910 thoughts on “From Resisting Self-Care to Confirming Myself”

1. Anne I loved what you presented here, “choosing to confirm myself – just for being me”. We spend lost time and years, trying to prove ourselves in the doing, when the answer is right in front of us and that all we need to do is accept the simplicity of it. We have this picture of it being ra ra or needing it to be something when that is something we are always led to believe. When it’s completely the opposite. Its a set up to keep us apart from the exact source we come from…

2. Anne this blog has come at a perfect time in that I have learnt what true self-care means and is about more then ever, but the appreciation was certainly lacking, otherwise we are going around in circles. Appreciation is no different to when we are given a compliment and we deny it, or make excuses, instead of loving and embracing the compliment and confirmation.

   I recall feeling embarrassed when I received a compliment and feeling undeserving of it, thinking it was my duty to do this for others.

   Since meeting Serge Benhayon my thinking has changed. I at times smile to myself when I confirm something within me. The list you have written is similar to mine and reading this, confirms me even further.

   Self-care is forever refining, that certainly is true and in that appreciation and confirmation becomes part of this too, they all go hand in hand, and what connects them all is the responsibility, simple so lets not complicate it and allow it to unfold.

   1. As I read my own comment, I realise how far I have moved along since writing this. This to me is saying we are forever unfolding, refining and returning to a place whence we came from. Far from the humans conception of the thinking mind. We can only realise this when we care for ourselves from the beginning and that deeper aspect of self-care reveals more unto us about who and what we truly are.

3. Appreciating and confirming ourselves is so supportive to our growth, ‘perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be. ‘

   1. Everything is within us, we just need to be that and not what our mind thinks us to be. We need to learn to live with our bodies and not our minds and when we do, it’s a confirmation that we are becoming more connected to our bodies, we can and will actually feel it too.

4. With appreciation, celebration and confirmation we value that which is being appreciated, celebrated and confirmed.

5. Appreciating Anne, as we are so much more when we understand that we are a divine being and that energy is our most divine aspect and that we live with a deep-humble-appreciate-ive-ness to recognize our relationship with God.

6. Beautifully said Anne, thank you so much for the steps laid out so clearly: “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be. Through appreciation, confirmation and celebration, we can go from resisting self-care to truly nurturing ourselves. Indeed, it is our responsibility to do so.”

   1. I was reminded to be more appreciative and confirming of myself yesterday evening, so how appropriate to wake up and read this.

7. There is the part of self care we do and which we will never allow ourselves to go below (our foundational self care standard if you like) and then there are the deeper levels of self care that we can take things to. The former must be solid for the later expansion of self care to happen and hold.

8. “By choosing to self-love, we deepen our self-caring, which then leads to self nurturing.” – Serge Benhayon. Such a simple recipe and yet we can be so good at resisting it!

9. Great blog to read on self care and self love and really exposes how hard we are on ourselves and each other which is the lack of appreciation. We are not raised in a way that nourishes how we feel about ourselves, I have noticed the more I appreciate myself the more I appreciate others.

10. Anne is truly delightful they way you have linked self-care, self love and appreciation all together and the connection between them all to appreciate just how grand we all are. It truly is a beautiful confirmation for me to read and appreciate.

11. Thank you Anne, I really enjoyed reading this, it makes self care and self love much bigger than an individual concern, but something that is responsibility for the all we are a part of.

    1. How are we with responsibility, ‘knowing my uniqueness, and therefore how important I am, comes with huge responsibility, and that I am resisting this responsibility?’

12. What people don’t realise about self care, is that it doesn’t just take care of your body it actually changes the way you feel from the inside out – about everything in your life. It’s quite phenomenal.

13. “simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.” Simplicity is so often the key to the complexities we create for ourselves.

    1. Valuing ourselves is key, ‘I understand now that my resistance to self-care is in fact a resistance to loving myself – for how can I care for myself and my body, let alone nurture myself, if I do not feel I am worthy of that care?’

14. Anne it is always a welcome reminder of the importance of Self-Care, and how simple it is, once we let go of what we think it is and instead we start to relate it to the body and how self care not only supports us but supports our body too.

15. Confirming ourselves is laying the foundation for new standards we have put in place and the next can unfold.

16. ‘The simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.’ Very beautiful and so true Anne, to connect to and live the truth that we are divine beings we develop a relationship with ourselves that is based on love, understanding and acceptance.

17. I could relate to the responsibility part in that I have avoided it by not confirming myself. But what’s beautiful is that when I sit and connect to myself and ask what responsibility am I avoiding the answer always feels expansive.

    1. I have not been regularly confirming myself, this blog is a great reminder of the importance of confirming ourselves, ‘I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me. I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.’

18. To consider that to not to love and take care of oneself as being irresponsible is not something I appreciated until very recently. Doing so, though, my whole quality of life has improved and I am learning to take that quality into everything I do.

    1. How we are and how we look after ourselves is also something that does affect others and everyone around us. This is also perhaps something we had not considered. This in itself deepens the responsibility – sometimes we are not loving of ourselves enough to want to make a change for ourselves however we are willing to make a change when we know how it can affect others.

