By Anne Malatt, Australia
I woke this morning feeling out of sorts; a consequence of how I had lived the day before. I had made some choices in how I had used my free time and in what I had chosen to eat that were not truly loving for me, and now I was feeling those choices in my body.
I was about to start giving myself a hard time, as usual, but stopped for a moment and thought “Why not just go for a swim?”. So I did.
Even as I drove to the pool, the loving choice I had made helped me to feel lighter, less sad, less hard, less dense.
As I started to swim I felt those unloving choices in my body – the tiredness, the heaviness, the effort to breathe. Everything was a struggle, hard work.
I slowed down and brought the focus to my breathing and my body.
I felt my breath entering and leaving my nose, allowing myself to relax and go deeper.
I felt my hands moving through the water, brushing past my thighs, moving through the cooler air and back into the warmer water.
I felt my body moving in the gentle rhythm I had chosen.
As I breathed out into the water, I felt the stillness, the quietness, the vastness of me.
As I turned my head to breathe in, I heard the sounds and saw the sights and felt the energy of the people around me. I let it all in, but did not let it disturb the stillness in me.
I continued to swim with myself, in my rhythm, breathing gently, moving in love.
I felt how I could have continued in the struggle, forced myself to keep going, to complete a task, to fulfil an ideal of what I should be doing, to “make up for” the poor choices I had made the day before, which would in truth have hurt myself more.
I felt the grace of just allowing myself to be, surrendering to the knowing of my body and its natural breath and natural rhythm, and how healing that was for me.
In every moment we have a choice, to treat ourselves with love, or not. That is a true treat. That is the true power of now.
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
“In every moment we have a choice, to treat ourselves with love, or not”, is a powerful yet such a valid statement. Majority of the time its a “not”, so in comes the abuse, the intolerance and everything that is the “not” towards each other. With love, we are such powerful beings, and we can only but reflect this to others, that there is another way of living and it is not from the “not” but from the “love” that is within all that is a part of the whole.
Such a simple truth Elizabeth and so powerful when we allow that deeper connection to and with the body to be with ourselves and all in the now.
When we come back to the body, and its gentleness and its capacity to move with such tenderness, nothing else really matters, all else melts away. We get to feel what is truly of importance – our connection to our Soul and not the bloopers (mistakes) we might make. Life is after all about learning, and this never ends.
Henrietta, thanks for reminding us that the gentleness is such an important way to be with our bodies, as it is so true, it melts everything away.
When we hear a baby giggle, we often see and feel its love and we giggle with it. We observe how tender we are with it, that tenderness is always within us all. It is that simple…
This is a great blog with a simple message – one that says do not waste any time berating yourself, rather take time to love yourself up. I have been and still occasionally am very good at ‘beating myself up’ in the sense of giving myself a hard time if I have done something that was inappropriate, something that hurt someone, or did something just plain silly. I would write off the whole day. But now I am learning that that serves no one, and really, like Anne has shared, it is about us simply getting on with it in a loving way. That really is the best approach and feels so lovely too.
“In every moment we have a choice, to treat ourselves with love, or not. That is a true treat. That is the true power of now.” – super simple yet super powerful blog, Anne! Thank you!
We empower ourselves when we choose to come back to being fully present with our body, and from there we can make new choices.
To connect with and feel our breath entering our nose, or lungs, can be very stilling, ‘I felt my breath entering and leaving my nose, allowing myself to relax and go deeper.’
“I felt the grace of just allowing myself to be, surrendering to the knowing of my body and its natural breath and natural rhythm, and how healing that was for me.” Thanks Anne, one thing I haven’t considered deeply enough is the surrender to the body when moving back to love after a wobble, it was great how you let your body lead the way so it could be treated exactly how it needed to as part of your recovery and re-establishing love again.
This is a great reminder of the constant choice we are presented with.
“In every moment we have a choice, to treat ourselves with love, or not. That is a true treat. That is the true power of now.”
“I was about to start giving myself a hard time, as usual, but stopped for a moment and thought “Why not just go for a swim?”. So I did.” I love the question, it’s like saying “Why not just go back to love?”
