778 thoughts on “Body Image – Beauty Comes from Within”

1. Pingback: “Beauty is Much More Than Skin Deep” – The Truth about Serge Benhayon

2. Gill your story represents the beauty every single person has within, but currently may be disconnected to and as a result has forgotten about. How joyous your final photo is, radiant with the deep inner beauty that is your essence – you simply being you. We have all mostly forgotten who we are and so it is needed for there to be role models, people who can live that inner beauty and remind others that this is who we all are, and that nothing outside of us is ever going to bring the deep contentment and settlement being our true selves will.

3. Reading this blog again reminded me of how I used to be when it came to my body image as I didn’t consider myself as an attractive person growing up. So I resorted to hard core exercising, to show the firm muscle, but with that came the hardness, the toughness, I couldn’t show any fragility or sensitivity as a woman, it wasn’t the norm.

   It is only recently probably after 9-10 years of ceasing what I had done to my body, have I resorted to exercising again and this time it is to support the flesh and bone to be toned and strong as the age creeps up and, to prevent the joints from stiffening.

   What I loved when I returned to the gym recently, is how I responded to what my body asked for instead of pushing it to what was needed by rules and regiment of the fitness industry. I mean going into a gym and doing no certain reps or sets of anything, just responding to the body felt amazing and not tiring either.

   It is early days, as I redevelop my relationship with the gym again and embrace whatever unfolds. All I can say, it is what my body is asking and I’m responding, simple.

4. Gyl this is a common disease amongst many people living in the modern western world, where we are under the guise of television, magazines etc. Images that suppose to portray the perfect picture of what a man and a woman needs to look like.

   When I ponder on my childhood years, I didn’t care so much about my bodily images and somewhere along the way, something entered my mind and then it was suddenly important. I never thought I was the most gorgeous looking person, and often compared myself to my siblings, always looking elsewhere when the elsewhere was within. I did some silly things growing up, training, eating loads then vomiting, so it wouldn’t pile on the weight on my body, dieting constantly, it was ridiculously torturous for my body.

   Roll on years, and I had no choice but the body gave me my stop moment and I could no longer exercise and certain foods fell away.

   I’ve come to a point where I am learning to love my body from a different angle and yes there are the old habits creeping in from time to time, so I’m observant of this. And soon I will be reintroducing exercise that my body is requesting and not what my mind thinks the body needs, and that is a beautiful feeling when I am responding to its call.

5. When we enter the world of starting a Self-Loving-Relationship the body image become less complex as the simple truth of the energetic-appreciation of our divine connection is simply what keeps us re-connected to our essences and thus feeling enough in life as you have shared Gyl.

6. Society asks us to look outside of ourselves to fit into a box of perceived beauty – and when we go for this we feel the emptiness inside that does not celebrate our natural beauty which of course cannot be boxed. It is only when we allow ourselves to look within that we can bring forth the beauty that is already there and ready to blossom once given some sunlight.

   1. Letting the beauty from within out, ‘I exercise because I love myself and I want to make that commitment to me, knowing that my beauty first comes from within.’

   2. Yes correct, we fit into what society has imposed upon us and we walk around most often empty then full. Its no wonder there is so much searching for answers from outside ourselves than within. Look within and it will be there…

7. As children before we are layered with expectations from society about how we should look, there is a freedom to simply be who we are and enjoy this each and every moment. How and when this gets hidden under the layers of expectation will vary from person to person, but it is a loss to everyone when one person hides their true essence. Resurrecting that later in life is the key to returning back to the freedom we held as children but treasuring that again as an adult.

   1. Henrietta there is a new disease of gluttony amongst children, it is killing them before they are even adults. What is actually going on in the world? Food is our new drug, so these children are now hiding, if it isn’t games, its TV, or its food and we haven’t even touched upon alcohol or drugs yet.

      Children need to be nurtured and when they are full of true love, they can’t fill themselves up with anything else, they don’t need to look elsewhere, it is that simple. Maybe we will wake up one day.

8. True beauty shines out from within.

9. Serge Benhayon offers another way to live as you say Gyl, the corner stone for this way of living is ‘love’ but not the emotional type we have all experienced. There are no do or don’ts, but more like a set of tools that if used can be life changing, the choice is always up to the individual. For those of us that made a choice to test out the tools, we are making more self loving choices and because of those choices I have noticed there is less self abuse in my life, when I feel it I just call it out. This is a life changing experience and one I would not have missed for anything.

10. “I love being me.” Appreciating who we are deepens our self-love and love for others.

11. This is so beautiful Gyl, your final photo as an adult expresses so clearly that delicate, sweet, joyful openness that was there as a child. Life is so simple when we make it about love, however there are so few role models living like this, and certainly none in the media or on TV that could reach us regularly to show us the normality of a loving way of life. There can be many challenges on our return back to the love we are, I know this from my own experiences, but it is so very worth it to discard everything we are not to live true to ourselves again, just as we were as children.

12. Children’s toys aimed at girls are almost all distorted versions of the female body these days. When I grew up there were only one or two dolls with large heads and very thin bodies, now they all seem to be like that. Add to that the make up and drug user look and dolls completely undermine the natural innate beauty of young girls. Can we blame the toy industry? Can we blame commercial organisations? No, it’s us that are buying them and giving them to our children who are asking for more. If we feed the industry the industry will thrive if we starve the industry then we might just see change.

13. There is a way to move in life that is not The Way, but which we learn as The Way and we want to believe it is IT even if there is no way to converting it into the other.

14. Apart from anything else, it is totally exhausting trying to live up to something we think we ‘should’ or ‘want to’ be. When we can let go of all those ideals and beliefs about having the ‘perfect’ body and start to live from who we know ourselves to be from the inside we become vibrant, joy-full and feel our own inner beauty and gorgeousness without any ‘need’ for another to confirm it for us.

15. ‘When I feel beautiful, this shines out no matter what, and is felt by everyone. Why? Because I feel beautiful and confident from within.’ There is nothing that can touch that feeling of absolute beauty that we move with when we are living from the inside out.

16. How on Earth we can feel not good enough if we already are everything? If I see the first picture of you Gyl with 1-2 years I see the completeness, tenderness and absolute joy that is there. Nothing else was needed, just the present moment to be lived. We all had the same experience in our early ages so what happened later? We have been told that it is good to fit in, to adapt ourselves to our environment, that is not ok to cry or to speak up because others can reject you…we have learnt so many things but forgot the essential, how to deeply care and cherish our body. We would live in a very different world – where self-worth issues, jealousy and comparison – wouldn’t exist if making self-loving choices for ourselves would be the normal. That’s not the case by now unless we choose it in our everyday life, it’s in our hands.

17. Taking on the many ideals about how we should or shouldn’t look like push us in a corner feeling less and doesn’t allow us the space to just be. Thanks Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I realized how far away I was from the bundle of love that I really am. Through the Gentle Breath meditation I create a space in me that is new, it’s a surrendering where I can feel that my preciousness has nothing to do with my shape and looks, but something greater that comes from within me.

18. From being hard and pushing your body to being very loving and content with yourself. Such an amazing change Gyl. Love to hear about the many experiences from the Students of the Livingness who had the courage to connect deeper with themselves, the joy and stillness that they emanate is very tangible and very real. This fact makes me see how simple can be living in such a way if we just surrender to the love that we are. Thanks for sharing

19. We do all kinds of things to stand in the way of our own body looking and feeling like it naturally does. Taking care of our body, loving ourselves goes a very long way, making us rewrite the definition of what beauty is.

20. Absolutely beautiful blog Gyl, it speaks volumes for all of us women who are struggling, fighting, pushing and trying to reach a certain weight, body shape, or look. How humbling is it to feel the contentment you have within you and know that it is available for us all. Thank you.

    1. Spot on Viktoria – it is certainly a global issue for women to be struggling with body image, and to know that we can be free of this is a very refreshing approach, and that the contentment that we all seek is already within, simply waiting for us to access it and allow it into our lives.

21. Our greatest beauty is never in our looks. What we are dissatisfied with ourselves is not living the fullness of love that we are within.

    1. Another gorgeous comment that I cannot but comment back on! It is the beauty and fullness of love from within that is not expressed that causes the greatest grievance in our body – this is the dissatisfaction that you talk about and it is so true!

22. The more we embrace and connect to our true essence the more beautifully we shine inside and out.

    1. Embracing who we are, our essence, ‘For me it is no longer about how I look on the outside first, but the quality and connection of the relationship I have with myself.’

23. When I was striving to have the perfect body and the perfect skin so I looked beautiful… I was the most miserable I’ve ever been in my whole life. Super clear now to see, the energy it took to push and strive for that was definitely not love, because love asks us to be nothing more than who we are from our essence.

24. Wow Gyl, you are so absolutely gorgeous. It is true, we don’t have to have a role model in order to be affected by the outside – just adopting the ideals and beliefs of society is enough to make us feel unworthy, not good enough and like we lack in something.

25. The more loving choices we make for ourselves in our everyday life the more we are able to reignite our love for ourselves and others full stop.

26. I love this line: “I’m exactly the way I am meant to be” – living a life of constantly striving to be better or different is so incredibly unfulfilling and damaging to our self worth. The moments when we simply accept ourselves as we are and stop fighting our imperfections are magic.

27. True beauty is within us and all we need do is connect to it . . .looking within instead of look outside of ourselves

28. Thank you Gyl, beautiful to read this again. Your photos communicate so much. The photos midway at ages 17 and 22 show how when we give our power to ideals and beliefs we completely close off from our essence, your natural beauty is not able to shine through there and you feel quite shut off from yourself. In contrast, your essence is so present and expressive in your childhood photos and your final photo at age 37, the natural beauty is so powerful, the gorgeousness is completely heart melting!

29. Connecting deeply to the light and love that we truly are is enough to shine out our beauty for the whole world to see and feel; and what’s amazing about this is when we do this everyone gets an opportunity to feel their own beauty also.

30. “When I feel beautiful, this shines out no matter what, and is felt by everyone.” A beautiful reflection for all who are met by your eyes.

31. Beautiful question to aks: what is beauty, what is a beautiful body? And clearly it is not what the media want us to think or what society is portraying we should look like. The body is only beautiful when there is someone in there, when someone is present in their body and the soul they are is living in it and shining its light.

    1. It’s interesting how we give our power to the media, even though we don’t know the people personally who wrote and produce it, and we don’t know their character, yet we entrust them to tell us what’s ‘true’ and allow ourselves to be influenced by it. If I let a stranger on the street tell me how my body or life should be I would think that was crazy, yet we pick up a paper or magazine written by a bunch of strangers and let them tell us how to be.

       1. If you put it like this, and this is exactly how it works, it sounds ridiculous and something we wouldn’t even consider accepting without discernment from ourselves whether we want to take the media’s approach on board or not. For the things the media offer us are limited and hardly ever celebrate our true beauty. The check question to ask myself is often: ‘would my soul say or ask that?’ And if the answer is NO then I let it go.

32. If we are forever wanting a body that we do not have, then we are not going to appreciate the body we are in and thus the depth of the wisdom, grace and love that is on offer to us when we live in connection with this.

33. The eyes always hold the truth of us, independent of anything else. When we allow the inner beauty to come up they make sure to communicate this with the world. When the eyes reveal all that is to be revealed, how I look is only a confirmation of how I feel. The problem is when we decide no longer share with the world the true of us. Everything starts falling and we become dependent on others to confirm us. How I look becomes the only thing that matters.

34. The most beautiful we can possible be is when we are being our self in full.

35. And as we get older the choices that we have made are indelibly imprinted on our body for all to see… Just like the roadmap of our life.

    1. They so are cjames2012, these choices are also easily seen even in our younger years, yes our bodies may be more toned and skin tight and full, but our eyes, how we move, our skin tone, our vitality… says it all.

36. To reconnect with the beauty that we already are in our essence brings a deep sense of content and a simplicity to life – it dissolves the need for recognition from outside of us and helps us to see where we may be trying to fit into an ideal or picture of what we think we should look like rather than feeling from inside what is our true shape… Thanks for sharing how you’ve unfolded with this Gyl.

37. I was in a shop last night and a song was playing and one of the lines struck me…it was something along the lines of my life is hard, and I just don’t know. And what came to me is that we do know, we always know, there is a deep knowing in all of us. I felt like a more honest answer is that sometimes we don’t want to know, and that we live in a way that stops us from this knowing.

    When we are living a life of being hard on ourselves, pushing ourselves, comparing ourselves etc… there is a tension, a relentless tension because deep down we know that is not the way to be with ourselves. Often you can hear someone say, I know I need to be kinder to myself, or not push myself so much etc…

    So when Serge Benhayon comes along and presents another living way, it awakens much in people. It reminds us that we do know and when we start to live this way, it can feel quite natural. And that is where the tension mentioned above comes from, that we deep down know there is another way, but often prefer the drama of living the other.

38. Thank you Gyl
    This is truly amazing
    Supporting yourself to grow by knowing who you are
    With the loving support of Universal Medicine
    You have found your way
    That is who you truly are
    And have always been
    All you needed was a re-connection to who you are
    Magnificent

    1. Thank you Danna, all we need is all there within, ready made, waiting to be reconnected to and lived from. Life is quite painful lived from the outside in, drawing from ideals and beliefs of those already disconnected from themselves. When we live from the inside out, life becomes a beautiful joy once again, just as it was when we were children – no beliefs or ideals needed

39. It is lovely to just connect with you in your pictures, and feel where you have come to now in your life, very inspiring.

40. There are so many ways in which we can distract ourselves from who we truly are be it food, exercise, images etc, but in essence when we pause to appreciate and feel the quality of our bodies and how they move we uncover a goldmine of joy, beauty and life. An image of who we are can only last as long as we allow it to, we can change our movements anytime.

41. We can waste a lot of time and endanger our health as well as forsake vitality and joy by following the ideals and beliefs of how we should be – if we held true to ourselves, we would not fall into these traps but we tend to want to be liked and accepted before anything else.

42. True beauty comes from within and emanates out for all to see and feel.

    1. That’s so true Lorraine and it’s very obvious in Gyl’s photos.

43. Making our life about how we look on the outside to be accepted and have a sense of value is so distracting and keeps us away from our natural innate beauty deep inside us all, ‘It was like I had a point to prove to the world – that I was worth being loved.’

44. Thank you Gyl, that is so beautiful and very loving to hear, feel and see in your writing , pictures and flow.. A greatness you have chosen to return to, with all the support given, a point of light that needs to be celebrated. Deep appreciation to what I sense and feel from here.

45. I love the photo at the end of this article that backs up what is being written within it. The warm glow in the cheeks and the bright shine in the face and smile is showing to me a conviction in knowing who you are from a deep place within. So many photos are looking at you with eyes asking for attention or asking for acceptance or similar but this photo the eyes are deep, settled and steady. Nothing is being asked but more everything is confirmed and it’s like this is the opposite to the norm as I’ve said. When you see someone look like this I would say keep doing what you are doing because it’s obviously working.

46. It’s so true that none of us have any body issues when we are small. It’s all learnt behaviour. Not a great place to start, but at least we know we can un-learn these false ideals and beliefs and in their place, bring in acceptance and appreciation of ourselves.

47. Over the last few days I have been observing how sensitive and delicate my body really is. Even the slightest and the tiniest of pressure is enough for it to stop being what that normally is by default. By default, the particles that make up my body are to emanate the light within when they are left to their own devices. How much self-loathing and self-abuse it has had to cop over the years explains where it is at. Connecting with my body at a deep level supports me in appreciating the magnificence and the graceful beauty that I cannot help but be by nature.

48. I love how you say that you now exercise from a deep love of who you are and commitment to being who you truly are – rather than a lack of worth thinking that you have something to prove or make up for.

49. You hit that nail on the head for me when you said, ‘It was like I had a point to prove to the world – that I was worth being loved’. There is a deep sadness we all carry when we don’t accept that we are all the love that we need.

50. Deep inside we all know that beauty has to do with the quality and connection of the relationship we have with ourselves. And this is a process that is constantly deepening and every step towards a loving relationship with ourselves has to be appreciated, as one step can never be taken on its own, it builds on the one before and so on.

51. I was at a swimming pool recently and there was a gorgeous boy of about 6 with his dad swimming the little boy was like a fish he was so confident in the water. I got dressed in the next cubicle to them and the little boy was chatting away to his dad and he was so full of joy and wonder. His dad started to sing a love song to him and he came out with a comment that love is for everybody, there was obviously something in the words that were too individual that didn’t sit well with him. I sat there and wondered how it is that there is every possibility that by the time this little boy is 10 or so society will have crushed that sweet delicate nature and the pure joy that he lives with. To me it felt like a fountain of joy bubbling up within him. Why do we do this to our children? It just doesn’t make any sense to me that we should want to crush something that is so beautiful and precious whether it be a boy or a girl.

    1. Mary it is a beautiful comment to reflect upon, it’s almost as if we see the beauty, joy and innocence of children as a phase, something they grow out of, and we accept the eventual loss of these qualities – at great loss to the world.

52. Lovely to read and feel the beauty of you expressing through your photo Gyl. When we let ourselves be, we shine.

53. I love reading this blog and seeing you in your picture. There is an ease in your eyes that stands out. It inspires me, knowing I too have that ease inside me.

54. What a truly beautiful blog, it is all about the love we have for ourselves. Living in a way that is truly confirming is only making us feel more us and this shows in how our body is expressing.

55. Pingback: My Addiction to Buying Clothes – The Truth about Serge Benhayon

56. “Now in my late thirties I can absolutely say that I love my body, I am beautiful and super sexy, playful and cute, and I know that first this all comes from within.” This is beautiful Gyl – and its never too late. Now, in my sixties, i can say the same about my body – loving it more than ever!

57. “There’s no perfect bum in sight but it is super cute; nor a six pack but a gentle, lovely curve.” I smiled when I read these words as I can feel the love that you have for yourself resonate throughout them Gyl; a powerful confirmation of the appreciation and honouring you now have for your body. I love the magic that can happen when we take the time to reconnect to the beautiful being that we naturally are.

58. What a beautiful, joyous story to read Gyl. I love what you have expressed here;
    “It has been through these loving choices that I have made, and continue to keep making and deepening, that my life and my body has changed..”

59. The power of Love lived is a beauty beyond anything in existence on this earth for we are forever other-worldly and divine.

60. This is a powerful reminder Gyl for women of all ages who often get caught up in how society or magazines portray women and feel they have to live up to these false ideals and beliefs instead of embracing all the beautiful and amazing qualities we all have within.

61. How crazy it is, that so often as young girls we do not question the love that holds us all – and we enjoy in full the beauty of living and moving in its, and our own, Grace…
    That then, we come to distance ourselves so from what actually ever holds us – forgetting that this Love of God never, ever goes away. To reclaim and reawaken to the fact that we are so held is to know our preciousness once more. Every woman and man alike deserves to know this.

62. How many women can truly claim that they – we – love their body, and celebrate it in full? This is so very powerful Gyl, and you’ve shown here that it’s not ‘rocket science’, but rather about shifting our gaze from the plethora of images fed to us that tell us we are not enough, and decidedly choosing to dedicate ourselves to a loving way – with the women that we actually are.
    The simple steps, that can be so fervently resisted in this, hold the key, and I agree, there is no ‘overnight fix’ in this, but that with our ongoing dedication, founded in a choice to say we are deeply worth it, our lives and relationship with ourselves can most definitely change – to become founded in the love it rightly should always have been.

63. “It didn’t happen overnight and there were no rules or quick fixes to follow, they simply presented to me that there is another way of living and being that is about love first; in other words, making self loving choices for myself and my body – which naturally unfolded into all areas of my life, from work, to relationships, to family and how I feel about myself.” – Such changes don’t happen overnight, but they do happen when we consistently and steadily take one step at a time and plant these steps solidly and unwaveringly on the ground with love and appreciation for who we are and what we are here to bring. One little step at a time, but over and over again…amazing what results you can get!

64. It’s interesting to come back and read this blog, and quite saddening too. As I am really hard on myself, and the way I exercise and treat myself, the thoughts I allow – I would never treat a small child this way so why myself? I know I know it, but to just goes to show you have to live it to make the change.

65. When we bring in doubt, it is often followed by complication, when we acknowledge the choices we make, we have the ability to change our next choice, and therefore not get caught up in the self-doubt, but accept that there was another choice open to us, a great learning each time we observe what happens.

66. It’s awesome to see how you have moved away from the depression and hardness to being more relaxed and with your natural qualities. There are so many images and the associations and value we place on those images really impacts us at very subtle levels. For me it is an unfolding process and continually deepening. What was acceptable and nurturing last year may not be that any more. Being open to the constant changing and developing is a big part of it too.

67. At some level we all know that true beauty comes from within so it is strange that we give so much focus to the outside.

    1. Maybe that is in part because we are not choosing to be responsible about how we live our life and the choices we make.

68. When we are connected with ourselves our beauty is a reflection of the depth of this relationship and we have no need of outside confirmation.

    1. And what a powerful reflection this is for others.

69. What I am struck by re-reading your blog is how when we are young we are just being ourselves and then when we become aware of outside influences how it’s like our bodies become the enemy to be tamed into an image that we decide is acceptable. It is only when we re-connect back to the depth of our beauty within that we are able to let go of these false images that have kept us imprisoned for so long in self-harming behaviours that have a devastating impact on how we are.

70. Looking at your photo of you aged 37, I can see for sure that you do indeed shine as you say – “there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within.”

71. Gyl,it is absolutely beautiful to read how you you feel there is ‘a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within. For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away.’ Wow, this is gorgeous and totally inspiring, thank you.

72. The body image thing is a huge distraction away from the power and quality of what lies within. I don’t discount how real it is for people, and I still have it at times, but I can see how distracting it is and how the obsession of thought takes me away from my being.

73. “It has been through these loving choices that I have made, and continue to keep making and deepening, that my life and my body has changed..” Beautigul Gyl. It makes sense that if our unloving choices can give us a heavy bloated or diseased body, then more loving choices can change our body to a more vital and healthy one – and our whole way of being then changes also. Having witnessed epic changes in health amongst students of The Way of The Livingness over the past ten years, I know this to be true – and have also experienced this myself.

74. Gorgeous gorgeous Gyl, thank you for sharing and coming back to this simpleness of truth of who you are. We can feel it, it is so palpable from what you write and the photo’s you share. Thank you, you inspire the many many.

75. It’s true, when we we are little we don’t worry about any beauty ideals or prescribed looks, we are who we are and that is that. It is only later when we buy into how we should look that the obsession with the outer image starts and for some, it never lets up.

76. Body image is such a massive thing for both men and women today and so many find themselves consumed with believing if they look good they will feel good as if their worth is equated to it. It is gorgeous to read however of how this can drop away when the focus becomes about the depth of relationship that can be developed with ourselves through self loving choices …. resulting in a love and appreciation for self regardless of what you look like.

77. “It has been through these loving choices that I have made, and continue to keep making and deepening, that my life and my body has changed.” It is amazing when we make more loving choices,how life reflects that back to us – allowing old symptoms to fall away and to reflect out our inner beauty for all.

78. “There was no joy or love in the relationship I had with myself, my body or the food I ate,” This is something I’ve been observing and playing with, the relationship between how we feel about ourselves and those deep-seated, unconscious reactions to ourselves, and the behaviours we choose – and vice versa – how those behaviours perpetuate those false beliefs…bringing them up to make more space for the joy and love in our own relationship.

79. I have always felt I had an inner beauty but no understanding of how to connect to it, instead I got distracted looking outside of me for what I felt a woman should look like. The more I connect to me the more my beauty shines out.

80. There is something absolutely precious about young kids as most if not all have absolutely no issues with body image, they are just totally themselves while expressing a true wonderment of the world. We can learn so much from them.

    1. Absolutely Suse, I agree most children celebrate and love their little bodies, although I feel this is sadly starting to change as younger and younger children are suffering from body images and eating disorders.

81. Thank you for sharing Gyl, we so easily fall for trying to obtain or mirror the beauty of another that we see in a magazine, but when you look much deeper there is often an emptiness within their eyes. I have met many people at Universal Medicine who have a beauty within that shines brightly from their eyes.

82. How I love this line “For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away.” This is inside every single one of us. It sits there and waits for us to reconnect to it, patiently waiting till it can exude from every cell in our body without apology!

83. Beauty sure does come from within and for me there is nothing sexier than looking into someones eyes who is deeply connected to their essence – in my experience literally the heavens explode and there is nothing not shown.

84. Thank you Gyl, it’s great to read your blog again today and feel another layer of how the insidious energy of body image and dieting still plays out in my life. I really related to losing the joy of eating and living because of that drive to fit in and be accepted, yet the true acceptance can only really come from myself. Your blog really exposes the superficial and toxic environment we live in as women and how we are bombarded with messages which contribute to the loss of connection to our essence.

85. It’s interesting to come back to this and see that it is a constant choice to choose love, you can’t just choose it once and expect your life, your body or how you feel to turn around.

86. Thank you Gyl. Serge Benhayon is an inspiration to us all that “there is another way of living and being that is about love first; in other words, making self loving choices for myself and my body “

87. Appreciation of our qualities within allows us to once again connect to the beauty and innocence we knew so well when we were young, these are innate for us all and we just need to be willing to heal that which is not true and has kept us small and develop a deeper relationship with our bodies to express the love that we truly are.

