as individuals.

347. Thank you Leigh for expressing the process so eloquently that I can still go through when I have to call in sick to work. The emotionally laden expectations that I put on myself affect my body and make me feel ten times worse, almost like I am justifying that I can’t possibly go into work because I feel so bad?! Learning to listen to my body is an ongoing process and sometimes means that I acknowledge I feel unwell and need time off to recuperate before going back to work or as happened recently I was able to go to work but needed to treat myself very gently, let go of the expectations that previously would have had me pushing my body to do everything I normally would and rest more for the days I had a cold. Ditching our expectations and viewing illness and disease as a reflection of how we have been living and a message to lovingly care for our body would lessen the costs, not just to our health service, but also to businesses and the impact on ourselves and our families.

348. I was sitting here before reading this blog feeling a little anxious as I have got a flight to Vietnam tomorrow and my daughter and wife have just come down with this highly contagious stomach virus. My wife has been throwing up all night and it is the last thing I need to have before getting on a long haul flight. I don’t have it yet and perhaps I won’t get it, but thanks to this timely blog I am out of the expectation of what might happen, and I will just handle what does.

     1. Hi kevmchardy, I can relate to your concern and have to share that one year on my way back from Vietnam I had food poisoning and was throwing up on the flight to Singapore and then spend the whole night in the transit hotel at the airport trying to recover enough to catch my 12 hrs flight back to Frankfurt. During the night I was not even able to keep water down. I was fine in the end though very frail and weak in my body and just fasted the whole way to not risk having to throw up again. But I was not alone, my husband was with me supporting me along otherwise I guess it would have been very scary.

349. A revelation for all in the business of psychology – connecting to our body will allow us to be in control over the quality of our thoughts. This should be investigated closely because it means that when we’re ‘fighting with the demons in our minds’ we’re just out of connection to our bodies, huge.

     1. This is HUGE Matts, I absolutely agree! A total game changer for all of psychology.

        1. and Humanity!

        2. HUGE and yet so simple Harry and Matts. Somehow the psychological sciences got themselves so complicated, and therein lies the problem and within us lies the answers.

     2. So true Matts and so easy to experience for anyone through simple ways of connecting to our bodies and observing the effects on our thoughts, moods and subsequent behaviours.

     3. Great summary Matt, nailed it, this is not really explored enough in regards to physical well being, getting caught in your head is actually bad for your health.

        1. Brilliant summary, the mind leads the body astray at times, a great example of this is when we drink alcohol. The minds says yes to drinking but I bet if you could ask the liver how it felt after you had drunk, it would never let you drink again.

350. “there were so many things that I had placed ahead of even basic bodily functions” I am aware of these too, for instance drinking when I am thirsty is another one. When you look at this it actually makes no sense to keep working and putting all kinds of things before drinking the needed water. Making life about honouring our bodies first and foremost, creates a body that is able to work, and not anxious and ready to break down because of the lack of care.

     1. I know Lieke we can make things so complicated sometimes. Like “I’ll just finish this before I drink” or “I need to go to the toilet but I’ll hold and and do something first” this is an absolute complication and would reveal areas in our life that are 10 x worse. How silly it can get sometime. Simplicity truly is key to a healthy body and mind.

        1. Yes it is about simplicity, I remember when I was a child if I had to go to the toilet I would not stop asking my mum until we found one, where ever we were. At some point we ‘grow up’ and can hold on to it, yet isn’t that more ‘learn to override’ what our bodies simply are telling us? Not saying we always have to rush straight away to the toilet if we have to, but there is an imbalance at the moment that makes what we do more important than basic self-care and that needs to change. From what I learned myself is that when I deeply care for myself, I feel so much better in my body and from that am so much more productive also. So taking that little toilet or drink break does not make us do less but actually more, if it is already about that!

     2. The tension created in the body when we do not honour such simple things as going to the toilet or getting a glass of water is actually quite substantial. We then operate with this tension. Had we just taken the time we didn’t think we had to go and wee our body has the option of harmony (depending on other things also) and that is what we then can move with. Not taking the time means we build tension and all of our movements that follow now have that tension.

351. Thank you Leigh, the amount of different dis-eases in todays society it is as if we have come to a point in time where it looks like humanity is running around with all four tyres flat and not even the consideration of a spare being there at the first flat tyre! Then when we discover something is going amiss, do we look at the tyres, no we make sure we are putting the correct fuel in the tank or get the suspension checked out before we get the original cause of the problem that needs looked at.
     Instead of running ourselves into the ground like the car example given, if we “then paused for a moment and came back to my body and the warmth that I know is there to support me”, before that first indication becomes a problem by living “a way of life that brings a focus back to the body that we live with every day”. To me this is the way of the Livingness as presented by Serge Benhayon, which comes from our “inane inner wisdom” or soul!
     For more on the soul go to;
     http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=SOUL

352. “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” Great point why do we do this, I know I use to do this thinking that I was young and my body can manage. Not really understanding that it has nothing to do with being young, body needs to to be healthy, hydrated and well nourished. If we push our body when we are tired and exhausted, we are causing more harm to our body and organs, which will eventually cause illness and disease.

353. Great blog Leigh, our expectations is the killer, we need to let go of expectations and just let the body do what it needs too. We cause more illness through expectation. If we just allow the body to clear what it needs to without judgement, the healing and clearing process is quick. When I used to suffer from colds and sinuses before, I used to get myself into a state with expectations, this just prolonged my clearing and healing. Now I suffer from them very rarely, but if I do get them, they clear and heal within 24-48hrs. I just let the body do what it needs to and support it with lots of rest and fluids.

354. Wonderfully simple Leigh and music to our bodies to read “I then paused for a moment and came back to my body and the warmth that I know is there to support me and as soon as I did the thoughts stopped!”. There’s nothing more healing for the body than to have your own presence with it.

355. Leigh, how easily our expectations have power over us instead of staying with ourselves and allowing exactly what we are feeling. I know these feelings very well. You have addressed this issue beautifully!

356. What you have presented here Leigh is so inspiring and exposing of my own expectations; expectations can indeed be so debilitating. By connecting to the wisdom of our bodies we can alleviate expectations, ideals and beliefs;
     “the body is our marker of truth” and from here everything and anything can be understood.

357. If I become unfocussed or unsettled sometimes I pause to listen to my body. I am often surprised there is something basic to attend to – I might be slightly cold, a little too warm or thirsty.

     1. Pausing for a moment to appreciate my body and the simple wisdom it communicates with me 24/7. If we but listen, it is all there for us.

     2. We have a tendency to ignore dis-ease until the dis-ease is un-ignorable and requiring a much greater stop than initially required.

358. I really appreciate what you are sharing Leigh regarding loading ourselves up with ‘expectations’. What unnecessary baggage to load on an already fragile state of well-being. Why would we add to the ill-feeling? Our innate response would truly be to deepen our loving support and nurturing through recovering.

359. It feels very true that our response to illness can make such a difference to our overall wellbeing and our recovery. I know when I was very ill I received enormous support from Serge Benhayon and Michael Benhayon to truly honour where I was and what my body needed to do. If I had not had this support I know that I would have spiralled into misery, because of this support I felt positive and joyful even though I was very ill. I am a much more positive person today because of this. The way we react is so important as our reactions can cause so much stress and turmoil in our bodies and this has to affect our body’s ability to deal with what has come up.

     1. This is something I have noticed within the student body. Even in the face of terminal or serious illness people do not spiral into depression, there is a solidarity and steadiness in people. Understanding why our illness has occured in the way Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine present illness and disease – not from a place of us not knowing the why but already fully knowing – this is a game changer and changes what being ill can be.

     2. Thank you for sharing Amanda, very true what you that the way react has a huge impact and what a blessing that you had such solid support through your illness.

360. Our bodies are not meant to be in constant motion, and this driving is contributing to much of our illness and disease. All of life has a rhythm and order and our bodies are also governed by this order. It is very necessary for our health and well being to have a balance of motion and repose. Listening to the wisdom of our loving bodies is key.

     1. I agree Victoria. It seems with the more gadgets and energy saving devices we have in our homes, the busier we have become. What is it that we are all so busy doing? Surely we should have more time and not be so frantically rushing about. It appears that we are busy making ourselves ill by the looks of the enormous increase in lifestyle induced diseases.

        1. It is a lack of presence and connection with ourselves that contributes to our dis-ease and disharmony in our lives.

     2. So true Victoria and this lost art is being restored to us through the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom as presented by Serge Benhayon. This rhythm is being reflected to us constantly, in our 24 hour cycle, in nature’s seasons and the animal kingdom. Life is about motion, activity and repose and rest, a time to Do and a time to Be. Restoring the time to Be is essential if our bodies are to remain well and healthy, so they can support us through both our doing and being times without having to break down, get flat tyres or run out of petrol.

        1. Yes Rowena very true, through the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom that Serge Benhayon has been presenting for years now, many have reconnected to their natural rhythms. We also have the support of nature’s reflections all around us. If we all lived in respect to nature’s cycles we would see this reflected in our overall health and well being.

361. Yes Leigh, the expectations and perceptions we place on ourselves are our real illness “is it actually the illness or our perceptions of illness that make it the heavy, burdensome, depressing or downright loathsome situation it can be?” I am discovering this applies to all of life; our perceptions and expectations cloud our experiences.