Thank you Anne surrendering to Love, True Love certainly eliminates the feeling of being “out of sorts.” And the lessons we can take from everything we do deepens our bodily awareness so our days can become a pleasurable Joy as you have shared.
This is such a great experience to write about, because we can be so hard on ourselves even though it doesn’t actually rectify the situation, it just adds another layer of negativity. It’s so simple isn’t it to just keep retuning to love without placing any conditions on ourselves as to whether we deserve love or not.
It is a great experience to write about, as it is common for people to be hard on themselves, surely we deserve love, and care and nurturing, especially as the outside world can be quite cruel towards us.
It’s true Lorraine, we add to the abuse and cruelty by turning on ourselves when we most need the love.
Such a timely read for me. “I let it all in, but did not let it disturb the stillness in me“ – this in particular really stood out for me. I could feel the hardness I was in in reaction to the snowball effect of poor choices I have been making, as it is given a spotlight, starting to melt, acknowledging the resistance I had been allowing to act out.
This is beautiful to read. We make life so much about effort and doing the right thing all the while all we need is to be and take the next gentle breath and step.
It is beautiful to read, and has a lovely ripple effect on my body whilst reading it, a surrendering.
The art of coming back to a fuller version of ourselves is just pure beauty and simplicity.
Yes, and this blog is such a beautiful example of that.
This is beautiful to read and be reminded that in every moment we can go in rhythm with our body and do not have to push through.
Agreed Esther – there is such an ingrained habit for us to push and to keep pushing, but to let go of that as a default pattern and to instead follow a rhythm is very liberating. I have experienced this and yet find myself going into drive again and again. It is an art to keep extracting oneself from the drive, and to return to a natural way of being and living.
Beautiful inspiration Anne. Your words are so alive and real that for a moment I was swimming with you 🙂 They show me how to remain steady in my body no matter what and how simple can be choosing love for ourselves in every moment. Thank you
Thank you Anne, your day was a very gentle way to be with yourself, and what a great line “In every moment we have a choice, to treat ourselves with love, or not”. Despite what our previous choices have been it can be as simple as just choosing love now.
Every movement we make is simply aligned to love or not.
Simple and clear Anna. And it’s our choice to what energy we align to.
To be love, or not, that is always our choice, ‘In every moment we have a choice, to treat ourselves with love, or not. That is a true treat. That is the true power of now.’
Building a foundation of gentleness, so we can get to self-love and also nurturing would make such a significant change to our daily rhythm.
“In every moment we have a choice, to treat ourselves with love, or not.” This is very powerful to know and to live by because no matter what we have been up to, yes we have to bear the consequences but we do not need to continue down the same road.
Anne it’s very true, in every moment we have the opportunity to treat ourselves with love, the prior moment does not matter as there are no conditions with love. It’s just there on offer all the time.
Beautifully said Melinda. Love is unconditional and offers us with such a clarity the truth. It is our free will to deny it or not, but is always there.
This is brilliant. Keep choosing love, even right after having chosen lovelessness. Why double-up lovelessness by giving ourselves a hard time? I know I do, and you so clearly here expose the ridiculousness of it. If it is love that we want, choose it. Now, not ‘next’ time. Simple. Thank you, Anne.
Going down requires saying yes to it prior to what we do to bring us down and after the fact when we feel what have we said yes to. Yet, at that time we are still on time not to say yes to it and simply move away from it. Of course, we can also say yes to the state we have provoked. It is a choice.
‘I woke this morning feeling out of sorts; a consequence of how I had lived the day before’. Great insight Anne, not many people connect the dots, to the fact that how we are feeling today is because of how we moved yesterday and the choices we made.
We are not being honest if we don’t acknowledge to ourselves that the quality of how we lived our yesterday is the foundation of the quality of our today.
It is powerful when we choose love, self-love, because there is so much understanding which allows us to let go in of anything that is not love, bringing us back to our natural stillness and gentle breathe.