88. Thank you Gyl for sharing that that connection to ourselves is where our true beauty lies. And just as a smile from a young child is infectious it only takes one to reflect that beauty for many to be reminded it’s in them too. This is the power I have felt in Serge and Natalie Benhayon and many many others and that it is equally alive in myself as well.

89. I can’t help but smile when I see that beaming photo of you Gyl and all that radiates from within you. It is such a shame we have to go through all those unnecessary changes into disregard before we find our true selves.

90. There is so much beauty in each of us and yet we are not aware of it because we are held at a distance through all the images that surround us telling us what beauty is.

    1. I agree Esther and it is crazy how much we do not simply embrace it – for we are all beautiful beings and are perfectly designed to be the reflection the world needs – the question is are we choosing to live that reflection in full – then our real and true beauty comes out and no one can resist it.

91. Totally true when we are small how we look like is truly irrelevent to us. How we feel is everything instead. At some point, things turn around completely. Curious isn’t it?

92. It is very common for teenagers in our society to have body image issues. How can we support our teenagers to love, cherish and appreciate their body? The pressure and images they are fed are very intense and pretty constant. One of the ways to support our young girls/teenagers is to live by example, choose to live in a way that can reflect and support them to see that it is OK to not have a perfect body, that our bodies are very sacred, precious and divine regardless of size or shape. Also, we can show by example, how to appreciate who we are and let go of the illusion of a perfect body and the perfect image. Your blog is so supportive for women young and old, inspiring us to connect to our beauty from within.

93. At some point in our lives, images of how ‘has to be’ in order for life to work to our advantage crosses our paths. The consequences are devastating.

94. I loved reading this. There is nothing like the feeling when we have acceptance of ourself and the way we look, and not worrying what others may think of us.

95. This is a Joy to read Gyl. As you described there are many external pressures that try to get us to conform, but as we connect to our true essence we realise that we are so much bigger than this, as the natural beauty we are shines from within.

96. The dissatisfaction you experienced, Gyl, in endeavouring to achieve your ideal perfect body illustrates perfectly that striving to fulfill an external image of how to be only leads to dis-illusion and disappointment as one is not being true with, and to, oneself. When one is true to oneself then one feels fulfilled in life and beautiful in oneself.

97. The photos are so clear in showing the trajectory of your relationship to yourself, right to the last photo where you emanate that same beautiful cuteness you held as a child. This has been the same for me, I had a great relationship to my body and myself as a child until words were spoken about the many things that were supposedly wrong about it (and me). Body image ideals and comparison just devastated this relationship to myself further, disconnecting me from my essence and leaving me to try to fill the emptiness I felt within with things from the outer world. Through the work of Universal Medicine I have reconnected back to the essence of who I am (also reflected in my childhood photos), and living from this inner warmth and love completely does transform the day to day decisions and choices. It’s a joy to live from my essence again!

98. The mere fact that we resort to the body to construct a sense of safety to walk in the world is very revealing of the invisible forces every child faces when growing up. The other thing that is interesting is how the same action is read differently by different people. That helps to hide reality and to avoid talking about what is going on.

99. This is something we need to be really careful about. I know it was from the comments about other people and how they looked that made me feel self conscious and took me away from the love I am. It is so beautiful to feel free of this. Coming back to myself and being in a true connection with myself and others, means I can admire how another person is without feeling less. Now I love me too, no more comparison or trying to be different to me.

100. Great sharing Gyl.
     I can relate to notions from young of needing to perfect the perfect body and image of what a ‘woman’ is supposed to look like and be. These ideas, that are cemented within many an image in society, magazines and within the media generally are deeply invasive of our true strength as women, our preciousness, inner worth and divinity.

101. Life evens can certainly take their toll on us if we allow them to. For me in the past getting stuck in my hurts and living from the ideals and beliefs that created the pictures I held of how life should be drove me to seek relief outside of myself . The self-destructive thoughts and behaviors I chose to aline with supported me to create a hard shut down disconnected body that I could barely feel. Through learning to reconnect with my body and let go of my old negative thoughts and behaviours I am able to build a solid foundation of a self-loving and nurturing livingness and feel the grace, delicateness, love and joy that I naturally am when I am connected with my body this is what I emanate to the world.

102. So true Gyl we never hated our bodies when we were little we loved our being and our bodies…so what happened? I remember as a young girl someone told me I was fat I had never even considered myself being over weight till that moment and interestingly enough I look back at that time and I had a gorgeous figure. But that one comment sent me down a path of anorexia. What I realized years later was that this person was jealous of how beautiful I was and what a beautiful nature I had… obviously I used that comment to begin a path of destruction.

103. The list of who and what we can compare ourselves to is endless, continuously growing and something we have basically learned to do. But to let go of this way of living and bring the focus to appreciating what is there already, but taken for granted and thus constantly overlooked, brings a huge shift in our perception of life and how we feel about ourselves. There is so much to appreciate, far more than the things that are not ok.

104. Reading your blog Gyl I can see how I’ve been holding onto an image of what I want to look like, what I think I need to look like, to be accepted and fit into other people’s images of me, that I have adopted and taken on. But holding onto these pictures is so harming – it keeps us in the ‘not good enough’ and ‘not there yet’ place of stuckness – a place of hardness and coldness that keeps us striving and trying and in the total denial of how amazing and beautiful we already are. Things only start to change when we drop the images and connect to ourselves first, by building a truly loving relationship with ourselves that doesn’t rely on what we look like or meeting any expectations we might have set for ourselves.

105. Said simply, we are not born being conscious about our body – in the way that we are comparing it and wishing it was different. The joy that comes through us is everything.

106. Living in Byron Bay, there is such a thick culture around health and wellbeing that seeks to fulfil the need to look and be a certain way. To me, wellbeing has become like box ticking – the right yoga moves, the cool leggings, eating at certain food places etc. It’s all about the outside and what looks good. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with that, but I feel a true aspect of nurturing is missing from the whole scene. Nurturing deeply of the body from inside out and learning to listen and love it for what it is already, without it needing to be any other way.

107. A very heart-warming and body-inspiring blog Gyl – one that marks a journey of return back to who you always were. Interesting how fitness and the obsession with looks just takes us further away from the truth of who we are and into some created illusion of who we think we need to be. When all the while, we just want to be love and be loved – which is what we are, already within.

108. This last picture just glows, there is no hooking or need in the picture, you are simply sharing you with the camera and therefore us. It is stunning.

109. Comparison is a killer… it transforms a natural inner beauty into a pageant with the rest of the world and especially the false images that have been promoted to us throughout the media

     1. And the more we fall for this the more this is fed – really making us on a forever treadmill of comparison, jealousy, lack of confidence as we forever chase an image. So someone may ‘look’ the part and tick all the boxes however be very empty and lacking of their true inner confident self because of all they have succumbed to around image and being good enough for acceptance.
        I’d rather feel solid in knowing who I am and feeling my inner beauty which always then radiates out than to be trapped in ticking the image boxes. Although this can happen until we choose to be aware of it. I know for myself I am still catching out images that I have in life in general that are false.

110. Gyl- your recent photo of ourself is stunningly beauty-full, radiant and joyous. What an awesome transformation you have experienced by reconnecting to who you are and discarding ideals and beliefs or images that were getting in the way from letting you shine brightly.

111. The more we compare ourselves to images, expectations and ideals outside of us the less likely we are to connect to our true qualities within.

112. The false perception that we have of beauty in the world is something we need to deconstruct. We need to raise girls and boys with a knowing that they are beautiful and that beauty is allowing their essence to be expressed and allowing others to see and feel this.

113. The majority of the population seem to fit into two categories and they are people who are obsessed with body image and they eat and exercise only for cosmetic purposes. The second category couldn’t care less, over eat and drink with no exercise. Its awesome Gyl that you have offered a healthy and nurturing example of how to look after your body

114. Much is talked about in modern media about body image with women, but very little is truthfully challenged. It is almost as though there is an omerta or silent agreement amongst women that they must continue to support the myth that a woman is defined by her looks. This may sound surprising. Isn’t it men that force this upon women? Well, yes, in part – men judging women by how they look. But look at the editors of all the magazines that sell body image. They are all women. Look at the journalists – once again mostly women. There is much to be said about pressure that women place upon themselves to look at certain way.

115. we do shine from the inside out… And this is so beautiful to see… It radiates from our skin, and shines from our eyes, and is unmistakable, and magnetically beautiful

116. Learning to hold deep appreciation of ourselves – that we can appreciate what we are a part of and where we are from, brings confirmation of the truth of who we are, and in that quality we can also deeply appreciate others. And when we live and move in this appreciation – it confirms us all in our Divinity.

117. It’s remarkable how different it feels to exercise not to create a certain body shape but simply to care for our body. It is something that brings continually growing appreciation for ourselves, and this is something that you will never get from a magazine article on exercise, it is never mentioned that perhaps we actually are amazing as we are and to exercise to a level that creates sound health is a real confirmation of that truth.

118. I have observed in myself and in others the challenges of the propaganda coming from the world dictating, comparing and undermining who we truly are. The essence of what we are within never leaves us – it is us that choose to separate at different times in our lives. Your sharing Gayle supports others to know that it is a choice and the moment we choose to reconnect the love that we are and all that is known is there waiting

119. This is gorgeous Gyl, our love for ourself is the beauty that we radiate. The way we are with ourself is shown in our body, knowing this there is no importance on looking a certain way, but living true beauty, shining from within.

120. I still remember comments that were made to me about my looks from a very young age. They may have been good or bad – but they were comments I held onto. I remember the exact wording, who it was from, the tone they used, the way I felt – every detail stuck. I completely put myself at the mercy of the world when it came to my worth and took everything that was said as a truth without discerning the immensity of jealousy, comparison or whatever else that lay behind it.

121. Amazing Gyl. It’s crazy to think that we block this exuberant beauty we are and stifle it by trying to be ‘something’ we are so naturally not. And, it’s equally amazing to see how simply we can let it all go. Thank you.

122. I loved rereading this and coming to the end to see your radiant smile and being able to feel from this photo everything that you spoke about with regards to how you feel about yourself now. Little steps go a long way and reconnecting to, and honouring, who we truly are is a very beautiful and powerful thing.

123. “Beauty comes from within”. This is completely true. The most beautiful people I know are those who are connected with their essence, and express from there naturally.

124. Thanks Gyl, you have a very healthy attitude towards your body and this would radiate in all aspects of your life

125. We do not come into this world with a myriad of images and ideals we think we should be living up to. We get fed these falsities along the way until we no longer allow ourselves to be played. I look back now at my teenage years and am shocked I didn’t fully appreciate my natural beauty and loveliness as a young girl.

126. Gyl, body image is huge both for women and men. Something that still gets me is when I see stuningly beautiful people depressed and not happy with life or finding fault in the way they look. It blows away any sense of external beauty being it. For me true beauty comes from within and when you are fully comfortable in your skin you start to feel settlement. There is also nothing in this world, at least in my view, that is more beautiful than looking into someone’s eyes and seeing the depths of the Universe.

127. Great blog Gyl, caught up in a world where we seek the ultimate body, but at the expense of the body and we don’t realise we are even doing it.

128. What a great shift in perspective, Gyl. A really inspiring read in a world flanked by ‘perfect body’ images and eating disorders. ‘For me it is no longer about how I look on the outside first, but the quality and connection of the relationship I have with myself.’ That quality and connection can bring us back from the jaws of external comparison and allow us to reclaim our true relationship with ourselves.

129. As I was reading through your blog Gyl I could feel how safe it is to be around a person who loves themselves from the inside out. When a person loves and cares for themselves in this way their ability to care for others is automatically there without any need for comparison, jealousy or competition. What a gift we offer others when we love ourselves.

130. I love those moments where you stop yourself and realise the gorgeous qualities you have. It might be a look in the mirror, how great you feel wearing a pair of shoes, or the way you styled your hair. What ever it is, that moment is a great feeling and a realisation that we are all loving ourselves in some way or another.

131. I love the fact that you are continuing to make loving wise choices Gyl, choices that support and honour the beautiful divine woman you are, thank you.

132. It’s hard to track the moment we begin to compare ourselves to others or why we even begin but it proves to be such a strong poison that derails us from the sweet and loving being that we were. Almost everyone has a story to tell about how they became less because of the poison of comparison. It should be everybody’s cautionary tale. The more everyone is aware of the downfall of comparison the more joyful and full of love everyone will be.

133. Gyl – you describe here what so many woman feel and go through – no obvious view of this on the exterior – but underneath we are constantly comparing, putting ourselves down, feeling less, delaying living our true beauty because we are so busy criticising or trying to make the external beauty paramount. But as you share Gyl, to connect to who we are first and allow our actions to come from that – ie. the way we dress, what we eat, how we exercise – feels so amazing in the body and other people cannot help but feel this.

134. “For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away.” – and what a joy to see you and feel you Gyl! Your journey is exemplary for so many who brought a change into their life after they met Serge Benhayon and joined Universal Medicine Workshops and/or Retreats. It is a blessing to have this support and you did became one of those inspirations too.

135. I used to think ‘self-worth’ was my issue, and for me to deal with and get over with – but actually it never is. We are a part of the whole, and the whole needs its each component to be ‘on’. In that, I see self-worth is a responsibility, a necessary activation in a big picture.

136. When I see something beautiful, I appreciate and adore it. That simple response of appreciation and adoration to what I encounter confirms the subject’s beauty. What I am learning is that by being present with what I do it opens up a space for me to take it all in whatever that is I am doing, whoever that is I am with, and in that, there is an opportunity for me to feel deeper into myself, or another. Sometimes I find myself too quick to move on from one thing to another – as if I am scared of feeling what truly is there, wanting to hold onto my preconception or judgment instead – this feels like I do now the equal beauty and magnificence in all of us, and letting that be the truth of my lived experience would completely crushes the individualisation I so very much invest in.

137. I can so relate to the thinking that to have a perfect / desired body meant my worth to be loved. “It was like I had a point to prove to the world – that I was worth being loved.” yet all we need is within, and loving ourselves is one of the best gifts we can give ourselves. From there our worth says we are worth so much more.

138. “…I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away.” Thank you Gyl, this is a true gift to humanity and is most needed.

     1. So true Shelley. It’s an amazing gift to have Gyl in the world.

139. “Beliefs and ideals” – just reading these words you can feel the force and pressure they come with. What is this force and pressure doing to the physicality and light of our body?

140. Well said Gyl I love how you have outed all these idea’s and beliefs that we have all grown up with, and reconnected to the true beauty within & how you shared this did not happen overnight. Truly inspiring.

     1. Thank you Michael.

     2. Yes I agree. It’s true it does not take overnight, gentle reminding along the way and a peeling back of all the layers of the ideals and beliefs someone has around beauty. Connection to the gorgeousness inside 🙂

141. It is so important for us to work on our issues to help break the cycle of self abuse that exists in our current world.

142. “For me it is no longer about how I look on the outside first, but the quality and connection of the relationship I have with myself.” I love this line Gyl and it holds the power of our own connection coming from within. What I also love is that it is so much fun to discover who we are from this foundation too. Always something to learn, it’s like going on a first date in every moment, you never know what you are going to discover?

143. Gyl Rae, thank you for showing us that it is possible to love without a need to be perfect! A very wise lesson for me , and to realize that I actually got quite some ideals about beauty and perfection.. Good to be aware of, then not and thinking that is it. I will take this with me and feel those areas where I have been holding onto ideals instead of what is true for me. Another saying that touched me; ”It was like I had a point to prove to the world – that I was worth being loved.” I absolutely recognize doing the same, proving the world that I was OK, all because I had chosen to leave myself and my beauty when I was young and also thinking that I was not good enough because people did not all like me. It breaks the ideal that one can only be true if one is loved by all, which is absolute nonsense as one is were he/she is at, and this has nothing to do with the worth of love you can give to yourself any time in any moment. Love is within us and we can always come back to it, and we are always fully worth it to be loved by ourselves, and others around us, but we also must be aware that not everyone is able to truly express and live that love – so we must choose to live love first ourselves.

144. What you share in this article Gyl about celebrating our inner beauty is gorgeous to read. If only young women would read an article such as this instead of being bombarded by all the false images women magazines promote.

145. It is amazing in how we make our self-worth dependent on how others might see us without even considering to just value ourselves as we are – like we did, when we were children. Who should know better how wonderful we are than ourselves?

     1. Beautifully said Michael and so true – “Who should know better how wonderful we are than ourselves?”

     2. That is true Michael, and that is the reason why confirming ourselves is so important, not many people are raised being confirmed for the beauty and awesomeness of who they are so it is up to each one of us to do that and walk in the beauty innate to us all.

146. This is the sort of article that should be in womens mags, clear and honest and self loving in all the best ways, to inspire others to feel the innate beauty in themselves, as they truly are.

     1. So agree Chris. Lookout women’s magazines ! Most harbour lack of self worth, it would be great to have a change up and inspire others to see their own beauty too.

147. The other day I was in the presence of a group of 5 beautiful women. Not beautiful as in the picture perfect model sense (although they were all pretty). These women were middle aged and showed a sweetness and a strength in them which radiated in their physicality and the way they stood together, moved and spoke, their eyes and smiles. It was inspiring to see and feel the harmony and equality between them and I sense they must have all had a deep appreciation for their own beauty and that of each group member.

     1. It’s true Annie when you are met by a woman or a man in their true presence, completely accepting, confident and at ease in their own skin, there is nothing more appealing, sexy and inspiring. For we all know, that truth and way of being lies within us all – we are seeing a reflection of ourselves. The only difference being the choices we make.

148. In allowing myself to reconnect to Me I have been able to appreciate my true beauty more and more.

     1. Thats the secret Isnt it Annie, connection with self

149. As you say Gyllian the bodies in these fitness mags are not sexy they are just hard and protected and fashion magazines also portray images that are untrue. With all the eating disorders people are faced with today none of this really helps at all.

     1. It doesn’t kevmchardy and it affects boys too, I worked many years ago in a National Health Service (UK) unit where a young boy was deeply affected by these issues.

        1. There is enormous pressure on children from us as a society, constantly telling them how to be and what to aspire to in life and via the flood of images and ideals that pours down on them via the modern media. Why can we not simply encourage them to be who they are and show them that this is working by showing and living ourselves openly and lovingly.

     2. I wanted to come back to this comment as for years I worked with children and teenagers who had mental health issues, from self harm, extreme exercise to the point of blisters on their feet because they wouldn’t stop running on the spot, anorexia, to self harming, even hanging themselves, this is the reality of what is going on for kids today and even adults too. This is why I feel it is so important to work on our own issues, for any time I am irresponsible and allow an abusive thought or comparing myself to another or an unreal image in a magazine – I am adding to this, fuelling it you could say, and saying it’s okay for others to do this too.

        1. Wow Gyl – your comment is super powerful. It really made me sit up and take your words in – “it is so important to work on our own issues, for any time I am irresponsible and allow an abusive thought or comparing myself to another or an unreal image in a magazine – I am adding to this, fuelling it you could say, and saying it’s okay for others to do this too.”

150. Why oh why after all these years on this planet have we not learnt that nothing matters more than love and why we still allow ourselves to compare ourselves with others which just takes us further away from love.

     1. Its true kevmchardy, comparison is one if not the most evil things – it is deeply abusive and harming, more than we like to claim to know. For by comparing we are saying we or another are less – if truth be told we are rejecting God when we do this, which allows another energy that is not love to run the show.

     2. Exactly Kevmchardy – the question is, when we know it doesn’t work and never has – why do we keep making the same unloving choices over and over again?

151. Brendon I went through a similar experience having to prove myself to others as I was growing up.. Now I am more solid in myself, I no longer feel I have to prove myself to others. I am more connected to who I am.

152. There are so many ideals that abound about how we should look and that we can be bombarded with daily. It’s beautiful to read how you have developed a relationship with your body where you know what is true for you and don’t try and conform to a picture of how you think you ‘should’ look.

153. I did not have a good relationship with my body as I grow up, as with you it began well, no issues, and then the teenager years came and the comments and judgements accumulated. I became detached from my body, it became a vehicle that I used but did not connect with. I only began to care for it truly when I began to care what happened to me, small steps back to knowing who I am truly am. The question “Would I ever treat another person the way I treat me?”, when I considered this the answer was ‘no’….slowly self care became a natural part of my life and so to has reconnecting with my body and being joyful being within it.

     1. This is such a powerful and simple truth you share.

     2. Asking such simple questions such as these “Would I ever treat another person the way I treat me?” opens the door to honesty which allows for a much deeper understanding and the opportunity to heal, and make different choices.

        1. “Would I ever treat another person the way I treat me?” This question is simple yet hugely profound – it can change our world enormously!

        2. It is huge Tamara, world changing, in a breath, yet why do we shirk away from this responsibility?

154. I can feel the light and beauty in all of the photos you share here, but in the recent photo, the beauty and light is claimed and the love inside is expressed. It is joy to share it, as is it to share in the wonderful articles that you write.

     1. Thank you Samantha.

155. I keep finding your blogs Gyl and love the way you write. In this one I can feel how you were when you were young, and how that changed to being about fitting in to a picture so many of us bought into about how we should look and what we needed to do to ourselves in order to achieve that look and fit it. I have never met you but can feel how delicate you are now through your description and I did not get the feeling you were any less fit or slim, but far more vital with a clear sense of who you are. Thank you for sharing the importance of that difference.

     1. Thank you Lucy, and yes I did try to fit into a picture, that was never real in the first place. Thanks to Serge Benhayon, everyday, I am coming back to a way of living and being that celebrates my delicateness so much.

156. According to http://www.selfharm.co.uk there is an estimated 13% of young people in the UK who are self harming, with a 70% increase of hospital admissions to A&E in 2014 for 10 to 14 year olds with self harm related injuries. The message is loud and clear, and as Gyl has raised for us, there comes a point when life stops being about feeling beautiful on the inside and starts to be more about the outer influences and demands, clearly our young people are feeling this very intensely at the moment and we have the power to stop this train wreck of a path that we are on, but it requires everyone to be willing to see the truth of what is really going on.

157. I have enjoyed reading the comments and as I ponder on the blog and comments they really make me stop to look more deeply at my responsibility in how I feel about myself and the impact this has in the world.

158. As I become more connected to myself, the stronger I am in saying ‘No’ to thoughts that try to compare me to another. I used to allow these thoughts to destroy me and I would be left feeling empty and at the mercy of another. The more I build on the relationship with myself the more I can say ‘No’ to these abusing thoughts and the more empowered I am.

159. I picked up a magazine in the lunch room at work the other day after not reading magazines for years and was astounded at the competiveness, comparison, jealousy and envy amongst woman. Wouldn’t it be supportive I they published articles such as your Gyl.

     1. It’s true Margaret 99.9% of magazines out there aimed at woman are about bettering ourselves, feeding the belief we are not good enough as we are etc – instead of celebrating who we are. I have only found one magazine that truly celebrates and supports woman in all their true glory and that is the Woman in Livingness magazine, which is available both as hard copy and online too. http://www.wilmagazine.com

     2. Hear hear Margaret. we need so many more to speak out and write of their experiences like Gyl in a supportive way for all to learn from. We could then have truth being brought to the world rather than the hype and propaganda churned out in the popular magazines. Fundamentally it is a drive to fuel the insecurities of women so they will be more malleable and open to the agendas and commercialism they push. It is so blatant and yet little action is ever taken until now. Time for a new type of journalism one that is about absolute respect and equality for all, and learning how to move forward together.

        1. Well said Annie – it absolutely is “Time for a new type of journalism one that is about absolute respect and equality for all, and learning how to move forward together.”

160. What a beautiful honest story Gyl What is key here for me is this line.
     “It’s not that I have lost lots of weight, but there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within. For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away.” My experience has also been through my inner connection with myself I have rediscovered my true beauty comes from within and is emanated out to the world. When I connect and feel this nothing on the outside can take my true beauty away.

161. I love this blog and I’m sure most of us women can relate to it, I know I certainly can. What struck me most while I was reading it was how much attention I wanted. I can remember this craving for attention began in primary school and then became more apparent when I was in high school. My hair had to be in a certain way, my skirt had to be fashionable and boy, if I had a pimple on my face it was the end of the world! On reflecting I became quite obsessed about my appearance and indeed it was very controlling. Thank God I came across Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for offering me another way where I style my hair, wear clothes, apply make-up, exercise, eat, go to bed when I feel to etc and I do it for me and not for anyone else. This way of being is so very different to the seeking of approval and recognition I once so craved and it is a way of being that I continue to unfold.

     1. I like what you have written here Caroline, the fact that you do everything for you now and not from a place of wanting attention from others – this is key I feel. It’s so easy to get hooked on what we think others want us to look like and then loose the ability to know what it is we really like, and then end up not knowing who we are.

     2. ” I do it for me and not for anyone else.” This is an important choice Caroline and the place to start – it has to be about taking deep care, loving and respecting ourselves first before we can truly reflect love and deep care to anyone else. Otherwise we just get exhausted and burnt out and stay on the merry go round of recognition and need.

        1. Well said Gyl. Not many people do things to connect to them. The difference when done so is amazing. Quality of life skyrockets.

     3. ‘and I do it for me and not for anyone else’ The impact of choosing to honour ourselves and not seek acceptance from the outside world is profound, releases self-induced tension and allows us to joyfully be ourselves.

