Self-esteem is something most people work on in their lives. But what if everything you already wanted is already within you? I was lying in the bath the other night, washing my legs, feeling super sexy, appreciating and loving my body, when I suddenly realised that “Wow, I no longer have the thoughts that I used to have”. Thoughts that had run with me from my teenage years, such as;
- I hate my body,
- I wish I was thinner,
- I wish I had someone else’s body,
- I want longer or thinner legs,
- I wish I had a six pack or a flat tummy,
- I would prefer a more muscular and athletic looking body,
- I wish that my breasts were smaller.
But now… I love my body just the way it is!
I love…
- How my tummy has a beautiful gentleness to it and a little feminine curve,
- That my legs are no longer hard and muscular; they may not look like a model’s, but to me they feel long, awesome and slender and are exactly the way they are meant to be,
- My bum; it’s sexy, curvy and amazing, not pert or ‘perfect’,
- How delicate my fingers are and my cute little toes,
- My breasts are amazing and I wouldn’t change them for the world,
- The graceful and playful way that my body moves.
Then I thought about other times I have felt this way, for instance when I’m in the gym and I move with such playfulness and grace and with a huge smile on my face. Long gone are the days where I’d push my body hard, training to extremes and being obsessed by the perfect body image.
A big support for me has been that I now listen to my body and have such fun in doing so. For example, I leave the gym when my body feels it’s had enough, rather than just staying another twenty minutes when my body is clearly tired. So I leave feeling full of vitality, full of me, full of joy because I have honoured my body; there’s no adrenaline buzz, exhaustion, or pain.
When I eat now there is no form of control, no obsession, no thoughts about calories, no worrying about fat, or whether I can eat this or can’t eat that, or if I eat this then I’ll skip a meal, or not eat tomorrow. I simply eat now to celebrate, appreciate, nourish and love my body, and me.
I have so much fun in doing so. I love going food shopping and cooking now, feeling what foods to buy and eat, whereas before it used to be such a chore. That’s not to say there’s days where I don’t eat things that aren’t the most nourishing and supportive, but every day is a learning – I know what I’m choosing now and most of the time I know exactly why. Before I would give myself such a hard time, which only prolonged the way I was feeling.
Now I simply say:
- Okay – what are you doing?
- This might taste good in my mouth but how will my tummy and body feel about it?
- Why are you really eating it?
- Why do you want to put this in your body?
- Why do you want to make yourself feel awful?
… when you are worth so much more than that: learn from it and move on.
Even the way I choose to get dressed now is so different: no longer do I just put on whatever, but I take my time to choose what I really feel like wearing. Sometimes it may be to celebrate how sexy I am feeling, and this can be in jeans, a vest top and trainers, or at other times it may be to nurture me and keep me warm on a cold day; it may simply be that I feel to wear a certain colour, or it may be to honour how beautiful, feminine and delicate I am feeling. I feel so much joy in honouring this – I dress for me, not to impress or entice another. Even when I put make up on, it’s not to build my self-esteem, look better, cover up or hide what I don’t want others to see, but all of it is in celebration of me.
I can now stand in front of a mirror and claim that I am beautiful and damn sexy, whereas not too long ago I would avoid looking in mirrors as I would be quick to pick out all the faults that I thought I could see instead of seeing the true and beauty-full me.
And the amazing thing is that this love that I feel is not from anything I can do on the outside, it is something that is within me: I just need to allow myself to stay connected to it, to myself, and be present in my body.
I’ve tried so many things to feel lovely but they simply didn’t work as they came from something outside of me. They may have relieved me of feeling my hurts or emptiness for a little while, but it never really allowed me to deal with them and know that I am already more than enough. I used things like getting a new haircut, buying clothes, a new nutrition or diet fad, a thinner or fitter body to feel better, alongside all the self-help and new age stuff, but there was always an un-full-filled feeling there.
The love I now feel for myself and for my body comes from within me. There’s a fullness, a celebration, a deep feeling from inside that simply, play-fully and joy-fully wants to emanate and radiate. It is the loveliest thing and it doesn’t stop with me.
When this love and joy is felt and embraced, I can’t help but share it and feel the love in others, for in truth it’s not mine to keep and hide away. Re-connecting to myself and allowing my love to be has been a support for me to appreciate myself. There is no longer a need for me to work on self-esteem, to look a certain way but to just accept, appreciate and celebrate that I am already enough – I am amazing.
It is with love, thanks and deep appreciation of Serge Benhayon, Universal Medicine and Caroline Raphael, for the absolute love and truth they present, live and share, and the constant inspiration, love and reflection from other practitioners and the amazing student body.
By Gyl Rae, Student and waitress, Scotland
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
” There is no longer a need for me to work on self-esteem, to look a certain way but to just accept, appreciate and celebrate that I am already enough – I am amazing.” Accept appreciate and celebrate are three power filled words that bring such joy when we can live them in our lives. Thank you for a beautiful sharing Gyl.
There is so much in this Gyl but I felt the grown from looking for approval from outside, from others and the self-critique that went along with that. Then the relationship that was developed with you that meant there was less need to mold yourself into someone else’s picture of perfection.
“But what if everything you already wanted is already within you?” It’s probably one of the hardest things to accept because when you do there is a momentum of choices to feel when you have not chosen it.
Amazing what a difference staying connected and present in our bodies makes to how we feel and are.
This is really beautiful to read and feel the essence of love that is the source for our self worth.
‘The graceful and playful way that my body moves.’ naturally connects us to our inner essence, and we can live and express from there.
It makes such a difference – where you are making the assessment from. Are we judging ourselves, comparing to this or that, looking for perfection? Or are we truly seeing ourselves, who we are, the choices we have made, and celebrating our innate gorgeousness in whatever way feels right to us?
That is a key question isn’t it – where are we making the assessment from – inside or outside? And what are we comparing it to? All too often it is to manufactured image in the media…a recipe for failure right from the outset.
It has taken me a long time to appreciate myself ! But I have come so far down the track since Connecting with Serge Benhayon and his presentations of the Ancient Wisdom. For many years I have hidden away behind excuses of lack of confidence, and have gradually eased myself out from under that rock!
What a miracle it is to be able to say “I no longer have self-esteem issues”. Shouldn’t this be plastered on the front page of every women’s magazine?
When we feel really great about ourselves, we can’t but reflect it to others – it just comes out of us, through our words, how we move, what we say. There’s no trying, it just happens, and appreciating what we’re feeling and reflecting is what allows us to build on and expand it.
I used to be a great avoider of the mirror as most of the time I didn’t like what I saw, a woman who was struggling under the challenges of life with their impact visible on my face, my body and the way I held myself. How things have changed; today I love the woman I see reflected to me in the mirror and if any day I don’t look my gorgeous self it offers me a stop moment to check in to see how I have been caring for myself in the days beforehand.
What you share Gyl is far from the norm, I welcome the day we all feel this level of love and acceptance, ‘The love I now feel for myself and for my body comes from within me. There’s a fullness, a celebration, a deep feeling from inside that simply, play-fully and joy-fully wants to emanate and radiate. It is the loveliest thing and it doesn’t stop with me.’
