499 thoughts on “Illness and Disease – How Should You Look?”

1. Nicole you presented something really interesting here about illness and diseases, most people would have been hospitalised with cases like yourself. With people who change the way they live, as in the many who have received sessions with Universal Medicine and their practitioners, their perspective on illness and disease is different.

   I once upon a time couldn’t stand being unwell, and found it an hindrance and now since 2013 having sessions with Universal Medicine practitioners, I see illness and diseases as my body’s way of clearing things that don’t belong to me.

   I also agree we need the support of both of Western and Universal Medicine to support our bodies whilst it is going through what ever is going through for it, and I loved combining the two. There is another way to healing illness and diseases, if you are open to it.

2. I walked into a doctor’s surgery with a diagnosed and painful skin condition. When the doctor examined me she was surprised and said ‘You are blessed, many with this same condition are severely scarred.” I feel lifestyle choices made over almost twenty years contributed to the foundational health I hold in my body.

3. Someone I know who in her own words describes herself as ‘glam’ never leaves the house without a fully made up face and perfectly coordinated clothes, sought medical help for a persistent condition. She was mis-diagnosed for years because doctors and nurses said – she looked too well! One doctor who went beyond appearances, listened, recognised her symptoms and discovered she had a life threatening illness affecting a vital organ. Looks can be deceiving.

4. Oh gosh I had a flashback reading this, when I was younger either at primary school or secondary school and was not well, I used to bring a bit of drama into it as I thought people might not think I was ill … so turned up lip and quite wobbly voice etc… hilarious. I think this is really important what you have shared ‘It is here where we have a responsibility to express what we are feeling, to not take anything for granted, and it is the fact that I listened to my body and knew there was more going on than first diagnosed, that I was able to support the doctor to in turn support me.’ To not use drama! but instead really express exactly what is going on for us from a place of truth within our body. Simple.

   1. Vicky your comment brought to mind the expectation that when we call up work and tell them that we’re not coming in because we’re sick, that we have to sound really sick. It would be nye on impossible for most of us to ring up sick and sound well even though we might genuinely be sick.

   2. Is it also possible that we use drama because we are simply not met in the delicacy that we are and feel? With the common attitude to harden up, toughen up and put up with it, we perceive that we won’t get listened to and cared for unless we bring in an emotion to put the rubber stamp on it? If this is the case, it is a sad incitement of society that we feel we have to play these games or feel that we can’t express honestly in the first place.

   3. Vicky I would be consumed with guilt when I had to ring in sick at work, I needed them to hear that I was unwell to justify the time off. I felt otherwise judged, when I was only judging myself. There are times when our bodies need nurturing and it begins with you first. It is sometimes a stop moment to go within and rethink how we are living, whilst the body is recovering.

5. Because we can present so differently it’s really up to us to ensure our doctor understands our symptoms and how ill we may be.

6. What you share here is there is a ‘picture of health’ and how ill we are can be benchmarked against that picture. By supporting ourselves in our day to day, away from any illness we offer our body a foundation from which to do the clearing it needs to do.

7. It supports us to walk free of preconceptions. At a recent visit to my GP surgery, I became aware of an inner reaction towards the doctor, assigned to see me. As soon as I saw this, I reflected more on why before clearing it. I met her, stayed open and realised I almost denied myself the opportunity to meet this lovely woman, all because of a picture I had in my mind. She was understanding, sensitive, examined me before accurately and quickly diagnosing the painful condition I had. Working with medical practitioners is a two way thing, as much about what we bring and how we relate to them as how they are.

   1. “Working with medical practitioners is a two way thing, as much about what we bring and how we relate to them as how they are” Kehinde this is very true but it has taken me quite a while to let go of the subservient attitude that I have had most of my life towards anyone in the medical profession. I used to sit meekly and at times almost apologetically in consultations and accept what was being said without question, I would also accept lateness and rudeness from specialists as par for the course. I offered nothing of me in the consultation. The way that I am now with medical professionals is much more honest, much more real and much more me, which I acknowledge is much better for my health and the health of my relationships with those whom I have contact with. Being myself in consultations also influences the outcome because if I am not being me then the doctor/specialist has much less information to base their diagnosis and treatment plan on.

      1. Alexis, the way you were with medical practitioners is very common and I can relate to what you share.
         A totally different feeling to walk into a consultation room with honesty and as an equal. When we do, not only do we provide doctors/specialist with more information to work with, we offer a reflection which they can also learn from. The quality of our being-ness takes the expectation and load off medical practitioners to fix us, instead we enter into a respectful dialogue with them.

8. Love the way you worked with your GP – not dependent or giving away your power but as an equal partner in the healing relationship. This shows that GPs can be great support, if we are willing to work with and meet them without any pre-conceptions.

9. Being able to understand why you had pneumonia and what it was clearing helps in the healing process, because with greater awareness we don’t fall in to the trap of victim and identifying with the illness, and are able to see it as something the body has to discard and let go of.

10. On a recent doctor’s visit, she sent me to see her nurse for some tests and we got to talking about maintaining your health when you are getting older. She was filling out a form with the answers I was giving her and when I answered ‘none’ to what medications I was taking, she stopped and looked at me rather strangely, so I asked her if this was unusual for someone of 69. And the answer was, ‘very unusual’. It was a great confirmation of the commitment I have made to care for myself more deeply than I have ever done; it is obviously worth it.

    1. I’ve experienced the same thing from a specialist a few years ago, I would have been 45. When I answered I was not on medication it was considered as very unusual.

11. The consequences of our negligence towards health in past is why we are unhappy with our health. Because of all this illness has become part of our life.

12. Having a foundation of loving choices doesn’t make us impervious to illness. But it does support us in the healing process as we are more likely to take the needed rest and deeper care required.

13. A great reflection of feeling what is going on for our selves and others and not just the presentation and looks. Offering a vital body and the knowing of a sickness within is something not seen in the world today but with a way of living that supports us so much this is something that can offer in life for others and take away a lot of the identifications and debilitations and of much illness and disease.

14. We have made life so much about the outer looks and appearance that we have neglected our sense of feeling and sensing what is really going.

    1. It is so true that it is our sense of feeling that gives us the true picture of what is happening not just the outward appearances and looks.

15. To be ill and to decide not to be identified with it, depressed or weighed down by it, can only assist in a speedier recovery.

16. It must be hard for a doctor to diagnose someone when they do not fit the expected mould.

17. We have got used to seeing the symptoms of illness being presented in a dire way, but what you demonstrate here is ‘not to judge a book by its cover’ because the way a person lives appears to have quite a bearing on the severity of what an illness looks like… if you live well, that is with awareness of self-care, this seems to adjust how the body responds, deals and copes with illness.

    1. Very true. The picture is not always the whole story – a good lesson for every part of our life.

18. I love the question you ask here Nicole – how should you look with illness and disease? And the real answer is that there is no answer for though there is a text book presentation, very few fall into that text book category and so we must always be open to realising that the body is as it is and does as it does and it is doing exactly as it needs to be doing.

19. The sense I get from your sharing here is how empowering it is to know our own body so well and feel confident in what we are feeling, our own very personal, direct experience as the authority. From that place, we become more open to taking responsibility, making adjustments, appreciating our deepening relationship with the body, ant that’s very beautiful and liberating.

20. This shows how important it is to know our body and how it feels so that we know when something is going on even though it might not look the same as it does for others.

21. Such a great testament to the fact that function is not the marker of health or illness that it is made out to be.

22. I found this article very informative….thanks

23. When my body is overloaded from ill choices then I get really sick and suffer from the ill emotions of being ill as well as physically ill.
    When I am making loving choices and my body is ill to clear and make more space then the heavy emotional loading that is the characteristic ‘being ill’ isn’t there.

24. When we consider our illness not as a failure but as a communication and indication for something to heal there is opportunity to reveal and understand the underlying issues.

    1. Yes, this perspective changes the way we look at and approach illness. Understanding there’s more going on, certainly makes you want to support the way we care for ourselves during this period.

25. We can have so many pictures of how we should look and behave in certain situations in life and yet we can always be clearing what is not truly ours and deepening what is truly ours to be lived and expressed.

26. I love that illness provides an opportunity to reset things we may have done in the past that were downright harmful to the body, for example when we overdo things we tend to get a cold or flu.

    1. Yes, this is quite an opportunity for the body to let-go and surrender, and for the person to make true adjustments in their life.

    2. This was my modus operandi when I was first at work. Every single holiday I would have a cold for the first 5 days as I rebalanced after pushing myself way too hard before I went on holiday in an ever-futile attempt to finish all my work.

27. “a body can be unwell but a person can present on the outside as well, due to the quality of daily choices that provide a strong foundation of vitality and wellbeing…” This gives indication of the possibility that the way a person lives their day has a direct correlation to the presentation of their illness..

28. Today someone came to my house moaning and groaning about roadworks that had held her up…no one had told her that they were going to be there. Life is full of the unexpected – how about if we have cause to pause for a while in whatever we are doing we can see it as a gift…allowing us more space to deepen our connection with ourselves, to ponder more deeply on a matter, to prepare ourselves more fully for the purpose of our journey, whatever it may be, to see the silver lining rather than identifying a cloud that is getting in our way. This allows us to be free of aggravation and spreading that into our environment and the people we meet.

    1. “Life is full of the unexpected” and each one offers an opportunity for us to choose: to respond or react. So true what you say Elaine, we can use delays and obstructions to deepen and be with ourselves. Space is never waste, it is God and God is love.

29. When we have understanding that to have illness and disease is a clearing of energy which no longer supports the body we accept the process as part of our evolution. Regardless of the time taken to heal we know the healing is to be experienced that will bring a greater amount of light into the body to be lived.

30. This is a whole new way of living with an illness but not becoming the illness and identifying with it as if part of our being. Seeing the illness as a way to clear past ill momentum and to welcome the correction a healthier relationship to have with illness and disease.

31. Bringing true health and healing into the world of medicine and our lives is beautiful and well worth claiming.

32. Your experience described in your blog shows how everything we do has an impact on our health and wellbeing… looking after ourselves, even if it seems small has a cumulative effect that makes a long term difference.

33. It’s always worth investigating something ‘small’ because it might be a sign of something going on a bigger scale in the body.

34. I had a health check recently with a nurse and she was blown away how great my health appeared to be for my age, blood tests, blood pressure, weight, diet, exercise, all got a big tick. She got a real live example to see how our choices make such a difference to our health.

35. Yes the offering to the medical professional by the choices we choose to live may not fit the norm but is offering others another way to read and connect to the patient.

36. It’s so true Nicole, even when our bodies are clearing enormously with all sorts of things happening, we can still move and be and speak and work with grace and dignity.

37. If we asked anyone to mimmick how someone looks when they are sick it would, I am sure, be a 99% if not 100% chance that they would put on a sad expression, with turned down corners of the mouth and dull droopy eyes…possibly a few children might see it differently…yet I have known many people now who are not identifying with their illness nor are they putting on a show with a stiff upper lip or fake smile. If we deny the truth of what is happening we can appear to be happy but cannot really fool anyone least of all ourselves, we soon get tired of putting on a mask. When we maintain a relationship with ourselves of honesty, allowing ourselves to feel but not reacting to those feelings we stay free of emotions and able to enjoy ourselves wherever we are at.

    1. We are the constant or rather we should be the constant, a constant terminal of connection to God. Sounds highfalutin I know but it is the way back for all of us, to shore up our connection with God and then to maintain it whatever situation or circumstance we find ourselves in. Gradually over time (hundreds of lifetimes) the turbulence will abate and we will be left in the stillness of God once again.

38. It is beautiful to see people who continue to look fabulous during illness, as there remains the spark of who they are, their natural expression and light which continues to come through and shine. This says to me that illness is a part of life but it does not have to become your life and that you can simply be who you are and maintain amazing connections and relationships with those around you – who also do not have to live your illness but rather just make it part of what is already there.

    1. And the world needs this reflection of not being identified with an illness or disease.

39. Reflecting on this blog, I thought about how much health professionals rely on visual and other cues from the patient to gauge not only what is wrong with them but how sick they are. It’s like we triage everyone in our heads and respond according to our decision. But is this based on the norms or the average and what happens if like in this case the client still looks great? I would imagine there can be much more chance for misdiagnosis.

    1. Unfortunately many doctors rely almost solely on information that they already have stored in their heads to make sense of what’s going on for someone and although learnt information is, of course, crucial and critical for any doctor to know, it can sometimes hinder them from looking at the patient who is sitting right in front of them with fresh eyes.

40. Everyone can present a different clinical picture when we get sick – and sometimes we can fall into the classical textbook picture but not always. No matter what our body communicates it is worth heeding (and resting etc as needed) and advocating for what we feel with ourselves and with the GPs so they can best support us.

41. Honouring what our body feels is so important and something that looking well can often mask if we live in a responsible healthy way given the general health and way of living in the world .

42. “But no matter how well I may have looked, I knew that I was sick.” – it’s important to not dismiss what we’re feeling and what that may be showing us…

    1. Spot on Fiona – I see clients who present a clinical picture of a condition but when doing tests they come out negative, indicating that they do not have the condition. However in such situations, their reality is still an experience of the symptoms which must be considered, honoured and then it is about offering care and support as appropriate.

43. Years ago when I would pull a sickie at work and ring in to tell the boss that I wasn’t feeling well I would really lay it on and try and make myself sound sick and then the next day turn up and try and look sick, so we do have an image of what looking or sounding sick is when we can actually be quite ill and look ok.

    1. Hilarious Kevin, and I am sure many will relate to this. Though it is a challenge when you don’t look sick but you feel terrible which often happens to me! The real problem is that because I operate feeling 170% naturally, then when I drop to ‘only’ 100% (which to most is fantastic) but for me I know I am not at my maximum! What a beautiful thing to realise!

