614 thoughts on “Memory Loss  –  Learning the lines or improvisation, or neither?”

1. For my studies I have to do many ‘professional discussions’ – talking about my work. I never prepare notes for these because I live what will be discussed. If I doubted myself I’d have to make notes and rehearse.

2. Joan, nowadays, it’s not just the elderly that cannot remember, but the younger people too who have memory loss by checking out with social media or games etc. Technology may be advanced, but we are becoming lazier in many more ways than one.

   I can recall being excellent at reverse parking, and since our newish car, those skills have become dependent on the beeping or reverse cameras. And when I go into an oldish car, I feel the difference, my confidence has diminished.

   I love how Serge Benhayon presents, with no scripts no planning or format and as much as I have not mastered this yet, from time to time I experience it. It is beautiful when it flows from the body and is truly freeing, never laced with any pictures or expectation. Now that is expression from the heaven…

3. ‘Living in this way frees us from holding on to an old belief that if we repeat lines we’ve said before we will feel safe, and encourages us to be open to whatever comes without expectation of any particular outcome.’ Learning to trust that I am enough without the need for any false props, supports with living life in the moment, spontaneously without the need to second guess – to simply express what is there to express when it is needed.

   1. I understand about repeating lines, it felt safe and now, it actually feels yucky, as though I am regurgitating something. Having experienced the two, the flow through your body, which is forever expanding and, the regurgitating which is forever keeping you small and safe – I know which I prefer.

4. When we learn by rote and simply regurgitate words by memory, how much really are we connecting to what we are saying and how easy is it really to stay present when all we are doing is focusing on the mind and not the body? To me this is a joyless activity.

5. So many things are geared to make us remember things we have learnt, like the current education system, instead of being in touch with what we feel and who we truly are first. From experience no subject I have ever learnt at school (apart from reading and writing) have I ever used since I have left, no maths, no science, no history NOTHING!

   But the things I really needed to know, like who am I truly as a person, what does it mean to be a young woman, what is self-worth and how do I ‘get’ this, how do I express what I feel when everything within me feels shut down, how do I discern what is around me, what is true vitality and well-being or why do I feel this (Monday-Friday, weekend thing) is just not it. Things like this which should be our very foundation of life were never discussed. Not once. So I love hearing when we step out of the confines of the boxes we are put in or put ourselves in, like these actors and go with our inner heart and what we feel with first. Super cool ✨

6. I love this ‘We are not there to play a part, we are there, in that moment, to express ourselves.’ This just shows how recall can be damaging to our wellbeing (there is no connection with our innate essence and the truth of who we are) it is just regurgitating things we have learnt, but true expression is super supportive for us as it is coming from us from within.

   1. I have just had an ‘aha’ moment reading your comment, Vicky. I never fully understood the damaging extent championing recall based learning has on the developing child – the absolute suppression of true expression and from there, the encouragement to disconnect from our bodies and what we may truly be feeling to express. It helps me to have a deeper understanding of the resistance I felt throughout my school years to ‘learn’ the way I was being taught to learn.

7. This morning as I re-read your blog, Joan, I am loving reading and feeling this: “..turns out it’s nothing to do with improvisation at all but is a sense of knowing oneself well and speaking and moving from that place in continual flow as we unfold.” Your whole blog expresses the beautiful feeling of truly gaining and having a sense of knowing oneself well and the exquisite feeling of moving from that place of knowing oneself well which then allows us to open up to the continual flow as we unfold… Giving up the control we think/believe we have in exchange for experiencing the world in this continuous state of presence is an undoing that turns out to be a graceful unfolding of immense proportion. I am witnessing this unfoldment in and of myself on a daily basis as I let go of long held ideals and beliefs and open myself up to curiosity and wonderment. The world that is unfolding before me as a result is stupendous in its simplicity and awesomeness.

   1. I agree with you be
      Joan to me seems to be expressing something I knew as a child that feeling of spontaneity that everyday had endless possibilities for fun. It seems to me that as we get older we soak up the ideals and beliefs of society and so we lose that sense of spontaneity, curiosity and wonderment of our world and everything in it.
      Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine through the workshops and presentations has supported so many people to come back to themselves and in the reconnection feel again the flow of life. To be back in communication with the Universe is the most exquisite feeling and it is something we can all reconnect back to and we all will.

8. Thank you Joan, I really enjoyed reading this again and can understand more clearly what you are sharing, the link between being present and engaged with our whole selves ready to respond, or memorising lines that come from outside of ourselves – truly, this is already a form of checking out as we have left our whole selves and that which is alive and responsive within us. This great line sums it up for me “there is this other way, which is not about cramming in information and recalling it, but living, sensing and feeling in the moment what is needed from the innate wisdom we all have within.”

9. What you share happens when we panic is so true, but something we do not think about at the time as we are so busy panicking – “We hold our breath, we reduce our blood flow, we limit space within us, reduce ourselves, withdraw from life.” And then everything usually seems twice as horrific as it actually is. So, no wonder forgetting their lines is an actor’s worst nightmare, especially if they have no idea of how their body is responding or how to return to being present with themselves once again. Getting to know our body intimately is one of the most supportive tools for any unexpected eventuality in life.

   1. “Getting to know our body intimately is one of the most supportive tools for any unexpected eventuality in life.” This is so true and yet generally we are not supported in this by parents or teachers in our foundational years. Just by asking “what does my tummy say? Or what does my heart say? We begin to allow the body to communicate to us and align to it’s wisdom.

      1. As you have shared the ways to support a child can be so very simple as in “what does my tummy say”. And from these simple but very powerful lessons on how to read what our bodies are saying, there is the potential to grow a new generation of adults whose connection to their bodies is totally natural. How world-changing that would be!

10. I absolutely adore this blog, Joan, and the message you deliver. Having learned and memorised a lot of lines throughout the course of my life very much took me away from myself and the present for all the effort I had to put in to do so and took up huge amounts of energy. It’s as you say, ‘…making the effort to remember takes us from the present, we are going into the past, away from this lived moment where all can be fresh and new and expansive as we express ourselves here and now.’ The more I can clear the old scripts running through my head, the more I can be in the present moment and express from the fresh and new and bring not only truth back into my expression, but expansiveness as well.

    1. I’ve recently started to notice this in myself, whether I am drawing on a form of memory or recall, or if the expression is truly fresh and from that present moment.

11. Aren’t we all / haven’t we all been playing a part, even those of us who are not ‘actors’ on a so-called stage? We are taught and accept from a very young age that freely expressing ourselves is not welcome and makes others feel uncomfortable so we join the queue on the long memorising and mesmerising road to learning our lines and conforming to others expectation of us. After a lifetime of acting how amazing it is for this group of older actors – how amazing would it be for each one of us – to finally take centre stage and truly express from the depth of their being. Exit stage left takes on a whole new meaning when it is not the actor but the stage itself that makes a timely, orderly and uneventful departure.

    1. This is so true Brigette, in a time where many young people are currently taking their GSCE’s what are we teaching them to do? To regurgitate, recall information and lots of it. The amount of exams they have to do now to what I did when I was a teenager is crazy (I think I had to do around 8 whereas now they have to do 20!) Currently we are not supporting our younger generation to freely express themselves at all.

12. All the times I have worked hard and tried to masterfully come up with the right thing to say are kicked into touch by simply being present in each moment, listening, feeling and responding… it is then that true communication, connection and relationship happens.

13. Perhaps it is better to express words and lines with the impress of our own true nature rather than empty words imbued with another’s quality of expression that is not our truth.

    1. Agreed, what if we allowed ourselves to transform movies, theatre etc and become far grander in what is offered by having these forms of entertainment to truly educate and reflect the reality or the possibility that life offers.

14. Some rules are certainly not to our advantage, and thus our education needs to be revised: “There is also learning the lines of life – the rules we have been taught to live by, the knowledge we have had to learn and abide by, the beliefs which were handed down to us and become ingrained in our consciousness and way of perceiving the world. They lock us in the past rather than living a continual unfolding of feeling what is appropriate, respectful, or necessary, discerned from our sense of what is going on in that moment.” It can be as simple as igniting our clairsentience and this is what supports our knowing of whether something will lock us in or allow us freedom to be.

    1. There are certainly many ‘rules’ in our lives which we have taken on, without discerning, which we use as props to get us through our days, and if we were to lose any of those props it is probably inevitable that we will feel adrift without our usual anchor. A bit like an actor who loses his place in the play. But to ‘ignite our clairsentience’ and to trust what we feel, offers us the wise support no matter what life throws at us, as our anchor in life – our clairsentience – will not cast us adrift.

15. Joan this is a great sharing and makes me question how public speaking is taught at some schools where they insist on the student rote learning the speech to be presented to the public (what I have been witness to). Memorisation is not what allows true expression and it is true expression that engages the audience and delivers something for all to grow from and be inspired by.

    1. It certainly is ‘…true expression that engages the audience…’, Henrietta. Once the heart opens, what is being expressed can be felt in the way it is being expressed and in the movement of the body and eyes not only by the person expressing, but by the audience as well be that an audience of one or an auditorium full. And like you say, if it is true expression the delivery is there ‘…for all to grow from and be inspired by.’

16. Another interesting factor to add to this discussion is our ability to recall or remember past lives which in my experience is not a recalling at all but a moment when something seems to just ‘drop in’ and all the details of what once was lived is instantly known in a way that you cannot deny or doubt its truth. All the sounds, smells, images etc. of former lives become instantly accessible and is a very real and tangible bodily experience.
    This is not some random occurrence but a very specific package of energy we can all have access to if we learn to move in a way that frees us of the binds we adopt when we adhere solely to a mind-based intelligence.
    Why bother with attuning ourselves with something that has already been lived and exists (seemingly) in the past? Because we are where we stand today because of what we have lived and the many choices we have made across multiple lives that have led us to this point. The past is very much living within us and this is known when we stop restricting ourselves to living along a straight trajectory that conveniently leaves things behind us (a sure fire way to renege responsibility) and adopt a more spherical approach to life.

    1. I have found recall to be so much effort! So much easier when we allow space for the answer or for that package of energy to drop in…

    2. We restrict ourselves so much when we are not open to the ages we have lived and the wisdom of these ages.

17. We as humans have created an entirely mind-based intelligence based solely on recall that we then use to pitch ourselves against each other – the sharper your ability to recall and regurgitate that which has been previously memorised, the more clever you are deemed, or so it goes. And while there are certain situations and circumstances in life where we may need to call upon this skill, it falls far short of the depth of wisdom to be found in our inner-heart, the seat where our true intelligence is found.

18. If only our early days at school were not about learning subjects but about connecting to the body and the innate wisdom that is within us all, it would be so much more enjoyable and confirming of ourselves than trying to recall things that have no real meaning for us.

19. I was appreciating today how much I now choose to live from my body and what it feels, and am not ruled by what my mind/head wants me to do. Not having to ‘figure things out’ that I find hard to get my head around, but to trust that my body knows what it needs to know is so refreshing.

20. Our education and development is all focused around being able to use what we have been taught rather than accessing all that we innately know – not a good start.

21. Having prided myself on having a good memory and then started to visit the fear of losing it, I realise that the ability to recall is not where true intelligence is at at all. There is a simplicity to true intelligence that is well supported by simply being present in the moment… literally, that’s it. If I am present in whatever is going on around me and for me that means being connected to and aware of my body, then my whole body has lived that moment and never forgets… not necessarily recalling in words or verbatim but absolutely knowing what occurred and what the next steps are.

22. Repeating what we have done before, whether it’s lines in a play or old ways of being that ‘got us through’.. when we rely on this then we close ourselves off to the possibilities of more- of letting go and trusting that the way we need to do things, move and express in any given moment is never a fixed point or fixed way, but a way that we need to feel, every time.

    1. Is it possible that working at a job that only requires repetitive motion, is just a way to trap us from expressing?

23. We have the intelligence of our body to guide us and this is everything and makes the world a real and vibrant alive way to live in and the knowing from there. This is so different to what we are taught from young but something that is always accessable to us and to connect to if we choose it and Universal Medicine simply shows us the way.

24. The problem with dementia is that you can remember items from long ago but not from recent times. This ability to continue to learn and remember needs to be kept up throughout one’s life time.

25. Trying to remember things we have learnt in the past is literally exhausting, whereas when we connect with our bodies and feel, we have access to all the information we need. We literally know so much more than we even begin to think we do.

    1. Yes that is what is so barmy about us. We try to recall a specific fact to confirm our intelligence status, when actually we have worldly wisdom when we are present in our bodies.

26. Sometimes I wonder if I forgot who I am, I may live much more true to my real quality rather than repeating all the hurts and junk I believe to be me

27. In public schools, pupils are taught public speaking by memorising their speech. They are permitted to read off a sheet as needed, but the ‘better’ students are seen as those who can memorise their speech best and need little if any reading off their sheets. This is very different to real public speaking that I know of, where one presents from what one knows rather than what one has memorised. In the memorisation of a speech there is much pressure placed upon a person, whilst in improvisation, one simply speaks from a lived experience and knowing.

28. There is one form of intelligence to recall and retrieve knowledge and then there is the wisdom available by living present and connected in the moment.

29. There is no need to learn everything by rote when we have the intelligence of the body to guide us.

30. It makes absolute sense to me there has to be consequences for holding onto the past in any way, shape or form in the same way as dreaming or thinking about the future. We need to look at the effects on the body and mind when we are not being present with ourselves.

31. Rehearsing lines just restricts us into regurgitating the past rather than living in the moment. I love the joy of expression that comes with a freedom of words – where we can talk from a lived experience rather than a rehearsed one.

    1. Spot on HM, there is a freedom in the natural expression. However, this is not what is taught in our current world, so it takes a bit for us to let the ingrained teaching of regurgitation to drop away and bring in our natural way of expression which is as you have so beautifully shared, from the lived expression.

32. I can remember the fear of forgetting my lines, the few times as a child I stepped foot onto a stage, and that fear often grew so powerful that, yes, the lines were forgotten and the embarrassment overwhelming. In total contrast, when I have stood up to speak on a topic that was just that moment given to me at one of the wonderful Expression and Presentation Workshops, presented by Serge Benhayon, the words flowed with ease and I was always amazed as to the wisdom and understanding of a topic I knew little about, that came with them. It took me a while before I realised that this was because I was connected to me and therefore fear-less.

    1. Sometimes it can be interesting why we, as intelligent and aware beings, choose a way to be that makes failure inevitable. What is the benefit?

33. “In this effort to remember, the brain squeezes and contracts itself in the search.” Reading this line Joan I know exactly what you mean. I can remember times when I would give myself a headache trying to remember facts and figures, especially when it came to exams. So to understand that actually we have all we need to know within us, and that we simply have to stay connected to who we are is incredibly liberating and very empowering.

34. I can so relate to the head being compressed when forced to memorise things, and at school, we get rewarded for being able to memorise and recall things, and when it comes to simply expressing ourselves, we often do not know where to begin and don’t even know what we are feeling. We are definitely creating a disease here.

35. More so recently I am realising how doubt plays a huge part in me not expressing all of me.Time to hit this one on the head – not expressing in full means everyone is left lesser.

36. The more we connect with our body and be present in what we are doing moment by moment the less likely we are to develop dementia.

    1. Yes and the more we are equipped to deal with what comes up for us. We place the connection with our body at the forefront knowing that will support us in the moment and as we get older.

37. I love that, in the title of your blog, you give us a third option, to ” live from the truth that lives in our hearts” Connected to our hearts, our inner hearts where the flame of absolute truth and love burns bright we express what is needed in that moment from a source that can be truly trusted.

38. When we deliver things from our memory bank they tend to be a bit old and dusty compared with the spontaneity and freshness of inspired in-the-moment offerings.

39. It feels like that the more we truly live life and not just exist and let life govern how we are, the less we will get dementia. The active engagement and full commitment feels key. No wonder many people get dementia in their older days, as often this time is used to check out and there is less purpose which is actually very unhealthy for us.

40. I was watching a presentation on-line this week and the speaker definitely had presence, but he had very clearly learned his script verbatim and so at one point stumbled a little when he forgot what the next bit was. He covered well but there was a palpable moment of panic. Learning to trust that everything you have lived before that moment is with you and that we have access to all of that when we are connected to the body, not only delivers a very different presentation with authority, but it is one that delivers to what is needed to be heard by the audience at that time. It becomes less about what we have to impart for ourselves, but what is needed for everyone who is listening.

41. When we connect to the body not only is everything we have ever lived found there, but access to wisdom that we would think is beyond our reach. Simply allowing myself to express from my connection to my body rather than my head, allows for a deeper authority that others can’t help but be engaged by.

