I have a lovely silver teapot. My husband, who owns an antique shop, brought it home from work one day as he thought I would like it – and I did.
When he first brought the teapot home, it looked dull and tarnished. I thought the silver had all been worn off, leaving only the underlying nickel. But the teapot had a lovely shape and feel and so I used it to make tea. It was beautifully designed so that when you poured the tea all the leaves stayed in the pot – no strainer needed – and the tea tasted great.
So I used the teapot every day and as I drink quite a lot of tea, it was handled frequently. One day, after all this handling, I noticed the handle had become shiny and silver.
And I wondered if, underneath it all, the whole teapot was still lovely and silver.
I bought some silver polish and started to rub the teapot gently. As I did, the teapot started to shine. I was now inspired to reveal what I knew lay beneath, and willing to do whatever it took to bring it to light. My husband walked past, and was amazed to see what was being revealed. He said: “I have a product at the shop which will help – why don’t you come and try it?”
So I went to the shop and gently rubbed the teapot, and as it became cleaner and shinier and more and more reflective, a beautiful genie appeared!
Now this was not a great big blue fast-talking genie, but one who was equally capable of everyday miracles. One who could transform a dull teapot into a shining vessel of beauty and grace, that reflected this to all the world.
And what the genie realised as she cleaned the teapot more and more, was that the teapot was a metaphor for her own body.
The years, and life, had left the teapot (and her body) slightly tarnished, on the surface, with a few little dings here and there where life choices had not been so kind to it. But with a little tender loving care, and some dedication and commitment, the tarnish easily came off, leaving the underlying beauty there for all to feel and see.
I brought the teapot home and showed it to everyone with the innocence of a child, and my family were amazed to see how beautiful it was.
I noticed after a day of using the teapot that it had fingerprints on it, and was starting to dull again. With this I realised that it will need to be cared for and cleaned and then rested every day if it is not to tarnish again.
Keeping my teapot clean will be a daily reflection and reminder of love now –and it will reflect to me the care I have been taking with it – and with myself – every time I stop to have a cup of tea.
In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.
I am forever inspired by the life and work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
by Anne Malatt, woman, wife, mother, grandmother, Australia
Further reading:
How True Service First Begins With Caring for Self
The light glowing outside is a reflection of the love and committment we bring, the care for the details, the dedication of cherising ourselves with no reserves..The beauty that emanates as a result of this choice is priceless.
It’s very inspirational to read this analogy as it can be applied to any object we may relate along the day. We can bring a qualitiy of love that care and deeply nurture us, from inside out.
I loved the metaphor and understand how our life’s choices leaves our bodies tarnished with dings here and there. And yet underneath, that light is always there.
This statement is more powerful then some would even realise, ‘In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life’. I would like to add that will either tarnish us or keep us shining, it all depends on how we perceive or receive it…
What a beautiful reflection and reminder, ‘Keeping my teapot clean will be a daily reflection and reminder of love now –and it will reflect to me the care I have been taking with it – and with myself – every time I stop to have a cup of tea.’
Such a simple message of self care with the quirky symbolism of the genie that appeared…We are all here to shine brightly despite all that the world throws at us but also despite how much we might fight shining our own light ourselves. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy in dulling the light by not appreciating ourselves or not looking after ourselves and the spark within – but thankfully this blog is a great reminder of the fact that it is not that hard to shine bright and in so doing we inspire others to do likewise and discover the joy and ease with which this can be done.
Appreciation is a big and often underused word. In appreciation we see and offered so much more. When we seek appreciation from others, we have given our power away and yet it is all within. We just need to look within more often.
Thank you Anne for this gorgeously simple and refreshing blog about the treasure that lies within us all and how true care and love can support us to keep shining it out to the world.
“I noticed after a day of using the teapot that it had fingerprints on it, and was starting to dull again. With this I realised that it will need to be cared for and cleaned and then rested every day if it is not to tarnish again” – this is very poignant to me right now. Care is not what we apply only when something has gone wrong, but It is already in the way we are with it, the willingness to have a relationship with it at all times to maximise its potential.
A shining example of the wisdom that is reflected to us in how we live.
When we apply the simplicity of love, dedication and commitment it will always bring a lighter version.
With love and care we can restore anything to its former beauty and magnificence, what a powerful reminder.
“…with a little tender loving care, and some dedication and commitment,….” is the magical recipe to resurrect any life however painful, traumatic or harming it may have been.
The power of love when surrendered to and honored, resurrects us form the dullness of the shadows we have willfully fallen into, to reveal the former glory of all that we are in essence, the divine light which we are here to reflect.
Well said Carola as it confirms that the light was always there, and it is not something we need to make or learn or do, but rather an unlearning to allow it to be seen again in its full glory.
Such a gorgeous reminder to keep polishing.
Life offers us simplicity. We can choose to connect to it or not. Shine comes from the acceptance of the offering. Dull reflects to us our loosing sight of it and getting lost.
I like that the teapot was so well designed and worked beautifully even though its appearance was not so well kept, and I can see that is when I would go ‘Oh, well. But it still works’ and neglect the care it could have for its potential to be fully appreciated.
Anne we often take such care with keeping objects in good order, including our car, yet we don’t do the same with our body. By working with Universal Medicine I have made a lot of changes to bring self care into my life and it’s just like the teapot, the body is tarnished and affected from previous choices, however with time and self care not only is my body restoring but the essence of who I am is starting to shine through again.
Great point Melinda – we can look after things like our car or motor vehicles etc and be very particular about what fuel goes into the car or how often we service it or wash it, but then ironically we can ignore this application to our own body and shovel various fuels into the body that we know do not serve it well, forget to stop and service our body (getting medical support for physical ailments, or resting the body as needed etc). Quite profound to realise this total opposite of how we look after ourselves (or not). It is a fantastic analogy and one well worth pondering on…
‘In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.’ So true Anne, thank you for this powerful reminder.
What a way to now imprint your cup of tea for the love of you. I would have loved to have seen an image of this teapot in this blog.
Yes, to keep the joy of life ‘shining’ does not happen with just one ‘polish’, it requires constant and consistent loving care, appreciation and nurturing that is The Way of The Livingness.
Love this Jonathan – the consistency of living love offers the shining reflection of the light we are all are in essence, imprinting the truth of us all.
It’s amazing when we are open to it how even the smallest mundane experience can reflect a profound learning for us.
The simple messages of the soul to illuminate the way of the heart.
We are always offered so much to learn, very beautiful, just as is this tea pot analogy.
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.” such a gorgeous blog to read, thank you Anne for sharing the treasures that are there for us in every moment, just waiting for us to feel and deeply appreciate.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful reflection on life. The flow from the cherished teapot will know that it comes from a vessel that is lovingly cared for.
What this absolutely beautiful blog makes clear is how much do we have to gain if we start relating what forms part of our life to us and appreciating what reflects back to us.
You highlight so beautifully how every day we are offered the opportunity to build consistency with what we align to. As every day our choices reflect the quality of vibration we choose to live. Is it love or all that is not love, as our bodies are designed to behold the love we are, and it is a body of love that illuminates with the light of our Soul, as is our innate way of being.
To me this is a bedtime story that I would have loved to hear when I was young… one that was real and a reminder to be aware of how we move and handle our bodies with care or carelessness and what results from that. Now, in my forties those things I thought I could ‘get away with’ when I was a young girl and a teenager have as the saying goes ‘caught up with me’. Giving me another opportunity to re-imprint looking after my skin or exercising my body for where it is at now.
The tarnished silver teapot is a great reflection of our physical body and the moment to moment presence and loving care that it deserves and thrives on.
A simple analogy that we can learn much from. We have a choice every moment to allow ourselves to shine or allow the world to tarnish us, but our shine still remains underneath nonetheless.
Beautifully said Thomas, as the light of who we are always remains untouched.
Beautiful reminder and reflection Anne, ‘Keeping my teapot clean will be a daily reflection and reminder of love now –and it will reflect to me the care I have been taking with it – and with myself – every time I stop to have a cup of tea.’
I love your metaphor, ‘But with a little tender loving care, and some dedication and commitment, the tarnish easily came off, leaving the underlying beauty there for all to feel and see.’ It is amazing what tender loving care reveals.
What a wonderful reminder to have each time you have a cup of tea Anne. I think I need a teapot!
A beautiful tea pot analogy Anne. And so beautiful that – ‘ In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.’
Anne this is a gorgeous reminder of the pure essence we all have within that is often hidden away under layers of protection that have weighed us down and through our simple loving choices we can restore and resurrect ourselves to be our beautiful shiny selves once again.
Lovely to read again Anne and a great metaphor for the untarnished essence we keep hidden away under our loveless daily choices and accumulated hurts.
I love this analogy Anne. It doesn’t take much to uncover the shine under the layer of tarnish and wear. And once the beauty is revealed it is for us to cherish and care for it everyday.
There is something very beautiful about cleaning silver, bringing it back to life, lovely to read your blog how cleaning the teapot reminded you of the daily reflection of your own life and how taking care of yourself is equally as important.
A beautiful reminder that it is through embracing more love and self-care in our living that we bring the shine and beauty we all have equally within ourselves.
True, we support the love and light within to sparkle out for all to see and feel.
Thank you Anne, a beautiful reminder that every choice makes a difference, and that it’s never too late to start deeply caring, no matter how worn down the body might feel: there is always a level of tenderness to return to, underneath everything else we may have added to it.
Dear Anne, I love your little stories of daily life, there is so much to enjoy and appreciate.
Yes, I love this story, it could be a beautiful bed time story.
A lovely reminder that our body is worth taking care of whatever the state it might be in and it’s the little loving care and attention we give it every day that brings back and reveals the shine and beauty it is naturally imbued with.
I love it when the simplest in things in life can reflect to us a learning that supports us to move forward in life. So many of us live like the tarnished teapot and yet each one of us deserves the dedication, commitment and tender loving care we can offer ourselves to let our true beauty be seen.
“I noticed after a day of using the teapot that it had fingerprints on it, and was starting to dull again. With this I realised that it will need to be cared for and cleaned and then rested every day if it is not to tarnish again.” Such a beautiful metaphor for our body. We need to love, nurture and care for it in every moment – or it will rust and tarnish – that way illness and disease lie.
We all have layers of tarnish from our past that can hide our true potential but a steady commitment to caring for ourselves and to clearing those layers can be very supportive in initiating our original shine again.
I can feel how so many things that I do in love, as you have shared about your tea pot Anne, then this flows to other areas of my life so that I also love doing so many other tasks.
“and it will reflect to me the care I have been taking with it – and with myself – every time I stop to have a cup of tea.” Creating stop-moments in our day to reflect on how we are going and if we still feel as amazing as the moment before is very supportive. A great thing to remember as I had forgotten about it a bit but as your story shows the beauty is always there underneath.
To find this article again today and to feel the tenderness and understanding applied to your teapot (understanding the metaphor about our bodies) is absolute gold. With christmas at the end of this week and the push to abandon our bodies in the intensity of the expectations at this time of year, this is like a quiet steady ticket of permission to listen in more deeply to what my body is saying and to take care of the teapot whatever is going on around me!
This is a great blog for me to start deeply looking at the pattern I have noticed that I am living in – how I oscillate between leaving my body to get tarnished and every now and then spiked to ‘renew’ my commitment to care and take care of it to restore its shine. I have been like a yo-yo. I have had enough experience to know for myself that it is in my everyday choices that defines the way my body feels and is, and how amazing I would feel as a result of it – yet I don’t keep it consistent. It’s like I am knowingly making choices to not keep shining.
Self-care is a daily thing. There is part of me that thinks I just need to do it every now and then. Like getting your car serviced. But it’s not. And sometimes that really frustrates me, like I go, I have to look after you (speaking to myself) again??? I did that yesterday!!!! That frustration reveals to me the call to care for myself in every moment and how I am resisting that and only wanting to do it every now and then. Great blog Anne, thank you.
Gorgeous analogy which can be used for much in life. We can care for all our things including our homes and bodies. Without loving care things will still operate and life will go on. But it is the care and regard we have for things that make the difference between simply a teapot being a teapot able to pour tea or a teapot that wows you with its beauty.
I just read https://truthaboutuniversalmedicine.com/2016/03/12/shining-like-a-diamond/, and now this. Two beautiful gems in one day. Lovely reflections.
Self-care … it sounds so simple and yet it is so elusive for so many … and yet it is the foundation of our re-connection to ourselves, and all that is.
Anne, this is such a cool story and a beautiful metaphor. How good does it feel to shine! And it makes sense that in order for us to really shine, we must look after ourselves first. Love it!
An absolutely exquisite analogy and revelation that offers great wisdom of the ever-deepening relationship that awaits with our light (who we are) within. We are the masters of the degree in which we live our light in this world we are in, and supported we are, every step of the way to embrace this through the constant reflections offered to us through every facet of our daily lives.
Love it Anne, thank you for leaving me with a lovely image. I may not have a silver tea pot but there are many things around the house that can remind me of the same dedication. Perfect timing.
Thank you Anne, I love reading your blog again. ‘In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.’ Beautiful! This reminds me that life is full of these amazing opportunities and when we appreciate it in this way everything we experience is actually a blessing, no matter how small of big. It also reminds me to deeply appreciate these opportunities and feel the joy in every moment as we continually learn and expand.
I love the commitment reflected in your writing to consistently care for you and your teapot. Truly inspiring.
Thank you Anne. This article is genieous and a gentle reminder to bring the shine into my life.
How beautiful Anne to have something so lovely as a silver teapot to reflect to you, your gorgeousness every day and a reminder to look after yourself tenderly and lovingly too.
Yes, a beautiful, respectful, tender, playful way to develop our relationship with our bodies. Everyone needs a teapot!
I like what you allude to, in terms of consistently caring for ones self… not just after a serious issue or once you are hampered with ‘tarnishes’ but to treat your body like the temple which it is
A beautiful message to show how treating ourselves with the utmost care and gentleness is a winning combo for life.Thank you Anne.