162. Yes Katie I agree, the photo says it all, it radiates so much joy – simply divine!

163. Thank you Gyl. I too have rediscovered my beauty and it is far greater and richer than i could ever have imagined. I use to spend a lot of time looking on the outside rather than the inside, and it has been from my inner connection that i have returned to the innate qualities that I am.

     1. Joining your club Marcia. The level of power and steadiness from within is just starting to pour out now that I have given myself permission to turn on the tap.

     2. Ah beautifully said Marcia – discovering and connecting to my own inner beauty is amazing! Deepening that connection and predicting my beauty has taken this to a whole new level…

     3. How much time we have all wasted in looking for beauty outside of ourselves – beauty will be forever within, to think other wise is only setting ourselves up to fail.

164. Very much like you, Gyl, I didn’t have any particular problems with my body or the way I look. Similar to you though I was aware of how others looked at me. So it was always a game with external world.
     After I started listening to Serge Benhayon presentations and attending his courses I was changing. I am looking at how my body feels first. This feeling is the most important things coming way before any judgment or thoughts about what others might think of me.

165. Gyl, I loved reading your blog. I have found that the Gentle Breath Meditation has allowed me to build a deeper connection with myself, it is an amazing tool. I loved reading your transformation, and your picture is a beautiful reflection.

     1. Thank you Sally, for me I have found my strength lies in my body, and by that I don’t mean physical strength such as I used to aim for, but the strength of my body in the sense that if I ever feel off, not quite myself then doing something very practical with my body, such as going for a walk, a swim, making a cup of tea, going to the gym, stretching, hoovering, cooking etc supports me immensely to come back to my body and me.

        1. This is lovely Gyl, it is so easy to fall into being at odds with our own body, it being ‘the enemy’ never looking right or performing exactly how you think it should, but you have shown just how great our relationship with our bodies can be. and that if we honour our body, it can be our greatest support in the world. it would be crazy not to allow such loving friend to be our guide and our strength to support us unequivocally in the daily round that life serves up. When we are connected and completely with ourselves we are able to understand and deal with whatever is before us.

        2. This is so supportive Gyl. I would naturally be drawn to do something practical with my body but then my mind would have a go at me for allowing myself to be distracted. Sometimes, this can be true but good to be aware and make a discerning choice.

        3. This is great sharing Gyl, of the way we can use body awareness as a means to come back to the nature of who we are, and there lies the power within.

        4. Hi Tamara, if I ever don’t quite feel myself, I find one of the most supportive things for my body is practicality – making a cup of tea, walking, stretching, cooking, it helps bring it back to my body not the thoughts in my head. But I also understand what you are sharing about discerning the energy, and if this is a true choice for you or not – as at times my body wants to be very very still and not in lots motion, doing or activity. It speaks very loud and clear, it’s whether we listen to it or not.

        5. Hi Francisco – body awareness is the key. Someone suggested to me to go on a body awareness program for three days last week, whereby I was simply aware of my movements. e.g how I stood up, brushed my teeth, walked, sat in a chair, drove my car, even how I placed my hand on the handle of the door. I have to say the effect of this was immense – I have never felt so much JOY – it was immense, so huge, my whole body expanded, I felt 10 foot taller, so light, playful, and super super clear. I didn’t have to think about anything. In actual fact I don’t think I thought once in those three days – everything was just given to me, in the sense of when I am connected to my body, the impulse from God is very very clear.

166. I had a slim athletic body when I was young, and still do. But what I didn’t have was love for myself, my self esteem was very low, I didn’t feel attractive at all, although I had a hot body, that I hid! When doing courses and workshops I learnt about self love and self care, and could see and feel the beauty that is in me, its in my heart. Once I could feel this and connect to who I am I felt and still feel beautiful. Its not about the body its about the connection with yourself and who you are and expressing and living this every day, that’s what shines out, and you can see it in your picture Gyl.Great blog.

167. If the media understood that beauty is an emanation from a person that has deeply connected to the love that they are and has found the stillness and joy within, then they might have to rethink some of those magazines. How amazing would it be to see promotions of self-loving choices on the shelves, instead of quick fix make-overs and diets that only cover up what is not being connected to underneath; the true beauty that we all have inside.

168. Gyl, wow what a transformation, the love and light in this recent photo is stunning, you are right you are amazing, beautiful, naturally sexy lady it is so crazy how we have all this, we have all the self love we need when we are very young then as we get older it seems to get drained out of us.
     Thankfully you along with many other students of The Livingness have found themselves come out of the trappings of society’s pressure to look a certain way.
     We are all so naturally beautiful it is time to celebrate this not indulge in our wants to be something else!

169. It is so liberating to feel gorgeous and shine this out into the World in my day. To let go of weighing myself every morning and gauging my worth as to what I weigh, the implication being that if I ate less the day before then I am doing ‘better’ in myself. To appreciate and adore my body every time I shower or dress. To eat in a way that nourishes and honours me, rather than suppresses how I feel. To exercise to take care of and feel my beautiful, strong body in action, not to change it. This is something that has always been dear to my heart, I even wrote and performed a play on it in my early twenties and performed it in girl’s schools. But the difference is that now, I am living it and the healing is there emanating from me wherever I go, whereas then, it was an unhealed hurt so true healing was not yet possible.

170. I recall starting to be self conscious of my body when I was 7. It’s pretty young isn’t it?! It was during gymnastics. I wasn’t as flexible or agile as some of the other kids and I felt like I had ‘a tummy’ so I always wore a t-shirt over my leotard. I began to feel self conscious in my bathers in the summer time and less confident than my slender friends. By that time I had entrenched patterns of using food to comfort the feelings of not being seen or heard in my essence throughout my parents immigration and divorce. It didn’t seem to matter that it made me a bit rounder because the food seemed to make everything better, so I didn’t have to feel the awkward feelings that I wanted to express but couldn’t. Looking back I wasn’t even that round, I just felt withheld and incomplete within myself. All of the images, beliefs, ideals and other people’s comments came in to compound all of this, but it started within me, as a reaction to the family and world I was in.

     The pattern of then seeking to be thin, always feeling I needed to lose weight, to control what I ate and exercise hard stayed with me until meeting Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. Gradually it is dropping away, not from focusing on it especially, but by surrendering deeply to me, taking deeper care of myself, letting myself feel everything and re-learning to express and share with others what I am feeling and experiencing.

171. Beautifully expressed Gyl. Feeling the qualities you are claiming now, through both your photo and your writing, of ‘grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that’ you are and that yes, you are willing to share this with us all, is gorgeous to behold. Especially the sweetness. It is just so beautiful when we reclaim our sweetness and let it be seen and felt by all.

172. ‘It was like I had a point to prove to the world – that I was worth being loved.’ This statement really touches the sore spot of where I was too Gyl. There is such endless trying with no light at the end of the tunnel in this way of being, never getting the love that is sought. There is such a neediness in it that can never be satisfied by anyone else. I learnt as you have described, the love we seek is that for ourselves. Self-care, self-love, self-respect, being and loving being with ourselves, then that love is reflected back. Thank you Serge Benhayon for showing us the way.

173. Thank you Gyl for writing to beautifully about how we can be with ourselves, amazing and so needed.

174. “For me it is no longer about how I look on the outside first, but the quality and connection of the relationship I have with myself.” just beautiful Gyl, in truth it is the quality of connection I have with myself that counts, the more I choose to deepen it the more beautiful I know I am.

     1. I love this Francisco ‘… the more I choose to deepen it (the quality of connection) the more beautiful I know I am.’ This is so very true. As I reflect and compare myself to how I used to be, I can see how separated I was in connection to myself and relied on others to tell me how beautiful I was instead of connecting to and accepting the beauty that was already there inside of me. The more I live in connection with myself, the more I feel the beauty within and the more I radiate this beauty out.

175. “I’m exactly the way I am meant to be.” This is it, isnt’ it? This phrase says much than it appears to say at a first glance. This is the phrase of a person that has come to accept herself big time and that has stop the drive she used to live from. When this happen, the whole doing shift in terms of meaning. Not that one has to change what it does (unless it is unloving for the body). What changes for sure is the impress, the place it occupies in the picture.

176. The change you describe from being a child, loving life and just being happy doing your thing, to growing up and it being all about what other people think of you, is surely something most people can relate to in some way. There are many ways, (apart from being super fit obsessed) to walk the path away from your true self but it’s always simple to come back to it.
     I can remember that quality I had as a child, a joy, a beauty, a sweetness that was there with out me having to try or do anything and I too have come back to this quality with the support of the gentle breath meditation and the amazing inspiration from Serge & Natalie Benhayon.

177. At my work I have noticed as some of us have started to let go of control it has caused a more positive environment, everyone is talking more opening and working closer together as a team.

178. I shared a link to this blog with my 14 year old niece the other week, what she wrote back was incredibly powerful and beautiful, a true representation of real life, for many girls across the world, with her approval here is what she shared.

     “Dear Gyl,

     I am so glad you sent me this, it’s very inspirational and all around amazing, and I am more than proud to call you family, I always have been.

     At this moment in time I find quite a few of the sections very relatable. Everyday I go through the struggles of body image my skin has to be flawless (which it will never be) I have to be as skinny as Kendall Jenner (which I never will be, because most of her photo shoots will be photoshopped) my bum has to look like this, my boobs have to look like that. My skirt has to be the right length, to long I’m a geek, to short “I get around” (if you know what I mean).

     But now I am truly beginning to understand the true meaning of beauty, no one will ever be ‘perfect’ but you can be perfect to yourself and to anyone who truly loves you for who you are. I need to put all of my trust, faith and belief in myself and not in to unrealistic goals.

     I’d like to thank you again for opening my eyes to true beauty.”

     1. Wow….that is just awesome beyond words….I’m inspired to share the blog with my teenage god-daughter…

179. I have so much appreciation for you Gyl for making these loving choices. Just seeing and feeling your gorgeousness in your photo, makes me smile from inside. How lovely for everyone in your life that they get to share this with and from you.

180. Our eyes can trick us and take us into a judging thought by what we think we are seeing in front of us. Trust our deeply wise and loving heart to pull us up and set us straight when given half a chance.

181. It’s funny to think that by using control we think were in control, when it couldn’t be any further from the truth, were the ones being controlled

     1. Being controlled by control… so true Jaime, nutty behaviour.

182. Someone recently shared with me a story of a dad and his 13 year old daughter. She was complaining about the size of her thighs, (she is petite and slim) so her dad went on line and showed her pictures of two models. The photos were what these models looked like in real life, juxtaposed next to what they look like in magazines – they evidence was clear for all to see, the images for the magazine had been photoshopped, they did not look the same. His daughter had no idea magazines did this, this is evil in the true definition of the word. What a great dad opening her eyes to truth.

     1. This shows us all how significant the role each and every one of us has to play in reflecting the truth back to our younger generations.

     2. What an AWESOME Dad! I Love that Gyl!

        1. I agree simplesimon888. I also had an experience earlier this year with a very wise and incredible man in his early 30’s, who shared that rather than tell his sons not to smoke, as he felt people don’t listen to being told, he showed them a video of what smoking does to their bodies and lungs. He shared he can show them what smoking does, then they know the truth, but it is their choice whether they choose to smoke or not,

     3. What you have shared here Gyl is important for everybody to know. The evil coming through in photoshopped pictures and images is horrendous as most of the young women are taking those photos as real and comparing themselves to it. Photos have a great impact on the brain as the images of them are staying there, often unconsciously. These photos are lying and selling lies.

183. I really enjoy reading the comments. The one thing I know is that the force stops with me. Yes, I am bombarded with everything on how a man should be in obvious and the subtle ways it tries to manipulate me, which comes through all relationships. For me, I just feel it and read it and that is where it ends. To the best of my ability I will not promote anything that separates us and will express that which offers another a reflection, again to the best of my ability. I am responsible for what I put out in the world and by dedicating to self care, this is what supports all the qualities that you beautifully talk about Gyl. It is clear that you LIVE this Gyl, as many others do as this builds a loving super supportive foundation that feeds back love and reflects another way for humanity.

184. This feeling of not being good enough was present for me through childhood but it was only after puberty that I started taking steps to change how I was through dieting, wearing certain clothes and my hair in a particular way. The source of my information – what I gleaned from magazines, books,TV, peer group conversations etc. To me the power or the force was coming through my own poor self-image, and suddenly I was of an age where I could do something about it … but I certainly was not choosing from a wide range of options, I was choosing what was being fed as an image that would grant me happiness and acceptability to the group. I can now say without a doubt that beauty comes from within.

185. The force against young girls at school to conform to peer pressure is huge where does this originate? And why is it that there are literally hardly any girls who withstand this and are not affected in some way?

186. We let the force in as we give up on our light. Feeling trammelled and not met, we feed ourselves the glamour and wanting that is on offer out there, to be recognised and accepted, and close our hearts to our own true feelings. It is our own struggle with ourselves.
     Yes, the force is not of us, but comes through us.

187. Reading your blog Gyl it is remarkable how a beautiful, gorgeous little girl who knew who she was could transform into someone who needed to prove herself to the world. It clearly shows that something happens to us along the way that takes the focus away from who we know ourselves to be on the inside to wanting to look/be a certain way on the outside. It is worth studying how disconnecting from whom we truly are leads us to all sorts of physical, mental and emotional issues that we experience in life.

188. ‘It wasn’t until I went to high school that I began to have issues with my body. I’m not sure how or where this started but I do know it wasn’t something that ever crossed my mind as a child.’
     Yes Gyl, I found that in high school ideals about body image reached a painful heights, as well as negative comments on breast development, skin, hair, style of dress being rampant amongst peers, magazines and media brought an impossible glossy and unreal picture, impossible to keep up with.

189. There is definitely a collective consciousness of negativity ,with comparison and jealousy as the big players that runs on the planet ready to hook and then pull down anyone who wants to go there or indulge in this drama. Myself I find I have to keep clocking or exposing those negative emotions if those thoughts come to mind, because it just gets us nowhere.

190. What I have to ask is how and where does the force come from feeding us these ideals and beliefs in the first place? We can say it’s from society etc and the picture we are fed, but there has to be a place that this first starts from as we do not come from this, nor are we born this way.

     1. Great point Gyl, and why did we start to believe all these pictures that were fed to us, when we know we are innately love. In the past it was easier for me to join others in these pictures than stand out and be picked on. Crazy how we choose this when the absolute love and beauty is always within us – as your blog so beautifully reminds us of.

     2. This is a great point Gyl. And we can’t blame society for where we are with the image of beauty, because the moment that we step away from our innate beauty and start to get sucked into the game of comparing ourselves to pictures in the media, we actually became part of it.

191. There is such a difference between feeling absolutely beautiful from within or looking beautiful as it is defined by the media, fashion, ideals and beliefs of that time.

     1. A world of difference Lieke, and the second can never compare to the first!

192. Me too, I love the photos of Gyl and her radiating light. She works with kids- how blessed are the kids to have her as teacher for life.

193. It is such a joy to see the changes you have made. You look better than ever before, and that is the result of your allowance of letting your true beauty be seen. You absolutely radiate from within.

194. This is beautiful Gyl. I love that you shared that as a child you did not have body image issues. I realised I was the same and very funny for me the first time I got confronted with reactions from others on how I looked was also when I chose to cut my hair very short, I was called a boy and remember feeling quite shocked as I loved my new haircut. The reactions of others can have a huge effect on how we feel and how we will act. I know I have chosen to not show my beauty and joy of life because of a lot of jealousy coming my way, it is no excuse but good to be aware of.

195. Gyl I love what a transformation you’ve made “Now in my late thirties I can absolutely say that I love my body, I am beautiful and super sexy, playful and cute, and I know that first this all comes from within.” this shows us all what true beauty is.

196. “For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away”: and from your beautiful photo Gyl all these gorgeous qualities shine forth: this is true beauty that lies within but radiates outwards through, not only your eyes, but from every part of you. The whole world is smiling as you no longer hide the glorious woman you are.

197. Gyl, I love opening this blog and seeing your cuteness and gorgeousness as a child in these photo’s and the same gorgeousness that now radiates with you as an adult. This shows that our beauty is always there, when we connect with ourselves it radiates, we shine and we let it be seen.

198. All you share is within us all – men and women! But many of us don’t go there as we are ‘trapped’ by wanting to get from outside of us, rather than open up to what is inside of us!

     1. “The kingdom of God is within” are words that many people would probably have heard at sometime in their life, makes me wonder why it is that more people don’t understand this as a truth and prefer to seek outside themselves.

     2. Thats so true Karoline and therefore it is so much needed that women and men who know who they are not hold back their inner beauty so that people who are “trapped” can feel that there is an other way to life. Gyl is such a wonderful role model.

     3. Karoline that is so spot on – with your sweet and short command you said it all – wow!

199. Many if not most of us women before we know it, loose our connection to our woman within, our innate power, wisdom, love, joyfulness and the list goes on…we leave all that to be what we ‘think’ we need to be to be loved, to get rid of the pain of our low self worth thus the body image stuff, identifying with mothering, etc etc…but the real pain of lack of self worth is leaving our self in the first pain…when we return to who we are, those feelings within, when we stop and really come back to ourselves by connecting, we start to remember the treasures that we truly are, as Gyl has so gracefully shared…

200. When i looked at the first 2 photos of you, I felt such a warmth and i feel it again in your last photo, where I feel and see a most gorgeous woman who has not lost the gorgeousness, sweetness, and delicateness of the little girl…those qualities are within us all as woman, but for many reasons we start to disconnect from our true value and try to be what society dictates us to be as woman, and there are an array of choices within this prison. You have open the prison door and said I will be who I know I am…truly inspiring, thank you.

201. Gyl this is a celebration when a woman accepts herself deeply for who she is, and understands she is not her body, yes her body is an external expression of the inner…as you say, you are sexy and playful just to name a few, this is emanated from you and felt in your body…it is so beautiful to be around a woman who has a loving relationship with herself and very inspiring…our value is deeper than skin deep.

202. Gyl, it came to me today after reading your blog again that what you described was the second part of the process I went through as a child. First was reacting to the situation of not being met, adored and understood for the essence I was expressing as a child, which led to the belief there was something wrong with me and that I wasn’t enough. From there a very willing world was waiting to fill me up with ideas of how I could (or should) be – magazines, adverts, ideals and beliefs literally were ready and waiting to be poured into me should I say yes to them. Believing that I was not enough led me to searching for what I believed I needed to be, to be accepted and loved. This was all at great expense and in great harm to myself, and influenced every choice (from diet to exercise and clothing etc), as well as colouring how I thought and felt about myself. Never being good enough was a constant. Underneath all of that was this simple hurt of not being appreciated and met fully just for being me.

203. Gyl such a beautiful photo of a woman that radiates joy and love, how crazy it is that we try to mould ourselves into some ideal image to get approval from others when all along our beauty and magnificence is there waiting for us to connect to and live everyday.

204. Thank you for sharing yourself so generously Gyl. Many can relate to your story. The older I get and the more I appreciate my own true beauty, the more I see the true beauty in all. This was not so when I was young. It saddens me when young girls view themselves with disdain even though I know I did the same. There is an old saying that youth is wasted on the young and I feel it has something to do with the insecurities we suffer when we are young, we never seem to appreciate our self or ever feel that we are enough. The world as we know it is designed to keep us down so as to exploit and corrupt us to move further away from our true nature, our true beauty and our true power. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine are turning this around by presenting tools that reconnect us back to know who we truly are so that nobody can ever pull the wool over our eyes again.

205. What a beautiful turnaround from being caught in the grip of ideals and beliefs of how to look as a woman. It seems like the only way to catch the destroying nature of these ideals and beliefs is to start loving ourselves first and then the toxin will slowly leave the body. I bet many young women would find it supporting to read this and it would help them see that they don’t have to look a certain way but they just have to be themselves.

206. It is interesting you mention how to begin with you felt how beautiful you were and lived from that, yet later in your life you became more focussed on how beautiful you looked on the outside in order to feel beautiful on the inside. The complete opposite, and I feel the key fundamental difference in the quality of how you ended up living. Inspiring to see how coming back was simply a choice.

     1. Its sad how we complicate the simple, natural way we accept our beauty when young by loading it with comparison and trying to ‘fit in’.

        1. Thank you for mentioning this Catherine Bower. It is true what you say here and it is actually quite silly when phrased this way as it highlights that the beauty we seek is already there and has always been there from day 0

207. True beauty is nothing that we are able to create, we just can feel, live and radiate it.

     1. Love your comments Michael, they are so worth repeating. Every teenager needs to hear your words of wisdom. “Living the beauty that we feel from deep within is something that nothing we try to create can come close to.” and “True beauty is nothing that we are able to create, we just can feel, live and radiate it.”

     2. Beautifully said Michael – true beauty is not a doing or something to aim for, it is naturally within, its allowing it to be!

        1. Absolutely, true beauty is not a doing, it is naturally who we are, it is a living way that in it’s fullness radiates out to the world.

208. Living the beauty that we feel from deep within is something that nothing we try to create can come close to.

209. It is amazing how affected we get but not only how other people think of us, but how we perceive that they might think of us, the latter often a more destructive force than the former.

     1. Adam I agree, how others perceive us is a more destructive force and we get affected so quickly and easily. Our minds go on a wonder and can come up with all sorts.

     2. Exactly Adam, and how deliberate we set up this creation, even knowing that we are not that what we pretend to be. Pretty tricky and misleading and controlling it is when we are trying to get attention to be liked from others.

     3. I agree Adam I can still allow myself to be affected at times by this destructive force of perceiving not only what another may think of me, but what will they say – it’s far more harming than words can express on this page.

     4. I agree Adam, we can often concoct all sorts of ideas and thoughts that we believe others may hold about us, thoughts that we use to hurt and belittle ourselves, or even to incite angst toward the other, with no foundation at all, thoughts that are extremely destructive toward ourself and the other.

     5. 
        Adam I love what you share in your simple and powerful comment. When I read your words, I realise it feels a bit ridiculous what we (I) do – it is a bit strange for me that I am not aware of this feeling when I allow such destructive force to act in me.

     6. How we perceive what another may think of us can be extremely destructive. Recently I have been observing these thoughts and how they enter. There can be no substance whatsoever to them and it really is quite incredible how destructive they can be to ourselves and to another.

210. “It has been through these loving choices that I have made, and continue to keep making and deepening, that my life and my body has changed.” I so agree Gyl, as I can say the same for me too.

211. ‘For me it is no longer about how I look on the outside first, but the quality and connection of the relationship I have with myself’, that naturally changes how you look and feel as can be felt with your photos, so lovely to feel and see you in your most recent one.

212. “For me it is no longer about how I look on the outside first, but the quality and connection of the relationship I have with myself.” Gyl this knowing should be shared in every school and every household worldwide. The media, the mind and the ideals of life have taken us so far away from the truth of true beauty that we have forgotten the divine beauty inside and trust that whatever small variance may be on the outside, inside is where true beauty stems from.

213. “There is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within.” This is exactly what is felt from your photo Gyl. It is amazing how as children we were like this but then disconnect from this beauty to conform to what our parents and society expected from us. I knew back then that life was going to be too difficult otherwise. It is lovely now to know through the teachings from Serge Benhayon and Universal medicine that we can return to these qualities we had as children. It is only through choosing to reconnect to our true selves and live from these qualities of Joy, Love, Harmony that we once again can return to our natural child like ways.

214. Gyl, no-one can deny what your picture reflects, which is absolute love from every gorgeous pore, through and through. Such a delight to read, see and feel your blog.

215. Very beautiful Gyl. Body image is such a big deal in this day and age and has over shadowed true connection with ones inner most. Rediscovering this inner beauty and living only to honour who you truly are has resulted in you being such a stunning woman, beaming your self-love for the world to see – and boy does the world need reflections like yours.

216. “For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am…” If I really stop to take time and deeply appreciate everything that this sentence is saying…..it’s nothing short of magnificent, world-changing and amazing. At first glance it may not appear that astonishing, but with full comprehension of what is happening here I would suggest that it is a headline that should trump all others in world news. Because it is stories like this that will truly change the world, rather than the rest of the news which only goes to demonstrate the fact that we are spinning round and round and round making the same choices over and over, compounding ever deeper the separation, individuality and contraction from our true way of being.

217. “The world will never tell us we are worth being loved first”, I agree Ariana, it is only when we realise that love resides within us, and live this, that the world will reflect this love back to us.

218. What a truly beautiful photo of you Gyl, and a beautiful celebration of you, thank you for sharing.

219. I was on a plane recently and while we were waiting to get off the plane, I watched a small child play peek a boo with a woman who they would not have known. The joy in the moment was so beautiful. There was no holding back or concern in what someone else would think, it was just a child being themselves and inspiring that in another.

220. Thank you for sharing all your joy, beauty and cuteness of choosing that there is another way. Gyl I can relate to so much of the ideal and beliefs we take on as we are developing into women. All the images we take on that may or may not resemble anything like the gifts we are naturally blessed with. The energy and angst to move away from our innate beauty and try to live up to someone else’s doesn’t make sense. I agree that the presentations from Serge Benhayon, Natalie Benhayon and Universal Medicine are wonderfully supportive and that at any time we can choose to be with our unique beauty and celebrate this.

221. When we begin to really nurture, support and care for ourselves and feel our own worth, we are less and less influenced by the pressures of a world asking us to be a certain way. We also begin to be not only content by living our own person, but see the purpose in our lives and what we bring to our lives everyday.

