I have been looking at how I self-care for a number of years now, thanks to my involvement with Universal Medicine. I have progressed through some major milestones: from not knowing what self-care really was, to beginning to care for myself a little more, to incorporating self-care routines and rituals into my daily life, to now understanding and accepting that self nurturing is deeper than taking care of my physical body – the care and nurturing of my physical body supports the connection I have with my soul.
In relation to the fact that I am a woman, I have come to recognise that I can mechanically go through the motion of caring and nurturing myself, but have I stopped to accept and appreciate that this care and nurturing allows me to feel a truer beauty as a woman – for me to feel my soul’s expression through my female body?
In deepening my self-nurturing as a true woman, allowing my soul to express through this body, I have stopped to consider who I am. Not who I am based on what others are doing, being or expressing but who I truly am…
So… who am I?
How would I describe myself, and how is my femininity unique to me?
A couple of people have described me in recent months as sweet. This was not a word that I could relate to but I decided to be open to the possibility that I was sweet. When I looked in the mirror, when I moved my body around or when I spoke I was not getting the sweet thing. I felt awkward at times, tough, hard, and strong, and I would go into comparison with other women. All very different to sweet!
When I heard the word sweet I was also hearing words like delicate, tender and precious. Apparently I was all of these things as well. I would have described myself as strong, athletic, independent, hard etc., making it very difficult initially for me to be able to connect to words like sweet, let alone actually surrender my body to feeling them.
I remained open to the word sweet because I wanted to be able to answer my own question – how would I describe myself?
During this period of time I happened to video myself for something I was involved in and then watched it. In watching this recording I saw how gentle and delicate I am when I move; I could hear a sweetness in my voice and I had a realisation that I was precious. While watching this movie I cried as I was not at all what I thought I was or how I had made myself out to be. The tears also allowed me to connect to a fragility within that was in no way weak or made me feel less than anyone else. I was observing how I express as a woman and there is no way that this can be compared to anyone else.
I watched this video a number of times… I now observe myself more closely in the mirror or when I move or speak and if I doubt that I am sweet and very gentle I look directly into my eyes because they reveal to me my true qualities, my soulful qualities.
I am learning to surrender myself to these newfound qualities and to express them. In connecting to my fragility, gentleness, sweetness, tenderness and delicateness, I can very clearly feel that I am ALL woman. A beautiful, joyful and sweet woman. I can also feel that the self-nurturing and caring ways I have introduced into my life have made a difference and have allowed my self-nurturing to go to a whole new level.
I was inspired to write this article from observing Natalie Benhayon, and all the female esoteric students who are involved with Universal Medicine. I hold a deep appreciation for you all.
By Sally Scott, Perth WA
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
As women we are here to reflect so much to each other – we all hold qualities that are exquisite and reminds others of the same qualities in them too. This we can never forget.
I too used to judge myself a lot and considered myself hardened but recently on watching a video of myself with my son when he was small, I could not but notice how gentle and encouraging I was with him and how beautiful it was to watch how I handled him – this was, like in Sally’s experience, a true healing and allowed me to embrace a part of myself I had been denying.
I totally understand that we can do the movements of self-care but they are just the motions to be seen to be doing. When we actually truely self-care, the body responds so much beautifully and tenderly and it only asks for more to be revealed. As we self-care more, the more is revealed to nurture ourselves even in the minute detail.
Sally I could not agree with you even more that Natalie Benhayon is an inspirational woman to many women and men. She is the pinnacle of self-care and nurturing. A role model from my perspective to what she offers to many of us.
Sally – this is an awesome sharing and I love how said that upon watching the video of yourself you could finally see the qualities you had been denying yourself that others had seen and nominated for you. This is a healing indeed to see it and embrace it!
Sally it’s amazing how we deny ourselves as women. We have been bought up as looking, dressing behaving as one, for some, but we have not even touched the sides as one. Until we meet a woman like Natalie Benhayon. She is an inspirational woman, who represents what a true woman should be.
I have been inspired by her, and I love how I have changed since meeting her. My standards have changed and are continually changing and I know there is more to go. I know one thing, I won’t be changing back to the old ways, the new found powerful woman is emerging and going forth…
Lovely to read how your self nurturing has helped with your divine qualities, ‘ In connecting to my fragility, gentleness, sweetness, tenderness and delicateness, I can very clearly feel that I am ALL woman. A beautiful, joyful and sweet woman. I can also feel that the self-nurturing and caring ways I have introduced into my life have made a difference and have allowed my self-nurturing to go to a whole new level.’