I just read a blog called ‘Making Decisions: The Body is the Key’ and here is your message expressed completely different but with the same message how our body is the key to come back to our natural stillness and that we don’t have to ‘pay’ for choices we have been making previously.
That feels super loving Annelies with the understanding that we do not have to ‘pay’ for poor choices we have been making, but rather use the awareness to make different choices that truly nourish and support our bodies.
That is beautiful Annelies, just connect back to the stillness and grace within – very simple.
I felt my body letting go as I read this sharing.
Continually back to love and stillness, despite previous choices, makes life very simple.
This is a great reminder that wallowing in regret does nothing to change the body so it can make different choices. When you went for a swim it felt like it re-imprinted your whole day and washed away the heaviness of the previous days choices. Very inspiring.
It is so beautiful to feel and be reminder of the truth that regardless of how ever far we have wandered of track, love is always there waiting to be surrendered to, the very next moment. It is through our connection to our bodies that we realise that there is no greater power than being the love we are, it is everything.
A great reminder not to beat ourselves up about past choices but learn from them and make more loving choices as we move on, eventually we learn not to repeat those unloving choices because we get to feel it more and more in our body.
Yes, simply to learn from past choices that were not loving, learning as we go, and making new loving choices.
‘As I started to swim I felt those unloving choices in my body – the tiredness, the heaviness, the effort to breathe. Everything was a struggle, hard work.’
Reading this just now has made sense of something for me. No wonder I have, for the most part if I’m honest, struggled with a lack of vitality in my life. It’s the choices I’ve been making that make it hard for my body to swim through life.
And it’s hard to see those because everyone lives that way and it feels normal and therefore we tell ourselves “I shouldn’t feel this way”, when in fact we should as the body is sharing the truth of the effects of our choices. Thank you Victoria.
This makes it so clear how much trouble we create with the constant self-criticism. So it is a matter of bringing our focus to the love that we deserve and choose it in every moment more.
Thank you Esther, you have expressed the truth about the common human condition of self criticism very clearly and the simplicity of letting go, moving on and choosing to be love. I feel self criticism just spirals us deeper into the harmful energy we just chose. It’s a common habit but it just consolidates the self harm already chosen.
It can’t get any more simple than that. “In every moment we have a choice, to treat ourselves with love, or not.” And this level of deep honouring of our awareness, or its avoidance, is also what determines the impact we have on the whole of life.
I love it, we can support ourselves even if we do make a choices or series of choices that harm our bodies, I mean let’s face it, this whole life could be a hangover! Simply choosing a commitment to supporting ourselves in such a commited way can turn things around to lay a more solid foundation for the next moment, minute, day, perhaps even life.
The importance of our breath is somehow overlooked by society and is not taught in the same Loving energy, as are the breathing techniques with a focus to at-least being gentle as presented by Serge Benhayon.
Greg I agree, the gentle breath technique as taught in the Gentle Breath Meditation is a simple go-to tool to bring us back to ourselves when we have disconnected, and support us to stay with ourselves and breathe who we are in the sometimes chaos of life.
Agreed Melinda, A-go-to-tool that should be presented at pre-school.
It is lovely to re-connect with our breath at any point in our day, whatever we are doing, ‘I slowed down and brought the focus to my breathing and my body
I felt my breath entering and leaving my nose, allowing myself to relax and go deeper.’ Beautiful.
Wow, this is gorgeous to feel Anne, from about to give yourself a hard time to then making a loving choice to support yourself, a great reminder for me and many more people, thank you
This is beautiful not only because it shows us that we have a choice in every moment but how very powerful we are and that every loving choice is enormously felt through our entire body.
This is a great point Esther, as there is not one choice that we make that is not reflected back to us through our bodies. Hence it is a wise move to develop a loving and honoring relationship with our bodies, our truest guide to living in connection to who we really are; love.
Really beautiful Anne. It is about love and when it is not it hurts. So, instead of absorbing the world around us that is not love why not make your world about love, and change the world.
I could feel myself surrendering as I read the description of your swim. I too have sometimes got caught up in feeling I have to make up for bad choices. Now I simply ask myself what new loving choice can I make in this moment?