     1. Spot on Jennifer and worth a repeat; ‘ When we begin to really nurture, support and care for ourselves and feel our own worth, we are less and less influenced by the pressures of a world asking us to be a certain way. We all have a valuable contribution to make to this world and a responsibility to bring that… to bring heaven on earth.

222. “For me it is no longer about how I look on the outside first, but the quality and connection of the relationship I have with myself. I no longer compare myself to others, wish I was thinner or fitter, or look like GI Jane, as I love being me. There’s no perfect bum in sight but it is super cute J; nor a six pack but a gentle, lovely curve.” Beautiful to read that Gyl. I also just recently started appreciating my bum and my”lovely curve”.

223. Gyl you are such a beautiful reflection of joy and vitality. I love how you describe that now exercise to support you rather than to look a certain way. I’ve been on the path of exercising and eating to try to look a certain way and it was so exhausting and super boring. I was looking for beauty outside in my physicality when it was always there within me just ready for me to feel it. Now I choose to eat and exercise without any push in a manner that I enjoy and feel to and due to that I just feel my beauty just perfect in the way I am and it shows on the outside too.

     1. I too am exercising now to support my body and only spend the time at the gym that my body requires at that moment. If people were to connect with their bodies instead of their heads, they might get to feel that the crazy exercising can be in disregard and can be unloving towards ourselves.

224. “I had given up on being and letting out the amazing joy, playfulness and love I was as a child – and I still felt within – not caring what anyone else thought about me.” Gyl when i look at the photos of you aged 17 & 22 you look so serious, like your holding it all together. The heaviness & hardness you opted for is so contra to the joyful light beauty you have reignited today.

     1. I agree lucindag, they are amazing images of Gyl. It’s like Gyl is carrying a heavy weight in their earlier photos which is not there in the current photo. The difference between living a life of having to be a certain way to living a life being yourself. Very inspiring.

        1. Exactly Jennifer, the difference in the photo’s clearly shows a life living a certain way from ideals and beliefs of how one should be and the last photo showing the glowing freedom that comes from living true to who we truly are. A stunning and yes inspiring transformation.

225. We are so often influenced by those things outside of ourselves such as TV, magazines and other kids when we grow up. When we learn to truly nurture our own inner beauty and then in turn offer that reflection to our children, they will grow up knowing the amazingness that they are on the inside and will be able to remain steady in that.

226. Gyl it’s so gorgeous to feel you unashamedly claiming yourself and it shows in your beautiful photo. As a teacher just that smile is changing your students lives. You are GOLD!
     When we can finally stand tall and still and claim our glory we begin to truly serve humanity. Thank you for your inspiration.

227. “There was no joy or love in the relationship I had with myself, my body or the food I ate, it was all very much about obsession and control, only allowing myself to eat certain things, and exercising not to support or love myself, but to extremes to look a certain way. I had come to believe that only if I was thin, with a perfect tummy, bum etc., then I was beautiful. I had given up on being and letting out the amazing joy, playfulness and love I was as a child “- I too experienced this and had this unrealistic belief run me for several years until I had children. But I also went the other way and indulged and ate junk food only to then go into guilt and self loathing.
     Thankfully this is no longer the case since having met Serge Benhayon and Natalie Benhayon who have been amazing loving reflections of how a true loving relationship with self can be, by chosing self loving and self nurturing ways of living.

     1. I agree lorettarapp i have made the same experience like Gyl desribes trying to get a perfect body and through dieting which never worked. Thanks to Serge Benhayon who offered us and different way to live. Not to get recognition from outside/other people for what we do or how are we are. But to start appreciating and loving ourselves.

228. I watched a program last night on the enormous peer and media pressure the youth of today lives under. I remember, and still feel at times in my body, the self-imposed pressure I put myself under, the self doubt and hatred for a body that was so far from my perceived ideal of perfection. The understanding and knowing that we are all unique and that we all contribute to the tapestry of life has eased and released this tension. This new way of seeing myself would not have been possible without Universal Medicine.

229. This is really beautiful and thanks for sharing Gyl Rae.
     I remember as a boy – and as a teenager that the body image was not quite as prevalent for us. But what stands out for me as I look back at that time was that the whole world seems to want to make us be something that we simply are not. We have to move from being gentle, tender, sweet, caring, affectionate, sensitive, aware, wonderful in fact – and we have to become such a small boxed in version of what it is meant to be to be male.
     We had to be ‘strong’. But that word was taken as tough, hard, un emotional, to override our sensitivity and harden up – to absolutely not be affectionate or caring (we had to be unflinching and aloof).

     All incredibly far away from who we really are.

     It has just struck me who those two different images – How a girl is supposed to look and how a boy is supposed to be are so so damaging and end up leaving us unable to relate and connect with each other as we become adults.

     1. Thank you simplesimon888. It’s interesting what you share, a week or two ago I saw a man and woman walking down the street, both of similar height and build, though what stood out for me was the role reversal, the woman was really hard in her body ( no judgement here) and the man was striving to be tougher than her, so taking on a role that was also not him. You could physically see the tension in his body trying to keep up. This made me realise the responsibility I have as a woman to choose gentleness and grace, if not, I am creating an imbalance in men.

230. And it is seen in your eyes, your skin, your shine and sparkle – hurray!

     1. So true! Sparkle is the word. Like a shining light in a black and white picture.

231. Your blog reminded me of how it felt to be obsessed with my body image. Those years were deeply unhappy ones and my body image was a huge controlling factor in my life. I was constantly thinking about eating or not eating, what I looked like, if I was too fat, comparing myself to others, when to go to the gym…it really was exhausting and not much fun!

     1. Indeed nikkimckee I too remember these years of never being enough. I would oscillate from one extreme to another, like binge eating, then punishing myself with a hard cycle ride around London, then going out and getting drunk, loathing myself the next day and resorting to more binge eating . No wonder it all felt so intense, so unsteady.

     2. I too remember those days nikkimckee and on reflection it is actually a mental disorder to be so heavily obsessed on ones body image. It is far far away from living a life of joy and fun!

        1. “it is actually a mental disorder to be so heavily obsessed on ones body image”, true. I had a mental health disorder first not a body issue and eating disorder. Research currently talks about eating disorders being the second leading cause of mental health disorders for young girls, but it is the other way around, the mental health issue comes first, or so I feel, the giving up on myself and life then fed the cycle of abuse.

        2. Well said Marcia. It was indeed a mental disorder. But looking back I was not as entrenched as what I thought. I clearly remember when I made a choice to stop, actually it was more of a choice to look at my body lovingly. It took some training but it was relatively easy to come out of, I feel more as though I was held in the fog of it all.

        3. That’s a great point Nikki now that you mention it as I too remember knowing that I needed to love myself. There was a deep knowing of what i knew was true but I was also lacking the tools to access what i knew to develop it as a consistent way like i have been introduced by Universal Medicine.

     3. The key in what you said here for me Nikkimckee was that living in the way you were driven by body image was exhausting! On the contrary, how wonderfully natural it is to take care of ourselves lovingly, honouring who we truly are, and having a body full of vitally!

        1. It is actually quite simple to love my body compared with the hard work it was to hate it!

     4. Yes nikkimckee, it was an exhausting time for me too obsessively weighing myself and constantly thinking about food… my life was centred around food. Today I enjoy food without having to worry about whether I lose or put on weight. I have love for myself which I didn’t before and so I eat now because it supports my body.

        1. That was key for me also Caroline- the love I have for myself now. My food choices and the way I view and treat my body come from a foundation of love for myself.

232. Your pictures tell the story so eloquently of where you were and where you are now. It is a huge journey we are all on, and wonderful to see the dramatic return when we rediscover our true light inside us. And this we can radiate out into the world where ever we go.

233. I look at these images and wonder how its possible that the absolute beauty that is you (then and now) could be perceived as anything but that – I wonder the same thing about myself when I look back at pictures of me. Consumed with anxiety, self- loathing and doubt – when there was absolutely nothing at all wrong with me!
     When we take steps to call a halt to our wayward fantastical versions of life – supported by Universal Medicine and The Way of The Livingness – we can’t but see this dastardly plan of distraction, delay and divisiveness that gets in through any crack it can to have us floundering.
     Self-love, Love and appreciation – practised over and over are the greatest tools we have. Thank you Gyl – divine blog!

234. Exercise is wonderful but when we are doing it without love and care as I did for years our bodies become, at best, hard. Even the things that are good for us cause harm when we do them without care and love.

     1. Very true Christoph. There is no discernment at all in how we exercise, it’s just all deemed as being good for you because it’s exercise or sport. However our bodies are telling us something completely different.

     2. So true Christoph, no matter how ‘good’ exercise is for us, if it is not done with love it harms. I too used to exercise abusing my body because I didn’t care how much it hurt so long as I lost weight. I now exercise where the movements and stretches are gentle on my body and it feels so very different; I actually love and enjoy exercising and being with my body whereas before it was all about the end result and not a care in the world how I got there.

235. It is gorgeous to observe children just being themselves. They can be an inspiration to adults who have lost this because of the influences of the world. It is indeed very refreshing to read the stories of people who have managed to reclaim themselves in this way. Thank you Gyl.

236. The eyes from your 17th photo to the present say it all.

237. This is such a great blog, I love you the way you are just honestly sharing that what is happening in this world, with all the ideals that are almost set in stone. While there is so much more inside us, and when we choose that true beauty just radiates out.

238. Gyl thank you for sharing – I must say I was struck by how sad it is that we live in a world where our growing girls and young women are so bombarded by external ideals, pictures to live up to and images of what beauty is that are so narrow, shallow and quashing of our inner lovliness. That one year old photo you are a sunbeam of unrestrained joy…and yet how often do we nurture this in our growing little ones? Even by 4 it looks like you are gauging an outer response and trying to fit something to please… Looking at you now, so full, steadily self assured, and radiant – what an incredible role model you are – and what a difference it would make as a child meeting a woman that glows from within like you do. Beautiful.

239. Gyl your brining it lovingly and playfully to the point. Great description of a pattern, an addiction so many women choose to live, and negate their true beauty with getting hard in running after a ideal that has been making up to get a controlled level of the true power women can in truth bring. As your picture is beautifully vital and worthy talking about!
     I love, when you write: “There’s no perfect bum in sight but it is super cute J; nor a six pack but a gentle, lovely curve. I’m exactly the way I am meant to be.”

240. Gyl what you say here is something that Im sure many women, young and old, would relate to. “It was like I had a point to prove to the world – that I was worth being loved.”
     It is a sad fact, that women think they have to go to these lengths to feel that they are worth something, and not just knowing it within themselves. It is time that this changed, and women, particularly young women should be celebrated for simply being who they are.

241. Beautiful Gyl Rae. It’s a very simple concept you have shared and claimed back – beauty lies within. I remember growing up people always said this and other spiritual things like “beauty is only skin deep” but no one was living from that inner-beauty. One by one we all step away from this delicateness as children and live the ideals that are outside of us from our parents, schools, tv etc. Is it because we trust our parents on what they perceive love is and we join them? It’s an epidemic that you do not read, hear or know nothing about (unless you find these blogs) but we all miss and look for.
     Only through Universal Medicine did I rediscover my inner-strength again. My sensitivity, openness, tenderness, deep care and absolute truth. It’s my own acceptance and appreciation of these qualities that I will shine again. You will never receive this from outside of you no matter what you do. Thank you Gyl for sharing your inner-beauty.

242. I agree Katie. When we live without our beauty – but strive to attain a look – there is nothing shining from the inside out, but there is an intensity, distraction, control and hardening in the body as everything is focussed on attaining that goal. When we surrender to who we are and allow the absolute beauty to be seen, there is such an openness, radiance, and welcoming as there is nothing ‘to do’ in order to achieve it.

     1. And that beauty which emanates out from our inner-heart is endless, effortless delicate and completely disarming, as seen here in the very beautiful Gyl.

        1. “disarming” is the key Helen, when someone is simply being themselves it melts another, as you cannot but help feel you are one and the same.

243. Agreed Katie, it is an amazing photo. Gyl is awesome to look at- she just radiates.

244. Gyl this was super beautiful to read. I loved this part… “I’m exactly the way I am meant to be.” what an amazing feeling to have, to be completely at ease with who and how you are. I can relate to a lot of what you have depicted in this blog- the need to be recognized and so using my body to be so. Being free of that though is an amazing experience. One that comes from appreciating who you are as a person and realizing your qualities and how amazing you are just for being you. Realizing that you don’t in fact need that recognition at all.

245. I can recall watching the Miss America pageant many times and wondering how any one of the women could possibly be deemed the ‘most beautiful’. They would always say it’s not just about that but about how they answered the questions or their other talents, but the point is that the whole thing is purely subjective, and true beauty is found within EVERY person, not just a chosen few with ‘perfect’ bodies and looks. I used to feel bad for the other girls in the contest after the winner was chosen as you could see the disappointment and almost self-loathing on their faces as if they felt that they failed and did not live up to other’s (and their own) expectations of what beauty is. What a shame that is, as comparison and jealousy in that situation can eat away at people from the inside. Gyl, you have really shown what true beauty is all about in your blog, and just looking at your radiant photo (age 37) helped me appreciate my own inner beauty much more.

246. I feel it is a miracle for a woman in her thirties to be as confident, comfortable and carefree in her own skin like we all experienced as young children.

247. Gyl I love what you have shared here about why you exercise. The commitment comes from being with you, not what you want the world to see. This needs to be plastered in gyms all over the world.

248. Beautiful to read your journey to appreciating the beautiful woman that you are today.

249. Thank you for writing this much needed blog Gyl, a lot of young girls, including myself when I was younger, find themselves going through this outside world body image pressure. It is so supporting to see that there definitly is another way.

     1. Yes super true Diana. The other alternative presented is to be hard and not care about your image and others. However, this usually doesn’t come with a care for yourself. What Gyl presented – that you can love your body and care for yourself is awesome and we definitely need more role models like this.

        1. I agree Emily, we need more role models like this and for the ones allready expressing on these blogs, including me, to take this wisdom in to the world.

250. Within everyone is an absolute gorgeous beautiful person, but because of the confines and limits that smother us as children, we end up as adults with only a dim glow of our actual incredible light. You have shown us all Gyl that it is possible to rekindle this effervescent love we all have and live with it in full again, in a world that does its best to shut this down.

251. I agree Katie it is certainly a beautiful photo that captures all that Gyl is. Living proof of the results of a truer more loving way of being.

252. I have to say I love how the picture of you at age 1 and 37 clearly demonstrate the truth of what you have written here – that beauty is from within. My God, you were, and are gorgeous! You’re a walking, talking truth, Gyl.

253. Gyl, I love the way you have exposed that the fixation on fitness and the perfect body is actually a form of control – controlling our own bodies and attempting to control others’ acceptance of us through how we have forced our bodies to look. Awesome sharing 🙂

254. “I’m exactly the way I am meant to be.” That is the simple, gorgeous truth that applies to every single person on this planet. How awesome would it be if we could all accept that we are amazing exactly as we are! And how many industries would be put out of business by our acceptance of that fact…..?

255. The body image issue for women makes no sense, once you strip away the expectations we place upon ourselves to meet this hidden agenda we call “society’s expectations.” Each year what is fashionable changes. Last year it was “the waif” look. This year it is the “big booty” look. Last year a small was a size 10 and this year it is a size 6. The goal posts keep on changing, and they are indeed ephemeral on purpose, not designed to be reached. For were a woman truly to attain all the ideals by which “society” defines the perfect woman, she would find at the end a barren wasteland of ideals and beliefs, and the game would be up for the creators of the illusion. For the truth is, such ideals will never bring a woman the truth. The perfect body will never make her content, nor even beautiful in her own eyes. And herein lies the crazy thing about the way we chase ideals and beliefs. When we get what we think we need, it is never enough anyway. And that is because the whole ideal is laid on a false foundation of what we think we need to be in order to feel complete, when the truth is what we are searching for is already inside, miles away from where we have been looking. Love is not found beyond the moon. It is deep within the chasms of our own being.

     1. Adam Warburton – this is truly beautiful – exposing – liberating, and not only shines a light on the falsity, and the crazy set up of it all, but also offers a big neon signpost to the way home out of the forever insatiable external seeking. Our beauty is forever within, just waiting for us to let it out.

     2. And all that is required is the commitment to honour that inner love over and above anything that the world and people ask of you – no small feat, but once we begin again to honour our inner sacredness it grows stronger, louder and clearer ever-after.

        1. Yes Helen, so true and beautifully said, and in honouring our inner sacredness we offer everyone we meet an opportunity to to reconnect to their own inner love and beauty.

        2. I agree Adam and Helen, it may appear to be no small feat, but in truth it is very very simple, yet it us us who complicate it, for if we did not then the game of illusion would be over.

256. Thankyou Gyl, you have covered many painful topics for women that must be drawn out and discussed. When I saw your teen photos I could also reflect back on the sadness I felt in myself in those teen years, for the same reasons you have written, and the intense self loathing and wishing I was someone else. What lost time that is. In that time I could have been appreciating and valuing myself and preparing for a truly awesome life as an adult. The world the way it is, breeding comparison and competition, is deeply harmful. Thankyou for exposing the truth of this in your story.

     1. Your words form a deep healing Melinda.

     2. Absolutely I agree, we are true living miracles, and miracles in the purest truth of this word, this is something that has been lost through the ages – miracles are everyday people returning to a true way of living in deep connection with God.

     3. Indeed Melinda when I ponder on my own teens years I am struck by the time I spent in SELF. Not only was this cycle draining but it also kept me so separate – no wonder many teenagers feel depressed and lonely for it seems to me they are unconfirmed by society, by each other, and unhonoured by themselves.

257. Great article Gyl and one I relate to very much. I too enjoyed that same sense of freedom within myself as a child and had no self-consciousness at all. One day, around the age of 12, that changed overnight when a comment was made, by someone very close to me, about my body and likelihood I would get fat if I didn’t change the way I ate. I remember a kind of plummeting sensation – suddenly I wasn’t OK just being me. Looking back, I can see I didn’t have enough of myself to not let that comment in. After all, it was a projection of someone else’s fears, which I then made my reality. How awful that we do that!

     1. I am reminded of Natalie Benhayon presenting to a women’s group on the fact that we lose the ability to communicate as women, that is to communicate what we feel to be true – and then we lose sight of who we are and take on ‘roles’ that fill the void.
        I know for myself observing this as a child and gradually overriding more and more what I felt inside and knew absolutely to be true in order to better fit into a world that made no sense. Awful indeed.

258. “I don’t remember being bothered about how my body looked when I was a young girl, I just remember being full of joy, loving people, playing, drawing, and dancing”. The essence of a child is something that is still there in adulthood sometimes it is a matter of unfolding what has got in the way to again feel that. Deep gratitude to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for reflecting to us all that our light never goes out.

259. Reading this blog when published was a massive healing for me, just to realise how far I have come and in truth that I do love myself. The exercise and food was just the tip of the iceberg in how I used to live and abuse myself. But what struck the most, was an enormous deepening of the love and appreciation I have for Serge Benhayon, without Serge Benhayon my life would be an absolute mess.

     1. I’m with you in that Gyl, the work of Serge Benhayon has also transformed my relationship to myself into a loving one and had I not found him I would be in a huge mess still. Brilliant to read your feedback here and your experience of publishing the blog. There is truly so much to appreciate and reflect on via the transformative work of Serge Benhayon in our lives. We are literal miracles to how we used to be.

     2. My life would also be an absolute mess without Serge Benhayon and your blog is much appreciated Gyl

     3. A beautiful celebration of Choosing You, Love and Serge Benhayon – likewise, my appreciation for Serge Benhayon – all that he is and lives is Godly and unending.

     4. Thank you for your feedback here Gyl as what you have written confirmed what I was feeling. The appreciation Gyl has for herself in how far she has come is indeed palpable in this blog and so beautiful to feel because the reflection offered me a healing to stop and reflect on how far I have come too and to deeply appreciate myself which I will take with me into my day.

     5. I dread to think where I would be if I had not come across Serge Benhayon! Without a shadow of a doubt the teachings of the Way of the Livingness and workshops changes people’s lives and I can vouch for this. As Melinda says and I couldn’t agree more, we are indeed ‘miracles to how we used to be.’

260. I was at a supermarket checkout today, when a lovely little 8 year old girl came behind me and started chatting to me about lots of things. Just as I was packing my bags she said “I have a beautiful face” to which her mum replied quickly along the lines of “you can’t say that, don’t be so full of yourself, you get that from your dad”. Saddening to hear, not in the emotional sense, but in the fact we as a society are taught or lead to believe it is not okay embrace, claim and celebrate our beauty and divine qualities from a very young age. This can end with us living a life less than who we are.

     1. Wow Gyl. It’s increadible how exposing things we say about ourselves can be exposing for others and age does not matter. Interesting how an 8 years olds comment on how beautiful she is can expose the lack of self-worth in an adult. Goes to show that wisdom has nothing to do with age.

     2. Hi Gyl, the young girl in the supermarket was feeling your beauty and celebrating her own beauty with you. You were allowing her that moment by the grace of your acceptance of your own beauty. It was great that she got to express this as it confirmed the beauty she was feeling. Her mother’s reaction was showing you that she was not getting this from home. It was showing you how important it is for us to know and connect to that beauty within so that others can feel it also.

     3. Yes we get told to hold us back and not to like how we look. Sadly, that we take it on, knowing that this is not true, but we keep quiet and trusting others more than ourselves. Could it be that we use this blame to stay in the contraction where it is comfortable.

261. How easy it is for so many girls and women to lose confidence with themselves s they look outward for confirmation and acceptance. When we are little, it just does’t enter our mind to compare ourselves with others, but somewhere along the line, it changes and, different for us all, we decide at some point to want to fit in with what society presents is the look of the moment. It’s not age that changes our outlook and it’s not pre-destined to happen either; it’s that we choose to lose the connection we had and felt clearly, in favour of something outside of ourselves, and we lose that connection in varying degrees, resulting in all manor of scenarios from weight issues, drug and alcohol issues, relationship issues to name but a few. Serge Benhayon has presented a way of living that means we don’t have to lose connection and forget who we are on the inside and for that, I am most grateful, particularly being a parent with the opportunity to support another to maintain their own connection through adolescence.

262. I once believed I was ugly and would walk accordingly, shoulders in, back bent, head a little down. These days, knowing who I am and feeling from my body how beauty full I am it is hard to imagine I could have gone there. It is the emptiness inside that we create by leaving ourselves and the way we feel in our body as a child that really is what we then see as an ugliness. So what we need is to start looking at ourselves not from appearance but from how much we are connected to and willing to show to the world the love, preciousness, grace and tenderness we are.

     1. How we walk is a great marker of how we feel about ourselves. I used to try and hide and slink along. These days I love strutting my stuff. Not for any other reason than it feels good to be me and to let it out.

        1. Yes Nikki. I too used to walk with my shoulders hunched, but I now walk with me and the openness from that place, fills me with joy. I love walking with all of me.

     2. So true Carolien, that the ugliness we battle with is the separation from the contentment we knew as a child, reconnecting to the our innermost as presented by Serge Benhayon, is the return we all long for.

        1. Well worded Lucinda. An old friend of mine recently came to a concert of Chris James where there were many people who have made this connection. She commented on how beautiful everyone there was. True beauty is our inner connection and when we live that it emanates out for all to see.

     3. Caroline, I too once believed I was ugly especially since I had two older sisters who were like models…. like you I have come to realise I felt ugly because I had disconnected from my divinity and grace and this felt yuk in my body. Through acceptance, self-love, and self-nourishment I have a deeper connection with my body and can appreciate my beauty and all I bring.

        1. This is huge what you are saying, that the key to our inner beauty is our way of deep appreciation and self love. The biggest learning ever, how to do this and how to live it should be taught at schools and universities.

263. Gyl what you present is awesome, there is no beauty other then the beauty of our love, joy and harmony emanating out from us. It does not matter how big or small our noses and bums are. It has absolutely nothing to do with the exquisite beauty and sexyness we all have ,but that we allow it to come out and be seen.

     1. Yes Caroline, it is our own appreciation and confirmation of that beauty within that allows us to walk it and flaunt it not in a hooking way to attract attention but as a celebration of our own beauty, and to reflect to the world that this is also possible to move and express beauty from within and not the exterior facade we have been conditioned to believe is all that counts.

        1. You make an important point here Francisco as so much that is offered to us through the media about sexiness and feeling good about yourself is a pumped up, ticking the boxes to the ideal body way of being that is still void of any inner connection.

264. People pay more attention to social media than the news these days, young people especially. And because of this, news has become an extension of the gossip pages. The idealised images of women and men are spread and those that don’t fit the bill are spread around with as much enthusiasm, if not more. It’s really not enough to install parental controls on computers and mobile phones etc. We have to educate our children in having self-worth and being able to see the circus of degrading media for what it is.

     1. So true Jinya. Even if we could wrap our children in cotton wool so they were not exposed to media, they would still receive a more than adequate damaging dose of idealised body images at school and just out in the general world. It comes back to how we love our own bodies as parents and this naturally inspires our children to love their own bodies regardless of what the world idealises. Our way of being with ourselves speaks louder than our words.