Self nurturing is the quality that brings us closer to who we truly are, as women and an inspiration to others.It only begins with one to be the true reflection.
Sally your sharing shows us how the way we see ourselves is closely linked with the choices we daily make. So being loving with ourselves is a choice that makes our body feels great, open, delicate and precious as we are. Why don’t we choose it more often?
Love having women in my life who have accepted and deeply connected with their preciousness within. They make me realise that the expression of each woman is equally beautiful but with different flavour at the same time. When we as women accept this fact comparison stops being a problem.
Thank you Sally. Your words inspire me to reconnect more deeply to the precious and sweet woman that I am.
Sally reading your blog today has inspired me to do a kind of inventory of my qualities and begin to enjoy these more through the day. I am always spending time with me, so this feels like an opportunity for quality time – pun intended!
As we explore what it is like to be nurturing and self-caring in the True energetic means of these words, then the life we live and the relationship that open up in us is difficult to put into a language that is understandable as we are so much more than our wildest dreams as you have shared Sally.
It is very beautiful to feel how we start introducing doings in order to awaken and connect to the being, and eventually the being becomes the primal that facilitates doings for it to deepen, and this deepening has no end and it just keeps enriching, not to arrive at some fireworks, but to return to a very still place.
When we commit to self-caring and self-nurturing we set out on a journey of re-connection with ourselves and our inner essence and thus have the opportunity to fall in love with ourselves.
I have started to feel a sense of divineness within my body it is hard to describe but I know it’s the very essence of the universe; it is the fabric of the universe. This feeling I have resides in all of us. I know this to be true because we are all made up of the same particles that make up the universe.
For me it brings more detail into how I do things, and whether my movements and choices bring the souls quality through my body.
Thank you Sally, I’ve recently been exploring the difference between the thoughts I have of myself and how I actually feel in my body and being, and these are very distinctly two different things. It seems my mind can think of me in all sorts of faulty ways, perceiving me negatively and as very different to who I actually am. Imagine that, my own mind working to turn me away from knowing and enjoying my true being, considering that the body itself is constantly working towards homeostasis and harmony and preferring to avoid anything disruptive, what is coming through the mind is very out of tune and out of step with the natural harmony of the body.
I love your observation here Melinda – the mind is a strange thing when it seeks to do things that does not appreciate and honour the body it lives in. And yet the same mind can also deeply care for the body when we have aligned to the source that seeks to love ourselves up in a true sense. Hence it is our alignment that then allows one or the other source to supply us with the way to think, believe, behave etc. This is a revelation and one to remember, for it makes all the difference in life and all the choices we make – align with soul or align with the lower spirit?
Thank you for letting us feel the rich qualities that exist. For we need more nurturing in this world..
How we would like to be blinds us regarding how we naturally are. All the efforts to construct ourselves in a specific way stand in the way for us to recognize and be able to appreciate us, the true us. It is us that make it hard for ourselves.
Its really really really important to appreciate every single moment we are expressing from soul. Discounting and dismissing it is pure self abuse.
There is nothing more beautiful than a woman returning to herself.
Interesting how our own experience of ourselves can be different from how others experience us as another. I love how you remained open to the word sweet even though it was not how you would have described yourself as, and how gorgeous it is to feel you keep surrendering to the qualities that have been there all along. Sweet, precious, delicate, tender, sexy, strong, fragile… we are all that.
This is beautiful – what if we are not aware of our most amazing qualities?
‘In connecting to my fragility, gentleness, sweetness, tenderness and delicateness, I can very clearly feel that I am ALL woman.’ I love what you have shared here Sally, these are all qualities that I used to hide as a woman because I didn’t want to be seen as being weak or flaky. I can now feel there is great strength and power when women live and embrace these qualities, we also offer a reflection that inspires other women to equally feel these gorgeous qualities within them too.
Beautiful to read of your acceptance of yourself and your qualities.. when we accept ourselves and start to allow ourselves to live as who we truly are, we can inspire others to do the same. And isn’t that what life is all about.. inspiring one another to be and live all the glory, beauty and joy that we truly are, within.
Absolutely, and doesn’t this keep life simple; accepting, and, living who we truly are and so inspiring others to live their equal amazingness.