     1. Good point Victoria, the expectations we place on ourselves quite often go under the radar as we have lived with them for what seems like forever, but they are in fact the ones calling the shots.

     2. I totally agree Victoria, all the perceptions, expectations, assumptions and investments we have towards life, others and ourselves taints everything. It’s a cheap version of the knowing that the body is naturally responsive to. Why have we choosen to accept a lesser verison of understanding life?

362. Absolutely Leigh, the truth is the expectations are the real disease. With our health, it seems we have the idea that we should be permanently well and anything less than that is some kind of failure. How ironic that it is this very expectation and conditional love that causes us to to feel ill.

     1. ‘With our health, it seems we have the idea that we should be permanently well and anything less than that is some kind of failure.’- This is true Joseph, it’s a deeply ingrained belief system that most people have sold out to. It’s the ultimate set up to keep rejecting the love that we always are, no matter the condition of our health.

     2. What you say makes a lot of sense Joseph. If we drop the expectations and just accept that when we get ill our body needs to rest and recover, we may not get so ill in the first place and get better even quicker.

     3. Love it Joseph, yes the pressure we place upon ourselves to be a certain way, which is determined by things outside ourselves, will lead to an ill way of being which is then closely followed by ill-ness!

     4. How can we communicate with ourselves if we try to ignore the body, and use stimulants and medication to hide what is going on?

363. Reading this I’m really inspired to ask myself what expectations am I still allowing to drive myself. And it’s not so much about doing too much it’s what energy am I doing the practical daily tasks in my life in. It’s the trying to not let anyone down, trying to do a great job, the worry that I’m not succeeding. If any of that creeps in then I feel instantly exhausted.

     Whereas staying with me whilst I complete what is there to do is like being on holiday, feet up in the sun with no worries. There is a stillness and simplicity in every moment if I choose it and let go of trying to meet expectations.

     1. ‘Whereas staying with me whilst I complete what is there to do is like being on holiday, feet up in the sun with no worries’ Love this Karin Barea, it made me smile this morning. Choosing stillness and simplicity over expectations, yes that is a life changer. Being able to recognise the expectations as they arise, and allow them but see them for what they are and firmly choosing otherwise makes for a healthier and more free flowing life that’s for sure.

        1. Yes that line brought a great smile to my face as well Elaine. And then your next line choosing stillness and simplicity over expectations. Exactly what I needed to hear this morning. Thank you.

     2. So true Karin the heaviness of trying to live up to our own expectations is draining. Connecting and doing the next task that is there to be done releases me from the voice in my head that saps my vitality.

364. Leigh I love how you’ve pointed out that the more you feel the expectations impacting your body the more you cannot deny the harm. It’s easy to understand how, when we are not making this connection between expectations and health, we care more about what we feel we’re expected to deliver. We then don’t notice or listen to our body’s communications until we have to stop because we are ill and can no longer ignore the stop. Sadly some people’s stops are a long way down the line of the body’s signals to take it lovingly.

     1. Karin that’s true, before I use to push my body ignoring what I felt until, my body would make me stop and I would be ill, that I had to stay in bed. Then it would take me a week to recover. If I had just listened to the signs and stopped, I would have been able to clear my body in a day or two.

        1. Me too, and the other thing is that since I stopped pushing myself so hard I don’t get fatigued and ill all that often any more. This makes it easier to accept and read the messages of any dis-ease or ailment that does pop up now and then.

     2. It’s like more value has been invested in the expectation, which often is like a picture of the perfect outcome that has everything I could ever want. But has no feeling behind it and that image shifts from one ideal to another depending on the situation before me. Now as the body is given a say, the times when I am choosing to not listen the tension is greater. But numbing out to the greater tension doesn’t make the messages go away, they just get louder.

     3. I have found this as well – we often assume it is more important to deliver what we think is expected of us than it is to honour our body and listen to its needs.

        1. Yes Gabriele, I also experience this, ‘we often assume it is more important to deliver what we think is expected of us than it is to honour our body and listen to its needs’. This is an age old habit, and one that is so often drummed into us as children. We are taught from an early age to deliver what is being asked of us, even if our bodies don’t feel up to it, and it then becomes such a deeply engrained beahviour that it becomes our ‘normal’ way of being. It is only through the work of Serge Benhayon that I have been able to start to listen so much more intently to my body and in doing so am so much more aware of what it is telling me.

        2. It is so engrained as you say Sandra to the point where when asked to feel, follow or even acknowledge the bodies messages this can be related to as an alien concept. Something so natural becomes a struggle or seeming impossibility. I still today follow what I ‘think’ needs to be done over what I feel but with Universal Medicine’s support I am re-learning what it means to live healthy and in self-regard. Understanding what our vehicles (our body) can and is implused to do is supportive as we don’t live in the tension of going against the grain. I am by no means perfect in this but I can appreciate that I have my body always willing to share and communicate.

        3. It is indeed key to honour what our body needs, and as you have said, Gabriele, there is a push to ignore the body and instead focus on the tasks at hand. But this does come with consequences, with a back lash in a way – so the more we can care for and honour the needs of the body, then this too will reflect in our energy levels, vitality as well as our well being or ability to handle any illness or disease that comes our way. It is of course not about avoiding illness or disease, but it is about learning to tune into the body’s needs and offering what is really needed.

        4. It just shows how disconnected we are from true responsibility; when we seek performance with no regard for the quality behind it.

365. ‘…the body would never willingly put itself into a situation whereby it would become ill or diseased’ and yet our minds will happily continue to drive it when it has its equivalent of flat tyres, ignoring the glaringly obvious alarm signal that something needs to be fixed, changed or stopped.

     1. This shows us the obvious difference between the body and the mind. The body has our best interests at heart, whereas the mind does not and is completely heart-less. If we want love in our life it is obvious which one to listen to.

     2. And your comment Cathy emphasises the massive ignorance and arrogance that Leigh has exposed here, so common amongst us, that we can do whatever we like to our bodies and not bear the consequences and then have the gall to ask “Why Me” when we get sick. We have a huge responsibility to treat our bodies well, being shown that I was worth taking care of through the teachings of Universal Medicine has instigated a personal revolution in health care. If this was applied by the majority, it would have radical consequences for a National Health System that is rapidly sinking under the strain of self inflicted illnesses.

        1. Absolutely Rowena…if we all took way more responsibility for ourselves, for our bodies and the way we choose to live, it would take so much pressure off our current health systems. A blanket cutting of wages, reducing staff, etc will only worsen an already struggling system.
           Each individual taking responsibility for getting to the cause of illness or disease, i.e. the way we choose to live with ourselves and our bodies, is what will lighten the load and support positive change in healthcare.
           The fact that WHO statistics say the majority of non-communicable illness and disease is lifestyle related needs to be splashed all over the media front pages and frontline – we each have a choice to be, and to live healthy and vital every day.
           The way the current healthcare systems work supports people in their irresponsibility…for decades medicine and healthcare has said come to us and we will fix you.
           How much more self empowering and honouring would it be for each individual to take an honest look at our lives and the consequences of our choices, and then choose to live in a more loving and honouring way with ourselves and our bodies from that point onwards.

     3. Yes. I hear this one Cathy. It is amazing how we allow guilt and the perceived lack of understanding of others to drive the way we drive our lives.

        1. And it is often our choice to modify the course of our lives to receive certain responses from others that leads to illness to begin with.

     4. I love that you have highlighted this sentence Cathy, ‘…the body would never willingly put itself into a situation whereby it would become ill or diseased’. It goes to show how overpowering our mind can be, ignoring the signs and signals that our body is sending to our brain asking it to slow down, take care, don’t push me, but the mind so often doesn’t listen and literally makes up its own mind about what it will or will not allow the body to do. Our bodies are super intelligent and wise, and we would do well to listen more intently and lovingly to what they are telling us.

     5. love this Cathy, although I would also ask the question where is the mind getting this idea from…. by its nature it is picking up information from all around it and then turning that into a way of living that is not related to how the body feels. But what is the quality of all the information that it is feeding off… societal values, expectations at work, perceived rights and wrongs which are currently leading us to bankrupt our own health, and the healthcare system.

     6. So true Cathy, our minds and through our thoughts we are driving our bodies like slaves, surely this is not healthy and causes the body to break down.

366. Leigh – you say here ‘As I have taken the time to pause and be with these expectations, I get to feel their quality and firmly state ‘No’.’ – And wow what a truth this is. We do not as a whole take enough responsibility for why we get sick. But you hit the nail on the head here and it is no surprise stress is classified as an illness these days when it is purely brought on by our choices. More and more we are offered to see that how we are in our bodies has a direct impact on our health. You give some pretty awesome examples here that we can all reflect and learn from. Thank you.

     1. I love what you address here hvmorden, that stress is brought on by our choices – so true. It would make a huge difference to our rates of illness and disease resulting in sick leave, reduced work force, etc. if we were to take more responsibility for the choices we make everyday.

367. being observant and having a relationship with our body is fun

     1. I agree Harry and how simple really, no complication there, just you and your body.

     2. It so is Harryjwhite — fun and so so beautiful. To not have a relationship with our bodies leaves us searching forever outwards, looking for what we cannot find because it can only be found through this very sacred relationship we are to have with our own bodies.