42. “We are not there to play a part, we are there, in that moment, to express ourselves.” This is so true in any and every aspect of our lives, to bring the truth of what we know in our bodies, regardless of where we are and who we are with.

43. It is a reduction to call our ability to feel and respond in any moment improvisation, relegating it to a form of theatre and entertainment. We all were born to feel life and respond naturally but disconnected from this as we were not confirmed or met in life.

44. It goes to show that presence is so important. I know even in my 30’s I can have times where I drive on auto pilot and I cannot recall the details from the drive. It shows how we can choose to switch off, which is in effect training the brain to completely switch off later on.

45. It makes so much sense that if we are living from memory then we are living from the past. We are making choices around past events, rather then making choices around what is happening now.

46. Reading this has me pondering more on the effects of reminiscing or living in the past and not embracing the present. We often encourage our elderly to look to the past and use it as a way to cheer them up but in actual fact, it could be more harmful than helpful.

47. Letting go of what we hold onto in the mind frees up so much space and releases tension that would otherswise hold us back from following our true impulses.

48. I would say I have adopted that belief that knowing how to repeat things = safety. Not just words but behaviours equally so. To break these behaviours takes time as the beliefs that it’s actually scary to move into the unknown needs peeling back.

49. A real and liberating sharing on the importance of living in presence in connection to our bodies and the flow expansion and true wisdom that comes from this.

50. We are already repeating many lines, behaviour and cycles of old expecting some new outcome and yet if we are open to connecting to our innermost and expressing from there it can be a whole new ballgame.

51. Yes indeed Joan… Expressing from who we truly are, brings a presence and the present which nothing else can.

52. As an actor – putting that pressure on yourself to remember all those lines, and to become another person puts a huge tension on the body. But we glamourize this job – we make actors more important than other roles. We admire people’s ability to regurgitate and play a role. It is something we have not really stood back and looked at from the truth of what it is.

53. “The more we let go of control, memorising and recall, and live from the truth that lives in our hearts, being present in every moment with all that is occurring, where there is no need to escape or check-out, perhaps then we can live to a ripe old age with true confidence and a healthy responsive body and mind.” So true and an amazing realisation for us all to bring to our lives the living truth from within in every moment and a totally different way of living to how we have been taught and brought up in the world . This brings and aliveness and true depth of wisdom to our lives and that of others gracefully.

54. The moments that we are in and with the present are the ones we do not need to relive or even remember as we in truth always constantly evolving.

55. ‘The more we let go of control, memorising and recall, and live from the truth that lives in our hearts, being present in every moment with all that is occurring, where there is no need to escape or check-out, perhaps then we can live to a ripe old age with true confidence and a healthy responsive body and mind.’ – A powerful statement Joan – every choice and every move we make impacts on the quality of our life, right until the very end and beyond.

56. What we have been taught life is, is so far from the truth. It’s a concerted long term process to let go and renounce every last lie so we no longer subscribe. You can’t keep the ones that you like.

    1. ‘let go and renounce every last lie so we no longer subscribe’ – Love it Joseph, a subscription well worth ditching.

57. I definitely feel wiser when I let go. There is nothing I can recall that surpasses the inspiration and wisdom of living alert, alive and responsive to the present.

58. The script of human life seems laid out for us. From work to marriage to death to taxes and cancer too. But we do have the option to put it down, step aside and improvise afresh – and just express what we feel is true.

59. Memorizing and recall are so unnatural to the body that for me there is no other choice but to feel, observe and respond towards life. I have tried to ignore the effects of memorizing or cramping info into my system and the effects were disastrous. The depressed state of having to endure this while not knowing I could choose differently was apparent. But we do have a choice, and that is to connect with ourselves and be guided by this steady foundation in life.

60. It is indeed a sad thing to realise how much dementia there is in our society and to realise how it is beginning to happen at earlier and earlier stages. Lifestyle has much to do with this but also our current society with its tendency to ‘check out’ on a screen with games and other activities that draw you into an alternate reality is very much at play and an invitation to not be aware of yourself (the first steps towards conditions such as dementia). But at any point, we can call this out and begin to change how we live and how we are with ourselves and another and gradually deepen this back to our natural way of being. This blog is an amazing example on how to allow a person to re-open and release their natural expression after years of being conditioned to do things differently.

61. I used to have a reoccurring nightmare where I sat down in a maths exam at school and could not answer even one question!… because I was trying to ‘remember’ what I needed to remember. We have been so trained to operate from recall and memory and regurgitation of information rather than trusting our own inner wisdom and intuition. I have trusted in this wisdom more and more and so my exam nightmares stopped some time ago and I no longer fear not knowing the answer that the world demands from me for I know, I know everything I need to know inside..ah such settlement comes with this knowing.

    1. I have felt the same when presenting at work with groups of people. Working in high academic field this is usually the point of call but is this truly needed in that moment. Learning to trust the wisdom and offer what is offered for the all is the difference between feeding the knowledge and fuelling the fire!

62. Living in the past is so yesterday (pun intended) – being impulsed by the What is now is so much more fun!

63. Why bring our attention to being more present? Especially as there are so many more entertaining places to go to in our mind than what is going on around us, and it often feels safer in the mind when we don’t want to be part of or feel what is going on around us. But I find when I check out, it comes with consequences I have to face – feelings of emptiness, feeling lost and depressed. When I am not present I am actually far more affected by the emotions and situations around me, absorbing them while I supposedley ‘escape’ to somewhere ‘safer’ in my mind.

64. Amazing research that confirms to me that when we are ourselves we can let our own natural intelligence shine but when we act to be something we are not, we simply mask the beauty that lies within.

65. I am only just coming to fully understand “What happens when we contract in the body?” and by doing so it has become so clear why my body has been the way it has for most of my life. Part of this understanding has been the realisation I have been a chronic breath holder since I was a child, but what has been so shocking is the effect that this one area of contraction has had on the whole of my body. So, then what about the impact on my body from all the other ways I contract? The list that was long is now getting smaller with the more awareness I bring to the way I live, and as it gets smaller my vitality and well-being is expanding in many wonderful ways.

66. It makes you wonder what damage we are doing to our brains while we are at school ‘trying to remember’ everything we are being taught.

    EM for AM

    1. I agree, the school system is set up to dismiss our natural ability to express from ourselves i.e. our body and being.

67. When you talk about the embarrassment for an actor of forgetting their lines, this really highlights the enormous pressure they must be under, and how crushing this must be to one’s self confidence.

    1. I have many uncomfortable memories of embarrassment, not as an actor, but when what I shared with someone seemed to come out all wrong. Those were the moments when I wanted the ground to open up so I could disappear into it, and moments which unfortunately I allowed to stifle my future expression. I can only imagine what it would be like when you ‘mess up’ in front of a theatre full of people; it was hard enough in front of one.

68. ‘We are not there to play a part, we are there, in that moment, to express ourselves.’ – Such a great point, how often in general do we truly express ourselves as opposed to playing the part that we believe is expected of us at any given situation?

69. We can fall into repeating things over and over, even if it is because it was successful the first time but the universe is constantly expanding and never repeats itself so it makes sense to treat every moment as a new one and connect with what is precisely needed in that specific moment, rather than relying on recall or repetition.

70. It’s possible to become so good at reciting information that the lines can be blurred between our own natural expression and what we are simply repeating from knowledge. This is a huge reduction of everything we have to offer and how incredible our voice can be, raw and uncut.

71. “And making the effort to remember takes us from the present, we are going into the past, away from this lived moment where all can be fresh and new and expansive as we express ourselves here and now.” So true Joan. Living in the present has to be the way – and allowing what comes through to do so.

72. A beautiful sharing of the support and reflection we are given by Serge Benhayon in his workshops and presentations from the truth that is felt and lived in our body that says everything and takes away the pressure and force of learning lines but instead presenting from our lived experience and what we feel and know inside joyfully.

73. I love the story Joan about the improvising actors, who do not need to learn any lines but went along with whatever flowed at the time. It takes away the getting things right or wrong feeling that I have experienced in the past, when expressing on or off stage, but to simply be with ourselves when expressing, that is all that is needed.

    1. Making things right or wrong causes a contraction in the body and we don’t express all that we could or all that we are or all that is needed in the moment. .

74. I often ask the question, when i talk to someone: what does she/ he need to hear. And then without thinking I communicate things that are not preplanned or thought. It is quite magical to allow that – there are only moments yet, but when I imagine living from that place it feels so freeing, not exhausting and huge. The moment we don‘t make it about us- heaven is right there to communicate through us.

75. Dropping individuality and preparing a body that allows heaven to work through is worth the journey, as whatever you thought you could access is only a mere percentage, when you fully let go of :“ I have to know or do it“- and instead living impulsed immediate by a much higher source.

76. Very true Doug and even in the care sector this is beginning to be realised. There is a term now called ‘rementia’ to signify the regaining of memories and cognitive ability in those living with dementia.

77. Control is like the big elephant in the room… we all do it, and by colluding, we avoid exposing it. Great to expose the truth of this control Joan and the real impact it is actually having on us all.

    1. How true, the big elephant… and we all pretend we don’t know.

78. “What happens when we contract in the body? We hold our breath, we reduce our blood flow, we limit space within us, reduce ourselves, withdraw from life. Vibrancy disappears, and dullness takes its place.” How many people do we see living life like this – of all ages? Until attending Universal Medicine, I was the same… and even now, if I contract, this is exactly what happens. But now I have a marker of joy, vitality and space and the tools to come back to a way of living that is full of presence.

79. When the words flow through us from heaven there is no need for recall or worrying about what to say next.

    1. So true Jenny… the words are always perfect – for the giver and the receiver.

80. I find job interviews a great place to practice not relying on memory. When I just listen and say what comes, intertwining my lived experiences in my responses, I get some incredible results!

    1. I observed this too in a recent interview. I was just me – all of me – with no picture or expectation of the outcome. I enjoyed meeting the interviewers – we had fun and I did get the job!

81. I find it really interesting what you’ve shared about learning lines and the fact that this may actually debilitate our memory as opposed to improve it. It makes you wonder how the education system and current type of examinations are affecting young people?

82. “…there is no nostalgic longing for the past or dwelling on it but learning from it, and an encouragement to be present, and to feel the future unfolding towards us, to even live it now” – I have recently had this point shown to me vividly in that after an experience of being interviewed I went into a gradual but eventually contracting period of all those classic “Oh, I could have said this”, or “I should have elaborated on that this way”, etc. etc. But in doing that, it denies the beauty and appreciation that I was already aligning to the next bit of awareness and understanding to come into my body to then be expressed in another way. We never have to be ruled by some belief that says ‘we have to get it right the first time’, when, as Joan has shared here, life is about learning and expanding from one moment to the next and when we allow that and take the pressure off ourselves, our bodies will lead us into living the future now.

83. Improvisation and creativity as opposed to learning lines. I know which one I would choose, the one that is fun, engaging and spontaneous and doesn’t constrain me with rules. I know which one our kids (and most teachers) would rather in their classrooms too.

84. It seems that science keeps coming up with different theories about possible causes of dementia. Some related to lifestyle, sugars and gut health and many others. We are advised to keep our minds nimble, agile and engage in activities like dancing and learning new things, but perhaps we have missed the point that it is not just about functioning and recall and more about a level of connection and presence we have to life.

85. I spent a lot of time thinking that the only way to present was to learn every line. I would spent ages writing and re-writing forcing myself to remember and recall. And it was a very stressful process – the end result being that I delivered words I remembered with not an ounce of the true me in it. With the support of Serge Benhayon and his presentation workshops I now know what it is to present what is felt – to connect to what is possible to share and to do so with me as part of the presentation.

86. Loving the last paragraph of this blog today. Letting go of control being one of the most self-loving and liberating things we can do.

87. It is interesting to consider how improvisation requires a person to be very present in the moment using their felt sense to follow what is emerging. It can often be an experience of not thinking about what to say but allowing things to come through us. But as in all things in life there needs to be a discernment of the quality of energy and expression that comes through.

88. Being in the moment is much more powerful than memorizing something and trying to regurgitate. As our body is with us all the way.

89. “And making the effort to remember takes us from the present, we are going into the past, away from this lived moment where all can be fresh and new and expansive as we express ourselves here and now.” This absolutely highlights the amount of effort and energy we put into ‘remembering’ and ‘recall’ for the sake of so called intelligence, whereas staying in the present we have access to a true intelligence that is far greater and wiser than anything that can be remembered or recalled by the mind.

90. When we identify with the roles that we play in life we lose the ability to simply be present and express what is needed in each moment. Instead we seek to fulfil roles according to the rules and beliefs about how you should be in that role at the time. This can be seen in how many times we have reinterpreted what the perfect form of mothering or teaching children should look.

91. Funny how most of us seem to have an idea that we need to be perfect, when surely at some level we all know that there is no such thing as being ‘perfect’ – it does not exist. The pictures we are attempting to live up to all have a backside.

92. Self doubt kills our free and natural expression in an instant.

    1. So does fear and anxiety. I know this one very well.

93. The depth of our natural expression from our body and lived movements is so powerful real and amazing to listen to with an energy of aliveness and presence that cannot but be felt by all and is deeply touching.

94. What a relief to not have to recall lines but rather draw from lived experience. This would be far more authentic and less taxing on the body and the mind.

95. I loved what you have shared Joan, the power of being present in the moment and open to the present that we are gifted with in each moment of our lives, this is the livingness of what comes through us, we can let go of the trying to remember and be open and present to what each moment brings.

96. Interesting Doug, as sometimes it seems that the only place a person with dementia can be IS in the present, for the past and the future are obscured to them, but this is not so, for they are not present in the present!

    1. This can also be expanded as many of them may go back to a time in the past when they were present but they are not present in the present.

97. Like actors who have played a role so long they think that is who we are, we need to stop, take stock and consider the possibility that all the stuff that we put out is simply not true.

98. The tension of perfection or delivering expected results reduces us and thus hinders the flow of our otherwise natural expression, space to just be without any pictures leaves us unimposed and hence awake and expressive.

99. The freedom and depth of expression of being open to express what we feel from our body is so much more expansive and real than coming from learned lines and offers a confidence and growth of expression in our whole life and listening to this is very different and when it comes from what is known inside, it resonates with the listener or audience so completely differently.

100. If we keep repeating actions and do not learn and evolve we stagnate. If we repeat actions and learn from them then in truth we are never repeating, as the same way one day is not the same as the one before.

101. Not having the lines prepared leaves space for the unexpected, and often we may be surprised how much greater our expression will be than anything we could have planned for.

102. Joan, I love what you are sharing in this article. I can feel that we have a choice to live in a controlled, regimented way, which I can feel crushes any joy or we can choose to truly express ourselves – living in a very natural and open way that feels evolving and joyful.

103. How demoralising and disempowering is it when from young we put the emphasis on what information people can recall and deliver as opposed to supporting each to connect more deeply with themselves and engage with life from the gloriousness that they find within their inner heart.

104. Interesting relation between dementia and linear intelligence – maybe it is actually dimentia we are suffering when we keep reduced to linear thinking and missing out on our multidimensional beingness.

     1. That brings a whole new dimension to dementia. Past lives?

105. Learning the lines literally is linear hence we can only move back and forth on the same line, i.e. recall and repeat; while being present and open at the moment, allowing ourselves to simply be and be receptive and responsive we are by nature spherical which is a completely different way of knowing and communicating.

106. The best pearls and the most inspiring words come from the body and not from a mouth that has memorized a sequence of words.

107. Memorising puts us into our heads and into linear thinking. And it puts a pressure onto us to recall things on demand. But if we allowed ourselves to be open to a far more freer way of thinking that involved the body, then we allow ourselves to access a different kind of intelligence and wisdom. Now that is giving access to a Whole intelligence rather than limiting things to pure rote learning.

108. One day we will all come to realise that the ability to recall in detail is not the measure of intelligence but simply a false marker we adopt when we do not live in a way that honours our connection with the universal wisdom that pours through every part and particle of us every day.

109. Expression that comes straight from our body without the mind controlling the content always blows me away as there are always pearls of wisdom that present seemingly from nowhere that we can all learn and grow from.

110. Memory is an interesting thing, it can be a choice: we choose or try to forget nasty experiences, we forget people’s names, in school we forget history dates, but we remember the loving things people did for us.

111. If we don’t allow for spontaneous moments and make everything rehearsed, then we lose the joy and spark that is ours naturally to express.

112. Whenever I have seen people make speeches, the ones that have to me been the best are not the ones memorised or read off notes or written in full, but the ones that have come straight from the heart in the spirit of the moment. This is maybe similar or the same as what you are saying here as well Joan.