19. As you share, Anne, you had been self-loving, just not acknowledged it and hence still choosing lack of self-worth. Appreciating oneself is so important. It confirms one and in doing so we build a foundation that is solid and only deepens with the appreciation.

    1. Making a list and appreciating where you now care for, and nurture yourself is a great support in confirming how you now live, ‘My list was confirming of the ways I am now living – and in making the list I began to realise the number of things I do actually do for myself, which felt awesome. I do love and care for myself – I was just not claiming this.’

20. Self-care is often mixed up with ‘pampering’ and self-indulgence. But true self-care is actually a matter of listening to what our body is saying, and honouring it. It could be as simple as feeling to switch the focus of what we’re working on, or to complete something, or to hold our bodies differently as we move. True self care is simplicity, and a responsibility to deeply respect our bodies by listening to what is needed.

21. Lack of self-worth is an all-encompassing way of life. Not only there is a feeling that one is not worth, but also a lack of appreciation of anything that is worth appreciating. So, we do not do and we do not take stock of what we do. The perfect set up, self-made.

22. This is brilliant. There is a huge difference between caring for ourselves because we think something about us that needs improving, and caring as a confirmation of who we already are.

    1. In the former theres a focus on everything that is supposedly wrong. With the latter it appreciates more of ourselves and others.

23. I’ve heard about appreciation being the key and have even tried to do it but I’m seeing now more and more it really is and it is not another job to do. When I’m in the ‘striving to be better’ there is no appreciation as I’m playing less even thinking I am not enough. I’ve been sick for a week and it has felt like a bit of a stop to a momentum of striving and trying to change and control. In this I’ve made everything super simple and looked after my body. I can see now that appreciation is not a doing, it’s surrendering to the gorgeous qualities that lie within.

24. Thank you Anne. Without confirming ourselves and appreciating then there is no solid ground to stand on and deepen from. This has been a great lesson to read- that confirmation and appreciation of our own worth before we do anything are absolutely key. How often do we get that round the wrong way? Do we self care because we are divine and worthy of every last drop of self care or do we try to prove or convince ourselves that we are divine through self-care?

    1. This is a great blog reminding me of the importance of appreciating and confirming myself, that we have to do that in order to build a solid base to stand on, and from there deepen.

25. We are all divine beings equally so, and when we live and move in this we confirm this truth to others.

26. When we begin to accept that caring for and nurturing ourselves is an ever evolving process that continues to grow and deepen the more we become aware of how important both qualities are in regard to our health and well-being.

27. What I got from this is when we appreciate how we do care for ourselves it then gives us space to either go deeper with this or care for ourself more in another way. Now I just need to put this into practice more!

28. I appreciate being given a reminder from you blog today Anne, to deeply appreciate and confirm how far I have come and the changes I have made in my life, and that appreciation and confirmation are key to deepening my self love.

29. Appreciation is to connect to the inner-heart, feel the Divine Love and know that this is who we are.

30. Thank you Anne, I hadn’t quite made the connection between confirmation and self care til reading your blog again today but I now feel it clearly. If we have an ideal or picture of ourselves (usually an unattainable one) then we have a perpetual feeling of not being good enough because it’s very performance and achievement based. Basically we base our worth and deserving of care on the doing in life, and not unconditionally for the beautiful being within

31. Thank you Anne, for sharing this deeply beautiful lesson on appreciation, and how this is a key component in practicing self-love. For appreciation confirms the activity of love, that which we have aligned to, whereby the choices we have made are in honor of the love we are, offering a beautiful reflection for us and all to behold.

32. The thing is, self-care goes deeper and deeper, it starts with the obvious and then this becomes more and more subtle and of course more and more profound.

33. We can break cycles… no matter how intense and embedded they are.

    1. So very true Chris – as it is our true nature to move in accordance with the true cycles we are innately part of.

34. “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.” Beautiful Anne and so true.

    1. What a simplicity this brings to life!

35. Yes even when we ‘self-care’ it can be a push to prove to ourselves that we are worthy, a great revelation that reveals that self-care is a quality not a doing.

36. Your article Anne is spot on the money. Appreciation is an energy, just like guilt,doubt and lack of self worth. The more we choose the energy of appreciation and live with it in how we go about our day the less other energies can impact us. There is a great power in appreciating not only ourselves, but another.

    1. That’s been my feeling Leigh that if I don’t choose one I choose the other – appreciation or self depreciation, etc. There is either love or not love.

37. Bringing in daily appreciation and confirmation for who we are, and not what we do is a step to support us returning to the love we innately are.

38. It is very common for people to struggle to bring a degree of sustained care into their lives, whether it be as simple as someone with diabetes who would eat in a way that supports this condition, ‘I understand now that my resistance to self-care is in fact a resistance to loving myself – for how can I care for myself and my body, let alone nurture myself, if I do not feel I am worthy of that care?’

39. What a great realisation to come to, ‘I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.’

40. I have written this a few times before but appreciation is really a key. If we are stuck trying to better by admonishing ourselves and around and around it goes until a point where the awareness is that the only way to step from self critique to the next part of appreciating is to actually do the work. In other words things just don’t change themselves, we need to bring the change and then allow the world to catch up. If you find yourself consistently down on yourself then try and give yourself a point to appreciate and bring this in everywhere. Fairly soon you will see what appreciation can do, not for you but for all of us.