We live in a world where the focus is on the outer perfection and this has us doubting our own beauty all the time, as you describe, criticising and trying to improve ourselves constantly. It is a blessing to have the presentations and many workshops and events from Universal Medicine and Esoteric Women’s Health that show that there is another way and giving us many supportive tools and examples how this is possible to live.
It’s beautiful to feel that feeling of acceptance of yourself as you describe Gyl. It’s something I cherish and although it’s not always present – I do have critical thoughts about myself sometimes – when I do feel it it is deeply touching and supports me to make choices that mean it stays with me.
Gyl I enjoyed reading about how you honour your feeling when deciding what to where. Loving the whole of me instead of only bits has been a real journey, but it now feels great not to be compartmentalised and fragmented, and to pay attention to how I feel first rather than how I look.
The outside of us additions, makeup, clothes, jewellery will always reflect the way we feel about ourselves. A great dress will look and feel amazing if it reflects the self-love a woman has for herself, or if it is reflecting an inner self-loathing, it may still be a great dress, but it won’t feel great to see.
I feel the same way as you’ve described here Gyl, having now developed a relationship with my body that is loving and a joy to be with. Reading this blog points out that even celebrating this relationship isn’t something I have to do more or be better at, the celebration of this union is instantly there in my connection with my body.
When I was young, slim, shapely and wrinkle free, I didn’t like or appreciate myself or my body. Now, at 57 years young, I appreciate myself so much more than I ever did… and it grows more and more as I come into myself gracefully and lovingly. My inner heart shines and brings all my beauty from the inside out.
Gyl you are an absolute inspiration for all who meet you, the world needs to see women appreciating and celebrating themselves in this way as it confirms the beautiful and loving qualities we all have within.
We have so many ideals and beliefs and images around our bodies, which the media greatly contributes to, and we ourselves can be so harsh and abusive with our own bodies, thus, it is a real game changer when we can say, I love my body the way it is….
We don’t track our thoughts like this or track our movements. You can pretty much go on day after day or even lifetimes with an internal dialogue that treats you extremely poorly. In fact if it was a person and they did what they did to you I think you could possibly have them charged for domestic violence. Be aware of some of the things we say to ourselves inside our own head or some of the things we have accepted as we have grown and now think of them as ‘normal’ in our lives. Who is this internal character and why are they so abusive and relentlessly against us? What if every move you make, the quality of how you move adds either to expand what you naturally are or feeds this internal menace? We’ve heard the saying, “you can only get out what you put in” and our body is no different. The quality we do everything in then is the point or the quality that feeds us back. So if the internal menace is loud and abusive the reflection for us would be this and is the quality we are putting into ourselves via our movements. As difficult as it may seem once we consistently make a change to the quality that we are in every moment then this quality allows us or makes us more aware of what is going on already within us. It’s like to have more care you will need to live and bring that care to yourself. Just from how we self critique alone should have alarm bells ringing for most of us.
As I reflect and ponder after reading Gyl’s blog it has made me realise that I wouldn’t want to change any part of my body… I couldn’t do it. So how then does that make me feel about my body? I treat my body with the utmost of love and care when I have grazed or marked it in some way, I eat foods to support it although there is some refinement needed here, I exercise gently, I am learning to observe instead of react towards another and catching myself when I feel the need to rush, push etc. The list can go on but I can feel there is room for more love for my body; a deep honouring and nurturing of the body in the way with which I move.
I love those moments of realising how I have let go of something I thought I would never let go of. It shows how our thoughts are not always true and can be very misleading. It shows too that moments to stop and take stock, see where we are at and then appreciate are very important.
I wonder how many multi-national or global industries are based on ‘helping’ people change how they feel, through changing what we eat, how we look, what we do, how we sound, the clothes we wear etc etc. Yet, here in this blog is the very heart of the matter, the very key to true change – self-love – and it was within us all along. How different the world would be if we all learned this lesson from day one and were raised knowing the love we are rather than trying to perfect our external appearances and expressions. Awesome, life-changing, world changing blog Gyl Rae, thank you.
Thank you for exposing that true beauty comes not from what we can bring to ourselves from the outside but rather a deep appreciation and expression of what we already possess within. This is something that needs to be taught and nurtured within us all from young so we do not succumb to the pictures we are all fed of what beauty really is as we grow up.
Gyl your sharing is very affirming, and I can see that I have come a long way too in the appreciation of my body. To love and value my body without criticism, is so freeing and I can feel the joy and naturalness that comes with that, going back to when I was a little child with no worries! I find it helps to remind myself that we are all equal and one.
I can so relate to trying different things to make me feel better. And every day, I feel confirmed that it is not about what I do that makes a difference, but how I am in what I do, my movement, and it needs to come with ‘me’ in true essence.
Hello Gyl and while I struggled understanding some of the wording you used what I could see was how much what you think has changed as a result of treating yourself differently and with more care. You show the link between the way you move or live and your thoughts. If you are having self destructive thoughts, make a change in the way you are and the thoughts will change to align to you. I can see that appreciation has a big part to play as well as we often are so critical of a part but don’t often appreciate the whole thing. There is always something that can be appreciated and so if you are needing to be critical of something or of yourself then do this with a balance of appreciation as well. Everything around us in nature has a balance and so why are we thinking we are not a part of nature? We are nature and nature is us and so any law or understanding nature is showing us then this is naturally in us as well, maybe just not appreciated. Thank you Gyl.
We walk in life not realizing the extent to which we choose to harm and to bring ourselves down by our own accord. Being able to clock the games we play with ourselves and to realize that we have a choice of not going there is indeed life changing.
There are a number of books on the shelves and courses run to promote confidence yet from my experience that which I have participated in has not worked to end up continuing the search but in truth I would be searching all my life if I was expecting the confidence and an increase in my self esteem to come from outside of myself. My confidence is developing naturally and is a by-product of the forever, deepening connection to myself.
A gorgeous sharing and a delight to read Gyl… life is so much simpler and more joy-full when we live from that inner joy we all know so well.
It is true – we are all amazing naturally!
Your blog is so beautiful to re-read Gyl. “I can now stand in front of a mirror and claim that I am beautiful and damn sexy, whereas not too long ago I would avoid looking in mirrors as I would be quick to pick out all the faults that I thought I could see instead of seeing the true and beauty-full me.” Not many women I know could writes this, as there is always something to find fault with. Appreciation of ourselves is so key to dealing with a lack of self-worth.
This is a contrast to the majority of girls and women I know, what an awesome sharing of how it IS possible to make a change in our lives
Self-esteem and self-worth, two words that are probably mentioned a lot but, from my experience, that we have little or true understanding of or how we ‘have’ or ‘get’ self-esteem or self-worth. There must be tons of books out there on this and I feel magazines always sell (literally) that if we buy the lastest make-up or hair product or get this ‘seasons’ wardrobe that will well and truly fix our self-worth and self-esteem issues. Thankfully I am slowly coming to the understanding that self-esteem and self-worth have absolutely nothing to do with the outside or the lastest product but our relationship with ourselves, how much we care for ourselves, appreciate who we are and what we bring and how much do we truly love our bodies. Yes growing up I had a tirade of things about my body, my appearance etc etc and sometimes this can feel bigger than us becoming a perpetual underlying and often subconscious programme of negativity about ourselves running whilst we go about our day. I am still healing the remains of this, but it is awesome with the true support of Serge Benhayon, Natalie Benhayon and Universal Medicine less and less I look for confirmation of myself and who I am on the outside and more and more build the relationship with me from within. Loving the new Women In Livingness magazine that explores and puts self-worth as the heart of this issues theme, definietly worth a read http://www.wilmagazine.com
Life is so much easier and more fun when we stop the self-bashing and start appreciating ourselves and accepting all of our imperfections. Accepting each day as another opportunity to learn, that there’s nowhere to get to, no perfect version of ourselves that we need to be. There are always things to learn, patterns to let go of, but in the understanding that at our core, we are already more than enough.