113. Thinking about learning lines, what about religious rituals? I was brought up in the Roman Catholic Faith and so many words of division were repeated in the mass – Mea Culpa – I am not worthy was one that stands out. These thoughts become ingrained in the very fibre of our being.

114. We strive so hard just to get the ‘right answers’ when all we truly need to access is our delicate beauty, and to live from there.

115. ‘We are not there to play a part, we are there, in that moment, to express ourselves’ – when I can let go of ‘performing’ in life and having pictures of how things should be, something amazing, magical and natural starts to happen.

116. Every day, every moment is new and fresh and if we can allow ourselves to be in that newness then the space created allows us to know and understand all that is needed in that moment.

117. Love re-reading this Joan – true wisdom is expressed effortlessly when connected with our body and we stop trying to memorise everything.

118. If recall is not intelligence but connecting to our inner wisdom is, why do we try to remember so much?

     1. Because memory builds identity and identity is a poor substitute for living the truth of who we all are.

119. ‘And making the effort to remember takes us from the present, we are going into the past, away from this lived moment where all can be fresh and new and expansive as we express ourselves here and now.’

     This I know to be true. This blog has got me pondering. There is so much to remember in life. I notice as soon as I get anxious that I’ve forgotten something my mind can go to mush. Conversely, when I’m present I find I do the tasks I need to. This said, at the moment I still don’t trust I’ll be given what there is to do. This is ok for now, it’s a process. So I support myself by writing things in the calendar, writing notes from meetings knowing perhaps it’s only the odd detail that has escaped me. The more I support myself, the more I can surrender to being present with myself wherever I am.

120. It’s amazing how when we let go of the lines we think we need or have used in similar situation before new ones are there for us which are perfect for the moment at hand. Freedom to respond from our hearts rather than our heads.

121. What I also find interesting is that with songs I can always remember the tune, even if I don’t recall the words

122. It’s interesting to consider ‘stage fright’ in this context, as there is so much fear around the ‘performance’ and getting it right. What happened to the joy of true and free expression where everyone benefits, and there is no accolade greater for any one person, as ultimately everyone is equal.

     1. Very true Sandra. Feeling one has to be perfect is a great set-up for failure, when one doesn’t ‘get it right’. When performers fluff up it makes them seem more real too.

     2. Great call Sandra. In feeling into this more I can feel that ‘stage fright’ is where we have expectations, outcomes and pictures to live up to and focusing on everything that is outside of ourselves rather than all that is within.

123. The Way of The Livingness is a no-brainer when we listen to our bodies and live in the now, life flows, and we reflect this quality to all of those around us.

124. What you have written here about the ‘lines’ (the beliefs”) we are learnt from young is so very true. “They lock us in the past rather than living a continual unfolding of feeling what is appropriate,”. In fact, they block us from endless and often amazing possibilities and keep us contained in the prison of the past, a prison we sadly end up believing we can’t get out of. I love how you have blasted this belief right out of the water!

125. ‘In this effort to remember, the brain squeezes and contracts itself in the search.’ so true and it’s no coincidence that we say that you’ll remember when you’re not thinking about it. Thinking is counterproductive!

126. I can feel the anxiety and pressure of trying to remember someone else’s lines in a play but also the freedom to express what we feel coming through our body in the moment.

127. With all you have presented Joan it is clear that presence has a vital role in true medicine. Especially given that nothing truly beneficial comes out of not being present with ourselves. In fact long term, lack of presence is harm-full.

     1. So true Joshua, not being present with ourselves means our minds are somewhere else and we are not in our bodies. Where are we in those moments? In a kind of half state, a fantasy world of how things were or are going to be. This leads to not being able to remember where we were a few moments ago as we have not moved with ourselves fully from one moment to the next. Being aware of how we are moving and our walk can bring us back to ground and into reality instead of being in the air.

128. After a kind of very long break as in about 35 years from study I am about to do some courses which will entail memorising stuff for exams, I wonder if they would let me do a bit of the old improv when it comes to the answers.

     1. Good point Kev. This way of learning requires us to be able to produce information from recall that we have remembered but that is all it is – a regurgitation of information committed to memory.

129. Love what you have shared Joan, and adding to what you have presented; that when we start listening to our bodies and live from that wisdom, the wisdom that comes from the increased awareness from our body because we are listening to our body. Therefore our bodies are providing a true blessing as we live in that wisdom-ship. When we open our body to feeling what is being shared then what we feel from our body will open-ly bring to us a deepening understanding in so many areas of our life, such as being consciously present, also what we eat with the effect it is having on us, how we express and what that feels like, so our ‘Vibrancy’ returns and thus we deepen our understanding about true purpose in life.

130. We walk around reiterating our past hurts – bringing them in to today and acting them out. If we can just realise these things are not us and needn’t be part of our life – then we are set free to play.

     1. The true sense of play rather than being in a play – this brings lightness, joy and life to our expression.

131. When we become reliant on our gathered knowledge alone and our confidence is based on our remembered intelligence rather than our lived experience, we use that intellect like a shield rather than being ourselves in life.

132. I have always been pretty ‘good’ at memorising and hence got good grades at school and at University. But this did not build my confidence in expressing and sharing my innate wisdom. It is clear that we do need to remember things, but my feeling is that there is far too much of an emphasis on rote learning and then regurgitation, rather than encouraging a person to develop their natural expression. This natural expression lies within us all and is not something that needs to be learned – and this is what builds a person in their capacity to express and be solid in themselves, just like the studies above in this blog have demonstrated too.

     1. I so agree Henrietta. When we learn something by memorising we are often in a continual state of anxiousness as we hope we remember what we’ve learned. In total contrast when we learn to trust our “natural expression” we are able to share so easily from a place of truth and not a place of re-call.

133. If we have multiple lives then how we live at the end of our lives becomes hugely important as it transfers directly to our next life. If we think that we have only one life then it becomes ‘rational’ to not spend too many resources on those near the end of their life or work on them staying mentally alert.

     1. Agreed Christoph, so understanding the truth about re-incarnation takes on a meaning-full role!

134. ‘We are not there to play a part, we are there, in that moment, to express ourselves.’ This is it in a nutshell. No need for lines as we are not acting but rather simply allowing all that we are to be naturally expressed.

135. We are all actors and actresses when we perform or put out what is not true for us inside.

136. Memorization puts a huge pressure on a person as it asks them to use recall which is not a natural way for us to work. When we use recall we must limit ourselves to being lineal and this means limiting our intelligence to our heads rather than allowing ourselves to stay in and with the body and the universal intelligence that comes naturally with it.

137. Our current education system is very focused on memorisation and regurgitation of information. Intelligence is seen as someone who is able to memorize well and then spit it out. Students are rewarded for this behaviour and in how much external information they have the capacity to retain. But in considering this method of learning and this version of intelligence, we get to see how much it actually limits a persons development by keeping them in their head rather than allowing them to utilise the full intelligence of the body and how they are feeling and sensing life. And this in turn in so many ways is actually of detriment to the body as a whole especially when the whole is neglected in favour of only one way or form of memorisation only.

138. Very interesting to read about the experience of the actors in the study Joan. What came to me while reading was ‘surrender’. In the rigidity of learning scripted lines (or a way of living) we lose our natural freedom of expression and our ability to surrender to our body and allow whatever needs to be expressed to come through

     1. So true Peter, I used to look at actors as Gods whereas now I know that we are all Gods and when we allow our natural freedom of expression then we start to act as the Gods we are.

139. I so agree Gill, I used to give my self a hard time, I have to practice what to say or else I will look stupid, rather than know the words would just flow when I surrender. That anxiousness would actually make me forget things anyway. It’s a real setup. But now I know with my connection the words just flow as I connect to my truth and my heart.

140. Elizabeth I agree that being lost in our mind could be a possibility that it takes you away from physicality with activities and so it sows the seeds to dementia. I have known a few people highly intelligent who have got dementia in their later lives, especially when they stopped being active with their physical body.

141. The choice to be absolutely present in the moment is an amazing gift to be in the flow of life and the pulse of the universe with a vibrancy and reality of what is going on to be felt and expressed. So different to the learned lines and past ways of beliefs and ideals held on to and keeping us locked in our minds and dependent on our memory with a stress and disconnection issues that follow with nothing to relate to if we forget. An amazing sharing of the truth of what is going on for so many and offering another way to live.

142. I saw a play last year that had a number of child actors in it and it was so shocking to see the rigidity of their movements and total lack of joy in their expression. I felt very irresponsible for fuelling this process by buying tickets for the performance.

     1. Wow Otto, I had not considered this – this rigidity that comes from the pressures of memorising lines for a play is pretty awful to feel and see. I remember one school play that I was a part of in grade school, and had to say one single line and all I remember was being so scared that I would forget that line and turn myself into a mute! And so when I did go up and say my line, I recalled it, but it was all mechanical and rigid as you have described in your comment. And I was just so relieved to get off the stage…what joy is there in this pressure to have to perform a certain way and memorise things with such rigidity? And true too that each ticket we pay for and each performance we see is only feeding this set up to continue.

        1. And then there is all the praise and applause that is heaped upon these children for remembering their lines, or for getting all their cues correct, or for standing, walking, dancing on exactly the right spot etc…all of which confirm to the child that to get recognition or to be considered successful, they have to fit themselves into a certain pre-determined pattern of movements.

143. When our computer memory becomes full, we have to archive and or compress and store the unused items. But who tells us what is not needed and how often is it that our wisdom that gets filed away to make room for rote learning?

144. This is a fascinating study. We are all actors if we are living to a script. We are all actors if we are presenting a picture to the world.

     1. And in such a case we are not ourselves.

145. While we are on the subject of the arts and theatre…you could extend this study to ballet. A movement that is so totally and utterly constricted to a pre-determined choreography. Ballet is judged on the accuracy of the execution of that choreography – the body literally forced to move in an entirely fixed way. Quite apart from the fact that all of these movements exert an extreme and very damaging force upon the bodies, they are all completely and entirely contra to any form of natural expression. There is not one single movement in ballet that our bodies would actually choose to make. Thus – the ballet world is awash with broken bodies, early retirements, recurring and life-long agony and the gargantuan intake of pain-killers. Go against the natural flow and we pay the price.

     1. So true Otto and in this observation, we can see how all of our movements are a choice to align to a way of being with the predetermined patterns of the world we have created or to respond to the impulses of our Soul.

        1. Yesterday I moved within the “predetermined patterns of the world we have created” and hurt my back; no different from the ballet dancers and as you say Michael if we are not “responding to the impulses of our soul” then our bodies pay the price.

146. “The universe is ever expanding”. I attended some Universal Medicine presentations on the weekend and this topic was discussed and was a real standout for me. I was thinking about the exercise walk options in my new home/area and they are technically limited because I live on a point with one road going in and the same road going out. Normally I like to have a few walk options up my sleeve when I walk but that will not be an option.

     I started to be a bit ‘down about that’ and listening to what Serge presented on the weekend and what you write here is that the universe is ever expanding, so no moment can ever be the same. So this exposed the arrogance and ignorance that we can live in a human race that we think it is the same all the time. It reminds me of an expression I heard in Vietnam, ‘same same but different’. And that’s how it is, it might be the same road each walk but every time will be different if I so choose to tune into that.

147. There are many games devised to hold onto our memory and to keep the mind active almost to the point of desperation. What if it was just a case of being present as presented by the author that could make a difference to our mental health and our ability to feel what needs to be said.

148. “What happens when we learn lines?” We can lose connection with a much greater awareness that keeps us present, alive and engaged in life, ready to respond with all the love, grace and intelligence that resides within us.

     1. We are sure limiting ourselves to not receiving the greater awareness that is available to us at all.

149. Living within the lines is calculated, premeditated and full of expectations, all of which stifles our naturally glorious expression.

150. Learning the lines of life is the purpose that greets us every morning!

151. So much of what we say and do is either a repeat of something that we have already said or done before or it is a regurgitated version of something that has already been said or done. What this does is shut down the endless possibilities and opportunities that are on offer in every unfolding moment.

152. When we try hard to do something we contract. When we go with the flow we expand. There is no prizes for guessing what is better for our health!

     1. So true, in trying we shut down to the source of all we actually require to deal with any situation we encounter.

        1. Trying wants an outcome/answer whereas being truly open you allow the outcome/answer to come to you.

     2. Allowing and going with the flow allows for great expansion within ourselves. We allow the space for this expansion to take place, this has been my experience.

153. It’s time we stopped acting and let our true selves be. No matter how many awards or accolades we receive it’s just not worth selling our beauty out for comfort and false acceptance.

     1. Yes, why do we feel it’s worth putting on an act? Are we not beautiful and amazing enough as we are?

154. Spot on Elizabeth – and no different to youngsters these days who spend so much time on the screen (computers, phones, ipads etc) which is checking out from the world around them…this is the beginnings of dementia indeed. We get away with it because it appears that there is no immediate consequence, but over time the quality of relationship we have with ourselves and with others gets compromised and the depth is lost and hence things like dementia can kick in.

155. So much of our current ‘activities’ geared to teach and keep the mind active are activities that keep us in our heads and tend to shut out the body – hence achieving the final result which is the complete opposite of what we really want in order to keep the whole body active and alive and engaged and confident. What Jane presents here is gold in terms of supporting in such a simple way for people to re-engage in life again.

     1. and our prolific use of screens is just one example of something that keeps our attention focused in the mind, whilst the body gets ignored. Not only is the body often totally ignored when we are in front of a screen but so often it’s compromised. Whether it be a computer screen at work or a screen attached to a game console, our body is often in a state of tension as a result of our reaction to whatever it is that we are doing. The effect of this, is that whilst we are ‘in our minds’, our bodies are quietly building stress and accumulating illness.

156. Memorizing or ones ability to memorize and then repeat or regurgitate what has been said is seen as intelligence. But this is really only one type of intelligence – a type that does not regard the body as a whole. I certainly recall my fair share of memorizing through my time at University and I was good at that – but I also felt my body harden and tighten when I went to memorize things, my nervous system was on edge and I felt like I had failed (and certainly would not pass some sections in the exam) if I was not able to recall what i had spent so much time rote learning. But as mentioned previously, this is only one type of intelligence and it is not one that regards the body as a whole. So there must then be another form of intelligence that does hold the body as a whole….one that does not compromise it in any way…Perhaps this is the intelligence of living each moment as it presents, and knowing from what it presents what is needed to be said, to be shared to be lived at that moment in time so that this will grow everyone.

157. Our own wisdom is diminished by the rote learning provided by education. We certainly need to learn skills to be able to live and function in society, but not at the expense of our own wisdom.

     1. Heather I agree there are skills that we need to learn to live and function in society, but not at the expense of our own wisdom.

158. Being in conscious presence with the body – mind and body together as one, is a beautiful way to move, without any agenda to ‘be going somewhere’ – this is very healing for the body and cuts the tenacious grip of the emotional mind.

159. When we live in such a way that we can feel our bodies, instead of thinking what to say, we can feel deep within and the wisdom is there.

     1. We don’t need to think, the words are delivered through our body by our body, it extremely amazing.

        1. The simplicity of this is beautiful Amita. It brings a feeling of natural true movement and expression and completely turns the structures of school education upside down – no memorising facts to regurgitate at a later date to impress others with how ‘intelligent’ we are.

160. ‘In the Expression and Presentation Workshops, Serge gives us a subject to talk about, with no time to think, just speak. It seems like an improvisation class but not for playing a part on stage. This is for living all of life, being present with ourselves and speaking what is true and real from our hearts and our innermost being. When we can get ourselves out of the way it is great to experience expression from the body and not the head. The wisdom that can come through can be surprising!

161. There have been times in my life where I have gone to say something and then have completely forgotten what I was going to say! I guess it is worth pondering on how I was living up to that moment because surely if I was truly connected with me and present with/in my whole body I would not forget!

162. Learning lines is akin to learning how to do things in life that require effort to achieve that once learnt become ingrained in our body. However many of these lines may not really serve us at all, a truth we come to understand when we allow our selves the grace of returning to the immense intelligence that flows through us when we choose to surrender to the stillness in our bodies.

     1. When we truly surrender to the magnificance that flows through we do not need to learn any lines, in our true connect all the words are given to us for each moment.

163. Fascinating study Jane, for it really goes to show that the human brain is not expressing its full potential when it is turned into a sheer tool for memorisation. However, we know how much we truly come alive when we make it about expressing from the heart, which really is the brains behind the whole thing called the body.

164. Awesome blog Jane that breaks the myth of memorisation especially of the rote kind being necessary for life and for the mind!