        1. Beautifully said Katerina…there is so much seeking outside ourselves when what we seek the most, and all the answers, are within us all along.

        2. A sacred relationship indeed Katerina. Before I came across Universal Medicine I would have never expected that we can feel so joyful in our bodies. And this is not to be confused with pleasures of the body, joy is a totally different feeling.

     3. I smiled when reading your comment HarryJWhite. There are so many Sacred secretnesses that our body holds within. Everytime I am surprised on what my body’s revealing towards me. And guess what, in Truth it is never a surprise. Because after all, I am the one who made the choices in the first place. I might have pushed them away, but surely are they alive in my body. Amazing science. Which is for each and everyone of us. How wonderfull and powerfull are we? It is indeed fun!

     4. Definitely. Even when we’re sick and not feeling great it can be fun. There is a lightness that comes when we are in connection with our body. “The body is the marker of truth” – and I been discovering lately that there is a lightness that comes with the truth, no matter how ‘hard’ that truth can be.

     5. And like any loving relationship, there are always loving opportunities to go deeper. Illness and disease are one such opportunity that when embraced can open up a whole new level of understanding and relationship.

368. Oh those expectations are horrible! “I need to be apologetic, I should feel bad” blah blah i don’t want those they suck

     1. That added a whole extra layer of completely unnecessary awfulness to the already awful feeling of being sick.

        1. This is definitely one I’ve fallen for – giving myself a hard time when I’ve been sick. It’s not that being sick is not an opportunity for me to look at why I’m sick (ie perhaps because I’ve been pushing myself, overriding being tired, feeling stressed over a long period etc) but does not need to become complicated by adding to what my body has already messaged needs healing.

369. Amazing and simple Leigh- expectations on ourself, built up over time causes illness and disease!

     1. And those expectations are always based on a belief or an ideal and our at times stubborn insistence that things should not be the way they are whilst equally as stubbornly refusing to make different choices – that’s madness for sure.

        1. Madness for sure Gabriele – it is like we have this image or picture of an ingrained and forced perception of how things ‘should’ be and that we must conform, and if we don’t conform then something bad will happen. And so we stubbornly hold onto this, instead of letting go as Leigh has presented, and bringing more care, understanding and love to ourselves and the predicament we have gotten ourselves into.

        2. haha – very true Gabriele.

     2. Expectations as you say Harry are like rubber bands that can only take so much pressure until they snap.

370. What an AMAZING blog Leigh. For me these 2 revelatory questions in the end stood out: “how much of our illnesses and diseases could be alleviated, or supported to not be as dire, if we were to take off the weight of our expectations and reactions towards the process of illness and disease? And is it actually the illness or our perceptions of illness that make it the heavy, burdensome, depressing or downright loathsome situation it can be?”.

     It would take enormous pressure off if we could just ‘be’ with the illness or disease, rather than fighting it, judging it as a ‘failure’, etc. We are not our illness and disease. In the end it’s a magnificent way of clearing ourselves from energy that we allowed in, but doesn’t belong to us. That’s all. Important, yes very much. But not something that should take us out of balance to the point that we doubt our worthyness.

     1. Being with the condition, and for me this generally involved sitting or laying down with the tension or ill in the body and breathing gently and/or placing my hand on the area in question, feeling the heat in my palms. When I am being with the ill it passes by far quicker than if I were to remain in my mind blaming myself, judging the condition or trying to mentally run away from the feelings in my body – this is actually when the ill in the condition hangs around longer! When present with myself and whatever is within my body it may come back but I am far more able to be loving with it and change my ways in that moment rather than continuing to automatically go into override and ignore mode.

        1. Thank you Leigh. I can feel the truth in what you’re sharing and I also feel how I often choose to go / stay in my mind. Very timely and supportive. It resonates!

371. “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness”. This is simple common-sense but when it comes to our own body we expect it to ‘soldier on’ regardless. As you present Leigh the body is the marker of truth and we have the ability to feel what is going on in our body and when we are ill it’s a great opportunity to honour the stop it’s giving us allowing time to reflect truthfully on how we have been living.

372. ‘You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?’ We can care for our car and other possessions more than we do our own wellbeing. In the past this fact always related to the level of disregard that I was prepared to allow. I can’t trust that the car won’t ‘stop’ if I don’t make sure it is maintained with fuel and air in the tyres, however I can pretty well push my body, knowing it can ‘tolerate’ a fair bit of disregard. Sometimes I still disregard my body’s messages, however these days I have a much greater love and appreciation of this vehicle of expression and therefore am developing my relationship with it too. It’s a work in progress.

373. There is so much that you offer here to ponder, Leigh. Over time and through the teachings of Serge Benhayon, I have come to understand and honour that illness and disease are actually true healing. However, when I do get sick I still worry about letting others down. What is interesting though is that I am very seldom sick on work days – my body knows when it has the space to heal.

374. I enjoyed reading what you have offered here Leigh and love the common sense statement of : ‘You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?’

375. When we realise that we are to live in union with our bodies, we will discover the Divinity that is possible to live, through the wisdom that emanates from this harmonious union.

376. Just recently I fell extremely sick at work in the middle of a meeting. Although I went straight home the moment I was able to, I was very conscious about getting to bed early so that I could make sure I felt better the next day purely because I had meetings I needed to attend and wanted to make sure that I didn’t inconvenience anyone.
     I thought I was looking after myself by doing the ‘right’ things, but my motivation in truth was not about me at all, and all about not appearing weak for my work colleagues. Putting work before my health. So easy to leave ourselves behind. Lesson learnt for next time.

377. To some It might seem ridiculous that someone would need to re-train themselves to go to the bathroom when they need to, but I can safely say that I have been one of those people. I used to completey ignore the fact that I needed to go and would sometimes not go at all between the time I left home in the morning and the time I got back in the evening from work. All because I ‘didn’t have time’. It’s not worth it, and actually it’s quite dramatic and completely dishonouring of myself that I thought I didn’t have a spare 2 mins, 120 seconds to allow my body to function as it needed to.

378. The honoring relationship that you have developed with your body Leigh, is inspiring to feel. It is so true that we as a society are encouraged to ignore, override and numb our bodies through which we dissociate more from how we are feeling, rather than caring for our bodies through our willingness to be honest and paying attention to how and what our bodies are communication to us. Yet it is only though our bodies that we can live, express ourselves, can grow and develop through every step we take. When we are willing to understand and appreciate the significance of our bodies in this life, a vehicle Divinely designed to enhouse our Soul, we will realise that a loving relationship with our bodies is imperative if we want to live in this world with well-being and vitality, as we are then guided in truth by one who knows us best, our bodies.

379. Great blog Leigh. I love this part,…’You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies’, Exactly, I have done this in the past myself. I was so unwell at work once but kept pushing on so I didn’t have to call someone else in to cover me who was having a day off because I felt guilty. This was certainly not very loving and yes, it did make my condition much worse. Letting go of expectations, guilt to honour my body and my health is something I would now choose.

380. “Another teaching is that ‘the body is our marker of truth’ and from here everything and anything can be understood, should we choose to take the time to connect and listen to our bodies”. Another gem from a great blog, Leigh. That is a great reminder for me, I have been learning so much from my body lately, as I become more used to listening to it. If we all began to do this, and really began to live by this, what a benefit this could become to our overloaded medical system. As the costs soar ever upward, this could be the simplest way for the world to begin to control this problem, spread the word that we need to be listening (and taking notice and action of course) to our bodies and responding to that call. We need to let go of all the expectations that are around illness, that it is not failure, but a message from our body that it needs care and attention.

381. What a great understanding you have reached regarding your body, Leigh, I love your sharing here. What stood out for me were your final words, “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” How correct you are here, of course we would not, so why do we feel such a failure when we become ill, why do we not use our common sense and know that it is our body saying it needs a rest, something is not working properly, and take notice of that. It is crazy that we do not look after our bodies like we look after our car. It is time we took notice of our own vehicle of expression, our body, rather than constantly fighting our own bodies.

382. I like the example you use Leigh of going to the toilet. I recall a colleague saying a few years ago, jokingly that soon we will be wearing catheters. She used it as an example of the guilt that we can feel re going to the toilet and how much we can put work/other things first. Going to the toilet when I feel the first impulse is still something that I don’t do. I do notice that I clock that I need to go much, much earlier now thanks to the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom, but I still notice an override of ‘I’ll just do a little more’ or ‘I’ll go in a minute’. I literally have to tell myself “No” and get up to stop overriding more. It has become so ingrained to put everything ahead of the care of our body.

383. “how much of our illnesses and diseases could be alleviated, or supported to not be as dire, if we were to take off the weight of our expectations and reactions towards the process of illness and disease?” This feels so spot on Leigh. Just yesterday I felt a sore throat develop and I went into… “oh no I have a cold coming on,” felt heavy with the expectation of an impending cold and having to take time off work. I realised what I was doing and gave myself time to stop, didn’t do any work on Saturday and gave myself time to sleep in the afternoon. I also went to bed early and let myself sleep longer in the morning. Quite brilliantly my sore throat went and I was able to carry on with my work today.

384. Somehow the mind seems to live outside the body and when coming around for a short visit now and then wonders what has happened, why the house is messy and in bad shape. Would be good to adopt some housekeeping and house-caring skills.