41. Gosh we can be so hard on ourselves can’t we? It is easy to focus on what we are not doing rather than appreciate all the ways we are already celebrating and confirming ourselves and making a real difference in the world simply by this process.

42. Lovely blog Anne which reminds me today that self-care is not a skill we have to learn or go and practice, it is innate in us all and we just have to surrender and allow it to take place, meaning accept who we are and just be ourselves in the world. It is a ‘letting go’ not a ‘go out and get it’ kinda thing.

43. Its so common, this desire to achieve more and more, to do more, fuelled by the feeling that we are not enough already. But what if we are – more than enough just waiting inside ourselves ready to be expressed forth at any moment. Connect to that and suddenly we are on the cusp of realising the potential that is just waiting inside us all to be everything we already are.

44. Ignoring the body leads to behaviours that cause dis-ease in the body – I don’t think anyone who actually pays attention to the communication from their body would continue to drink alcohol after having a hangover. Of course, the communication and its severity differ from body to body.

    1. Yes Rachel and you could say it is the disconnection from our bodies, our inner hearts, our essence, that is our primary dis-ease for when we are disconnected and living less than who we are we feel a tension or an uneasiness that we seek other behaviours (e.g. drinking alcohol) to offset and distract ourselves from.

45. As I was reading your list of self care actions, I considered writing one of my own, and almost instantly i received a thought that suggested my list would be no good and I quickly dismissed the idea. That had me realise my lack of self appreciation, for I know that there are many things I do for myself that are self caring, but through my lack of appreciation I focus on all the things I could be doing rather than building from my foundation of what’s already there.

46. I like the distinction you make between confirming yourself and proving yourself. They are miles apart. One is about who you are and valuing your unique talents whilst the other is about what you do. I certainly have and still do fall for the trap of wanting to prove myself by doing more, but that pattern is simply exhausting, never ending and always leaves you never feeling enough. I know which one I prefer.

47. I love that you have made self-care about appreciating and confirming ourselves Anne. These are great point to make as if we do not value/appreciate our self we will simply cannot grow and evolve.

48. ” …. how can I care for myself and my body, let alone nurture myself, if I do not feel I am worthy of that care?” I’m sure this is true of so many people in the world today. yet you found a way through this mire, by confirming and appreciating who you are and how far you have come. We waste so much time on who we think we are – that can bring us down – rather than who we truly are – amazing human beings who live and love and sometimes mess up. Yet we spend more time and energy on the mess-ups than on what truly is. Appreciation is key.

49. Funny that… how we can essentially ‘invent’ issues for ourselves – and ignore what is there, staring us right in the face, i.e. that what we lack is a fundamental relationship with appreciating ourselves, confirming the steps we have taken and the true beauty of our own being who may well be actually very dedicated to reclaiming love as the foundation stone for every aspect in one’s life.

50. Self-care and self-love comes naturally when we hold and value ourselves as totally precious. We are completely divine and precious no matter what we have lived or the experiences we have had. Nothing changes the fact that we are precious. When we hold ourselves in that quality, lack of self-worth doesn’t stand a chance.

51. When we are stuck in the constant cycle of trying to prove our worth rather than just accepting that we are already everything that we need to be it is a treadmill of expectation that we never escape from. It is only when we let go of looking for recognition on the outside that we can start to live from the inside out and then honour ourselves by becoming more self-nurturing as we let go of all the expectations that we have loaded ourselves down with.

52. Yes the key is appreciation as you discovered when you clocked all the things that you were already doing to take care of yourself but it was not until you started to appreciate those things that your loving self-care was confirmed.

53. Thank you Anne for this reminder of the power of appreciation. We can make more and more self-loving choices but if I don’t stop and feel what those choices bring to my life often they can slip from my consistency. Appreciation I am learning is a stop and feel moment.

54. The topic of reflection and how responsible we are in what we reflect is HUGE. Ultimately, it means that our choices are never just OUR choices, but contribute to how we live, what we are reflecting and thus what other people are getting from us. In the world of energy, which we are very much in, nothing is hidden as we are feeling it all.

55. We have all that we need to support our evolution no matter who we are where we live or what our situation is. Appreciating and confirming ourselves is a simply a choice and such a powerful choice.

56. What a great confirmation to be here reading and appreciating this blog – it literally jolted me and reminded me that I (as we all do) carry a part of the Universe in me, and how do I care for that part of it? Much has changed and through confirmation of all those changes I can feel that more will change, so thank you Anne for the reminder that we appreciate and confirm our self care and allow it to grow and expand from there knowing that as we do, we express who we naturally are here, that we are Love, of God and here to live and be that always.

57. We are often so fixed on one point in life that we forget to see the whole picture, all that we are. It is very much worth to pause and take in the whole view of what we are living and bringing every single day.

58. Wauw Anne, that is really really beautiful. How and what you share touches me deeply in my heart. It helps us straight back to feel that our worth is in us – all of the time. And that through self-care (having self-love) we can feel the appreciation being chosen and lived by us, which then helps us to bring even more out of that worth in our every day walk, talk, being and breathing. Beautiful!!