Thank you Gly for a delight filled blog, I love these words, “I simply eat now to celebrate, appreciate, nourish and love my body, and me.” Now this is a great recipe for me to follow.
I agree that the relationship we have with ourselves is the most important relationship to get ‘right’. i know when i value how i feel inside far more than anything going on outside, my inner harmony is ensured.
Honouring my body has been an unfolding process, it takes much courage and love to show how we now value ourselves enough to consider how the body feels as important. This can be unending decades of self abuse. It is so cool to see the turn around moment and to know we will never be lost in such unconscious self abuse ever again.
What a lovely blog Gyl, and what you now live is nothing short of a miracle. When we consider how many women live in self criticism, self doubt, and self neglect your story stands out as a shining light. There truly is another way to be with ourselves and it doesn’t come from products, plastic surgery or ticking boxes, it’s right there in our own relationship to ourselves. This is another awesome testimony to how Universal Medicine supports women!
It was my birthday today and I have celebrated and appreciated my age, 56 years old and my body. I have the feeling this is the very first time I am truly embracing myself, my body and how graceful it felt to celebrate the beautiful woman I am.
Great to re read your blog today, allow myself to stay connected to the love that I am gives me the appreciation of this endless love that connect us all.
This is a great reminder Gyl -‘And the amazing thing is that this love that I feel is not from anything I can do on the outside, it is something that is within me: I just need to allow myself to stay connected to it, to myself, and be present in my body.’ Making these simple and loving choices for yourself has been key to deepening the relationship with yourself and no longer experiencing self esteem issues – this is powerful and inspiring.
As women (and men!) our bodies are beautiful! It’s only in the way we treat ourselves and our bodies and the choices we make that don’t allow us to feel this absolute fact. Ultimately what I have come to realise is that self worth and self esteem is a choice and it’s our choice to make whenever we want to.
I realized how much I too have changed about how I feel about myself. I was at a dinner with a group of ladies. We had a question presented “What part we loved most about our bodies?” My dilemma was which part shell I nominate? Surprisingly others showed embarrassment and couldn’t think of one. Now these ladies were incredibly beautiful by the way! Thank you for sharing Gyl, this was great to reflect on.
It’s so inspiring to see and feel a person truly loving, adoring and appreciating themselves. The truth is much of humanity struggle with thoughts and feelings of lack of self worth and lack of self esteem. One person choosing not to go into these thoughts and ways of being by changing their choices and their movements inspires another to feel how to do it.
Thank you Gyl for this very inspiring blog. It reminds me that when we truly love and cherish ourselves from within it is impossible to not love and cherish our body and others in the same way. Nothing outside of us can make us feel this amazing until we choose to connect to love from within. From this our clothes, make-up etc. are simply there for us to use as a way to express how gorgeous we already feel and to share with everyone we meet.
It’s a work in progress – there are still times I am critical of the way I look, what I’m eating etc. but this is becoming less and less as my love and appreciation for myself grows.
Thank you for sharing your amazingness and the joy that you now have in your life. I appreciate your impulse to share it because it is so lovely to read your story of exploration of your relationship with yourself and I celebrate with you the depth of the love you are and reflect so joyfully to others.
Self-esteem is an end result rather than a goal, arrived at through a series of consistently loving, supporting choices that eventually lead us to accepting and appreciating ourselves for who we are and to understanding that we are more than enough as we already are without donning a whole range of externally manufactured ideals and beliefs.
Its true Gyl, if we don’t appreciate ourselves how can anyone else?
Spot on Suse.
Body image is such a huge subject for girls and women of all ages! Girls are subjected to the ideals of society from a young age, and it must be awful to grow up feeling so much pressure and seeing a culture of “self loathing” to be so normal. It would make such a difference if girls were educated early on, by their parents and in schools that they are amazing!
… and don’t need to change who they are to fit into anything.
A very beautiful blog Gyl; to read and to feel the deep appreciation and love you have for yourself, coming from deep within, is powerful and inspiring.
Well said and a pleasure to read how you see yourself has changed to self appreciation, opposed to self bashing.
Thank you Gyl, I loved reading your inspiring blog once a gain, the words that stood out for me were to do with food and eating, I am looking into my food choices and the whys of what I choose . ” I simply eat now to celebrate, appreciate, nourish and love my body, and me.”
“Self-esteem is something most people work on in their lives. But what if everything you already wanted is already within you?” this simple fact, something that I had not considered as possible when growing up, turns on its head everything about how we are with ourselves and the world. From young being taught to become more than we are, we erode our living awareness of the fact we already are everything we ever need to be. I love how through appreciation, celebration and taking loving care of the body you’ve provided us a simple explanation of regaining that absolute feeling inside of knowing we are already everything.
I loved reading this Gyl, I could feel myself expanding as I read your blog especially with this line of yours -‘ There is no longer a need for me to work on self-esteem, to look a certain way but to just accept, appreciate and celebrate that I am already enough – I am amazing.’ – Such a beautiful reminder for us all, time to celebrate.
Yesterday I realised just sitting with myself how lovely I am, without the need to do or prove anything. An amazing joyful feeling no confirmation by looking in my eyes, just enjoying my space, my love.
Yes, Gyl, you are amazing, and I also feel like that a lot lately. And it’s such a joy to share the love that I am with others by just being and expressing it.
Thank God you did listen to your body Mary. So many times we choose to ignore it thereby quite often missing many opportunities and then we beat ourselves up.
Your blog was so refreshingly lovely and uplifting to read Gyl – any woman who reads this and is not inspired to give it a go would have to be crazy!
Its great when you can bring your attention back to the 99% gorgeousness rather than focussing exclusively on the 1% imperfections. I remember this right from school where looking in the mirror all I could see was the new spot that had formed, while to those around me it was barely noticeable!
I love that Simon – bringing our attention back to the 99% gorgeousness rather than focussing exclusively on the 1% impferfections. You are spot on (pardon the pun).
Thank you Jenifer, and all who have contributed comments to Gyl Rae’s blog. When we meet you your beauty is so natural and at ease with your surroundings we might think you have always been that way. It is very lovely for us to read how you learned from your experience of trying to live up to a false image, or battling with low self-esteem. There are so many ways we can relate your experience to our own lives and learn from what you share.
This is lovely to share Gyl Rae, “I’ve tried so many things to feel lovely but they simply didn’t work as they came from something outside of me.”
All the beauty we have always wanted comes from our attitude and relationship towards ourselves.