Perfect timing and perfect guidance. Sometimes the ‘off’ isn’t an enormous deal, it is a feeling that if we ignore can lead to an enormous deal (or not). Bringing it back to the body and the steadiness of the breath, the connection with ourselves is a great take home from this blog. Thank you.
When we feel ‘off track’ it doesn’t mean we are lost forever – making a simple choice and movement back towards truth and a love for the body is all that is needed. This is a gorgeous example Anne, thank you.
Beautifully shared Anne, the simple reminder that there is always a choice in each moment to be loving and if we stray from this to not be hard on ourselves – to focus on the love no matter what comes our way brings an understanding and supports us to move closer to a deeper love and awareness in each moment.
Thank you Anne for the revelation you share with us. It is so true that we will berate ourselves and give ourselves a hard time when we have slipped up but surely if we are love and come from Love then the healing is Love.
How often it is, that in the moment we most need to truly hold and embrace ourselves in love, we effectively ‘go the other way’ – i.e. into sabotaging behaviours that only serve to further disconnect ourselves from what we truly need.
Absolutely beautiful to read of your honouring of yourself here Anne, and the depth of relationship with ourselves that is – if we choose – ever on offer…
I agree Victoria, I will remember this next time I go for a swim. Movement has the power to change our energy.
It makes complete sense to me that when life gets intense, imperfect or challenging rather than give myself a hard time about it, it is far more supportive to treat myself and my body with even more love and tenderness and understanding.
‘In every moment we have a choice, to treat ourselves with love, or not.’ I love what you present Anne. It strikes me, in addition to your own observations, that our ever-irresponsible human spirits love to wallow in self-deprecation. Your decision to cut the self-pity and beating-up by choosing an enlightened and enlightening next step beautifully stopped the spirit in its tracks and returned you to your natural soulful state. I love it!
I greatly appreciate the wisdom Anne has offered here. That the power of now is so simply the choice we make each moment. Nothing more, but knowing it is everything. As the well of wisdom that resides in us all can only be accessed through our choice to live each moment with tender loving care.
The power of love in each moment. A beautiful commitment to make.
This is a beautiful example of how we can simply tune in with our body again and let us be guided by what is needed next. Our body is not unforgiving but very willing to come back to its natural flow.
Yes Esther, it just waits patiently, it doesn’t hold anything against us, it simply has to take more time to heal or the healing may come in a bigger package if the neglect has been going on for a long time. Our body is always calling us back to be the love we are, and anxiousness and raciness just as depression and indulging are not who we are. They are expressions of the unease we feel in the body as we step away from love and we can take steps to rebalance them so they are no longer the dominant impulse in our lives.
Before I came across Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I did not know what or how to truly support myself. I would watch tv in the evening, lye in bed at the weekend and shop for the sake of it, which were all things I looked forward to but I have come to realise were actually not supporting me at all but I was choosing them as a means of comfort to distract myself from committing to life.
When I’m feeling out of sorts, the last thing I want to feel is that very thing – but if I distract myself, I just push down the uncomfortable feeling and leave it to be dealt with by my body. By being honest, admitting to ourselves that we do feel out of sorts, we allow those feelings the space to be acknowledged, and in doing so they’re released. Quite an awesome process really, and all starts with being honest and expressing – if only to ourselves – what we are feeling.
A great reminder that love is the best medicine. Thank you, Anne. Giving myself a hard time has never got me anywhere.
I love that you speak of a true treat when we are loving with ourselves.
Anne, I can relate to thinking I need to ‘make up’ for my past unloving choices by just moving into something else that will make me feel ‘good’ and ticked that off… yet I don’t truly feel any better or more connected doing that. I felt a bit yuk this afternoon after eating too much and really felt to just vegetate on the lounge because it had left me tired, but instead I chose to go for a walk and absolutely loved it and within no time felt more myself.