59. “if I do not feel I am worthy of that care? ” mmmm…. this is something I feel I and many women world wide need to look at. We as women tend to put everyone else before ourselves, or do not feel we are worthy of true value or care. What if by truly caring for ourselves, without saying a word, that changes everything and how people are with and around us. And also how people care for themselves. I have found this to be true with other aspects of my life I have changed. For years I would voice things or tell people how to be, but by simply building and committing to a more loving relationship with myself, my relationships with other people are changing and I don’t need to say a thing. Far less exhausting and controlling way to live.

60. I love your list, it is something I feel to do for myself. It is very easy to focus on what we are not doing without really appreciating all we are doing and have done.

61. Sometimes after making changes to our life and the way we are with ourselves we forget to take stock and appreciate not only what we do lovingly for ourselves but how far we have come…. This is absolutely worth celebrating for the transformation can be quite extraordinary and a great way to support claiming the responsibility we have taken and the love we have chosen to live

62. When we reflect and see our ill-behaviours and the reason as to why we choose those behaviours we then have the awareness to make different choices next time round. It is not about abusing my body to look good and be seen for what I do in front of others but to listen to my body and if I feel to take a rest or go for a walk then to do so in honour of me.

63. Our level of self care is ever deepening and based on us constantly appreciating ourselves and constantly building on that foundation.

64. When we are hard on ourselves and tear ourselves down for our imperfections and mistakes we miss the opportunity and realisation that our so called flaws can actually be our greatest teachers. And when we are honest and work with them, they can lead to much growth and development for us .

65. I have been resisting appreciating myself and my life for some time now. This is a timely read!

66. Thank you for sharing Anne, I have found that appreciation, and acceptance of myself have been the great turning points for me to start honouring how I feel, and supporting my body with what is required.

67. Thank you Anne for a very timely inspiration to appreciate all that I already am.

68. The appreciation for yourself from this great sharing shows it is the key to true self care and the motivation and knowing of our unique divineness and the treasuring of this and the love we innately are. The responsibility of how we live and care for ourselves and our reflection is super important as you show so beautifully simply and truthfully thank you .

69. I think you nail it here Anne, we spend so much energy on what we are not doing for ourselves and yet we seldom just confirm all the choices and changes we have made. This blog is a great wake up call to bring more appreciation.

70. It is interesting to consider that as a child we do not have any issue with lack of self worth and being content within as we just are. And in that being content with ourselves we naturally take care for ourselves and ask the assistance from our parents or caretakers if needed. So a great question is what is happening in our upgrowing as many people have lost this capability in their adulthood?

71. I agree – confirming myself really is the key, knowing I am already enough. When I get into doing, it becomes hard to stop and appreciate myself for just being me. I notice I then want something outside me to confirm that I am on the right track, doing the right thing – this actually takes me further away from appreciating myself for just being me.

72. Hello Anne and this important for me to hear today, “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.” I know this and I may get away with saying we all know this and yet the world doesn’t reflect this, yet it shows us the opposite and we get taken into the doing doing doing. There will always be something or a thousands things for us to do but when it comes down to it the only difference to this is the quality of what we do or how we are. As you are saying here Anne appreciation and confirmation of who we already are in place of striving to be something. It’s fair to say there are many levels to this but the foundation is always found in confirming and appreciating. Thank you Anne.

    1. Sure Ray, to appreciate and then confirm of what we already are is so much more powerful compared with going into the doing in striving to becoming better as this is all fed from a basis of not being enough which is to me key in all the hectic we see around us in our nowadays world.

       1. Hello Nico and we have tried and are still trying the ‘striving and better’ and it’s never got us anywhere, only led us around the bend. What do you lose by simply appreciating everything? Maybe try it for a day, or if that’s too much try it for an hour and see what happens. I have done this off and on and already my life is massively different, what would happen if this was my everyday?

73. If we’re comparing and judging ourselves between where we are now, and all the depth that is still to unfold, then this is not self-caring – we’re actually poisoning ourselves with our own thoughts. Appreciation and confirmation of all that we are and all that we bring absolutely right now is crucial to our own development. Without this, there is no foundation.

74. Pingback: The Role of Loving Care in Learning… and a Lesson from Dood, the Dog – The Truth about Serge Benhayon

75. “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be. Through appreciation, confirmation and celebration, we can go from resisting self-care to truly nurturing ourselves. Indeed, it is our responsibility to do so.”

    This paragraph is really hits home for me, if I really let myself feel what you are sharing it almost feels too simply but it is the complication that we create that is unnecessary.

76. I love how you simply turned towards and allowed yourself to see what has been there all along and the steps you have already taken. There is indeed so much to appreciate it is just that we do not learn to appreciate but learn to always strive for more.

77. Very supportive and inspiring blog to read Anne. Self-love, self-care and self-nurturing is easily put aside if we do not appreciate ourselves and confirm who we are. Appreciation is magic, it supports us on all levels to return to the love that we naturally are. It really highlights how far we have strayed away from connecting to who we are if we are choosing abuse over self-love. Appreciation is the foundation that supports us to return to our natural way of living and in harmony with who we are.