44. How awesome for your GP to be shown that pictures around illness and disease do not work… we are each unique, and each equally responsible for our health and our daily life choices.

45. This is great to expose that we can remain vital whilst our bodies can be going through a clearing process… that we don’t have to succumb to illness and disease, it is a natural process of discarding that which is no longer aligned with how we are choosing to live.

46. The body is truly incredible, isn’t it. I’m in a similar boat–an infection from 3.5 years ago never resolved, but there were no signs aside from a little extra fatigue. At a time when I “should” have been hospitalized, I was working out 6 days a weeks and going on long, steep hikes. Minding our diet, exercise, thoughts, and emotional wellness have such power… though I eventually reached a point where the infection overpowered my healthy lifestyle, I credit those choices for keeping me “looking healthy” for so long. It’s so vital that doctors recognize the differences between patients and their presentation of symptoms because they can vary so vastly.

47. There seems to me, to be many rules about looks. About how a person should look, how a relationships should look, a job, a house, our children etc. The list is endless and this says to me that no matter how much a person may strive and work, there will always be another ‘look’ to achieve making all that work only minuscule in comparison to what is expected next. When really, we can just be ourselves as this is enough. How we each look through illness, through joy, through grief, through life, is subject to what processes are happening for us on the inside, and the fact that someone may seem beautiful and light in a situation where another is miserable is simply a reflection of each person’s place on their journey or path through life. No judgement is our way forward because this allows everyone to be exactly where they need to be, and to be inspired by another, who may be in a different place, but wow, how beautiful that place is when it is coming from the inner-heart.

48. It is quite an odd experience to feel so physically heavy but so energetically light, as one can do during a bout of sickness when the body is in preparation for more of the Soul’s Fire to be embodied.

49. What a great sharing and reflection with your GP Nicole, such an opportunity for learning and healing for you both.

50. One of the many blessing we have been given by Serge Benhayon is to re-awaken the ability to read the body and understand what it is telling us. By understanding the illness/disease in our body we can make the necessary changes and heal the root cause of it. This is true medicine and the way Esoteric Medicine and Conventional medicine need to work together. To deny the energetic causes of an illness will one day be recognized for the harm it is, as we then will merely cure the symptoms but not free the body of the ill imprints that caused it in the first place.

51. Amazing reflection and blessing you presented to the medical profession.

52. Oh I felt so bad for you when I read this post, how sad it must be to look healthy, but know that you are sick. Am I right?

53. Yes indeed we do have a responsibility to express how we feel. People who don’t know us may think we look great but that is in comparison to another and not to the vitality we know we can be.

54. When we take responsibility for our health by the choices we make on a daily basis then we do present a body that is cared for and loved. Serge Benhayon has been teaching and inspiring many on this level, so as and when any sickness arises we know that this is part of the discarding of what is not truly who we are.

55. It is important to consider as this example of illness reveals that we can be living in such a way that allows the body to clear and heal what has been buried and suppressed and to bring the space to live more of who we truly are.

56. The Way of The Livingness offers a true way of being with an aliveness and wellness that comes from within and changes the pictures of illness and disease and what it looks like to be sick. This allows a true understanding of life, our bodies and all we go through with a vitality, aliveness and commitment to bringing our all for all to feel and be inspired by and offers so much to medicine itself and the support of this.

57. Yes, living life who we are, more so than living the ailment or diseased state in life… what a imprint to leave the body.

58. Looking well when we are sick is a whole new phenomenon… but what if this became our normal? It would say a whole lot about the choices we would make on a daily basis about the way we live!

59. If we look after our body and don’t override feelings of exhaustion and fatigue, then it’s a lot easier to recognise the symptoms when we do fall ill.

60. We see people very stressed and unwell in our everyday lives, without a terminal illness but they are chronically sick because of their lifestyles. But there is a great learning of a different way to be, that when the human part of us is unwell, the being part of us can still be alive, joyful, and vibrant inside us.

61. What strikes me today is that what we consider to be normal is often what we call healthy when the reality is how many of us look is actually unhealthy.

62. Again, on reading this I get the sense of how important it is to take the patient’s (person’s) word for how they feel, to not hold any preconceived idea of what an illness looks like – it is their experience of what is absolutely not normal in their bodies. We can be so finely attuned to our bodies that we know when a hormone is out of kilter or the intake of a certain substance too high for our homeostasis. We are our own evidence-based textbook.

63. So true Gill, rather than see it as you fix me (as in GP fix me) we can approach it as what support is needed as I change how i am living. That would certainly support GP’s not to burn out in the way they do.

64. A great example of the value and worth of taking care of ourselves, all of the time, so that if and when we do get seriously ill, we have already set a solid foundation for speedy recovery to full vitality again.

65. As you have pointed out Nicole we have many beliefs around what illness and disease should look like. These beliefs are designed to keep us comfortably irresponsible.

66. Conventional medicine does an amazing job but without esoteric healing we do not get to the root cause of illness and disease. True healing is not only treating the symptoms but addressing the reason as to why we had the illness or disease in the first place.

    1. Why? is never what you hear when visiting the doctor. I wonder if we were asking or being asked the question more often there would be room for more discussion about our health and responsibility.

67. This blog shows me that there is more to the vitality of our bodies and that the known images medicine holds does not always accommodate for this for now rare situations. As shared in this blog our bodies can be clearing from all that we not have lived maybe for ages, and in this case chose pneumonia as way of clearing. The vitality in which the body is doing this allows the clearing to be without the typical symptoms and that is something we have to understand and to get used to.

68. How should one look when they are sick? Well your blog shows that the way you live affects everything… Living esoterically raised the standards of what’s normal, to the point that you can ‘look well’ even when the body is physically and physiologically ill. It appears that living esoterically, enables the body to have a level of vibrancy to withstand what would ‘normally’ make one bedridden.

69. A great example of how the pre-judgements and beliefs we travel with can cloud our ability to read afresh whatever is before us in any moment.

70. It’s interesting how we have a picture of what sick looks like – and as humanity cares for themselves less and less, we have an expectation that symptoms will be more extreme. It is as if we actually do know the reality of how we are living and the consequences. It is simply a case of how invested we are in comfort.

71. We are used to seeing a decreasing level of health and vitality in society – and so it has become the expected rather than not normal.

72. Your experience highlights just how medicinal the effects of self-care and self-love has on the human body. There’s no magic pill, simply only the way one lives with themselves.

73. So what you are saying Nicole is that not holding any of you back and living the choices that this entails – The Way of The Livingness, produces a body that presents very clearly what it needs to clear and heal.

74. One person looks smooth and well conditioned, another ill and virus ridden – if both are living far from who they truly are who is the one who is ‘worse off’? Surely thinking you are doing great when you are trapped in living a lie is a serious condition – there’s no impetuous to change or seek the truth inside.

75. Thank you Nicole, this has been so supportive reading this again to give me more awareness of trusting how I feel even if I may look well, an to ask for further tests if I feel to.

76. What is alarming is that our general lack of understanding of disease and well-being has slipped so far that it is only the grossly obvious manifestations that are the indicators of our degree of health. With this we are missing so much of what our body and being is communicating to us as an offering for us to heal and let go of. Our standards of what health and well-being are have dropped to a point that we do not even consider the more subtle levels of disease that offer us the opportunity to refine even more the quality in which we are living.

    1. Well said Carola – our idea of health has become very different to that of true wellbeing.

77. Having also recently experienced a severe bout of pneumonia this blog speaks volumes to me. Having been blue lighted to hospital I then spent only one night in hospital and was allowed home with the antibiotics as my body had responded so well.

78. Years ago while attending a junior college, I took a course called medical sociology. It was the only sociology course I had not taken, and I was the only non-premedical student in the class. It was a requirement for them that was about the roles patients are meant to play. We are expected to adopt a role to play, and it is an accepted process. So, are we changing old patterns by being more in touch with our bodies, as opposed to running our bodies till they break? Then like our car when it breaks, we drop it off to be fixed, and we sit in the waiting room watching tv or reading old magazines.

79. How we look is not just a measure of what’s on our face, often when people are ill, there is a whole body change in terms of posture, sunken chest, slumped shoulders. I see so many older ladies with walking aids whose spines seem permanently curved, and some the same age who walk upright looking younger.

    1. Very true Carmel and the way we move, the quality of our movements communicate a great deal about the state of our health and well-being.

80. The body will always talk… it may just take a little while to get loud enough so we stop and listen.

    1. Indeed Rachael how loud it has to speak is up to us, I know I was hard of hearing for many years!

81. Beautifully inspiring in the choices of how we live and the foundation this provides us .” a body can be unwell but a person can present on the outside as well, due to the quality of daily choices that provide a strong foundation of vitality and wellbeing.” The way of the livingness changes everything and comes with a true quality that sets new standards to health well being and all of life in every aspect of it.

82. Osteoporosis is one of those illnesses that you can’t ‘see’ until you break a bone. So many people appear well but may have something seriously wrong inside.

    1. Yes Carmel, some illnesses may not have noticeable symptoms so it’s vital we all get regular medical check ups, and to also not disregard any symptoms or concerns.

    2. Yes, Just like an iceberg, there is more going on under the surface of our body. Internal health is kept in check through living in connection, in regard and in response to how we feel and less dismissing and overriding the communication our body has with us.

83. It is quite amazing how many really ill looking people I see walking around these days which is quite the opposite of what you are saying, yesterday my wife and I were sitting in a field on the edge of the forest near where we live and a guy walked past that literally looked like a zombie, the lights were totally out. Whether or not he had an illness to speak of I can’t say but this guy was very sick indeed.

    1. Indeed Kevin, I do see those people as well, but the problem is that it is so normal to have an illness or disease such that when you visit your GP with a vital body that naturally is working with any illness as a way of clearing, the GP might get confused because that is not ‘normal’.

84. What’s written here is really worth taking note of and investigating. It is significant in ways I personally haven’t yet grasped in full but know is of great worth to us all.

85. The physical manifestation of an illness or a disease is simply the accumulation of choices one has made that had lead to the final result. The body is always giving us signs, and forever giving us messages – but the real question is how much do we listen to these and act on them before we allow it to become an actual condition? Having said that, our Soul works with us in wonderful ways and is always able to work with us in order to deliver a message, an illness and a full healing. So it is not about not getting sick, but it is about learning to uncover the message and the healing in the illness so that we do not need to make the same un-supportive choices again.

86. The correct diagnosis is important in order to get the right treatment and it is super important to be open to getting medical advice as you have shared here Nicole! Sometimes though a person presents with a different symptom picture than what is classic for the condition and hence the diagnosis can be missed, or done incorrectly. Thankfully we know our body and we know when we need to go back and insist that something else is indeed going on – the medical system does need us to keep voicing and saying what works and what does not – for much of this healing lies in our hands and we can stay empowered with it.

87. This is so interesting to read. I never considered before that we might be so ill and really looking and feeling ill because of the lack of basic care we take of our body. If we truly take responsibility the world will look so so different.

88. The vitality I have found through the work of Universal Medicine is nothing short of a miracle to me. I used to be at the mercy of many imbalances in my body, and although I am not in perfect health, I continue to be vital, and to live a life of great activity and contribution.

89. ‘…disease does not always look a specific way, that a body can be unwell but a person can present on the outside as well, due to the quality of daily choices that provide a strong foundation of vitality and wellbeing.’ This is a huge paradigm shift from what we know illness, disease and our way of living to be, currently.

90. Beautiful Susan and spot on… “Our take on illness varies depending on how we have been living up to that point…”

91. We can be as emotional as we like and people don’t consider us sick. Yet in my experience these are the first serious symptoms of us being ill in ourselves. We ought to pay more attention.

    1. Yes, agree, this is very poignant. The emotional body, in my experience too, appears to be a ‘red flag’ of warning before we see the dis-ease and ill health of the physical body.

       1. I agree, emotions, I feel, are the precursor to many illnesses in the body.

92. “a body can be unwell but a person can present on the outside as well, due to the quality of daily choices that provide a strong foundation of vitality and wellbeing.” Being sick in this way shifts the whole paradigm of illness, it also very much exposes that our bodies enhouse a being and that when we are connected to the beingness of being then there is a clear understanding that whilst our bodies are incredibly significant we have many more dimensions and facets to existence.

93. It’s certainly time to take a look at what illness really needs to look like.

94. Interesting… What IF, the baseline and average models used by the health system are based on something that is not actually the body’s natural levels in the first place?

    1. A good question Michael – have we slipped so far from true health and vitality that even our base line is miles away, where we are already a bit run down, exhausted, stressed and overwhelmed by life rather than truly energetic, joyful and vital?

95. Thank you again Nicole for your sharing – and what is key here is that no matter how another thinks you look (healthy etc) then it is important to stand by what you feel when you go and see the GP or a doctor. A GP or Doctor is always faced with the challenge of not knowing what your version of healthy is….I joke about this sometimes and I say my normal is 200%, and if I drop below that then I am not well even though I am still looking and feeling so much better than another who’s normal is 100%. But what this exposes is the low level of normal that is the standard for most people. If however the diagnosis does not feel complete, it is important to insist on a second opinion or ask for further investigations so that one is not left in a situation that could potentially present as far more complicated or dangerous. Trust yourself and keep advocating as needed and the GP’s will listen.

96. It cannot be forecast on how an illness or disease will pan out/unfold in the body as it has much to do with what needs to be cleared from the body but also a lot to do with the everyday choices we make to support the illness in its clearing. However, some illnesses cannot be underestimated in the extra time needed for recovery and one of these is pneumonia which can certainly ask of us much patience in the road back to full recovery. Thank you Nicole for your sharing and a great reminder to keep listening to the body.