        1. Yes tonisteenson I totally agree, how we are with ourselves as parents speaks far louder than words. Education is needed but I can educate my children until the cows come home but if I am not living my talk they are just empty words coming from a form of control. It begins with me and my way of livingness which I am developing every day is what inspires our children.

     2. So well said Jinya. It really is just an extension of the gossip pages, and this is all we are getting. “We have to educate our children in having self-worth and being able to see the circus of degrading media for what it is.” – completely agree.

     3. Yes Jinya, so true and it is even more of a bombardment nowadays placing more pressure on the young then ever before to be some ideal or another. It is total exploitation. Fortunately we have Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine presenting us with the tools to reconnect so that we can know without a doubt who we are, this has put into motion a wave of change as more and more of us connect and find within what true beauty is and what this means. We have given our power away far to long. Enough is enough. The education of our children has to start with how we are with ourselves as children feel first and never can hear truth through empty words.

        1. I agree kathleenbaldwin, the most powerful education we can offer is the reflection of how we live.

     4. Wise words Jinya, we can lead the kids by being role models for them, using these devices wisely and not misusing them to take over the real connections within the family and relationships.

265. I love how you share “there were no quick fixes to follow” after being presented with that, “there is another way of living that is about love first” and the subsequent self loving choices you made resulted in how you beautifully reflect this today that shines out for all of us to see and feel, with no more hiding. Beautiful thank you Gyl.

266. Why is it that when all the effort is put into “its all about the body” it is always at the cost of what is in the body… that is already perfect.

     1. I agree sjmatsonuk, it doesn’t make sense.

     2. This is true and is very obvious in young models where there livlihood is all about the body yet most of the time it is their body that pays the price of the sheer neglect and abuse.

267. The way you describe the how the obsession with your body and appearance began brings back a lot of memories for me Gyl. As a child I had trouble understanding why some women were considered more beautiful than others. When I was about 8, I saw a supermodel on TV and asked a woman why the woman on TV was considered to be more beautiful than others, she answered ” it’s all about the body”. This was said with great sadness and comparison and I can remember the moment clearly after more than 25 years! There is no doubt that the pressure to look a certain way is enormous and this shows just how miraculous it is that you have returned to the true beauty you are.

     1. It is miraculous, for as most women will attest (as you have here Leonne) that pressure IS enormous: an ever-present, crushing weight ready to put us down. So, what we have to do is recognise it for what it is – see it as the construct it is – and know it is simply a tool to keep us distracted from going about our business in the natural fullness and confidence of who we are. Women must be pretty powerful if all this energy is invested in keeping us small and worried about our weight/looks/features. The problem is we have let that energy control us.

     2. Yes, I recall watching the Miss World contest as a child, Leonne, and wondering what was happening and then asking what it was all about. I recall feeling quite stunned that it was a ‘beauty competition.’ I still feel the same way – how can Beauty be a competition? Although in the interim, I was suckered into the ideals associated with looking beautiful – well over all of that now, thankfully, and back with yourself and Gyl and the presentations of Universal Medicine which have confirmed the truth of Beauty being a quality from within, a quality available to all through choice.

        1. Yes, it’s interesting that how absurd a ‘beauty competition’ seems. However, if we are not living in the appreciation and expression of our inner beauty (as Gyl now does), then we are in a beauty competition with the whole world. We are constantly comparing, competing, and altering ourselves to ‘be more beautiful’. We have stopped valuing ourselves, and seek it through entering the competition…however we forget that nothing, even winning this beauty competition will make us feel beautiful on the inside.

        2. Beauty is made as a competition as its the perfect way to set women against each other when we take on these pictures and measures ourselves against them.

        3. Yes, competitiveness and comparison, jealousy and envy were definitely all on the menu at such events, Kristy.

        4. I wouldn’t just say as such events, they are around us everyday.

     3. Thanks for sharing Leonne. A lot of emphasis is put on the physical body – how it looks and what it can do. Without caring or realizing the amazing person within the body… who is actually so much more. We really, are capping ourselves by adhering to such a looks driven society. Its so beautiful how children are not fazed by looks one iota, but more on a persons quality.

        1. I absolutely adore the way you have shared here Emily. It is incredible to feel that yes – children connect to the quality of a person not to the way a person looks. It is crazy that we ‘grow up’ to become “suckers for a pretty face”. Often outward appearances are a mask for great ugliness. If we connect to the quality others choose to express we will not be fooled and suffer the consequences of our own deception.

        2. Love that Leonne “Often outward appearances are a mask for great ugliness. If we connect to the quality others choose to express we will not be fooled and suffer the consequences of our own deception.”

        3. Beautifully said Emily, what matters is the amazing person within the body… who is so much more, and children do relate to a persons quality, that is key for all of us.

        4. It takes a lot of energy to hold us in contraction of who we really are. No wonder the exhaustion rates are increasing more and more.

        5. So true Emily.

        6. You are spot on Emily, we need to learn from the way children are not faced by the exterior physicality of a person but the quality of love that is emanated from their bodies, this is so powerful as it is teaching us to use all our senses and not just what we choose to receive from our eyes.

268. “I exercise because I love myself and I want to make that commitment to me, knowing that my beauty first comes from within”. That’s it Gyl and such a different way to the way I used to exercise for many years before being introduced through Universal Medicine to a way of exercising that includes having true regard and care for my body.

     1. I love that comment to. I exercise these days to celebrate my body and because it feels so good to be in my body.

        1. Yes, nikkimckee I agree when exercising in celebration of the body the quality is so different and it feels so much more spacious and loving, instead of the hard pushing of how I used to exercise with no connection to my body. And it being a way to escape feeling the body, by hardening the body.

        2. I love it Nikki, exercise as a celebration of our body, that is such a massive difference to what we are sold exercise is. To take that approach into an exercise programme takes away all the pressure that is normally associated with exercise and it being used to obtain a look. The body is a marvel and exercise is a way to connect to feeling this more marvellousness more strongly.

        3. I agree with you nikkimckee. It is the best feeling ever to live life from the connection with my body. For most of my life I have lived up in my head which has not brought any Joy or Love what so ever.

        4. The move from the head to the body was one of the best moves I ever made! I sometimes forget I did make that move but I spend more and more time in my body these days. I much prefer it over the head.

        5. Going for a gentle walk when I am in my body is effortless and feels like I am weightless and gliding above the surface I am walking on.

        6. Yes nikkimckee, I love the idea to exercise as a celebration of my body and deepen the awareness of how I present my body to myself and others.

        7. Yes Nikki, it is a huge difference when we exercise to celebrate our bodies with a deep connection of the way we move and what is truly needed rather than to aspire to look a certain way that is far from truth of who we really are.

     2. I agree deidremedbury, I was at the gym today and found myself feeling so much joy at exercising with light weights to maintain my whole body, rather than exercising my body in parts e.g just focussing on my bum and legs to fit into an ideal of how a woman’s body should be.

269. Gorgeous to feel the removal of the weight of expectation and pressure that you placed upon yourself Gyl, to bring self-appreciation for the natural beauty you reflect to all.

270. This blog blows away the idea that you have to work hard and be super disciplined with food and exercise to have a great body or a great life. I used to live my life like this but now I realise also that it only takes a commitment to be me to the best of my ability and this connection with my body and with my being will shine out as true beauty.

271. Gorgeous! Gorgeous story and insights. Gorgeous reflection. Gorgeous final photo. Gorgeous Gyl.

272. It is so beautiful to read that you are now appreciating the quality of beauty that you bring to the world Gyl. When I looked at your photos I could see how beautiful you are and then the sadness creeping in. Why do we allow the world to tell us we are lacking when it is so obvious that we are everything we want to be? It is so crazy to move away form the preciousness that we are to try to be something else. It is such a blessing to be back to our real selves.

273. This has triggered a memory for me as I started to question when I became insular and obsessed with fitting in – I remember being 11 years old and being teased for not shaving my legs like all the other girls were. My mum gave strict ruling that I was not to do so until after my 12th birthday (now I can see the logic in this, it’s so young to start caring about a little hair on the body or fitting in). This made me feel like an outcast and I loathed my soft blonde haired legs. I feel like that was a turning point in a soon to be obsession about fitting in with the others and needing to be a certain way to be liked.

274. I agree Abby its awesome to see that sparkle and playfulness come back into the eyes of an adult.

275. Dear Gyl, thank you for sharing the sweet little girl you were, and the detour you went on for a while, until you then found your way back to yourself, thanks to the inspiration by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. You are shining very bright, and I feel nobody and nothing can take that away from you ever again We are all blessed by you, and you are now an inspiration to many.

276. Thank you Gyl for sharing, a great article, there words impressed me too Francisco,
     “I exercise because I love myself and I want to make that commitment to me, knowing that my beauty first comes from within, and your beauty and sparkle is shown in your photo.

277. “I exercise because I love myself and I want to make that commitment to me, knowing that my beauty first comes from within.” this is very powerful Gyl, as we so often exercise to fit a certain image at the expense of our bodies, I know I did that for a long time and my body suffered as a consequence of it, Like you I now exercise as a commitment to me and the joy and flow in my body is amazing!

278. It is impossible for me to not live with self care in my life. It is part of every movement from the second I wake to the moment I sleep. The journey to this point had begun with conscious effort, and now, how could I live a life without having a relationship with me, it is no different to breathing, it is a constant. Self care seems foreign to many people and I can understand that. It’s not something we grow up being told and educated about, actually there is an effort in the opposite direction, an effort to take us away from ourselves. Every time we give ourselves a self-caring and loving action, it changes everything. As you so wonderfully stated Gyl that through ‘loving choices your life and body has changed’. It is brilliant to read how life has changed because of self care.

279. I can so relate to your story Gyl, growing up not liking your body, comparing oneself, not loving or even liking your body, no real role models at all. Exercising not because it was really for health reasons, but to make your body fitter and more appealing to the opposite sex. To get attention and to get recognition. These were never the ingredients to build love and self honouring. It is a very different story now and have made changes to reflect more loving choices for myself, but thank you for sharing all you have.

280. sweetness, such a well claimed quality of yours Gyl, not in a sacharin false way but in a delicate, playful and delightful way.

281. Wow what a gorgeous photo Gyl – you sure do radiate lightness, joy and beauty!

282. Awesome Gyl, what is great is that you have shown you can go from the depths of misery and despair to being committed to life and actually enjoying it. The pictures say it all.

283. It is amazing how young those thoughts about our bodies can filter in – little girls who should be nothing but love and joy, start worrying about being fat and looking right. What is it that we don’t bring our little girls up with the respect and love of themselves so they don’t grow into insecure and stressed women who never feel at ease in their bodies.

     1. I agree Rebecca,it’s the same for boys too. We grow up not being confirmed for the beauty that we are so the smallest comment about our images we take it seriously and shape how we feel about ourselves, I know I did that and it has taken most of my life to get over it and love and respect me for who I am.

        1. I agree – sometimes the things little kids can come out with are just pure gems – does it matter they don’t have ‘life experience’ – in my opinion no, because even at a few years old, what they see and observe is amazing, not tainted by the world, and they are just as much a person as someone who has lived for many years. How do we expect to empower our young if we dismiss their words.

284. The joy and beauty that emanates when we are connected to ourselves is the true beauty and love of God emanating from every cell. The size and shape of anothers’ body is of little consequence when feeling and seeing their true beauty, when our cells meet in a moment of love there is no other, there is no ‘body’ so to speak of, just the love that you are, the love that you share, be it a man or woman.

     1. Dear Rosemary, your words are so confirming and beautiful: the true beauty and love of God is emanating from our every cell when we are connected to ourselves, when we honour who we are. The body does not really come into it there, as the love is such a strong truth and reality, that the physicality pales in significance.

285. Wow Gyl – your eyes radiate such beauty and love, which was not seen at age 17 or 23.
     What an amazing transformation you have experienced, and what a awesome testimony that choosing love can change your life in such a positive way. Very inspiring.

286. There is such a joy in your eye’s now Gyl that wasn’t there when you were 17. Thanks for sharing this uplifting blog.

287. Gosh Gyl, haven’t we all gone around doing this? “It was like I had a point to prove to the world – that I was worth being loved.” With the way the world is today, we do grow up constantly being prompted to think that everything outside of us is more than we are, and therefore, we have to be more to be worthy of love. The Ageless Wisdom teachings present another way of understanding ourselves in the world, where there is no doubt that our worth is there right at our very core, never diminished and forever there. An amazing story of re-connection to your worthiness Gyl.

288. Awesome sharing Gyl, thank you very much. I can so relate to a lot of what you have expressed here and it took me a long time too to drop into self-acceptance and start loving my body too. With all the work I have done over the years now with Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, I have come to appreciate more myself and the body that I live in. And the exercise I do now also reflects that – like you said:”I exercise because I love myself and I want to make that commitment to me, knowing that my beauty first comes from within.”

289. When I observe women with amazing but oh so hard bodies and the tension of maintaining them, I know they are missing out on something that is infinitely more lovely than a ‘perfect’ but hardened form. It just feels unnatural for women to be this way and yet perfectly understandable in today’s image driven society.

     1. Yes, and there is a rhythm and flow through the body and an emanation through the flesh which is deliciously feminine. A joy to behold.

290. Your story is almost an identical match to mine Gyl! No more GI Jane but sweet, adorable, joyfull me at every turn, every angle thanks to Universal Medicine and Esoteric Women’s Health and my commitment to living what I always felt was the truth.

291. There are many who can relate to your experience of conforming to others ideal and beliefs to feel safe and to be accepted, but feeling unable to express their true tender and delicate selves.

292. “Now in my late thirties I can absolutely say that I love my body, I am beautiful and super sexy, playful and cute, and I know that first this all comes from within”.
     How wonderful Gyl that you can appreciate and confirm your grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy. How blessed are we that we see and feel your divine love.
     Thank you Gyl.

293. Wow Gyl this has brought up a really intense memory of being the same, so full of love and joy and the furthest thing on my mind was looks or body image. Then I remember around the age of 12 having some girls poke fun at how my belly stuck out. I sucked it in not wanting to be laughed at. I am sure I exaggerated the event but it was a shock and I got hooked into needing to fit in and this was one catalyst for developing an issue with acceptance of my body.

294. It is great reading that following living the loving life that you have embraced “there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within”. This quality is a joy to be around and there is also a radiance and warmth that is far more appealing than any ‘pretty’ or ‘well-toned’ look.

     1. Yes Golnaz, to be around someone with ‘a radiance and warmth’ IS ‘far more appealing than any ‘pretty’ or ‘well-toned’ look”! Shining from within is a beauty we have not prioritised over the outer image and here we have done ourselves a huge disservice.

     2. I so agree with you Golnaz, it is lovely to be around someone with these qualities I just can’t get enough of them.

     3. I love that Golnaz, it’s the radiance and the warmth that shines out, that quality is undeniably attractive.

295. What you share here, how it was in your teens is something many many women including myself have felt and many teenagers still go through. In fact through technology I feel this has got worse and the magazines etc have got more extreme. It is great how you have re-connected to you; this needs to be reflected to others so they know there is a different way and Serge Benhayon, Universal Medicine, Sacred Esoteric Modalities and magazines such as the Woman in Livingness are an incredible services that confirm who we truly are instead of who we are not.

     1. I would agree Vicky and it actually starts younger with primary school kids, both girls and boys.

296. This is lovely Gyl, ‘I don’t remember being bothered about how my body looked when I was a young girl, I just remember being full of joy, loving people, playing, drawing, and dancing.’ This is what I observe with young children, it is very lovely to see children content with how they are, they often have such a unique expression in the way they like to wear their hair, how they dress, there is no trying to impress or look a certain way, just going with what they feel. I can see how this changes as we get older and criticism creeps in and it seems like it becomes more about what others think about us rather than us expressing who we naturally are.

297. “there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within. For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away.” This is clearly to be seen in your photograph and felt in the way you express yourself in words. It is lovely to read and what you write is an inspiration for anyone struggling with loving and appreciating themselves.

     1. I agree Jonathan, Gyl’s photograph says it all: her beauty, joy and acceptance is inspiring for all. This is so needed as a society we are so obsessed with the way we look often becoming more of a burden with no joy at all.

        1. Yes Francisco, that’s a great point; the most beautiful features without any joy are empty. In truth we are all beautiful, as we all have that joy and love inside; it’s up to us to let it out again, to re-connect to it, as Gyl did, re-connect to what has just been pushed down by ‘life’. Too often we are letting ourselves being dictated to from the outside, rather than honouring what we all are, deep inside.

        2. “with the way we look often becoming more of a burden with no joy at all.” This is so tue Francisco I and never allowed myself to feel that or look at it in this way, There is a huge lack of joy, playfulness and celebration in not only how we look and the way we choose to express ourselves, but also in for example, the getting dressed, doing hair, make up, exercising, how we move, taking care of our bodies. It’s seen by so many as a hassle, a have to, rather than a love to.

     2. Thank you Jonathon.

298. Thank you very much Gyl for sharing your story here. This is pretty amazing and worth sharing. Everybody in the world should know that our true beauty truly comes from within and that it´s not about a `perfect body´ as this doesn´t exist and is a complete illusion, driven by ideals and beliefs, created by magazines, TV shows etc. – where in fact nothing is really real but adapted and arranged to make us see it in a certain way. So we lost trust in our own inner feelings about true beauty but now it´s time to claim that back and let our true beauty shine and inspire others to do the same.

299. There really is no perfect body. Even the people who look like they have perfect bodies are constantly criticising parts of it that they are not satisfied about. Although it works slightly differently for men, the source of body shaming is much the same – self worth that is lacking so we look to the outside for validation.

     1. There is no perfect body because every body is perfect at it’s core. Of course if we abuse our bodies then that perfection may be hidden to varying degrees of depth. For a long while I used to think my hips were too wide. Then one day I realised that wide or not these were MY hips. No body has hips like me. It was beautiful for me to claim my body as my own and that I didn’t need to try and flatter my body to make it look perfect.

300. Absolutely beautiful Gyl. I love the realisation that there is no perfect body and the ideal that there is leaves us forever in the chasing of the ideal and feeling less because we have not achieved the achievable. Thank you for sharing your inspiring story – I too have changed the way that I exercise to be one of supporting my body rather than punishing it for the food I have eaten or to achieve a look.

301. Gyl the pictures speak volumes and what a huge contrast from the teenage years to now, it makes me wonder how many people can actually say they look and feel better in their thirties than in their twenties, especially when the twenties are heralded as being the most special time of our lives. Your pictures show otherwise.

302. I can very much relate to what you have shared Gyl. I went to the gym at 15 and started a diet when I was 16. All of the sudden I thought I was not thin enough, a thought I have never had before that age. I have had that focus of wanting and needing to be thin for a very long time. It is quite astonishing how one ideal/belief can stay with you for such a long time. Controlling my body like this has had a big impact as all these not loving choices and not loving thoughts about my body is not supporting at all.

303. There is so much for young women of today to learn about their natural beauty instead of being dominated by images in the media and the beliefs that we should all be a particular shape and size. We are naturally beautiful as women and appreciating and celebrating that will change the world.

304. This beautiful blog makes me consider how we can abuse our bodies like they are objects to control, in this scenario the person inside gets squashed and or put aside as unimportant or irrelevant, which is a terrible personal abuse we carry out on to ourselves and needs to be stopped, because we are worth so much more than that.

     1. Well said Shami Duffy, and unfortunately that is seen as something to aspire to, to push the body beyond, to not listen when it says ‘that’s enough’. This is seen as weak. I can see how we have a habit of making everything bigger than we are; so the fitness becomes more important than we are. I so understand now; nothing is more than what we are already. Everything, like exercise, is there to support what’s there, not to squash it or ‘improve’ it.

305. Hi Gyl, you can see with your photo the changes that you made have had an amazing affect on you. You absolutely sparkle.

306. “It’s not that I have lost lots of weight, but there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within. For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away” – this is just so beautiful to read. As a woman, it is such an inspiration to feel the emanating beauty in your photo which confirms your words. Thank you very much for sharing, Gyl.

307. I relate to your story Gyl, I remember losing myself around the same age and being affected by others comments and how everyone in the world around me behaved. That lasted for quite a while until I reconnected to myself again. Your pictures reveal the great difference you feel now through the teachings of Universal Medicine.

308. Looking at the photos of you when you were young Gyl it is obvious how much love and lightness of being there is in you. Then when we see the photos of you at 17 and 22 it is profound the changes that have occurred in you in relationship to the love and light that was there as a child. To me this shows that there is something fundamentally wrong in our society if we are allowing children to lose this as adults. Thank heavens you came across Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and were able to re-connect back to who you naturally are. Imagine how much the world would have missed out if you hadn’t?

     1. Yes I noticed and felt that too Elizabeth. It’s appalling we let this happen without comment. It’s as if we’ve all been beset by some sort of affliction that stops us being cognisant of what is really going on here – an affliction that makes it OK that the natural beauty and grace we embodied as children be allowed to be lost. Why haven’t we noticed this and made a ruckus? It shows the extent to which we have become willingly dumb and numb.

     2. Thank you Elizabeth and I agree, the world would miss out if I wasn’t me 🙂 and I have Serge Benhayon to thank for this. What I am witnessing in school is that these changes can even start to happen to a child between primary three and four, which is around 8 or 9 years old, there is a felt difference when you go into the older class. I’ve noticed this in more than one school. The younger children shine their light, they say it how it is, they don’t need a smile to confirm them or look for acceptance in anyone else, they know it’s all there inside them and they don’t hide it one little bit. Then as you go into the older class something has changed, many of the children have started to try and be like someone else, look for recognition, confirmation or doubt themselves, I wonder if it is because they feel they have to constantly prove themselves, rather than being celebrated and cherished for who they are. As you say there is something fundamentally wrong in our society if we are allowing this.

309. There’s a freedom that comes with self acceptance and connecting to the truth that we all are beautiful. Without ideals and beliefs that keep us down and small, an ease returns, we spread our light-filled wings and fly.

310. ‘It was a form of control that made me feel safe in a world where I felt it was not safe to show how delicate, lovely and sensitive I am’. Great line Gyl, it explained why I to had made the decisions I did. I had never looked at it as being control but this line exposes it so clearly.

     1. Great line. Only recently have I begun to realise that I’m not the self doubt and lack of self worth I have carried around for so long. And with that comes the realisation that I didn’t feel safe to let out all of the glorious me. You really do make it clear that those choices were a way to control what we didn’t feel safe about.

311. Gyl, I can’t take my eyes off your photo of you now. You ooze self-love, confidence and shine a solid light that is pouring into to me as I feel all of you. When we take the steps to find true self-love and care the world and all in it reap the rewards.

     1. Beautifully said kimweston2 – I too cannot peel my eyes away from the gorgeousness and strength of Gyl in her full glory. It is contagious and something we can all live if we simply allow ourselves to.

        1. So true gorgeous Rachael Evans, being a living example of this is the greatest gift of reflection we can offer.

     2. Agreed Kim, and thank you Gyl. We all get to reap the rewards.

312. It is incredible the impact and outcome that occurs when we become obsessed or even conscious about how we look. That having our physical as our marker to say if we are doing ok or not. All related from the unrealistic created image of what some individuals have created to be the desired look to have. None of this makes sense and I have always found it extremely difficult to understand why some people would go to extremes to change who they are to try and fit this image. Then I have come to realise that these extremes are no different to the slightest thought that would like something different about yourself. Either an extreme action or tiny thought that you have or need to change who you are both completely they same as you have decided and are looking outside of yourself and believe that you are not enough. When I stopped this then I could start to love myself for who I was. Serge Benhayon has been a huge inspiration on reflecting inwards and working on this relationship first. From here when you feel this amazing quality inside of yourself everything about you is gorgeous.

     1. Yes, the slightest deviation away from accepting who we are is all it takes, the extremes are those who’ve just continued to take further steps but in each case it’s the same we’ve stepped away from loving and accepting us when we’ve done that, and as you say Natalie once we stop this we can love ourselves as we are.

313. Gyl, I have a similar memory in my childhood years of being free in my body, running around in leotards and swimsuits without inhibition and then at some point I started to become self-conscious. I doubt it changed over-night and there may be a place for a fraction more modesty as our bodies change but this does not account for how different it became for me as well.

     1. I love the fact we have around us children who show us very clearly how it is to love and be in your body, it is so simple and joyful. Why we chose to ‘grow up’ and leave this is madness and proof there are other factors at play.

        1. Agree Vanessa. I love being around my two little ones that are totally untouched from the idea of how ones body must look. They love their bodies and even express that.

        2. So agree Vanessa, we have the real deal in how our children are, and we grow out of it, to be reminded all over again by more children and then we grow back into it.

        3. Yes Vanessa I have twin six year old granddaughters who are naturally accepting of their bodies and as yet are unaware of the pressures to look a certain way, so I wonder when and how the changes occur, when do we start to listen to the outside world and start doubting ourselves?

314. The focus today on body image has got totally out of hand with both men and women with people going to dangerous lengths to achieve the bodies like they see in magazines and on the Tv. You have proved here Gyl, that there is nothing more beautiful and sexy than looking after yourself properly and having a natural glow from a natural good and regular sensible exercize. Nothing extreme.

     1. Couldn’t agree more Kev. But we feed this culture whenever we go into thinking we are not enough or needing to improve ourselves.