It goes to show Anne that underneath all the layers of tarnish we see and focus on the outside can be true beauty…. And maybe we can apply this same principle of clearing away the layers of hurt and emotions that we human beings carry to appreciate the true beauty inside of us also.
The tarnish is what we project out to the world, the tarnish can say ‘back off’, less than, look at my intelligence, or can be a role that we live by and only want to be seen by that. Imagine how different humanity would be if we just saw all of that as dirt over an exquisite painting that expresses so much more than our eyes can see.
Well said Aimee, tarnish is indeed what we can project to protect ourselves.
A beautiful reflection of your light Anne every time you make a cup of tea, and even when the teapot sits and waits to be used it is still shining for all to see.
So beautiful to to read Anne opening me up to my beauty within and the need to care tenderly with it. I too love theses words” In every ,moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.”
‘In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.’ So true Anne, and deeply appreciated.
Such a simple analogy, Anne , but quite profound. Thank you.
This is so gorgeous Anne. It’s such a powerful image and metaphor that I can relate to it on a very deep level. Thank You.
within every human being there is a shining light, a divine flying, a place of radiance that is unique and invaluable for all of humanity… What Universal Medicine does is helps every and each individual to find that place within them, to be who they truly are, and to shine the own individual and unique light into the world.
This story is a beautiful example of the reflections we are offered in every moment and in every everyday if we are open to seeing them. Often we consider our daily routines to consist of mundane action and don’t appreciate and learn from reflections within them.
Great reflection Anne, Self love and care goes a long way, universally. With honoring and appreciation, allowing grace and beauty to transpire.
Simply exquisite and a lovely example of how life puts things our way to reflect the truth that we are living in our bodies, when we choose to see the parallel.
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.” Absolutely gorgeous Anne, I feel this is so true! Every moment has something reflected to us, there is a choice to learn or to carry on as we have been, but sooner or later the truth reveals itself. Truth – if not carrying a form of equality and an energy which raises all, is not the truth.
Beautiful to read Anne, how that bringing out the loveliness that lay below the surface, that the loving care you gave to the teapot, revealed, and that this loveliness lay deep in the inner heart of everyone, just waiting for the tarnish of life to be lovingly removed for it too, to then shine.
This is a truly beautiful blog Anne, it reminds me of the grand opportunities to learn we get presented every day. The teapot clearly reflects the tender care we all need to keep shining, and only that care is needed, no other effort… As the light is always on.
Just like this teapot our essence is amazing and perfect. For others to feel and see this we need to take time to come back to the divine beginning where we started from. Being tarnished comes from our choices. Thank you, Anne for this very simple but divine reflection.
A beautiful reflection Anne, I so enjoy returning and pondering on your very wise message. Today I particularly resonated with;
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life”.
Revisiting this blog is like visiting an old friend, thank you Anne. I just had the exterior of my house cleaned yesterday and it feels lovely and sparkly and fresh, which got me to noticing how the windows on the inside could now do with some loving attention and that led me to notice other areas within my home that would also benefit from the same. Such is the way of things, an ongoing noticing, attending to what is needed as it arises and appreciating also the beauty that is always there, even more so when dedication and consistency of loving attention is applied.
It was lovely to come back to your blog Anne. What I could feel this time is that we are all genies and have the ability to do miracles by transforming our lives from the dull tarnished exterior like your teapot into the deep radiant beauty that lies just beneath the surface. This to me is a true miracle and one to be appreciated and nurtured daily.
Thank you Anne, this is a beautiful metaphor for life. Everything in life offers a reflection, and it is up to us as to whether we claim it or not.
in every moment we do have the opportunity to learn to be to feel who we are to know ourselves, to feel the magic of God and to know and love in every breath. Wow… the joy of having a human body ☺
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life”.
What a gorgeous reflection Anne, thank you for your very inspirational words.
What I realised today in reading this blog is that as well as using the analogy of cleaning the teapot to reveal its true essence underneath and relating this to ourselves as human beings, that as equally important as cleaning and caring for this pot is the quality in which we do this. Just as cleaning (& resting) the teapot required being gentle so as to preserve its quality, so too do our bodies require this same tender gentle care…. Being tender and gentle with ourselves and the way we move and go about our daily activities and then resting and being still when we are tired…
Angela, what an important addition you have made here! The quality in how we move and carry our bodies determines a lot! It makes literally a world of difference to our confidence and vitality.
What is offered in this blog is truly amazing – a very real way to feel the relationship we have with daily self-care and the amazing qualities it supports. Thank you Anne.
‘In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.’ Great reminder Anne, thank you.
Thank you Anne for sharing the genie gem. “In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life” I feel inspired to polish my kettle that I use every day to bring out the shine.
Thank you Anne , what a beautiful blog to read, it brought tears to my eyes, how precious we truly are, and like the tea pot, need constant loving care and attention.
Tender Anne what a beautiful metaphor – I really can feel what you shared in your amazing blog until my bones. This is such a reminder for me keeping the vessel (our bodies) cared for on a daily basis otherwise it will get less shiny again and that is something I will not allow myself to do again. It is lovelier to shine than looking dull and tarnished.
Thank you Anne. I love how you have really captured your child-like innocence and joy in this blog, and shared it with us all. When we are children and discovering the world we have so much we share in how amazing the world is. We lose this somewhere along the way, but just like this teapot we can bring the shine back at any time, with some tender love, and care.
Your blog Anne makes me smile, first because of the lovely metaphor but also because today all the blogs I come across have the same message. I should not be surprised by this as they all discuss small, apparently insignificant events of everyday life that can be imbued with so much meaning. I often observe this strange synergy between the blogs I choose to read on any given morning. The message is repeated across the blogs for me to grasp and feel the truth of it.
When we really take care of something related to cleaning we can feel the tremendous difference it makes. Yet, we turn a blind eye to the fact that we choose all the time and that our choices have consequences that affect what we just took care of. And yet, we choose all the time. This is indeed a metaphor of the fact that we have really to master the fact that every choice counts.
We all have the sparkle, we just need to allow it to shine! It’s there in everyone under the layers. Great blog Anne. Thank you.
Well said Brendan. We all have the spark within us to shine and to inspire others to shine as bright as the love they have for themselves and others will allow.
Anne what a beautiful analogy and one for me to reflect and know that we all have that spark within us – the shine that becomes very apparent when we take the time to care for ourselves and make healthy lifestyle choices in each moment. Thank you for sharing.
Such a beautiful blog – and metaphor – Anne, thankyou. “But with a little tender loving care, and some dedication and commitment, the tarnish easily came off, leaving the underlying beauty there for all to feel and see.” I’m off to polish my teapot!
I love reading this blog. It makes me feel ‘shiny’ and bright for the coming day. It is such a great analogy you use, Anne, to show how with due loving care and attention we can shine like your teapot.
‘In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.’ ……. just love this line. After reading your blog again, I feel like I want to add ….. ‘and appreciate all that we already are’. I know for myself, I don’t allow nearly enough moments to do this.
I love coming back to this blog. The teapot metaphor is a strong one and is a great reminder of my own sparkle that lies underneath. All it takes to shine in full is a claiming of it and lots of self love and care!
Its great Anne how your blog about a teapot and the reflections you felt and discovered have initiated such a vast and varied amount of comments. Your reflections have been the impetus for further reflection within many others who comment. It’s lovely how a teapot and your experience can have such an effect.
Anne what a gorgeous metaphor for life and love, and how great that each day it shows you how you’ve been with it, a mirror to reflect care and love. And reading it today reminded me that every little thing matters, in how we are with us, in how we move, how we speak, like your silver teapot, we smudge ourselves or not in how we are in every single thing. So it’s a reminder to keep checking in and seeing how I’ve been with me, how I’ve been with the world, and to take loving care of us both in all the finer details. Thank you – I will see your gorgeous teapot as a reminder.
It is a lovely metaphor for life and love, I like what you have added in this comment Monica, ‘ every little thing matters, in how we are with us, in how we move, how we speak’, and the importance of checking what energy I am allowing to run my body and so how I am being with everything.
A daily ritual of caring for ourselves with tender love and care is evident if we are to shine like the teapot. When we shine people notice and they enjoy our sparkle as it feels familiar to them.
What a beauty full story about reflecting through a tea pot. And even though it gets a bit tarnished at times you can bring it back to the beautiful tea pot with some loving care.
When we allow every moment as a possibility to learn and understand something deeper about ourselves, we are letting life show us everything we need to learn. Instead of seeing a situation as happening to me, I ask ‘what can I learn from this’… one of the first things I learned was how much I resist what is being presented to learn, but also when I allow that space, just how much more I become aware of when I accept and feel honestly what is there to understand.
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.” I love this line Anne we are given so many lessons to learn about life and the smallest ones are usually the most profound yet they are the ones that can be so easily missed or over-looked.
Such a lovely story Anne and a great reminder that we are worth caring for in order to shine as brightly as your teapot!
Indeed Elodie and Anne.
Not only that we are worth caring for, but this can be in our daily rhythm like getting up in the morning: allowing ourselves to have a look at were there is tarnish limiting our shining and clearing it with love and dedication.
What a beautiful reminder you have of your own inner beauty that needs tender loving care to shine.
“I brought the teapot home and showed it to everyone with the innocence of a child, and my family were amazed to see how beautiful it was.” I particularly love this line, Anne. This reminds me that when we honour the preciousness and beauty that we are, that this is a blessing for others equally so.
An absolutely gorgeous blog thank-you Anne, and a great analogy. All we need is a little tender, loving care each day to remain shiny and lovely. It is that simple.
Great little blog to come back to for a re-read Anne, it has really started me off thinking about things that need constant love and that can reflect back to me how I am living.My work van springs to mind. How well I keep things in order and how clean and tidy I keep it is a direct reflection of how I am with myself at work. When it is messy things can get complicated and I can never find anything, especially if I accumulate too much clutter or how smoothly things can go when the van is spick and span.
Beautiful analogy, I love it, Anne! This is obviously not only a teapot, but a reflection of how it needs tender, loving care to shine, just like we need to tenderly love and nurture ourselves to live our lives to the fullest every day.
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life”. this sentence stand out to me Anne. it is often the things we see as small and insignificant that actually offer us the biggest opportunities to learn and grow.
A beautiful ‘real life’ analogy. I love it Anne. There is so much wisdom offered here but what stands out most for me is how there is an opportunity to evolve, confirm and deepen our connection to Soul, to God in all that we do no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. That there is a sense (or senses) in all that we do. And how beautiful it is that we are able to heal all the unloving and harmful choices we have made in separation of this connection simply by being honest and choosing love, re-connecting to the love that we truly are from.
So true Anne, every moment is a gift of learning. I recently cleaned the slim lined venetian blinds hanging on my lounge and kitchen windows. They were dusty and after the recent rains the dust had turned to grime. The thing about this style of venetian is that there is no quick clean, each slat needs individual gentle care and attention. So I surrendered to the task and stayed present with each and every slat. Well, I fell in love with those blinds, I appreciated the service they were providing me, their shiny surfaces, their cool feel and unimposing presence, the way they fit in with the rest of my home and, when the job was done, I appreciated how clear, fresh and expansive I felt, along with the rooms. What did I learn? In surrender and presence I feel connected to everything, love flourishes and makes what seems mundane, magic.
Beautiful Barbara ‘ In surrender and presence I feel connected to everything, love flourishes and makes what seems mundane, magic’. I experience this to be true and I get a feeling as if I have been around everything with my eyes closed for a long time. I even wondered if nature is becoming more beautiful, I now so enjoy every bird, every tree, every leaf, feather, bee etc that I see, really magical how this has changed. And this all happens because I am becoming aware of my own beauty, the beauty of my connection with God.
Yes Annelies I have noticed this too. Since I have been more present in my day to day life nature seems to have become strikingly beautiful.
That’s awesome Annelies, “And this all happens because I am becoming aware of my own beauty, the beauty of my connection with God”… and this connection has been inside of us all along, we are already complete! I have had glimpses of the beauty of nature too, sounds become clearer and colours brighter. We dull down our senses and this dulls down nature, and the magic of God is not seen or felt, so we think it doesn’t exist, but the magic of God is there just waiting for us to align to this connection, within ourselves first and then there will be no doubt that the Magic of God exists and then we truly begin to experience it through the reflection of nature and others.
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life”. So true Anne, yet how many opportunities are lost when we are not open to recognising the opportunities as such when they come our way? Your blog is a reminder of the importance of seeing what is offered to us in every moment. The Magic of God is everywhere if we only allow ourselves to see it and appreciate the moment when we take up the opportunity which allows for even more opportunities to flow our way.
this is a lovely analogy about a teapot and how awesome it is when its true shine is uncovered. we live in a world of teapots who haven’t been shining for quite some time, but as Anne suggests, its a matter of consistently choosing to clear away what gets in the way.
Yes Felicity, I agree, consistency is the way to keep the shine going! Underneath the tarnish there is a sparkle in everyone, and letting go of what’s in the way and allowing ourselves to shine brings a little sparkle into everyone’s day.
Polishing the teaport with love, just relfects the real you in life. A shining example for all to see.
Such sweetness delivered through this blog Anne. How we care and treat ourselves reveals so much. When we do care for ourselves with the loving attention to detail that you gave your teapot our beauty is there for all to see and accessing this inner beauty is available for everyone
Amazing to feel Anne how powerful every day actions can have on our lives, and what revelations can come from the simplest of acts.
This was a lovely blog to read, thank you.
That shiny spark is within each and everyone one of us.
This is the most beautiful tale I have ever read. With a gorgeous simplicity, a wisdom, a grace and power that seems from a time forgotten. It holds such a deep fountain of love and truth and support presented in a way that makes us realise we truly are the masters of our own destiny. And that all we need to do to live the wondrous beauty of our sacredness and divinity – is simply choose too.
Thanks Anne.