97. There are cases of ‘walking pneumonia’ and also cases of people who have pneumonia but do not present a picture as severe as usually seen -and this can indeed be confusing for GPs and doctors…. I myself have also been one of those cases quite a few years ago and it took a GP who was particularly interested in lung issues to recognise it for what it was (pneumonia), and thankfully so!

98. “a body can be unwell but a person can present on the outside as well, due to the quality of daily choices that provide a strong foundation of vitality and wellbeing.” What an amazing confirmation of the way of the livingness and the true health we can all have and celebrate for ourselves even when we get sick and a new marker for doctors to observe also.

99. The combination of Western medicine and Universal Medicine has all posts covered for true healing and not just recovery – “With the support of both Western Medicine and antibiotics, and energetic practitioners at Universal Medicine my body recovered and my being healed.”

100. Esoteric Medicine as presented by Serge Benhayon gives us all we need to attend to our health via our lifestyle choices and that is huge. Statistics show that it is our lifestyle we need to be addressing first and foremost.

101. The way of the livingness is truly inspiring to live and see in so many a health vitality and wellness not seen in the world today out side of this, and it is a beautiful marker to medicine and the incorporation of how we live contributing so much to our lives and our living medicine.

102. It’s amazing how much our outward appearance can be transformed by choices unrelated to food quantity or the amount of exercise we do in hours, but in how we live, communicate, look after ourselves, take time out when we need to, not get overly stressed, express how we feel and so forth.

103. That is the truth and you have expressed so simply. Its time we embrace the illness or disease as it is supporting us to heal our bodies if we choose to allow it.

104. Very true Nicole, a body can be ill yet present as being well on the outside, which often throws a doctor because we are supposed to look a certain way, it totally throws out the belief of pictures and expectations when a body presents no visual signs of illness yet is actually ill.

105. Yes, The Way of The Livingness is supporting thousands of people of all ages and from all walks of life to exemplify true health, which will eventually inspire doctors to re-write medical journals to include the missing link – the ancient science of energetic medicine.

     1. “the ancient science of energetic medicine.” is coming back, the more and more of us who choose “The Way of The Livingness” the more this will confirm how there is a way to connect to true health.

        1. Yes Amita, well said, and this is the future where our true medicine is a marriage of the esoteric modalities and conventional medicine too!

106. When we fall ill our foundations of looking after ourselves, having a supportive rhythm and routine don’t go away, they can actually help us to not hit ‘rock bottom’ physically or emotionally and still feel solid in ourselves even though our body is sick. For example, eating a selection of foods which make us feel healthy and vital means that when we’re sick we know how to eat to support then as well.

107. “The doctor did a wonderful job, she is not used to seeing someone fit, vital and looking well, and yet be so ill. It is here where we have a responsibility to express what we are feeling, to not take anything for granted, and it is the fact that I listened to my body and knew there was more going on than first diagnosed, that I was able to support the doctor to in turn support me.” This is so important. Doctors aren’t used to seeing ill people looking so well, as you mention. When we listen to what our body is telling us we know when something is out of order with ourselves.

108. I suppose that when most of us are ill we sit around feeling miserable without the energy to do or get on with much whereas you have shown that the healthier you are going into an illness the more resilience the body has and the less likely we are to sit looking and feeling like death warmed up.

109. Understanding that our body is energetic, and the core essence (vibration) of the body is the quality and energy of love, then this brings a greater level of understanding to diseases process in the body. Treating the whole body – the physical AND the emotional body – enables that body to discard and clear both the bacteria AND energetic disharmony, that provides then, space for it to return closer to its original state of being…Love.

110. The idea that if you don’t look the part you are putting it on may encourage people to make themselves sicker than they are. I think you are right Ariana that sympathy is tied in with looking and feeling unwell and can be a reward that keeps us in it. Being unwell can be an opportunity to get time out, get people ‘off your back’ or milk the illness for the attention.

111. It is incredible how our body can stay so steady and solid when we are going through the most challenging days when we are willing to build a level of foundational care over a period of time.

112. Interesting point here about what we think is the right way or the progression with choosing a more healthy lifestyle, some times we will get ill to make way for fresh ways of being and clear out old patterns.

     1. We sure truly need to read and allow what is going on in our body, and allow for deeper healing to take place.

113. Your sharing totally confirms how the way we live is fundamental to providing a standard of vitality and wellness in our body… and also confirms how the way we live is also our medicine.

114. Defying the stereotype of how we should behave and what we should look like when we are ill… thank you for sharing this Nicole… a point of inspiration.

115. It must be really something to meet someone who is so well when so ill! An oxymoron that needn’t be so rare.

     1. I always have thoughts that you have to look a certain way to be ill, even we have the saying such as “you don’t look that ill” what if in the future that saying was not needed as we started to get sick but still look feel vital through that process?

116. Yes we do have pictures to how someone should look and behave like when they are sick and we think that it is our truth. But this blog shows me that the pictures are not that accurate and better could be avoided.

117. The surface of life will always disappoint – the beholding of the universality of everything never fails to enrich.

118. It makes no sense to fight illness and disease as is often the approach, it is in embracing and understanding it that we contribute actively to the correction, clearing and healing it provides.

     1. Yes I agree with you Alexander, as the fighting is from the same resistance of living to the natural cycles of life that caused the illness in the first place.

     2. Yes fighting uses up energy that could rather be used to support your healing.

     3. After surgery a few years ago I never felt so well – a major clearing of old patterns occurred – I felt open, tender and far less protected. Yet as I allowed life to take me over once again this new found awareness reduced somewhat. Illness can sometimes be a great gift, as long as we don’t squander the outcome. The new understanding I got from this was that when people get over an illness and want to resume their former lifestyle, it’s no wonder they relapse. It is often our lifestyle choices that paved the way for the illness in the first instance.

     4. Very true. If we accept illness and disease this is what keeps us well! A total paradox but true.

119. Your blog highlights how it is actually not always normal for us to look sick even when we are sick. This is more an indictment of humanity’s overall lack of true health and well-being in how we are living than just an indication of how sick we really are.

120. No matter our physical condition we have a choice as to how we see and be in life. It’s our perception that contributes in a great part to our health in our heart.

121. if a current lifestyle brings us to a point of illness, then it makes sense that when we change our way of living there will be a re-set in our health too.

     1. Beautifully and simply shared, “when we change our way of living there will be a re-set in our health too.”

122. “But no matter how well I may have looked, I knew that I was sick. To me it made sense that my body was ill, as I had made choices in the past that were very different to the way I was living now, and the illness offered a stop moment to reset….” So beautiful to use this opportunity to learn and grow from. So many want to ‘fix it’ and return to their former way of living. Then no wonder that symptoms return, often to a worse degree.

123. What if we measured true health not by sight but by vitality, then we have to change our perception on what is and is not healthy. In any case looking vital even when sick is the new standard for sure.

124. True health outshines physical functionality and fitness, it is an emanation and quality of being that comes from within, is encompassing all aspects of life and is impulsed by a purpose beyond personal well-being although fostering individual well-being on every level. How many people do we know who live in such a way? For sure it is not yet the norm that defines the standard of what health and or illness and disease look like.

125. The way we live our life impacts our body far more directly than most people choose to acknowledge. The majority of the human population are running with bodies that carry exhaustion, depression, anxiousness, protection for starters, and we have huge sales in such things as coffee, numbing foods, alcohol and entertainment to mask the real devastation we are experiencing.

     It is obvious that when one part of an already compromised set up starts to fail, the whole façade starts to show its cracks. This is the picture the health system is used to see in a person that has a health issue, someone who looks sick all over. A travesty that there is such a big difference between that picture and one from a body that has been living The Way of The Livingness which can be fine on all counts other than the specific issues needing attention. This difference shows how far we have allowed our relationship to life to fall.

126. Yes indeed, Nicole. Listening to our bodies provides us with everything we need as a reflection of all of our choices, giving us countless learning opportunities to return to true health and well-being.

     1. We are constantly been given the learning, the messages to support us to return to true health and well-being.

127. You demonstrate here just how taking care of the way you live your life, is not only good medicine for yourself, but is also supportive to the health care system.

     1. When we start taking responsibility for the self, then we no longer clog up the health care system, we allow space for others.

128. How awesome is it that we are given an opportunity to re-set the ill behaviour we have chosen and then to take more responsibility from that point onwards.

129. Measuring life by how it looks is a serious sickness that keeps us trapped in temporality and ignorant of energy.

     1. I think when we look at anything in life and just take it on surface value, what it looks like, we certainly cut out the truth of what is behind it and miss out on the real magic being shown.

        1. We have to connect to the true essence, only then do we get to feel the real magic being shown.

     2. We cannot understand how life is by the way it looks, as there is always a lot more to be read in any one situation. The thing is we generally don’t want to know this, but what I’m finding is that when I do read what is happening, the less I react, and the more understanding I come to.

     3. So true, and although what is present on the surface indicates there is more to know from what we feel and can read in a situation the energetic truth is often the opposite to that we have learnt to expect from what we see – a deeper truth always.

130. It is so important that we also are engaged in our own healing process so that we can communicate to the doctors the specifics of what our bodies are communicating to us. In this way we can access the interventions that western medicine can offer us in relation to what is specifically happening to us.

131. We do not consider that our disease clears energy that we take on in every day life, our choices build up and if they continue to be unsupportive, they are shown in the body, this a blessing….”On a practical level the disease supported my body to make way for more of me to be lived, it cleared what was no longer needed, not supportive of me.” I love the appreciation and surrender expressed in this article, it is wise to look at where we can observe more deeply and understand what our body shares.

132. Amazing just how much our body can support us to discard that which does not belong once we make movement impulsed by love and from our Soul.

     1. We are constantly supported by the Universe and our Soul, we just need to make those movements first.

133. A great example of how living esoterically has a beneficial effect on the body… the results speak for themselves.

134. Perhaps when everyday living includes vitality and true health which does not factor in our current medical theory then our assessment of illness and disease also need to adapt for this.

135. Isn’t it interesting how we immediatey assume that there is nothing wrong with someone’s health becuase they look really well? An indication perhaps of what we expect in our society today that has a level of ‘acceptable look of poor health’.

136. I know I’ve not looked after my body and that there are repurcussions of this. There is a way to love myself and my body that doesn’t detract from being present and responsible. Self judgement is so toxic, whereas being loving is the best medicine in conjunction with any western medicine needed.

137. What if there were lifestyle choices, and perhaps even being conscious of what thoughts we entertain, that would support and assist the physical healing process?

138. Yes that is a great example of when we are given the opportunity to feel and see the consequences of our choices and the impact that they have on our bodies. Every choice matters.

139. If we box in our heart so too will our eyes see life in a blinkered way.

140. I wonder how much of the physical-plain-to-see-appearance of sickness is actually to do with how a person processes being sick in their mind, so it is the internal approach to it which determines our external appearance or expression. And I also wonder how much this internal approach actually has an effect on the illness itself.

     1. Men have historically been known to ignore the physical-plain-to-see-appearance of sickness and carry on. This action does affect the illness. Could this be the sickness of the mind we create?

141. Could it be that we as a society have lost our foundation and well being? Looking around I can see that our health has deteriorated in my life time as what was very healthy and vital 60 years ago is no longer the case.

142. The extremes of ill health that have become the norm for doctors makes it hard to be taken seriously when wanting to investigate a change in vitality or health. Blood tests are a great example of this. You can know for you, that something is not right, yet because the normal ranges are so skewed to a population who do not live well, it looks like you are fine.

143. Appearances can be very deceptive.. we can be really good at making it look good, even though we’re running on empty and internally depleted. Nothing can fool the body though, and this is our true marker of how well we really are: how vital are we, how much energy do we have, how supportive are all of our choices, and what effect are they having on our vitality levels and overall wellbeing. The body is constantly offering us the opportunity to get more honest about how we’re living, when we’re open to it and willing to listen.

     1. Makeup is a multi-billion dollar business for women and now men. How often is it used to hide the abuse we cause our body that’s reflected in our face, like the tip of the iceberg?

144. ‘Through this disease and my previous disease, I have built an incredible relationship with my GP, I am able to work with her and be supported each step of the way, no different to how I am supported with the Esoteric Modalities, they both offered my body everything it needed in that instance of clearing and healing.’ and herein lies the way that our future healthcare needs to develop to start to truly heal our illnesses and disease.

     1. Yes, agreed… and perhaps the only way to reduce the growing burden on our health care system of our future health care system would be to see that we will have to include self care practices, i.e. to take more responsibility of our body, health and wellness.

145. We can equip ourselves with the necessary and important activities to get treated, e.g. medication, physio exercises, check ups etc., and on top of that we can equip ourselves with the rituals, relationships, conversations and adjustments to our routine that allow an even deeper healing to take place.

146. Your experience shows us that in health care, how we actually play a much larger role in looking after, & taking care of ourselves than we have considered and actually do… and from this level of responsibility, the medical system is then able to come in and really do its part, perhaps more efficiently as it is then working with a ‘healthier- ill’ body, rather than an ill body with many co-morbidities in relation to lifestyle choices. In our current day, it seems that there is a lot of pressure placed on our medical system, as there is a tendency of relying on the system to ‘fix’ a health problem, when, we actually have vast scope in self care practices before we meet the medical system. This would be a win-win for both the medical, nursing, allied health practitioners and individual’s health standards.

147. We don’t have to be miserable or look ‘like death warmed up’ when we are ill, especially when there is an understanding of what illness and disease are about and how the body supports us to get rid of what doesn’t and never did belong.

148. There is so much more to illness and disease than many in the medical profession are willing to see. That is why we need the marriage between the Universal Medicine Therapies and Medicine to bring the whole picture together for healing to happen.

149. A great question to ask and ponder on. And not only how should we look but also how do we go about it. There are so many pictures that come with illness and disease that it is easy to just fall for these pictures and act accordingly. Also, when do I call myself sick, only when I have obvious symptoms of what we call sickness or is being overtired and stressed a dis-ease in itself?