     1. Love it Alex – it serves well to stay on top of what is going on in our bodies, all it requires is awareness and true care. Basic self responsibility.

385. Same for me. It seems that what we do is considered to be more important than how we are; definitely a sign that we don´t value ourselves enough for who we are but identify with what we do to give us value.

     1. That’s a great point, exposing how we are trapped seeing more value in what we do than what we are.

        1. Valuing what we do seems to be on autopilot hence it needs the constant choice to change tack and leave the familiar track to value oneself for who we are more and more.

386. There is so much more to learn by listening to the body as the tendency to ignore or override its messages in favour of doing what I think I have or want to do often still dominates. The pattern of living life driven by expectations, achievements… basically things outside the body and then coping with the effects on the body later is deeply ingrained and ‘normal’. To live life from the inside out, being aware of the body and feelings first and then doing what needs to be done with the body allows to deeply care for oneself moment by moment. That way life becomes medicine and should illness or disease occur it is understood as part of the medicine the body and being needs and hence it is easy to lovingly support oneself.

     1. ‘life becomes medicine and should illness or disease occur it is understood as part of the medicine the body and being needs and hence it is easy to lovingly support oneself.’ Love how you express this Alex and how simple it is when we let go of expectations and tune into the messages our body is constantly communicating with us.

        1. To honour the body to the point of admitting that it does know better then ‘me’ (mind) and there is no sign without a meaning is quite a process of breaking the ignorance and arrogance that thinks it can do whatever without any consequences. It is the body that teaches us responsibility.

387. Great blog Leigh. The body is forever communicating with us, non stop. It may not always seem like that, but it is. And it makes a lot of sense to listen to what it has to say. Only most of us do not even think it does communicate much less all of the time and this shows our willingness to be responsible because our body is always asking for responsibility

388. Great point Leigh about how putting expectations on ourselves can make us feel worse when we get ill. It’s like an unnecessary extra weight we pile on that just disconnects us from feeling what to do to truly support us to heal… Connecting back to my body has been a huge support for me too and something well worth developing greater awareness of.

389. I love reading this blog, Leigh and the analogy you use at the end is so true “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies” yet we do try to override what our bodies say by listening to these ‘should be’s’ or ‘should do’s’. I have found as I accept the gift that any illness or disease brings the reasons to hurry back to wellness or dismiss what is being shown to me lessen.

390. Thank you Leigh for a great blog, the body is always giving us signals about how it is feeling, illness is a time for us to stop listen and learn. “But when I give myself the chance to pause and feel how my body relates to ill health, all that heavy emotional loading is not there, it is simply a moment which I can learn from.”

391. What struck me with your blog Leigh was that there is a perception that we are our body and nothing more. We flog it, keeping the engine revving and expect it to just keep going, how disrespectful is that. Where and when did we lose touch and punish ourselves to the point of illness and exhaustion, there were surely many, hundreds, even thousands of signals, then we numb our senses just so we stop feeling the ill vibrations we send through our ever so delicate bodies.

     1. Yes appreciating the refinement of our vehicles and honouring what is needed to support our bodies is our loving responsibility.

392. The analogy of the flat car tyre is such a powerful reminder that unless we stop and take full responsibility for our choices and the importance of honouring the body we are eventually going to run on empty which leads to a deeper level of harm in the body.

393. ‘You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres’ – brilliantly said Leigh, a true eye opener!

     1. Yes, and a car will always need regular servicing so it can run effectively for its life.

394. Love this blog Leigh – it is very easy to relate to the feelings you describe when you call your workplace, and how the fear of being mistrusted or judged creates a spin worse than the illness itself. I have felt this a lot in my life. It is astounding how we have learnt to see this as something to feel guilty about, and to be ashamed of. Nowadays I know that illness offers a needed stop moment and that not trying to hide the fragility that comes with it, is the real strength – and an opportunity for learning and true healing.

395. I love this analogy ‘you would not drive a car with flat tyres’ so true. I am also learning what You describe here starting to accept all of my feelings and honour my body and how it feels. Yesterday I observed that also with my boyfriend and it was the perfect mirror and learning. Feeling natural again with all there is and honest. I felt frustrated because I felt the lack of expression and then blamed him for that. I then later worked it through internally and could express it with my friend and then it gave him space to open up again. Expectations is feeling for me like a prison which I chose to be more and more aware of and let them go. Working on expression is truly it and also appreciation…I feel that this huge critical voice is not me. I love your honesty and how you describe it and actually pondering on it how ridiculous is all of this as we all go through this…for all of us its harming so absolutely awesome to express it and writing it down. So thank You for this sharing. A lot.

396. Awesome Blog Leigh and the message is so clear that we hold the key to what gets in our way with our body once we get our head out the way.

397. ‘when there is a cold sensation in my hands, often there are cold, hard thoughts in my head and the illness is no different in that it is showing me (without all the drama) that the body needs some extra care in this moment and it is not a failure.’ This is a beautiful and very helpful example. It is very easy to read our bodies and they are always willing to communicate in very clear and straightforward ways.

398. This is a great blog, thank you Leigh, I love how you express, simple, straight forward and to the point and with a lot of zest.

399. “Listening to the body when all around me there is the inclination, if not downright use of force, to ignore this innate inner wisdom is something that I am developing.”
     I adore nuts, all kinds, but lately when i eat them I have begun to feel short of breath, uncomfortably tight chested & wheezy, this is a beautiful & clear response from my body that nuts are OUT, indeed there continue to be moments where i ignore the intelligence being offered by my body and press override, for me this is the willingness to understand the source of the force that makes this very conscious ill choice.

400. Brilliant Leigh. This is a blog full of wisdom that communicates clearly and simple the impact that our thoughts have on our health and how by listening and honouring what our body feels we can also support it.

401. Absolutely Doug. It is like our mind inhabits a different space to that of our body. As you say, it is as if our mind takes no responsibility for what is happening in our body and then tries to ignore the messages sent from our body back to our mind. Living in connection to my body and listening to its feedback over the chatter of my mind has been revolutionary for me.

     1. Revolting against the domination of the mind by simply incorporating the body might be the most significant revolution in the history of mankind.

     2. Love your comment here Lee, “It is like our mind inhabits a different space to that of our body.” It is a shame, but how true that is. We are brought up thinking our mind is all there is, we are almost ashamed of our body, but it is the being that gives us all the messages that we need to know to live by. How different it would be if we brought up our children from the beginning to connect to their body, and listen to its messages. If we were to live deeply connected to our bodies, and responded to its messages, so being truly aligned to the body, then what a difference it could make to the medical budgets which are soaring out of control at the moment. Maybe it is time we all began to listen much more to our bodies.

     3. I could not agree more Lee, to honour the body’s signal over the minds constant controlling chatter is indeed revolutionary.

402. “the body is our marker of truth.” I love this quote Leigh as it makes everything so real and gives a very solid reference point. The food we eat, the choices we make, the way we live is all felt in our bodies. I know that for many years I tried to ignore what my body was telling me, but when I finally did start to listen it was well worth it. I now feel more vital than I did 15 years ago.

     1. Yes I agree Lee this is a brilliant line. To accept that “the body is our marker of truth.” guides us to be more empowered and able to discern truth amazingly well.

     2. Love it too Lee. I too have tried and tested this fact with my own body over many years resulting in my health being up and down, with the ‘up’ being just a relief of not feeling ‘down’. I have found that through being willing to be honest and honoring what I was feeling in my body that I now live with far more vitality, well-being and clarity consistently, than I have in a very long time. ‘The body is our marker of truth’ – I now know this to be true and now choose to live honoring this as best I can.

403. ” You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” – when you put it like that Leigh, it makes absolutely no sense at all.

     1. Interesting that it takes an allegory like that of a car to immediately understand the point but that we don´t hold the same simple knowing as the most natural thing for and with ourselves.

        1. True Alex, it is interesting that we can be so disconnected from the simplest, most natural knowing “for and with ourselves.”

     2. I agree Hannah. It’s crazy really that we have dissociated from our bodies to such a degree that we do not even consider our bodies of greater value that the cars we drive…yet the messages from our bodies and all around us are constantly reflecting to us that we are.

        1. True Carola, often our taking care of our bodies is way down the list behind taking care of the children, our partner, paying the bills, servicing the car, shopping, cooking, cleaning…the list goes on. However, when we start taking care of ourselves, the ease with which we can attend to all those other important things on our list steadily increases.

        2. Beautifully said Hannah, I agree – that ‘when we start taking care of ourselves, the ease with which we can attend to all those other important things on our list steadily increases.’ and with far more quality of our presence.

        3. Great point Carola, when we take care of ourselves, it is not just the ease with which we do things that increases, but also the quality of our presence – our way of being in each moment.

     3. This passage really stood out to me too – our self-worth is not healthy to be able to treat ourselves with such disregard.

404. “Instead the body is given a far greater presence in life and its communications and responses to human life are vital, if not a basic key to true health, well-being and vitality. This has certainly been my experience thus far.” This is my experience too Leigh, I have spent many years dominated by my head, my body taking the brunt of my choices & thoughts, yet now as I build greater awareness of my body, I am filled with appreciation for the intelligence it brings and as a result I feel infinitely more balanced and harmonious in myself and in the way I relate to others.