Very inspiring Anne. It is such a ‘normal’ way to beat ourselves up for poor choices we have made. That is then the triple trick, making poor choices, beating ourselves up on it and then making even more poor choices to get it right. You show us the way to break this abusive pattern, after making poor choices, realizing them, learning form them, break them and go do something that is fully loving, appreciating and honoring to one’s inner beauty and your body.
At any moment we can choose to stay in the struggle or move to step away from it. I love that you were impulsed to do the latter and in doing so were able to surrender and bring healing to yourself and the repercussions of what you had chosen, rather than continue in the energy you were in and deny the deeper connection to you that was possible.
Thank you Anne for this great and wise reminder of the power we all have at our fingertips, at every moment, through the choice we have to surrender to love or not. And how this choice is ever-present regardless of our past choices, through the grace of God’s love forever calling us to be at one with our love, with Him.
Hello Anne and this is very true, “In every moment we have a choice, to treat ourselves with love, or not.” No matter what the choice before or what has happened we always have a choice to choose love in the next or in the present moment like you are showing. Where does the self critique or the regret lead? Around in circles to again create the same choice. No matter what has happened ‘bad’ or ‘good’ choosing to surrender to all that is there to feel is a wise choice. Having the awareness of the feeling will support you to not go around in a full circle to feel it again. We are here to learn but not learn in the current education model, we are here to learn about energy and feeling again. So with each choice look at it as a learning and don’t do a better job next time just let go, surrender to what you are feeling, appreciate all you feel and allow the awareness of all of this to sink in. The awareness is what will support you not to walk in the same steps again.
Great lived experience in what you say Ray. I would add that the choice to choose love in every next moment, after a poor choice, is true power. It takes a bit of practice, and requires space to choose your next action wisely.
I really get that want to make up for poor choices I have made. In my experience, it just creates a vicious circle of punishment and reward and even if I may feel better about myself, it is only temporary, and yes I agree, I often push myself unnecessarily and find myself in even more deeper disregard.
Choosing to make that one supportive choice can change every thing. Last week I set out on a long journey feeling quite heavy and tired. About half way I decided to stop, take a nap and go for a walk to the toilet. I got back in the car and as I started off I was amazed how I was feeling. Something had cleared. I could feel a clarity that was not there before, a presence with my body and a feeling of readiness for what was ahead of me.
‘There is such grace in allowing ourselves to just be’ – this line really stuck with me this morning Anne. Learning to just ‘be’, and be okay with that, without making the tasks and to-do list the priority takes some getting used to.. it exposes that when we’re not connected or don’t know who we truly are, putting the being before the doing feels risky- and sometimes empty. But when we develop that connection to ourselves, by treating ourselves more lovingly and caringly, slowly the need for acceptance and recognition from the outside starts to fall away. The being comes first, and the doing is an extension and expression of all that we already are.
As I was reading your blog my body felt your words and it felt like you were taking me on a gorgeous journey which, in fact, is the power and beauty held in truth.
I find a very similar thing with walking Anne. It’s very revealing when I walk, how my body is, what I am holding onto and then as I bring my attention to my body and my breath I actually feel who I am underneath all of the holdings on. This makes it so easy to let go of this and simply take myself for a walk. My mind definitely tries to bring in all sorts of things for me to complete, but when I stay with my body all I am doing is walking not trying to live my day before I get there or re-live my day more than once.
Yes Jennifer, I too find that walking can be very revealing as to where I am at. It is such a simple activity yet I find it incredibly powerful when I choose to walk in the presence of me and my surroundings.
Thank you for your wise words Anne
I love your powerful simple blog Anne: “In every moment we have a choice, to treat ourselves with love, or not. That is a true treat. That is the true power of now.” It is very worth it to share the true power we have simply because most of us have chosen not to feel it anymore!
It is definitely the simple choice of making a different decision taking us away from the feelings of lovelessness to those of love, that can turn our day around. This lightens the energy we are in and allows the power of Now to be acknowledged and experienced. Thank you Anne.
‘Every moment we have a choice to treat ourselves with love or not’, it is that simple, and the more we treat ourselves with love, the easier it is to let others in and share ourselves.