If I ever write a blog I want you commenting on it, what beautiful words to share with the world Simon. I love this blog too and it reminds me of story you might hear around a when you were a child in another life in Egypt, at night in a circle whilst the sand cooled from the hot sun, a tale of your Aunts or mothers shared through generations to convey a great message of self care and timeless evolution, simple yet warm universally it is for all. Thank you Anne
Gorgeous Sarahraynebaldwin, simple stories with message about life. That would be so great to have again.
That is what we are building on these blogs, simple stories about life, just need a campfire to gather round and tell our stories to one another.
Even better, they are shared with the world.
Totally!!
Gorgeously simple metaphor for the choices we make and the responsibilities we have for our own bodies. We’re each genie to our very own teapot – and with more than 3 wishes!
This is gorgeous Anne. So many everyday moments to learn about the essence of life and receive the magic of God.
That consistent attention to detail in shining the pot is exactly what we need to do with bring out all the light that we are. Awesome experience for you to have this reflection (pun intended) shine back at you. Great sharing.
Thank you anne what a wonderful analogy for self love and a true way to live
Reading this blog again after sometime, it read very differently. I pick up nuances that I do not pick up before. The message went deeper into my body. It seems there are many ways life can reflect how we are shining ourselves up and able to see a new perspective to things, if we choose to look at life that way.
I love how Anne you have illustrated that with true intention and a wonder in life, true support appears, and not only did the natural loveliness and shininess of the teapot reappeared, the genie did also! The genie was always there, we just had to know the magic in bringing him/her out.
Yes Anne you are right – every moment is an offering of something gorgeous. In appreciation of all Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine have brought to light.
This is so simple Anne and so inspirational for the way in which we are able to take care of our bodies, before, during and after the times when they take on stuff or are clearing a lot of what does not belong anymore. This blog is going to stay with me forever.
What a gorgeous daily reminder- and in addition to not give oneself a hard time if finger prints do get on your pot – they just wipe off with some extra care.
We so often tend to see the fingerprints but not the beautiful teapot underneath. Valuing what is there and polishing the fingerprints off – it can be that simple.
Very true Michael silly when you consider a tiny fingerprint to the bigger teapot. But it does show the need to care for ourselves at all times otherwise the fingerprints build up and we all miss out on whats underneath.
Yes, Michael, valuing or appreciation is so important – if we truly appreciate the beauty that is there, the surface tarnish is but a thin layer that is simple to remove.
…and the answer is not to put the teapot away so that it doesn’t get any finger prints on it…because it will still tarnish.
This is such a great point, Gemma – to not give ourselves a hard time if we do accumulate a bit of grime – just take the time to take extra care of ourselves.
I love your point too Kathiefreedom – there is nothing gained in hiding away in fact becoming tarnished from neglect is harder to clean than fingerprints – withdrawing from life is not an option.
This sharing Anne is an antidote for the song we sang as children – “I’m a little teapot, short and stout….tip me over and pour me out”. We need to appreciate our selves; our ‘teapots’! Just beautiful, thank you.
So true, Bernadette, I had not considered this before! There is indeed poison in many children’s songs and stories, and it is lovely to see this as an antidote to one!
There are many more children’s stories and nursery rhymes that could do with some loving polish I suspect Anne. There revealed will be the kernel of truth.. Humpty Dumpty comes to mind – after his ‘great fall’, no amount of charity from ‘all the King’s horses and all the King’s men’ could put him back together again – perhaps he could be supported to take responsibility for himself though!
A simple metaphor with such a powerfully profound message for us all. I just loved reading this – thank you Anne, for the beautiful reminder that we can all shine if we take the time to bring some care and attention to ourselves.
So true Heather Hardy, ‘we can all shine if we take the time to bring some care and attention to ourselves’, and as we do this, we give others the permission to do so also through our reflections and movements.
To unravel behaviors which are harmig and to let go of them is so freeing. It feels like the shining silver of the teapot.
I do love this blog Anne, it is a classic. True wisdom with lashings of fun!
Such is the way in life: there’s always a reminder if we’re prepared to read it.
Very true Anne. If you truly care and commit to what you are doing, to yourself and the people around you, you will see the wonder and beauty in all you are doing, in yourself, the people around you and in life.
Very true Anne. If you truly care and commit to what you are doing, to yourself and the people around you, you will see the wonder and beauty in all you are doing, in the people around you, in yourself and in life.
Oh Anne I absolutely love this. Thank you so much for sharing.
Much like this teapot naturally tarnishes, so too can we actively tarnish ourselves by not tending to our needs or ignoring our need for self care. It can be so easy to put off self nurturing and care that the opportunity is missed, which adds to the tarnishing that happens in our day. When we ‘add’ self care’ what comes out (like the teapot) is quality.
I love how you celebrate the reflection of your self-honoring with your teapot. I receive real stand out messages from items in my use that call me to a deeper level of regard and awareness of how I use them. What I feel is that how I leave them for the next time is also very important. All reflecting how I feel within myself.
There are indeed so many opportunities daily to reflect and appreciate ourselves even more.
I love this blog Anne. It contains beautiful imagery. A wonderful metaphor for caring for ourselves on a daily basis.
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.” I loved reading the tea pot story and even more the second time around.
That is so beautiful, so simple and so true. I am still polishing the tarnish of my teapot, I am reminded of how I am inconsistent in its polishing, but knowing that overall the pot is still way more shiny then when I began. Thanks Anne.
Very true Mark and Mary. I have also noticed at times only when I have already cleaned the surface of something I start to spot the deeper and more ingrained marks that need attention. Just as in life.
Yes, Golnaz, in cleaning the surface layers of tarnish, more ingrained marks and layers of muck may be revealed. This process of polishing us back to our original shine does not necessarily get easier as we go deeper, but the more we clear away, the more that inner beauty is revealed, and the more we are inspired to reveal it in full.
Yes, Mark, polishing is polishing, no matter how inconsistent we may be to begin with. it is great to take a moment to stop and appreciate how much shinier we were than when we began!
A great point. Sometimes it seems to me that I am not getting anywhere, but by stepping back and taking a moment to really look at the shine and appreciate it brings me back to the amazing me.
Seeing how precious we are and committing to truly caring for our bodies is an amazingly beautiful experience.
Every time you pick up your teapot and make your tea it will be there to remind you of how beautiful you are Anne a deep beauty that lies within and an opportunity to stop an reflect on your day.
Yes, Alison,every day I have this opportunity, and so do we all, to see the deep beauty that lives within us reflected back to us – from our teapots, our mirrors, and the eyes of those we love.
Cleaning the teapot for me feels like cleaning me of any thought of me not being love and abundance, preciousness, grace and divine beauty. The shining teapot resembles me returning to my glory. Thank you very much, Anne.
Yes Kerstin, a perfect reflection of choosing to clear away our issues and not create any new ones whilst being in the appreciation of our true ‘preciousness, grace and divine beauty’. A gorgeous blend!
1. The opportunities to learn and grow are often best reflected in the simple things in life.
They often are Margaret, and this analogy that Anne has written is sweet and true.
Oh Anne, that’s a beautiful story! Not just for you, who has explored herself, a genie of her life, but also the reflection for us readers to understand that beneath the bumps and covers lies the never dying beauty of the inner truth… I love it***
Indeed Anne, life is a never ending opportunity to learn. It is so beautiful to experience how much we can learn from every moment if we only open up for it.
Striping back those layers is a wonderment in itself to see what really lays beneath, a depth of beautiful more then words can reveal.
I love this parallel Anne of the beautiful slightly dinged and tarnished teapot and your body. What a wonderful reflection for you and your relationship with your body and yourself. I also love that you are your own genie with the magic of God removing the dull layers to let your deep care and love for all equally shine out.
The quality of your pot shines through Anne, and is a lovely story we can all relate to, to nurture and care for our own selves so our quality shines out too.
Great simple beautiful article Anne. I to have really started to feel how wonderful the simple things are in life and to my surprise in the beginning how full they make me feel. Life is great when kept simple.
How absolutely beautiful. I love this example of the silver teapot, as it reminds me of human life. It is the same. We also have a very pure inside with a lot of light & shine, yet of how we have been taking care of ourselves sometimes causes layers that cover up our shine. But still that shine lays underneath. Beautiful reflection of how we can make sure that shine is felt and brought back to life, just by peeling away the dust that has come with our not so loving choices. When this is peeled off, our hearts can fully shine again, just like that shining light teapot.
Exactly Danna, well said.
Well said Danna. As as we let the dust come off, we can see more and more that we are not that ‘dust’ but in-truth we are shining brightly within… its just that sometimes we don’t always see that.
So true Joshua, we are always shining brightly within, we just cannot sometimes see past the dust we have allowed to build up. But as soon as the dust comes off the beautiful shine comes through.
I appreciate this beautiful analogy about how tender and consistent care is what it takes to be able to shine and share the true light that we are; a great reminder and confirmation.
What a gorgeous and inspiring blog Anne. A beautiful reminder that underneath all the accumulated tarnish there is the pure gold (or silver in this story!) of our ever-present essence, which continues to shine brighter and brighter as the old way of being is discarded.
A great story Anne and a great reminder to us all about taking deep care of ourself daily and that includes resting – just as you rest the teapot after cleaning it.
I love how you talk about the dents and bumps we get and they can be removed by looking after ourself.
If I was a teapot now, I could say that it is a strong and steady pot and does its job well. The outside is taken care of with daily rituals that are consistent and the inside is well looked after so what comes out of it has a quality and that quality is real and can be felt.
The other thing is this teapot is nothing fancy – just simple and quite ordinary but emanating a light that is bright and again holds a quality that is refreshing for this world.
I love the whole description you offer of you as if you were a tea pot Bina Pattel. So simply stated in your final sentence.
“nothing fancy – just simple and quite ordinary but emanating a light that is bright and again holds a quality that is refreshing for this world”.
I love what you have written here Bina “a strong and steady pot and does its job well. The outside is taken care of with daily rituals that are consistent and the inside is well looked after so what comes out of it has a quality and that quality is real and can be felt.”
What a difference it makes when we take responsibility for what the quality of what comes out it completely changes what we want to put in in the first place.
Bina i love how you describe the quality of what comes out of the teapot. From Anne’s blog to your comment i can see the cycle that playfully unfolds; the daily love & care for ourselves, how this impacts on the strength & efficiency of our bodies , the quality of what we express throughout our day and the ripple effect this has on those that have the opportunity to drink this up.
The opportunities to learn from life are endless if we so choose to see them. Thanks Anne
It’s the simplest of things that reflect back our own beauty at all times if we are prepared to see it – shine on Anne – I love your blog.
Exactly Fiona, the reflections are everywhere for us to see and there is so much to learn from each of them :o)
I used to wonder about the repetition of things. Every day cleaning, showering, brushing teeth, make up on, make up off, shopping, cooking etc. I had resistance because I felt it made no sense. Now all those things are a reminder to commit to life, to humanity, to care for me in the quality that I am and every time I have an opportunity to do it with even more love and attention.
So true, it is all those small things in life which are the foundation for everything else. The more love and commitment we bring to them, the more loving and simple our lives can be.
This is very inspiring for me delorme2013 as I still have some resistance to the repetition of the things you mention in your comment. It is great to look at it in a different light and see it as an opportunity to do it with more love and attention, thank you.
I love this way of looking at it and the playful that this holds is spot on. Life is playtime and that means all of it not just when we are not working.
So true. With the metaphore of the teapot it is like polishing ourselves every day. Great reminder to take into my days. Polish myself to shine brightly in my every day.
My friend shared that she accepted the little everyday chores when her kids were little as she realised they had to be done with love or else she would hate her life! I love how you have explained it here Simone, accepting things need to be repeated and committed to and bring all the love we are to that is a great opportunity!
That’s fantastic delorme2013.
Yes its the simple daily routines that we can bring such care and quality too, which then reflect the greater responsibility we hold for life.
Thanks for the gorgeously sweet blog. This metaphor of polishing your teapot alongside lovingly tending to the body is surprisingly rich. It can be so easy for small dents/ bumps and bruises to deter a loving upkeep. Yet conversely it is also true that deep care and regard begets yet more care and more regard. We’re always propagating something.
I love what you have expressed here Heidi, “deep care and regard begets yet more care and more regard”. And this is so true and magical. The more love we offer ourselves, the more love comes into our lives. And your comment, “we are always propagating something”. When I am offering myself deep care and regard I’m like a gardener of my soul. It’s so beautiful and inspiring to see it in this way.
I can relate to being deterred from caring for myself as dents appear. If I lose that feeling and activity of care, I can throw it all in and in that moment it doesn’t seem to matter how I treat myself. This is when I need to stop and know I am not myself, that I would never do this to myself normally. This is a great thing to develop and appreciate it every time I do.
That’s so true Fiona – I can really relate to that. So often self-care goes out of the window at the time when I need it the most – when the dents or tarnishing is appearing. Throwing it all in is a good way to describe it. It’s an absolute abandonment of myself in that moment and with that the self-abuse takes over.
“We’re always propagating something.” And the question is what is it we are choosing to propagate – self-care and self-love or self-disregard and self-abuse?
This story is so so beautiful. On today’s reading I loved in particular how it took love (Anne’s love of her tea pot, and love in how she used it), and service (the tea pot’s in holding Anne’s brewing tea), to reveal the beauty of the silver below.
Absolutely beautiful parable Anne. We all need to care for our teapots.
When we choose daily to look after and care for ourselves so we are ‘shining’ that means we can brew the best tea ever and we have the created a pot that will be able to in-house such a brew.
Taking care is as natural as taking a walk with presence. Each step, if we choose, can be confirming to who we are of not. If not we just allow something else to walk us rather than ourselves, this is what tarnishes. When we focus on the quality of our movement, our each and every step, this fortifies the connection and the quality and brings much joy and love to others.
I find it hard not to smile to this story. The teapot I feel was just as excited to find you, I suspect Anne.