405. At the first inkling of a flat tyre I will pull over and attend to it, aware I may damage the car if I continue. I also attend to having it permanently remedied straight away. I have not been able to say the same about my body in the past, but thanks to the work of Universal Medicine, now can.

     1. Indeed Heather, you are ‘aware you may damage the car if you continue’… This is huge, it is an immediate response that don’t require any further ponder on what to do next. So why is it that we don’t have the same immediate response when our bodies have a ‘flat tyre’ but in fact the opposite, we are often encouraged to keep driving on the flat tyre and see it as a normal thing to do? Makes no sense.

     2. Me too Heather, since attending presentations, workshops and courses at Universal Medicine I have learnt to let go of so many unloving habits, patterns and behaviours to now choosing to look after and listen to my body as much as possible.

     3. The same experience has been true for me also Heather. I’m not perfect, but I do a far better job of paying attention to my body now than I did in the past. Still much more to allow though, as the sneaky game of ignoring signs continues, but with practice i pick it more easily.

        1. I can say the same Elodie. I am far more attentive than I have ever been with my body, but I am realising that there is never a point at which I can say I have made perfection in the art of this. There is always more overt and subtle ways to becoming more tender and loving with myself and there is a real grace to this.

406. I love the observing and simple way you wrote this blog. And it is as simple as what you write: “when I give myself the chance to pause and feel how my body relates to ill health, all that heavy emotional loading is not there, it is simply a moment which I can learn from.” Would be great to have this on the mirror in my bathroom when I am sick or at doctor waiting rooms.

407. We do all kind of things to our body we would never do with our car. We wouldn’t put on purpose gasoline in a diesel car, yet we put food and drinks in our body it can’t handle very well.

     1. It’s interesting to observe how most people value their car more than their body. Like you shared Monika, a great example is the kind of food and beverages we consume, this is our fuel yet the quality and quantity is not always honouring or loving to our body.

        1. I agree with you it is not only the quantity of the food that counts, the energy in which the food is prepared has a big impact.

     2. Very true Monika, I can still over eat for example, however I would not put too much air in the tyres of my car!

        1. That is very true Bernadetteglass. When we put too much air in our tyres we know there could be dangerous consequences. The same could be applied to over eating, and the consequences are the same. But how many people are willing to admit or be aware of the harmful consequences this could have on our body? There are manuals for our cars, where are the manuals for how we should treat our body? Well, we have it already, it is actually our body, it has its own in-built manual called awareness and trust.

        2. ‘…awareness and trust’, I am learning more and more about both of these chanly88 and how lost I am without them!

408. I love the direct relationship you expose between the quality of our thought and our physical health. Expectations, ‘should’ and ‘have to’ put a pressure on the body it is not meant to handle in the first place, for there is no truth or love in those thoughts and they don’t support us in any way.

     1. Obviously such ill affecting thoughts must have their origin in separation to the body, otherwise they would be in harmony with the body and thus support one´s wellbeing instead of harming it.
        When we start listening to the body we can also learn to ‘think’ with and from the body.

        1. True, the thoughts always have an origin and just like there are thoughts that separate us from the body are there also thoughts that come from our soul and support us in connecting to the body. Like you wrote: “When we start listening to the body we can also learn to ‘think’ with and from the body”.

409. “Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought.” Our body is such a great marker of truth and always reflects back what we are doing to it and how are choices effect it.

410. “What I have learnt is that the body would never willingly put itself into a situation whereby it would become ill or diseased.” I am learning this too Leigh. Listening to innate wisdom that my body is offering me at every moment allows me to feel if what I am doing is true for my body or not.

411. Love your blog Leigh, I can relate to the thoughts you had while waiting at the end of the phone, and the feeling of guilt at letting people down. The crazy thing is that once I speak to someone, I have found there is never an issue, so it is my own thoughts that are creating the issue and a scenario in the first place. These days I am able to stop these thoughts and the few times I feel too unwell to go to work, it is no longer a guilt trip but an honouring of my body needing to rest.

     1. I agree alisonmoir. I have found that when I support myself as needed when unwell by taking time off work, I feel better, am more productive when I return to work and am not resentful for “having” to be at work when I am sick.

        1. That’s a big one Lee, one I know too well! Trying to go into work while ill only makes everything worse for everyone. We feel cruddy, spread this cruddy attitude (like germs) all over everyone and everything and the force it takes to go against the body saying ‘please stay at home!’ is exhausting an already exhausted body and then we need even more time off work and/or come back to work in the resentment we left there. It makes far more sense then to support ourselves and rest and take the time out to recover because we are not only supporting our bodies but all those around us as well by reflecting a level of self-care and self-respect and self-worth rather than reflecting ‘it’s ok to push through regardless’.

     2. Beautifully said, Alison. ‘…an honouring of my body needing to rest.’ I am finding that when I can honour my body in health or in illness, I am building on a foundation that honours every move I make and every way I communicate with myself and others.

412. “This experience has got me wondering – how much of our illnesses and diseases could be alleviated, or supported to not be as dire, if we were to take” …. responsibility.

     1. Love the word you brought in here, gyllianrae, RESPONSIBILITY! I guess for many people this is an ugly word, something they don’t want to abide by. But for me, responsibility is the key word for us all, it is time for us to take responsibility for ourselves, look after ourselves, listen to our bodies and respond as required. Not to push ever onwards, partying hard, drinking hard, dulling ourselves with drugs, working too hard with no breaks, etc. We need to listen to the body, and learn to live in true balance with it, nurture and care for it. It is time to stop expecting others to fix things when we have not been taking care ourselves.

413. Well said Leigh. I liked this part – “all that heavy emotional loading is not there, it is simply a moment which I can learn from.” – it made illness seem so much lighter and easier to manage than the doom and gloom it’s made out to be.

     1. Of course nobody likes to suffer from illness or disease but it is worth to examine how much suffering we unnecessarily create by rejecting, denying and lacing being sick, i.e. resisting and fighting against it instead of accepting and understanding the purpose that is always in harmony with what we need at that point in time. We may not always like what we need but fighting against it only adds to the disharmony the sickness is in the process to clear and heal.

        1. A great example of this I can relate to, having a headache recently I had chosen to sit on the sofa and suffer, blaming the medication for not working so that I had an excuse to stay at home and be ill – an expectation again that I needed to be at a certain level of sickness in order to be ill off work. The medication was still in my pocket, I hadn’t taken them yet, that’s why they didn’t work! So then I now ask – what led me to making the choices to not take the medication and then ‘forget’ that I hadn’t? What did I not want to feel in that moment that I chose to suffer with a headache instead? What if we choose to suffer to avoid feeling the choices we made that got us to this current situation on being ill?

        2. I agree Emily, it changes our relationship to illness. Rather than ‘why me’ and feeling fed up because once again we can’t go to that party, get that piece of work done, see our friends or whatever it is getting in the way of, it becomes ‘why’…. an honest look at how we are living, how we are feeling so we can learn and evolve.

        3. Must say, your headache example makes me chuckle and your answer to your behaviour is spot on. Illness and disease can occupy us so much by identifying with it, reducing ourselves to just be a body getting through life that we forget about who we are before and beyond the body.

        4. What makes us fight? What do we feel is missing that we don´t feel supported and carried through life? Why do we feel attacked or threatened and what is attacking us? Part of us seems to have accepted that life is survival of the fittest or getting through life somehow. One thing that comes to mind is that fighting guarantees separation and thus identification as an individual.

     2. yeah and it’s so true Emily. If we didn’t hold on to our expectations that illness means it will ruin our life program, then perhaps we’d allow our bodies a better chance of just doing what it needs to do and get on with it without the drama and the impact of all the disregard we show it.

414. “This initially started with going to the bathroom when needed, such a simple task, but at first it was not so easy as there were so many things that I had placed ahead of even basic bodily functions, whereby I would hold it in for hours on end.” Everyone in the world at some point, if not still, does this. This is huge – and a massive marker and exposing of the level of abuse and disregard we hold our self and our body in. For if in truth, we do not stop to and pee, which is the most simple, natural thing for our body to do – what other truths, that are being presented to us by God through our body, do we override by choosing to not listen?

415. It is an old mind set that illness and disease is a failure and always being physically well a celebration. My awareness around this has changed and no matter what is happening in my body I now place no judgment and only love, as there is something far bigger happening in which I might not be aware. Loving and caring for myself is something I am choosing now no matter how the body is.

     1. The crazy thing is being physically well is a rarity these days! But rather than stopping and looking at our health, the standard of what’s ‘ok’ and ‘well’ keep changing. As long as we don’t have cancer it doesn’t matter about diabetes, obesity, heart conditions, endocrine disorders etc. This also gets me questioning about my own claim of health. In one aspect I would say I am healthy because I don’t have major illness and disease that are crippling my function, but on the other I’d say yes something is seriously wrong due to 3 years of Amenhorrea. But another side of it has been it if weren’t for the Amenhorrea and the support of Universal Medicine, I would not have been prompted to delve into my lifestyle choices as I have in the last 3 years, so in that respect it has been a blessing. I totally agree with you Ch1956 that love plays a much bigger role than the way we’ve boxed and expected love to express itself.

416. “that the body needs some extra care in this moment and it is not a failure.” This is such a beautiful quote as so many people world over treat our bodies so harshly. Yes we need to take responsibility for the choices we made that got us ill in the first place, but at the same time, self negating or bashing thoughts do not support out body to heal, only tender care and true love will.