        1. Yes true Kristy. We have bought into it all and, worse than that, feed it through our thoughts and our actions whenever we purchase media that further feeds this by now cultural norm. We’ve indulged in a bit of hand-wringing about it in recent, post-feminist times but in truth little has changed. But the good news is once we return to ourselves, all that nonsense can start to fall away. The glossy mag no longer holds the same appeal / fascination and we begin to see the beauty in ourselves and all others.

        2. Agree Kristy, we buy the magazines, go on the diets, watch the celeb shows or music videos and compare ourselves to these unreal pictures.

     2. I agree kevmchardy, photos and images which are photoshopped to look a certain way, to sell a product, lifestyle etc – there is not one ounce of truth in them. There’s another really great article on this here – http://www.unimedliving.com/diet-and-weight-loss/ideal-weight/your-body-image/body-image.html

     3. Abslutely Kev and this is what our young teenagers need out there, that is what beautiful actually looks like.

     4. I agree kevmchardy, and these bodies we see are often not real, airbrushed, photoshopped or shot a the perfect camera angel and light, even squeezed into costumes, parts taped, enhanced, you name it, with teams of people working on them. None of this is the truth, it is all a lie.

        1. I agree with what Kev stated here Gyl. “You have proved here Gyl, that there is nothing more beautiful and sexy than looking after yourself properly and having a natural glow from a natural good and regular sensible exercize. Nothing extreme.” We need more articles and photos like yours circulating in the media to show true beauty, as there are young girls out there killing themselves to look like those airbrushed, taped up enhanced models.

     5. Well put Kev. The lengths people go to is insane and quite unbelievable sometimes… When being yourself there is no comparison- you just shine.

315. The photos alone here tell a story and how rare it is to see an adult emanating the sweetness, light, joy and gorgeousness they had as a child? You are a walking and talking example and inspiration of what Serge Benhayon has been sharing now for over 15 years – make life about love first.

     1. I agree Deanne, the sweetness, light and joy that shines through in Gyl’s photo is a testament to her livingness and all that Serge Benhayon has been sharing for many years now.

316. Re-writing history here, Gyl; breaking the patterns of self-denigration, when we use comparison as our finest weapon. To building our relationship with ourselves and life from a foundation of acceptance, appreciation, respect and honouring. I am in! Thank you.

     1. Do you know, I’m not even sure comparison is needed. All it takes is an unthinking word from someone we look up to to start the ball rolling with self-denigration – at least that’s the way it happened for me, with comparison coming in later once I realised there was some sort of competition between women underway. So I guess the key here lies in not giving your power away, no matter how old you are, even to someone you love and respect. If you are solid in yourself, nothing anyone can say, or society insists upon, will get in. Developing that solidity is crucial. If we didn’t come in with it, let’s work hard to develop it this lifetime in preparation for the next. Rock solid self-love and worth!

317. Thank you for your sharing Gyl. Occasionally I still get caught up in the body image. I have a wedding to attend shortly and noticed I was going into the ‘perfect body’ thing and the more anxious I became the more I started eating comfort food and that created more anxiousness about my body and its supposed imperfections. Eventually I became aware that what I had done was lost the connection with myself and appreciating the natural beauty of my body. It was so easy to lose myself in what others thought that I ‘lost’ myself in the process. A steep learning curve in really appreciating my body versus a projection of what others think.

     1. I can so relate to the projection of what others think Janne…it is a very clever trick that can completely run our lives, taking us away from who we truly are. It is all about what we ‘think’ others will judge of us and has nothing to do with the innate gorgeous, graceful and beautiful women we know and feel ourselves to be. For me it is a lack of self worth that runs how I dress and what I choose to wear – calibrating to the style of what the people I will be with wear, or what I judge them to think of what I”m wearing so I feel ok and are accepted, rather than loving, accepting and appreciating myself first and then dressing in a way that I feel to express at that time, when my beauty and grace naturally shine forth…and at these times I don’t need anyone outside of me to have an opinion of me because I feel beautiful inside.

318. Gyl, your blog will help so many girls who go through the same process of losing connection with their natural sweetness and playfulness as they grow up. The deadly game of comparison measures us as more or less (usually less) and then begins the desperate journey to feel good enough. By reconnecting to the beauty within we realize that it has always been there and the images which we chose to lay on top of us were false and distracted us from feeling the truth of who we are.

319. Beautiful blog, Gyl, I can relate to absolutely everything you say. Thank you so much for expressing exactly how you felt in the past as opposed to how you feel now, since finding Universal Medicine. Reading your article, I have become aware of just how much I have changed for the better according to the light of God since meeting Serge Benhayon, his family, the practitioners and everyone in Universal Medicine.

320. Gyl if a picture is worth a thousand words, then looking at your glorious smile and shining eyes, everything you shared was totally confirmed for me. Thank you.

321. Your photo’s Gyl tell your story so well, and what a turn around. Everything you speak has the potential of many doing the same, turning out and constantly comparing and working towards a certain picture. What a breath of fresh air when we can make that choice to stop and simply enjoy being ourselves. Serge Benhayon presents as the Ageless Wisdom has done for thousands and thousands of years that All we are ever looking for and All we ever want is the pure grace and love that is readily available that never leaves us.

     1. I agree Natalie, the photos so clearly show the transformation through the years, and how beautiful Gyl looks now, after choosing to appreciate that her body is just perfect as it is.

322. ‘For me it is no longer about how I look on the outside first, but the quality and connection of the relationship I have with myself.’ Gyl this is a revolutionary approach towards body image, for young women to be inspired by. When are you getting published in a teen magazine?!

     1. Totally agree Sandra. I am sure there are so many young girls out there who are really uncomfortable about putting so much focus on image and how they look and are just waiting for someone to confirm to them what they already know.

323. Gyl, you are so gorgeous and super cute, thank you for sharing your beauty. Your photo’s clearly show us that when we connect our beauty shines through, we emmanate. When we disconnect (your middle photo’s) it doesn’t matter how good looking someone might appear on the outside, the person feels empty. The best beauty tip ever (and the cheapest) – reconnect, be love.

324. Gyl, those pictures of when you were little are adorable. How gorgeous to see your sparkle, shine and inner glow through the last picture.. simply stunning. An inspiration for all.

325. Gyl it is so evident for me when looking at your photos how much you have returned to that natural playfulness, cheekiness and loveliness that you so obviously had as a child. It shows quite clearly how much connecting back to our own inner love and loveliness is the key. Knowing our worth and living that in fullness within the world.

326. It is women like you that should be on the front covers of magazines as there is a real grace and beauty emanating that is not just a glossy aesthetic.

327. Beauty comes from Love, the beholding light.

328. ‘There was no joy or love in the relationship I had with myself, my body or the food I ate, it was all very much about obsession and control, only allowing myself to eat certain things, and exercising not to support or love myself, but to extremes to look a certain way.’
     This is such great point to raise Gyl for what is the worth of anything we do if we do it without Love. The damage we inflict on our body and the hard nature it fosters only creates more and more protection around ourselves as we dismiss and deny our hurts and any true feelings.

     1. “What is the worth of anything we do if we do it without Love.” Very true Jenny.

329. “I’m exactly the way I am meant to be.” Such a trust and acceptance in this little sentence, gorgeous. What a world would we get to live in if each of us could state that about themselves and their body? All the jealousy and comparison would be gone out of the window and love and brotherhood would be our foundation.

     1. An inspiring thought, Monika R and each and every moment is an opportunity to take one step closer to making this a reality, or one step further away. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it was built.

     2. Yes it is an awesome statement Monika, and when we can truly live and reflect that a lot can change in the world.

330. Thanks for sharing Gyl. You know it makes me realise that my daughters (9 and 5) are allready very aware of their body and how they look. My eldest daughter already started a year ago saying her legs were thick. I see that a lot of girls of her age are very much influenced by ‘rolemodels’ on tv or pop idols. And what happens is that they start to compare themselves with each other. My youngest daughter is starting to copy what her elder sister is doing. And so it goes on. It makes me now even more aware that the body images from magazines and tv are so damaging to all young girls.

331. Gyl, your lightness, your joy and your beauty does shine out so strongly again in the last photo – you can palpably feel the same quality you had in the toddler photos at the start, the ‘this is me and I love me and I love you’ shining out. It is crazy to feel how we end up rejecting the beauty of who we are and taking on these ideals and beliefs and images of how we want to look or how we want others to see us as. And what a process to shed all of this and then return to embracing what was there from the beginning! Thank goodness for every person who does this – shed the image and re-turn to who they are, and thank God for people like Serge Benhayon who was one of the first that I know who has done this and inspired so many in the process.

332. The whole idea we live with of what beauty is, is ugly. Our true beauty is so natural, grand and abundant, like a sky or a forest we see. It all flows from our deep knowing. Now you’ve returned to this connection, it feels like you could never go back Gyl to looking to a mirror or a magazine for where you are at.

     1. “The whole idea we live with of what beauty is, is ugly.” Very aptly stated Joseph. As a society we have it all back to front, inside out… We are led to look for our beauty and acceptance out there when it has been within us all along.

333. Gorgeous Gyl, your last photo simply radiates joy through and through. Your blog is super supportive for people to read especially teenagers who are approaching similar situations where they are being constantly exposed to outside influences that are extremely harming.

334. Your photo says it all Gyl – you are gorgeous and your joy and vitality shines through so brightly.

335. Definitely you are not hiding away the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that you are Gyl, thank you for naturally shining from the inside out.

336. It’s beautiful to see you have come full-circle Gyl and re-imprinted how it is you can eat, exercise and be with yourself from a place of complete love first. It can take a lot to come back from the hard ways of living that you previously described, so it is a testament to your commitment how you are currently. And what a joyful beam of beauty you are!

     1. Thank you Amelia, I really appreciate that.

337. What a gorgeous change from doing things to prove that you were worthy of love, to having love and joy pour out of every cell and your choice of activities is to honour and celebrate you. And I love that the joyful radiance which you had as a young girl is with you again- and the world is graced by the gorgeous expression.

338. I really relate to that protection, the coping mechanisms we put in place to survive from such a young age, it really started to kick in intensely for me from around 7 years old when I started to get bullied at school, and just grew from there. It is amazing the way we mould and shape ourselves to not stick out in society, to gain acceptance and be liked. For me it was about sport, not so much the body image but the recognition of being good and the relief of the exertion and all those endorphins. Great to see you continuing to unfold Gyl, it feels like this is only the start of the transformation.

339. Thank you Gyl for sharing – it’s something that I definitely can – and most women (and probably men) – would relate to. It’s great to expose how we become caught up in what’s going on around us and try to fit in with what we feel society expects us to be in order to be accepted when really it’s about connecting to that divine beauty within each of us.

340. Gyl – you are just absolutely gorgeous – your last image just brings joy to my face! You are inspiring! And what I devastatingly realised was that: how long has this body image issue been happening? Generations after generations we allow ourselves and each other to go through the exact same disastrous story…all knowing that this is something we dislike in our lives. Being able to say “I’m exactly the way I am meant to be” is a global pivotal moment. It is something that is so deeply inspiring – it is until every last one of us can say this about ourselves – that body image and the like issues will no longer prevail or be the fuel in our society. It seems we are using the wrong fuel – thank you for presenting that Love is the way….the fuel of the future available now at a discounted price (for free!)

     1. Yes, this is what struck me when I came back to this article; that this self-critic and cruel judgement based on our body image has been around for ever, fuelling the use of comparison as a weapon we wield against ourselves and others. Definitely the wrong fuel. Inspired by Universal Medicine, Serge Benhayon and writing like this, I am swopping over what I use in my tank!

        1. Yes Matilda, why struggle through life using the wrong fuel – it really makes no sense. I too am swapping what I use in my tank!

341. Thank you Gyl, your story actually made me cry because I can so relate to everything you have shared. I still struggle at times accepting that all that I am comes from within, and is not defined by the outer package. It’s both beautiful and super inspiring to read about a woman standing strong in her acceptance of and love for herself.

     1. I agree, Hannah Flanagan. The strength of Gyl’s commitment to herself, to be love is totally inspiring and absolutely radiating from every pore.

     2. Yes me too Hannah. The way society is structured is the opposite of this – the media, for example, bombard us with images, films and stories about how the OUTER is what matters, not what’s inside. It is amazing that there are women such as Natalie Benhayon who provide such an incredible reflection that we are beautiful on the inside and comparing to images and ideals will never work because you were made to be you, not someone else.

        1. Absolute gold Susie – comparison will never work “because you were made to be you, not someone else”!

342. “It was like I had a point to prove to the world – that I was worth being loved.”

     This line got me Gyl. I have been there also. The crazy thing is that we ARE love therefore we never have to try to be or prove something we already are. Sheer illusion, a trap many fall into as any glossy mag will show you.

343. When we do not shape ourselves from the quality of love we hold deep within, we allow ourselves to be shaped by the vastly lesser quality of all that is not love that exists without

344. There is no better blog to read than the one of someone claiming back how awesome they are. You’re radiating love and beauty from within Gyl. What a beautiful unfolding. A blog I will share with my teenage High School students.

345. When you share Gyl that your thoughts were telling you that ‘to be beautiful’ you needed to be and look a certain way I realise that this is the case for so very many women (and men) in the world. The picture is almost set in our minds to a point that we just don’t realise it is even a picture that we have; not until we make choices like you Gyl to reconnect to the real raw beauty we are within and honour this do we begin to see that the pictures we have held really are just pictures and nothing more.

     1. Cherise, it’s true that we often don’t realise that we have these pictures and once we see that they are false we can let them go. Reconnecting to ‘the real raw beauty we are within’ makes these pictures seem even less real as this inner beauty always is and always will be, and by connecting to it we confirm it.

     2. Absolutely Cherise there are so many thoughts that would come in saying to be more attractive, beautiful instead of the picture I held of myself (and many others held of themselves). No wonder there is no true acceptance of life, of who we are as from young we are educated to be more than we are and never allow and appreciate all that we are and in that the beauty from inside.

346. Awesome blog Gly, What you share is such a familiar experience of many women, and you demonstrate how you have turned it on its head with self care and the gentle breath meditation.. “making self loving choices for myself and my body – which naturally unfolded into all areas of my life, from work, to relationships, to family”… Your blog is a must read for all young women.

347. So many people go through life without ever getting to such a profound realisation, trapped as they are in a battle that never seems to let go. Thank you Gyl.

348. Gyl you look absolutely gorgeous and you emanate joy, light and playfulness. You’re lovely for who you are and not what you look like.

349. This is beautiful Gyl. maybe we look to all those outer false markers of what we are supposed to be, and to measure up to some ideal of perfection of womanly beauty, but this only has a hold over us because we do have a sense of our innate beauty and preciousness within, but that connection has been so lost or obscured. The outer will never satisfy, only create more angst in its inadequacy – and the insecurity fuelled and fed on by the insatiatble media juggernaut. .. Learning to appreciate, to confirm and nurture that inner beauty dissolves the hold of the false ideals and imposed pictures and true self-confidence can grow.

     1. Love what you’ve said here Annie – “Learning to appreciate, to confirm and nurture that inner beauty dissolves the hold of the false ideals and imposed pictures and true self-confidence can grow.” – this has certainly been my experience and a continually developing one at that.

     2. ‘The outer will never satisfy, only create more angst in its inadequacy – and the insecurity fuelled and fed on by the insatiatble media juggernaut.’ – the outer can never satisfy as it’s false, it’s not who we are. It’s someone else’s idea of how we should be, what we should look like, that we have misguidedly bought into. As you say, the media love our insecurities, it translates to more money for them.

350. It is like going full circle to return to that gorgeous, playful child within where looks are just that, with no hidden agendas. To feel inside the joy of the ever present child at play is the most amazing freeing up and letting go (based on self love) of our built up high expectations of ourselves. So much beauty and joy just emanating from your photograph. An inspirational sharing Gyl, thank you.

351. Your photos say it all Gyl, confirming what you wrote . Thank you for sharing your commitment to yourself and to life.

352. “True Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”

353. “There was no joy or love in the relationship I had with myself, my body or the food I ate, it was all very much about obsession and control, only allowing myself to eat certain things, and exercising not to support or love myself, but to extremes to look a certain way. ” Gyl i can so relate to the extremes, when i reflect on my relationship with my body during my 20’s & 30’s I would frequently be overeating or drinking and then fasting or pushing myself through a gruelling exercise routine. For how long can the body endure this inconsistent punishing way until it brings a stop in the form of illness?

354. Lovely to read your blog Gyl, your story resonates with me and i’m sure so many others in that somewhere growing up, we changed, and that hurts a lot until as you have beautifully shared we are shown another way to be in our lives, one that doesn’t hurt us anymore. Your photo radiates the truth of you which is truly gorgeous to see and feel.

355. As a personal reflection I really disliked myself as a teenager, the way I looked, how I dressed, the way I was, I disliked everything about myself and tried so hard to be anyone but me. I feel sad about abandoning myself now, I was ok, just muddled, but not ugly inside or out. So horrible to think about the picture of beauty we feel we have to live up to which in turns means being permanently in comparison and loathing the reflection in the mirror. Thank you for the blog, I hope it inspires us to love our teenage selves afresh as I am reminded to do.

356. As young kids we love our bodies and then what happens with most young girls is that we take on the ideals and beliefs of those around us and start to lose sight of the fact that, no matter what shape or size, we are unique and beautiful as we are. I too went through a similar journey to you Gyl wasting 30 years in obsessional thinking about having the perfect body when all along the body I have is exactly the body that is right for me. Along the way I learnt that beauty comes from within and then your body reflects this beauty -you look in the mirror and your inner beauty shines through and you cannot help but have a beautiful body.

     1. My teenage years were spent on a rollercoaster ride of stuffing my face on weekends and starving myself all week, all so as to not get fat. I was obsessional, all I thought of was what I could or could not eat, when I could do this and how much I could or could not eat. You would not have wanted to be in my head all those years – it was like a mental illness. In fact it was an undiagnosed mental illness. All because I did not want to take responsibility for being in my body and knowing how sensitive I was and how much I could feel the lie every-body was living around me. So I distracted myself for years and years in obsessional thinking.
        Thank God for Universal Medicine as this has been the only medicine that has supported me to get to the root of the issue and truly heal.

        1. Marylouisemyers you are right, I did the same myself, as a young teenager I would not eat
           or skip meals, or if I overate ( this was not overeating but in my head it was) I would use the stairs like a step machine. I recently read a statistic which said “Eating disorders represent the second leading cause of mental disorder disability for young females.” As soon as I read this my whole body said this is not true, I have had eating disorders and mental health issues, and I have worked in a live in unit for children with anorexia and metal health issues too, so you could say I am an authority on this, not from an academic level but because I have lived it. Eating disorders are a mental health issue not the cause of it. The medical profession needs to look at this. Mental health issues start well before the eating disorder does.

357. All your photos are a celebration of you, I am especially taken with one of when you were 17, such a beautiful, mystical quality about you – that was always there…

358. Gyl so beautiful what you have shared with us all here, I can feel how yummy and gorgeous you naturally are through the energy in the words you have written. We have all been sold one big fat lie, to keep us from knowing who we are for as long as possible. But one day we will discover the truth because it is within us. To reconnect to this truth exposes the lie and sets us free.

359. Your picture oozes stunning, and it is clear from all you have written that it is way more than the external. For me, you have shared that this is the outcome of how you feel about yourself, with all the work you have done to peel back those layers of ‘not good enough’. It is such a joy to read your work.

360. Amazing Gyl. There are a growing number of young girls today who feel the pressure from the media and society to look a certain way and thus begin on a very similar track that you did where they feel unhappy with their bodies because of how it looks in comparison with this or that celebrity, model, random person in the street etc. I’ve certainly done this in the past, but what I’m finding more and more is that my body is just not designed to match that of another woman’s, and it’s about me finding my true shape and not worrying about what other women’s bodies look like.

     1. This is so key Susie, us as women and men not trying to be something we are not but lovingly embracing who we are and living us in the world. It seems crazy to me that we try to conform to such limited ways of being when we each have something amazing to offer and bring just by choosing to be who we naturally are.

        1. Absolutely, Jade Jamieson …. it’s completely crazy how we’ve allowed ourselves to be kept small and silent. Obediently following the lead from the next person, filling our heads with false ideals and beliefs instead of taking the time to listen to our bodies and connect to our hearts, feeling the exquisiteness of us and knowing that we are already all we need to be.

     2. As Gyl says “I’m exactly the way I am meant to be.” and as long as we continue to look outside of ourselves we will never come to this simple truth. For everything is there already just waiting to be loved, nurtured and expressed from the inside out.

     3. ‘my body is just not designed to match that of another woman’s, and it’s about me finding my true shape and not worrying about what other women’s bodies look like.’ ….. beautifully claimed and expressed, Susie. How awesome it would be to see inspirational comments like these plastered over buses, billboards etc for all to see, feel and deeply ponder on …..

     4. True Susie, it is ‘about me finding my true shape’. It is like in the nature: there a big trees, little flowers or bush roses. All of them have their own beauty and shape. Imagine a tree trying to become a flower – it would have to try hard its entire life and would not manage it, but rather hurt itself seriously.

361. Gyl your story is something that should be read by everyone, the fact is we are so easily caught up in how the external views us that we ignore the true us inside. The real beauty is always there when we connect with ourselves and stop chasing the body images. Yet I had the same experience with a point at school when I began to feel worthless and empty thinking that I didn’t fit the picture of “attractive” that people wanted. I chased that image for many many years and in that chasing missed out on me. Thank goodness for Universal Medicine and its support to remind me how to connect and lovingly be with me.

362. Gyl you are stunning. Just so very stunning !

363. Great read Gyl, body image issues have become an epidemic among women and men alike, the more we say yes to the ideals and beliefs about the way we should look the further we get from connecting to our own beauty within.

     1. Awesome comment Francisco. This is definitely the case that I see in our society, it will only get worse if we don’t expose the harm of these ideals and beliefs created. This blog is an amazing support for both men and women, and shows us that there is a way to live that counteracts and can put a stop to these harmful ideals and beliefs by choosing to make loving choices, to connect to our inner beauty and love.

        1. I so agree Francisco and chanly88, exposing these unhealthy ideals and beliefs and the harm they do will go a huge way in allowing all to accept the fact that we are all naturally beautiful and that this begins within.

        2. Yes great comments Francisco and Chanly. Practically everything in society today presents that how we are is not enough and that we have to be something other than ourselves. As you say Chanly this blog is really supportive of the fact that fulfill-ness and joy comes not from chasing some artificial dream but lies already within ourselves.

     2. So true Francisco and all the commenters. It seems so cliched to say that beauty comes from within but it is so true and Gyl has demonstrated this through her blog. Body image is a huge issue and the more we are able to connect to our inner beauty and express from this the greater the reflection of beauty there is.

364. “I had given up on being and letting out the amazing joy, playfulness and love I was as a child” to: “For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away.” What else do we need as proof that a self loving, caring way and connection to the body is the highway to feeling light and joyful in ourselves? This is what we should write about in Magazines, speak about in school, chat about with friends! If we would only decide to let go of the enormous pride that is held in competition and comparison, which to me feels like the motor behind all these circles we are trapped in.

     1. Yes Christine, it would support massive change if the magazines produced were giving messages that supported self acceptance and appreciation of what we already are, not a way we could or should look. This would make take a huge pressure off everyone to stop seeking something that is unattainable and ultimately hugely damaging.

        1. It would first of all stop the accepting of the “normal” of being everything but love.

     2. So true christinahecke these are the things that we should be talking about. Thank you Gyl for sharing this and starting the conversation.

     3. Christina this is a very powerful comment indeed. So many of those within Universal Medicine have dramatically changed their relationships with themselves through changing how they are with their bodies and how they move them. I am one of those included and the practicality of this is so so simple to implement. In the humility that I am really worth nurturing and that my body is really worth nurturing I have unlocked that prison of being in lack of self worth and self loathing that manifested when I looked out and compared myself to others and took on outer ideals and beliefs about how I should be. Yes this should be written about and spoken about in the everyday!

        1. Imagine everyone of us 8 billion people in the world would at one go have a mirror that reflects the beauty of their inner heart AND them being able to see it… Only for one moment – this world would change unimaginably fast! Because we would all have the reminder of what this life is truly about: the expression and expansion of love.

        2. I was smiling at the image Christina – all the billions of us together realising in one moment who we are. Even if it was for a nano second the world could never be the same again!

        3. We do …. his name is Serge Benhayon.

365. Gyl this is a beautiful heartfelt blog that I can so relate to – that of losing that sense of self that was so freely there as a child and growing into a young woman who questioned herself no end. I love that you now have reclaimed the beautiful woman you are, it is something I am learning and allowing to unfold in my own life. Knowing that it is not about perfection or an ideal but simply living the beautiful, wise and amazing woman I am and allowing this to be felt within the world. Thank you for your sharing I find it deeply inspiring to know that this is something we can all claim back as you have so beautifully shown.

366. Gyl, this is stunning thank you. That joy-full, play-full child is still within us all if we care to look and feel. The true beauty that we are is a permanent fixture in us all no matter what we attempt to bury it with. I am grateful to you for allowing your true beauty to be seen by all, for it is very much evident in who you are and how you express.

367. Gyl, it is inspiring to read of your changes, from being fit, attractive, aloof and as hard as nails to today, shining as the beautiful person that has always been you, that had been suppressed for so many years.