This is beautiful Anne. I can just imagine you taking the time to clean and take loving care with this teapot – which is as you say a reflection of the time and love you take for yourself now. I love observing life in this way, and seeing how we can learn so much from the seemingly ‘small’ things we do every day, and that are presented to us. I feel like I have had blinkers removed and am only recently seeing more of the world – this amazing world that has been there the whole time – reflecting the amazingness that has equally been in me all along too.
This is a very beautiful reminder to not get irritated by the tarnish on the surface and lovingly care for myself to free all the shining that is underneath.
I love your reference to not getting irritated by the tarnish on the surface Michael Kremer.
Thank you for this beautiful inspiration I love it and it is never to late to add some more care and love into our lives and how we live and really does make such a difference . I love the tea pot analogy so much and can see it shining like we can and are too.
Thank you Anne, a beautiful reminder for me to care for myself consistently, and allow that shine to beam through.
Whilst we my looked tired, worn and tarnished underneath with shine with beauty, a beauty that if cared for will shine out for all to see and appreciate as a reflection of who they are.
We all know that when we’re looking a bit haggard and tired, if we take more care of ourselves and get an early night our natural shine is able to shine on through.
Beautiful Anne. I love this metaphor of your teapot, what a gorgeous reflection of love and care for one’s self. The magic in life is always around us if only we look, everything is a reflection.
Such a brilliant metaphor for life Anne. I love that you have reminded us that there are reflections of how we are treating ourselves everywhere we look. If we are open to these reflections we learn so very much.
I witnessed and felt that beauty shine through at my father’s death bed, it mattered not how he had lived, for in his last hours he was fully with his soul and it was exquisite to experience and feel that he was the same love he was born with.
Lovely blog Anna, amazing how things reflect back to us how we have been or how we are. So often we allow ourselves to get stuck, without realising that it is just a matter of choice, choosing to be more loving and tender with ourselves.
This blog makes me smile, just had to read it again Anne. I love that in every moment, in every action we are offered another opportunity to learn from life. It truly is magic.
Just goes to show that deep beneath all the layers we build in protection is something untainted and amazing. Over time with consistency we peel off the layers- just as you did with your teapot 🙂
I love the playfulness of this. Everytime I take deep care of myself and make sure I live life as if I am polishing a very cherished teapot, the genie – the true me, will pop out of the tea pot. So how awesome will it be if I never stop, and consistently take the care.
Lovely Golnaz, yes the playfulness of this is inspiring, I am wanting to come out and play.
So sweet, so simple and so super timely for me. I still apply a tough hand to myself and have over recent days come to realise, more deeply so, that any time I do this I am ‘tarnishing’ myself, which is not OK on any level for me or those I am in life with. Inspired by the teachings of Universal Medicine and stories such as yours, Anne, I am applying the basics and making sure that I afford myself the grace and space to be tender with and respectful of me. Thank you.
What a gorgeous story Anne. I much prefer this one to reading about a big blue genie. We are the genies capable of magic and powerful changes – usually, much greater than we realise or give ourselves credit for.
“But with a little tender loving care, and some dedication and commitment, the tarnish easily came off, leaving the underlying beauty there for all to feel and see”. Such a beautiful reminder Anne of the importance of ‘a little tender loving care’ and what it can bring if applied daily with consistency. Such a gentle yet powerful metaphor for life.
What a lovely written story Anne. This can be read to the grand children. I love the line ” .. and willing to do whatever it took to bring it to light”. What a way to live to do whatever it takes to bring your light back to its fullest !! Shine so bright just leave your light on !!
Your blog, Anne, makes my body smile… yes, that’s how it feels. A big, tender, loving whole-body-smile. You have revealed the magic and deep wise relationship everyone can have with everything around him or her, to be a reflection and a reminder or a symbol. This makes me feel humble and divine at the same time. Thank you for offering this cup of tea to me : ).
A quantum physicist will tell you that the answer to life is in the smallest of things. A cosmologist will tell you that the secret of life is found in the big stuff. What if the truth was that we need to develop a relationship with both in order to understand God?
I love this, Adam. Does this mean that in the detail we can expand to the macro and vice versa?
I love this blog Anne. It is a reminder that all we need is a little TLC and our natural beauty shines through. It is the consistent love from ourselves that allows us to keep shining.
What a beautiful symbol for us all. We so often just accept that things are the way they are, and we just have to learn to live with it. But beneath it all there is a glorious preciousness that only takes simple, but daily, care to reveal.
What a glorious opportunity – to go into the world today and see past all the tarnish to the Light that is truly within everyone.
I so enjoyed reading your blog Anne, a loving reminder that it is never too late to start to take care of ourselves and when we do, the old layers of life’s choices naturally fall away to reveal a beauty that has always been there, waiting for us to re-claim it again.
A truly Golden reflection from a silver teapot Anne. What a wonderful way to see that we are all ‘Genie’s’ and how we have the power to transform life as we go about our days. Thank you.
How precious this lamp turned out to be! In fact I would price it as priceless if it is an everyday reminder of the importance of self love and care.
Indeed a tender and playful reminder Anne, that everything is energy and because of energy. The quality that you restored this teapot is the key for me. If I can care and appreciate my own body with the same level of preciousness that you describe I know that I feel that genie in me!
Anne, or should I say Genie, what a beautiful and inspiring blog. We can sometimes come across looking a bit or a lot tarnished and worse for wear and can forget in that that we still deserve constant love and care. Your blog reminds me that no matter what the outer surface looks like there is something very precious underneath and that always deserves tender love and care. To me it is like the adult body hiding the preciousness of our true nature. We would never dream of treating a baby without absolute tenderness and care, yet as our bodies grow, we tend to get harder and rougher with ourselves and we forget the preciousness underneath.
The Dalai Lama is a great example to me of a man who has not lost his true tenderness, he is all squishy and yummy. Even the most hardened of journalist crumble in his presence unable to hold their harshness when around him and usually end up bursting into huge fits of laughter and or can’t take the grins of their faces.
You have written a great little mini blog in itself here Caroline Raphael. I often reflect the difference in our treatment of babies and ourselves, at what point do we decided that we are not cute anymore and there for don’t deserve to give ourselves or others patience, love and a gentle touch? If a baby or child does not respond well to being told that they are hopeless for falling over when trying to walk or that when they stumble on a word that he/she are bad at talking and should throw in the rag. It would never happen but we treat ourselves and others much worse than this on a daily basis and consider it ‘normal’, fascinating subject to bring to light.
I love this story and metaphor, thank you for sharing it Anne. The power of daily tender loving care is not to be underestimated!
“The power of daily tender loving care is not to be underestimated”, I agree fiona55. Yet why is it that doing loving things is considered by many to be selfish? It is crazy how simple basic things like looking after ourselves 1st can be seen as selfish rather than doing literally anything and everything no matter what effect it has on our bodies is often seen as a good and honourable thing to do. The question that arises here then is what energy are we doing all these ‘good’ and ‘honourable’ things in, for if it is not inline with our body then it cannot be coming with love.
James, I wonder if the view that ‘self care is selfish’ is a reaction. An excuse and a justification that we sell ourselves when confronted with a reflection that we do know to be true, but it’s too painful for us to consider what it offers, for then we must also accept, and take responsibility for, the disregard we have chosen for ourselves to this point. Ouch.
It is an interesting point Alison. I also know that the belief that ‘self care is selfish’, at least in my experience, has stemmed from the Catholic Church where I was taught we have to put others 1st.
Anne I love your blog. Although it seems so simple, which it is, there is such a depth to it. Reading it today I love how, despite the tarnishes, you still felt how lovely the teapot was. This says yes, let’s not discount each other or me myself. We’re all beautiful and worth caring for and we actually know it. Thanks.
A simple yet powerful and heartfelt sharing that has inspired me to look at how I care for myself on a day to day basis….
Thank you Anne, love what you are sharing here, it’s the consistency of the care we lovingly give ourselves that allows us to shine.
Beatiful blog Anne and a great reminder that loving and caring for ourselves is not just for christmas but an everlasting process.
Indeed Tim, an everlasting process that only needs love and commitment.
wow your tea pot offers such a great reflection.
A lovely reminder that everything we do, no matter how insignificant it may seem, we can gain so much from. Thank you Anne.
This is a great blog Anne. Like the teapot naturally tarnishes so too do we tarnish if we do nothing. We are living biological organisms, interacting with the world, so naturally we are needing a little care and attention to maintain our shiny self. Also, it is lovely to have these moments during our day that provide us with a reflection and a marker that assesses if the genie inside needs to spring to life.
Yes, I used to view this loving care and attention as a chore and was like a exasperated parent with myself if I hadn’t done my homework so to speak. Now I feel how supportive this daily attention is for me to feel who I really am.
Love it! A great reflection of the inner beauty that is there to be revealed in all of us with just a little love and tender care 🙂 Thank you Anne, for sharing your experience with your beautiful teapot!
A beautiful metaphor Anne… it is also my experience that remaining ‘shiny’ requires constant daily attention.
A beautiful analogy Anne, and so true. Looking forward to shining my teapot today!
What a beautiful blog, showing how there are many golden moments in our day offering such true reflections on life and the way we live it.
I feel we all have that genie within us and with a little bit of care and polish we can all shine.
Beautifully said Mick.
I feel like my tarnish is peeling of as I read these beautifully arranged words Anne. Thank you.
Thank you Anne, this is a lovely reminder that it only takes a bit of daily love and care for me to bring my sparkle for all to see.
What a joy to read this blog Anne, I will be forever reminded when I lose my shine how easy it is to restore it with some tenderness and love.
I agree Anna, it is a joy to read Anne’s magical story about the teapot and the genie. A beautiful tale that would be lovely to share, particularly in schools, for children and the child within us all, to be reminded that when we lose our shine it is easy to restore it with tenderness and love.
Thanks for the magic Anne Malatt! It made we realise how often do we settle for a well functioning, well made but dull and flat existence? It only takes a little love and inspiration from another living that love to reveal the glorious, beaming beings we truly are and the life we could be living every day with some dedication and commitment to that love.
What a magic it is that every human being on this planet, has the choice to be that glorious shining being being that Anne found reflected in her teapot.
Every moment does matter and nothing is insignificant. So true.
Very true… Andewmooney26
Absolutely Brendan – an awesome idea. I will share this blog with my children tonight 🙂
Reading this Anne, feels like a celebration and honouring of our bodies no matter what age… the outside changes, but the inner shiny spark is always there and is forever beautiful.
I love the metaphor of the teapot, particularly how as a reminder that the shine is and has always been there, and it is with love and care that it can shine again, always. What a genie-us you are Anne for you’ve granted your own wish for love.
Thank you Anne for beautifully sharing the reflected beauty of the Genie. Life is forever teaching us if we are open to listen.
So gorgeous Anne, as I read your words I felt as though I was being polished and shined too. You remind me how every part of life, has much to say if we listen. I love how your story shows that this polishing process is a natural part of life. If we regularly return to wipe off the spots of dirt we can’t help but shine bright.
To keep a silver teapot polished, shining and cared for takes great care and consistency, what a beautiful analogy and reminder that the dings are not the important part.
I love how simple activities in life reflect so much when we allow the space to feel it.
Another thing I love about this blog is that your husband brought you the gift of the teapot, knowing that this simple gift was perfect for you…this to me is love.
I so enjoyed reading your blog Anna – and felt to share that I have a beautiful genie in my kettle.
I love this simple inspiring story Anne and your metaphor for the teapot being like our body was so beautifully expressed. I feel many of us can identify with what you share…I certainly can, it is a great reminder that with a little tender loving care, and dedication and commitment the underlying beauty that we are naturally shines for all to feel and see.
Shirley-Ann thank you for your insight “… never do we arrive”. There is always a what’s next, what’s underneath as we are as deep and vast as the universe. We are all magic in a teapot just bursting to shine and show our power in full.
Oh that is so divine, I love the analogy and the image of the teapot being able to shine again. I love the reminder that this needs dedicated care and is not just a one off job or even once and a while. Your blog made me smile from the inside out 🙂 Thank you
Gorgeous Genie thank you for sharing your story. So true it is that life offers us endless opportunities to reflect upon and to have revealed its endless array of insights, your teapot a delightful example.
So gorgeous and so profound like you Anne. What a beautiful blog to wake up to. It brought tears to my eyes.
Such a lovely reflection of our pure essence that remains unaffected within, only ever superficially covered by our lack of care and appreciation. Beautiful blog Anne, I love inspiring stories.
A beautiful sharing about the simplicity (and beauty) of life. Aside from the amazing metaphor of the genie, tea making and sharing tea with people is such a beautiful ritual. The conversations and deepening of love that can happen over a simple cup of tea.
Gorgeous story from a gorgeous woman…and local genie. What a gem Anne – such a beautiful metaphor that will stay with me forever.
Dear Anne, I loved reading this, your teapot and your choice to scrub of the tarnish to reveal the true beauty beneath and then the awareness that it will need daily care, and how this also applies to how we care for ourselves is a magical gift to us all. You have given us all the key to bringing out our own shinning bright light that we all have deep in side. Scrub of the old layers and celebrate each day by cherishing this light so it can continue to shine.
Wow Anne what a beautiful blog. It felt like it was written as a children’s story, so light and playful, yet educational for both the child and the adult.
Thank you, genie, for lovely reminder.
I like your article, Anne, and this phrase especially: “In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.” So true!
You have forever changed the story about the genie and the lamp for me, Anne. This version is gorgeous and such a beautiful reflection on a deeper level. Underneath all the layers we have built in life, there is still that precious shining beauty, waiting to be cared and nurtured for.
Your blog, Anne, reminded me of my own experience of cleaning brass and silver and making them shine with my Auntie Alice. She was a special person for me, and her love was always totally unconditional. The way she did the cleaning of the brass and silver every week was slow and gentle, as was everything she did, and so she inspired me to do things gently also, without needing to teach me.
I love this Anne and it makes so much sense. A few of us have just finished helping a friend clean her home and I was amazed at how when we clean (or do anything in fact) with great care, love and joy, whatever we touch can sparkle and leave a lasting impression. Walking round the house afterwards was amazing as there was an aliveness radiating from everything we’d cleaned.