     1. ‘There are so many pictures that come with illness and disease that it is easy to just fall for these pictures and act accordingly.’ so true Esther – it is these which hold us from coming to a true understanding of what is offered in illness and disease and why we become unwell in the first place.

        1. Yes, and this applies to our whole life. How often do we live to a picture we have about something, and when do we simply live from our heart?

150. It is amazing the difference when we embrace life and what is on offer before us rather than resisting it. With illness for example the more we see it for what it is, a stop moment, a correction, the body clearing itself of the disharmonious way we have been living etc.. then we embrace the gift and opportunity on offer and so when we see the doctor we present completely differently to someone who is fighting the process and just wants a functioning body.

151. Something that came to me from reading this blog is how many times I have noticed that people who tend to be more open, kind, gentle, and caring to themselves and others tend to have a much more healthier, vibrant, and bright eyed look to them than people who often complain about everything, are cynical and judgemental, crude, and harsh in their movements and speech with others. These people many times look like their faces and bodies have really been abused. To me this proves how the latter group are allowing an energy that is not love (astral or pranic energy) to run through them as opposed to the soulful fiery energy that the first group align to which provides healing and a more healthy appearance many times.

152. What I love about this article and the learning on offer, is that we can take responsibility for ourselves and our health and then ask for and accept help from anyone that is needed. A combination of being in the driving seat but never alone.

     1. I love what you are saying here Matilda, we are responsible but we have always all the help that we need.

153. Quite an incredible sharing, definitely turning the norm on its head.

154. In the process of losing connection to our body we no longer have a true base line – we feel that it’s okay to live in function ignoring the inner messages that our body is constantly feeding us in a way that nurtures our inner heart and supports us to live as part of the whole Universe.

155. It is true that there is a certain accepted way we have to behave and look when we are ill..cue poorly face and depressed posture here… but does illness have to be this way or look this way? No clearly not even though we are conditioned to think that it does.

     1. Part of looking ill and moaning and groaning is also the sympathy and recognition that are oftentimes expected from others; it is as though people become their medical condition.

156. Love this article Nicole. Listen to the body no matter how small the detail. Rest when needed, eat and hydrate when needed, get medical attention when needed. It is a very intimate relationship.

     1. Very true and so simple, the more we listen to our body the more it then can and will support us. And as you say it starts with the small details then everything else gets taken care of.

157. These are all great points as often we are victims to an image or a label that we are holding in our minds when there is absolutely no need to be at the mercy of these labels. In fact holding an idea can be incredibly harming as it can change your posture and therefore how you move and the very way you think about yourself and what you are capable of physically.

158. If we are not well inside what we think we see is warped and twisted.

159. I get this, if we already treated our body without care and not healthy and vital when an illness comes along we really can go down ill, even with a cold. I notice this in my own body these days since beginning to care for myself more deeply, I may get a cold or illness, and I sense it in my body and I do have some symptoms, but it does not consume me as it once did and the marker and foundation vitality that is already there supports me through the period of illness.

160. This is great to read as it makes me even more aware of the responsibility there is as a patient to share what is going on in detail with one’s body and thus how very important it is to know one’s body at all and in all. Our body is not an object that is there to be just used to our liking but a living organism that teaches us much when we listen to and work with it.

     1. So true Esther – I also feel the responsibility to make choices to support the healing of my body before attending the health sessions with a doctor or health professional.

161. ‘But no matter how well I may have looked, I knew that I was sick. To me it made sense that my body was ill,…’ we don’t need conventional medicine to tell us how we feel as we innately know this, however conventional medicine is a huge support although perhaps it has much to learn from us in the way we can live.

162. “For me this illness is not a failure, but is yet another confirmation of the choices I make in my life and how I choose to live.” One day reading illness in this way will be our norm, our first port of call even before we make an appointment with our doctor, and then the doctor will also be trained to investigate the situation from the same perspective and thus empower us to seek true resolution to our ills by addressing the way we live. This is the medicine of our future being lived now.

163. Thanks for sharing, Nicole. There can be so much to learn and evolve from when we are open to the reflection of the body’s illness or disease, as we are held in the grace of healing old hurts and clearing past choices.

164. It must be really difficult for a GP who has only a few minutes to diagnose a condition when they use their 5 senses. Were they to know there’s a 6th sense, they would be able to feel into more how a person is in their body, not simply listen to what is said or see how the person presents. They would have a much clearer picture of knowing the underlying reason for the illness. No wonder GP’s are very stressed, working under the pressure they do.

     1. Great point Gill, I feel we need to appreciate the work the G.P.’s do do and at the same time allow them more exposure to how the sixth sense works which would so simplify their work and benefit their patients. As both doctors and patients we can take a lot more responsibility in the way that we live, what we consume on all levels – this in itself will allow us more sensitivity and insight.

     2. I agree Jane, GP’s were part of the community; now communities are scattered and there is not that clear belonging to one area anymore. Yes it’s a reflection of how disconnected we are in our communities in general.

165. The prevalence today of knowing someone with a terminal disease has become a common occurrence. We can see and feel when someone has given up and surrendered to their fate, and the light in their eyes begins to fade. I know some people that are terminally ill, but the light in their eyes still burns bright. Modern medicine allows them to carry on with a purpose until it is time to let go.

166. We should look not normal in the best possible way away from the false normal that is the ill we have made the normal in absence of the true normal.

     1. Correct, many of us are living in a way that is not supportive for our bodies, indulgence and disregard is very prevalent and so that becomes our general normal, and what are we assessing each other against, a low denominator. It is very interesting to look at this in context of illness and what our expectations are about what someone looks like when they are ill, it really exposes the level of ill health that is a now a general normal within our communities.

167. I feel like because we are so often ill, be it with anxiety, stress, overwhelm, a low level cold/cough/headache/digestion issues/exhaustion that we have a much lower perception of functional health – the ability to get out of bed and get through the day rather than true vitality.

168. When we feel ill, our body language changes, we tend to slump, curl up, and generally look depressed and everyone around is affected. I keep catching myself slumping down too but when I sit upright, I feel instantly better.

169. Thanks for sharing this, Nicole, as I love to hear when the medical profession has the opportunity to open up to a deeper understanding of the incredible influence of the Livingness on our health and wellbeing.

     1. We start to feel the richness of all that is on offer when we open up and free ourselves of attitudes, opinions and beliefs.

170. It’s true that as well as what you’re talking about to do with getting ill but still feeling enriched and vital in yourself, which blows away the pictures of what ‘sickness’ today looks like, mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression are on the rise, and these can be hidden behind a very well-kept facade of everything being ‘okay’. It’s impossible to have a picture of what disease of the body or mind looks like.

     1. Well said Susie and therein lies the importance of having conversations about our health openly and dismantling the stigmas about being unwell whether physically or mentally. Keeping things hidden or buried is deeply harmful.

        1. Yes Susie and Michael, getting support and talking about the healing process of being ill opens us up to greater awareness about ourselves, so we can fully embrace the opportunity being given to us to learn and grow.

     2. There are so many pictures of what illness and disease looks like, layered with levels of judgement and critique. When we are willing to stand back and bring more understanding and truth to what lays underneath, we then have the opportunity to get real about what is truly going on with our health and well-being.

171. Nicole, I very much enjoy reading your posts and outlook on life; your own observations as to how you live it are inspiring. This particular life-experience on appearances resonates the fact that – all is not seen; or that what you see is not what you get. Seeing spherically is feeling whole life.

172. ‘…I am able to work with her and be supported each step of the way,…’ Allowing myself to be supported is something I am opening up to. I’m starting to show my fragility and vulnerability in a way I’d never have dreamed of before and people are just so beautiful. I wonder how I would be if someone wasn’t caring in these moments. Because I’ve already said yes to healing my hurts I feel that could be upsetting but I am already being there for myself so it wouldn’t be devastating – I would feel and understand what was at play, so not relying on them for a certain response.

     1. Saying yes to healing our hurts. How awesome would it be if every single person in the world said yes to this!

173. “I lived the way I thought I should be or the way others wanted me to be, a lesser dulled down version of me to avoid standing out or gaining too much attention” Rarely do we associate this with becoming ill. We usually shift the blame onto external factors, viruses, bugs and the like, but seldom do we really ponder on how the quality of our behaviour, expectations and ideals impact our physical wellbeing.

174. It is an indictment of the world we are living that what someone looks like is given more credence to their communication of how sick or well they feel.

175. So often the pictures that we hold about someone or something override what we are actually experiencing. I doggedly held onto the pictures that I had about the stereo typical differences between men and women, even though I had three men in my immediate family who were reflecting to me and to the rest of the world that men are as just as tender as women.

176. I had never really thought about how when we don’t live with a consistent foundation, this actually leaves us more vulnerable to falling much harder when we get sick than we would if we were consistently supporting ourselves day in and out

     1. This is a great point Rebecca. And equally the stronger and more consistent we are with how we live on a day to day basis, supports us to recover and truly heal much more quickly than when that strong foundation of self care is not present.

        1. I agree – often when there is no foundation, we get sick and then we have to work to implement more care and support that wasn’t there, which then takes time to be able to support the body to recover, and then we let those things go the minute we are better, rather than having them as a constant that then holds the body more steady when it is ill

     2. Yes and it makes so much sense. It is the choices we make on a day to day basis that build the foundation we stand on. Thus we are inevitably and undeniably the creator of our own life.

        1. Such a good point Esther, we do not give enough space to the understanding of the impact of our daily choices on everything we experience in life

     3. I agree – and this is true in so many areas. We are not taught to develop a strong foundation of knowing who we are, a strong routine and rhythm, foundations and values/standards in relationships so is it any wonder we are weak in our foundations of health and wellbeing both individually and as society.

177. Letting go of pictures and expectations clears the way for us to allow what is true into our lives so that we can develop our awareness of what is truly going on.

     1. I agree – When we have already felt what is happening before our other senses have their say it is these picture and expectations which shape our perception and can mean that we override what we have already felt.

178. We can be arrogant about health and taken by surprise, especially when we look healthy on the outside. Last year and for the first time in decades, I had the flu, confined myself to bed for a few days, with no appetite and no energy. I felt grim, a feeling unlike anything I’d experienced in a long time. I just had to go with it and allow the body to discard what was no longer needed and not try to rush the process. Interestingly, this took place in the midst of a huge house clearing and compelled me to stop and clear my own internal stuff. Three weeks before I felt fully myself again.

179. I was just thinking how when we are ill most of us are down in the dumps and are feeling pretty sorry for ourselves, hard done by because we have caught this illness, cold, flu or whatever off someone without accepting our responsibility and the energetic reason behind it, but when we do accept all that is going on we are less likely to feel the victim and naturally look less ill because of this.

180. Thank you, Nicole, this is a great example for us all about how we can allow our bodies can clear and heal our choices from the past while we are actually going really well and have a super strong foundation of health.

181. Amazing what is possible when we live according to a true impulse rather than being beholden to the patterns of the past.

182. I have read many blogs over these last few years and what stands out to me is that we all seemingly have the same problem that we dull ourselves down, live a lesser version of who we are so as not to be seen by others, living in fear of what others may think, or wanting to please, to placate so as not to rock the boat. So my question has to be, why do we do this to ourselves, Why do we collectively make ourselves small when we obviously are not?

183. The more I claim and embrace that the energy coming through me is not from me but from God or the universe/multidimensionality then standing out is becoming not a problem. I simply get myself out of the way and live expressing all that I am.

184. This is a great example of Esoteric Medicine and Conventional Medicine working hand-in-hand for a deep energetic clearing, bringing awareness, understanding and a complete healing of the body.

185. Things are not always what they present on the outside, confirming that feeling the whole of a situation is worthwhile especially when we are experiencing an illness or disease.

186. ‘On a practical level the disease supported my body to make way for more of me to be lived, it cleared what was no longer needed, not supportive of me.’ How different would our approach to illness and disease be if humanity returned to this understanding of our health?

187. Wow thats some story, fantastic you were able to get the care you needed in the end. What a great testament to self care and self awareness without these the outcome would have been very different.

188. Sometimes when I bump into people I haven’t seen for a while they remark how good I look, but I’m afraid most of the time I can’t honestly return the remark, for a lot of people that I know have their lifestyles catching up on them.

     1. As we age, we should have learned our lessons of life. Shed the things that no longer support us and live what works. I have also met people I have not seen for ages, that their bodies look like your clothes when you have slept in them far too many times. Our body is a great reflection on how we have cared for our vehicle of expression over the years: it is either a classic or an old banger!

189. Some illnesses do not show, for example a prolapse. I had a hysterectomy to deal with a prolapse but I didn’t truly honour everything that I was told in terms of looking after myself physically. I look fine and because I am strong and I could carry things, I have been more physical with my body than I really should and now I am suffering a further prolapse. We don’t always look sick and feel silly saying ‘Oh no I can’t lift that’.

     1. It’s back to taking tender loving care of self, feeling worthy and never compromising on this. What do we have to prove? If the returned prolapse reflects dis-regard towards self, it comes as a blessing, and opportunity to set yourself a new standard in self love and appreciation.

190. Showing the model that there is another way is the most healing thing we can bring to the people within it.

191. What a great reflection you are offering to your doctor, one that may have confused her initially but one she may also learn from, if she so chooses. I know that I have also confused several doctors over the last few years by looking well and at times almost felt I had to justify my presence in their consultation room. These days I hold myself steady in the knowing that I need some medical assistance from them and in the process they may also learn something from me.

192. Given the level of technological advance in our world to date, we should by rights all look extremely well. The fact that the general populace is not is living proof that our advancements are not in truth advancing us, but is in fact driving us in the opposite direction, down the road of ill health and the multi-symptomatic man.