78. It is good to reflect upon the connection between self-care and self-responsibility and how they are so linked and powerfully reflect upon the quality of our everyday life.

79. we again see how understanding and healing self worth awareness and issues can be pivotal to our well-being, our health, and our enjoyment of life in general.

80. What a timely blog I just loved what you shared “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be. Through appreciation, confirmation and celebration, we can go from resisting self-care to truly nurturing ourselves. Indeed, it is our responsibility to do so.” Recently I have been caught in the self worth, but when I stopped to feel, it was me just trying to reach perfection and as I reflected I could feel it just stopped appreciating and confirming which got me into a little self worth moment. How important it is to stop and appreciate.

81. This is such a great blog highlighting to me just how I go around in circles getting caught up in the I’m not good enoughs and beating myself up and this brings me undone, forgetting to appreciate just how far I have come. Appreciating, confirming and celebrating supports our evolution.

    1. Yes, it does Margaret, and it is so simply how this works, appreciation and confirming ourselves is like magic. We can choose to appreciate ourselves at anytime and anywhere, it is limitless and so powerful. We have everything within us to support us to evolve. It is only a choice away and we have the power to make this choice. Appreciation dismantles everything that blocks our ability to evolve, I am really appreciating how powerful this is after reading this blog, your comment and other comments.

82. Anne it was truly supportive reading today your words of how self care is part of our responsibility to to be who we are in full, and in this we therefore take care of our unique and precious place in the Universe. I can sometimes be in a myopic survival mode dealing with just what’s in front of me, this instead brings a grandness to life explaining who we truly are and confirming our value. We can live small or live Grand.

83. One of the things I realised reading that self care can at times be for me a tick box exercise, I’m not sure I’m always making decisions based on what actually works for me or how I feel in the moment. Great to feel there can be a rigidity there and a “getting it right” way of thinking behind my choices, instead of simply enjoying my own self care because of self love.

84. Self care is a natural inbuilt part of who we are, we learn to leave it to enjoin others for acceptance.

85. It feels good to be aware that it is a forever deepening process, that there is always more to go, but that is only there when we appreciate the steps we have made. And to confirm and claim where we have come with supporting ourselves by the self caring and loving choices from day to day. Definitely not something I had learned in my upraising but a joy to develop.

86. When we care for ourselves with genuine appreciation it not only confirms all that we already are but lays a foundation that supports us to equally grow our potential.

87. ‘The truth is, I am taking more responsibility for being, and reflecting, self-care and self-love. The lack of self-love has come simply from not appreciating this – how enlightening I have found this appreciation to be!’ I will make my own list to confirm and appreciate the steps I take every single day with myself.

88. In these moments of appreciating ourselves I would class as self-care also. Self-care isn’t restricted to merely physical deeds.

89. And again… Appreciation comes to the fore as an essential quality that we must nurture in order to evolve.

90. “I understand now that my resistance to self-care is in fact a resistance to loving myself” – this really stood out for me. It sounds crazy – resisting to loving myself – but this, I feel I can resonate, and what comes up to me when I connect with this statement is that in order for me to resist loving myself I have to shut myself from feeling myself because as soon as I allow myself to feel me, the whole me – as it has happened many times during esoteric healing sessions – there is such magnificence how can I possibly resist that? It feels like there is something in the way our life is set up that interferes with this awareness of feeling therefore knowing our true selves and a conscious decision to choose otherwise is what is first needed.

91. ‘I spend more time in the shower and take the time afterwards to tenderly put moisturiser on my body.’ recently I noticed how although I go through the motion of putting moisturiser on I rarely do it lovingly or with great care. I have been working on this recently and noticing how strong the pull is to be rough with myself still. The more awarenss I bring to the way I am applying my moisturiser the quicker I am noticing when I have started to be less gentle with myself.

92. I feel like writing my own confirming list and seeing how much it reveals as when I live from my head I can find so little to appreciate when I get into a spiral of negativity.

93. Appreciation is a seemingly simple or banal word that is however extremely potent… I had an experience recently of recovering from an operation, strongly sedated, my thoughts were a whirlpool, and amazingly what brought me back to myself was a simple process of appreciation, and in this case appreciation of myself and what I bring to the world.

94. On the road to self love! Thank you for such a great perspective.

95. Beautiful blog that reminds me of the importance of appreciation to take care of myself. Thank you Anne.

96. Anne this is a great blog on taking stock. It highlights how we can so easily get caught up in the “Im not enough, or not doing enough” and we forget to appreciate how far we have come toward self-love and the work this takes, through introducing self-care into the way we live.

    1. I love the list Anne has made with all the things she changed already in her life yet did not appreciate and confirmed for herself.

97. How painful it is to read about the pushing, striving and drive, mainly because I did this too and looking back I see how much I suffered because of it. Even though at the time I thought what I was doing was amazing, it had no quality whatsoever. Life is so much more enjoyable and supportive with allowing and acceptance contained within it instead of push and drive.

98. Self care is simply a step towards the love we already are. Self care in itself is not it, it is an important and necessary step we have to take because we have walked so very far away – it is a step on our return to the love we already are.