Gorgeous, Shevon, to feel that – that life and time have a way of leaving a thin coat of tarnish on us, that can be lovingly cleaned away, allowing the aliveness to radiate out. And it is even more joyful when we do it together!
So true Anne, and then we look at other teapots with an appreciation of their shine and radiance… which inspires more teapots to dust off the old film covering to expose what has always been there underneath.
Such a gorgeous blog Anne. So beautiful to feel the wonder and great learning from simple everyday activities. Viewing life like this brings so much magic to life. Thank you
Yes, Annemarie, when we start to see life in this way, we don’t have to wait for special occasions – every moment can be special, even magical, for the magic of God is always there.
What a gorgeous recipe Anne: “add tender loving care, and some dedication and commitment” and watch us shine!
I can imagine the tea that pours out of that teapot… Liquid gold!
Gorgeous Anne, your tea pot is a lovely metaphor. We are all equally capable of being a shiny and beautiful if we make the time and commitment.
Love is what will allow us to look beneath the tarnish and see and free the magical shine that lies beneath it.
Beautifully said Michael 🙂
There is something beautiful about the ritual of care. Each gesture builds on the last.
I love this story. Thank you for sharing.
It’s amazing how we can learn from what we call the ‘every day things in life’ which end up have a deeper more profound meaning than we realise.
I agree susanG. Anne has a great maker – her tea pot. Everyday her teapot will reflect to her how shiny she has been living.
So true Susan – often the apparently small things in life present the most profound reflections.
I loved reading this, and i never, ever looked at myself as a genie, but genie’s we are, we can have our own miracles happen daily by the choices we make to bring our inner shine and beauty for all to be seen…often so hidden by our own tarnishing choices…but you so clearly have shown, it is not so difficult to shine…tea anyone!
I agree, genies we certainly are, and the more we don’t react to people ‘rubbing us up the wrong way’, or to our own tarnished or battered bits, the more we can shine.
And yes I’ll share a cuppa with you anytime Karoline.
To find something so precious, and then to make the leap that we are that precious as well, is a profound and beautiful experience that opens the doors to that ageless connection with the Divine, which is reflected all though and around us, and is always there to be felt.
A gorgeous blog Anne – the lovely honouring of your own natural and shining beauty is deeply felt.
This is a beautiful blog and a super reminder of how ‘polishing ourselves’ so we shine out and show the world our innate beauty is the way to live our lives each day.
……with miracles on the way!!!!
Yes Judith and it also shows that the tending to ourself needs to be done consistently – as we are on and ongoing basis faced with issues equivalent to the teapot’s smeared finger prints.
“I noticed after a day of using the teapot that it had fingerprints on it, and was starting to dull again. With this I realised that it will need to be cared for and cleaned and then rested every day if it is not to tarnish again.” For me Anne, this reminds me of the daily tending required to our innermost lest we lose our shine.
Yes, Deborah, all this outer polishing is lovely, and may keep us looking good, but it is the “daily tending…to our innermost” that really matters, as our true shine comes from within.
This is so gorgeous Anne, and very true. It is constant care that leaves me feeling well and vital and loved.
Yes, Kate, it is the consistency of care that is so important. If we care for ourselves one moment, then give ourselves a hard time the next, we go round in circles, going nowhere. But if we make a commitment to “constant care” as you say, then that quality builds in us and we have a foundation to stand on and live from.
Handle and care things with love for detail and God will be your guest, to have a cup of tea with you. Genies we all are as is our father in heaven.
Hi felixschumacher. Genii we all are! We genii each have something remarkable to reveal, if we polish off the tarnish.
Wow, I love what you have written Felix
I love the focus and conscious presence you brought to cleaning and shining up the teapot Anne. “Keeping my teapot clean will be a daily reflection….it will reflect to me the care I have been taking with it “. I know that when I tend to myself carefully from being present, and feeling what is needed, that I am able to feel shiny and beautiful myself.
Absolutely rosannabianchini.
This one brings a smile to my face as the more we self-care, self-love and self-honour our inner gold and polish it daily the pure beauty gets to be seen for all. Yes I’m a huge tea pot with endless flow of the finest tea in the universe.
Natalie, you are oozing Universali-tea.
And your gold brings a smile to my face too Natalie
The responsibility of keeping ‘our teapots’ shining becomes the joy it is when you read it this way Anne.
Ah, Kathleenbaldwin, the day when responsibility becomes a joy is a great day indeed!
I agree Kathleen, a truly inspiring blog
Kathleen this does put a different and true spin on responsibility, one where we allow out our real shine and offer a true reflection. Something we all have been missing since young – a joyful time for sure.
To realize my everyday miracles seems to me like open up to my connection to God. This connection is always there and if I care for this relationship … of course my life will reflect divinity.
If the tea we serve is the quality of life we lead, it makes every choice we make so much more important, as it will go towards the ‘flavour’. What I’m learning is that when we truly choose love to be our resource for life in every moment, the tea pot never gets empty. It’s there to serve me and others equally.
Well said Jinya.
So beautifully shared, “our tea pot never gets empty if we truly choose love as our resource for life in every moment”.
Lovely sharing Jinya. The perpetual Source of Love within us all equally. There’s a truly empowering teapot worth drinking from every moment of every day.
You have beautifully expressed how every little detail contributes to the overall ‘flavour’ of life.
A beautiful Genie indeed and a gift worth more than 1000 wishes. I absolutely love this.
Genie’s we are….can we handle that?
I’m willing to give it a shot!
Move over all teapots who are ‘short and stout’, our true teapot is enormous and pours perfectly when handled correctly.
Brilliant imagery Liane, love it!
Yes, Liane, there is nothing “little” about us teapots!
When I read this blog, that children’s nursery rhyme/song came to me too. I love what you have expressed Liane… when handled correctly our gigantic tea pot does pour beautifully.. I agree!
Yes love this imagery! Feels like we can forever flow.
…and inside us teapots flows liquid gold.
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.” Wise words genie Anne and a perfect reminder to nurture our inner glow. Thankyou.
I agree Liane, wise words from genie Anne and I loved your words; ‘nurture our inner glow’.
I love this line too Liane and I had an experience today where I felt how the smallest of things can make a difference as to how much I am honouring not just myself but others to.
Yes I love the wisdom too. This line reminds to bring loving attention to each moment because I am precious and tender.
Great line <3
How some TLC can change a teapot, a great reflection that we can change with TLC for our selves. It is as simple as looking after ourselves all the time.
I agree – if a teapot can transform with some TLC – imagine the change we’d feel in us with that same TLC.
You are a genie(us) Anne – love how you have been so playful with this and shared it with us all. I could not agree more with your story – we all have our shine and glory that gets covered up through life with certain choices, but always it remains there underneath and hence it is another of our choices to bring it out again for all to see!
Yes, Henrietta, our past choices have caused our surfaces to tarnish, and now we can simply make different choices, that lovingly clear it away, revealing us in all our shining glory!
Yes, Henrietta, we can chang(e) our choices and let go of what has covered up our shine and glory. (I had to join in with the play-fullness with words.)
We know, Natalie, we can READ you like a book!
Precisely Henrietta, it takes time and care, and a decision to see past the outer dull layer built up from life to bring out a persons unique shine and glory.
Beau-TEA-full symbolism Anne.✨
Thank you, Kathryn – how FORTUNAte we are to have you with us too!
Absolutely gorgeous Anne. What a beautiful reflection? I loved reading your blog, I am feeling inspired to continuously check in with myself as to how much care and nurturing do I apply to my everyday life. Every time I think of your blog it will remind me to check in with myself and to reflect. Thank you Anne.
Absolutely Brendan; a modern twist to the genie in the bottle story. I love it 🙂
”In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life”. Thank you for this reminder Anne. It never fails to amaze me that we find more and more things in our life, some seemingly insignificant like an old teapot, that can reflect back to us the opportunities to learn from life so long as we are open to seeing what is there to be seen.
Awesome Anne. Being open to the wonderment and learning of every moment in life is bringing me much joy 🙂
I enjoyed reading this Anne, thanks.
Yes, we just need a bit of polishing and our natural shine is right there! This is a beautiful reminder of how important it is to care for ourselves in every moment, and continue to maintain our shine.
Gorgeous, Anne! The beauty is still there and needs attention to detail and to be handled with love and care.
This is great Anne, there sometimes is some work needed to get it, and ourself, shiny again. But it will always be there when we take care for ourselves.
I like bedtime stories about real life. This genie one is my favourite
Yes, Dean, this is a perfect bedtime story.
I too love the metaphor of the teapot. Great reminder that it’s never too late to take care of our body and it will indeed shine again.
Yes, Lorettarapp. It is never too late and no matter how we have treated ourselves in the past, if we start to treat ourselves with love and care today, we will be amazed at how quickly our bodies respond, and how brightly we will shine, from within.
Anne we can paint the teapot black, we can cover it in cement, we can glue things to the outside, basically we can make it seem as ugly as possible and yet there is nothing at all that we can do to it that actually stops it from being it’s original shiny nature underneath and that’s what I marvel at.
Absolutely Alexis – no amount of paint, cement, glue or rust can hide the true nature of the teapot. All it takes is a little elbow grease to dust off the surface and the beauty shines through!!
Such a gorgeous and inspiring story of a woman who has returned to her natural shine! I love the daily reminder to be with your body, as you are with your teapot. I feel like a cuppa now and I’ll be feeling more deeply how I am with my body as I do so. Thank you Anne for this sweetly delicate sharing.
To be aware of the finger prints on the cleaned tea pot and that maintaining the tea pot is an ongoing commitment is a gentle reminder that I too need to be aware of the tarnish that I can accumulate during a day that can increase ever so quickly if not attended to. The commitment and love shown for the tea pot is something i also need to have and feel for myself.
Yes, Bjpiper1958. Sometimes we find it easier to care for our ‘things’ – car, house, clothes, shoes, teapots – than our selves, and it feels great to bring that love and care to everything and everyone – including us!
I love how you use the teapot as a reflection of your life. What I feel is a particularly poignant reflection is, ” I realised that it [I] will need to be cared for and cleaned and then rested every day if it is not to tarnish again”.
What a beautiful reminder, that like with the tarnished teapot there is a bright and beautiful shine in all of us – and that the tarnish is just the surface that is shown to the world.
That’s right michaelkremer2212, awesome reminder. For us to shine our true beauty, it requires us to make the choice to clean off some of those layers of past choices and just simply allow ourselves to shine.
Thank you Anne, what a marvelous reflection and picture of the teapot shining and reflecting the light to you and everybody else again – and what an inspiration to constantly remind oneself to be the same and bring love and care to ourselves so that we can shine and sparkle in fullness.
Anne, you have given me such a vivid picture, not only of your teapot, but also of the ‘genie’ symbolism. I immediately felt myself become more still and gentle as I was reading. Thank you for sharing your priceless gift.
What a sweet story, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this little gem. It has the makings of a children’s tale about it as well.
Just a thin layer of tarnish and with some TLC all that shine and glory beneath. Love it Anne.
So true ruthketnor, it is only ever a thin layer of tarnish. I have never known a ‘teapot’ to not be restored to its former glory when handled with love and tender care.
Anne this is so beautifiul and powerful in its simplicity and love. I was with you in cleaning the teapot and drinking the tea with appreciation and love felt this inside too. I really love the consistent self care and shining beauty we all are hidden to be tendered and nurtured lovingly analogy, thank you.
“And I wondered if, underneath it all, the whole teapot was still lovely and silver.” Such a beautiful story, and yes we are all ‘lovely and silver’ underneath all our hurts and woes – we just have to polish ourselves regularly with huge doses of love, self-acceptance and appreciation, taking self-responsibility.
A gorgeous sharing and a wonderful metaphor. At times when I feel a little tarnished, thanks to the support of Universal Medicine, I know that with self love and self care my divine love can always be reconnected to and expressed through my body. . . And that that love is forever within each one of us.
For me, I have learned to keep life simple, listen to my body, honour my rhythm and express, express, express.
Beautifully expressed johanna08smith. I am learning to do the same too. By me choosing this way of living, I am experiencing some amazing changes in my life. This blog is a great reminder that commitment and consistency is required to continuously shine. The gentle loving cleaning and polishing is constant and applying this to our life, the beauty that the world gets to see is a blessing.
Simply beautiful… and a blessing to share.
Anne, I felt on reading this gorgeous blog that this is a beautiful example of awakening a deeper awareness – thank you.
A very lovely, simple and delicate metaphor for bringing our all to the love and care for our body and the physical life . . . which seems inevitably to get tarnished along the way.
Thank you Anne! I love the warmth and domesticity of the symbol of the teapot (which of course is your actual teapot!) There is something essentially feminine and nurturing about a teapot – something produced at the hearth of the home where we stop, pause, re-gather and feel held.
We forget sometimes and take for granted our everyday use of items and expect them to perform, look their best and never wear out but if ‘everything is energy’ the teapot, for example, carries our energy, if we are dismissive of that … that’s what is reflected to all. What a beautiful reminder to bring that energy to everything as we are connected to the ‘everything’ – even a teapot.
There are so many divinely inspired metaphors here, the true shine/light always being there under some tarnish, the shiny reflection and how it was gently re-discovered and how with a little care each day it continues to shine and reflect and the Genie inside. Even the way the shiny reflection on the handle was discovered is a metaphor, thinking the precious silver metal had worn off but each day without even knowing it when you used the teapot, just because Anne felt to use it, and very gently over time the preciousness started to be revealed. So many people see the tarnish as who they are, some people consider there might be silver underneath but might not believe it until they see it. If there is a little love for ourselves like how Anne valued the teapot despite the tarnish then a glimpse of our preciousness and beauty are seen and this gives us confidence to keep polishing.