193. It is great how you know how disease is such a healing for you Nicole, it clears what is not needed to be in the body, and allows us the space within that Stephanie describes.

194. ‘How should you look?’ could also be set as a standard of well-being and self-responsibility of what the medical system and we as humanity as a whole may expect from each other, i.e. when you would present yourself to your doctor the first assessment would be the quality you bring to the consultation even before any medical examination and diagnosis would be made.

     1. The reading by the doctor, of the patient, would diagnose the way we were living that caused what it was that affected our bodies, is this future health care?

        1. It is great when GPs ask the patient to reflect on events in their life that may have contributed to the ill-health condition. It is a powerful approach as it hands responsibility back to the patient, makes them look inward and supports them to connect lifestyle choices and the impact they have on the body.

195. This is why it is so important to know our bodies intimately and know when we are not 100% – otherwise, the world assumes we are OK and does not consider the many degrees of illness and how they make us look.

196. A lot of us have a skewed perception that if you ask someone for support you are being a ‘burden’ on them, their life and why should they help you when ‘they have their own problems to deal with’? But actually as you’ve shared, this is a fundamental part of the PURPOSE of relationships, and relationships can blossom as a result of asking for support and being honest.

197. Doctors can be on our side when we are open to appreciating their knowledge and skills and we can help them to understand our body by feeling for ourselves and communicating clearly what’s going on.

198. What I have found is that being a student of Universal Medicine, you work on discarding all that is not who you truly are, in the many various layers that can appear in life. As those begin to be shed, the body becomes far freer and we have far more space to be filled with who we truly are. In that space when we get sick or struggle with letting something go or with a situation, we are far steadier and more able to handle it because it is not yet another brick on top of an already unstable pile.

199. Reading this has reminded me of a recent illness I had which in the past would have me running to the pharmacist and yet, here I was with all of the symptoms of a sore throat, swollen glands, white spots and infected tonsils, red and angry throat and yet no pain as if swallowing glass, no headache and no temperature.

200. The title of your blog reminds me when I was younger if I was not feeling well I would think I would have to be miserable and sad as well (serious face, mouth turned down) to make it seem ‘genuine’ to others. That is that whole picture we have to do with illness. Time to get rid of pictures and go with truth and honouring/regard what we and others feel.

     1. Yes, we can remain joyful while we are ill. It is just a matter of clearing stuff from the body. This can be a joyful process. Why hit ourselves with misery too?

201. It is a huge shift in our evolution when we understand the real purpose of illness, to clear the disregarding ways we have been living. Our bodies are extremely sensitive and yet very robust with the most incredible self-healing abilities that when treated with deep respect are extremely effective, hence the fact that it is very plausible to be suffering from double pneumonia but not look desperately ill.

202. Our obsession with visual appearance could be our biggest sickness of all – for when we are looking ‘ill’ we can be healing and clearing and when we look ‘great’ we can be blocking and holding on to beliefs and hurts. Love is not what you think it looks like.

     1. Spot on Joseph. Letting ourselves be seduced by appearances leads us astray from our true awareness of what is at play.
        And this obsession has provided the foundation upon which on many cases we simply focus on getting rid of symptoms as opposed to looking at supporting a true healing of the energetic dynamic behind it all.

203. The significance of this should not be overlooked – not only of the change in presentation of those with illnesses but also the lived experience of those going through them due to the choices made in life which support them to go through the process and heal deeply with the mutual support of our body.

204. I love that we have a choice, we can listen to the advice of our GP, we can accept their support – I will always go there for a diagnosis but, as I have discovered recently, the G in GP stands for general and they can only apply a broad brush approach that covers all. My naturopath on the other hand is able to see the finer adjustments that need to be made and can recommend supplements that will support my health. The Doctor is invaluable for getting specialist help, scans, tests, which I will always value.

     1. Important distinction to make Carmel between different approaches offered by doctors and complementary therapists. Both have their value and place. But to understand an illness and converse with it, I consult complementary practitioners, especially those trained in esoteric medicine and who practise its modalities.

205. “I did not present with the usual symptoms most people had with such severe pneumonia: no cough, no temperature, no major wheezing and I did not look sick.” What I find fascinating about your description of how you felt is the clarity and lack of complication. – It was an issue with your lungs, and there it was contained. How simple the healing is when illness in a vital body is contained to that one primary area.

206. “I did not present with the usual symptoms most people had with such severe pneumonia… my inflammatory markers reading as high as they were, I should have been in hospital…” This is quite an insight into how the human body appears to have a capacity to deal with illness in a completely different physiological mechanism if it is living life with with self-care, self-love, awareness and with an innermost connection.

207. What a great example that there are two bodies- the physical one and the energetic body. The more we care in daily life for our energetic body, the more the physical can release what does not belong to it. That explains for me the fact that you looked still very vital and opens up to ponder about : How does our energetic body affects us/ carries us/ supplies us with energy compared to our physical? Is there a source we can align to, that has never any limits of energy?

208. I love the small sentence in this Nicole ‘With the support of both Western Medicine and antibiotics, and energetic practitioners at Universal Medicine my body recovered and my being healed.’ Western medicine can recover the body very well but the deeper healing of the being comes from the energetic healing with the Universal medicine modalities.

209. To me what you are presenting to the world is the marrying of Esoteric healing and Western Medicine when used in conjunction offers the patient the best of both modalities.

210. True health is not just how we look on the outside but how we feel inside and quality of our lives.

211. “Now that I was making changes (…) my body needed to make room, to clear out what was not me and make way for greater truth and love, allowing me to live in my fullness.” This is simply huge. How our body adjusts to the changes we make in our life, for us to continuously evolve. Understanding illness in this way helps us to deepen in the relationship we have with our body and life. Then, illness is not a failure, but an opportunity to heal ourselves on a greater scale.

212. Your willingness to accept where your body was at and illness, was the first step. We can sometimes resist the truth that illness is sent to deliver: we’re living dis-harmoniously. A blessing to pause, rest, reflect and restore the body to its true energetic quality.

213. The body is a remarkable piece of engineering. There is no place we have found that we cannot live and survive. The level of abuse our bodies can withstand and adapt too would be amazing if not harming at the same time. In the animal kingdom illness is a way of culling the species and evolving. We are not fighting evolution by using medicine to assist our bodies when needed to ensure in its wellbeing. In the future when we have eliminated all the causes of illness we have created ourselves, will we only require medicine to tweak our bodies when needed?

214. I had a similar experience a few years ago. I had some discomfort in my right groin which intensified and I felt something was wrong. I went to my doctor who knows me well and even though I was looking cheerful and healthy she sent me for an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed acute appendicitis. Off I went to hospital with a referral and my scans. They were slow with paying attention to me and I was put on the operating list for the end of the day. To cut a long story short suddenly my appendix burst and I was rushed straight up to theatre and operated on as an emergency. They were very surprised. All was fine as I was prepared even if they were not!

     1. …and we also die very well. I had a friend who was riddled with cancer but even though her body was releasing a huge amount, she in herself felt incredibly well and joyful right up to the end. The quality of her presence and her dying process touched and inspired everyone who came into contact with her.

     2. What can happen when we get our self out of the way is setting new standards in the way we are living and dying.

215. ‘For me this illness is not a failure, but is yet another confirmation of the choices I make in my life and how I choose to live.’ We so often look at illness as a failure, that our bodies have let us down and we wonder why it has happened to us rather than accepting and surrendering to the healing on offer.

216. Our bodies are masters at delivering what is needed for our evolution. It is up to us to seek true help so we can start to live in a way that takes advantage of the healing and not settle for the old ways that would only return as a deeper form of the same ill.

217. This is an amazing experience to share Nicole about what sickness can really look like in a vital and steady body. What it also raises is to never underestimate what our bodies can cope with when we have a deep strength and steadiness within our own connection, and therefore it being very important to get these things checked by a GP or specialist.

     1. Yes, I was told today by a friend that they had been walking around with metal plates in their ankles for 20 years and it is only now that they are getting problems.

218. When we rely on our eyes only, we often misinterpret what is really going on. We must never make assumptions based on what we see. Also important for us to not focus on outer beauty at the expense of inner well-being

219. Working with Autistic kids recently myself has taught me a lot about simply observing, the power of holding steady, and being aware of what is needed in the moment and of not absorbing what is going on. If we were to connect with everyone in this way there would be far less reaction to each other and a whole lot more understanding.

     1. In my experience but as a general rule the autistic kids I work with are super sensitive and they find working in noisy classrooms a real challenge – quite often I have to take them out and given them space to do their work in a much quieter room.

220. There are a lot of sick looking people walking around these days who may not have a specific illness but look sick none-the-less, so it is quite unusual to have someone quite ill but looking good.

     1. I’d never considered it in the same sentence like this Kevmcardy, they are two very contrasting states of presenting illness.

221. We are the ‘health system’ well before it is the medical system we have overburdened with a plethora of ailment due to the irresponsibility of looking after ourselves in the best possible way, the way we live, our willingness to take good care of us, having an active interest in a true well-being and understanding that illness and disease don´t come to us but from us.

222. Could it be at times we also use illness for recognition? Do we become an emotional vampire feeding on those around us?

223. This blog confirms how society can choose to label ‘wellness’ and how there should be particular visual indicators that communicate that something is true. Many people are experiencing ‘un-wellness’ which is felt in the body energetically and look for this to be confirmed by others outside of them but when it is not then they can start to doubt what they are reading energetically from the wisdom of their body. Nicole, your connection to your body and knowing what is true through the power of this connection has been so important to share because in this deep self love you have brought a reflection that has changed and will change how another views what they see and feel. Universal Medicine’s – Way of the Livingness supports everyone to firstly re-connect to their body and to make choices that will support them lovingly, its simplicity in how life can be lived, sleep, food and expressing has changed my life.

     1. I have often found also that I know when I am unwell, below par or have something going on in my endocrine system for example, but the parameters of tests are not able to identify this or confirm you as being unwell – because the scale for unwell is not attuned to true health and wellness.

     2. Without our connection to our bodies, we are all at the mercy of whatever the outside world wants to present to us. We can be steered into believing pretty much anything and then our beliefs directly influence the way that we go about things. When our choices are governed by our bodies then we can steer a steady and truthful course through life but when we are disconnected from our bodies then it’s anyone’s guess where we’ll end up.

224. The authority of the body is the greatest authority on Earth.

     1. We just have to allow its authority to be expressed in every single moment.

225. I had a four day fever a few months back and it was very different for me than when I have been sick in the past.

     I was able to accept it as a time to stop and let go of my old ways that do not work for me anymore. I found that when i started to feel sorry for myself (it was painful) I felt the healing stop but when I understood the immense love and healing that was happening in my body I could feel myself letting go of all I was ready to let go of.

     It was a re-set for me on many levels and I have felt renewed and more me since the purge.

     1. To deeply rest when we are sick can be a challenge for myself and yet it is an amazing gift to let the body clear out the poison and use the time to reflect and re-establish and more deeply loving route forward.

        1. Me too David, it can seem that there are those things which still require our attention, when letting go and bringing focus on what truly supports our body is what is truly being asked with a message to be read by us of how our choices have got us to the point of illness too.

226. Reconnecting to our clairsentience as well as the expanded understanding offered by Universal Medicine opens up a far deeper perception of health, being well, illness and disease.

     I am far more able to actually feel when there is something not okay with someone even when they may tick all the right boxes of being fine. I can now recognise that someone with a serious illness does not have to look like they are about to keel over, and have built a far greater awareness of the importance of working with the illness rather than psyching ourselves to ‘fight’ or ‘bury’ the symptoms. (A great video to watch is an interview with Judith MacIntyre who suffered from advanced cancer, only a couple of weeks before she passed away http://theworksofsergebenhayon.com/judith-mcintyre-an-intimate-interview-on-terminal-cancer-serge-benhayon/ )

227. ‘On a practical level the disease supported my body to make way for more of me to be lived, it cleared what was no longer needed, supportive or me.’ Few of us see disease as being of any benefit but that will change as we develop our understanding of The Way It Is.

     1. This shows that there are so many layers of healing that comes with an illness, not only the physiological and cellular, but also psychological, social, clearing habits and patterns, and on an energetic level. We may be healing something very old, that we may not be consciously aware of too.

     2. Discarding what does not belong anymore to make space- what an honouring way to look at disease. Loving it.

228. I have had experiences like that – on the one hand if i am honest i know a level of drive and trying can help me look like i am fine when I’m really sick, but I also know that i don’t fall so far when i get ill because of the various supports in place in my life that hold by body up

229. It’s fascinating to see how we normalise and become accustomed to recognising physical images, ignoring that which we know to be true felt in our body.

230. Seeing an illness as an opportunity is a rare thing. I think people tend to see it as a nuisance or getting in the way of life. But it is an opportunity to slow down, be with yourself and to self care.

231. This is great that the body has a disease to support us to discard what does not belong and to be more of who we are. This is always the case however this can come from decisions to make changes in life first, such as in this case, or from a resistance to make changes and a build up of an excess in the body. The experience of the illness will vary accordingly.

232. It is always a good thing to go a bit deeper when we are sick and consider the energetic reasons why we are ill and what is happening in the body, as well as taking care of the physical symptoms and treatment.

233. As long as we ignore talking about how we feel inside, and look at health from the exterior, we’ll be forced to repeat situations again and again until we realise our inner state is what dictates life.

234. I have witnessed a number of cases where friends were objectively very sick but showed very few symptoms. When you have a strong constitution and live well you can at times present quite differently to what is really happening as you well describe Nicole.

235. Not fitting the norm shows that the norm doesn´t fit the all and or that the norm we know is not a marker of the quality of well-being we all can and should have and or that we have settled for a level of well-being and with that certain health statistics and pictures of how illness looks like that is well below the standard we naturally should have if living a really healthy lifestyle.