     1. Absolutely gyllianrae. Illness is not a failure, it can be a beautiful supportive healing space to allow our bodies to process and adjust to what is there for our future. It is too easy to be harsh and disconnected from our body.

        1. From the body´s perspective illness and disease are correcting the failures that caused them to occur, in that sense they are successful as they give a stop or at least a moment to stop and reflect on the ill choices in the run-up to becoming sick.

        2. This is such a wonderful way to understand illness gyllianrae and Lee Poole. It is basically my body communicating with me and offering an opportunity to connect more deeply to the healing that is available. To accept this opportunity I first must develop a relationship with my body which to be honest, is something I have just become aware of since meeting Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.

     2. Yes and this is something worth remembering. We are not a failure when and if we fall ill. I’ve certainly done my best in life to not be sick claiming that I have ‘no time’. How arrogant! My body needs to clear what it needs to clear, and only through surrendering to that will my body feel amazing.

417. “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” – I love it. It is crazy we act as if pushing harder would somehow make it work.

     1. True Fumiyo it is crazy that we would not push our car the way we push our bodies even through illness. And it is even more crazy when we take into account that our body is actually communicating a loving and supportive message which we are refusing to listen to let alone honour.

418. Your last words bring such clarity of thought to me when you say that I ‘wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres’ – absolutely and no way – and yet often I do just that with my body. A beautiful blog Leigh that offers many moments for pause and reflection, thank you.

     1. Yes, Susan, I can put my hand up to that too, I used to work very hard physically on a rural plot for many years, constantly pushing through an enormous tiredness, just wanting to do a little more, and not at all listening to my body. I don’t do it so much now, but can sometimes spend too much time now sitting here at the computer, at the expense of my ankles. Another message from my body, I need to be walking much more. I seem to have gone to the other extreme, but the body reminds me, and I listen much more now.

     2. I agree Susan, the example with the flat tyre makes it so clear how much we are pushing our bodies and are running them at a level where any car would have broken down a long time ago already. And just because we can do it as our bodies compensate so much does not mean it is healthy for us.

     3. So true Susan, it just shows how much we push our bodies to the breaking point, even though we know it’s not good for us, why do we do such a thing?

419. “Why do we continue to push our bodies?” A good question Leigh. For years I was taught to override my body’s signals and push through. If we stopped to consider what messages our body might be telling us, and respond accordingly, maybe we could avoid the more damaging illnesses and dis-ease at an earlier point in time….

     1. It is so interesting that we are taught to override the body’s signals and push through as if there are no consequences to disregarding these messages and yet I too wonder if the world would be in a better state of health if they appreciated and honoured them instead?

        1. It seems utterly ludicrous that this is what we are taught to do and yet do it we do! It is high time for an about turn and to really clock what we are choosing – the consequences are not only bankrupting us in terms of our health and vitality, they are bankrupting us financially as our health systems in over drive are burning themselves out to keep up with the epidemic rise of disease.

     2. It’s a great question that Leigh has asked – “why do we continue to push our bodies?” and why would we push our bodies in the first place when they carry us through the whole of our lives? I know I have pushed my body to fit in, be accepted and to be recognised. The crazy thing about this is that with everything that my body has been through, it never asked for any of it. It was how what I was thinking that lead me to pushing my body in a way that is harmful.

420. “When there is a cold sensation in my hands, often there are cold, hard thoughts in my head”. Great reflection for a person who tends to have cold hands! I will be more aware now about where the cold is coming from. Thank you Leigh, great sharing.

     1. Yes, I love this reflection too and made the same observation, cold feet or cold hands always show me that I have not been fully present with myself and have escaped into my head.

421. I love that you observe how thoughts interact in your body Leigh. I am also noticing after some thoughts I feel more emotional and my mood drops, I am sure if I paid more attention to my body there would be more to notice but I appreciate at least these days the drop in my mood alerts me to being out of sorts and I am less likely to buy into the thoughts and harp on in my mind. Thanks to teachings of Serge Benhayon I don’t let my thoughts take me out as often now.

422. Great sharing Leigh about how we create situations with our expectations and the ripple effect of it. We are always in charge and our choices bring us into any situation we have to face in life. There are no accidents or random incidents, it’s all the law of cause and effect impulsed by our choices.

423. “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” This example so beautifully demonstrates the ridiculousness of pushing our bodies for recognition. Of course we wouldn’t dream of driving a car that wasn’t in good working order, so the same is absolutely applicable to our bodies! This is such common sense but the simplicity of it is so needed. I love it because it cuts through so directly the false notions we have about “battling on” or “fighting an illness”. Thank you Leigh.

424. Thanks Leigh for such an insightful blog. “Listening to the body when all around me there is the inclination, if not downright use of force, to ignore this innate inner wisdom is something that I am developing.” Talking about this is enormous as it allows others to clock what we ignore in the body because of outer expectation. I remember when I used to work in a London office in my early twenties many of my colleagues would come into work when they were sick, but they would come in almost in defiance of it and to show the rest of the office that they could battle on. This was all to get recognition from the bosses, to prove they weren’t “slackers”. When we put ourselves through so much disregard it can’t but help compound the illness or set us up on a path of more severe illness down the track.

425. “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” This is so true, and I see examples of this push all the time at work when people come in looking really ill but say they are not ill enough to be off – I am sure this happens within every work place.

426. It seems like we have certain roles to play or ‘set pieces’ we pull out when we are either ill or talking to someone who is ill. Ingrained ways of behaving which you could say if you dug a little deeper appear to be specifically designed for us to dodge the real message and responsibility we are being shown by our bodies when we are unwell.

427. It is fascinating what comes up for us when we get ill and how many beliefs we have around illness and disease which simply are not true.

428. Interesting analogy you mention here Leigh about cars and our bodies. Do we blame our cars when they break down? Or feel guilty when our cars break down? Not usually and yet we do this with our own bodies.

429. This choice has also been essential to developing my own health and well being: “Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought.” Being more aware of my body and not staying in my head has established a more healthy relationship with life. When challenges, stress, emotional thoughts come in, I can observe them more and not feed on them in the way I once did. This has decreased my feelings of anxiety and dis-ease and my immune system and general well-being is flourishing.

     1. This is huge! Many of us believe that our thoughts come from us and not through us and so when we have these negative thoughts it is really hard to observe them, as we believe this is who we are. Learning that thoughts are energy like everything else that pass through us was a huge revelation to me. This makes it much easier to say no to them, to observe my choices and then to bring it back to the body. Understanding that my thoughts change my physiology and knowing that by changing my movements can change my thoughts has been a massive learning that has supported me no end!

430. Coming back to this blog I can expand on so much more still, today what came to me was that when ‘the world’ is telling us to just ‘grin and bear it’ this can come in the form of people we know. This recently bothered me, not just that I was being told to ‘get over it’ by someone I knew, but that it was a reflection of how they treated themselves. Knowing this helped me take it less personally, but it showed me that ‘the world’ isn’t millions of miles away, it’s our jobs, our homes, on the bus, the people we directly interact with.

     1. Yes Leigh, the world is simply a reflection of what is on our front door steps. We don’t need to travel the globe to discover what is going on in it – we only have to look in our front yards. When those close to us tell us “to get over it, get on with it, suck it up or that’s just life” this is all we need to know that the majority of us live in hardness, a shutting down, a given upness. Without judgment or blame we need to understand why this is so and simply offer through reflection in turn a different way.

431. “For example: when there is a cold sensation in my hands, often there are cold, hard thoughts in my head and the illness is no different in that it is showing me (without all the drama) that the body needs some extra care in this moment and it is not a failure.” You are so right Leigh, it has become normal to place this kind of pressure on our selves, too often we override & resist the opportunity that the body is asking to quite simply rest and care for ourselves.

432. “Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought.” If we become our own experiment and observe the reaction in our bodies to certain patterns of thought we begin to see the true sensitivity of the energetic barometer in which we dwell.

433. There is much sense in this article: ‘Instead the body is given a far greater presence in life and its communications and responses to human life are vital, if not a basic key to true health, well-being and vitality.’ We soon complain when our body gets sick, but if we listen to the signals it sends us that all is not well, perhaps we would make different choices and not get so ill.

434. This is a great reflection of where we are at in society. We are made to push through, as so many people do. These expectations, that we are in constant health and never ill, is a great ideal of many, that in the end causes illness, as the push to go on and ignore our bodies is never beneficial to our health. I definitely know my own expectations when I am sick, that I need to be there again the next day, and I can feel how it is not okay, as it only causes stress. While accepting the illness will relieve the body and give it an opportunity to truly heal.

435. I can relate to what you have shared Leigh, so often illness is viewed as a bad thing but what about seeing it as a sign that the way we have been living up to that point is out of kilter and so the illness is our body’s way of saying ‘come back to yourself and let’s re-balance, re-focus and re-harmonise’.

     1. Indeed James the answers are right there if we care to listen to our greatest friend.

        1. Indeed Lucinda, we need to redefine what illness and disease are and not see them as the enemy rather the necessary correcting to heal our ill wayward ways.

     2. It is so deeply supportive to have something that you can unwaveringly rely on to let you know when you have walked too far away from yourself in the way you have been living and need a gentle reminder to come back to what is true.