     1. I agree this blog supports breaking the myth of memorisation.

165. Letting go of control, of the way we’ve always done things and the ways that have got us through life so far, feels scary at first but is so liberating. We can live our whole life in a boxed way, where life is about roles, rules and doing the right thing, or realise that none of that is ‘it’, and start reconnecting to what we know is true, based on what we feel and not our ideas on how life should be.

166. We can look back and reminisce on our past and recall good experiences but they are just a distraction from our everyday lives, we need to be living in the present with what is happening right NOW.

167. “Serge Benhayon gives us the tools to live this way and demonstrates it in his own life. All he says is lived and expressed from within him.” A master at improvisation as a consequence of knowing that our true way is to allow the wisdom of God to flow through our bodies and not attempt to own it, revel in it or interpret this awesome intelligence, but simply express it from the heart and every cell in our bodies as is required in the moment.

168. Love it Gill, and may I add that we also lovingly learn where the boundaries are in life, so we do not fall off the edge or if we do we understand why.

169. When opening ourselves to the world as you have shared Joan, may I add that we also relearn to let go of attachments of being ‘right’ so we can live to “a ripe old age with true confidence and a healthy responsive body and mind.”

     1. Well shared Greg – the ‘i’m right and you are wrong’ is an attitude that serves no one indeed. It simply created more division amongst us all. There is truth and standing by it, but never needing to justify or explain it, just simply an allowing of oneself to live it.

170. ‘This is what we begin to experience when we become students of The Way of The Livingness. There are no rules, only values; there are no beliefs, only felt truth; there is no nostalgic longing for the past or dwelling on it but learning from it, and an encouragement to be present, and to feel the future unfolding towards us, to even live it now.’ This feels so different from our education system which is full of rules and belief systems.

171. “The universe is ever expanding, and if we live an expanding life within this expansion then we grow and change and live vital and open lives, embracing all.” The Way of The Livingness is the only way I know of living an expanding life, I’ve observed it in others and can feel it within myself.

     1. Yeh but how many of us stop any sort of expanding, especially when we retire and get stuck firmly in our unexpanded ways, therefore is it any wonder we fall into memory loss and dementia.

     2. We have to keep up with the expansion and I agree The Way of The Livingness is the only way I have seen and only way I know that supports this expansion.

172. What if you were so talented at acting, could you forget who the real you, is? Or, do you play a role, made up of all the bits of the characters you played, would this be living in a film?

173. It is our very connection that ‘unlocks the lines of life, the rules we were given, the knowledge we learnt or the beliefs we choose to have’.

174. We are designed to respond to living impulses through preparing our body for this purpose – not through hardening and contracting through trying to learn lines and rely on memory.

175. The current system of education is all about memorising and recall, and we get hugely anxious about exams – will we remember everything we have studied? Of course not. I only enjoyed the subjects where I had to work things out, I didn’t do so well on things like History, remembering who reigned when, and what battles were fought. Of course our true history, the Lineage, is way more interesting, I might have remembered more of that as it is more meaningful.

176. When we forget things we have stuffed into our heads are we having an agoraphobia moment?

177. How much do we experience daily life as a theatre where we play our role in every situation we are in. To be honest I don’t, but I can feel that this would be a great way to be in life as it will make me to detach from the situation because I know it is a play and in truth only have to observe what is happening and what my contribution is to it.

178. When we learn lines we try something that is moving and continuously expanding to become a fixture and with that behaviour we block out our connection with the ever expanding stream of lines that otherwise would be there in every situation and every moment at our disposal effortlessly.

179. So if re-call is a dried up stagnant way of being, what is it that we are teaching our kids in school?

     1. Could there be a relationship between the increasing rates of dementia and how we are educated when we are young?

     2. Great point Alexis and to add to what Jane has shared, could it be why we are on a down-ward slide as a humanity when it comes to our declining rates of health? Maybe we are “not” so called “equipped for any response if we have purely learnt through recall” so we feel lesser than and thus call in another force that will then release the tension of not knowing? Then that tension returns in another form and we have no idea where it has come from?
        As Joan has shared we can live understanding these tensions and live in a normal way by “being present”; “In the Expression and Presentation Workshops, Serge gives us a subject to talk about, with no time to think, just speak. This is for living all of life, being present with ourselves and speaking what is true and real from our hearts and our innermost being.”

     3. Great what you share Jane, there is so much to ponder here and talk about, as what is a true way of learning, as re-call sure is not?

180. What a great understanding this brings to life and the importance of learning lines versus improvising and reading what is needed in the moment .Obviously everything is energy and the choice of this is paramount which also allows a trust in our inner knowing and wisdom to guide us and not be locked into the leaning of the lines as a way of living and making ourselves less than who we really are.

181. I have done that before in things like exercise classes the whole ‘trying to get it right thing’ completely takes you out from being present with ourself and our body.

182. “…There are no rules, only values; there are no beliefs, only felt truth;” What a gloriously refreshing way to live!

183. I have found with my studies, it is so much easier to remember when I relate the information to real life – it makes the knowledge real and grounded and part of life.

184. Remembering and recall of events facts and figures is something i have always found difficult but the joy and confirmation from Serge Benhayon and his inspiration and way of living in the moment and being free to express from our body is something i am learning and offers another way of being with ourselves with presence and the opposite of learned facts, figures and Dementia in our old age. A beautiful sharing and very informative.

185. ‘What happens when we learn lines? They become ingrained in us…’ as does any movement that we make repetitively – wise then for us to understand what impulses such intentions and movements to be.

     1. Great point Jane. This is where control has to come in, to keep us living safely within the lines that we know and expect. Although the words may be slightly different for each of us the premise of the lines we all learn is to conform and not question what is known or accepted as the norm in life.

186. It’s interesting isn’t it, that we are led to beleive that by ‘learning lines’ or something similar will increase our memory. But from what you say here Joan, and from what I also now understand, is that by doing this we are simply filling the mind up with more and more ‘information’ which we then attempt to keep drawing on, but at the expense of neglecting the messages from our body which actually knows far more than any mind can ever know. And it seems the more information the mind is given, over time, the more muddled it can get, eventually leading to a complete disconnection from the body.

     1. Yes Sandra, and it seems that some people are more able to take in a great amount of information than others. Could this be because they receive in a more open way instead of trying to grab hold of the information and possess it, like “I have to remember all of this”? How, as we do have to learn certain things in life, if we were very consciously present with ourselves and our bodies, and open to receiving what is offered without attachment to learning it? Would then the information we need to perform a skilled task or take an exam be what we will then remember? There is something about anxiety here which causes the body to contract and be tense, the having to be perfect, and know it all.

187. So much money is spent on developing drugs to combat dementia but maybe we are barking up the wrong tree, yes the drugs may help but maybe some of that money could go into developing ways to stay present and in the moment and look at research like this theatre group and yes also those that have been brought back from the brink of it by attending Serge’s presentations and making changes to how they live.

     1. Great Kevin, let’s bring it on, and who knows, maybe other illnesses will also diminish!

188. Gill this is beautiful what you share, so many suffer from memory loss due to shut down of their connection to their heart. To be able to share with people that simply start connecting to your heart and there is so much power there.

189. We pride ourselves in having techniques and tools that work and relentlessly repeat what we did before. But what life truly asks us is to respond to what’s needed in every moment.

     1. Life is always offering us an opportunity to deepen our awareness and expand. How can we imagine we will ever grow when we keep ourselves in the same loop of repeating the same old patterns?

     2. This is great what you have shared Joseph, and may I add by stating there is an old saying that “pride” comes before a fall, so could it be dementia is the fall from our connection to our inner-most being? As we pride our-self as being so-called intelligent.

190. ‘What happens when we contract in the body? We hold our breath, we reduce our blood flow, we limit space within us, reduce ourselves, withdraw from life. Vibrancy disappears, and dullness takes its place. ‘ I’d never really got this so clearly in this way. Thank you, much to consider and observe the times I do contract, and also what to do to expand again – simply breathe my own breath again.

     1. Yes Karin. We cannot dismiss or ignore the very real physiological impact that happens when we contract in our body. Overtime, this impact will be significant, contributing to chronic and illness and disease, but we do have the choice to reverse this process or at least reduce its onset by not allowing this contraction to happen, by staying very present in life and keep breathing our own breath as you say.

191. I am feeling more and more discomfort whenever my mind is not being present with my body. I was watching an old cine film of me as a kid and could feel how I was getting drawn into watching it and I could also feel the separation between me and my body and I felt quite discombobulated afterwards. For me ‘going down memory lane’ either verbally or visually is not a pleasurable experience.

192. ‘All he says is lived and expressed from within him‘ this is beautiful and so clearly exposes how crazy it is to try to add a script for expression of something which is living.

193. What would life look like if “there was no possibility of the embarrassment, criticism, judgment or sense of failure,” would we “live to a ripe old age with true confidence and a healthy responsive body and mind.” And “being present” would then be our second nature so life would be joy-full in all we do!

     1. When we reach this new second nature, it will be time to leave the blue marble we currently occupy. But, we still have work to do to ensure no one is left behind.

        1. Given the space we shall all come to this realisation, and leaving “no one “ is exemplifying brotherhood!

194. It really feels like the art of protection most of us live with comes from expressing from knowingly “safe” lines and not from being open to just expressing you in every moment. It is no wonder why so few are truly confident within themselves.

195. By cramming information in our heads, is like going someplace for an extended period and packing everything we think we need and when we get there, we have forgotten the essential things and carried around things that have no use. Things we have learned by living them, never need to be packed.

     1. Great Steve, this seems like a pack-age for success that we carry every-where as our lived wisdom?

     2. Well said Steve. We can obtain whatever we need for any destination once we arrive through our access to everything we are rather than need to pack anything extra.

196. This is a belief that is still widely adhered to, that learning poetry or doing puzzles and crosswords (keeping the brain active) is a very good way to keep your memory and prevent dementia in old age. I can see it may be the opposite though because all the while we try to recall and pull something into the body that is not in sync with how the body is at any precise moment, is one huge distraction that disconnects us, a very common thread to dementia – the disconnection to what’s currently happening.

197. This is a superb line Joan: “we are all transient actors entering and leaving”. This really brings home how there is never a moment when we are not all together, and that every moment or movement counts. Not that I am living to this standard, but it is lovely to know that this is possible, that this is there, it feels very holding.

198. “In this effort to remember, the brain squeezes and contracts itself in the search.” And by the very nature of our neurology, our body has to follow suit and we harden up even more attempting to remember something that actually costs us a lot of energy. Staying open and present in the moment certainly is a superb way to conserve energy!

     1. Rowena love this, the body shows us in all the hidden ways how trying to remember is actually one of our downfalls. Relying on the past cuts us out of being able to respond in the present.

199. I remember having to rote learn things at school and was rubbish at it. It bored me terribly and worried me because I didn’t do well at these tasks. But what I did notice was I was very bright at other things – though it was often said that if I didn’t do well at the rote learning I wouldn’t do well academically and therefore at life!

     1. Emphasis is placed on rote learning, and importance given to it due to the nature of exams and the way schooling qualifies intelligence, and therefore whether you’re intelligent or not. But the fact you can recall well, simply means that you can recall well. A consequence is that you may do well in exams, but is that truly intelligent – may be not, if the body is the key to a healthy, confident and spontaneous relationship with life.

     2. I think it was Einstein who said that if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will spend its whole life thinking it is stupid. The tests we have set in life only serve a system which only recognises those who fit its own criteria and therefore does not and cannot truly assess intelligence.

200. ‘And making the effort to remember takes us from the present, we are going into the past, away from this lived moment where all can be fresh and new and expansive as we express ourselves here and now.’ This makes sense but why don’t we want to see this and is remembering/recalling knowledge with our heads still encouraged by the education system?

201. When we are connected with our body we do not forget the things that matter.

202. ‘There are no rules, only values; there are no beliefs, only felt truth’ feeling truth rather than thinking about it is a whole new way of approaching life for many of us, and letting go of ideals and beliefs opens us up to a whole new life of experiences.

     1. The school of life can never be boring, for every moment is an opportunity to experience something new.

203. I was pondering while reading the first part of this blog, and Joan covered it later very well, and that is .. How can someone who has not chosen to be in their awareness live all-knowing in any moment? There is not many who’d believe this was possible??! I have attended many Expression and Presentation workshops with Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and the experience is mind-blowing. What I understood – it was about accepting and moving in the Grandness knowing that you are already it.

204. I can see the evolution of many behaviours and patterns today that were formed at school, years of training myself to express & perform things that felt innately unnatural, this is where I learnt to put expectations and pressures on myself to fit in and be like others.

205. Sometimes I feel it would be much better if I could just forget who I think I am. I suspect I would find there’s a tender loving guy just waiting underneath to be let out and shared.

     1. Joseph from knowing you, I would say oh my goodness, you are one of the most tender loving sweet men I have ever met. I would say it is not about forgetting who you ‘think’ you are but loving, accepting, appreciating and embracing all that you are. Keep shining ✨

206. When we remain present with ourselves, whatever is needed is naturally known, and we don’t just need to rely things that we have previously learned because every situation we find ourselves in is always different.

     1. That’s true Sally, not all situations are the same, therefore there we cannot recall alone for what is pertinent or needed for the current moment – More so it’s a constant responsiveness.

207. This is great Joan, and to add to the discussion I clearly can recall my mother trying her best to recall all her life events and ended up having lost all her memory before passing-over so I have found a lot of truth in what you have shared.

208. An interesting study Joan, and also one that plays out in all areas of life when we go into our head and disconnect from our body and our naturally expressive and all knowing inner self.

209. This exposes so much about our model of learning which is not at all healthy. Memory and recall could be worth forgetting.

     1. Great exposure taking place here Michael, as we learn there is no space for memory and recall, it is not needed. It is allowing the flow of energy to flow through us in each moment.

210. Being engaged in life is great for our health and wellbeing.

211. I had a conversation today where who I was with said…”Well I am getting old, so I should really expect this or that to happen to me” I find this comment really interesting. Yes I know our bodies age and we may need to have things looked at by doctors or assistance by other health professionals. But expecting disease or illness as we age or even more so using age and ageing as the excuse to why we become unwell does not quite sit well with me.

212. What if instead of learning lines by rote, we were to practice keeping our attention on our bodies and the many lines they give us all day long. What a different performance that would be.

213. This is so true Jane and how many people say they just did enough to pass the exam and get the certificate when they can’t remember any of it now, but are still deemed proficient in their profession anyway.

214. I have always loved Shakespeare’s quote “All the world’s a stage”. It is full of wisdom of the fact that we all enter and exit this world and play many parts during the time we are here. How we conduct ourselves is up to us. We can ‘act’ or we can live in a genuine and true way that makes a difference. We can learn the lines or we can speak the truth.

215. Our confidence comes from being present. This is true in all areas of our lives.

216. “We are not there to play a part, we are there, in that moment, to express ourselves.” Indeed we are Joan, and when we express from our innermost, and that deep connection to who we are there is no room for anything other than our own true expression that has no self in it but only the consideration of the all.

217. I find that no amount of memorisation, recall etc, helps when faced with a situation – far more supportive is learning presence – we are so often off in our heads, that we are not good at staying present in life.

218. When everything we need can be given to us in the moment we need it by our Soul and the universe why would we ever need to learn lines for life?

     1. Absolutely there is no need to learn any lines, it is all given to us in the moment. Our body needs to be ready to receive, so we love and, nurture this body to be ready.

219. Staying connected to the inner heart is the best way to learn, it is no longer about recall but allowing what is there to come through, and I know for myself the more I allow this the more I am surprised by what I know.

220. Could it be that a lifetime of effort in putting lines in our heads only to discard them and then repeating this process, is like the carpet at your front door that gets worn out over time with usage going in and out?

221. Playfulness, joy and a sense of freedom always make learning and expression so much more fun no matter what your age.

     1. We under estimate the true power of joy and playfulness, when there is just true allowing of the joy to come through it is an amazing feeling, so heavenly.

222. We are not here to be programmed but rather to respond and be an instrument in service of something far grander.

223. What causes Dementia as far as I understand is our determination to check out from life. We all experience that when doing repetitive tasks or perhaps when driving, and the more we can stay present, with our mind on what our body is doing, the less likely we are to experience such memory loss.

224. When ever I have tried to memorise something I have panicked. My brain actually does feel squashed. Nowadays, I prepare my body and still look to learn information but do not try and and store it all and freak out if I think I have lost it. I know it will be there if I need it, Love your whole body and you are ready for anything.

     1. I love this – “Love your whole body and you are ready for anything.”. What an amazing way to live.

     2. Look at the space Google has given us to be all we are! Now that we can Google anything why would you store the circumference of the earth and how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon in your memory?