236. To be so sick and not look ill is testament to the Way of the Livingness, a way of living that should be studied by every medical profession, for within it lies the answers to why we are getting sicker and why cancer is increasing out of all proportion.

     1. I agree Alison, for if something is working it should be seriously looked at because there is so much illness out there, in here, everywhere that the NHS was £1 billion is the red this year, twice what they were expecting and so much isn’t working that what is should be investigated.

        1. Exactly Kevin the NHS is in serious financial difficulty and close to bankruptcy and certainly isn’t able to keep up with the demands we put on it. We can’t keep throwing money at it and hope it will survive or that we will suddenly stop getting sicker. What Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon have brought through makes sense, but we need to stop relying solely on evidence based medicine that does not take into account how a person is living.

237. It is rare and refreshing to read an account of a misdiagnosis here without an once of blame. Seeing the situation for what it is and taking responsibility for your part in it.

238. There is always a danger that we can ignore how ill we actually are because, as we make lifestyle changes our body responds with better vitality but our past choices can still catch up with us if we don’t take absolute and tender care of ourselves.

239. A couple of the most ‘sparkly’ and vital people I know have serious, long term conditions, so I absolutely agree that not all disease needs to make you look sick. In their case as it was with Nicole, it is dedication to the way they live and the honouring of their body and being that makes them look so well. I have also noticed that doctors are so used to dealing with extremes of illness that they dont take you seriously if you live well but don’t feel 100%.

     1. Well put, Fiona.

     2. So true Fiona. I have had this experience as well.

240. It makes sense that if we have lived one way for a long time and then choose another way of being then that old momentum needs to be cleared out of the body to allow more space for the new.

     1. Yes and one day perhaps we will consider illness and disease in medicine as a clearing out of something that no longer belongs in the body. It would certainly change our approach to it and how we support people who are ill.

241. ‘Now that I was making changes, choosing to express what I felt, letting go of pictures I had around myself and others, how life should be or look, and most of all not holding back any of me, my body needed to make room, to clear out what was not me and make way for greater truth and love, allowing me to live in my fullness.’ The true healing our body can offer us when we make the choices to change our way of living to be in greater accordance with our Soul.

242. I personally know someone who was diagnosed with cancer some years ago, and because they choose to live deeply connected to themselves along with a truly healthy lifestyle they are radiant, fully living life and a picture of health.

243. Regardless of how unwell the body maybe, if we are connected to ourselves this will always shine through.

244. Are we setting a new standard for our illnesses that is bucking the current trend of roles we have worn in the past? Our past choices that lead to pain from pushing our bodies too far. What if, we feel what the body is telling us before the pain?

245. You make a great point that ‘illness is not a failure, but is yet another confirmation of the choices I make in my life and how I choose to live’. So often when something happens to us we blame it or get annoyed by it rather than seeing it as an opportunity for healing. What if we all saw illness and disease this way it would completely transform the medical system.

246. We have accepted a way of living that is totally loveless so when you are introduced to The Way of The Livingness you are presented with another way of living. A life where by you feel and connect to the Divine Love that we are, make choices that support this and not accept anything that is not of this love.

247. Without markers such as this we will lose our perception and living connection with true health, such is the dire state of our global health today. What is offered here should make us all sit up and realize that the power of health sits firmly in our own hands, not in the hands of the doctors. All a doctor can ever do is work with the totality of our life choices, so it is up to us to assist them by presenting them with a body that has been lovingly cared for so they can maximize their knowledge and skill, as opposed to attempting to over come the hurdle of harmful life habits first before even attempting to deal with the illness or disease.

248. ‘…no matter how well I may have looked, I knew that I was sick. To me it made sense that my body was ill, as I had made choices in the past that were very different to the way I was living now, and the illness offered a stop moment to reset, you could say, and to clear that which no longer belonged in my body, the sadness and grief of not living all of me.’ I love this example of how in taking responsibility for your condition you understood what was going on for you, despite your doctor’s confusion.

249. Self-medication is going through the roof as more and more people are using pharmacy drugs, paracetamols and so forth to numb the pain that they are experiencing in their body. What if our first reaction was to look at WHY this pain is occurring, and seek support, as opposed to going straight to our local pharmacy for a solo solution.

250. It is a different way of presenting an illness when we have made our life about supporting the body by making self loving choices. What the doctor was presented with was someone very ill but actually looking so vital, and very well. What an amazing support for the body self love is, as it does its healing and clearing, making way for deeper love to be felt and lived.

251. Doctors are so used nowadays to seeing patients who look very sick and have many serious symptoms that when you don’t have all of that, you are an odd one and stand out.

252. It is beautiful that Elizabeth is reflecting that there is another way to live, with vitality and joy as you get older.

253. Thank you for sharing this, it is a great reminder to not just take for granted that because you look well does not mean you are well.

254. A beautiful testimonial to the support and the quality we live in offers us to with our health and our body when we get sick offering a foundation and a different picture to the normal ill health presented. The knowing that we are sick is important to honour and care for ourselves despite looking well on the outside naturally and this reflection is one that doctors are not used to with the current way society lives and the underlying exhaustion and disregard that is hidden but cannot withstand when illness and disease presents itself.

255. It always surprised me how people can be living life normally and seemingly healthy, then they get a unexpected diagnosis and their apparent health disappears in moments, leaving them very sick. Is it possible that we put up a picture of health, of how we think we should look and we can use many behaviours to prop that up but when ill health comes along as you say, we have no support to fall back on because all the health was false, and so we quickly deteriorate

     1. We match our lives to pictures that we hold in our heads, which makes life very tenuous. If we were to make life match the truth in our bodies, then there would be a solidness to life that would be unshakable.

        1. I agree Alexis – when life becomes about fitting a 2 dimensional picture, it can be very flimsy. When we make life about all of who we are, our 5th dimensional qualities and values and essence, there is no part of life not taken care of and we develop a whole life solidity, not just confidence in aspects.

256. It’s really something to consider that our health can deteriorate immensely when our bodies are just scraping by. I can feel this in myself that having no reserves is very like driving without a spare tyre. There’s no chance of us fixing ourselves but services are needed to be called for. I can’t consider driving without a spare – I don’t want to be caught out in the middle of nowhere with no mobile signal and no one around. So how about I look at how I am living and not disregard my health by running on empty?!

257. I love the honesty and openness of your doctor Nicole and the experience you learned from together. Quite incredible.

258. This could actually end up being fatal if we are not careful, we could have a life threatening disease or illness but no one takes us seriously because we look too good. Might have to develop ways of looking as bad as we feel on occasion.

     1. We do have to truly connect to our body and read what is going on, not to just take the words of how we look.

259. Last night I told my daughter that I wasn’t very well, I had some tests done which showed I needed to start caring for myself deeply. She said ‘yes but mummy you don’t look ill, or behave you are ill, how can that be?’

260. Within healthcare and medicine everything is categorised according to sets of signs and symptoms with clearly defined appropriate actions for each diagnosis – awesome that when living differently the shortcomings of this approach is exposed.

261. Wow you present a fascinating point here, if we consider an illness an opportunity to heal and clear, could everything we know about illness and disease come from studying, or seeing people who have not taken care of their bodies and hence this has led to an illness. And could the sickness and healing of a body that has been deeply cared for, nourished and been taken in account for both look and feel very different?

262. This blog is inspiring in its reflection of the difference between our physicality and energetic reality.
     However sick we are, if the energy of love is being lived, this emanates through us regardless.

263. This testimony is living proof that when we make changes to our diet and care for ourselves, we look and feel better. So despite you feeling unwell and knowing something was wrong, you still presented looking well to the GP, relative to their normal demographic of patients. We know from our bodies and when we look into our eyes in a mirror, we can see how we are feeling.

264. It is quite remarkable that you should present such a different scenario to the doctors, a scenario that shows us all how a truly healthy body can handle a major infection. The quality of your daily choices on your body are clearly showing the world a new way to address ill health by making every day about Love. The Way of the Livingness is extremely effective medicine.

265. I love this idea that being sick actually supports the body… far from avoiding it, it’s an opportunity to have an intimate conversation with our body, for it to speak a bit louder perhaps about a way of living that I have been ignoring for some time. In that conversation there is a lot to learn, a lot to clear, and perhaps a new way of living that comes out of it.

266. What will medical services look like in the future if we all start accepting illness and disease is caused by how we live? Could it be like our annual car service, just a quick check to ensure everything is alright?

267. It is hard for doctors not to get used to ‘broken bodies’ and resignation about the perceived desolation of getting older. It is super cool to have people breaking the mould; a chance for all of us to unveil from expectations and see that we do have a choice.

268. What I love about this article is that it makes it very clear to me that I am responsible for my body and know it better than anyone else; it is therefore up to me to ensure that I reach out for support, guidance and particular expertise when it is needed.

     1. Love it, we do know our bodies more than anyone else, and we need to call out for support when we need it.

269. The question in the title takes me back to the days when, as a kid, I used to feign feeling ill in order to get out of going to school. So consequently it seems natural to associate looking weak, pathetic, pale and droopy eyed with being ill. (It took quite a bit of effort to make it look authentic but generally worked!) So the moral here seems to be, do not believe what we see with our eyes but learn to feel and sense at a deeper level what is really going on inside our bodies.

     1. I used to do the same, holding my tummy with a really sad and pained look on my face, sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn’t but I probably was never fooling anybody as I’m sure my mum instinctively would have known one way or the other.

270. It is interesting how much weight we put on what our eyes perceive, either apparent health or ill-health, rather than using other ways of assessing how we really are including how we feel and the way we live our lives. It would be great if this blog started a conversation within the health service about how to use a more rounded model for assessing patients i.e. taking details of lifestyle etc to draw up a wider picture of the patient before investigating the presenting issue.

271. It’s great reading this as it makes me realise how in the future, a future where we take deep care of ourselves, the very way we consider and see illness and disease will be different. Very different.

272. So often we are completely unable to feel what or who something or someone truly is because we have superimposed either a picture, an ideal or a belief over the top of whatever or whoever they are, thereby totally tainting our perception of them.

273. We often think that we are fine until something happens and we get sick. In fact our bodies signal to us all the time whenever we make a choice that is not nurturing or nourishing but we have developed ways to ignore those loving signals. As a result the only thing that will make us listen is when the body brings us to a complete stop. Then we sit up and take notice.

     1. The ignoring finally comes with a signal that stops us in our tracks. The override is often the stubbornness in not allowing ourselves to honour our preciousness and trust that self-care includes reading the signs that are on offer.

     2. It sure is Jane and what we define as being ‘healthy’ now is starting to mean the absence of terminal illness or disease. Go back 20, 30, 50 years and what we defined as healthy then would make the majority of the population fall into the unhealthy category. We have shifted the markers to suit the irresponsbility we are choosing to live with.

274. How we live definitely reflects how we are ill! After having what felt like a virus for over a week that was not clearing I went to the doctor. She said to me that although I had a virus I was quite healthy!!! and my immune system was good as if it wasn’t it would have been a lot worse. It just goes to show (even though I am still learning with this and know/feel there is a lot more I can refine in the way I live to truly support my body and me) how The Way of the Livingness is where it is truly at and where we as humanity all need to be/work with.

     1. “How we live definitely reflects how we are ill!…” This is quite something to ponder on, as, in the future we may see a polarity in the presentations of illness and disease due to those that self-care and those that don’t.

275. It is fascinating how our bodies are all the same but the way in which we live with them can have such a vast contrasting effect when it comes to having an illness.

     1. Yes the way we live with our bodies, how we treat them, will have vast contrasting effects when it comes to having an illness or disease.

276. It is vital to have a re definition of what ‘being ill’ looks like. That illness has developed to such a complex degree that all signs of wellness have dropped away with it, is a sign of our true state of ill-health globally.

     1. Or just the sheer complications that abound with the multi-symptomatic diseases that are now so commonplace – western medicine is stretched to breaking point, and we need to be looking at different ways of addressing ‘being ill’.

     2. Yes I agree we do really need a re definition of what “being ill” looks like. There is so much of complex illness out their now that, what we use to call ill not long ago is nothing to the complexity of illness now around.

277. The more I reflect on this blog the more I appreciate just how powerful The Way of the Livingness is. Through simply making more self-loving choices we have the power to shift constricted paradigms on their heads, shaking everything up! The interesting thing to note however is how soon those shifts can penetrate because I have heard a number of stories where medical professionals have simply dismissed the miracles they have seen before them because they are so held and defined by what is considered to be normal.

278. “On a practical level the disease supported my body to make way for more of me to be lived, it cleared what was no longer needed, supportive for me.” When this attitude to illness and disease is widely acknowledged and accepted there will be a revolution in the approach to healthcare and the medical profession.

279. I recently had one of those bi-annual full body health MOTs that the questionnaire you have to pre-fill in assumed lots! The questions did not ask if you did a long list of things that were not healthy; smoking, drinking, diet, exercise and the medications you were currently taking. They all assumed they all applied an looked to assess your level of self-abuse. My list of No’s to almost all the questions was quite refreshing to the doctor and gave me the opportunity ask questions about things the focus of the exam did not ask.

280. It would also be an interesting to know how often people living in such a way get sick compared to those living how ever they want. I very rarely get even a cold and I can’t say I have had the flu as long as I can remember. In this world where people are getting sicker people need to know that there is a way of living that combats this as you have shown here Nicole.

     1. It is brilliant that there is an alternative example of a quality of living and health (The Way of the Livingness) that will stand out more and more as the trajectory of worsening health becomes statistically normal.

281. We could ask another question here, how many of us are walking around with underlying health issues that we are ignoring? We feel reasonable and there are no severe signs of illness so that means we are OK? What have we come to accept as healthy? Does it mean not to have chronic illness or does it mean to be full of joy, radiant and vital?

     1. Those are the only two choices we will ever have. We run our car on four flat tyres because it still moves or become like the princess and the pea and feel everything the body feels out of place.