    1. ‘The love that we already are’ that’s the key, accepting this another key.

       1. crazy really that we have to accept our own great love as if it was something we wouldn’t want to accept??!???

99. You raise many excellent points Anne and yes I agree it is highly irresponsible not to love or care for ourselves. At essence we are all already divine and everything we claim to be looking for. In truth it is all the stuff that we do to try and be who we already are that prevents us from the lived connection to who we truly are. If we simply surrendered to the love we already are the game would be over and we wouldn’t have that endless identification which we so bask in of trying to get it.

    1. Nicola you state a great case for surrender, its so simple. I appreciated your line “… the endless identification which we so bask in of trying to get it” – how true.

100. Anne how true what you say appreciation is the way to come to our true self. With appreciation, I am immediately returned to my center within.

101. Perfection is a game we play with an image we’ve taken that is unattainable to keep us feeling less and to bash our state of self-worth with. My feeling is that we dislike responsibility because it asks us to be more and to stop being what we’re not.

102. There is such a big part in appreciating and feeling that we are already everything, knowing this brings self care to another level as it is about nurturing this innate beauty we have within.

103. “…trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be…” This is very insightful and a great honesty to have with ourselves. It drops the pressure of ‘trying’ brings a realness back to our body.

104. In our society it is so unusual to confirm ourselves and I have found I have been living at the mercy of the world so to speak for a very long time. I became more and more aware that I am amazing and worth caring for but had difficulties to do this in situations where there was actually no room for being content with myself or to self-care. And would then ‘forget’ for a couple of days this amazing feeling. What supported me in changing this was also to confirm myself in what I know is true, in difficult situations too. This has made me way more confident in myself and I am more aware of my beauty and worth during my days, which is awesome!

105. This is so true. Still comparing ourselves to others that may look like they are living the way we think we are supposed to is a fruitless exercise. Nobody can live more me than me. Appreciating me, appreciating my being before I worry about doing is something really important. We are so used to doing and achieving and being measured this way that it is quite hard to move away from the voice that tells us that we need to be ticking those boxes. Being aware of this is gold.

106. I love how you made a list of the more loving ways you now are with yourself, which acts as a confirmation, a great idea, ‘My list was confirming of the ways I am now living – and in making the list I began to realise the number of things I do actually do for myself, which felt awesome. I do love and care for myself – I was just not claiming this’.

107. ‘The simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.’ Appreciation and confirming are so important in our daily lives.

108. You are right Anne, lack of self-loving choices and hence expression of love in full actually is a downward cycle that we justify ourselves in by the constant choice of self-loveless choices. Crazy really! And our choices are the only things that can truly stop this.

109. Invaluable connections you’ve been here Anne, thank you for sharing them, it has prompted me to recommit to expand confirming myself. Loving choices feeding one back more Loving choices, beautiful.

110. ‘And yet… I am very much aware that each person on this Earth is unique, and therefore each person, including me, is important in the Universe.’ Anne this is a great point, and to understand that we are already all we need to be, when we strive for achievements and goals we are living in a way that is not our natural selves, when we re-connect with self-love and self-care we confirm that we are already all we need to be.

111. Even though our lives may seem better, until we weed this idea of perfection out by the root it will still continue to run us. So why do we resist making the final choice to say No to this energy once and for all? Anne you may have given us the answer here: “my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe.”

112. The idea of having to be ‘perfect’ is something that has driven me to push myself and it’s a perfect set-up in the sense that it stops me from seeing that I am already enough because it takes me away from feeling my connection with me, and the further away I get from that, the more I think I have to do to get there. As you say Anne, “I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me.” By consciously choosing to appreciate myself instead of choosing this idea that I have to be perfect I come back to myself and reconnect to the exquisite delicacy of me in my essence and that never has to try to do anything or get anywhere for it is already whole.

113. That is very true Linda and to take it one step further – just suppose we are all already Sons of God (son is not a gender based expression in this context) and Divine at essence (we are) then by not valuing or appreciating our true selves and each other we are in fact rejecting God.

114. Two excellent and essential points Anne. Firstly it makes all the difference if we start from the knowing that we are already everything and secondly, I completely agree appreciation and confirmation are key. It is great to take stock as you did and to confirm and appreciate those steps we have and already taking and then once we have done that, we are in a much more powerful and solid position to take the next steps. Of course as we know we are already everything we take the next steps in the knowing we are returning to ourselves and not going anywhere or aiming to attain anything.

115. ” I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.” I also get caught up in this Anne and forget that it is not about doing and what we do but the quality we live and do everything in. This morning I went for a walk and once I connected to my quality the loveliness that I am it felt complete and I did not feel empty, needy or alone.

116. Inspiring to read Anne, i realize that all the changes i have made in my life and how much self love and care i have developed i also need to appreciate to a deeper level.

117. When I see myself as a vehicle of expression, everything I say or do is not mine to own. And my only job is to make sure that my body is well looked after and being maintained in a way that would guarantee the quality of my expression to be of truth, and nothing else is needed. Serge Benhayon has been presenting this for many years in various ways, but it is only just recently I feel it has finally settled within me. Then self-care really is a very basic mode of protocol.