        1. Prepare your body and I have found that what is needed is there, it is about connection not memorising. Memorising is cold and narrow, body preparation is warm and expansive. It comes down not to recall but which energy you choose to live in, Love and the universe or Not Love and our self created small time drama filled existence.

     3. Great approach to life Samantha and would be invaluable to introduce this to our current systems of education.

     4. Beautiful, the body is the key, see the body as the temple we need to build and love, it is this foundation that prepares you for anything.

225. What is reflected in this observation is hugely significant: “Many actors who have been used to learning their lines and having to remember them find it difficult to improvise, the same with musicians, especially those older actors who were trained in the old way of learning lines by rote or memory and did not experience the newer style theatre training with lots of free form improvisation.” Children are brilliant at what we call improvisation, when they are left to their own devices. It looks like the obsessional attitude we have about memorising facts as if it increases our intelligence could be actually impeding our ability to tap into that natural awareness and wisdom which prompts an ease and grace in how we interrelate and respond to what life presents.

226. What you have shared Joan is very interesting is it possible that if someone was brought up in a very strict family where rules and regulations where expected to be obeyed that this would restrict ones ability to improvise as the child grew up and so it would confine them to a life of restriction without them even knowing? It’s a bit like being put in a cage without understanding you’re in one.

     1. Very true Mary. And what freedom we find when we realise we do not have to stick to all these rules! This is a part of growing up and choosing our own true values.

        1. Now a days we do have a choice and we need make sure we are choosing truth all the time.

     2. Great observation and most of us are in those roles of arrangement and pressure to conform from a young age, so yes simply many of us lose the natural art of improvisation.

227. What is true for actors is true for all of us. If we spend our life recycling what we have read or heard or experienced in the past we are a lot less than we could be as none of this is us.

228. The more present I am in any given situation, the less I need a ‘script’ (whether that be pulling on past performance or recalling facts); it is amazing to be really present and realise that we are deep resources of wisdom – as in all we need is within us.

229. I love this article – there is a liberation from the constraints of the beliefs we have around mental training.

230. This is great Joan, and may I add that could it be that when we expand conventional learning as it is currently used in schools and universities so that it frees our whole body to connect to what is needed for any situation and thus deliver what is required for that person or group. Thus we have expanded with what is required in line with the universe.

231. Recently I had to read a couple documents and prepare my answers to long lists of questions. As I read down the lists I could feel the tension in my body as I started to try and get an answer for each one. Feeling this tension I stopped let it go from my body and took a break. When re read the questions again this time not trying to fit to what seemed needed, interestingly the answers came and were just there, no effort needed and I didn’t have to keep going over them to remember. Connecting to me and just being me allowed the answers to be there.

232. It seems so clear that the way we programme our brains with repetitious thoughts and actions forming behaviour and habits really is not good for us in life and is not fulfilling in what we are seeking, so much so that we actually become resigned to it and give up on the seeking of what it was that we set out to find in the first place.

233. Not only did we seem to forget completely who we truly are, but when we get reminded of the truth it seems to go in one ear and out the other. Our ‘forgetfullness’ seems to be more calculated than that – our spirits in there hitting delete on every thing that threatens its grip.

     1. Absolutely, if only it were by chance however in life everything happens because of a choice and not by chance.

234. Such a great reminder Joan, ‘We are not there to play a part, we are there, in that moment, to express ourselves.’ So much of my life I have relied on recall, memory and past experiences, but now see this is missing out on seeing what is before me as I’m trying to relate it to the past rather than seeing it as something completely new so I taint it. The less I taint things with my perception, the more I embrace what is before me and everything starts to feel like a new opportunity to learn, grow and deepen.

235. When we are encouraged to feel, sense and respond to the moment, we allow our hearts to lead the way, our true organ of Love, Wisdom and Responsiveness.

236. “I believed in the past, and it is probably what I had been told when I was young, that learning reels of poetry was a very good way to keep your memory active and would prevent dementia in old age. Now I can see it may be the opposite.” I remember being told this too Joan and having to learn a lot of things by rote. All that head stuff hasn’t really served me at all. Living from the heart feels far more important.

     1. That’s interesting Sue because I was someone who loved to learn the lines and was very good at it. But now in later life how much of all that can I remember? Only snatches of poetry learnt in my teens, never the whole thing, and the words of all the parts I played and shows I had written myself and performed are lost to me now. What I do remember is the feeling of them and how I was when I created them, and all that went on at that time. They are dead and gone, but the aliveness of interactions and relationships remains.

237. This reminds me of different approaches to cooking. Do we stick slavishly to the recipe, break free, add our own twist or create our own? Downloading on-line recipes is common place, but where does that leave us and our own creative impulses.

     1. So we learn the basics in terms of life skills and then in the fullest relationship with ourselves we can have, we get out into the world, kitchen, workplace and express ourselves.

     2. Superb analogy Kehinde. When we learn to be our own cooks based on what our bodies feel like creating, our zest for life returns in full.

     3. Ah Kehinde, whenever I try to follow a recipe it invariably fails! If I create my own it can do that too but I don’t have the frustration of feeling I have to be perfect, and it is only my own glorious mess that can sometimes turn out to be a new inspiration. Out of experiments and failures and impromptu impulses come the most amazing and surprising things, alive and often deeply meaningful

        1. Have you ever tried to repeat a dish that worked beautifully and find you can’t? A case of divinely designed memory loss. We’re not meant to.rely on or repeat a past success, inspired in the moment we may arrive at something surprising and new.

238. When we rely on rote and memory what room is left for imagination and inspiration.

     1. So true. When we return to the moment and claim ownership of our whole body, we give permission for the magic of God to flow through us and God has, without doubt, a great sense of humour, timing and knowing of exactly what is needed to be expressed in the world.

239. Live life from the heart and not scripts we carry in our heads. This frees us to be fully present and responsive in each situation

240. Could it be that when we subscribe ourselves to life and the ‘rules and lines of how to be’ we let go of a part that is us and that this is actually a way of giving up on ourselves? Which then causes dementia as we call it?

     1. Possibly this is true, when we disconnect from who we are and what we know we start shutting it down inside of us and become very functional and forget to connect to that love and knowing inside of us. Then there is no surprise we start seeing an increase in dementia.

241. I volunteer at a place where I meet people with different stages of Dementia. I can’t imagine how life is for them, I only know my mother was always anxious that she wouldn’t get it, and she lived to 94 with a fully active mind. What I’m learning to do is meet the residents with full eye contact. They often speak and I don’t always understand but I know they can feel my presence.

242. When I force myself to remember someones name or where I left my keys, I do not remember, however if I just be with it eventually the answer comes!

243. Learning the rules of life really does keep us in the past and I know I can have all sorts of reactions associated with ‘having’ to abide by them – resentment, anger with those who do and don’t conform etc. Far healthier is to feel what’s needed which allows a far greater quality of participation in life. I can understand we need rules when people are wayward, but if we are to connect with the truth of each situation and respond responsively, adhering to rules can hold us back from what could be delivered.

244. So True Joan… the Universe is ever expanding … and so can we.

     1. Yes that is beautiful, we expand with the Universe, we just need to allow and say yes to the expansion.

245. A beautiful study. It shows that science is not a difficult matter but an every day simplicity that can be observed by anyone.

     1. And acted upon.

        1. Yes, I love that. Absolutely. Acting upon in all that we observe and thus see brings the change that is needed.

246. Many of us spend most of our lives performing, attempting to perfect roles that win us rewards, recognition, all the things we think are love but are really empty expressions. When we break away from that and live freely as who we truly are regardless of the situations we find ourselves in, then our vitality increases, we are no longer draining our energy by fighting or dulling who we truly are, but enjoying our true expression and inspiring others to do the same.

     1. So true Jane, each generation “shape shift” to be non-conformists because they can feel that the generation before did not live as a Livingness so what they talked about were half truths, lies and distortions, then as a group the next generation had their own rules that they “conform” to. “And deep down we all know” the truth as is presented by “The Way of The Livingness.”

247. True development and education support us with this key point “living, sensing and feeling in the moment what is needed from the innate wisdom” that way we know all the wisdom inside is ready for us to use and express wherever we are.

248. There’s no need for a strategy of coping with life with learnt lines – rather just to respond from the heart in any given situation.

     1. The intelligence of the heart knows no bounds and is forever on call to be referred to.

        1. Alexis I found that as well, no matter how tricky a situation if I am open to be connected to me then what I say is also what is needed. Of course should I freak out or not connect and then everything goes wrong!

249. Love the mention of the presentation workshops in which you present on a given topic from what we live – in truth we are always presenting something. In presenting what we know from living it and connecting to it we stay fully engaged with life rather than switching off.

     1. Our every conversation is a presentation of our livingness, it is through this we inspire others too.

250. It’s a revealing point you make Joan in answer to your own question – “What happens when we contract in the body?” It is becoming clearer and clearer that any one movement has a direct and huge impact on the body and its wellbeing.

251. Ageing gracefully makes so much sense – when we let go of control we have no need to spend all our time in our head pre-planning but can let go and allow the ageless wisdom to flow into our lives and offer us all we will ever require.

252. I know I can become quite anxious if I think I have to learn something word for word, for a presentation or speaking in public. We can let this go when we know that we can have our words come from the body and once we connect to that, the tension of learning lines fades away. It may not be word perfect but what is said will be what is needed.

253. We have been so taught to listen to our elders, to live by the rules of society set years before we were born, very few of us have been brought up to live moment by moment, to face whatever life throws at us and to feel how to deal with it. We look back into the recesses of our minds and the true way of being just isn’t there.

254. When we are governed by a life that is preplanned we can miss so much that would otherwise be offered to us, and can lead us down paths that keep us away from our true purpose. Being manipulative of situations has the same effect.

     1. So true Sandra. Trying to control life simply robs us of what could otherwise come to us naturally. Staying open to the unknown is sometimes scary but actually wonderful.

255. I suppose learning lines becomes a thing where you just go through the motions whereas improvisation makes you sharp and in the moment. I expect that for those of us that just do the same old jobs all our lives and could do it blind folded will face the same dilemmas.

256. We are in a constant, interactive relationship with Life. Life responds to what we present it. If we present it with a trussed up offering from the past, then Life can’t help but offer us the same thing in return. That’s not to say that repetition isn’t a good thing, when we repeat something that supports us, then this then becomes part of our foundation but that is very different to repeating something either out of fear or habit.

257. I have recently become more aware of my repetitive thoughts. What’s interesting to feel is that there is a real pull for me to repeat certain thoughts and when I do, I completely miss out on what’s being offered to me in the immediacy and vibrancy of the current moment.

258. This is great Joan, and adding to the conversation, that when look at re-incarnation we are “living all of life, being present with ourselves and speaking what is true and real from our hearts and our innermost being” so that we understand how much truth we express keeps our mind and body active.

259. Based on what you are sharing for us to consider here Joan, could it be that the energetic root cause for dementia is found in our unwillingness to take centre stage in our life by virtue of being fully present in all that we do, so that all that we do is infused with all that we are? If we shy away from this, then we create a pocket of emptiness we can withdraw away into when we do not want to deal with what lays in front of us, and in this space we rely on the outer crutches of a consciousness that does not have true love at its fore.

     1. I feel it is just that Liane. When I observe those who have dementia I am aware of two things, an initial panic and then an avoidance. I have also observed in the past people who were either very rigid in their views or clinging to the safety of their habitual patterns of living, being prone to increasing memory loss. There are more than 150 forms of dementia which seems to me why those with it can react in different ways, probably depending on how they have lived their lives. Certainly, faced with something you do not want to accept, either outside you or inside you, can cause withdrawal into a state of inertia and inability to engage.

260. There is a massive difference between presentations that are perfectly scripted and rehearsed, and those which are fluid, engaging and less linear. The same ‘topic’ can come across totally differently.

261. If we really want to exercise our brain and minds in order to keep them fit for life, we need to empower these aspects of our selves to keep checking in with our whole body all the time. When we keep feeling what our feet are doing, how our hands move, the quality of our breath, how our shoulders feel and so on, we give our selves a full mind and body work out all day long!

262. Repeating lines over and over again can become very dull and boring. No wonder we get stuck in a rut in life. Feeling our way and allowing our expression to flow naturally in the moment is totally different and keeps us feeling alive.

263. Before automatic transmissions became the standard and we were taught to drive with a stick, when we stopped, we disengaged the clutch. Newer cars, now come with, when stopping, the engine turns off and restarts when the brake is released. I had many old cars that did that but did not automatically restart. Interesting things happen when we stop and disconnect from our mind, even for a moment!

264. I’ve never had a good memory, my mother used to say I had a ‘forgetery’ and at school subjects like History where we had to learn dates or Latin where we had to understand meanings of words were a real struggle. In the 1950s schools offered Latin in case anyone wanted to study medicine, and the Roman Catholic Mass was in Latin too. I did better at science where formulas had a pattern to learn and Maths where I could work things out without having to remember anything. As an adult I often forget things but I know now that is because I distract myself, so that is pure lack of conscious presence. When I give talks, I may prepare notes but mostly I speak ‘off the cuff’, responding to the audience as much as I can.

265. Now, I can see and feel a vast difference between a rehearsed presentation and one that is based on connecting to one’s essence and the audience, and presenting from an intelligence that is multidimensional.

266. That is amazing and very interesting what you’ve shared about the group of actors Joan. This shows how restrictive, contracting and rigid it can be to follow a set of scripts and have to express through recall. I feel acting is not our natural way of expressing and even though I am not a professional actor myself, I’ve been playing out many roles that do not feel true due to holding back expressing myself in full.

267. Recently I had to do a presentation on a subject that I’d only read about. I was aware I could get nervous because I knew I could go blank and not remember what I had to recall and say. So I knew I had to feel what I’d read and feel which parts resonated and which didn’t and deliver my experience of what I’d read being clear to the audience that this was my interpretation. But then I knew I could speak from my body which never fails to talk.

268. Trusting that I am capable of dealing with everything and anything that comes my way has been a bit of a hurdle for me, I have almost enjoyed the aspect of life where it ‘defeats me’ and I have to rise back up again.

269. That was such a good research project on the older actors. Nothing like real evidence to expose the truth!

270. Thank you Joan for a very interesting blog. As a society we put too much focus on memorizing things rather than feeling everything from our bodies.

     1. -So true Elizabeth, and our society celebrates and reward our ability to recall, and we tend to view this as a high form of intelligence. But what I see is that we are leaving out the most amazing ability we have and that is our ability to access the wisdom and intelligence from our body. Our body’s intelligence is far greater than our ability to recall.

271. A great piece of writing Joan. We do live in a world that prides itself on an ‘intelligence’ that is based on what the mind can remember. I was brought up this way, and compared myself as being less intelligent than others as I simply didnt seem to be able to hold onto so much information. But what I have come to understand and appreciate through the teachings of Serge Benhayon and the Ageless Wisdom, is that the body is more intelligent than the mind, and holds an innate wisdom that we can all tap into at any time if we so choose. And since I have learnt and continue to learn to do this, I hold less information in my head but let my body lead the way as much as possible. And it’s truly remarkable what is expressed when I allow this to happen.

272. It can take courage to step out into the unknown without our usual security blankets, such as knowing our lines or having a script to follow. However, when we truly connect to our bodies and let our hearts lead the way, we are empowered to realise it is very safe to let go our predetermined expectations and allow spontaneity to flourish in our daily lives.

     1. I’ve been pondering on risk, Rowena, which seems to be the element you are talking about that we can take when we are truly connected to our hearts and bodies. It can feel like s risk to stand up in front of 200 people to present without a script, but Serge Benhayon shows us how it is entirely possible and is no risk at all if you express from your essence. Expression comes from your lived life, and if we are connected to all of ourselves it flows naturally and seamlessly from one moment to the other. No need to “remember”, it just comes.

273. Living in presence gives us the confidence to know that whatever comes your way during the day you can handle it and that it’s ok to just be yourself and that is enough. If you don’t know something or have an immediate answer that’s ok also as there’s no need to be perfect.

274. Serge Benhayon has been saying it for years, but I am starting to experience a deep inner wisdom that comes from being still within myself, which relies not on owning knowledge but simply surrendering to what is already there to connect to.

275. As I was reading the words ‘learning the lines’ I got a sense that trying to remember the lines and to not get them wrong is a bit like trying to colour inside the lines as a child, when all you want to do is colour wherever you feel to. Restricting ourselves in our creative expression is so very stifling and totally unnatural and in doing so we are dulling down, or in some cases shutting away, the unique magic we are all here to bring to the world.