        1. I totally agree Samantha, to have friend who is willing to be honest and truthful about where you are at and get you to stop when you are not moving as yourself is one of the most loving gifts we can be for and give anyone. It is often easy to get caught up in something and not be able to clearly see quite what we have got ourselves into.

436. Awesome blog Leigh. Illness has such a bad name, as is shown by the comments you shared as: “‘That’s life,’ ‘Poor you,’ ‘That sucks’”. It is often seen as a nuisance to overcome. It is very timely to read this as I am feeling not 100% well either at the moment and my first response is to sort of be hard on myself about why I got to this place of feeling unwell. In contrast to what I am now feeling after reading the blog, that my body just needs love and tender care at this moment, which I actually love to do!

437. I remember as a child sickness was so terrible for me that I wanted to die immediately. The approach I learned from Serge Benhayon is quite the opposite. All fears of illness and disease are gone and I know whenever I feel at un-ease I can stop and the whole Universe is there to help me learn what is there to learn.

     1. That is an amazing turnaround felixschumacher8!

438. Reading this today Leigh brought up a conversation that I had with my Doctor 30+ years ago. I was pushing myself very hard, trying to get better and emphasised I really must get back to work, they ‘need me’. His response was “Nobody is indispensable they will manage without you”. That stopped me in my tracks. Putting so much effort into trying to get back to work with no consideration for this amazing body. The feeling was that my body was letting me down when in fact it was truly serving me well. Yes the penny finally dropped.

439. I love your blog Leigh. You ask some very good questions. When we are ill we simply need to rest and to care for ourselves. All the perceptions about illness and the negative way we view ourselves for being ill just simply create more to deal with and do not help with the healing process at all. Good call!

440. Leigh, we do often go into sympathy or looking for sympathy when we are sick, but the illness is something I feel more now related to a clearing out of what is not supportive for my body and that needs only care. And there is something exquisite in the stop moment that a cold or flu for example gives me, as it requires a gentleness in self-care that before may have been missing.

     1. This is very beautiful Stephen, we when begin to see illness in a very different light. This ends up being much more supportive for ourselves, which means we no longer need to go into the search for sympathy. This is responsibility in action.

        1. So true Jennifer, and I have found that, where before if I had a cold or flu I would be looking for sympathy, now I just want to rest and reflect on my living way, what it is I have chosen that has required sickness to clear it. And there is no drama in this, in fact it feels very much the opposite.

441. Getting sick is such a blessing as it is the way the body clears the stuff out that we have put into it, emotionally and physically. The body is also so much wiser than the mind that we should take heed and listen to what it has to say, especially in these moments of clearing, or sickness as it is commonly known.

442. Expectations are like a big bag with stones that we carry with us. It is constantly telling ourselves, our body and/or others that what there is now, is not good enough. So basically with every expectation we are saying to life and God it should be different.

     1. I agree Mariette, expectations are so debilitating… for they deny you the beauty available in watching how something will unfold in a way that may offer you a lesson for your own evolution. Instead of living in our heads in pictures of how we desire life to be, life can pleasantly surprise you when you trust in this unfolding and appreciate it for whatever it is, understanding that things are exactly as they should be.

        1. yes, it asks for us to understand and accept that things are exactly as they should be, and that in a way of supporting us to grow. Not always easy but hey, that is so great about life, that we can learn!

443. I used to have to take a lot of sick days off when I was at school and at various times in my life from work, and it is so true that whenever I call in sick, I question if I am being too weak and should I just be pushing through to get the work done. And then there is guilt and a worry that I am going to disappoint my boss. But underneath all of these thoughts I have always known that if my body is telling me to stop, then I should honour that and stop. It’s just a matter of doing that without all those silly emotions that make me feel worse. And a great point made in this blog that it should be a time to reflect and listen to what has made us sick in the first place, which creates an opportunity to change the pattern that created it.

444. Fantastic article Leigh and I particularly love the last statement “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” We treat our cars with so much more respect than our bodies. If we made the same effort to check our tyre pressure, oil and water, put the correct fuel in our tank and drove ourselves around the planet with the same due care and attention that we drive our cars, we could radically reduce our levels of sickness. And when our bodies do fall ill, to lovingly accept, rest and nourish them while they do their own repair work. Struggling through, putting up a fight, ‘not letting it get the better of me’ attitudes just prolong the misery, because driving around with flat tyres is immensely exhausting and quite frankly, who wants to feel like that?

445. I could really connect to what you are sharing here with us all Leigh. When our bodies share by way of illness/dis-ease that we need to rest and self nurture even more – not, fight on, pushing harder, so called ‘being brave’ and carrying on. Amazing how we allow ourselves to be convinced that the latter is the right thing to do. My question would be ‘who said’ what convinces us so that we expect even more from this body of ours, when the illness is speaking volumes already. Is it in our need to be needed or perhaps previous examples that have been set by those around us and we just fall easily into that pattern because it is the accepted ‘norm’ and an expectation for us to be the same? Or is it completely ‘our choice’ from the drivenness of not letting others down? Great sharing Leigh thank you.

     1. Great point Marion, we don’t even need to be sick to feel the harm we inflict on our bodies, just 2 days ago I underwent a series of tests at the doctors, I was shaken afterwards as the tests were confronting, however, I chose to run a whole bunch of errands afterwards instead as I did not want to let anyone down. After this I was so exhausted I couldn’t even make my bed properly to sleep in it. I can feel that pushing my body in this way actually creates a disharmony in my body that will lead to illness or injury if left unchecked.

446. Thank you for sharing this Leigh, so much to ponder on in this blog. I particularly love this line “…You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” This is such an amazing question as it highlights the ridiculousness of what we do to our body. I too have come to learn the value of listening to my body and treating it with love and respect. Resting when it requires rest, nourishing it with healthy food and supporting it with exercise. I feel vital and in rhythm with body.

447. Great realization Leigh about the guilt our mind dreams up for us when we are ill rather than feeling into the message it is presenting to us.

     1. ‘the guilt our mind dreams up for us’, this is a great expression Steve.

     2. Yes Steve well said. A great distraction driven from the mind to avoid itself being rendered powerless, as is what happens when we connect to the truth of our hearts and our bodies instead.

448. Serge Benhayon, through the presentations of Universal Medicine, has inspired me to listen to my body as a well-loved friend who tells me the truth, rather than as untrustworthy body that may let me down when it doesn’t behave as I expect it to.

     1. That well loved friend is always honest, and often speaks loudly should we choose to listen.

     2. It is so gorgeous to appreciate your body as you would a well-loved friend who tells you how it is, constantly reminding you of a way of living that is deeply caring and supportive rather than reckless. I have found listening is paramount and ignoring comes with consequences of being unwell…. the degree to which depends on my own stubbornness of not listening to the loving messages it constantly offers.

     3. I have said similar things to patients I have cared for and not one person has ever argued or disagreed with that. Interesting to know that we know deep down that our body always communicates the truth to us. Our choice, as always is whether we listen.

449. I had a similar experience recently where my body was being very clear it was going to go into nervous tension and overdrive if I did not listen to it. My mind chatter had a good go at getting me to override it with thoughts of ‘letting others down’ and ‘you are being a woos’ or ‘you will be missing out’ etc. Fortunately, as Leigh mentions, I have also built a deeper relationship with myself and am able to be more discerning with what is being felt in my body and what my story my mind is running. I said NO to the mind chatter and spent a gentle day pottering about at home. By the next morning the sore throat and impending cough symptoms had magically disappeared.
     “Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought”.

450. I really loved reading this article Leigh. Especially this line “Over time I have built a relationship with my thoughts in that I question their quality and relate it back to the way my body is feeling after certain trains of thought.” I can absolutely feel that living this one line alone would completely change my life. Thank you for the inspiration.

     1. mmm, true Leonne, just one simple step towards treating ourselves with more love makes so much difference.

451. It is a trap to think and treat the body as a merely functioning vehicle to meet our final goals. Our body is a radar and indicator that can make or break our ability to flow with life.

     Living in a way that respects our body as more then a functional machine enables us to be highly sensitive and read life constantly so we aren’t at the mercy of life’s dilemmas.

     1. Well said Luke, and what a difference treating our body this way makes to the quality of our life. Brilliant, yet simple.

        1. Brilliant, yet simple… yet profound 😉

452. Leigh, this is a lovely blog to read and very exposing of the needless drama we get caught up in rather than listening to our amazing body first and foremost.
     “Listening to the body when all around me there is the inclination, if not downright use of force, to ignore this innate inner wisdom is something that I am developing”.

453. This is a belief that I have lived with for so much of my life: “I thought myself a failure for getting ill, and pushing myself through the pain to ‘fight the illness’ was seen as a good thing”, but as a result of this deeply ingrained pattern of overriding the pain and/or the illness in my body so I could get back to work, or continue to look after the family, it suffered even more, prolonging the length of my recovery time. It is taking a while to bring an end to this destructive belief but I am slowly getting there. It’s definitely a work in progress and one my body is thanking me for.

454. I love the concept that it is our perceptions of illness that needs to be addressed, for the illness itself is just a form of communication from which to learn from.