So true Gyl ‘When this love and joy is felt and embraced, I can’t help but share it and feel the love in others, for in truth it’s not mine to keep and hide away.’ No time and no need for hiding anymore, love and joy can never be just for ourselves, it is too awesome to not feel and see it in someone living this.
Soooo wonderful to re-read your blog Gyl and to appreciate myself in this very moment how far I have come and how much I am loving and caring with myself…
I agree Mariette – It is important to appreciate every single loving choice we make.
Just love the compilation of self-talk questions for those moments when we find ourselves with our head in the fridge, eating for any reason other than hunger. They’d make a great fridge magnet and would serve a great purpose – that of providing us with a moment of awareness which would give us the potential for making more self-loving choices.
Gyl, I could feel your heartfelt celebration and absolute joy in being all of you. Thanks for sharing your joy with us all.
When the love that you have for yourself and your body comes from within, there is no need to look outside of yourself at ideals of what a woman should look like. There is no need to be accepted or loved by others when you accept and nurture yourself. Gyl, the love and joy you share is inspirational.
I love this Gyl – ‘And the amazing thing is that this love that I feel is not from anything I can do on the outside, it is something that is within me: I just need to allow myself to stay connected to it, to myself, and be present in my body.’ And it is so true we can be sexy anywhere anytime with whatever we are doing or wearing. It is something that is not determined by what we are wearing or how we act but rather a quality of being that naturally comes from our connection to our essence within.
“When this love and joy is felt and embraced, I can’t help but share it and feel the love in others, for in truth it’s not mine to keep and hide away.” Thank you for sharing your love and joy Gyl, when we stop old patterns of hiding or criticism and replace them with appreciation, others like myself feel inspired to build this consistency into our days.
Beautiful Gyl this awesome blog is so inspiring for all. You described so simple what you have chosen to change. This sentences said it all:”There is no longer a need for me to work on self-esteem, to look a certain way but to just accept, appreciate and celebrate that I am already enough – I am amazing.” That is true.
Gyl this a great blog. The beautiful simplicity that you now live your life from feeling from your body what works and what does not, compared to the complication of trying to figure it all out in your head. Secondly that maybe self esteem is actually not something to be worked on or trained in but actually just re-discovering and being your true self? We could/should rename self-esteem as self-connection or self-awareness perhaps?
There is such a difference to feeling like I have to have the three square meals a day (never understood why they need to be square?) and getting panicky if I was going to miss one, to now feeling what my body needs, or how it responds to certain foods. It is this approach that has helped me to refine my diet to what my body finds easy to digest and sits well with me.
The truth found in this quote is awesome, a woman has altered how she truly feels about herself…“I can now stand in front of mirror and claim that I am beautiful and damn sexy, whereas not too long ago I would avoid looking in mirrors…” And this change has occurred because of learning to self care and self love and so a miracle, a true miracle has occurred. I remember looking in the mirrors and feeling disappointed with myself or yes ‘avoiding’ them, I no longer feel this. I also confirm how beautiful I feel when I look in mirrors, what a transformation. What is going on here to enable such changes…true love and true connection has been established within ourselves and self worth has been built, we are all beautiful when we express from our inner heart.
I loved reading your story Gyl, there were words that I once read that said “the greatest joy is in being me”and you certainly have expressed that to the full , thank you.
Lately I have noticed that I have become a bit fuller and I can really feel that it does not come from me eating more, but from me being more all of me and being more in my body. What I also noticed is that I am not going into a oh no, I have gained wait but that I can actually feel that my body is changing and that it feels really true. I am also working out more and I am really letting go of all the beliefs that I have to look a certain way to feel good about myself. I have always been so focused on needing to be thin and needing to have a certain body shape. But what is most important is that I feel at home in my body and that I can fully accept it. That is still work in progress but there is so much more love and appreciation for my body and this feels absolutely wonderful.
Thanks for sharing Mariette. I too have noticed that the love and appreciation I have for my body is growing. Nothing has changed except me being more gentle with myself while I dry myself off, put cream on my body, get dressed and stay with me and not drifting off while I am caring for myself.
Dear Gyl,
Just tonight I realised that I have said a resounding yes to the truly amazing beautiful woman I am and that nothing but full acceptance of this is now in order. Re reading your article has confirmed no end that the joyousness that I feel in my life is to be celebrated and fully surrendered to.
To read this is a celebration, so gracefully you are with yourself. My body rejoices and I can feel where I have and where I haven’t celebrated myself in the same way.
Gyl I have a joyous grin on my face right now. “A big support for me has been that I now listen to my body and have such fun in doing so. ” Your words are bright, sexy and full of love. Thank you.
“The love I now feel for myself and for my body comes from within me. There’s a fullness, a celebration, a deep feeling from inside that simply, play-fully and joy-fully wants to emanate and radiate. It is the loveliest thing and it doesn’t stop with me.” Yes I can so relate Gyl thank you for sharing how many years of our lives have been wasted wishing to be and look like someone else! How awesome that with self appreciation and acceptance of ourselves we find the gold we have always been searching for – right there under our very noses!
So true Gyl, “And the amazing thing is that this love that I feel is not from anything I can do on the outside, it is something that is within me: I just need to allow myself to stay connected to it, to myself, and be present in my body”. It was very empowering for me to grasp that by re-connecting with ourselves from the inside we find something so precious, true and supportive, Love.
Simply by accepting, loving and appreciating yourself for all that you are, this is a wonderful opportunity for those who know you to be inspired by.
I agree Deidre. I have gone down the path of trying to change people, to make them see, and also allowed this to be done to me – but the truth is this doesn’t work, it is very imposing, more often than not puts people off and the barriers go up, as it feels like we are being told what to do. When anyone tells me what to do – I generally do the complete opposite as a stance. This inspires and supports no one. From experience and learning when I have just enjoyed and appreciated being me, with no intention of pushing or putting my views or feeling on anyone, and sometimes not even having to speak – this is when the true magic starts to happen, people can really feel and see a difference and are inspired from here.
I appreciate the depth of the self appreciation and self love that you express here, you make it vey real and tangible, inspiring even.
Thank you Gabriele.
Thank you Gyl, this is a very supportive blog, you have shared great insights about simple tools for us all to break away from old ways of living that keep us playing small, this sentence says it all : “And the amazing thing is that this love that I feel is not from anything I can do on the outside, it is something that is within me: I just need to allow myself to stay connected to it, to myself, and be present in my body.”
Gyl, what a great example of accepting how beautiful we naturally are and the futility of looking outside of ourselves to feel that.
This is an awesome blog – I can totally relate to having the same kind of thoughts running through my mind when I was a young teenager. I am much more accepting of my body now but even still I sometimes get those thoughts. The greatest thing now is I know those thoughts are not true. When I receive them I start to become super nurturing with myself and it’s not long after that these thoughts change to loving thoughts of myself.
I agree arieljoymuntelwit. It is amazing that just by making a simple choice in one moment how our whole way of being and body can feel totally different. In the sense that how I instantly feel completely different when I make a more loving choice.
Beautiful reminder Gyl that we are already truly amazing inside. When I am feeling unsure of myself I can choose to reconnect to my inner beauty and appreciate how amazing I am. I am learning to become more aware and connect to my body, feel and trust it. It is constantly sending me messages to guide me and I can easily dismiss subtle signs when I am not fully present in my body or when I allow my thoughts to run me.