A wonderful and practical analogy thanks Anne; I’m a genie too you see…
‘ Every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.’ So beautifully said Anne. Your tenderness and self-acceptance is truly felt and inspired.
I love how when you polished the teapot, everyone noticed it and marvelled at what they saw. I have noticed a parallel with this polishing in many students of Universal Medicine who have been actively working on deepening the level of love and care in their daily choices and supporting themselves to heal the issues that life exposes to them, and you cannot but marvel at the changes in their lives.
Very cute, I was right there with you through this story and it seriously made me feel like a cup of tea!! Great analogy, I love that the beauty was something that was underlying all along just waiting to come out.
Anne this is just what I needed to read, thank you for sharing. I have a few little dings too and sometimes the mirror reveals too much but I know that underneath the sometimes dulled exterior, there is a beautiful shining soul just needing a little polish!
I love this blog Anne – no matter what the outer shows there is always beauty underneath, just needs some tender loving care to restore to it’s former shiny self.
I love the realisation that continued use leaves fingerprints that need cleaning away otherwise a dullness takes over – a great reminder for me to be aware of the bits of life that ‘stick’ and need letting go of otherwise they shroud my light.
Beautiful sharing Greg, every day we are being asked to be aware of the bits of life that stick and need letting go as they no longer serve us in the beauty that we are. Thank you for this reminder.
What a gorgeous article Anne – thank you! It is wonderful indeed that “In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.”
Anne I can practically see you reflected in your teapot – gorgeous! We are all little teapots…. my housemate and I have been enjoying a playful game with this – that as little teapots, all we can do is take responsibility for saying yes to the most loving quality of tea that we will be filled with, because that’s what will be poured out into the ‘cups’ of the world.
I love your metaphor diannetrussell. What more incentive could there be in deciding to nourish, accept and appreciate all that we are, so that we fill ourselves up with our glory to express out for all.
Awesome Dianne, I have a feeling I shall be remembering this one as I go through my day as a teapot and taking note of what I choose to pour out to the world. Thank you for the great analogy.
Gorgeous, Diannetrussell, we are all vessels indeed, and what we choose to be filled with, will overflow and fill the world.
Beautiful Dianne – love it!
Love it Anne! Love it! Such a beautiful story.
This is a great analogy Anne I love it. Even a bruised and abused body responds well to tenderness and care by shining brightly.
So true Bernard. We should never give up because our bodies respond incredibly to a little tender loving care. ✨
Anne, such a beautiful metaphor, one that is tangible everyday. Your blog shows how a little love each day keeps the tarnish away.
Lovely, Kimweston2, we can add this to our daily apple!
Anne your gorgeous story reminded me of my grandmother and her silver teapot and delicate China cups and saucers. Her teapot was always sparkling, and the tea was always poured with a gentle ceremoniousness. I love these simple everyday rituals, and the way you have related it to caring and loving ourselves tenderly is exquisite! Thank you.
Dear Bernadette, ‘these simple daily rituals’ are so important to us and our rhythm as also Simon mentioned in his comment. If I don’t have the time for me, to nurture and take care, that’s then the quality I do all things and move through the day. These ‘ceremonies’ are a daily marker and if and how I do it reflects my whole state of being.
Yes Bernadette, I too love the little rituals that make up my day. One of my grandchildren loves to come to have tea with me, and we always make a ceremony of it with lovely tea cups, a beautiful little teapot, and a special plate which, at his request, is filled with walnuts and sliced apple. We then sit, sip and share what is going on in our lives. A most welcome and enjoyable stop in my day.
I love to read the many ways people have in using symbols, metaphors… to help them reconnect with their body. The genie comes out when the teapot is polished to a beautiful shine. Thank you Anne.
Anne what a treasure to find that just like the pot you are capable of shining bright and beautiful. As you have clearly shared the loving commitment and dedication of self love and self care will support and confirm your amazing beauty. Serge Benhayon is remarkable in how he explains and shares such truths for all.
Anne, I loved this blog so much I felt to return to it again. The beautiful symbolism and the truth that it is reflecting to you is confirmation of all that you truly are. You will see in the teapot what is within you first and I feel it gifts to you will continue to unfold. Thanks for sharing.
Wow what a woman and what a teapot.
Yes, her husband is one lucky man! And she is equally blessed.
Indeed a truly lovely article Anne, and Elizabeth, I love what you share here about, underneath this is still the beauty that was there when we were born, that is so very true. The love that we were when we were born has never left us and just needs some tender loving care to bring it back to its true glory.
This reminds me of my daily rhythm. Its been a hectic week, and I’ve missed that bit of exercise each day that keeps me ‘polished’. Thanks for a great reminder.
I can agree with what you say Simon, if something we normally do is bypassed for whatever reason it does take the edge off us and we don’t have all cylinders firing.
Yes, and exercise is a great example of something that is often the first to drop off when we get busy, when in fact it is key to our wellbeing to get the body moving, polishing it up, our own shiny lamp.
Thank you Gill. Yes, I would have scrubbed hard and fast in the past too, but this time it felt true to do it gently, and see what was revealed. It was a very lovely process and I too am learning to be more gentle in every moment and every action.
What I notice is that as I am holding less tension and hardness in my body, all my actions are naturally becoming more gentle and loving.
Yes, Elizabeth, and even more, that our physical bodies may suffer a little wear and tear, but we can grow in love and wisdom as we age, and our inner beauty can shine more and more brightly, through our eyes. It is certainly a different way to look at ageing!
Anne this is such a beautiful blog and a beautiful analogy!
What a lovely symbolic sharing- how the ultimative beauty underneath is always there… Just disappeared a bit.
But did it even disappear? Could it have actually been there the whole time… But we just chose to numb ourselves to the beauty and layered over it with emotion and self-doubt..
I remember too when I was first introduced to the gentle breath mediation. I could recognise the feel of it in my body but it took me a little while to appreciate how deeply significant it was. Over time it started to change the bar for what “normal” meant in my body. Gradually it has supported me in deepening my day to day quality so that intense nervous tension is not my usual experience. I find I am living closer and much more consistently with the “ultimate beauty” that had always been there, but in the knowing that that there are ever deeper levels to go to.
Anne, I loved the fact that you loved and accepted the teapot as it was. And I laughed when I read that it was, with reference to the “genie’s” body, “slightly tarnished, on the surface, with a few little dings here and there where life choices had not been so kind to it”. I can so relate to those little dings, but like you have found that if I tenderly polish them daily that they are beginning to fade, and in some cases disappear. It’s amazing how bringing loving attention to something can expose the beauty that lies beneath. Let’s keep on polishing!
Anne you have done it again. Another gem in all its simplicity and beauty.
Oh my God, Anne, what a beautiful metaphor! Fully can feel what you mean and that everyone has such a reflection and indeed is it’s own Geenie. 🙂
It feels so joyful and light when we are offered simple reflections from silver teapots. Your story Anne offers us all an opportunity to let go of the tarnish we have accumulated and having removed the years of neglect we can then pay attention to all the little details of daily care and enjoy the teapot and the way that it serves us.
Really enjoyed reading this beautiful, simple (shining) example you have shared with us Anne. The little (in some cases big) dents and knocks we get in life can be felt very clearly – but with gentle self loving care we can shine from the inside out again.
Love it, Marion: “we can shine from the inside out again.”
When we start to see ourselves in this way, and pay attention to the inside as well as the outside, we can truly start to shine, and with daily self loving care, we can shine more and more, every day.
Too true annemalatt.. I’m finding the more I allow myself to shine, people around me love it and I know that it inspires them.
Anne what I also really love about this metaphor is how your family were surprised how beautiful the teapot is and that is how I feel how I’ve discounted how amazing I am.
That with some application of consistent dedication I can surprise myself with how beautiful I am once I too remove the debris I’ve collected on top of myself to hide. Beautiful and inspires me to not give up on myself or anyone else.
Gorgeous, Karin. That was the loveliest part for me too – that my family saw me in a new light, because I did. Too often we dull ourselves in the service of our family, when our true service is to shine as brightly as we can, to serve as a loving reflection of God, for them and for everyone. And the more we offer that reflection, the more we give them permission to shine brightly too.
Anne, I love that your husband saw the potential and offered another product to get the last of the remnants of the tarnish off.
This is the cutest of stories. A huge, huge story of such immense power. And relevant to all of us. Not just the older generation. If I polish and care for my own body I shine more brightly and if my young kids polish and care for themselves, they shine more brightly.
Thank you ottobathurst. I love the metaphor of Aladdin’s lamp for that reason – inside the vessel, there lives an amazing and powerful being, just waiting to be let out. And so it is with us. A little polishing and care and here we are!
What you have described here is exactly what I have recently experienced with cleaning and polishing my car. It hadn’t been done for quite some time so I started with vacuuming it out and then wiping down all the seats, doors and windows. Onto the outside and I wash it, dried it and polished it till it gleamed. I did it so lovingly and over about 4 days. Just taking the time that was available to me and spending it with myself and my car. Afterwards it looked and felt amazing and I realised that it was in amazing condition for being almost 11 years old as am I for 40 years old. Taking the time to tend lovingly to ourselves is so very restorative and rejuvenating. That is why I look 10 years younger than I actually am!
What a beautiful metaphor for your body and life, Anne. I find even more beautiful that you were aware that it was a beautiful metaphor.
Thank you, Coleen. There is so much meaning on offer in every little thing in life – all we have to do is re-learn to see it and feel it. We have spent so much of our lives dulling ourselves, but now it is so simple to learn to shine again, and to appreciate everything about ourselves and everything around us, for the magic of God is everywhere.
I love little stories like this. So simple and so true.
Thank you Anne, a delightful story with so much meaning. I like how every moment in life is an opportunity to learn and grow.
I like it too, ruthketnor, and the more I learn to see life in this way, the more playful and loving opportunities for learning and growing there are! The magic of God is always there, in us and all around us.
Really gorgeous Anne. I love the metaphor of the teapot being your body, and your commitment to keeping both shiny and rust-free! Super cool, thank you for sharing.
Beautiful sharing Anne and what a lovely daily reflection for you.
Thank you, Jane. I wrote this blog a few months ago, and the morning it was published, I looked at my lovely silver teapot, and it was looking a little tarnished. It was indeed a lovely reflection of where I was at that day, and an inspiration to give it – and myself! – a little polish with some tender loving care.
Thanks for the lovely metaphor Anne, and a reminder that “In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.”
I loved what you have shared here, Anne- a light and playful story and a beautiful analogy of us in life. It is a story which I can see would be lovely written as a children’s book. Thank you Anne.
it is amazing what we can find under a tarnished and much used teapot, when we apply love and tender care. I love your analogy Anne I could so relate this to how I have treated my body over the years, yet underneath there was always that sparkle ready to show itself once I started to love myself again. A great reminder when I wake up feeling achey and tired, like this morning.
So very true, Alisonmoir, and I am realising after reading this story, that I treat my body the way I might treat a tarnished teapot; either give up on it and make do with it being dowdy and rusty, or have a go at polishing it to uncover its shine and then not maintain it. It is the continual maintenance approached with loving care that I am learning now, about everything, not just my body, but my body most of all.
You are gorgeous Anne. Finding such a reflection in a seemingly simple task actually is a huge revelation and perfect to share. The final beautiful point being is that the teapot, just like us, doesn’t mind being used each day, but needs daily loving care to keep it in tip top shape, shining and ready to go!
Yes, Jo, like the teapot, we are designed to serve, every day, but to do this in full, we need daily loving care – for it is not just what we do that serves, but the shining reflection of who we truly are.
I love the metaphore. It reminds me of an office building where I was a few weeks ago. There are some copper ornaments outside and somebody told me every morning a man comes by to polish them, I thought: that’s quite a time-consuming activity. Now I realize it is like your finger tips. If you are consistent and polish yourself everyday, then you keep the dust and dullness away. We just keep on shining 🙂
Good reminder Caroline – consistently working at things, every day. That is what keeps me shining.
This is such a gorgeous blog, I had to read it again this morning as I rub off my tarnish that collected slightly yesterday… !
That is lovely, Rachel! I love how simple it can be – we may wake up feeling a little tarnished, perhaps because of choices we made the day before – but all we need to do is be aware of this, give ourselves a little polish, and be willing to shine brightly on this day!
What a great metaphor Anne. No mater how long and how battered the tea pot has gotten in its life, a little loving care and attention with bring it back to beautiful thing it has always been.
Anne this a beautiful analogy as it reflects the fact that underneath all our hurts, ideals and beliefs lays a beautiful foundation of love. It has been there since the day of our birth and if we begin to love and nurture ourselves our true beauty shines for all to see.
Yes, Jade, the huge love we are has always been there, and all the hurts, all the ideals and beliefs, are just a layer of tarnish on the surface. We can focus on all that, and all the dullness that it brings, or we can focus on the great love we are, and choose to gently care for ourselves, and that outer layer will naturally clear away, revealing our true beauty, shining for all to see.
Anne, I enjoyed reading your blog, the way you gently and lovingly brought back the true beauty of your teapot and for reflecting that we can bring love to every small thing that we do.
I felt a similar thing Kehinde, and with bringing that care, love and attention to the small things we start to truly shine and its our choice to then nurture and take care of that each day.
No three wishes needed here, Anne, since you are making yourself shine by the self-loving choices of seeing something as simple as cleaning a teapot for what it teaches you about your own life, and what an awesome analogy it is. This makes a powerful difference in our lives, when we can appreciate everything that happens to us as an opportunity to look inward and learn from it. I can visualise how brightly that silver teapot (and you) shine!
When we can appreciate and love all that life is offering us we don’t want wishes as we live them.
What a gorgeous sharing Anne and exquisite in every way.
This is truly beautiful Anne, and the grace with which you care for yourself today is felt in every word.