     2. ‘Illness’ and ‘wellness’ have become comfortably and complacently accepted as far removed from the disease or the vitality they truly are.

282. Thank you for sharing this as I too presented with the same symptoms but didn’t look sick. What is powerful to read is that even though we may not look sick the fact that we could feel that something was not right in the body and honouring the visit to the GP brings a healing to the patient and the GP, if they are willing to let go of the images that can often cloud our judgements that prevent true healing and medicine that is on offer.

283. Looks can be deceiving whichever way you look at it. Our heart receives truth and always understands the full picture.

284. Are we establishing a new standard here or returning to an ancient knowing and understanding of true health, vitality and the purpose of illness?

285. Through the Way of The Livingness I am constantly deepening my awareness of self-care and as a result I am told I am looking younger as I age rather than older.

     1. A super fun ‘side effect’ of being in relationship with our bodies and taking greater and greater care of the way we live.

        1. Yes I agree, I have seen many who look younger as they have taken more care of themselves and changed their relationship with their bodies.

286. Such a superb example of how we live impacts on our health.

287. “my body recovered and my being healed” – a piece of gold amongst many shared in this blog today. You are living our future right here right now Nicole. Showing us, and in particular your GP, that life can be another way.

288. Thank you for this great article. It is a wonderful energetic discussion to have, about how we can create the living experience of our bodies through the way we move and hence the choices that we make following those movements.

289. The expectation that you have to look sick in order for it to be acknowledged that something needs care and attention is widespread throughout society. I notice at work when someone takes time off because they are unwell, there is often a surprise because “they were fine” right up to when they called in sick.
     This brings up a further question:
     If we are waiting for certain physical signs to inform us that someone is not well, and we are shown so frequently that we were misled by the ‘looks’, then how low have we dropped our assessment of ‘being well’ and just how sick are people all around us without us acknowledging it?

290. Universal Medicine students of all ages are looking younger than their age, many of them are slim and healthy and those of us who are not perfectly healthy, in my case having atrial fibrillation, are living very well with the diseases we do have, mainly because we understand the choices we made that led to us getting that illness.

291. This should be a presentation that is recorded, and fleshed out to look at what aspects needs to be revolutionised in healthcare at the moment.

292. It is beautiful to have your doctor as a practitioner that works with you and not just a service you go to and use. It is when we are making it about people that we can truly benefit from all we all have to offer and can do together.

293. We do need to look seriously at this as a model because last time I was in a doctor’s waiting room the people there looked seriously ill and they probably only had minor ailments. We seem to think that our health lies in the hands of the doctor but as you have shown here, we do need the doctor but the way we are living impacts how ill we will be and how quick our recovery will be.

294. By responding to our bodies for what they require, are we not living future health care?

295. Thank you Nicole, this was a joy to read and very beautiful to share in your life and your honesty. It’s a really supportive reminder too that we need to trust how we feel and communicate clearly, and that working with our doctor or other health professional is a team effort. It is up to us to do our bit to make sure our doctor can provide the necessary support. Fascinating also about how your lifestyle choices meant you presented in a much healthier way that others with the same condition.

296. Through the Way of the Livingness I continue to learn about the gift of self-care & responsibility and in turn how abundant life is with opportunities; illness and disease being one of them. For as we re-engage with our bodies and its responses, it becomes clear that this constant dialogue provides a point from which we can evaluate and inform our daily choices and when necessary share this awareness & understanding with our GP’s.

297. The reflection of joy, of being intimate with ourselves in relationship, is not a common reflection we see in society, but with that, we can solidly deal with what is going on in our bodies.

298. This just shows how our daily choices affect the way we live and how we deal with illness. Is giving me much to ponder.

299. When we have a body that is cared for, a body that is nurtured it is able to withstand illness and disease much better. It is only common sense.

     1. Great point Doug. Common sense is seemingly not very common at all!

300. This just goes to show that when we really, truly look after our bodies in every way, sleep, diet, tender exercise and zero toxins, they have an enormous capacity to deal with and recover from some very serious illnesses. We are walking around in a scientific wonder of the world, what a joy it is to treasure it.

301. Super powerful experience: ‘a body can be unwell but a person can present on the outside as well, due to the quality of daily choices that provide a strong foundation of vitality and wellbeing.’
     If you look at the students of The Way of The Livingness then we see some amazing examples of sick people not looking sick at all. And also in their passing over process present something so different that doctors and nurses are puzzled.

302. We can look good but our movements give us away.

303. The more we look after ourselves, the more vital we feel and our standard of being ‘healthy’ inevitably goes to a whole new level. As a result, getting sick isn’t the same senseless wipe out as it used to be, as it’s much clearer what might have led to the illness and how we need to adjust our diet, rhythm, activity and so forth to adjust.

304. I used to take pride in not having to go to see my doctor, yet nowadays, even tho I feel and look healthier I am attending more frequently than before, because I dropped my pride in seeing a gp visit as a failure on my part. Listening to my body’s messages, I know when something isn’t right. I then seek support.

     1. Illness has become synonymous with weakness and/or failure, in the same way that fragility and vulnerability have also become synonymous with weakness and/or failure. These are just a couple of examples of how our misinterpretation of something has lead us astray and in the process de-railed us from experiencing the truth of a situation.

        1. Yes Alexis, and our misinterpretations or faulty beliefs also derail us from experiencing the love, care and support we so often need. How many men have believed it’s not ok to share how they feel and bottled it up leading to addictions or suicide, and women believing they are just there for others and that it’s selfish to self care, leading to all manner of health conditions? We are blinded by our own thinking to see clearly what’s needed and the truth of the situation.

305. Love how you offered your doctor the opportunity to see a well looking person but yet being sick. When we clear energetically from our bodies we can still look and even feel amazing, yet maybe still need medical support.

     1. And there are times where the illness provides a big clearing, i.e. supports us looking good even though our body is genuinely and can be very seriously ill and that needs to be dealt with medically.

     2. Yes, this is not the norm! How great to offer the medical profession a different reflection in this way.

306. It must be a rarity for a doctor to have a patient who has a recognised illness and yet looks so well and vital. It certainly paints a different picture of what illness looks like.

307. This is a great learning for your GP and others to not just judge how ill someone may be from how they look but to look at the whole person and listen to what they are telling you. It is also great that you did not see your illness as a failure but appreciated the clearing that your body was offering you and the confirmation of the choices that you are making.

308. To present being well, when really the body is very sick is quite incredible. I am imagining what your vitality and sparkle must be, Nicole when you are fully well! Perhaps this is also a reflection on how most of us live also when we say we are well, when in fact, we living “well” means being in depletion, depressed and anxious. So, getting ‘sick’ from this foundation we go really down-hill.

     1. That makes sense Rachel, and it also relates to how we define being well and healthy, is it the absence of illness and disease or a vital, vibrant body? Nicole looked very well even though she was sick, and others we know don’t have that same spark but may not have the illness, etc but where are they on the physical health and wellbeing scale truly?

309. Nicole your personal story reveals the importance of never doubting what your body is saying loud and clear and to not hold on to pictures of how disease states should look like in your body before going to see a doctor.

310. The choices we make on a daily basis affect absolutely everything that we do and say, therefore if we want to change our lives we have to look at our movements which lead to our choices.

311. The other day I was forwarded to a specialist to look at my throat and of course the nature of it was a rather up-close and personal ‘inspection’. Although he had told me there was nothing to worry about, I could see him searching for the words and from his prior half-formed sentence I could tell he was going to say ‘you look really well’ and I observed the kind of bewildered, unable to compute kind of look. When your day job is filled with looking into diseased ears, noses and throats it must raise a gentle question mark.

312. Very true Nicole, our GPs aren’t used to seeing someone who looks vital and well be sick. What a shake-up wake-up you brought. Doctors must be somewhat de-sensitised by the illnesses they see day in and day out but this case asks them to both look in more detail at each patient, and observe more deeply what illness is.

313. We can look vital and well when we are clearing something out of the body that manifests as an illness. In fact it can be because we are so vital and well that this clearing happens. Yes, confusing for a doctor!

314. It is a shame when medical practitioners and support staff fail to listen but go only with what they are trained to observe. We live with our bodies 24/7 and although we can often be insensitive to how our body is feeling, we are more likely to know more about how we feel than anyone else.

315. I have not been well all week. It was your blog that supported me in deciding to contact my doctor to get some antibiotics which I wouldn’t normally do #learningtolovememore

316. I agree there are a lot of ideas around what it means to be ill and what that should look like and how our body responds when we are ill has got a lot to do with how we are living when we are well.

317. Why do men need to look like death warmed up and have to be told by others to seek medical attention? Years ago I was sent a letter by my doctor because he had not seen me for 15 years. My excuse was that the waiting rooms were full of sick people and I did not want to catch what they had! Or, was it that man thing again?

     1. Yes Steve I have changed my attitudes around seeking support with my health as a man over the years and these days I seek it much earlier so that it is not such a big deal when I do need the support. Part of this has also been to be more in tune with my body so that I recognise any symptoms or issues with my body much sooner rather than ignoring them, putting up with them or not even noticing them.

318. At the end of the day, we know our bodies – and we know when they are not truly healthy. The problem is that we as a society have let that slip – let the body go downhill as a compromise to push our bodies, eat too much, stress too much etc. So healthy has so many meanings these days that are all our own versions, rather than the truth of it.

     1. My version of being super healthy as a yoga teacher, used to be, someone who pushed their body to its physical limits, which resulted in a body that was in constant pain, I had an almost permanently distended gassy stomach and I needed exercise and recreational drugs to let go of the ever present tension. And I would have sworn, with my hand on the bible that I was super healthy! It literally took the breaking down of my body to start the slow process of honestly re-evaluating my beliefs.

319. Since reading this I have been thinking about what you have shared, it’s such an amazing testament to you and the choices you have been making to live in a way that leaves you feeling vital and not depleted that your doctor didn’t recognise you to be ill because you didn’t present like most other patients would.

     1. Yes – this is inspirational. The fact that someone can have double pneumonia and confuse their doctor because of their general vitality shows that we don’t have to be owned by an illness or disease. So often we like to identify with a condition and use it as a way of being justified or of giving up, but when we simply see the condition as an opportunity for healing, for clearing out old behaviours that no longer serve, we can see the condition as a blessing also.

        1. Yes, well said Michelle, illness can be, if we choose, an incredible wake up call to change the way we have been living, stop the pushing, drive and nervous energy and deal with life from a place of acceptance where looking after ourselves first is paramount.

320. It goes to show how important it is to keep listening and expressing how we feel. Sometimes we can easily fall and listen to another because they are trained and have more experience than us but even if this is true, at the end of the day it is for each and everyone of us to take responsibility for ourselves and to listen to what the body is communicating with us regardless of what another (in their profession in this case) is saying.

     1. Caroline I had this exact experience whilst seeing a rheumatoid specialist for my arthritis. I had heard from a friend that her arthritis was exacerbated when she ate wheat. I asked the specialist what he thought about this and whether he recommended that I had myself tested for food allergies. His response was ‘you might as well flush your money down the toilet’. Anyhow, I experimented myself and discovered that wheat did in fact cause my joints to flare up. A great lesson for me not to take someone’s word as gospel simply because they are a specialist in their field.

321. This is an amazing testament of how the way you live, has had an impact on the presentation of what being ‘sick’ looks like… The way we live certainly can be a big contributor to medicine.

322. What a really interesting thing to consider, do we look sick when we present our illness, it’s like we have a view of what sickness must be like to the point that we don’t see an ill-ness as a way of the body healing but only when things are really bad. It makes me think that we need to embrace illness in health and not simply illness when sick.

323. ‘Should’ is an interesting word to ponder on and in so doing I am left questioning whether it has any real validity? I think many words will be naturally culled from our language as we evolve and ‘should’ is one of them.

324. A big one Nicole, we can appear well and still be ill and you note how important it is that we feel how we are and express that, as you show here with your GP – a great reminder that illness is not a fault and can be so much more and that appearances are not to be taken lightly, we need to truly honour and feel what is going on in our bodies and get the appropriate support.

325. Reading this blog reminded me of how I recently had a stretch of about 2 weeks where I blowing my nose all the time with thick mucus that seemed to never want to stop (apologies for the yucky details) coming out of me, although I exhibited no other signs of having a cold or flu that in the past would have accompanied such symptoms. This also coincided with a huge revelation about a past life experience and now I can see how my body was clearing out an old pattern for me to come to that realisation and allow it to be embodied. Thank you Nicole for bringing greater understanding to how we have images about what illness and disease should look like that do not always add up.

326. ‘For me this illness is not a failure’. This is where is goes so wrong in that we see illness as a failure rather than a healing, lesson and something to learn from and care for ourselves in a different and more loving way.

     1. Yes and with that failure we start to hate our bodies for letting us down, we fight the illness and want it to disappear rather than accept the time as an opportunity to surrender and deeply rest.

327. Having a deeper understanding of why we get sick, and that there is a purpose to any illness or disease really helps us to accept being ill. Plus, there is the added beenfit of not having to get caught up in the emotional drama of being unwell as the understanding is there. And what’s more, because there is no emotional drama, the body is much freer to be able to heal itself more efficiently and effectively, which supports true healing.

328. We have built an enormous industry around being sick, to such an extent that when someone walks in the door who actually, genuinely and tenderly cares for their bodies, looks extremely well but is feeling ill, it can create a real paradox for the medical profession because we don’t fit the pictures of what ill health looks and feels like. My last visit to the doctors resulted in a mutually beneficial exchange, we each learnt from each more ways to take care of our selves because the quality of vitality and health I reflected clearly indicated to her that what ever I was doing worked and was worth paying attention to!