I agree chanly88. What I have been aware of and working on recently is when any thoughts of self doubt, low self esteem or self worth, or even distractions or reaching to eat something – is stopping and saying wait a minute, what am I not expressing in full. As more and more I can feel if I hold back any part of me, for example be it love, truth or joy in my movement, thoughts, expression, how I dress, what I eat, the way I speak etc then that room I leave by not expressing all of me in full is filled with one of the above. ( self doubt etc) which is physically felt in my body. It is in that moment which I stop and say, okay what am I not fully expressing, it is very clear what I have held back, then I can choose this instead of what is not me, and it feels amazing in my body. No more room for anything that is not divine.
This has also been my experience of late Gyl, having this feeling has certainly upped the anti on how I am being with myself, though I have at times given into the resistance of this such divine understanding. I find though that when I do give in I immediately can feel my body contract and that all of me is not fully present in my body at this time. Leaving me open to taking on whatever is around me. This is definitely a work in progress, but having experienced how quickly I get affected when not choosing my fullness, it is most certainly work worth doing.
Wow, this is very gorgeous Gyl. Love within is something that no one can deny, so why fight it?
I Love reading this blog this morning Gyl, and after reading the very first paragraph, I realised I too do not have those old negative toxic thoughts as you have listed over the body. The one over-riding thought I had for so long was: I hate my body… which opened the door for all the other negative thoughts to walk through…. Just the other day I was walking to work and I suddendly realised; I love my body, I love how I walk, how I move with so much more presence…..and I especailly love how I listen to my body now and what it has to tell me, and I love how my self love has deepened through all the consistent loving choices I have made in the last few years that today I feel amazing, vital and look years younger.
Awesome jacqmcfadden04, thank you for sharing, I can feel the joy and truth in your comment.
I have some work to do on appreciating myself but your blog is amazing and inspiring and felt. Thank you Gyl.
Thank you karenmuntelwit .
It is truly downright amazing that we can feel this way about ourselves and our bodies, particularly as women Gyl. I don’t even know of a supermodel who does not criticise herself harshly one way or another.
It is truly a credit to the work of Universal Medicine, and all that you have deeply committed to in yourself, that you can now feel this way. Not so long ago, I would have thought that such a blog was ‘just words’ and I wouldn’t have grasped the power of what you’ve shared here. Having come such a long way in relationship with my body myself, I totally appreciate every word you have shared – by no means are these ‘just words’, for they come from within you, they are real and embodied. I look forward to hearing more, for this loveliness you feel, can only deepen… and it smashes down so many constructs that have kept women and men alike feeling less than their amazing selves, based upon how they look.
Exactly Victoria, I couldn’t agree more – Universal Medicine has been a pivotal changing point in my life, no only with this but many other aspects too. Though coming back to the body image – everywhere we look, people are complaining about their bodies, even down to those many see as being so called “perfect” and aspire to be like. But this is not true, it’s all false and just goes to show how our perception of our looks is not based on truth, and that we have been fooled. True beauty, actual, real lived and felt beauty does come from within, then emanates out. The joy and reflection that can be felt from that, man, woman, boy or girl is undeniable and amazing. Like a bright light shining out from within.
Hear, hear Gyl. The joy and light is absolutely amazing, and so tangibly real, that it simply cannot be denied. Shining with you sister!
I love your comment Victoria. Beautifully expressed. I too wasn’t happy with my body when I was a teenager. The comparison and thoughts were very damaging. But once I learnt to accept and appreciate who I am those negative thoughts about my body started to dissipate. I am continuously deepening my appreciation for myself and others.
chanly88, you open up here, the scale of just how horrendously AWFUL it is, that when we are growing girls, and girls growing into women, let alone as the adult women (and men) we are today… that we are not confirmed in who we are. How horrendously AWFUL it is, that we are, in effect, taught that it is ok and ‘normal’ to dislike our bodies, to harm ourselves, and never feel enough.
This is most definitely not ok, and we must stand firm, having reclaimed the beauty that is who we are, letting those around us including the generations to come, know that they are far too precious to even consider judging oneself so.
Chanly88 and Victoria,
It truly is insidious how we are taught that it is ok to harm our bodies and to dislike and judge them. We now do hold a responsibility to shine so that others can also see just how harming and horrible this so called normal way of being with ourselves is. As women who have reconnected to the absolute beauty we are, we are an inspiration to everyone who comes in contact with us.
The development of true self-love, building that loving relationship with ourselves, really starting to heal those old wounds of self worth… these are essential connections to be made so that we can bring all of who we are to the world, and thus inspire others, and so it will spread… Wow!
I agree Chris, it does. People I have not seen in a while will stop and say you look amazing, “you must be training at the gym all the time etc, what’s your secret, what have you got in your shopping basket etc.”. I just smile and say thank you, and share that I train less than I ever have done, I walk, sometimes swim and once a week lift light weights, and that I just listen to what my body feels to eat, for example I bloat and feel heavy after gluten so I don’t choose to eat that anymore’, and be really honest when they ask me. I know it all comes down to self love, the more I love and appreciate myself for the choices I make, the more amazing I feel, and this is what shines from inside out. I don’t have to tell another how to be, just by living this way, it inspires another to change.
Dear Gyl, I love the simplicity of living the livingness of you that you present in this comment. I can feel myself surrendering to how truly simple it is to live the truth of me in the world. Thank you.
I loved reading the list you made of the things you appreciate about yourself and your body Gyl. It is so refreshing to see a woman celebrate her loveliness and inspires me to do the same. Thank you.
Thank you Leonne.
Great blog great self appreciation.
It is truly glorious when we go from low self-esteem and personal criticism to actually loving and appreciating ourselves. It is a process, but once you get to the stage when you can look in the mirror and not see any faults, but rather your gorgeous beauty shining back at you, you know your self-love has truly developed. Enjoy your beautiful and damn sexy self!
Very true Jo, I love your comment. It is a great reminder to me to deepen my relationship with self-love and let my beauty shine.
Gyl, I love the absoluteness you present and claim, the Love you now hold for yourself and your body. It feels truly beautiful and inspires me to celebrate with you!
This is so beautiful to read and just amazing to see that women are now starting to choose to reverse their ‘self esteem issues’, rather than further compounding them. I feel very much the same – I loathed myself deeply for most of my life but now have a deep love and confidence in who I am – thanks to the support of Universal Medicine and the Universal Medicine Practitioners.
Thank you Gyl, great article about living the love that we are as presented by Serge Benhayon. As a Student of the Livingness, your writings are an inspiring approach that is saying it is okay to be me. This means, simply be the love that is inside us all equally and love is saying be amazing to the best of our ability.
Beautiful powerful blog – it reminds me of myself a lot. The presented and lived appreciation is truly felt and it inspires me to appreciate where I am at after a long journey of letting go of behaviours that kept me dependent on the outside. There is never an end of appreciation and your blog is lifting me up to go even deeper.
This made me smile so much Gyl, as I could feel the beauty of you emanating from the page and I feel so inspired by the love you shared. I could also see myself reflected in your words and how easily I too can embrace the beauty that is me, just by loving and connecting to who I truly am and letting that out to be seen in the world. Just divine!