Once upon a time if someone had asked me to describe myself I would never have included the words “fragility, gentleness, sweetness, tenderness and delicateness” in the description. But how things have changed since I began to bring a deeper love, self-care and self- nurturing into a life that was devoid of the honouring of myself as a beautiful woman. Today I can feel all these qualities within me and know without a doubt that this is the true me.
It is amazing what bringing consistent self-care and nurturing adds to our life, ‘ I have progressed through some major milestones: from not knowing what self-care really was, to beginning to care for myself a little more, to incorporating self-care routines and rituals into my daily life, to now understanding and accepting that self nurturing is deeper than taking care of my physical body – the care and nurturing of my physical body supports the connection I have with my soul.’
The word self-care is bantered around alot today. But do we really understand the depth that genuine care for our bodies can go to in breaking the unloving patterns of our behaviour and in healing our past hurts.
After reading your article Sally, I feel I would like to view myself on a video, to get a better understanding of who I am and the qualities i bring as a women.
Our eyes see what we have said yes to. The fact that you start seeing something different is just a reflection of a bigger truth you have started to connect to and say yes to as well.
I have been reading blogs on the topic of religion and I found myself once again at this blog. Through nurturing ourselves more deeply and connecting to ourselves more deeply is religion. Re-connecting to the “truer beauty as a woman”; loving and adoring who we are and then taking all of how we are with ourselves to the world we live in…how can this not be religious?
Thank you again Sally for what you have shared here. It’s only a short piece but it’s very powerfully reflective for any woman or man returning to their soul. I also would not have once described myself as delicate or gorgeous, yet the more I discard what I have taken on from the outside world the more the true me is revealed and those qualities that I hold innately as a woman are more clearly felt and then expressed. As a woman it’s an incredible joy to return to my soul and reconnect to the true essence of me. It’s a bit like opening s gift everyday, something beautiful within is there to be felt, explored, appreciated, then expressed and shared.
“have I stopped to accept and appreciate that this care and nurturing allows me to feel a truer beauty as a woman” A beautiful stop moment to appreciate all that you are.
Self-care and self-nurturing? In the past I would have no recollection of what this meant or felt to me. Since I found out about the teachings of Universal Medicine, Serge Benhayon, I came to feel a different quality to life, one I just needed to be reminded of, as I had forgotten… Another way to look at things and there they showed me a way that was different but yet so familiar. This was about that everything is energy – everything is related.. And that so, we must take care of ourselves, the energy we live from, and so was I introduced to self-care and eventually self-nurturing. Something I till the day today explore every day from within myself more and more.
As I read your article again Sally I can feel how appreciation is a very important part of nurturing, for it helps us observe those nurturing moments and then take them to a deeper level. It also helps us accept that not only are we making those choices but that we can and deserve to make nurturing choices for ourselves.
Thank you Jennifer, I hadn’t made the connection between nurturing and appreciation but it’s definitely there, as we appreciate ourselves we nurture the women within to not just know herself but be connected to and live from all she is.
We learn so many things but we are never encouraged to truly get to know ourselves – but it is one of the most important things in life as we will be with us throughout our entire life.
So true Esther – getting to know ourselves and deeply so, is a lifelong gift and well worth the investment.
Thank you Sally, self care is a vital topic for us all to explore. I have found for me that self care doesn’t just support the body but that it’s a deep communication to the self of having value, of being precious, and it takes so much pressure off the body so that a relationship with me, the being, can be felt and deepened. I appreciated this line “the care and nurturing of my physical body supports the connection I have with my soul.”
This is such an honouring and loving sharing about yourself. It is crazy how we see ourselves so differently to what we truly are and bring and thus it is so very important to observe and listen and see the impact we have on the world and take this as a reflection back. And what a simple tool to watch yourself on a video, to being open to watch yourself with an open heart wanting to find out more about yourself, wanting to getting to know yourself better.
I agree Esther, in terms of getting to know ourselves and appreciating who we are “it is so very important to observe and listen and see the impact we have on the world and take this as a reflection back”.
Yes, I too have had to slowly accept that I’m not the tornado I thought I was. Well, I certainly walked around like a tornado for sometime, priding myself on my multitasking ability and efficiency. What I’ve learnt though, is you can still be efficient and take care of yourself. A revelation really! I am no where near as hard and ‘tough’ as I used to be and I consider that to be a very very positive thing.