276. Although I have seen some great speeches that have been learnt, memorised or read out, the best ones of all are the ones that are straight from the heart and pure spirit of the moment stuff.

277. The universe is ever expanding, so why do we try to cram past knowledge into our heads? Who is a preferred new employee; one that is book smart or someone that has lived experience?

278. Living life in full is to live by improvisation though truth we are in fact being directed by either our Soul or our Spirit, and it is our choice as to who we wish to be our director.

     1. Our spirit is always looking to stall our return to soul, which is why it concentrates on getting us to repeat things. It knows that repetition of any kind is anti-evolutionary, because Life is always pulling us to expand. There are no two moments that are ever the same, therefore any attempt to keep Life as it is by repeating something works against the natural order of Life.

        1. I love that Alexis, and it is obvious when we pause to consider it. When we repeat actions and conversations in an habitual way we are going in circles, returning to the same place again and again, and we stop the expansion that is available to us, and check out because it is so familiar (and comfortable). But when we allow ourselves to move into the next moment in a new way, be it through action, movement, conversation, or in any task, we are alive, vibrant, alert, and consciously present, and ready for whatever comes. And this does not happen because we think or plan it but if we have chosen the source which allows this to happen because we are allowing it to flow through us already.

        2. The more comfortable we become the more we fear change and the more we embrace change the less we are able to tolerate comfort.

279. When we deliver lines or just from memory then we are not being fully ourselves. It makes sense that this can have negative consequences on our physical and mental well-being.

     1. The body is always looking to respond to the natural pull of life, which will always result in an expansion of some kind but when we linger in the past it causes the body to contract, any form of contraction is always against the natural order and flow of life.

280. Our greatest wisdom and awareness of what is required to support the Whole, comes via a deep connection to our innermost, this is how we access the multidimensionality we are a part of. Making what is fed from the outside more significant and forging our life by reproducing and regurgitating in this manner is constantly causing us to at best express a mere fraction of what is possible.

     1. Well said Golnaz. This is deeply felt and in truth known by us all and yet we have opted for something so much less.

281. What you’ve shared about actors not being able to remember how they got to where they are applies also to life. Many of us have had moments where on reflection it doesn’t make sense why we are where we are, perhaps our job or relationship makes no sense to what we really love in life, and we’ve settled for an arrangement rather than something magical. Could some of this be because we chose to live a ‘scripted’ life, made it into something it isn’t and as a result we cannot remember how OUR movements got us there (because they were not in fact ours but determined by the script)…?

     1. This is a great comment Susie – many (if not most of us) get through life rather than live it according to the ideals and beliefs we take on, only to turn around to realise that we far from being the natural joy we are, unsatisfied and low or in other cases, simply cruising in comfort rather numb to our choices.

282. Many of us live as actors, playing roles as we go through life, not for anyone’s entertainment but for our own purposes, to be seen as ‘normal’, to please, to avoid rocking the boat, to keep the peace, to be a good mother, father, child, employee etc. Not many have the self confidence to be fully who they are but when we meet someone who is and does, it can be inspiring.

283. Wow, thank you Joan, as I was reading your blog I realise how much it can feel like I am playing an acting role when I am not expressing truth from my body. If I go into my head and search for the right things to say it feels like it is rehearsed and it comes with a sense of seeking recognition.

284. Doing drama at school there was something about learning lines that I loved. I could get immersed in the character I was playing, and I knew what to say!!! This for me was perfect as I was very shy, had trouble expressing myself, and didn’t really know who I was. So taking on the part of someone else was always welcome, and fun! Improvising was a totally different matter. I would freeze and clam up and feel stupid, and the words just didn’t come. Ultimately the improvisation was inviting me to share more of myself with the world, but at the time I was too scared to do this and did not know how. Learning how to live and be in the present moment is a beautiful way of learning how to trust that what we need to say will be there in that moment, and all we have to do is allow it out and not hold back. A learning in progress for me.

     1. So true Rebecca. When we learn the lines we are being handed a disguise to embody, rather than being shown how to and encouraged to share who we really are on the inside so that we can let all our amazing playfulness and wisdom flow into the world.

285. What is offered to us through this piece is the understanding that when we put our ability to sense, feel and intuitively respond to life first, it supports us to engage with the facts and figures of daily living from a strong foundation of self knowing. Hence we make much better sense of the world we live in, as we are able to use the whole of our bodies to engage in life, rather than attempting to restrict our abilities to just one aspect of our amazing intelligence.

     1. Life is in a permanent state of flux and as we and Life are one and the same, it follows that we are designed to ebb and flow with Life, we work best when we are responsive to the immediacy of Life. Therefore when we become repetitive, dogmatic or even rigid, it stifles our natural expression and our ability to deal with what’s in front of us.

286. ‘It is only doubting ourselves that blocks this passage and throws us back on the old false ways of trying to stay in control and live within the lines.’

     Doubt equals disconnection from our innate wisdom. When we are connected to our allknowing divine nature, control is not needed, we simply allow the expansion of our essence responding precisely to life.

287. Who ever thought that theatre sports could be so good for the old grey matter, I never thought about it before but maybe I shall get into a bit of improvised dramatics in coming years.

     1. Haha I look forward to seeing that ! I did this as a teenager and absolutely loved it, we would have so much fun.

288. Living in a linear manner, along the same old lines, whether spoken or walked, makes us stale and tired and we panic when we fall out of that particular and very literal groove; there is no immediacy and no obedience to what is needed when we just learn and repeat our lines.

289. When we are freed from the learned lines we can come back to our origin, the way we were as a child and play life again.

290. If we do not have learned lines to live from we only can live from what we feel how to be in any moment of our lives, from the impulses from our inner heart, from our soul. That sounds not to bad for me… actually as music in my ears.

291. When we express from our body we are connected to a source that is far wiser than our mind.

292. Living in denial is another slippery slope, if we’re dishonest about the state we’re in or what goes on in our life we could end up in some pretty dangerous territory.

293. Letting go of control and living from our hearts … sounds good to me 💕

294. Learning this by rote doesn’t truly prepare the memory or brain, because the brain is only prepared for those structured lines, but when you then go out into life, onto the stage or into an exam, it’s not the same environment or application – we are not supported to know how to be ourselves and therefore be at ease no matter what, because who we are can be brought to every moment.

     1. Yes, you can prepare for more and more eventualities in life and have more and more sophisticated responses but these responses are without love and are not taking into account anything unprepared for.

     2. I agree Rebecca, and this gives rise to a need for us to control and construct life in a way which we have been programmed for with education based around a limited type of learning. Being aware of these patterns allows us to see past them and to choose to be free of them in our way of living.

        1. I totally agree – so many people are controlling not because they are naturally that way but because we are set up to feel able to handle on that which our education and learning by rote system prepares us for. We are not taught how to bring our livingness, every aspect of who we are, to what ever it is we do

295. Makes sense to be more present you feel more alive.

296. Tons of preplanning is very restrictive and without it we can feel lost and stuck, whilst being able to be intuitive and responsive in each moment (not much experienced by myself) is very freeing.

     1. Could it be, that tons of preplanning is just building our own maze, that we then run through it ourselves?

     2. Whilst we are stuck in our preplanning the world has moved on.

        1. Ah I love this Alexis – I can so feel this truth and how futile the preplanning is when from the head. There is still planning but it can be of a different quality – impulsed from reading what is needed and serves as a foundation to the more that can be delivered when it is time to present. I am definitely learning about planning being in response to what is constantly evolving.

        2. We are designed to be in a moment by moment, interactive relationship with Life. In exactly the same way as a tree responds to the breeze, so too are we designed to respond to life. But fear has us clinging onto old ways of being that keep us in stale and cruddy ways.

        3. I love this too… it rings a strong bell of truth. By over planning with the preplanning, we end up a ‘gonna’ when the plan doesn’t work out all! Then we are left straddling in a quagmire.

     3. The more accustomed I become to speaking from an authority within my body the less and less appealing pre-planning becomes – I know I would get lost trying to follow the pre-planned route!

297. We we let go of control and trying to own knowledge, we open ourselves up to a grand intelligence that informs our every step through life, so we can walk sure-footed and in our power.

     1. This is multidimensionality in action, via movement.

298. We can so easily dull ourselves just by the way we stand before we open our mouths and then, when we speak, if there is any element of trying to be anything other than simply all of who we truly are, then our voices will lack the vibrancy that is possible.

     1. Brilliant Carmel, this is a great observation and you would have to be open to a certain level of awareness to read someone’s expression to such detail.

299. Simply reciting a script in a presentation takes away from the creativity and connection that’s possible in the interactions between the presenter and the audience too – asking questions and getting an audience to engage is an excellent way to discover what needs to be covered next by the talk.

300. Is it possible that our bodies become so blocked by the energies of ideals and beliefs that we soak up as we go through life that it is these blockages that debilitate us to the extent that we cannot remember because there is no free flow through our bodies. We then label ourselves without any true discernment of what is occurring and how energy works. Is it possible that if we brought everything back to energy first and foremost we may dissolve more than we can ever imagine.

301. Joan I so adore what you have written because I hated school and used to run away from the way that wanted to shut down my senses, look straight ahead and pay attention. It was impossible for me to do that because there were so many interesting things going on around me that had more value to me then looking straight ahead and dismissing what I felt. When our bodies are constricted by ideals and beliefs that we take on as we grow up, they become blocked by the energy of the ideals and beliefs; remove the energy and our bodies become free flowing again.

     1. So great to read this Mary it is so easy to get caught into wanting kids to focus on you when teaching.

        1. In the classroom at the moment, there is no awareness of the spherical nature of a child and therefore no understanding of how much damage we cause by asking kids to learn by rote, to face front and only focus on the teacher. Conversations like these are really important to raise this awareness.

     2. Yes Mary, thank you for mentioning this point about school. There it all starts, to learn the lines, to be a good student, sit straight and look to the teacher to what they present. Do what you are told and absolutely do not play until we are told, yes now you may play but you should play in the way we have told you to play. I remember my youth as a constant reduction of the connection with the playfulness, clarity and instant knowing from my body, reduced to some learned lines from my head.

302. It’s about what we connect to and not what we have learnt.

303. Nothing is permanent in this life, everything is constantly changing. To be in harmony with this constant flow is true health so it is no wonder improvisation was found to improve health as it is a reflection of change and impermanence.

304. Maybe one day we will discover that losing our memory is linked with losing connection to our inner essence; the spark of life that keeps us feeling fresh, alive and vital.

     1. A great point, Have we truly considered the wisdom on offer that shows us disconnecting from our body has long term effects? Serge Benhayon constantly delivers the wisdom of the body and how all we have to do is listen to ourselves.

     2. Beautifully said Rowena .. it is that simple.

     3. Great point Rowena, losing our memory is like a sign of shutting down from life.

305. This is another example of where we can take our health and wellbeing into our own hands and out of the control of the drug companies.

306. Now I understand why I did not like to learn the lines, as it made no sense to me, and already then was not able to remember them for long. From how you describe this process Joan, I get what you are saying in that in this trying to remember something we squeeze ourselves into our brain and with that neglect the clear view and creativity of our whole being.

307. We are experts at playing roles, positions and characters, all the time distracting from the beauty of who we truly are. It’s like we prefer to hide this from the world when it’s the most natural thing of all.

308. I was thinking about the dying process the other day and how often people can find it hard to surrender to where their bodies are at, either in illness, terminal illness and in death. And I thought it is best to start to learn to surrender now so when the final big act of surrender comes, we are prepared, we know what to do. And for me learning/practising surrender is letting go of control, of the need to ‘know my lines’ so ‘I am prepared’.

309. This is an absolute joy to read! The rules of life are what I tried to learn growing up but it was at great expense to my innate knowing which wasn’t always received well. Rather than be supported to see, or supporting myself to stay present and feel how I challenged the rules just by expressing what I was connecting to, I caused myself great internal conflict trying to fit into what felt like a societal straight jacket of ‘shoulds’. Each situation has its own responses, trying to fit rules to what needs to be read and responded to on its own merits, creates great discord and often injustice, even in the name of fairness and equality. Returning to being responsive is such a joy and blessing for all.

310. Learning the lines and improvisation both require us to act, so either to repeat something or to search for / come up with something. When we observe children we can see that they do neither, they just are, yes they repeat but not in the sense of perfection but to get a feel for things and explore. So there is a way of living that is innate to us that has us express from our inner beingness out and that allows for us being present in and with our whole body.

     1. It very clearly shows how we have made life about a structure that is very unnatural to us and thus we lose our sense of inner settlement and knowingness, our inner compass.

311. Relying purely on the regurgitation of knowledge actually caps our intelligence hugely. There is no way the great inventors and true geniuses in history would have been capable of such wisdom if they only revised textbooks or regurgitated prewritten formulas.

     1. I completely agree Susie, where would we be if we only had to rely on the circulation of knowledge. While we think we are advancing it will bring us nowhere else than to return to the same point over and over again.

     2. This is such a pertinent point to have made. In understanding that our thoughts do not come from us but through us we need to ask ourselves what source these inventors were connected to compared to the source that says the brain is where it is at.

312. Appreciating here how we can access so much from the connection we have with our bodies and the space in it and around it, and everything that’s there to be known and acted upon. This has a totally different feel from Joan’s description of contracting to recall information “this effort to remember”.

313. Yes, Serge Benhayon shows us that there is a deeper level of truth we can all access by connecting to our soul. He can stand on stage and present all day without relying on anything but his multi-dimensional awareness.

314. Reading your blog Joan, I can feel the constraints and restriction of learning lines, the effort that goes into them, so far away from the natural flow of words when connection with yourself is made and what is within is freely expressed.

315. Great points Joan and in addition to what you write, as the listener it is a very different experience to listen to someone who is alive with what they are saying rather than repeating old lines.

316. “They lock us in the past rather than living a continual unfolding of feeling what is appropriate, respectful, or necessary, discerned from our sense of what is going on in that moment.” – This is a great point about how we can be blinded by old hurts, beliefs or ideals, where we are distracted from sensing what is really needed or going on in the present moment by being attached to an image of how we think things should or will be; being stuck in the past or a future ideal…

317. Could it be that acting is a bit like bulimia? Actors put words in and then expel them repeatedly.
     Over time, are we compressing within who we truly are by being someone else?

318. The ‘Lost Without Words’ tour group are living evidence that when we abandon our little versions and scripts about what life should be and instead make life about relationships, sensitivity and response, we regain our vitality and zest for life.

319. I love your style Joan this is a superb read and the study of improvisation should be furthered to the nation and the world, for living in the present with the past and the future all at once with a connection to ourselves is the way to stem the tide of the ever increasing population of people with dementia and memory loss.

320. This is an interesting piece of research. Memory loss or cognitive decline can be triggered by a number of factors, isolation and absence of social interaction being among them. Actors working together and relating to audiences in this way would certainly keep the neural networks stimulated and constantly fired up. The medicine for older people is to continue to make life relevant and vital through activity and involvement and not by checking out and feeling it’s all over.

321. Improvisation means we draw from the wellspring within us for inspiration and not stick to set script. This is how life should be lived, in the moment responding to what is before us not leaping ahead and into the future.

322. I love watching improvisations and unscripted presentations, they are always current and directly relevant to the audience who feel fully involved not just as spectators.

323. Thank-you Joan for your wise words. I am beginning to become aware that the more I develop my awareness it allows me to understand myself and others better and that allows me to be able to speak with truth and therefore there is no need to memorise. Memory is just words, while when we understand something it makes it easier to know because it is simply just lived.

324. When I don’t plan a presentation the words just flow through, those presentations are the most powerful, I find this in conversation too, when there is no planning the depth of conversations are beautiful.

     1. The power comes from the body. It is really interesting to observe those who speak from the head and those from the body. The difference is huge. From the body, there is authenticity, a connection, a richness and a love deeply felt.

325. This is beautiful what you share “This is what we begin to experience when we become students of The Way of The Livingness. There are no rules, only values; there are no beliefs, only felt truth; there is no nostalgic longing for the past or dwelling on it but learning from it, and an encouragement to be present, and to feel the future unfolding towards us, to even live it now – for we are shown how past, future and present are all”

     1. Yes, these words are very powerful and they ring with truth.

326. Yes, indeed, it is unnatural for us to squeeze knowledge into our brains and memorise things parrot fashion when we consider that, by connecting to our soul, we have access to a constantly deepening awareness of the energetic truth of life.

327. Improvisation asks for us to be in the present moment, not in the past or future reflecting that there is no right or wrong merely the opportunity to respond to life in many different ways.