Beautiful blog Gyl, thank you. You can really feel the claim and appreciation of yourself in your words.
“The love I now feel for myself and for my body comes from within me. There’s a fullness, a celebration, a deep feeling from inside that simply, play-fully and joy-fully wants to emanate and radiate. It is the loveliest thing and it doesn’t stop with me”. This is a great sentence and is how I feel about myself and as you say, it’s not something that you want to keep to yourself but you want to share it with everyone else.
Gyl I can feel your deep appreciation of yourself in this beautiful blog. The feeling is coming from within you. You are truly an inspiration and indeed a ‘Woman in Livingness’. ✨
This is such a reminder that it always comes from us. “When this love and joy is felt and embraced, I can’t help but share it and feel the love in others, for in truth it’s not mine to keep and hide away.” When I feel that within, it radiates out to everyone I see, touch and interact with.
I love the joy in your article Gyl and a great reminder to live the love I am.
Thank you Gyl for sharing your joy and celebrating you with us.
Beautiful blog Gyl, Its a great thing to accept and feel the beauty that we all are. After feeling and seeing this it’s an amazing joy to look in the mirror!
What stuck with me was when you said that we do things to take away the hurts and emptiness we feel for a little while. It all comes back, and, as a teenager, I feel I deal better with it now.
Thank you Gyl.
Thank you Gyl. I could feel the joy and appreciation you have for yourself within your writing. Very inspiring.
Thank you Gyl for your beautiful sharing, saying no to the struggle and accepting and appreciating who we are in our gorgeous bodies.
Thank you, Gyl. I really enjoyed reading this. It’s absolutely gorgeous to feel your joy.
Gyl, thank you for you awesomeness. Every your picture, every post is full of amazement. “And the amazing thing is that this love that I feel is not from anything I can do on the outside, it is something that is within me: I just need to allow myself to stay connected to it, to myself, and be present in my body.” – that’s what you do perfectly well. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Thank you Elena, and thank you to Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon for their absolute unwavering presentation of love and the truth.
Amazing to read this Gyl and you are a gorgeous woman – worth celebrating every inch over and over until the cows come home and then some more.
The joy just bubbles out of the screen and burst inside me and in my room as I read this. Gorgeous.
Thank you Jonathan 🙂
Very inspiring Gyl – if women started to see themselves the way you do – then watch out world!
I really enjoyed reading your article Gyl celebrating you, so light and fun … as I read I am celebrating me too. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Gyl, Yeah, accepting our amazingness that is already within; so simple and so profound. And no trying or wanting present. Love it.
Love it, Gyl! Also when you write: ‘I’ve tried so many things to feel lovely but they simply didn’t work as they came from something outside of me.’
I agree with you: it doesn’t work when it comes from outside. For me accepting has been a keyword in this whole process. Accepting I have the body size, shapes and ‘colors’ I have and accepting I am perfect exactly the way I am.
I can feel your joy in your writing Gyl. Your blog stopped me in my tracks and allowed me to feel how far I have come in appreciating myself. How exhausting it is when we choose to focus on the outer things, or ignore our bodies call for self care and how lovely it is to begin to truly self care, accept and appreciate ourselves just as we are.
Absolutely Jane, Joy all the way! And yes it is absolutely exhausting, it like a never ending track or record going round and around, if we weren’t enjoying listening to a piece of music we would switch it off, so why not do the same with those self bashing and negative thoughts? I know for sure when I listen to my head I feel absolute exhausted and drained, but …. when I listen to my body, love and self-care is there and an endless abundance of absolute joy that comes from within – and that is then shared with all.
Loved reading your blog- a beautiful reminder of how we can stop thoughts of low self esteem to creep in
Absolutely Loretta, as they are so not true! They are just a way of keeping us small, not good enough etc when in fact we are all absolutely gorgeous, divine and oh so amazing!
I so knew that this Blog was written by the gorgeous you, Gyl. I love the way you express with all you are – not holding back how awesome you feel. Truly beautiful and inspirational!
Thank you Sarah
“I simply eat now to celebrate, appreciate, nourish and love my body, and me.”
This is an incredible thing to be able to claim.
Perhaps what should bring us alarm is the fact that most of us almost never eat this way, even though it is such a loving and natural way to eat!
I agree Jo, not judgment as I have been that way myself eating for pleasure or to numb, but now the pleasure I feel when I eat is coming from me first, in the love I feel for myself, the way in which I cook, honour my body, listen to what I feel to eat, nourish myself and prepare my meal, how can you not feel joy and celebrate when you cook and eat food prepared with awareness and love?
I loved re-reading your blog Gyl. Another reminder that self appreciation is the way to go.
Thank you Rachel.
Such a simple formula Rachel – definitely the best form of therapy!
Gorgeous Gyl – “there is no longer a need for me to work on self-esteem, to look a certain way but to just accept, appreciate and celebrate that I am already enough – I am amazing”. A stark contrast to what many people (including myself) experience or have experienced – always being self-critical, instead you find ease in showing the world ‘this is who I am, and I am AWESOME’. Love it
🙂 ha ha that made me smile Jessica, yes it is amazing to feel this way, nothing to be ashamed of or hide, but everything to celebrate.
“there is no longer a need for me to work on self-esteem, to look a certain way, but to just accept, appreciate and celebrate that I am already enough – I am amazing” I love this too, truly inspiring!
“There is no longer a need for me to work on self-esteem, to look a certain way but to just accept, appreciate and celebrate that I am already enough – I am amazing.”
Pure gold.
Such a different perspective is offered when we focus on accepting and appreciating ourselves rather than something to fix about ourselves. It is very freeing and inspiring.
Absolutely mmryan, it is so different to what we are offered when we are growing up or throughout our adult lives, nothing until Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon came along and presented to us self- love, allowed us to love, accept and appreciate ourselves. The whole world has been set up to keep us small, for example just look at all the magazines and media out there aimed at females which feed us lies about not being good enough, that give us quick fixes to be more beautiful, thin, get a man etc – none of which are true. All I can say is thank goodness for the awesome Woman In Livingness magazine which has set a new foundation and marker for woman’s magazines in the world, a true celebration of woman everywhere, and not an airbrush in sight 🙂
A light-hearted celebration of life as it simply is….reminding me of the lightness in us all. Thanks, Gyl.
To consider that we all could live like this is amazing, what are we doing as a society that it is more normal to not like yourself then to truly love and celebrate yourself?
It feels so lovely to read a blog like this …very inspiring. Expressing.. how we can have all these negative thoughts within ourselves, or we can choose to not listen to them and connect to the love we have within instead, which naturally wants to emanate and radiate out. (Choices) Celebrating you, appreciating ourselves. Thank you Gyl.
hi Gyl, what I can feel from your comment is that there are no issues when we connect with our bodies, we start to deeply appreciate who we are and what we bring to the world. And with that we start to feel a joy within that we cannot just keep to ourselves, it is something to be shared with everyone, as this blog has done.
Gyl, I was grinning ear to ear reading this, such a great celebration of you and your journey and I felt me as part of it in your sharing – it’s so true, it’s for us to share the joy that is us in the world. I love the simplicity of how you address challenges ‘learn from it and move on’ – beautiful.