I have a few teapots… The one I’m using most days at the moment requires me to both fill it, and pour the tea at a certain pace, that the liquid doesn’t overflow or start to escape through the lid. And so each time I fill the teapot and pour the tea, I am cognisant of this being a ‘stop moment’ for me – it takes but the slightest hint of ‘rush’ or lack of care for things to overflow.. You know, it’s taken a little while to consistently pour the tea at a pace where there is no dripping or mess, but now it’s the most beautiful thing… for I allow the time and space required and enjoy the rhythm of the tea pouring into my cup. And what a loving cup of tea it feels to be, that I have honoured this pace and do not let myself be impatient or rushed whatsoever. In this ritual with my tea, I can also feel my body surrender tensions that may have accumulated – pretty cool, and always a special moment to truly ‘check in’ with me.
Would love to share a pot of tea with you sometime Anne. Tea, and the way we prepare it, has always been a special part of my life too.
Thank-you for your gorgeous blog of truth.
Ah, Victoria, we can learn so much from our teapots! I too have to pour slowly and with care, or the lid lifts and tea goes everywhere! And what a lovely opportunity it is – to take a moment to be with ourselves and what we are doing – a true tea break!
It does sound like we are both fond of our tea, and the many lessons therein… 😉
Since I wrote the comment above, the moments of preparing my tea have become more defined yet, and more special. How great is that? That appreciation of the grace with which I can fill the pot, prepare and pour the tea has come all the more to the fore now.
Such rituals hold such an important place in our lives…
Hi Victoria. great comment. It’s not so much the teapot but the ceremony of pouring the tea that makes a tea break a celebration for me.
I agree entirely Nicholas. There is a ceremonial quality to it, something that feels very familiar and old to me… and I love how you describe this as a ‘celebration’. That’s it, absolutely! And I will remember to celebrate the moment of ceremony tomorrow, and the next day…
As I read this blog I could feel the old pattern of wanting to do the work of cleaning up the teapot and for it to stay shiny from then on. However like our bodies they need daily attending to with tender loving care for that shine to remain.
Ah Fiona, I have this old pattern too! I have accepted that my body needs loving care in every moment and finding this easier the more I choose it – this is now my new pattern 🙂
Such a gorgeous blog Anne and so very true. With tender love and care anything and everything can be given the opportunity to be restored to full beauty.
I agree nikkimckee, a “full beauty” that is forever there and in this beautiful analogy we have the tarnish as a small film on top of something that is so much larger and grander. The tarnish is really insignificant to what the ‘teapot’ is and brings. Often we get caught in looking at the tarnish and not appreciating the larger part.
So true Ray. Often we even forget to acknowledge that it is simply tarnish and the tarnish becomes what the teapot is. The teapot is the teapot not the tarnish.
Hello nikkimckee and let’s keep appreciating the ‘teapot’ and all it brings. It’s not that it won’t get tarnished again but with the appreciation the tarnish won’t stop you from clearly seeing what is underneath. In truth the ever deepening of appreciation will allow you to see only the teapot and the tarnish will be always secondary and insignificant.
Well said Ray 🙂
Beautiful metaphor for life and the care you are taking for yourself. Revealing the shininess within ☺️
Love the analogy Anne, what a beautiful reflection that shows us how our bodies also need that consistent loving care so that we can maintain our beauty and shine.
Hello Anne, what a beautiful husband you have that he brought this home to you and I appreciate that after you received such a gift you chose to make it cleaner and make it shine, as you do, and have. Thank you, you appear to be an amazing couple and a great family.
A beautiful reminder Anne of the beauty that lies beneath the sometimes tarnished surface.
Anne I love your analogy. It is the commitment to the everyday little things that brings out the shine. I feel inspired to shine some attention on myself. Thankyou.
I so agree, hartanne, that it is the commitment to all of the many little things that makes up the quality of our daily life.
Lovely, Anne. Yes, it is the commitment to the everyday little things that brings out the shine in us. We are all living miracles, because of that daily commitment to self-care and to love.
A really sweet blog Anne. I often push and try to tick the boxes, but doing things with the tender loving care, dedication and commitment you speak of is a much better way that honours me and the quality of the relationships I have with others too.
Very true, Annie. I have similar experiences what a difference there is in my life when I choose to do things with loving care and consistantly choose to do so.
very sweet story Anne, I really enjoyed reading this. It’s very engaging and has a very nice message to it as well.
What a gorgeous reflection of the benefits of consistent care and appreciation of ourselves.
Indeed Golnaz, and what is lovely is how I can picture Anne seeing her reflection in the tea pot once she chose to clean it up and lovingly take care and appreciate herself.
Loved this analogy Anne. The consistency required in keeping the shine and also the fact that beneath all the tarnish we are always beautiful and waiting until we pay attention to ourselves to shine.
I love this metaphor of your shiny teapot and you Anne, not a fast talking blue genie but a shiny gold genie of beauty and grace. We are being shown so often in many different ways a reflection of how we can shine.
Anne everything that was read and felt simply was deeply nurturing, understanding, reflective and very lovely. Love in its truth and simplicity.
Thank you genie for sharing your magic. I love the qualities of beauty, grace, love, womanliness, caring, tenderness, joy, simplicity, homeliness and godliness that shine through this true fairy story.
Dear jospehinebe2012, a beautiful appreciation of Anne and the truth – hear hear.
As you have mentioned Anne, there is also such joy in honouring that daily ritual of
” it will need to be cared for and cleaned and then rested every day if it is not to tarnish again.”
I love the analogy Anne, thank you. It’s true, we can all apply some self-loving polish to ourselves and be totally amazed by what shines through, for it does not take much for our bodies to respond to love and nurturing. I love the way you recognised that your teapot requires on-going care and rest. It’s a great reminder that we too require the same level of loving attention and that every little finger print leaves a mark. With huge appreciation to Universal Medicine, I now realise that all my little finger prints can either leave loving imprints or not and it supports me everyday to bring more love into my life in simple ways.
So true, it doesn’t take much for our bodies to respond to love and nurturing, something many of us never even think to do for ourselves because it is not something we are taught when young. These are skills that need to be taught from an early age so that the magic genie in every teapot gets the chance to shine and pour forth the magic of the unique flavour each one carries.
Awesome analogy! Tender love and care do get rid of the old mold and and bring the shine back from within that is always there. Timely Reminder! Thank you.
I really love the simplicity of this Anne. You had a choice to just see a teapot or to see what the teapot symbolised for you. Simply gorgeous.
Its a lovely reminder that there are always layers of understanding within the obvious… the world is a magical place that is talking to us all the time if we but choose to listen.
I really felt the beauty and exquisiteness in what you wrote and how you live, reading this Anne, what a gorgeous and inspiring beginning to my day. Now, what do I have here that needs a little polishing?
I agree Jeanette, there is a real beauty and grace when reading this blog, you can feel Anne and how she lives.
Aladdin’s Lamp – how wonderful Anne, symbolic of how easy it is to re-alight the majesty of past into the present when there is understanding of the ‘tarnishes’, and so the choice to love deeply once again. Your teapot is a beautiful reminder of this.
Dear Zofia these words stand out for me in your comment ” how easy it is” – I feel to say to align to love.
True care and love is in the detail of everyday life, from there we truly shine. Thank you Anne for sharing this sweet story.
It’s amazing that the tea pot was already wonderful when tarnished, and accepted and appreciated as this being the norm, only to later realise, with a little TLC, there was even more beneath the surface which was actually tarnished. This is a great reflection of how amazing we all truly are and that we may only be functioning at half shine which is still amazing but really not quite it and we are even more grander than we may have imagined.
Yes, gorgeous Danielle. This is exactly what happens as we age… we accept the tarnishing as normal, however with deeper care for ourselves and our bodies, we can see that this is in fact not normal at all; and our innate beauty can shine in ways we never imagined.
Absolutely Kylie. I love the way you’ve introduced adventure or exploration to aging – to discover the many ways we can shine. So as we go through the changes that happen with aging there’s more and more to explore and unfold, which brings a true celebration to aging!
I know so many Universal Medicine students that look so much younger than their age, who are playful, sexy and sassy (men and women). It’s gorgeous to see and blows the whole ‘how you age when you get older’ right out of the water 😆
This is so true Danielle, ‘This is a great reflection of how amazing we all truly are and that we may only be functioning at half shine which is still amazing but really not quite it and we are even more grander than we may have imagined.’ This is what I am discovering daily about myself – that there is so much more to me than I have been showing and through self care and self love I am revealing daily the amazingness that it is underneath.
Me too Rebeccawingrave, and I’ve also realised we need to be willing to accept how shiny we actually are and that we’re not the half shine teapot we have been trying to convince the world we are.
Great comment Danielle, and very true when we look at the simplicity of what is presented here. It would not take much for us as a society to work on ourselves in this way.
It would make life so much more enjoyable as well as easier to like with this knowing – to accept we are amazing the way we are even if we’ve made a few poor choices and understand that there’s more amazingness ready and waiting to be released with a little bit of TLC.
Yes, I agree aminatumi. It just takes one shiny teapot to lead the way!
Great observation Danielle, “It’s amazing that the tea pot was already wonderful when tarnished” and a great metaphor for our selfs, so often think we are not wonderful as we are, when this is not the truth.
Absolutely. The key being not to forget that often there is more shine that we are still hiding away that with a little bit of a polish can be shared with the world.
I love this deeper reflection Danielle – how the teapot was still admired and loved and appreciated even when tarnished. This is a reflection of how ‘love is an observation’, the beauty of who we truly are can still be felt even when we are not shining in our full light. Acceptance of simply where we are all at – and patience to wait for the day we finally come to clean away the tarnish and unleash our underlying beauty.
Absolutely, it’s not about how we look but how we feel that counts!
Very insightful comment Danielle and one I completely agree with also. Well said!
Yes thanks robynjones11 I certainly polished my tea pot yesterday before I came out with this one!
haha… Good to know the shine is always there and never leaves. Keep it coming!
A gorgeous story Anne, about how we treat our bodies, and ourselves. I loved when you said:
“But with a little tender loving care, and some dedication and commitment, the tarnish easily came off, leaving the underlying beauty there for all to feel and see.”
I agree, it is the small everyday self-loving acts that make all the difference.
Thank you Anne for such a powerful blog. “But with a little tender loving care, and some dedication and commitment, the tarnish easily came off, leaving the underlying beauty there for all to feel and see.” The fact that love never leaves you, and realising that it is a daily commitment to make sure life does not tarnish you is really powerful. As well as the fact that it’s never too late to deal with the tarnish, and reveal who you truly are, once again.
I agree ariannekasi, it is a beautiful line.
This is so beautifully expressed Arianne, and Anne such a playful way of looking at life and how we can make different choices that wipe away the tarnish, we are all shinning and beautiful.
I felt this to be true on my fathers death bed, it is truly never too late to be with our essence! The underlying beauty is so gorgeous it is amazing that we do such a good job of hiding it! Takes a lot of force to do this. I am rather like you Anne committing to loving and caring everyday for my beauty to shine more and more each day.
Arianne, a true line worth repeating and rereading again. We are all shining beauties underneath who are worth the dedication and commitment, and no matter how tarnished you will always find the shine.
Well we did learn the ditty “I’m a little teapot…” as children – and so it is!
hahaha… I remember singing that song too when I was young and also the actions that went with it. It is such a simple song and I really enjoyed singing it and doing the actions!
Such a great reminder, Anne, that we all have beauty inside that just becomes tarnished with everyday living unless we constantly live in harmony. As we are not perfect we do need to ‘clean our teapot’ by returning to ourselves when we get caught up in the busyness of the world or go off on a tangent into the future.
I love the tender and gentle way you cared for your teapot Anne, accepted it the way it was and allowed for the silver to shine through. A beautiful metaphor of self-love and self-care.
I love this too Anne, when we stay open to life there is so much we can learn.
I love your analogy, Anne – we are all beautiful and shiny underneath our ‘wear and tear’.
I love the simplicity of your blog Anne, yet the message it brings is profound. I am learning to care for myself and your blog has inspired me to continue developing this as the magic that is inside of me will come out more and more to shine for all.
love this Anne on every level, especially the part where continued care is required everyday, consistent, gently tender loving care.
This has inspired me to polish my own teapot!
Thank you Anne, my feeling is we all tend to leave our mystical genie (love) in the cupboard locked away for a rainy day. Thanks to the genius genie Serge Benhayon, we have all been shown that love should not be stored away but needs to be expressed.
Thank you Anne, I love this story, a perfect story for a story book, the simplicity and wisdom about life.
A truly beautiful and lovely metaphoristical story Anne. It’s amazing how little everyday moments can reflect so much wisdom and remind us of deeper truths under all there is and we do. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for reminding me Anne, that everything can be a reflection for us if we are open to it and stay aware of all that is happening around us, and if we respect and are gentle with everything we touch it seems to come alive. The magic truly does happen!
There are so many opportunities every day offering us to grow. What I love about this blog is, in a simple activity of cleaning and taking care of a tea pot so much is revealed and then later to be reminded every time when having a cup of tea. Reading this beautiful article has really made me stop and see the grandness in everything I do.
What a beautiful reminder Anne of the power of self-love and self-care and the dedication and consistency that is required to truly be all the Love that we are.
I enjoyed reading your sweet expression here Anne.
There is a great humility in accepting that we are meant to be out there working and we will get tarnished and dirty but we are meant to be shiny and we have everything we need to become shiny again if we put our attention to it.
Absolutely Nicole lovely reminder.
I once had the realization that we all wear a golden crown on our head – you may not see it, but everyone can feel it. And to let this crown shine is a joyful responsibility because it reflects our connection to God. So everyone can find out what his or her crown ask for to shine that day – if it is accepting, beholding, appreciation, caring, celebration, awareness or …polishing.
what a gorgeous and sweet blog Anne and so inspiring. The love and the care for the teapot and yourself is obvious and i can feel the shine coming through your words. It has put a smile on my face, thank you.
A very important lesson to learn indeed Anne, self love is never ending, but the end and constant result is magical. And worth it.
What a gorgeous sharing Anne. I absolutely love this part,
‘ In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life. ‘
I love the tender feel of this blog Anne. The delicateness and tenderness you write with is deeply felt.