It is very beautiful the read this again Sally and realise just how damaging and destructive comparison is. For as soon as we go into comparison out goes our appreciation of the magic of who we already are within, and our opportunity to explore, confirm and deepen our connection to our essence, the light of our Soul. The light we innately are is everything, in equalness with all, as such there truly can never be any comparison.
Appreciation is the road back to the truth of who we are.
Great that you are claiming this, ‘I can also feel that the self-nurturing and caring ways I have introduced into my life have made a difference and have allowed my self-nurturing to go to a whole new level,’ these changes do make a huge difference I have found.
This was great that you had the opportunity to see yourself in this way, ‘During this period of time I happened to video myself for something I was involved in and then watched it. In watching this recording I saw how gentle and delicate I am when I move; I could hear a sweetness in my voice and I had a realisation that I was precious. While watching this movie I cried as I was not at all what I thought I was or how I had made myself out to be.’ Very touching and beautiful Sally.
Sally thankyou for sharing here, I can relate to the experience of others saying how I am in terms of my true qualities, but I myself seeing who I am differently and not in a positive way. I have not seen myself on video but I may experiment with filming myself and allow what I observe to show me who I am, instead of believing what I think. It’s interesting isn’t it that the mind can act in such direct opposition to the body and being, when it’s really there to work in support of what it is part of.
It can be amazing to be open to how others see us truly and how we see or think of ourselves. This article highlights what is often an internal critic that we have not really on our shoulders but inside our heads. There appears to be always a thought of not matching up, not being something or just plain being wrong. How different is life and our feel for it when we take a step back from ourselves and start to appreciate who we are and how we feel. Just consistent dedication to this alone can change how we view ourselves and the world. I wonder how many of us can watch ourselves on video without thinking something critical, this hardness on ourselves translates or goes through everything. It goes through the relationship with ourselves and everything else around us.
You are definitely sweet in your blog Sally and what a quality to own – there is nothing sweeter (pun intended)! Also, I like how you looked deep into your eyes it’s something I should do more of. I certainly receive myself more since UniMed when I stand in front of the mirror. This represents my openness one of the best qualities to claim. A lot can be claimed in front of the mirror they are good value.
Deepening our self-care and nurturing of the physical body supports our connection with our soul as you point out in this blog Sally, and appreciation of this is important.
Being self-caring once obtained and maintained as a daily part of our rhythm will be a mainstay or our foundation for our evolution.
It still takes me by surprise when someone sees a lovely quality in me that I don’t see or acknowledge myself.
I can relate to this Debra which highlights to me how much more there is to appreciate of ourselves, and how powerful it is for us to express our appreciation of other when we feel it. As we do truly thrive on confirmation not comparison.
‘The tears also allowed me to connect to a fragility within that was in no way weak or made me feel less than anyone else.’ We always think that fragility is a weakness, I have found that when I connect to my fragility I can really feel the tenderness and delicateness that I hold within, and there comes a strength from knowing that we are all innately tender from the inside out.
I really got to understand what nurturing is recently. It’s more than putting a jumper on when you get cold, it’s anticipating that you would need a jumper so making sure it’s included in what you take out for the day. It’s reading what we will need for the day and not being ‘left in the cold’ – in more ways than one. Super simple, super considerate and super nurturing.
‘Have I stopped to accept and appreciate that this care and nurturing allows me to feel a truer beauty as a woman – for me to feel my soul’s expression through my female body?’ So true Sally often as women we miss the opportunity to deeply appreciate the beautiful qualities we all bring. For me I have been building this appreciation and acceptance into my daily life and this has been life changing and has allowed me to bring this same love and acceptance to all my relationships – it’s a win/win for all.
Yesterday I heard a recording of my voice. Interestingly before it played I could feel myself starting to brace myself on hearing my voice played back to me, as I have always greatly disliked my voice, because it always sounded hard! Well I got a pleasant surprise, as my voice sounded sweet and light and I laughed a lot, which was a lovely confirmation of how much protection and hardness I have let go off and put a smile on my face.
‘I stopped to accept and appreciate that this care and nurturing allows me to feel a truer beauty as a woman’. This is my experience also, recently I have been feeling just how sweet and gorgeous I am as a woman and also feeling how lovely it is to express my vulnerability, something I could never do in the past because of all the protection and hardness I had went into. So much to appreciate…..