Loved reading your blog today Gyl. The sentence – “Before I would give myself such a hard time, which only prolonged the way I was feeling” – pulled me out of a pattern of self-bashing that I was caught in, thank you.
It doesn’t matter where we are at there is always more to be aware of and celebrate. This blog is both confirming and inspiring, and beautifully light. Thank you Gyl.
A gorgeous appreciating Gyl, and reading this I can relate to so many of these changes in myself too, inspired and supported by Serge Benhayon, Universal Medicine and the student body. I am totally amazing : )
On re-reading this it is a complete polar opposite to how I live, however that does not mean I have to read your blog and consider myself as less. I know that I too have the potential to make my relationship with my body something special. Thank you for reflecting that we are so much more and can live in a higher quality with ourselves than we have chosen to previously.
It was great to read your blog, Gyl and to appreciate how far I have also come. Thank you.
It’s great to read how your thoughts and feelings about yourself changed and it’s quite an inspiration.
Great blog, Gyl. It is awesome to read how you have claimed that you are enough as you are and that you are amazing. I know there have been plenty of times in my life when I wished I could change the way I looked, but as you say, until we start to look inside of ourselves there will always be a part of us that doesn’t feel good enough. Very inspiring, thank you.
On re-visiting this blog, this stood out.
“When this love and joy is felt and embraced, I can’t help but share it and feel the love in others”
An awesome way to live and an inspiration for all.
Lovely appreciation and celebration of all that you are and how you share this with the world. I connected with the quote: “And the amazing thing is that this love that I feel is not from anything I can do on the outside, it is something that is within me: I just need to allow myself to stay connected to it, to myself, and be present in my body.” It really resonated with me and I appreciated all that you expressed and also where I have come on my own journey back to me. Thank you for sharing.
Great reminder Gyl, of the thoughts that can run riot and put too much emphasis on the outer body. It seems like years since I had those thoughts and I can now appreciate my body exactly the way it is today and without worrying about what other people think.
It’s true Julie, our ‘thoughts can run riot’ and that’s exactly what it feels like, keeping us disconnected and distracted from our body and the glorious truth that lies within.
It is so true, I too have forgotten the thoughts I used to have as a teenager, and for years as an adult. Its good to remember though, to celebrate how far I have come to being able to feel myself from my beauty from within. Thank you for the reminder, Gyl.
Hello Gyl, I think a really key point you have made in your most enjoyable blog
is that nothing that came from the outside really helped your situation.
It wasn’t until you looked within yourself that you found an answer.
Absolutely Jonathan, and it’s something I love learning more and more each day – every time I go to look for something outside of me, be it love or connection, I know it’s a moment to stop and go deeper within myself for this, as everything I am looking for is already there, inside me. It’s such a true deep joy to feel.
Hello Gyl, this such a immensely inspiring article. The outside of the body doesn’t matter that much; it is the inside that is important – how you feel about you, how you appreciate you and the self love and self worth you feel for you. Looking inside ourselves is the key to true Joy and Playfulness.
Thank you Maryline, I find true joy most definitely comes from within, and often when I am alone, though not always, but for me true joy is a confirmation of the amazingness I am feeling from within first, then it expresses and shines out.
Gyl – such a great article! I noticed something similar about a week ago, I just thought – wait – wow I don’t have all these horrible thoughts anymore, sure occasionally they appear, but they do not have the grip over me that they used to, it really is amazing the power in making simple self-loving choices; they start to confirm that we are worth that care and that attention, and that the beauty in us is so naturally exquisite and untouchable.
Thank you Meg, it’s amazing when we have moments like this – and yep absolutely, it is most definitely all about making simple self loving choices, when we do you can’t help but feel and let our natural beauty shine out – playfully and joyfully so, and yes it is deeply and naturally exquisite and untouchable.
Absolutely – the connection between making self loving choices and feeling amazing is undeniable!
Thank you Gyl. Your article showed me how I too have changed in so many ways since being inspired by the presentations of Serge Benhayon. I always avoided looking in the mirror as I had decided before looking that I would not like what I saw and only looked for what was wrong with me. Now I look in the mirror, look into my eyes and can feel the love that is there looking back at me.
That’s beautiful Mary thank you for sharing, it is beautiful to look into our own eyes and feel the love that is there within us looking back. I love looking in the mirror now, I used to avoid it so much, or find faults, now I claim how beautiful I am and how sexy I feel and sometimes even do a little dance (and that can be in the lift at work). 🙂
Amazing Gyl. I found myself nodding along to every word I read, yes done that, and that, and that. It brought me to a deeper appreciation of the choices I now make on a daily basis to live in a more loving way in connection to my body and the love of being this way. All inspired by the Way of the Livingness as presented by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. Awesome.
That’s awesome Beverley, and yes I too have been so inspired by the presentations of Universal Medicine
Gyl, This is truly amazing…you show that this kind of transformation is possible AND very much in reach for us all because the change happens from inside out!
I say to myself, “Stop listening to your head (and all its been told/compared to…) and start using your heart.”
I find it profound that you (we) can claim such beauty and joy (say it out loud)…It seems to be so shunned in families and society to do so, but…
I am feeling braver to show my new self-acceptance the more I feel
how truly beautiful I am!
Absolutely Jo, go for it!
You are so right about how society doesn’t like us claiming our absolute beauty and joy, people don’t like it… could it be it brings up stuff in them that they don’t want to feel? And also how we have been controlled or lead to believe that you have to look a certain way to be beautiful. Instead of celebrating, claiming and expressing the amazingness, beauty and joy we all are within.
Thank you Gyl. It is lovely to read about someone so joyfully acknowledging and appreciating themselves with the love you do. It is so rare in this society where we are so conditioned to ‘melt into the crowd’ and not be noticed. By being brought up this way, of not being confirmed in our true gloriousness, we can be controlled and subdued by those in authority who wish to maintain their position of elitism.
So true Jonathan, why hide away when we can shine out 🙂
I’d love that too Ryan, I’d have so much fun, I love meeting people.
A great reminder Gyl. It is so easy to look in the mirror and focus on which areas of your body you would like to change; not tall enough, too fat, too thin, hair too frizzy, hair too straight etc. Learning that it is not the wrapping of the parcel but the beautiful gift waiting inside that really matters.
Gyl, its lovely to see you celebrating yourself.
Thank you Simon
Your honesty and openness have touched my heart.
Thank you Gyl.
I really appreciate your comment Wendy, thank you
The feeling of that lightness and joy of simply being you shines throughout this blog. Everything we have is already within us without the need to try or strive, just a willingness to accept and appreciate this fact. So simple yet so power-full at the same time. Thank you.
Thank you Leigh, it made me smile a huge smile to read ‘ the lightness and joy of simply being you shines through’ so very true – I am full of joy – as we all are, and I do love being me.
Beautiful Gyl. Thankyou for sharing. Accepting and appreciating who we truly are – the way forward.
When I read this blog I can just feel the radiance, joy and lightness that you hold in your body! Thank you Gyl for sharing and the reflection, Beautiful!
I love here the journey that you have shared with us, thank you Gyl.
What an amazing blog – it just radiates with your joy and glory. Thank you for writing this Gyl.