So gorgeous. So true. So lovely. The beauty is always there – we just learn to cover it up. How amazing for you to learn to uncover it and realise the daily commitment it takes to keep it shiny. Enjoy the cuppas!
Anne Malatt what a joy to read. I love that there was not a big blue fast talking genie – hilarious, imagine if there was…..this would be a very different blog.
A beautiful metaphor about life, about going deeper, discovering the amazing light we are and the powerful reflection for others. Thank you Anne.
I love the simplicity of your sharing Anne, and the recognition of the care and love required to maintain the shine of your teapot and of yourself.
I shall be looking at my tea pots in a whole new way from now on Anne. I shall be on the look out for a genie too.
And remarkable genie….thank you for the magic of you sharing. The appreciation is superb and inspiring, playful and innocent. Reminding all that every moment can be one of renewing.
Anne, your reflection on a teapot proves that even the most mundane tasks can be magical.
Nailed it Anne. Love this metaphor…now to go and find some ‘brasso’ for my body to give it a polish.
I love this Anne, the idea of revealing the beauty within with tender care and patience and the need to tend this loving beauty daily. And how awesome to have it revealed and reminded through the tea ritual! I love tea 🙂
A great reflection indeed, and what I love from this is the fact that just because you did it the once you can not sit back now and think the work is over….every day there is something to look at and work with. Beautiful.
Love it what a gorgeous story!
This blog itself offers a gorgeous opportunity to learn from life, thank you little teapot. The simple things…!
Your blog definately brings a smile to my face, so much can be learnt from the simple things.
Gorgeous Anne. We all have an inner ‘genie’! It’s just there waiting to be revealed through tender loving care.
This is a beautiful metaphor!
Anne, it was lovely to read your beautiful story. Throughout I could feel the love you have for yourself and the world around you – very inspiring!
Three of us, as women, were talking about this very subject this morning and playfully sharing similar metaphors. I love this story and the way that you tell it, letting it gently unfold – as we can do with ourselves. Just gorgeous, thank you Anne.
Anne what a beautiful reflection and a reminder that we have to take care of ourselves all the time, every moment otherwise we will tarnish our bodies.
Tears filled my eyes reading this Anne. The gift of truth can be found all around us. Thank you.
Tears filled my eyes too, Leonne. On pondering why this was, I understood that it was the simplicity of the teapot and genie analogy, and the recognition by Anne that she herself was the genie – “one who was equally capable of everyday miracles”. This is beauty-full learning for me as it completely banishes self-doubt.
Thank you Anne for the revelation that it is never too late nor can we be too darkened to not be restored to the amazing light that we are all from.
What I love Anne is that first you accepted and enjoyed the tea pot for its ‘tea potness’, and only later found underneath the tarnished exterior shining silver.
How true that when I accept others (and me) for who they are, not what they look like, then the silver can shine through.
How truly beautiful is life when we let ourselves learn from every situation. Everything is there to support us to evolve if we choose.
So true Elizabeth. Well said.
Beautifully expressed Elizabeth.
Anne what you have shared is so simple but is revealing and gorgeous. All of our imperfections are opportunities to feel what is happening in our body thus giving us an opportunity to clear them- how gorgeous is that!
It’s a great reminder that our imperfections are not a permanent tarnish. They can be polished with self love. And perfection is not the desire, it’s the love and care that will restore our beauty.
What a beautiful metaphor for self-love Anne. I will forever more refer to moisturising my body as ‘polishing my teapot’!
I love this tale Anne, your analogy of the teapot and how the simple task of cleaning it allowed you to claim an ongoing deeper care for yourself – and how every time you stop to have a cup of tea you are reminded of this. There are so many everyday movements that we can incorporate into our day as little reminders of ourselves.
Anne what a gorgeous story. Your line: ‘In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life’. is incredibly powerful and so very obvious that I wonder how it was that I was not able to know the truth of this for most of my life. Like you, I too have been inspired by Serge Benhayon to now truly and deeply care for myself and reveal the true beauty that I am.
Beautiful Anne and Penny, deep self care is lived by Serge Benhayon, deep appreciation for what he reflects is shared by all of us.
Beautifully said Penny, and Anne this is absolute truth.
The truth of our innate beauty is always there, awaiting the care and attentiveness to be given the opportunity to shine in the light of day, every day… What a perfect metaphor the teapot is – one I can completely relate to also, as just this morning I knew my body needed deep rest, and I’ve allowed myself this space, with no apology but only the deepest honouring of who I truly am, and what is needed – today – to love and care for myself so deeply.
With daily care we can keep that shine, without it we can dull to the point where we may not even recognise what we are made of in the first place and/or even believe we are made of something we are not. I know this to be true as if I make choices that make me feel dull (Eating heavy foods, walking around with issues/judgements/songs in my head etc) then ‘shine’ and show that dullness to everyone around me as if that is who I am. However if I choose to not make those choices I feel lighter in myself and feel more relaxed and focused and that is what is shown to others. Thank you for this Anne for sharing that shining does require a constant commitment but that ‘constant commitment’ need not be a chore, because when what is underneath is appreciated how can it be?
I love what you have written here leighmatson: ‘With daily care we can keep that shine, without it we can dull to the point where we may not even recognise what we are made of in the first place and/or even believe we are made of something we are not.’ It is so true – the more we self-care and self-love the more we shine.
Such a timely reminder for me leighmatson. I am overseas and have been faced with food choices that I would not usually choose to eat and my body is feeling rather dull. My shine can be restored!!
Anne what a truly gorgeous analogy.
I love how now you need to take loving care of your pot everyday and how that is a lovely reminder to take care of you.
Lovely metaphor. these small moments in between the obvious ‘big’ stuff in life, are the moments that I have really began to appreciate. This moments when you are on your own cleaning the house, driving, getting dressed for example, are ones that I have realised are wonderful opportunities just like any other to support and care for myself and they are just as significant.
A beautiful metaphor for us all Anne, for we are all beautiful and shiny underneath our layer of tarnish.
A great analogy, Anne, that it is never too late to re-ignite the glory and splendour we have inside, and the magical formula is the consistent love and care for ourselves and our bodies.
Such a beautiful metaphor for taking loving care of ourselves so that we can shine out into the world. Thank you for sharing Anne and inspiring me to treat myself super gently today when I have woken up feeling achey and tender.
A gorgeous analogy Anne – that once we start to slowly see the beauty within us and others (a shiny handle) we can be inspired to look at every aspect of our lives, and appreciate the beauty that has been quietly resting there – waiting to ignite.
What a magical story you have woven with your teapot Anne! I once thought that what life had dealt me meant I was probably tarnished and damaged beyond repair. Since working with the Sacred Esoteric Healing modalities, and attending Universal Medicine workshops I’ve been delighted to find that this is not true. What I’ve carried and identified with is the tarnish you speak of Anne, but underneath, and as it all peels away, my sparkling self is still there in all its glory shining brightly.
Such a beautiful story. I can feel the amazingness of that tea pot/you and it’s preciousness, and how with a little daily love and care it will always be shiny and a pleasure to be around.
Beautiful Anne, thank you for sharing. I love the line: “In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.” Seeing life this way takes away the frustration I have lived with for most of my life, the frustration of wanting everything to be perfect instead of seeing everything as an opportunity to learn from.
I love your blog Anne! So simple and beautiful in its analogy… we all have that inner shine and sparkle, that with a bit of care and love can come bursting through!
Anne I really love blogs which give me a visual reminder to take into my day. A truly beautiful start to my morning, thank you.
Having been tarnished and dinged a bit myself over time. I cant truly relate to what a little bit of daily love and attention can expose what has been hidden for years.
This is such a beautiful article anne, I agree with you that ‘In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.’ I am really feeling this at the moment, there is so much learning in every moment and a choice to be loving, nurturing and caring and to shine like your teapot or a choice to dull myself and override what Im feeling and to not shine.
Gorgeous and playful Anne and a brilliant metaphor of what the true meaning of a genie is. 🙂
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.”
Yes Anne I agree with you, the metaphor is pure magic, I love those moments.
Thank you for your inspiration.
That’s such a lovely story Anne and a beautiful reflection of what happens to us and how we can take more loving care of ourselves, and our true beauty is always there to be uncovered under all the impositions and the stuff we have taken on that’s not really us.
I love this Anne a simple and yet profound sharing and a huge, great reminder of how committing to taking loving care of ourselves is such a huge support and enables us to shine for all to see our true beauty. Thank you Anne for sharing.
Such a beautiful analogy for how we can love and care for ourselves, however tarnished we may feel. With such nurturing the true essence is revealed.
I can feel the level of care in your cup of tea for yourself, Anne. After having brought the teapot to shine this level of care gets the appreciation it deserves. Great confirmation.
What this blog reminded me of is that no matter what happens on the outside, who we truly are and our true beauty is always there regardless.. In fact our inner hearts are always just waiting to shine, even though sometimes we need to remove or work on any coverings on the outside that may be masking our brightness and our light!
Thats such a lovely story Anne. It was warm and felt lovely. I also love making tea in a teapot.
Anne this is so gorgeous! What a lovely gift to share. I absolutely love your teapot too.
To keep a silver teapot polished, shining and cared for takes great care and consistency, what a beautiful analogy and reminder that the dings are not the important part it is the self care that makes us shine.
A beautiful parable. And if you just put the teapot on a shelf and don’t use it then it will lose its shine. The tea poured from the inside of this shining pot quenches the thirst of all who drink from it.
Anne thank you a great metaphor and reflection. Very inspiring.
What a great example of how life offers us an endless array of lessons and opportunities to deepen our commitment and love.
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.” This is what I am finding too Anne the more I stay open to everything no matter how small and insignificant it maybe at the time, there is alway something I can learn by relating it back to my body and how I am living. It is the detail in life such as your teapot, that can offer some of the greatest changes.
I feel your tenderness and loving care while reading your simple and beautiful message of how everything in our lives gives us an opportunity to return to our innate beauty. A great reminder at the start of my day, thank you Anne.
Anne this blog is GOLD or should I say silver. Love it! I am accepting the grace of each moment more and more and being open to the learnings on offer.
Superb Anne, my lamp has definitely had a few bumps and scrapes over the years some will eventually shine up and some are a permanent reminder of the times I should have taken more care of it and cherished it for the special gift it is.
When we stay connected to our inner essence of wisdom, innocence and beauty, life is indeed full of gorgeous opportunities to learn from life. Thank you for sharing Anne.
And all these magical moments are such a support once we truly open up to them. They are like looking into a mirror that will reflect a truth in you that before you were not able to see.
In every moment we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life…..I am very much looking forward to what life is going to offer me today. There is so much to learn, and there is so much to love. Thank you Anne.
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.” I Love this Anne and your story of your tea pot. What a beautiful way of looking at life – to see the reasons in all that is presented to us. Thanks for sharing it has prompted me to look more deeper into the messages I receive in my day.
Yes Anne, I too have experienced that when we are deeply present, everyday, ordinary tasks can reveal so much about ourselves, and about life.
Anne reading your blog has brought a big smile to my face, as a kid I loved the TV series ‘I Dream of Genie’ and have always found it quite mystical the idea of a genie coming out of a bottle (or teapot)! I can relate to the metaphor of our bodies being like your teapot, the more care and love we bring, the more our own inner light can shine outwards for all to see. But as you mention Anne, this takes a daily commitment to keep rubbing away at the tarnish (healing our hurts) so that we can feel more of who we truly are (love).
What a beautiful reflection of life you show to me Anne Malatt. It is so true, everything in life is geared for us to show us the way back to where we are coming from. We only have to allow ourselves to be aware of this fact and these magical endeavours will be revealed to us and become part of our everyday lives.
This is so lovely. The power of being innocent and having no doubt is just beautiful. It’s so simple that it takes away the heaviness and the stickiness of the word ‘commitment’ that I have often associated with.
Anne , I love the analogy you use here with the tea pot & your body. As you share with care, you were got the shine out & back on the tea pot which was always there hiding under the tarnish. Just like how we all are just shiny & beautiful from inside but have lost that connection to that beauty that is ALWAYS there for us to connect to. Thank you for this beautiful reminder in such playful everyday manner of keeping your tea pot shiny.
This is a lovely a reminder Anne to treat ourselves with tender loving care and to know that whatever we’ve done in life, at our core our essence is unchanged.
That’s right Deborah, it’s no wonder the tea tasted so good from the ‘unpolished’ days.
Such a beautiful, simple yet oh so powerful blog Anne.
Thank you for your gorgeous expression and wisdom.
I particularly loved how you have summed it all up;
“In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life”.
The tale of the tea pot ~ where wisdom comes in a cup of tea. Thank you Anne 🙂
Love the analogy Anne. Is there any chance of getting some of that cleaner? I’ll need a lot (for my wife) to rub over my body each day.
Great analogy Anne.
Like the body when it isn’t properly cared for it becomes dull, slow and tarnished. However with a bit of loving care the body can be in its full light once again. Instead of silver polish the body loves walks, loving relationships, connection, supportive exercise to name but a few.
Anne what a beautiful reflection for all. From such a simple task so much magic comes forth. Thank you.
Anne, this story of you polishing yourself and your teapot is adorable. It is a great reflection for us all. And yes, we may be tarnished and have a few dings from the careless way in which we have lived, but we can change that if we feel to. Thank you.
Well said Rosie, I totally agree. We can always change and polish out the dings from our careless way of living, when we are ready to do so.
More than a few dings Rosie, but the shine is always there underneath just waiting for the opportunity.. and the more it shines, the clearer the reflection.
Hello Genie Anne 😉 I can feel the joy in this, it is exquisite, thank you.
Beautiful Anne, this is pure magic gracefully shared, discovering the daily reflection and reminder of love as you shared that “In every moment, and in every action, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant, we are offered another gorgeous opportunity to learn from life.” especially every cup of tea !
I absolutely love metaphor and this is a beauty Anne. Thank you for your inspiration!