118. Thank you Anne. This blog allows me to let go of some of the ‘push’ to be ‘better’. It is so easy for me to see what I am not doing well and so revealing to understand that refusing to appreciate myself is a choice I make to avoid responsibility for my expression.

119. Anne, I had another level of appreciation reading your blog today and your words ‘we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be’ touched me deeply and I felt a wave of love for myself and an appreciation that we all have a part to play and as we play our parts there is such joy to feel and understand that this is what we are here to do, be the all we already are. And practically confirming and appreciating is the way, so today I had a eureka on resistance, yes it’s me not wanting to take responsibility and appreciate but it also offers a window that says, you can go to another level, it’s in you, and you’re just choosing not to, and in that I can see and feel I have a choice, and rather than fighting any resistance I may feel, I can meet it with tenderness, and understand that beneath it I am offered a deepening of love and care – resistance confirms I know and have felt where in my body I can go, so my responsibility to to be honest about what the resistance is and be very aware of how I am and how I move and to do so with the greatest care, and to observe it as much as possible, knowing it’s not me and that with time I will let it go.

120. This is a beautifully written and shared blog Anne. Self care has always been my stumbling block, and I have wondered why I have not valued and loved myself enough to take more care of myself. I find I am taking the time to self care much m ore than in the past and your sharing is very supportive of that , in my need to recognize and appreciate what I do for myself now. Thank you Anne.

121. It feels great to be reminded of the following quote in Serge Benhayons’ book Open Letter to Humanity (p.542): “By choosing to self-love, we deepen our self-caring, which then leads to self nurturing.” It supports me to keep building the self-care in my day.

122. Anne, reading this today has been such a gift – I often struggle with appreciation and do not consistently confirm those things I do and all I’ve changed, and there is much to celebrate here, and yet with this I struggle, and reading today I got to see and feel how I can stop and actually note those thing I do, and build from there rather than looking out at some unattainable thing I should do which is actually dis honouring of myself. I can feel and see that part of my self care is to claim what I do, to honour it rather than focussing on other things to do. I feel very different in my body when I consider this, there is more space and much less pressure, I will be playing with this some more.

     1. Yes monicag2, I agree this blog is indeed a gift and I relate very much to what you have shared. I can feel a deeper level of appreciation on the horizon towards myself yet I am unwilling to go there at this moment. It makes me feel sad, frustrated and there is much resistance to feel. Confirming and claiming myself perhaps beginning once or twice in my day feels very supporting and loving and the way forward for me to go together with allowing myself to feel and surrender more deeply and let go of that which is holding me back from taking appreciation to the next level.

        1. Caroline, I love that you’ve commented and brought me back to this blog today. Today I’ve realised that I have an idea of what it is to appreciate myself and that if I do it in a particular way then somehow I’ve mastered it,, and reading our comments and this blog again I can see that appreciation is just that, appreciating in the moment and not having any idea or measure where it can go to. It feels great to see this and to understand that I appreciate where I am now, and keep allowing for the deepening that is offered, and yes there may be resistance there too, as I get to see anything which may be in the way of that deepening, but that resistance is just showing another area for more love and appreciation and actually it’s part of the process of letting go, surrendering and appreciating that in being willing to see more we are shown more. Thank you Caroline, your comment has really supported me today to see that appreciation is about feeling it all.

123. “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be. Through appreciation, confirmation and celebration, we can go from resisting self-care to truly nurturing ourselves. Indeed, it is our responsibility to do so.” I Love this paragraph, it is so powerful and full of love/appreciation, thank you.

124. On re-reading your blog Anne it has given me a stop moment to look at the way in which I self-care and self-appreciate. You have shared many valuable insights, thank-you.

125. Beautiful Anne, I feel the appreciation of ourselves, of our divine essense and the deep care of our bodies is what allows us to keep expanding our Love.

126. I thoroughly enjoyed your blog Anne. Lack of appreciation really is a lack of responsibility and a way I have used to keep myself small and hidden in the world. It’s great to work through this with the amazing support offered through the presentations and workshops of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.

     1. Great point lack of self appreciation is a lack of responsibility. Once we can start appreciating ourselves for where we are at present, we are more adept to lovingly see this as a lack of responsibility. But first I feel it starts simply with appreciation.

     2. ‘Lack of appreciation really is a lack of responsibility’, I never thought of it this way Shelley but you are right. It’s so easy to go into criticising our self thoughts and ignoring how valuable self appreciation is to us and how different it feels in our bodies.

     3. Thank you shelleyjones44 . The simplicity of your point packs a (very loving) punch and reminds me that I am supported to accept this responsibility every step of the way.

127. Awesome to re-read your article Anne, as I did these lines stood out to me about your relationship with self-care ‘Is it possible that the answer to this question is that, knowing my uniqueness, and therefore how important I am, comes with huge responsibility, and that I am resisting this responsibility?’ and ‘To me this has meant not wanting to be responsible because I know at times I am not reflecting the level of self-love and self-care that I am capable of, or the divinity that I am – and so it goes, round and round, in a constant cycle.’ Oh how I relate to this. Today I truly got to feel my own lack of wanting to choose responsibility and it wasn’t fun. Yet as you have shown I know I can turn this around, beginning with confirming me and making a different choice.Thank you for showing that there is always another deeper level to go to and that we can at any moment turn things around. It is truly never too late.