455. Great question to end with Leigh, you wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push, drive, and even force our bodies to ‘perform’ our normal duties or routines when we are sick or feeling poorly…. good quality sleep and rest are often underestimated and in a lot of cases is all the body is asking for.

     1. True jacqmcfadden, resting the body is the best choice to make. The body is already shutting down so it is in the state of forcing you to rest. Many people keep going against this natural cycle of the body asking you to rest. The body being sick is asking you to stop. I enjoy being sick I know it is time to rest.

456. To me expectations do take us away from who we truly are as there is not such a thing in our body that has any of these. In our bodies instead there is the inner connection with the all, and the all has no expectations whatsoever as that just is and lives according to the plan. Living according this plan will be good medicine for us, living according our expectations will be bad medicine and will result in illness and disease instead, as that is the way of our bodies to restore its inner balance to live in adherence to where it is connected to. Therefore it is so important as you say Leigh, to give the body a “far greater presence in life and its communications and responses to human life are vital, if not a basic key to true health, well-being and vitality.”

457. These are great questions that you are asking Leigh and ones that need to be answered in view of the rise of illness and disease throughout the world – “This experience has got me wondering – how much of our illnesses and diseases could be alleviated, or supported to not be as dire, if we were to take off the weight of our expectations and reactions towards the process of illness and disease? And is it actually the illness or our perceptions of illness that make it the heavy, burdensome, depressing or downright loathsome situation it can be? If we saw illness and disease as a loving process that asked us to stop, look at and change the way that we have been living then we would be able to embrace illness and disease in a far more responsible way.

     1. Viewing illness and disease as a loving process would change everything about how we are when we have illness or disease, it would change our understanding and relationship with our bodies and we would come to know that who we are does not alter for our disease.

458. This is a great reminder thank you Leigh. When we listen to what our body is communicating and really pay attention to honour what it is feeling and wanting then we begin to live in a way that is more loving. Then our bodies begin to trust us and can let go of all the worrying and anxiety that goes on in our heads. Such a lovely way to live.

     1. Agree Jean Gamble, and how beautiful that it is by our choices that allows us to let go when we are sick and so we can let go through our bodies all the worrying and anxiety. No need or time for any delay or escape, our body knows and so do we.

459. Illness and disease is not a failure. We are not a bad person and we are not being punished. We do need to observe and learn, even if it is to take tender loving care of ourselves, both when we are sick and when we are not.

     1. This is HUGE Jennifer – we have not failed if we are unwell, no more than if we don’t have much money, or even no family. All life’s challenges allow us an opportunity to know ourselves more deeply should we choose to.

460. “Instead the body is given a far greater presence in life and its communications and responses to human life are vital, if not a basic key to true health, well-being and vitality” – yes Leigh, and if I’d have known this truth from young, my working life would have been very different in regards levels of anxiousness, stress, tension. Putting the body first over an incessant ridden mind is the determinant of success especially at work, where productivity is about quality of being (how vital in the BODY we are in the job, and for the time required), and not in the number of hours worked (to prove or satiate a common ideal that longer hours generates more influence or importance). The fact is, and what I see in my job of Recruitment, is that with this latter notion, the rates of chronic fatigue, burnout and exhaustion at work are going through the roof. Many high potential workers are quitting jobs, giving up and essentially having breakdowns in spite of achieving a lot and earning 6 figure salaries. When there is connection to the body, there is connection in the job, and true instead of forced productivity that doesn’t cost an employee (and their family) their sanity, and the employer an excellent and committed worker.

461. I loved the thoughts you observed Leigh as you were calling in sick. I have noticed similar things and yet when speaking with my boss she would say something like “take care, take as much time as you need” – genuinely so. So we can then say that those thoughts have no purpose other than for us to question ourselves and what we are feeling – even if it is sick.

462. Expectations of ourselves in illness and the perceptions we have of illness – a book can be written on this subject. They both do one thing and that is disconnect us from the truth that our body is communicating to us, which prevents us from looking at the part we have played, for there is always something to learn.

     1. “a book can be written on this subject.” So very true indeed. There are so many things that we put in the way of us truly connecting to our ourselves and what we can learn from our illnesses. Seems like the perfect set up to me. Don’t have to be as responsible or feel whats truly going on.

        1. We have so many rules about how we should be during illness, it can be a time of great stress, so we look to others to see how to be. The problem is we are all looking at the same picture, when our own body and wisdom can show us the way.

        2. So true Heather. We are all looking out to others for what to do and yet, with us all looking out, its clear that none really have the answers. Until one begins to look in and have the answers for themselves.

     2. Absolutely Jennifer, our expectations and perceptions need to be observed and if needed addressed, for they can be used to avoid the responsibility that the illness is showing us we have not been living. In appreciation of what our bodies communicate, there is much to learn about the choices we make.

463. And your thoughts whilst on the phone are so well captured Leigh, and show the extent of an incessant mind to override the body into disregard or compromise. Feeling guilty, a slacker, taking advantage, not ill enough to take time off, putting it on, one’s ability or capacity at work being questionable. And so on … there are so many notions, and justifications that surround a concern that so many of us have — what others might think of us.

     What I have noted for myself during such recovery episode is that the expectations held about our boss/manager/colleague about ourselves and our illness situation, are really reactions to the expectations we’re already holding of ourselves based on such ideal ways of being in our job, position, stage of life etc etc. The more we hold ourselves with true value and worth, the less we become concerned about others thoughts, because we have that concern with us in the first place. So when I consider expectation, it boils down to self-worth, and from where we are attributing this — from what we ‘do’, or from how we ‘are being’ that comes from the body. True self-worth is all about feeling a worth within the body such that compromise by thought, condition, justification is no longer an option.

     1. But also what to note, is, that these thoughts come to us because deep down on some level, we all know we are responsible for being ill, because of the choices we have made in how we live.

        1. The thoughts are just the frosting on the cake. We make bad choices and ignore our body’s reactions to them. The body steps up and starts firing flares and because we still don’t heed what is happening, it shuts down and allows the illness to creep in unabated. We now are surprised we are ill, how did this happen… then the thoughts of why me, or not now I have to much to do, or anything else except, it was my bad choice that got me here.

     2. “what others might think of us.” I have this going on right now and it is insane and not pleasant to have these thoughts even when I am by myself. This is separation to the body, to the Soul. Your Soul has No thought or act that would place you lesser. It just goes to show the lengths we have gone and continually go to to leave ourself. If we placed all our energy into connecting to our body we would feel a whole lot different about ourselves and everyone around us. Thank God for Universal Medicine and the Ageless Wisdom teaching us the tools to reconnect to that inner-wisdom that holds us in love not in ill-ness.

464. Super post Leigh, love your last line here: “You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness?” – and equally an employer would not hire a person who was flat or exhausted, because of how it would affect their productivity levels.

     1. And it’s true, we would never drive a car with flat tyres, we would see to it immediately – yet why, and what is it about us, that chooses to ignore or override our body? If we were to drive a car like this it would literally be falling apart before we even got out the driveway. And I can guarantee no body would do that – so why do we allow our bodies to get in such a mess? –– Lack of responsibility.

465. I really appreciate what you have written here Leigh, the fact that our way of being directly contributes to how we feel and the health of our bodies, continues to unfold for me and those around me. When something arises in the body, there is very often a direct relationship to a way of thinking or being that is evidently playing a part in the illness. Thank you.

466. Leigh I can totally relate to your inspiring article. Many times I have hesitated before phoning in ill for work, and thus creating an enormous tension in my body, a body that was clearly telling me it needed complete rest in order to heal. And I too have had to train myself to go to the bathroom at the first urge to urinate, and not hold on to the last minute because of the self-expectation to complete a task before seeing to my own bodily needs. Gradually I have been making the body’s messages my authority and the result has been amazing. How arrogant am I to ignore its wisdom with expectations that come from ideals and beliefs that I have gathered from who knows where!

     1. “Gradually I have been making the body’s messages my authority and the result has been amazing.” Same here and yet there are times when my body says yes to a situation but my mind with it’s expectations, ideals and beliefs want nothing to do with what is being felt. In these instances when something feels so right but I am going ‘but but but!’ in my head and resisting what I’ve felt I have to come back to the fact that every time I do say yes to following those messages the result has always been amazing

467. This is priceless and so simple…”I then paused for a moment and came back to my body and the warmth that I know is there to support me and as soon as I did the thoughts stopped!” To just stop and feel my body again is magic in these stressful situations.

     1. “To just stop and feel my body again is magic in these stressful situations.” so simple, yet worth so much Irena.

        1. When things are going off track, a difficult day, or perhaps I’m feeling tired, it is so easy to connect to myself by a simple breath, or pausing for a few moments. The simplest ways are often the best.

        2. True Heather, simplicity is so key. we tend to complicate life to the max.

468. Thank you Leigh for sharing your experiences, I too find that fighting the body or any illness is just going to make it even harder to heal because we have taken the healing ability of the body and decided to go to war with it. Doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, the body needs to be cared for and listened to just as we would look after our vehicles if we wanted them to last and as you say -You wouldn’t drive a car with flat tyres, so why do we continue to push our bodies, making matters worse by expecting it to function as normal when it’s calling for rest and care due to illness? ‘

     1. The ‘fighting’ aspect that comes in with so many diseases isn’t supporting it at all and yet it is common and even suggested by so many doctors.

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