328. When at music college I used to memorize all my pieces of music and play them from heart. This was easier for me than having to turn pages! But it put me under a great deal of pressure to have to remember the music, and sometimes it became mechanical as a result and did not give me room to really feel the music or play it ‘in the moment’ because I was too scared I would forget it. Turning to improvisation later on in life has been an interesting process that is teaching me how to let go and feel what is there to be played. Totally different.

329. What you write here is so important for us all to know. We think that it is the training of our brain that keeps us fit and from not losing our mind, but it is when we allow ourselves to be present and perceive the world with our whole body and live from our whole body that we embrace life at a whole and thus do remember and see.

     1. That’s such a great point, about how we can think that to keep our brain ‘fit’ we need to focus on memorising things or ‘exercising’ it but actually what if our mind is connected with and impacted by our whole body and by bringing our awareness back to that we can tune back in with our true mind and clarity or perception…

330. I feel the same way about names. When I try to remember names, I often go blank and panic and can usually never remember a persons name.

     I worked in the theatre industry for about 6 years and many an actor has shared that experience with me, either that they have done it or it was done to them. It feels very much about control, keeping within the lines. I love this company ‘Lost of words’ encouraging people to play with their own expression and creativity.

331. Trying to remember the lines has always been terrifying. When we are put under pressure like that we can just freeze. Dropping the control and speaking from what is there in the moment can be equally as terrifying (!) but at least we can’t get it wrong!

332. I’m learning to express from my own inner wisdom through connecting with myself and being present as much as I can. It has been a long time coming but as I let go of control it gets easier and easier to just allow what inside to come out naturally. The Expression and Presentation workshops I have attended presented by Serge Benhayon have been a huge support in bringing about this change in me. In the beginning I could hardly say anything, I went blank and stayed blank, stuck for words, but sticking at it and working on my presence, letting go of control, I am now on my way with my own effortless flow, trusting what is there to be said.

333. ‘There are no rules, only values; there are no beliefs, only felt truth’ For me this means letting go of everything we have learned and feeling for ourselves our own wisdom, giving no power to anything outside of ourselves.

334. More wisdom can come through when we are more spontaneous, we can be more with our body and less in the head.

335. When we learn these scripts and choose to repeat them irrespective of the truth that lives within us, we walk ourselves further and further away from our true expression.

     1. Early computers had paper tapes that had holes in them that were used to enter data into the system, that you could tape the ends together and let it run in a never-ending loop. Do we do the same with our expression?

        1. I remember those, I used to find them fascinating, that the precision, position and pattern of dots held meaning, that could be read. We can communicate in so many ways, I celebrate the varied expression and the innumerable ways in truth when we are not bound and locked up in our bodies by the currently promoted script.

336. “It is only doubting ourselves that blocks this passage and throws us back on the old false ways of trying to stay in control and live within the lines.” its funny or rather should I say sinister that we are born confident then as we grow we seem to invest in lack of self worth which tells us the outside world always knows better.
     In truth if we stay with who we are in our connection to that oneness we always know what to say.

337. ‘Everything we have lived and how we return is NOW’ … this cuts any nostalgia or looking forward, it brings us to this present moment, for the truth is that everything we have done is with us and being present in everything we do brings a joy to living, no props, just an openness to seeing what is in front of us. Thanks Joan, what you’ve shared is beautiful and a joy to read.

338. This is an awesome blog – we are designed to express ourselves from impulses and responses to life and not to have prepared line to use – such is the prison we find ourselves in.

339. Beautiful observations. I find that the more I connect wit my body the more access I have to what needs to be said or activated, so much so that I am now presenting workshops on wellbeing without loads of planning, I research the subject for statistics etc talk to people about it, but do not plan what I am gong to present but these events are rich and I don’t dry up…this is from someone who used to cry and throat would tighten at the thought of getting on stage…

340. Ironically, although we may hunger for the spotlight, we are often slow to take centre stage in the sense that we do not yet throw ourselves fully in to life and bring our all to it. We want to be seen, but we also want to hide.

     1. Great observation Liane – it’s like we demand that it is on our terms in a way in which we are comfortable with and can often control.

341. The power of the Expression Workshops offered by Universal Medicine do indeed empower us to express our selves in everyday life, through the power of our inner connection. We all have something of value to say, when what is said comes from the depths of our bodies.

342. I could never remember lines at school and there was a deep fear that would set in immediately if asked to recite something, my mind would go blank and I would hate the feeling this caused in the body so I learnt to avoid anything that put me in this situation. So for me my worst nightmare was attending Serge Benhayon’s Expression and Presentation Workshops and being asked to express on a topic that we had no time to prepare for. Initially I would freeze after about 1 or 2 minutes, this is slowly changing as I learn not to panic and get anxious and allow what is in me to be expressed. Letting go of the control and just being present in the moment is something I am learning and is supporting me to express more in the world by not holding back from being all of me.

     1. Reading your comment Alison, it makes it even clearer how the whole education system confines children into a mindset that learned knowledge is superior to self discovered knowledge, either from outside sources or inside themselves. Children taught how to research for themselves live life with a much wider and deeper experience and more vital awareness of life. It is no surprise the Education system developed the way it did for it keeps students in a mediocre clone consciousness where they can be influenced to conform to the normal and not “cause trouble”. Having to “get it right” kills spontaneity.

343. Its a really interesting topic the whole aspect of learning lines and reciting, like we don’t trust ourselves to express what is needed in the moment and instead we think that it is the lines we say that matter and not the energy behind what we say. I’m slowly learning to express what I feel which means expressing not knowing the detail of what I am going to say but with a sense of what it is. A very different way of being that does require no lines to be learnt.

     1. It is a lot more fun for everyone involved when we let go of the control. We never really were in control in the first place, just imagined we were.

        1. So true Nicola, we are under the illusion that we think we are in control when we are not. We only have to watch a 2 year old that is not tainted by life and the need to control everything around them, to see how playful and spontaneous they are and a joy to be around, to know that control is not the answer, and doesn’t work.

344. Thank you Joan for inspiring us to bin the script and become an intuitive.

     1. This begins with the understanding that we write our own script and therefore any distortions of the plot we may suffer, are done by our hand and our hand only.

345. I recall a time when self-doubt ruled and I wasn’t able to trust my own inner wisdom and depended more on the script. To express from our innate wisdom in the moment is a surrendering to the here and now, releasing control, and allowing truth to be expressed through us. Serge Benhayon in his Presentation Workshops supports us to express in this way.

346. “living, sensing and feeling in the moment what is needed from the innate wisdom we all have within”. This way of being creates a fluidity and spontaneity and is not pre-programmed or learned, the exact opposite of what is taught in schools, colleges and universities. We’ve lost our natural way of being and this is what we have to return to.

347. It is a travesty that we spend so much effort in educating our young to memorise facts but pay so little attention is supporting them to remain connected to their sensitivity and inner awareness and the ability “live from the truth that lives in our hearts, being present in every moment with all that is occurring” regardless of what life presents.

348. Perceived safety and security come at a cost to vitality and sincerity. Try letting go of what you normally do – you will not fall off of life or fail at all.

349. This is very true. When we learn lines we also take on a consciousness which doesn’t need to happen when we improvise, i.e. are ourselves.

350. My best conversations/presentations are the ones which are not planned out or strategised, but just delivered with quality, knowing that the quality will take care of the rest.

351. I have been aware for a long time that there’s a part of me that really dislikes looking at old family photos and I now know that it’s because I can feel a staleness that comes in with the ‘looking back’ and the ‘going over’ the past. Looking back of any kind is a contraction; it is within expansion and it’s infinite possibilities, that the truth of who we all are lies.

352. The present moment contains everything that we’ll ever need, hauling things in from the past only ever disrupts our ability to deliver from where we’re currently at.

353. Joan this is such a fantastic article. I was engorossed in the story and inspired by its message.

354. It’s a very powerful image Joan – to consider life and the script we are offered, which we are coached in and encouraged to learn ..and ‘memorise’ through our actions, beliefs and the right things to say, all the while engraining us in the direction away from soul. Thank heavens there are those that have torn up the script and who reflect true expression: “Serge Benhayon gives us the tools to live this way and demonstrates it in his own life.”

355. I am feeling more how ‘i’ am not the one who is communicating, so if I am repeating something, do I know where it came from, what the quality of it is? Am i living this quality myself? If the focus is on movement alone then what needs to be expressed will be there the moment it is needed and it will be exactly what it needs to be.

356. Not knowing how you have arrived somewhere either with my car or walking is only possible without connecting to my body. If I connect, settle in my body and just breathe and walk I cannot but feel joy, space and simplicity.

357. Nothing can be repetitive, as the universe expands every second. When we rely on anything of the past, we are saying consciously No to evolution.

     1. That makes absolute sense Stefanie, no one moment is ever the same. We are fooled if we try to replicate or to predict.

        1. So true every moment is different, we can never truly replicate a moment.

     2. Can we ever store time? Events that have happened can be put in our library but never fully replicated because that moment is gone.

358. It is gorgeous to read this Joan, and it is not just actors this applies to, but a lot of the ageing population. It is such a different understanding to the medical definition of dementia, and we are given so much from the teachings from Serge Benhayon to return us to knowing all we have to do is return to our connection to ourselves.

359. We all have a script to play in life, yet no one ever questions who is giving you the script much less whether it is in line with your inner truth or not.

360. Absolutely when we are released from the straitjacket of following a script we can express what feels true in the moment and joyfully connect with whoever we are interacting with.

361. I never had any problem to memorise lines or things. But I could always feel the effort behind in keeping it in my mind to then delivering it. I can clearly feel the ownership that comes with that, which was draining and exhausting and creating pressure. What it also amplifies is the seeking for reward when you delivered it correctly. Reward for your skill but never for your being which is feeding the cycle of identification and lack of self worth.

362. What you share about actors makes sense in terms of being spontaneous or working from a script and the problems or ease that can result. In life, working from our ideals and beliefs makes us tight and rigid so that when things don’t go our way we falter, but when we respond in the moment to situations around us, in the moment life becomes easier to handle.

363. I love your explanation of the Way of the Livingness Joan, so real straight up and to the point.

364. So much of our education and training reduces the power we naturally have, to observe life and bring through what is needed from the depths of our inner wisdom via the connection to our soul.

365. Connecting to the Way of The Livingness has indeed brought a huge joy and spontaneity to life previously felt to be unattainable. There is much to be said for building a relationship with the whole of our bodies not just a fragment of our brains.

366. When we live in a linear life, we become lost when our train comes off the tracks. Could it be life is like sailing, no matter what direction you go it is always a new beginning?

     1. That’s beautiful what you share, in life there is always a new beginning no matter what direction you take.

367. It is shocking to me sometimes how I end up somewhere and don’t remember how I got there or what I was going to do. This always happens when I am not present in my body and usually when my mind is busy thinking about other things rather than my body and the present moment. I can see how if this was not looked at and changed early on how it could lead to dementia.

368. When we allow ourselves to look at and express what is offered in the here and now we give ourselves the space to evolve. Every step is an unfolding and unless we accept each step as and when it comes to us then how can we possibly grow. Each and every moment is an offering to be present and hence truly honest as to where we are at on our path of evolution.

369. ‘We already know all there is to know’ and are diminished when we depend on mechanical ways of retaining information. This way offers an opportunity to let go and let the wisdom of the universe speak to us, rather than cling to what has been prescribed..

370. Joan, I love the way you have woven the themes of this blog seamlessly yet related and full of wisdom. We are not rote learning the lines of life and if we do we cannot express truth but become we mere actors on a false stage.

371. ‘Of course, we have to learn about life and the world, facts and figures, and how to do things, but there is this other way, which is not about cramming in information and recalling it, but living, sensing and feeling in the moment what is needed from the innate wisdom we all have within.’ We have become so dependent on knowledge from books, film and TV we forget to learn from our own senses and experiences.

372. I’ve known an actor who was all about memory retention – and trying to fit into being the character rather than himself. It is sad to see this in someone – when they sell out to being a puppet and they are invested in transforming themselves into whatever is needed.

373. There is a part of us that knows exactly the words to say to ‘get by’ and play our part in life. But all this does is perpetuates a world that’s not true. Our time for acting and pretending to be someone we are not is through.

     1. “Our time for acting and pretending to be someone we are not is through.” Yes Joseph, and to play this game is to make ourselves less.

     2. I agree you can get far in current human life on this planet by memory and intelligence based on recall for that is how we have set things up in terms of what we call success but there is a form of intelligence we are all capable of that is way beyond the limited intelligence of the mind and memory.

        1. How unintelligent is it that we have not made sure this “form of intelligence we are all capable of that is way beyond the limited intelligence of the mind and memory” is part of our education.

     3. We teach our kids this from a very early age. We dampen down their authenticity in favour of getting them to tell us what we want to hear. It is no wonder we get stuck in the groove of expressing from the head than from the body as we do not feel safe to do so. The problem is, this causes so many issues with our relationships, not least the relationship we have with ourselves.

374. A fabulous and very timely article to read. Just this week my friend’s young daughter came home from school with the requirement to memorise dates for a history test. This put her into histrionics, tears, melt downs because of how stupid it felt to have to rehash the details – I’m guessing it was feeling pretty horrible in her body to do so, based on all the points in your article. Thing is, our education system is what it is, and for now, this memorising to pass exams has to happen if you do need to pass exams that is. But just understanding this will go a long way to helping it feel okay next time.

     1. Agreed, seeing through the system and understanding how it counters the natural intelligence of the body is supportive in maintaining self-worth and not getting lost by either rebelling or conforming to it. Whilst it is as it is, it is still important not to withdraw, to commit to working to our potential as to not to is just as toxic as taking it on.

375. When we are present in the moment we are connected to the Ageless Wisdom and we are given everything we need to know, no need to try and remember anything, as it is there for us to connect to if we so choose it.

     1. We are offered simplicity with all tasks when we connect to the knowing that we can all offer this in each moment.

     2. We are always given everything we need to know, we don’t need to try, just connect.

376. We sell our selves short when we attempt to perform, follow a script or idea about life. There is so much joy to be lived when we focus on deeply connecting to our body and allow our body’s intelligence to write the lines.

     1. Yes, we are not ourselves and what is the point of that?

377. Reading this you can feel the falseness of the memorisation of the lines – it had never really occurred to me that this could be damaging to a person.

378. If we follow and repeat the script of life long enough, passing it on from generation to generation there will be no room for different lines, lines that may change the play completely.

379. The actors you spoke about Joan, it feels joy returned back in their lives, ‘lines’ are like a straitjacket and no one ever can feel joy in a straitjacket. Same with us, students of The Livingness, we open up to live from our own expression, no lines to follow other than our inner-heart.

     1. Annelies your comment reminded me of the ‘lines’ that we all use routinely throughout our day. There are so many sayings and expressions that we all use uniformly without thought and when we do, they pretty much guarantee that the response that we’re going to get will also be a standard pre rehearsed reply.

380. What a beautiful blog, Joan, it makes so much sense. I could never remember things at school learned by rote, but if I could work out an answer, as in maths, I was fine. As an adult I used to give a lot of talks and, whenever I tried to learn a speech it always came out stilted. Eventually I realised how, if you prepare something beforehand, once you are present with the audience, what you prepared often feels no longer relevant. We are alive and things are changing all the time, therefore saying whatever you feel impulsed to say in each moment feels true and more likely to inspire the listeners.

381. What is expressed here is profound. How can we imagine that we will ever grow, deepen and expand if we are forever focusing on living pictures in our head which can not help but keep us in the limitations of the past?

     1. Pictures trap us and keep us limited in the past, we have to learn to live with out any images or pictures, learn to live in the moment.

382. Through Serge Benhayon´s walking therapy he teaches how to resurrect back to our own walk. Not being layered with consciousnesses or beliefs. Just being in the present, no future and no past, through and with our movements to provide the vehicle of expression to access the wisdom, that is on offer all the time. Through movements we can align ourselves to it or block ourselves from it. Truly magical but in the same time so super simple. Who have ever thought walking would be so powerful if you do it in the right way?!

383. I love what you offer here to look at in this blog. We find security in remembering things and wanting to deliver that instead of connecting to the greatest source possible- the universe. Which will never give you any security, in fact you can only connect through obedience, but access to what is needed for everyone. As it is not coming from yourself you cannot put the stamp on it, that it came from ME. That is surely the biggest reason why we are not surrendering to that access, as we still love to be identified by what we are producing and expressing.

384. I love what you are presenting Joan and it makes me wonder about the purpose of memory as once we trust that if we are connected we will be given everything we need then the safety net of our memory becomes much more redundant apart from perhaps when we are learning a skill where repetition is needed whilst we are becoming proficient.