368. I can see and feel the beauty, grace and awareness shine out of you in all of these photos, what I can really feel in the last one is that you are committed and knowing you are expressing it and it is a joy to observe “For me it is no longer about how I look on the outside first, but the quality and connection of the relationship I have with myself.” This article is a true celebration of returning to an essence that was already there and living this through your body.

369. Wow Gyl, I love this article, this is very beautiful and very confirming to read, ‘I’m exactly the way I am meant to be.’ If we knew this as girls and had this confirmed by those around us then our lives as girls and women would be so different, there would no need for comparison, self-doubt and self-loathing that is all too common.

370. Thank you Gyl, for sharing this beautiful story of your life with us. It is truly amazing to see and feel the different stages of your life and how you did not give up on you and your own connection. You are indeed a true inspiration.

371. Your pictures say it all Gyl. What a stark difference there is in you since your twenties. It is beautiful that you have accepted yourself as you are, and as a result your beauty simply shines through.

372. You are beautiful Gyl as is your article and the inspiration to love ourselves shines out. I especially love the bit you share at the end That “there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within. For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away.” It is thanks to Serge Benhayon that many of us are appreciating who we really are and that love is inside us all. Thank you.

373. The pictures of you as a young girl, Gyl, brought me home to similar pictures I have of myself and the absolute knowing that I am, and always have been, super sweet, delicate, playful, loving and sensitive (as in wise) to everything that is going on around me. Your article is inspiring: sharing a pattern that many people will know is theirs too. Thank you

374. It’s interesting, growing up I heard the phrase ‘beauty is within’ a lot, and I remember thinking thats probably true, but that’s certainly not what I am judged on day to day. The world outside us likes to dictate to us what is beautiful and what is not and part of claiming back our beauty is to stop the external forces that falsely define beauty and say to the world – now THIS is beauty.

375. The joy I feel when I hear another woman declare that she is beautiful and actually mean it is immense. So often in life I hear women, myself included criticize ourselves and put each other and ourselves down. I reckon when a woman reconnects to her own beauty the world changes.

     1. I worked in retail fashion, and Elizabeth and there was no end to the self criticism from women. Very few celebrated who they were in full … that’s where I came in and lovingly cut the self abuse and reflected back to them what I had felt and had a moment of expressing appreciation for women and the amazing beautiful love we are. It changed the reflection they saw in the mirror!

     2. I agree Elizabeth, how can the world not change when we get to see and feel such reflections of true beauty, and embark on recognising and claiming and celebrating it in ourselves.

376. I have been aware of the fact that the way we look outside is a reflection of what is inside – and I can see how I had turned that against me to forever condemn and negate myself from both directions – as in ‘I am not a loving person, nobody likes me, so it makes sense that I am ugly and I am stuck with it’ kind of way. This is pure evil. I am love – it was only a concept at first, but with steady deepening of my connection with my inner-most through Gentle Breath Meditation and self-loving choices, today I feel and know that I am a Son of God, and I cannot be but beauty-full.

     1. That’s very lovely Fumiyo “I feel and know that I am a Son of God, and I cannot be but beauty-full.” How could we be other when we have God shining through.

377. Well shared Gyl – from the horror of all the identification with the outer influences, ideals and beliefs that we conform to in order to supposedly fit the mould and be beautiful and the true and radiant beauty emanating forth from within, which your latest photograph shows the huge difference for all to see.

378. “There wasn’t any one person I would class as a role model, more just a general impact of the ideals and beliefs I observed” – a great description of how a finely woven net gets placed over us as we grow up, and changes who we perceive things. However, we all know that “there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within” – this sparkle is unrelated to weight, shape or any other ideal, and is far in a way the most attractive quality any living thing can have. To feel fully themselves!

379. Gyl your photograph says it all: you’re fully with yourself, beautiful, at ease, and radiate vitality. A complete transformation: from disliking your body, and wanting it to be a certain way, to connecting to true and inner beauty.

380. The more we let go of the concepts of how we and our bodies should be like, the more space is there for our body to unfold its natural shape that at the same time is what will support us most.

     1. Absolutely agree Michael.

381. Thank you Gyl for sharing how you have reconnected to the joy you felt as a child and how this has transformed how you feel about yourself and thus how you treat yourself. I love how you claim ‘For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away.’ The loving relationship you now have with yourself is reflected beautifully in your current photo and is so lovely to see and feel.

382. If enough of us could get to a point of truly loving ourselves, maybe in a few generations or so the children of the day won’t need to leave themselves in the first place and go all round the houses in a quest to get back to where they start from. I watched a relation of mine go from being the most beautiful,tender and self connected child to being very self conscious, competitive and taking on all this unnecessary worrying about things. It was devastating to watch and could have been totally avoided if we were taught about self love and the gentle breath from day one.

383. This is gorgeous Gyl, thank you. I love your line: “It’s not that I have lost lots of weight, but there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within.” It is so true, I have always been thin and physically it may almost look the same but the quality of my body is totally different. I just appreciated the other day that my belly looks so soft and female and more rounded. Before it would be thin too but flat and hard. It is in the loving quality I hold my body now in that makes it look and for sure feel way different than before I met Serge Benhayon and was inspired by the teaching of the Ageless Wisdom to connect with myself instead of looking outside to the world for how to be with myself.

384. Beautiful shinning picture of you at 37 Gyl, ‘being’ a women and bringing all that you are…..

385. What women does not have body issues, all the women at my work have body issues, as I did too in the past to the point that I rejected my body and rejected the love that I am (that we all are). Now I am loving my body and the intelligence, and wisdom it provides me as I go deeper with self-appreciation and self-nourishment. Thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and the Sacred Esoteric Healing courses that I have attended.

386. What women does not have body issues, all the women at my work have body issues, as I did too in the past to the point that I rejected my body and rejected the love that I am (that we all are).
     Now I am loving my body and the intelligence, and wisdom it provides me as I go deeper with self-appreciation and self-nourishment. Thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and the Sacred Esoteric Healing courses that I have attended.

     1. ‘What woman does not have body issues’ …. not a day goes by at my work where there isn’t talk of a diet, someone wanting to lose weight, someone not feeling good in their body. ‘I’ll be happy when I loose 3 kg’ – which is never the case because the weight isn’t the root cause of the problem, it’s a by-product of us using food to numb how we are feeling, wanting to avoid the empty lovelessness from the disconnection to our glorious selves.

387. A package well worth unwrapping Gyl. “there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within. For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away.” The essence of the beautiful woman you are shines out from the photograph.

388. Yes, the relationship we have with ourselves is everything and importantly the quality of it or the actual connection – whether with love, or not. Realising and then living this fact didn’t occur early in life for me either, and yet it is so easy when it’s put like this, or in your blog for example Gyl, which shows the actual force of outer ideals and beliefs that work to blur from sight and comprehension this simple truth that can change a person’s entire life for their true good.

389. it is incredible to see how almost everyone is thinking they are not enough, and try to become someone. But when we really feel we know deep inside that we are already everything, it is only about the choices we make.

390. Gyl, when you say “It’s not that I have lost lots of weight, but there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within. For the first time in my life, since I was a little girl, I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away.” there is nothing more to be said. Who could possibly argue or question this. Absolutely gorgeous.

391. Loved reading your amazing transformation Gyl from obsessing about outward looks to truly showing you from the inside out. I was living this rigid and obsessive way, and controlled everything to perfect my self and my body. What I look at now, is the quality that exudes out of my eyes, can be felt from the way I move, and be heard in the way I speak…. so hugely different from wanting the fit and healthy look and body. Of course fit and healthy is important but not in the way I was needing it, for recognition and attention. Its beautiful to see the sweetness of you from a child in your now photo.

392. Beautiful to read your transformation from a hard controlling person to super sexy, gentle person. What you share is such a common theme for most women, the driven energy, to be like and fit in.

393. In fact the pictures say it all Gyl, you have found again your grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that you are. Lovely to read.

394. Beautiful Gyl… As a man I can also very much relate to the process you went through growing up. From my early teens I wanted a hard chiselled body and started lifting weights at age 15. This continued till I was 30 when I discovered that yoga could sculpt an even better body. I swapped the gym for yoga and off I went for another 10 years lost in the shaping of an illusive perfect body. On the outside it was a convincing pursuit of health and fitness but deep down it was largely about appearance and the need for acceptance. Those days are gone and I have since returned to the gym in a new way, one that truly honours and supports my body… and to not be in comparison with what other men look like or what weights they are lifting… In fact I’m not even self conscious about the fact that many of the woman in the gym lift more than me 🙂

395. I can feel the lightness, true confidence and joy in your photo 🙂 Inspiring !

396. Each day I am accepting my body more and more and in this process enjoy being me. This is a huge shift from how I used to be, always criticising and wanting to change different parts of my body, putting all my focus on various parts I didn’t like so that I can pull myself down. Through Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon I am learning to appreciate myself in full and how much more enjoyable this rather than the continual self bashing that used to rule my life.

     1. Of course. I love the simplicity of this. How much more enjoyable life is when I am not constantly undermining, judging and criticising myself!

397. When comparision steps in the natural joy of who we are steps out !.
     As I grow and uncover the love within, I feel more aware of comparisions when they arise and appreciate the joy that unfolds as I increasingly choose to love myself over falling for the seduction of comparison.

     1. It is great when we can call out patterns that we know are destructive to how we feel about ourselves. The choice to love ourselves as opposed to being hooked into comparison is a very nurturing choice and one worth committing to for the feeling that is left in the body is gorgeous whereas the feeling of comparison leaves us angry, resentful, drained and miserable.

398. There are so many conditions that we put on ourselves to be worthy of love and the irony is that we are love from day one.

     1. Absolutely, we are love from day one, this is so true yet as we grow up we seem to do everything possible to not feel this. Thanks to Universal Medicine so many thousands of people are embracing this journey to return to love. It is never lost or never too late to embark on our return to who we are.

        1. I agree chanly it’s never too late, one of the things that I love about the Universal Medicine presentations is that they are equally supportive to anyone any age, any sex, any culture – time and time again I feel like I am hearing something for the first time.

399. Very sweet story.
     To have a women saying that my beauty radiates from the inner out, is a refreshing statement when everything in our world states otherwise.

400. This is beautiful, thank you for sharing it Gyl! I love how you say you eat and exercise to support yourself now and not to just control the way you think you should look. There are so many diets and exercise programs that are bought into just because we think it will change how we look to fit a certain shape.

401. It seems that when we are caught up in that body, appearance judging energy it makes no difference whatsoever as to what we actually look like. It is fascinating because Gyl is clearly a drop dead gorgeous looking woman and still had all those issues. Anything that is not of love is never, ever satisfied regardless of the exterior and conversely true beauty which comes from living the love that we all equally have within is available to all body types!

     1. Beautiful comment Nicola. This is so true, ‘Anything that is not of love is never, ever satisfied regardless of the exterior ‘. I love everything you’ve shared and I absolutely agree.

402. You write that you are, “exactly the way I am meant to be”. I do know that feeling as well and it has nothing to do with any ideals or tick lists, with scales or the tape measure. It is an inner knowing and an exquisite ease and grace that comes from within the body and translates into every movement and posture. It is well worth ditching all the other stuff and the striving and hankering for.

403. With deep appreciation for Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for putting that amazing smile back on your face Gyl, you certainly are a beautiful sexy woman. What a transformation from a young woman clearly not at ease with herself to the radiance and confidence that shines out of you now. It is quite shocking how much we hurt ourselves in order to conform to the fickle norms of society. Meeting the teachings of Universal Medicine and the Gentle Breath is most definitely the best thing that ever happened to me and I can see that it is the same for you. Learning to re-connect to and express our ever present love and beauty is the only way to live life and Universal Medicine delivers all the practical tools to thoroughly support us to cherish ourselves deeply and shine with love.

404. Thank you Gyl for your sharing. This blog with all the ideals, insecurities outline and the ways you tried to fill the void, could have been written about me. I went into very similar patterns after I lost for awhile, my delicateness, playfulness and innocence I had so strongly as a child. Today, like you I have very much reconnected and live my true natural self everyday and my body feels gorgeous. Deep thanks to Serge Benhayon and thank God I (no coincidence) was introduced to the gentle breath meditation groups that run all over the world and then eventually felt to participate in the healing course presented by Serge. These have changed my life.

405. I used to have this drive to change my body too – so many things from my skin colour, to my weight, wanting smaller feet and hands, the list went on. Through Universal Medicine I have come to a greater acceptance of my body and its not something that I loathe anymore. I can appreciate how I look as my body reflects my qualities and natural way of expression.

     1. Yes Annie It is extraordinary how we can pick at and criticise parts of our body when actually there is nothing wrong with them. For example I hated my legs for ever then one day a good friend of mine said I had beautiful legs and I looked down at them and for the first time since I was a little kid saw them through my own eyes and not what I had taken on from other girls jealous remarks. It was quite a miracle and since that day I love my legs and it is not as if my legs have changed at all – in fact I m now 57 years old!
        .

406. Thank you for your beautiful sharing, Gyl. It allowed me to reflect on my own teenage years and how completely misguided I was. My head full of beliefs that a ‘perfect look’ was going to bring me my prince in shining armour! All the time, these mad ideals were just pulling me further and further away from myself. No wonder there is so much self-loathing and low self esteem in the world. Your transformation is a validation of you, your commitment to you and your choice to be you. The love and joy radiating from you is a picture to behold.

     1. I totally agree and relate Alison. I too was completely lost to an ideal, always struggling because I never measured up, never feeling good enough, terrified of intimacy, all the while missing out on enjoying and appreciating the gorgeous young woman I always was.

407. I have the pleasure of being around my 6 year old daughter who reminds me of how free we were as children to wear what we wanted, I love seeing kids out and about dressed up as super heroes or what ever it is so gorgeous and playful. It is so sad we lose that and replace it with all the constraints of the images you described here in your blog. To be returning to the freedom of childhood expression of joy, playfulness and love is awesome.

     1. I agree there is nothing more gorgeous then seeing children dressed up in what they feel to wear…. love it! Its funny how as adults we can stop ourselves from wearing certain outfits because of our age… or worry about what others will think. We just went shopping for shoes and my husband said he couldn’t possibly get the flashy shoes because he was ‘middle-aged’… I said pick the flashy, brightest pair you like or whatever colour and enjoy wearing them. It then made me stop and ponder on how many beliefs and ideals are out there, about you should wear this, or act this way etc. at different ages… instead of feeling how you would like to express in every way.

     2. Absolutely Vanessa, so can we look forward to you in dress-ups anytime soon? 🙂 It is very liberating I agree to no longer dress just to the fashion or to get a response from others. I’ve started changing the colors I wear recently, to some l’ve never thought of as ‘my colors’ before and am loving it. They feel more in line with how I feel on the inside, rather than the image l’ve always dressed to. That’s my grown-up version of superhero costume anyway 😉

        1. Dress ups, love it. I went to work in a tee-shirt pyjama top once because I loved the cherries on it and the colours and it felt perfect for the day! I had an enormous amount of fun and a great chuckle to myself knowing it was my pyjama top when nobody else did. What was also hilarious was that lots of people commented on how great it looked. I think that had more to do with the way I felt in it really. Try it sometime 🙂

        2. Absolutely Jeanette, that is always the way.. if you love it, and feel great in it, others notice. If I try to dress in a way that I think will be impressive, nobody notices. If I dress because I love it, I always get comments.

     3. Love this Vanessa – just the thought of it made me smile. We should initiate a ‘superhero day’ at work (each week?), where staff are encouraged to turn up at work in fancy dress, and just bust out into the playfulness your are describing!

        1. hahahaha I love this idea simonwilliams8! This would crumble the self-consciousness, it would crumble the seriousness, and it would crumble our separation. Playfulness brings everyone together, and I could think of no better way than to have superhero day each week!

        2. I love this idea Simon – super playful and fun. Many workplaces now have casual dress on a Friday but dressing how you feel or as a super hero is way more fun…maybe I’ll suggest it 🙂

        3. I am so up for that!

        4. it was “celebrate occupational therapists week” a couple of weeks ago and our therapist arrived at work in her homemade super hero costume. It was so much fun enjoying her enthusiasm and lightened people up enormously. What you are suggesting here feels like a gorgeous thing to do and made me realise how rigid we get in what we think we ought to look and be like at work or in our day to day.

     4. I love to see young children dressed as princesses, fairies and super heroes, playful and without inhibitions. It always brings a smile to my lips. Gyl’s blog shows how post puberty and subtly, outside influences permeate and begin to eat away at our inner sense of self. Many young people lose their playfulness, love and joy and replace it with self doubt, rejection and abuse. Thank you Gyl for showing that with the self loving choices, it’s never too late to re-connect with the freedom and playfulness of children.

     5. I am giggling at the image of a high street full of adults in super hero suits…super cute, and even if we are not doing it on the outside the world certainly changes when we wear our gorgeousness from the inside out.

     6. I agree Vanessa, there are times when I would quite like to wear a cape out or a miss-match of clothes I just love! I have realised that it happens more often now that I don’t mind wearing what I enjoy. It keeps me playful to have a giggle about wearing a cape round the supermarket on a Sunday afternoon just when everyone else, like me, is out trying to get everything before school on Monday! Much more fun than grumbling my way round, which was probably the norm a few years back…

     7. Yes Vanessa. We get to be so serious and grey and lose the joy in life. Work, for example, becomes a heavy burden rather than the fun it could be when we lighten up and allow ourselves to live from the insde out.

     8. What an awesome reflection Vanessa!

     9. I enjoy that too Vanessa, the freedom children have in their behavior and what to wear. The mixture of colors and styles I got to see from my children was pretty inspiring. We would choose wisely if we confirm all our children to keep all the freedom of childhood expression of joy, playfulness and love. Saves us a lot of waisted energy if we as adults don’t have to peel off our layers of protection and hurts.

     10. Watching the freedom that children express with inspires me too, they make a choice that is totally in line with what they feel without questioning what other people will think or say. I love it, it’s a great way of being we can all return to.

408. There is so much seeking for perfection, encouraged by the media, fashion and fitness worlds, when in fact there is no perfection. All this striving very successfully takes us away from who we truly are, and it is only when we stop looking outside ourselves and accept who we naturally are that we shine as the gorgeous people we innately are. “I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am, and I no longer hide this away”… your photo says it all, and more Gyl!

     1. Absolutely, Paula …. there is NO perfection. We are all individual, with our own unique expression, which is what makes the world so colourful, we compliment each other beautifully. If we all strive to be the same cardboard cut out, we are nothing more than empty robots. How refreshing it would be to read something in the media to support and encourage, even suggest, that just being ourselves is ‘the answer’. No more quests, soul searching, it’s all already there waiting to shine through.

     2. Exactly Paula, there is no perfection, that is the trick we all fall for, to have the perfect image – the perfect body shape, encouraged by the media that constantly portray pictures of women that supposedly deliver the image of the ‘perfect body shape’, which if you do not have, puts most women into quick fix diets….I have discovered when I accepted my body ( instead of rejecting it) this made it easier to listen to my body and all it was communicating especially around food…. and I did listen and many foods dropped from my diet (without being on a diet), and my body shape changed to show how much I was honouring and respecting my body….my biggest turn around was; Listening To My Body!

        1. That’s a great reminder jacqmacfadden04 ” my biggest turn around was; Listening To My Body! I have been through many phases and my body has returned to its natural shape but as foods have dropped away my resistance at accepting what my body is clearly telling has come up. So there is still a level of abuse that I am allowing to continue with not honouring and respecting these clear messages to deepen the relationship. It’s just another level of suppressing my beauty from fully shining.

409. Wonderful to read your transformation from hard protected workout ‘babe’ to being the gorgeous woman you have always been. You look more vital now than you did in your early twenties the photos are quite a transformation! I love seeing before and after photos it is so affirming of the fact there is another way to live as many hundreds of people are showing.

410. That you claim this :” Now in my late thirties I can absolutely say that I love my body, I am beautiful and super sexy, playful and cute, and I know that first this all comes from within.” -I find supersexy!!! Women who claim themselves is the true sexy 🙂

     1. I Steffihen. This quality and claiming is is very sexy in both men and women. For an adult to move with the tenderness and gentleness we have in our heart is out this world.

        1. Beautifully expressed johannasmith, thank you.

        2. So true Steffihenn and Johanna, true sexiness comes from claiming the gorgeousness and the preciousness that we are and honouring ourselves in this.

     2. Now 70+, I love my body too Seffihenn. Its not about making myself attractive for other people as it was in my youth when i think most of us presented an image that would attract women as friends, and then that other image to attract the admiration of men. What a game we played, hiding that divine self for the sake of image and recognition. It never felt right, and I’m so glad to be finding my true self at last.

        1. The beautiful thing in life is: it is never too late to come back to truth. Awesome 🙂

     3. I agree – I love it when a woman claims her beauty and sexiness – knowing your sexiness and claiming it in full is a huge part of actually being sexy.

411. Gyl I am pondering that absorption of an idea of what beauty is and what one expects it to deliver, because this ‘happened’ to me too, and I feel it is layered over the years as new trends arise. Being a child of the fifties I was exposed to the curvy woman phase and the ‘happily ever after’ war and post war movies and I sure absorbed the idea that a woman was to be beautiful to attract a man. Then Twiggy and; the thinner breed of models came on the scene. It became clear by outward standards I was no classic beauty, my slim body had bony features that were not the ideal (pear shaped!) and as my inner confidence dropped I gave up. I now know that how I feel about myself dictates how others see me… and if I have a ‘bad’ day I know I need to reconnect to myself, and not go on a diet or bash myself at the gym to make amends – and this is all thanks to Universal Medicine.

     1. I appreciate your honesty here, hartanne60. Once we know that anything on the outside just doesn’t cut the mustard, there is no going back and even if doubts and old emotions arise, it is easy to reconnect to what is eternally true and ditch the futile efforts of the past.

     2. I smiled when I read your comment hartanne60 as I was on the circuit before you and remember seeing the fashions from the war days and like you experienced the 50’s, 60’s and all fashion trends up till now. Long hair and mini skirts were my thing, as someone who worked at the BBC during the 60’s, the way you looked was paramount to being part of the scene but nobody seemed to be real and I didn’t feel a part of it at all, though looked the part. Now I know it is how we feel within and claim I am simply great just being me!

412. Your photo just radiates what you feel – “I can feel the grace, delicateness, beauty, sweetness and joy that I am”…..you are a living testament that what you feel within, is what radiates out.

     1. Beautifully said, sarahflenley ….. ‘what you feel within, is what radiates out.’ This is what humanity is crying out for, for us all to ‘get real’ and be our true selves. For us all to be able to radiate the essence of our beautiful, joyful selves.

     2. Absolutely. Gyl, your photograph speaks for the beauty, sweetness, the richness that is now you; your living way.

        1. I agree Lucinda, Gyls expression is very sweet.

     3. I absolutely agree Sarah, Gyl’s true beauty cannot be masked in her face today, she is beaming as brightly as the sun and reflecting to everyone the equal beauty that is inside all of us. Perhaps we’re all just bursting to be embraced for the loveliness we are and held in our absolute love.

413. There is a common pattern to life. We are young, full of joy and then grow up to have body issues, self doubt, low self esteem. Lets add being driven, competitive, un-trusting, un-loving, un-happy.. whats going on? Thank you Gyl and and thank God for Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon for presenting another way, that which makes sense to the joy-full, sensitive person that lives within us all.

     1. Exactly, harryjwhite. Really, what’s going on? What we have come to accept as a normal life is really an appalling substitute to what we truly deserve. What Serge Benhayon presents in the form of universal medicine has also supported me to change the way I experience my life above and beyond every other quick fixes I ever tried.

        1. I agree Fumyio, Serge’s support over the years was so profound, that I was able to change my patterns in order that my life has become a life of many amazing moments.

     2. Indeed harryjwhite, ‘what is going on’, since when did life become such a burden and something we have to battle through – this was my perception of life for many, many years and when I first started to listen to the presentations of Serge Benhayon I was very sceptical and thought only special people get the kind of life he is talking about. But thank God I was proven wrong. I now realise that the struggle and the fight was of my own making and coming out of that, is also my responsibility.

     3. What Gyl here is showing so clearly in her words and pictures is that we don’t have to follow that pattern that is so rife in the world. Losing that essence of who we were when little is not forever thereafter lost or buried but it can return and be even grander in our adult lives with the knowing that we can support and confirm that love within us. As opposed to the child that did not have any reflection or support and lost their way.

     4. And.. let’s also add all the things we turn to when we take on these issues – alcohol, drugs, sleeping around, indulgence in food, technology, porn and so forth. I can’t imagine that we would turn to such damaging behaviours as the full of joy youngsters that we once were but once we have the heaviness of the body issues and self-doubt upon our shoulders it would seem that we could turn to anything to not feel this and from the sadness of missing the true bubbles of bright light and beautiful wonderment that we always knew ourselves to be.

     5. Hear hear Harry!! Our inner joy-full and sensitive selves can start to breath (and sing!) again thanks to the teachings of Universal Medicine. They make sense to every particle of our body, unlike much of the education we receive today.

414. Gyl I really loved your sharing and am encouraged by your journey to be love more so everyday. With the absolute support of Serge Benhayon and the Universal Medicine Practitioners we all have the same opportunities to grow and truly appreciate our wonderful bodies that house us.