329. Having vital health and true wellbeing is not about avoiding being sick, although it certainly helps. Having vital health and wellbeing really makes a difference to how we live everyday. It supports us in every way, every day. It certainly makes a difference to how we are when we are unwell.

330. Nicole this sharing is a great example of how we, as human beings have very set ideas about how certain things should look and that what this does, is narrow our vision down to such a limited view that we rule out all other options and possibilities. Our picture of God is just one other example of how we have locked in an image of what something looks like and thereby exclude all other possibilities of who or what God might be. It’s such a blinkered existence and one that keeps us treading the same old well trodden path of contraction, as opposed to the new and unlimited path of expansion.

331. I experienced something a bit similar today. I went to see my GP because the bronchitis on my left site feel inflamed and yet she couldn’t believe it because I looked so healthy, no fever ect. I didn’t fit the picture of a sick patient and yet I knew something was going on in my body. And it is great to work together with the GP and also trust what we know is going on within.

332. ‘The doctor did a wonderful job, she is not used to seeing someone fit, vital and looking well, and yet be so ill.’ This is remarkable and is a testimony to a way of living that is truly supportive… for someone to be well, whilst so ill is a paradox, but not when put into context of looking at illness, disease and living life from a different angle.

333. If we live in a way that doesn’t support our body, burdens us, makes us exhausted and not truly vital and healthy then an illness will come on top of that which shows in the way feel and look. When we live in a way that support and honours the body, that is loving, nurturing and caring then the body can focus its resources on dealing with whatever is coming up to be cleared. This is what your body, and that of many other students, are a living proof of.

334. So interesting to see how we can be light with illness and disease or whatever is going on in our bodies: our day to day, moment to moment choices matter because they set the quality of our foundations, and determine whether they are shaky or solid.

335. I just love that in understanding the true function of illness and disease we no longer feel that getting sick is bad luck or a case of genetics, and we can actually celebrate the fact that the body is communicating to us to make changes, whilst clearing out what no longer needs to be there to create space for more love.

336. One of the differences I find about how a body that is loved, cherished and taken care of deals with illness is that when there is an issue, it is much more clear and specific and there is a greater personal awareness of what is going on. But with an overloaded body which is already struggling with all sorts of self-imposed neglect or abuse on a daily basis, the whole system is impacted, it is not clear which is the key issue and what is a by-product of further complications – the person ends up really struggling. It makes sense to me that the GP expected someone with a severe issue to look a mess. Nicole’s symptoms do sound severe in the pain and everything that she could feel in her body, but when you are committed to that level of care, awareness and understanding then the whole approach and experience is completely different.

337. We are definitely setting new standards and the health system is not yet used to patients like you Nicole but they will when we continue to live our love. It is like we bring in fresh air in a system that is used to stale air.

338. A great blog Nicole, an amazing sharing of the picture of ill health and when we are not well that is different, so inspiring and shows there is another real living way that supports us when we are sick as well as all the time . A real reflection of the importance of conventional medicine and universal medicine working together in our lives and the foundation it offers us that is changing the pictures of true health and healing with the way we live.

339. This is good, to point out to doctors that, when people generally look after their health their appearance is always more vital than someone who does not, and it is helpful when doctors understand that and are prepared to listen and not make assumptions based on what they see.

340. Really great point that we have a picture around what it looks like to be sick. For the past few weeks I have not been well, looking at me you wouldn’t know it. But I know it and have taken the steps I need to support myself. For example, I haven’t been for my usual early morning walks even though I have the energy to; it’s that I don’t want my lungs to breathe in the cold air. Something small but that feels quite vital.

341. What a huge clearing to have and a great learning for your doctor, and also a testimony to the healthy choices you have been making with regards to your life and your body.

342. I have really confused my doctor over the last few years by turning up at her clinic looking very healthy but with a health condition that is requiring attention, so used she is to having patients looking very ill. In fact, at times I have had to assure her that yes, I am feeling unwell and I do need some support, as a couple of times she has almost doubted there was anything to treat. In total contrast, many years ago I would have been one of those very ill looking patients, but that was in the days when I lived in a very disregarding way, taking very little responsibility for my well-being and wanting the doctor to fix me, and as quickly as possible.

343. By reading this blog I have been given an awareness of when we make life about love as much as we can, the ripples we are sending out. To change the perspective of the medical profession on what sickness and vitality are is incredibly significant.

344. Nicole – what a great blog you deliver here. The future for true health in a very sick world is the combination of Western Medicine walking hand in hand with the energetic way of being as offered by Universal Medicine.
     “It is now offering my doctor an opportunity to see that being sick, ill or in disease does not always look a specific way, that a body can be unwell but a person can present on the outside as well, due to the quality of daily choices that provide a strong foundation of vitality and wellbeing”.

345. Understanding illness from this perspective is a game changer offered to humanity. There would be no need of being stuck in a victim consciousness, gaining recognition in suffering or needing sympathy. Simply a message from the body to live from a deeper level of integrity and responsibility and in relationship with universal rhythms and cycles.
     “the illness offered a stop moment to reset, you could say, and to clear that which no longer belonged in my body, the sadness and grief of not living all of me”.

     1. When we go into sympathy for another we enjoin that person in their condition and do nothing to support them to see clearly why that condition has manifested or what they can do to truly support themselves out of it. By observing but lovingly holding we can support in a way that is more real.

346. Nicole, this is a great testimony to The Way of the Livingness and how lovingly caring for ourselves supports us to be vital whilst our body is healing, rather than being engulfed by illness. I too have experienced this and have found my body heals so much quicker this way.

347. It’s incredibly important to not see illness as a ‘failure’ by any means, but an invaluable reflection of how we HAVE lived, as well as an opportunity to explore what might be the way forward in terms of deepening our relationship to ourselves, looking after our body more and not going into overdrive or poisoning our being with toxins.

     1. absolutely Susie, it is a very clear marker and communication and if accepted as that we can maximise our healing, not just physically but on all fronts.

348. Being sick isn’t just a visual experience but moreso how we feel. It can be like a house we walk past, unless you go inside or feel whats coming out of the house everything can ‘look’ fine if the outside is maintained or not.

349. A great reflection for us all to learn from that we can be quite ill in medical terms but still remain vital and well. I feel you have shown the medical profession new markers in what constitutes being sick.

350. Illness and disease is not a failure. I am here to learn and grow and not condemn myself of the choices I have made. Illness and disease is a blessing, a clearing from the body to make room for a greater love to be held and lived in the body.

351. This is fascinating, Nicole. Years ago, I used to think ‘How ill do I have to feel before I qualify to be ill?’ – I so could not simply trust the fact that I was not feeling well to ask for support and be treated. What you share here is a great invitation to feel what we feel and allow all that we feel.

352. Being sick is a sociology accepted robe we wear. We are expected to present and act out like a drama our pains and hurts. So, when you submit an outwardly healthy body that we are in connection with that something is no longer in harmony, we know when medical intervention is required. Could this be refreshing and confusing to a doctor?

     1. Definitely, there is very often a woe is me attitude. But that attitude and behaviour is only more taxing on the body.

353. Fascinating, we rely so much on what our are eyes telling us rather than trusting what we feel, what we see does not give us the whole picture it is only when we combine what we see with all our other senses including what we sense and feel that we get the full picture and know what is there before us.

354. The times I have been to the doctor over the past few years while waiting in the waiting room I almost felt like a fraud and that I was wasting the doctors time because I don’t think I looked sick at all compared to the other people there and when I got to see the doctor my bright manner was not that of a sick person either.

355. In the future this could be the way of illness for all of us. Having an illness experienced as just simply being a clearing for more love to be able to be in the body. When we take great care of ourselves there is less intensity in the illness – we can still become very ill but how we are with it will be different when we don’t indulge in it or identify with it and support our body to be vital in how we are living our life.

356. I guess our perception and experience of what it is to be ill changes as we develop and get more healthy. When one is not so healthy illness is something that is worse than that. When we are living a healthy and vital anything less than that will be for us an illness.

357. This is a great point you bring up Nicole. We should not have any images of what illness and disease looks like. There are some people in the Esoteric community who look amazingly well, beautiful in fact, who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. These people seem to look better and better the more they clear. This has never failed to amaze me. I had the privilege of helping out with an esoteric student who was dying and at 66 on her death bed she looked much younger than her years, vital and very beautiful!

358. Nicole thank you so much for not holding back your greatness anymore! What I love very much is that you have built this incredible relationship with your GP. This relationship feels like you are both equal – now you can inspire each other even more each time you see each other – wonderful.

359. I can very much relate to your experience Nicole. I just went back to work today after being very sick for five days with flu like symptoms that had me stop big time and the only thing I could do was sleep and listen to my body. There was nothing else to do but surrender to what my body was clearing. It almost feels like I have a clean slate, as such, like being more aware of every movement I make, stopping as soon as I start feeling racy or rushing, and not pushing myself to get things done. Treating my body with the love it deserves. I sounded sick when I walked into work today but was told, gee you look good! And, it was true, there was more gentleness in my face and body which was beautiful to see and feel.

360. This is actually very refreshing to read. That there are people who are choosing to live with such a deep loving care of their body. So much so that they know innately when something is not feeling right for it. Such care has the potential to change the face of what a doctors role is, from desperately trying to make an already compromised body well, to supporting a well cared for body to return to its known vitality.

361. Spot on Nicole, the vitality we choose to live in really does offer a new marker for the medicine. I have a similar experience when I was stung by an Irukandji Jellfish on my hands and experienced the deadly poison through my body. Due to my steady and healthy appearance, I was misdiagnosed some 24 hours later, then the day after that I finally got the correct diagnosis from the hospital. They commented that all patients of this sting either die or are hospitalised with severe pain and the toxicity of the poison. The pain for me was certainly intense but it was the surrender in my body that I gave myself and support from esoteric modalities that allowed me to not react to being in pain which ultimately allowed the healing process to be a beautiful and evolving time.

362. What if it’s our perception of being ‘ill’ that make it so hard? Yes, physical pain is horrible but in my experience when we accept and embrace what an illness presents our quality and demeanour is not so changed.

363. When we commit to love and live it to the best of our ability, we give permission for all that is not love, but that we have taken on by a certain way of living, to be released from our body so more love can be expressed in its place. This process looks different for everyone but it is fair to say that there is a certain amount of clearing the body will need to do in order to make this adjustment and this will often present as an ‘illness’. And while we need to treat it as such and receive the necessary medical attention we require, having the understanding of what is happening ‘behind the scenes’ stands us in good stead for redefining what true health and vitality is. Our marker for health should not be simply an absence of disease but more so our ability to express the love that we are and the joy and spark that comes with this.

     1. Very well said. Being sick doesn’t truly reflect the bigger picture – and of course it is different for everyone.

364. It is my experience also Nicole that the body can be in dis-ease and clearing while the being is very well. Nurturing the body and listening to what is needed supports us in health and in illness.

     1. “The body can be in dis-ease and clearing while the being is very well” – beautifully said, Victoria.

     2. True health is dependent on the health of our being, as well as the health of our body.

365. I think it’s a great point that illness and disease doesn’t always present in the way we think it will do, and that it’s important to listen to our body and not dismiss symptoms in ourselves. And also how much of a difference our way of living makes to the kind of reserves we have within our body to recover from illness or injuries.

366. This is a huge game changer Nicole that must be such a revelation for your doctor, who has now been given a new marker of what real health is. When we truly take care of our selves, with the correct support from orthodox medicine, complementary medicine and the way we choose to live life, our bodies can make a very fast recovery. More evidence that our daily choices stack up to so much more than we appreciate.

     1. “More evidence that our daily choices stack up to so much more than we appreciate” and the place where they stack up, is in our bodies.

367. Very beautiful Nicole. Your sharing makes it very clear how we can work together with our body instead of against.
     I just met a man in a shop who broke his leg and was rushing through the shop on his cruches.
     We got to talk and asked him if he got any earlier signals of his leg before it broke. He laughed and confirmed, many he said. But never listened to it and now I can do nothing. I said but you still move fast.
     Is that not the reason why your body stopped you? Because you move too fast in stress?
     He became very aware about the ill pattern he was living in which now he has another choice to make if he wants to contribute to the healing.

368. Wow, you really show how we do put a lot of extra weight on our body, be it or not literally, by living in an unhealthy way if illness can present itself like it did with you.

     1. So true Lieke,
        Not sleeping sufficiently, eating foods that are harder to digest, living with constant unaddressed stress are all examples of living that has the body already compromised, running at way less than its natural potential of vitality. So that when illness is then experienced in the body, it doesn’t have the vitality it could to move through it.

369. Most people identify with being sick when they are sick because they also get attention and recognition for being unwell. This is not everyone of course but it is common. Few approach sickness like you do Nicole but claiming the love they are and seeing the sickness as merely a clearing, although it can be a big one for sure, it is still small in comparison to the love we truly are.

     1. I saw a specialist this afternoon and while filling out the patient form I realised that the norm is for most patients to have quite a few of the symptoms and ills that were listed. On paper it looked like I was in what you would say perfect health. I could see the specialist was confused as to why I was there but instead of going into justifying or trying to look worse to be taken seriously, I just simply was myself and shared with him why I was there and what my concern was and he agreed and booked me in for a procedure. This was a healing in itself. We know our bodies intimately and when coming from there we don’t need to justify anything.

     2. I love your comment Joshua. It is very true, when we know and claim who we are first, being sick is no big deal. We have understanding and an acceptance for where we are. We can read what is going on and then there is not one ounce of needing attention, self-pity or recognition from another.

        1. What can be revealed, cleared or healed with being sick I find is a blessing; nothing to have self-pity about. If we truly understand the power of being stopped by our body showing us how we are living, we would not see it as the problem or issue so many of us do.

     3. True. I know people who are sick almost 24/7 in one way or another and they will say it themselves that they enjoy the attention from it.

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