385. By trying to memorize and own the information we actually go against the movement of the universe for by doing this we reduce it.. The universe is always expanding and inviting us to connect to more multidimensionality, and live and expand in it.

386. The research on the actors was very interesting and made sense. When you learn some lines and have to deliver them, there is already an expectation that sets up anxiety and striving for perfection. Just doing or saying what you feel to is much more responsive and alive and removes any judgments about getting it right or not.

387. I love your angle on life Joan, you take that what we have made life to be and reflect upon it and this allows for the common sense to return, the actual logic and simplicity of life.

388. Such an interesting article Joan, seems like most of us have been getting it wrong forever and it would be great to see this sort of improvising brought into old people’s homes and study the effects.

389. Living from improvisation with awareness is living life.

390. As you say, Joan, The Way of The Livingness teachings support us to live and express the truth we already know deep inside, and access multi-dimensional communication that is forever expanding.

     1. very true, and it doesn’t need any memorising or recalling as it is what we hold within and then allow to express from there.

391. Maybe the company’s name should be ‘Not lost without words’

392. When we do learn our lines, are we corralling the stallion within us?

     1. Just allow the connection an all is revealed.

393. Learning to recite lines, information or any kind of ‘knowledge’ simply reduces our capacity to draw on what we innately know, as our minds get full of ‘information’ that we have been fed. We then rely on this information as being true, and dismiss the truth of what our body is telling us. Could this perhaps be a reason why conditions such as Alzheimers and Dementia are on the increase?

     1. I am with you on that, Sandra. The truth of the body gets clouded by all the lies and that starts to feel so familiar that it becomes ‘normal’. Whereas the truth gives the body space is never the same and forever deepens. Connecting to our body is key in this.

394. A beautiful blog to read, from beginning to end, particularly loved the reminder … “how past, future and present are all one in the present moment, everything we have lived and that we return to is NOW…” certainly redefines ‘responsibility’ and no excuse for ‘excuses’ or blame.

395. As a race we have been suffering from the most humungous case of memory loss – now it’s time to wake up and remember who we actually are.

     1. Beautifully said, Joseph and by remembering who we actually are we will get access to other memories as well, for example memories of past lives.

     2. Joseph so true, and yet this memory loss has spanned reincarnation after reincarnation.

        1. And now through the presentations of the Ageless Wisdom as presented by Serge Benhayon many are now opening the doors to regain those memories and who we truly are.

396. I am sure these actors would have had a lot of fun, discovering another and truer way of delivery rather than the old memorising by rote and feeling so very inadequate when you forget your lines. Lines are so linear and constraining, aren’t they?

     1. Lines are like the old LP records. It is just a long line coiled up that takes you nowhere, and if you skip any part, it stands out like a sore thumb.

397. Wow that’s really interesting that improvisation helped older people maintain a healthier memory. We have been so brainwashed to believe that using our minds is the answer

398. For the last 3 years I have been presenting at a monthly meeting, initially I would plan what to say to make sure what I said sounded worthwhile and so that I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable standing up in front of a group of people without knowing what to say. Now I hardly ever do, instead I accept my imperfections and allow myself to express whatever I feel to say and it is far less exhausting.

     1. And, may I suggest, far more honouring of your audience as well; people don’t get ‘talked at’, they are being addressed and spoken to.

        1. I absolutely agree Gabriele. I had an experience this week where on one day we ‘presented’ from a powerpoint and offered little scope for contribution. The next time we got the participants to discuss the topic and they covered everything in the powerpoint, in their own words and were much more unified as a group and engaged.

399. When we are present with ourselves we respond and deliver what is needed. We cannot plan, prepare or have an expectation but by being open and willing with no set agenda and living in connection to ourselves, our movements are true and aligned with divinity. This is what I call in service to God and the divine plan as opposed to preparing and memorising, reeling off facts and figures based on what we think in advance expression should be.

400. I love ad-libbing, freestyling or improvising – and there’s a difference from winging it. Life and information seemingly comes to you rather than you having to recall it.

     1. Yes, Nick, we are then simply receiving what is already there to be shared rather than going searching for answers or the right words.

401. “We are not there to play a part, we are there, in that moment, to express ourselves.” Yes, otherwise we are always busy practicing and never allow us to simply be and express what is there to express.

     1. So simple we are there, in that moment, to express ourselves.

402. So many points to consider here. I agree that to allow ourselves to sense and express what we can feel is a far more expansive way of living and being in life than the total reliance on information and our ability to recall it. It also feels like our low level dissatisfaction with life, and constant need to fill it with distractions, is a product of having numbed ourselves to our feelings through an over reliance on our minds. Perhaps the key to reversing this and living a life that feels more connected, expanded and joyful starts with re-establishing that connection to what we can feel, through our bodies.

403. Wonderful exploration of this topic Joan. In a universe that is constantly expanding, when we actively choose to repeat aspects of life, be it thoughts, beliefs, or actions we think worked before, or words we have rehearsed, at best we have the elation of successfully recreating our limited pictures and expectations. But this will always fall short of the spaciousness of being one and responding in harmony with the forever expanding whole.

404. In career coaching people learn to present an ‘elevator pitch’ and that they have to memorize it, but that never worked for me. So next week when I go to a group job interview where all 15 of us have to present ourselves all I will do is make sure I walk in connected to myself and make sure my movements in the days before are supporting.

405. I’ve considered myself to have a really good memory. Having once travelled across the city using pictures from Google Street View before I set off. But this moment felt more like an intuition. Facts and figures I am pants at but I’ll recall 20 different tea/coffee preferences. I love the Expression and Presentation workshops as they give more power to the lived experience rather than the recall of the mind.

406. If I haven’t been focussed I find my memory is horrendous, but if I am focussed my memory is very sensory and I remember things that surprise even me!

407. I couldn’t imagine in the beginning that Serge, Natalie and Simone Benhayon never prepare for a presentation or workshop. That the way they live allows them to connect to universal wisdom that just is there when it is needed. That Serge doesn’t have the answer, but that is given to him is magical to observe every time.

408. Being fully present in the moment gives us the opportunity to truly sense what is needed in response to everything that is presented in that moment; to be more aware of our what’s going on inside of us and around us rather than just trying to apply something that we’ve picked up from the past.

409. Wow Joan, what a blog! Thank you for sharing your lived experience and understanding of this very important topic in an interesting and entertaining way. I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

410. Having been part of many presentations lead by Serge Benhayon and having been to many other presentations, I have never seen anyone present like Serge. No preparation, no notes, never repeating the same thing twice, but always presenting on the same themes. Serge is the master of saying the same thing, but in so many different ways.

411. Being able to memorise and recall is championed as THE intelligence from which we operate a human life, but your description of effort to remember is spot on. I can so relate. I often felt as a kid that I was having to fill up my skull to the brim, and any sudden move would upset what I had poured in and it felt like I could not walk or move in my usual manner, it did something to my body and it felt very constricting, and I felt useless if I failed to retain the memory. Something feels amiss here. It feels like a big compromise and sacrifice we are making to feel like we belong to a type of world we live in.

412. I love that, what if dementia is showing us that the way we are living is not working? That there is another way of being that is botomless and does not depend on our ability to recall?

413. What you share is the key to not live a mundane pre-scripted life which most find boring, mundane, and seek to check out and escape from. Richness of life is from living in the moment from our body

414. I have come to love the Expression Presentation workshops with Serge Benhayon, although initially found them rather challenging as I would try to think of the right thing to say and to sound interesting; it all came from my mind. I soon learnt that this actually didn’t work as what came out of my mouth sounded stilted and forced. But in stark contrast, when I connected to my body before I opened my mouth I would just begin to speak and continued to do so until my time finished or I lost connection again. And at times I would be amazed at what I spoke about – very amazed.

415. “We are not there to play a part, we are there, in that moment, to express ourselves.” Beautifully put Joan. No matter what we do, we have a responsibility to bring everything of who we are through our expression, in whatever way that may be.

416. Thanks so much Joan, this is one for me to return to many times. As I read I felt the horror and stress of not being able to remember things, particularly in exams or situations where pressure was placed on me to recall. This can even be in social situations where we feel anxious and come with prepared lines, but clam up when we get there! Lots to ponder on, and a great read, thank you.

417. Beautiful piece Joan, I thoroughly enjoyed being led by you through the acting world and into religion and self reflection. I particularly love this: “we are shown how past, future and present are all one in the present moment, everything we have lived and that we return to is NOW.” A wonderful note on which to to now set off into the day.

418. What a great point you make Joan that memorising poetry etc. can hold us in the past as it requires us to look backwards rather than towards the future to respond and grow with whatever comes.

419. What a great point you make Joan that memorising poetry etc.can hold us in the past as it requires to look backwards rather than towards the future to respond and grow with whatever comes.

420. I have noticed a big difference in how my body feels when I am just recalling or regurgitating information or if I really connect with and feel what needs to be said in the moment. One does feel narrow, heavy and constrictive and the other feels light, open and expansive and much more fun!

421. “The more we let go of control” – takes that imposed pressure away. Letting go of any trying and living in the moment and expressing from that lived moment offers an opening to go with a flow, lifting the lid of the pressure we put ourselves under. Just reading what you have shared Joan and writing this now brings such clarity and an impulse to express more without fumbling for words or reading from a memorised script. The letting go of such held tension in the body and not freezing in solid panic of the pressure to keep up or perform. Phew!!!!

422. I have recently been branching out at work and doing different jobs, some which require a lot of new learning skills and remembering things which for me has always been difficult, especially during my school years. One of the jobs I struggled to grasp because I went into doubt and overwhelm and the other I took to like a duck to water and even though there was quite a lot to learn I could just naturally do it. What I learnt is that 1, it depends on your teacher and how well they communicate what we need to know and 2, is that this job was where I was meant to be in the greater order of life. It has been interesting to see how life is positioning me and all I have to do is listen and respond and I am given what I need to know. It is a beautiful unfolding, there is no pressure and I feel supported all the way.

423. Thank you, Joan. There is this perception that if we do not have a good memory or recall then, we must be unintelligent. The book learning type of intelligence relies on the person remembering facts and figures but personally, I have always found this difficult because I do not retain this information, even if it’s a subject I’m interested in. But what you are saying is that the information is there with us, and we have access to it at that moment without having to rack our brains to retrieve information that has been let go of.

424. Fascinating and amazing blog Joan. So much is said here particularly about how recall is not it and actually how detrimental for our health it can be. With recall there is no true expression or expansion. And I feel what you have shared here is very true as well ‘It is only doubting ourselves that blocks this passage and throws us back on the old false ways of trying to stay in control and live within the lines.’ this is so well said. On reflection how amazing is it that every time either Serge, Natalie or Simone Benhayon give a presentation, talk or hold a course nothing is planned and prepared for on what to say in fact how they constantly and consistently live IS the planning .. how incredible and inspiring is that! What if we all lived in such a way that whatever we had to say, deliver or express just naturally flowed because the way we have lived up to that point has allowed it to be that way.

425. A delicious exposure of what control does to us, tightening things up, making us reliant on the patterns, and how lost we feel when we lose control. All that is a bit of a worry when we consider that we can’t really control anything!

426. Rote learning and stuffing our brains with knowledge does’t compare with the wisdom of the heart and how the universe can unfold when we remain open.

427. A beautiful post Joan. “The universe is ever expanding, and if we live an expanding life within this expansion then we grow and change and live vital and open lives, embracing all. This is what we begin to experience when we become students of The Way of The Livingness.” Flexibility is key as we age and to be open to embrace a new way of loving and being – this I have found with The Way of The Livingness.

428. Beautiful article Joan. It has allowed me to consider the effect on my body of holding tight onto information to regurgitate later versus the freedom of expressing from my heart which is there instantaneously and feels so much more expansive.

429. I remember the time when i would often be driving for a long time and then suddenly would ‘wake up’ and see where I was and then realising i had not consciously registered a big part of the trip. Or I would go somewhere in my house to get something and by the time i got there completely forget what i was looking for. And i was in my 20’s and 30’s at that time. It shows how easily i could check out and how little presence i had during the day. More importantly, this was considered normal among those around me with the same age. We do not have to wonder much then how we go to the epidemic of dementia we have today.

430. That sounds like a great script – no script for a play. So often we can try to use our memory to recall and use our past experiences to bring substance to what we are saying. But what if there is so much more wanting to come through and communicate with us? and that it is not about resourcing from the past rather resourcing from the future?

431. This is an amazing article, completely awesome. you have opened up for me a different perspective on how I can hold on to situations because they make me feel safe, when really, possibly, they are actually me just ‘reading the lines’ as it were and staying in control which is not actually always so supportive of having a whole and meaningful expression in the world.

432. Joan – a phenomenal writing that is both powerful and deeply inspiring to read regarding the similarities shared with an actor’s relentless learning of lines, blank moments, panic and the contraction of our innate expression through being stuffed up with ideals and beliefs (actors in our own lives) and how this could link with dementia.

433. Great blog Joan! How many of us have willingly chosen to live life like a parrot in a cage, repeating what we have heard, for a cracker?

434. Wow Joan that was really interesting and inspiring to read – thank you so much for sharing this wisdom. At least we should give it a go to try out of letting go of control, memorising and recall and find out for ourselves what will happen. You never know perhaps this is exactly what most of us need in a world of functionality and youthism.

435. It is a continuous letting go and embracing the what is next. I was pondering on this a few days ago when I was faced with what had been done in the past to feel better and better themselves. We do not need to reach out to our past… that has gone when we feel content in the present moment.

436. We live on a great sphere of life that spins in a universe that is constantly expanding. Despite this, it seems we insist on walking a straight line upon this giant globe we inhabit, no matter that to do so only ever leads us straight back to where we started, albeit thick in the illusion that we have gone somewhere and as such have left ‘that which we do not want to deal with’, safely ‘behind’ in the past. This is how we have come to champion ‘recall’ as some form or measure of intelligence when really, as this example of the actors clearly demonstrates, to do so goes against the grain of our innate and thus divine design. The simple truth here is that we are multidimensional (spherical) beings that have access to universal wisdom and not only are we not designed to live in a straight line; it hurts us greatly to do so.

437. When I was at school if I couldn’t remember something I thought I was dumb and would think there was no use even trying if I could remember it. This belief that we think remembering something means intelligence affects us more than we realise. It sets up that our memory or brains can’t be trusted which separates us from our body. Staying connected to our body, we know what is needed in any given moment to be expressed is there…. all we need to do is listen and let it out.

438. It appears there is a pattern many engage in where activities that reinforce safety and control in life become the focus. This blog exposes that it is possible that society encourages and rewards the very thing we hope to avoid. What if we were to support and confirm the essence of each person regardless of age, role or expectation and invite them to live who they truly are – the statistics of dementia and results of surveys to do with memory loss would be very interesting to see.

439. There is much in this article to ponder on. Shifting ones grasp of how to go about life to one of willingness to be fully open and responsive is needed, unfortunately it is a truth that we have systemically eradicated, a truth that has to be reinstated for there to be changes made to the shocking figures we currently experience in relation to dementia.

440. What you have shared is true Joan. My body completely hates stuffing information into it. It loves to learn though in fully understanding what life is and there is a huge difference of how my body feels in both. Same with living life, allowing myself to just open up to Life no matter what I have to face trains me to be in authority and presence, a very powerful feeling. In what we think we don’t know, we know.

     1. No one likes to be shaped into something they are not, yet we have ideals and beliefs that mould us in this way as soon as we are born into this plane of life. If a ‘square peg does not fit into a round hole’, as the popular idiom goes, then why do we insist on being square pegs in the first place? That is, why do we insist on constricting our spherical nature, one that is based on the rhythm and order of the universe, to such a degree that we end up creating the corners that do not then allow us to fit comfortably into our natural spherical backdrop?

        When we deny our innate divinity, we box ourselves into a prison we don’t even know we are in and call it ‘intelligence’. We then champion ‘the box’ and its clearly defined evidence based parameters as being mightier than the sphere we reduced it down from.

        Humans…not yet the most intelligent species on planet Earth.

441. Beautiful Joan – if we keep running with the same internal script can we be surprised if we keep experiencing drama? Let’s let life inform our dialogue instead of following lines.

     1. Very true Joseph how can we expect things to change if we are following and repeating the same script?

     2. Such a danger in following lines as life may have changed direction already and so those lines quickly lead us off in the wrong direction. Far better to keeping feeling what is current in the world and resonding freely to that.

     3. I agree Joseph and it seems we get handed these ‘lines’ pretty early in life and there is a strong pressure to follow the script. But we can discern and feel what is true for us rather than blindly repeating the same old play of life and in this are free to improvise and change how we all live.

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