415. Looking at your picture, I couldn’t imagine you wanting to be anything other than the gorgeous woman that you are – full of vitality and light. Thank you for this beautiful sharing – I (as I am sure most women) can relate to feeling pressure to ‘transform’ myself into a perceived ideal. This always results in failure and a never ending quest, until you get to the point of self love and acceptance – an amazing place to be!

     1. I agree Carmin, it so saddens me when I see so many gorgeous women of today, young and old who cannot see themselves for who they are, that are so sold out and lost that the miracle that they are is left unseen, unfelt and might as well not be there at all. But it is and that will never change, thank God.

416. The contrast in the photos here says it all. Beauty comes from within and radiates out for sure. And thank you for highlighting so honestly and openly through your own experience the debilitating ways we begin to build – from such an early age – an alternative sense of who we should aspire to be based on external ideals, beliefs and images. Your blog gives women the opportunity to see for themselves through your lived experience that there is a possibility, through choice, to stay true to who we truly are.

417. Gyl this is beautiful and I can relate to a lot of what you’ve shared. The hard and loveless push to sculpt a ‘perfect body’ in the belief this brings a much-wanted sense of being loved, or makes us lovable, acceptable, admirable or sought-after is very sad really, but so commonplace. I was very caught up in this too, and thanks to Serge Benhayon and the teachings he has made available through Universal Medicine, that is no longer my daily reality either.

418. When you express in this piece, ‘I love myself’ I can feel the absoluteness in your expression Gyl and it shines in the photo. This is a testament to the commitment to your relationship with you and is inspiring.

419. Gyl Rae, your inner beauty shines out so bright with natural effortlessness.
     There is always emptiness in putting in the outer beauty that cannot be sustained. On behalf of the world we very much appreciate you showing us your inner beauty, and describing how it was just there naturally when you cleared the ideals and impositions.

     1. I love what you have shared here Bernard – “on behalf of the world we very much appreciate you showing us your inner beauty….” And yes the whole world does because we are reminded of the natural inner glow we all carry.

420. Absolutely beautiful Gyl.

421. This blog is beautiful Gyl and the proof is in the photos. When we are trying to look a certain way physically life becomes complicated and exhausting as there is always a drive to look better. It is never ending. If we were to develop a loving harmonious relationship with our selves first there would be no need for the physical look as beauty would emanate naturally. No drive and simple.

422. There is not a woman I know that has not, to some degree or another, wanted to be other than she naturally is. Once hitting a certain point in our lives growing up where the attentions of what we look like overtake the joy of simply being in our body, before long we have put aside our play inherent within our relationship with nature, for a striving to become ‘picture perfect’. In gratitude to Serge Benhayon, through the vehicle of Universal Medicine, young people of today now have inspiring role models such as yourself Gyl to see for themselves there is another way.

423. The hardness and protection we create around ourselves, believing there is something not quite good enough about us just as we are, is very poisonous. In stepping away from these beliefs it then becomes very easy to see how there are numerous facets of industry (supplement, weight loss programs, magazines and social media, clothing lines etc) that have been built up and are making billions of dollars out of perpetuating this common perception that many women and now many men hold about themselves. Thanks Gyl, your blog is extremely valuable for others to read so that they are aware that there is a way out of this maze.

424. This is an awesome tale of transformation and claiming yourself for the beauty that you are, Gyl. The word “inspirational” does not quite do it the justice it deserves.

     1. I agree Naren. The way Gyl has chosen to surrender to the Love she knows is regardless of the pressures that surround us and impose the ideas that we are less than this, is super powerful. A true testament that the power of our Love within is beyond compare when we choose to be in union with it.

        1. Indeed, carola. We so often compromise on the truth that we know to be unshakeable, but manage to fool ourselves into thinking that we can get away with pretending that we are living a lesser version of that truth, when in fact we are simply not living that truth at all.
           Something like love is a case in point. Love is or it is not. There is no lesser version of love, because that ‘lesser version’ is simply not love.

425. I love the natural beauty and joy that radiates from your photo Jill. It is obvious that there is nothing better than being in your own beauty and grace.

426. That joy of you as a little girl is beaming through your smile today as the gorgeous woman you are. Testament to the choices you are making, truly inspiring Gyl thank you for sharing.

427. Control needs control to sustain itself and so we accumulate patterns of control based on the belief systems we adopted from young. When we re-connect to our self worth we can feel and express from our inner beauty. Self esteem on the other hand is the hardness we build in our bodies to live protected from life by controlling it.

428. What a joy to read Gyl. It was like you were sharing my life too and im sure on behalf of many others too. The difference in quality of living in a way to mould and shape oneself into an image of what we ‘think’ we need to be versus the acceptance and abundance of living the joy and love we already are is such a contrast. Thank goodness for Universal Medicine otherwise I may still have been choosing to push my body rather than love my body.

     1. Yes Marcia I agree. It is all about loving who we are and our bodies then the outside world doesn’t have so much of a hold and influence on us.

     2. What I recall Marcia is that I didn’t even know I was pushing my body, and so had no idea there was a choice to be loving. And even when I understood the difference, I couldn’t just make the change. There is a lot to break down and understand about our own patterns, what drives us, what the expectations we hold up for ourselves and that we accept from others. What Universal Medicine and it’s teachings offered, with the support of UM modalities and those who were already a few steps ahead, was the freedom to truly choose. This freedom comes about when the body is free from the impositions of those expectations, and hence we are no longer on ‘autopilot’ as Gyl put it, and truly stand at a juncture with every possible choice, free to go whichever way we choose… love or no-love… simple as that!

     3. Absolutely you are Marika, and i feel that is what we have reconnected to is the fact that our true gorgeousness lays within and we don’t need to strive to get there from outside of us.

429. Gyl – this seems like the common story that so many women go through – as a child having no issues with our bodies and then as an adult, we are easily influenced by external ideals and beliefs. But that is the issue – the fact that we can make the outside more important than how we feel in our bodies. To have claimed that back as a woman is huge and sets a refection for so many of us about the danger of giving our power away to be a form of perfect that our bodies will never support.

430. I was not confident with my body in my early teens and can feel when I look back now, how I then went into trying to look or be a certain way (whatever I felt I needed to fit in – or stand out – at the time) so I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable, and then how this continued in its various forms into my 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. It’s been an amazing process for me the past few years to begin to develop my care and appreciation of myself and my inner qualities and to find that the outer is now reflecting the inner beauty, instead of the outer trying to ‘make up’ for what’s missing in the inner.

     1. I really related to that too Angela, I am totally loving that I can put on what ever I feel like and wear it in full confidence of me expressing myself not trying to look like something or other, I used to feel so embarrassed wearing anything slightly different – it is a freedom I have not known since childhood like Gyl shares.

431. Beautiful Gyl Rae, to hear and feel you change your life with less of the ideals and beliefs about beauty but instead a real connection to your beauty. That is powerful. I like it, keep it going.

432. Hi Gyl, your latest photo is a big change from the ones in your late teens and early twenties. Our bodies are not to be abused, or pushed and pulled into any direction. They ARE to be cared for and Loved and we are to adore ourselves completely. It is from here that we will know what foods to eat, what type of exercise suits where we’re at (and the frequency). Our body develops its own natural body shape, when the adoration is present. No effort is needed.

     1. Beautifully said shevonsimon. Adoration is powerful. It is a way of deeply loving ourselves and respecting and accepting the amazing body we have.

433. Wow Gyl, you can truly feel that you have definitely chosen a truly loving living way as you whole body expresses that so very beautifully. Thank-you for sharing the joy of being you with us all.

434. What you have shared Gyl is super powerful in that it debunks the illusion that having picture perfect bodies is ‘it’, that achieve this and fulfillment is delivered. Our bodies are not an ‘object’ to be controlled but rather a living vehicle which we are to live in connection to and in union with. Our bodies are our guide through this world in which we live, our marker of truth, through which we can live our light, our Love, harmoniously with all. To honor this and care for our bodies is what allows this Divine quality of who we are to emerge. We then develop a body of Love, our Love personified, which reflects our natural body shape in its truest form and allows the beauty of the Light we are to shine through limitlessly.

     1. Oh Carola, this is so beautiful and so true: “Our bodies are our guide through this world in which we live, our marker of truth, through which we can live our light, our Love, harmoniously with all.” The more love we live the more we embody love and our physical bodies become light and angelic.

     2. Beautiful expressed and you nailed it Carola! Our body is just a vehicle for so much more than just a physical appearance. To have this a a focus in life changes everything regarding body culture in todays society..

435. Thanks Gyl, the photos really show the changes that you have made. I can relate to the hardness when being a teenager. I too thought that by being tough I would protect myself but I think it was this toughness that hurt me the most.

     1. Agree Rosie, the toughness did not make life better or easier it just made us harder and less sensitive to the world and this is what turned out to be the biggest hurt of all. I am still dealing with the hardness in my body that I accumulated over all those years and I am peeling it off now layer-by-layer and it is absolutely beautiful to meet the tender and delicate woman I truly am.

     2. Absolutely Rosie. I may not have been on a mission to get the perfect body, or at least it was not something I would have ever admitted, even though it was exactly what i wanted, but I certainly believed in the motto ‘ whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. I was all about being untouchable, unemotional and rock solid. What an absolute front that was. I was not able to sustain it, and come 24 years of age, I finally cracked, the flood gates opened and for the last 10 years, I have been re-building my true self, without the bricks and mortar but doing my best to use love as the glue.

436. I love these stories and the miracles that unfold for people. Gyl what you share here is something that most girls to woman feel, that is completely sold out to wanting to look at certain way based on everything we see outside ourselves. Serge Benhayon, Natalie Benhayon and Universal Medicine should be known to so many more women so that more of us can see and hear that there is a different way to live and thus be with ourselves. I for one will be making it all about loving myself more today because of your inspiring sharing.

     1. Great point Sally. The role models that our children are exposed to today generally do impose that who they already are within is not enough and present false pictures of how they can achieve popularity, attention, and recognition. True role models such as Serge Benhayon and Natalie Benhayon do reflect that there is another way, a self-honoring way of living, that who we are within IS already enough. And that developing this loving connection to our essence within is empowering, as we discover that there is then no love in giving ourselves away to seek attention or recognition through trying to achieve an image of someone else’s idea of perfection in the world outside of ourselves.

437. Gyl, this was gorgeous to read and the beauty from within does shine out for us all to see.

438. The very subtle waves of pressure or influence you speak of Gyl are present everywhere and felt by all, but as you have proven the connection to who you truly are is never lost. Your joy and love is glowing from within and can be felt. Thank you for claiming it and sharing it with the world.

     1. It’s interesting how you describe the ‘subtle waves of pressure’ ch1956. I read that and thought, yeah, it’s amazing how those ideals creep in without you even realising, yet, in fact those ideals are not subtle at all. They are literally shoved in our faces everyday. I know for me personally, that I have had this belief that I’m not being affected by them too much because I’m aware of the craziness we are being exposed to, but in fact, I have completely and utterly absorbed society’s ideals of what it means to look good. All I’ve done is chosen an ideal body image and told myself all the others are not ok, because they are too extreme etc. But in doing that, I don’t accept my own body or anyone elses, I simply feel bad about my body because it doesn’t match the ideal I have in my mind. So, without even realising, I’m completely influenced by the outside world. It’s so very interesting.

        1. Yes Elodie I can relate to fooling myself that I was not being affected by all the outside pressures to conform to certain images because I wasn’t striving for one of the extremes but I can now acknowledge that I had totally bought into being pleased that my body was naturally slim but never satisfied that it wasn’t as curvy and womanly as I would have liked so I spent many years denying my femininity and have only recently started to explore this and open up to my relationship with myself.

439. I feel the joy bouncing off the screen as I read your words.I also feel a sense of relief and appreciation for having freed yourself from ‘obsession and control’ to your natural self-loving impulses. Bravo Gyl Rae – you are very inspiring.

440. There is no doubt Gyl of the Love you now hold for yourself as through your photo ‘there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within’ that is undeniably felt. A beautiful return to your Glorious-ness through which your light is an inspirational gift to us all.

441. It’s lovely to feel your true inner beauty shining through for all to see as a result of making choices that are loving and honouring of your body.

442. I loved reading every word of this Gyl. The photos tell the whole story too – I can absolutely feel that the lightness and connectedness you felt as a child has returned to your body and your life. You are an inspiration.

     1. Thank you Gyl and Leonne, I agree, the photos tell it all. I feel blessed to love and be inspired by all the Universal Medicine students of the Livingness.

443. Gyl, this could have been a blog written about me. There are so many parallels here to how I was with my own body, and my own relationship with myself. I remember reaching a certain age and clocking that the outer looks got ticks and approvals that I longed to have. Perfect body images were everywhere while in school and on the playground. Comparison amongst girls started to become more and more intense as we entered into puberty. I exercised to become super fit and to have a great body that was better than anyone else’s body (amongst the girls). This was my way of escaping as well as protecting myself from a lot of bullying that was taking place in school.
     In that, my body became a fortress, and with it I would keep people away – even though what I wanted more than anything was love. But there was nothing open about my body to receive true love. The way I was pushing it, exercising it and feeding it, it was all about control. No one could really come in and see how delicate and fragile i really was — because then I would have to let them (and myself) see how much I had hurt myself by walking away from the delicateness that was the real me.
     Now, I love my body for how it is and I love how tender, fragile and delicate I feel. I’ve let go of that controlling way of exercising and eating. I still exercise with regular visits to the gym but it’s not about me getting the perfect body with the right curves and tone in all the right places. It’s about me supporting my body, connecting more deeply with myself and literally enjoying how supple and great I feel in my body, just how it is. I eat to support myself, to feel vital, energised and not to be a certain weight or anything like that.
     And I can echo your own experience Gyl, as to what brought about this amazing change. It was meeting Serge Benhayon and attending the courses and workshops of Universal Medicine. Very quickly I reconnected to the beauty and joy I had when I was little, that came from within. I began to rekindle my inner flame filled with love, knowing there is nothing outside of me that can bring me this — but that i can certainly bring the love and beauty that resides within me to the outside world, and how joyful and amazing it is to do so.

444. Gyl what I love here is your commitment and loving honesty shared. Making simple daily choices to our health is what creates huge changes for life and our body loves it. Thank you.

445. I have been struggling lately with finding (again) the sweet little girl within and my natural grace and joy. Reading your blog this morning has reminded me that the answer is simple: “there is another way of living and being that is about love first.” I know it is time to let go the deep hurts I have carried for so long and thereby allow my innate love, joy and grace to shine through. Thank you for your inspiration, Gyl.

446. ‘I’m exactly the way I am meant to be.’ Wow and wow. I feel the freedom, the joy and the absolute love of who you are and how you bring this love to all you meet. It’s so inspiring to read how you live in a way that fully supports who you are so that you can say, ‘I’m exactly the way I am meant to be.’

     We all have this at our fingertips. Thank you for inspiring me to feel how I can accept and love myself fully.

     1. It’s so true Karin, “we all have this at our fingers tips” . No matter who we are or where we are in the world, we all have access to the same, one, equal divine love within us all.

447. Your pictures sure do tell a story Gyl. There is such joy and playfulness in the younger pictures. The pictures in your teenage and early 20’s there is a sense of heaviness and weight of the world on your shoulders. Your current picture matches the glory that is felt in the younger pictures which shows your reconnection with your essence and your innate inner beauty.

448. “For me it is no longer about how I look on the outside first, but the quality and connection of the relationship I have with myself.”. This realisation also changed my life; I gave up striving to be perfect, which I now realise was an exercise in futility, and a very exhausting one, and chose to take the time to understand who I truly am. It has been a journey of ups and downs, but it is one I would never have wanted to miss. I now know who I am and I absolutely love the gorgeous me that I have re-discovered, and am still discovering new facets of every day.

     1. Loved reading you comment Ingrid, it is simply so lovely to stop the striving for an external ideal of perfection or beauty. And then we can relax and start to feel what is already there and connecting to our own beauty of course allows that beauty to emerge. There is nothing like the fulfilment of that loving inner connection.

        1. ​
           I love what you both have expressed Ingrid and Josephine, to add – I love the honor to surrender and allow it all to come to you. It’s a simple choice to be with you with an absoluteness to what you feel. No right or wrong just your truth.

449. There is such joy in your sharing Gyl. It is only through a deep connection within that we can truly feel and experience true beauty. Seeking it externally will only result in a roller coaster ride of ups and down. When we connect with our beauty from within, there is need for outside validation, to compare ourselves to others or to be jealous, because we recognise that this beauty we feel from within is there equally in everyone of us.

     1. ​
        Agree Donna, beauty is equal for all. When beauty does radiate from within another you cannot help but feel it. Through whatever unique expression it is, it can be felt. That is the beauty itself feeling how another expresses it.

450. Thank you, Gyl this sentence says it for me – ‘It has been through these loving choices that I have made, and continue to keep making and deepening, that my life and my body has changed.

     1. Susan I agree, we can’t get away from the fact that our choices are with us in everything we do and that can be really confirming or it can be confronting! What I have found is what many others and Gyl have expressed is that my life has deepened to a quality I did not know was possible, I love that I have chosen to be here, now, reading this blog, writing this comment.

        1. ​
           That’s right Vanessa “our choices are with us in everything we do and that can be really confirming or it can be confronting!”. Truth is absolute so when it is confronting its just another choice to confirm your next move that is loving, while it be confronting the next choice can be confirming, until a strong sequence of confirming choices become a rhythm and foundation to house that next confirming choice.

     2. It’s so true Susan, I literally fought hard to change my body and life over the years, but nothing worked, I may have ‘looked’ good on the outside, but inside I was a complete mess. If It was not for Serge Benhayon I would be in the same place or worse. It has been his absolute unconditional love and support that has given me true freedom to make different choices in my life, ones that are more loving and caring, and in deep appreciation of myself.

451. I could feel who you were as a little one Gyl and it reminded me of me at the same age. I just recall the feeling of playing all over – my whole body participating and just feeling everything.
     When, I started to wonder, did that irky feeling of my body as something that needed to be a certain way creep In? I recall hating my legs in year 6, age 11. Hating! How can an 11 year old hate their legs? I recall comparing myself to another friend. She was my ideal of beauty. But surely there was something else, a word that someone had said that triggered the full blown hate campaign? Or perhaps it was just that the joyfull child playing innocently at its bank had fallen into the fast flowing stream of conscious that tries to dictate how it is that we are meant to be. We are bombarded from all around, washed fast away from our innocent beginnings, and because we are immersed in it, we start to think that that way of seeing ourselves it is the only truth there is.

     1. So true Rachel, I remember vividly looking in the bathroom mirror at 13 and bashfully seeing such a pretty face, then within seconds quickly correcting myself with the thought that I can’t have such a feeling about myself, that I considered ‘up myself’ – heaven forbid!

        1. A great irony exposed Giselle: we are admired and valued for our beauty, yet we must not ever seem to be in admiration of it ourselves, nor place our own value on it.
           Yes that great expression of being “up ourselves” has been designed to ensure that we can only be its opposite – down on ourselves.

        2. What you and Rachel have exposed here Giselle is so true. Why is it we are not allowed to value and enjoy our own beauty, prettiness or loveliness as young girls? And yet that is what we are valued by externally as women. So often those younger years are ruined by the self-criticism, self-loathing and comparisons with some magazine ideal which has been fed to us. It’s time to turn this around, for mothers to celebrate and support their daughters in claiming their loveliness.

        3. Exactly.. not so long ago I remember making comment on the gorgeous-ness I was admiring in another woman, with this she agreed by saying ‘yes I know, I love it’! This was such a welcomed surprise to me, to feel no notion of the expression ‘she’s up herself’ but instead her full claim of her own beauty that was felt by us both, and in that moment was magnified.

     2. What a travesty Rachel for a young girl of 11 to hate her legs, or a boy or girl of any age to hate any part of themselves. I can relate as well. Great questions, where does this come from, what happens that triggers these full on emotions that completely go against what we knew from very young, that we are precious, gorgeous and divine?
        All the ways we treat ourselves, watching our older role models pick and poke at themselves for this ugly feature or that awful part, adds to the consciousness, that if we drop from our loveliness we are instantly swept up in, and everything we are not is there to focus on. Beautiful blog and reminder by Gyl of what we can all reconnect back to.

452. I have the absolute blessing to know you Gyl through projects that we work on together. So I know your beauty, and I know the absolute dedication and care you bring to everything you do. There is no driven quality to it, just a wonderful way of holding everyone so very lightly and respectfully. That is beautiful.

     1. Thank you Rachel.

453. When you feel a warmth flowing inside you, a tender delicacy in the way you move, an effortless joined up-ness to how you are with life, how could you feel anything but beautiful in you? Its this natural bubbling up of joy and love in our body, we can see and feel in your photo today Gyllian. Thank you for sharing this transition.

     1. I know Joseph I know that when my body warms up and I feel that glow from inside that I am where I need to be, doing what I need to do which is super simply just being me. It sounds like some hallmark card but its true! Keep it simple, love is so tangible and real.

     2. Thank you Joseph.

454. You as you look and feel far better than could ever be achieved through trying to like that perfect woman from the health and fitness mags or the beauty images we see. The joy in your eyes is priceless.

     1. Thank you Joshua, I feel it.

        1. ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ ….. when all our love and joy is shining through, everyone, including the blind, can feel the immense beauty.

        2. So true Joshua, the joy in Gyl’s eyes is indeed priceless. She emanates such sweet lightness, delicate beauty and grace.

        3. ​
           I agree Alison “when all our love and joy is shining through, everyone, including the blind, can feel the immense beauty”. And nature aligns from every angle to confirm you. There is nothing more amazing then to feel the pulse of you the same as nature …

     2. Beautifully said Joshua and so lovely to hear from a young man. I have a new appreciation too for true beauty, and hence also for the emptiness behind beauty that is only skin deep.

455. How you felt as a child about yourself is sadly common if not the norm, however how you feel now is far from that considering many carry their insecurities and unhealthy beliefs about themselves with well them into their adult life. Your glowing photo is a testament to the healing power of what Universal Medicine presents when you apply the principles of self-loving choices and self-appreciation to your life.

456. “It’s not that I have lost lots of weight, but there is a quality, a lightness, a joy and a beauty that shines out from within.” I can attest to this feeling Gyl, living life more in tune with my body, listening to and really taking care of my body has brought a lot of changes within my body and the vitality, lightness and smoothness I have now in my body and that continues to deepen with every day is a joy to live with.

457. I too can remember how as child I just knew I was beautiful, I felt beautiful and hadn’t the slightest need to compare myself with anyone to confirm this. My return to this appreciation has begun and like you it has been the work of Serge Benhayon that has supported this to happen.

     1. I agree 1timrobinson, men are just as beautiful, delicate, sweet, sensitive and tender as woman. And yes , if it were not for the unconditional love, support and truth of Serge Benhayon my life would still be a mess.

458. Gyl, you look amazing! Thank you for sharing- you have shown us the much power in making loving choices for ourselves.

459. Reading your story Gyl, which must be the story of just about every woman with regards to her body, in some form or other, I am struck by how simple it really is. Through the love offered by one man, Serge Benhayon, we are empowered to make simple, self-loving choices and gradually all the old complications, neuroses and obsessions start to drop away and we return to the naturalness we are and come to enjoy ourselves, our bodies once more. And there’s nothing complex or hard about it, love is simple but powerful.

     1. Great point Josephine, it is incredible what one man can inspire – and through that change the world for so many.

        1. And then more change is possible through people living what Serge has inspired them to live by them inspiring those around them to live the love they are …. just like the pebble being dropped into a pool and the ripples reaching far and wide.

        2. Spot on Sandra Dallimore, that is exactly how it works. We shall never underestimate the ripples we create in the universe with every move we make and if we can fathom that, we need to consider what quality of movement it is we are magnifying.

460. “For me it is no longer about how I look on the outside first, but the quality and connection of the relationship I have with myself.” This is beautiful Gyl. Thankyou for a gorgeous sharing.

461. I really enjoyed reading your blog Gyl. I can relate to all you have said, but from a mans perspective. Our genders have classic points of reference, for men it is well defined biceps, a six pack (these days it’s an eight pack) and bulging pecs. It is super lovely to be re-connecting with the joy and love that I felt as a young boy and like you, the self care has been a significant factor in making this happen along with the life changing workshops of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon.

     1. I absolutely agree Matthew it is so lovely to be re-connecting to the beauty, childhood innocence, joy and love that has never left me. And I agree it with absolute deep love and thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.

     2. So true Matthew and Gyl, in fact without joy and love radiating out the body, how ever perfect it may be, it is just and empty shell.

        1. ​Very truth Judith, I used to work out sculpting that beautiful man body with gym, surfing, the right hair style – long blonde hair, clothes and to the extent of tanning it. I did not really tan – my skin is very fair with freckles. I would burn and go red. After the burn eased off for one or two days I was ‘tanned’ -> then it was gone! My focus moved from how I looked and what I was doing to be recognized to the emptiness again. It was a vicious cycle that was a continuous drive from outside of me. The deep nurturing care that was really needed was not even a thought. It’s truly unbelievable how far we go just to be recognized!

462. It’s a beautiful returning journey to yourself that you describe Gyl, and how gorgeous it feels you rediscovering your own beauty. I distinctly remember when I was younger feeling how clever I was to discard my childish ways and grow up, how fooled I was. It is evident for all to feel when we return to our re-connection.

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