Thank You Shevon
Thank you Gyl for sharing your building of appreciation for yourself so simply for everyone by connecting inside more and more deeply, and choices in food and how you live and the joy you have from it all. I too am learning to simply love myself and appreciate all the little things, celebrating and enjoying doing things so much more gently with me and from this finding such a joy in simply being me and honouring that.
So true Alison, when we feel the beauty that we all naturally are from within, we can’t but help feel joy and share it with all
It is so simple and light Rebecca, when all the heaviness and complications come in we know it is not us. There isn’t a need for self esteem issues as you so rightly say, but sadly we have all allowed this through society, growing up being told we are not good enough, pretty enough etc, and believing them. Being constantly bombarded with images from the media etc all around us of how we should be and look, to be accepted and beautiful, which is simply not true.
How do we begin to re-connect to our inner beauty? For me this has been a gentle unfolding which is constantly ongoing, growing deeper and deeper, of firstly allowing myself to feel again, to not give in to all the self abuse and negative thoughts that come into my mind, to understand that these thoughts are actually not me, this is a huge one, and each time to simply say no to them — then all the little things, to really appreciate myself — be it in making a cup of tea, or taking the time to prepare a really nourishing and yummy lunch, running a bath to celebrate me, to really learning to love, nurture and honour myself again… and from that connection with my true self and the deep beauty we hold within, out comes the absolute joyful knowing that I am damn sexy, playful, amazing, beautiful and full of love – be it in a sexy dress, my pj’s or jeans. 🙂
It is so true that a woman’s true beauty comes from deep within.
Thank you Gyl, your article feel so simple and light – there is no need for self-esteem issues, if you can truly connect to your inner beauty, and then see your outer beauty, awesome!
Thank you Gyl for this joyful blog and the freedom you have found from within. I too am celebrating, appreciating and loving my body and self in a way I could never have possibly imagined … There was actually never anything wrong with me … What a revelation!
Absolutely Suzanne, we all are amazing!
Hi Amina, I am absolutely celebrating with you! 🙂 I have a huge smile reading and feeling what you have shared. Gyl
Wow, way to go claiming yourself Gyl! Very confirming to read… thank you.
Hey Joshua, thank you – it feels awesome… as it’s no longer from my head, I can absolutely claim it from my body, and when I say it there’s not an ounce of doubt, or arrogance, just the truth.
I love this phrase “And the amazing thing is that this love that I feel is not from anything I can do on the outside, it is something that is within me.” Yes, this is very true that self esteem should come into our self even if we already have the things we want in our life but we choose not to appreciate it, it is still no use. Great post by the way.
Hi Carmen, thank you.
I love what you share about self esteem and how it should come from within even if we have the things we want in our life. For many years from the outside, if people looked at me, they would assume I would have no issues with self esteem – I was super fit, what I thought was healthy, in a relationship, lots of friends, having fun, had a job, enough money, was doing what I though I wanted to do – but… on the inside I was an absolute mess!
I was miserable, so unhappy, hated myself, would abuse my body by training, pushing and driving my body hard, partying all hours, drinking far too much and the rest, having an unhealthy controlling relationship with food, an obsession with exercise – always never being good enough – lots of negative thoughts and talk, and at times I would totally give up on myself. I choose jobs where I could help others with their stuff, but never really helping myself – I would be in tears behind closed doors. But, looking at me most people did not see this – they saw a super fit, slim and so called happy girl.
It is amazing the changes that have taken place in just a couple of years! 🙂
I feel more me than I have ever done – I can feel all that abuse and neglect was not who I really am, and when I say I love my body, I absolutely do, not with an arrogance or a need for others to love it, but in the simple fact of I feel so yummy and lovely and with that, want to look after me, and take such deep care and nurture my body, and that’s what shines out. I can feel how precious our bodies are.
Even the other morning I was having a little play after reading your post. I was out walking, feeling when I walked there was a natural gentle sway of my hips from inside out, which felt super sexy… I thought about what you shared about self esteem coming from within, so for a bit of fun, I tried to walk sexy from the outside to see what it felt like, – it felt horrible, my whole body and face hardened, it felt mechanical and a “I want / need you to look at me” way of walking, whereas before it felt super yummy, lovely and it didn’t matter if anyone looked at me or not, as I felt it within me, I didn’t need anyone else to think I was sexy. It was great fun to play about with and really feel this… thank you for the inspiration.
Gyl, this is so important to understand (to feel) the difference between sexiness/loveliness coming from outside or from inside…Our world so desperately needs to know the difference.
An inspiring and awe-some blog Gyl, there is a deep inner glow within me from reading this.
‘deep inner glow’ just about sums it up for me too Stephanie, it’s like reading a great big hug. So tender and loving.
Thank you Gyl, love the freedom you have developed expressing about your body. How supportive for us as women to learn to love our selves/our bodies. That is just so special and so needed by women young and old… good on you!
Absolutely Bernadette and thank you.
I love what you share about it being so needed for young and old. I realised how huge this was. Working in high schools I observe how for the girls and even boys, everything becomes so much about how we look from the outside, that horrible constant comparison to other girls / boys / media / celebs/ fashion / trends etc. and not being good enough / pretty enough / wearing the right clothes etc., and even in the staff rooms talks of loosing weight, diets etc. We need to reflect there is another way, and as you say, in learning to let go of what’s not, and choosing to learn to re-love ourselves and our body is an awesome and very powerful much needed reflection for all. 🙂
Thank you all, it is definitely amazing and joy-full to feel how I really ‘feel’ about my body, after years if not lifetimes of abusing it, even in what I thought was being healthy and fit. I realised after this was posted my face is included in that too – I can look at my reflection now, fully claim and celebrate I am beautiful – it amazed / surprised me the first few times this happened, I would catch a glance in a mirror and be “Wow! I am beautiful”. The loveliest thing is that there is not one ounce of arrogance or anything that I do on the outside to make myself try and look or feel this way, it’s all the love and joy I feel shining out 🙂 and in that we can see / feel that in all others, even if they so choose not to. 🙂
I really feel the truth in your words Gyl.
It is absolutely amazing that we can see ourselves in such poor light and feel so bad for so long…AND that we can choose the other way: to see with love, our true beauty.
How wonderful it would be if every woman could read your post & see that this loving way is available to them too.
Hi Gyl, that´s beauty-full and deeply inspiring. Thank you for sharing. It made me smile and feeling joy-full. 🙂
How awesome you are Gyl – I loved reading this and could absolutely relate to all you shared 💜 beautiful and definitely worth celebrating.
Thank you Leonne.
Hi Gyl, I felt inspired reading your article about how you have noticed how your thoughts about your body have changed, as you have stayed connected to your body, – not looking outside for solutions. I have no doubt you will be looking amazing on the outside too!
Thank you Bernadette, I’m inspired too… the amazing thing is, not only in myself but what I’ve observed in others to – the more we connect to our bodies, express the beauty and love we are, the more our outside naturally changes and looks amazing too (!) with no external effort or trying – just an awesome emanation of what’s within. 🙂
This is so true Gyl. I have found that the more we accept ourselves within and connect with our bodies they do naturally change shape. I have witnessed this in myself and many others, that there is a glow that also emanates when we become content with ourselves.