‘if I doubt that I am sweet and very gentle I look directly into my eyes because they reveal to me my true qualities, my soulful qualities’. The eyes never lie, which is why we avoid looking into them to avoid the truth of how we are living and treating ourselves, this was my old pattern. However, these days, with all the changes I have to deepen my self-nurturing and self-love, when I look into the mirror, I see such light in my eyes which is a confirmation of all I have chosen.
Our bodies respond to the reflection of movement from others. The more we connect to those true qualities and move with them, the more people can experience and feel those same qualities within themselves – such is your example with Natalie Benhayon, Sally.
‘the care and nurturing of my physical body supports the connection I have with my soul’, absolutely, this is also my experience and over the years my self nurturing has refined in so many ways that it is a joy to be in my body.
A gorgeous and delightful blog Sally, your sweetness radiates off the page……
The more we love our bodies the more we get to know just how many awesome qualities we have, it’s a bit like watering a seed and watching it bloom into the most beautiful flower, we simply need to water and enjoy the fruits of what naturally evolves from introducing love into our lives.
Love it – tending the garden of our soul.
It’s such a lovely feeling as you walk to feel how lovely you are. I have been having similar feelings myself and it’s so sweet to feel my own sweetness. And a constant reminder that this is who we are naturally and when we don’t make loving choices, we don’t feel this way. Nothing else results in feeling this other than self-loving choices. Nothing…
This is such a lovely sharing. I choose to live in a certain way, and my movement reflects the quality I live in – but when I say this, I feel it’s a bit of a head statement, I am actually feeling a bit like, well, but I don’t really know what quality is being communicated – and in that, I am sensing a bit of disconnection. I am being reminded that everything is here already, and I am enough already, all it takes is a choice to reconnect.
Why do we so often look at ourselves with eyes that completely miss our essence, I love how video footage gave you the reflection that you had been missing.
‘You are sweet’, when people would say this to me in the past I would not pick it up as a compliment more as that I was less and that needing cared for because could not do life on my own. So I always tried to be the independent woman until I came across Universal Medicine and Esoteric Women’s Health and feel it is a great quality to have, being sweet and have a tremendous love for people, how this can be full of power and strength and never is weak or less.
Sally this is a very powerful message you share here, for not only woman but for us all to consider. Knowing who we truly are can only be discovered through our connection to our inner-heart, where we already are in essence all the divine qualities of the Soul. Our minds alone knows not of this quality and will only leads us to believe that we are less than who we actually are. Through building a loving and nurturing relationship with our bodies we develop a relationship with the love we are, through which we come to know the of the immense beauty we are within.
This is really interesting what you shared about the video. The mental picture we hold about ourselves can be very out dated to the reality of our blossoming. If a rose thought it stayed a bud while the world could se the transformation of a beautiful bloom with fragrance to match, or a chrysalis didn’t know it was a beautiful exquisite butterfly sharing harmony. The natural world is incredibly adaptable to evolving and a great role model for us all.
And thank you for your very beautiful reminder Sally “the care and nurturing of my physical body supports the connection I have with my soul.”
It is so important for women (and men equally so) to take the time to stop and question why we are our own harshest critics and why we don’t spend the same amount of time appreciating all our gorgeous qualities.
Tamara it’s great to ask questions, they can highlight so many things and your question is a very powerful one. It would be interesting to pose this one to a large group of people and find out what they come up with.
It is beautiful when you can let go of how you see yourself and allow yourself to truly see and feel how others see you… and then embrace those qualities knowing there is a gorgeousness in them that is deeply healing for you to express in full and for others to bask in.
We are so blind to many things about ourselves. This is why we have relationships for people to reflects things about us that we may not be aware of.
Thank you sally for this inspirational piece.
It’s crazy how we often don’t see our true virtues, I would have always described myself as sweet, but almost the opposite of you lacked the strength and authority. Now I’m learning that there can be great strength in sweetness, and great authority in love, and there is an amazing feeling of finally being true to myself.
You are not the only one Sally!
Beautiful Sally, self-appreciation is something we rarely allow ourselves as women, particularly of qualities that are so innately beautiful and essential to us. It is often easier to see them in another than in ourselves, but the willingness to do so is life-changing. It is impossible to ignore the fact we are divine once we have felt and seen our own true qualities, and self-negating, self-neglect and lack of self-care become much harder to indulge in after that.
Thank you Sally for sharing your experience. You have inspired me to deepen my self-care and self-nurturing. Also to appreciate myself, to be more aware of my movements, how I express myself and to be aware of my choices. It is deeply confirming to appreciate what we reflect and how we live from love.