128. I remember how much I used to think to myself ‘I don’t have time for that’ or ‘I cannot be bothered’ when it came to caring and nurturing myself. I was definitely the last one on the list to be afforded any time and space from me. Abandoning myself like that not only caused much grief and hardening on my part, but now I understand the utter lack of responsibility it displayed.

129. “I am already all I need to be.” This line confirms so much Anne. It feels beautiful to say too. Thank you for sharing such an amazing blog.

130. Appreciation is vital for growth. So it makes perfect sense to appreciate and value ourselves.The alternative is to ignore and dismiss our self and I for one having been down that track cannot recommend it as it leads to lack of self worth and depression.

131. How we treat ourselves is also how we treat others and in turn what we receive from others

132. I loved reading your blog Anne, you can really feel the care that you are now choosing to take for yourself in your writing. Lovely to feel.

133. appreciation is a great foundation for reconfiguring our relationship with ourselves and with others… Feel what it is like when someone actually tell you how much they appreciate you, and also feel if you can actually let in the appreciation, because this is also a part of our evolution

     1. Indeed appreciation is reconfiguring our relationship with ourselves and with others. Love that word reconfiguring. It offers an opportunity to go deeper with ourselves and others.

     2. Appreciation was my starting point in seeing I was worth healing. I felt this apparition of Serge Benhayon, it was totally life transforming.

134. Yes self-appreciation is something I can forget about but is so vital in confirming our love and care for ourselves and the way we feel everyday.

135. Self loving Anne it was a great joy to read your awesome blog. What you have shared is gold: “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be. ” Appreciating is such a powerful tool and still not yet so much claimed as such in our daily living – it is really time to do so.

136. I have been doing that for a few days now and it is amazing what a difference that makes. In the beginning I was tempted to go to criticizing myself. Now it is a lovely and loving act, just to express out loud upto the detail what I appreciate of myself at the end of the day.

137. Anne it was beautiful to read this and feel your commitment to self love nurturing and care.Thank you for sharing.

138. Celebrating ourselves each and every day is something that has to be committed to, the same as cleaning our teeth, and that sounds ridiculous! Celebrating ourselves should be the easiest thing in the world.

     1. Yes Heather and yet it is something that does not come easy no matter what age. Asking primary school kids what they love about themselves can be like extracting teeth.

139. Just appreciation in itself is a goldmine that we can all tap into, and yet so few people are aware of the power and the amazingness of what happens when we do start to appreciate ourselves, express this, appreciate others and express this as well… It’s like unblocking a dam, and a river of quality starts to flow.

     1. Well said Chris, having the ability to appreciate ourselves for who we are without the need of recognition or approval from others is an awesome gesture of self love

140. I can relate to what you write: confirming and appreciating yourself and all the self-loving choices you are already making is powerful. I experience it deepens the commitment to keep on making these choices. And it is a much more loving way than bashing ourselves that we are not self-caring (enough).

141. Over the time I have developed a listening and caring relationship with my body it has ‘talked’ to me more clearly and loudly. It used to be that my head was the boss, but now my body is firmly established as a supportive, consistent and totally reliable feedback buddy as each day unfolds.

     1. Yes Matilda I agree, when we stay connected to our bodies we build a relationship that supports us continually throughout life.

142. “Through appreciation, confirmation and celebration, we can go from resisting self-care to truly nurturing ourselves. Indeed, it is our responsibility to do so’.
     This is very powerful, Anne and a reminder that it is our responsibility to deepen our self worth -it is a choice but is so much more.

     1. I agree it is powerful, ‘Through appreciation, confirmation and celebration, we can go from resisting self-care to truly nurturing ourselves.’

143. Anne very well expressed, the need for self appreciation in order to confirm our commitment to self care is very true, by appreciating ourselves, we not only appreciate how far we have come, but also the deep change that has happened within.

144. “Appreciation, celebration and confirmation”. I agree Anne this makes a difference to the way we talk to/treat ourselves, feel about ourselves, accept our mistakes/flaws etc.

145. This is a gorgeous blog Anne, thank you. “We are already all we need to be”. We don’t often hear these words yet they are true.

     1. Yes Annie, this sentence stood out for me too. Letting go of feeling that I am not enough which has crippled me for most of my life is an ongoing acceptance of love for myself. I was never satisfied with myself and was always looking for perfection on the outside in everything I did; it was extremely exhausting. “… simply accepting that I am already all I need to be” puts a stop to any trying to be something which I know within I am not. It is simply a choice.

     2. Yes I agree Annie, we need to confirm this truth daily.

146. I feel that by holding myself back in an idea that I am unworthy, does mean that I do not need to step up and take my responsibility for my part in the universe. This is an interesting point you have made Anne and quite revelatory. What if there is a great amount of comfort in staying unworthy? What if I quite like staying where I am and dealing with each hiccough and shake up when they happen but stay in the familiar patterns that I know, even though they may be uncomfortable and less than the joy and love I know I am? Now that is something worth pondering and changing

     1. Love your comment Amanda although I feel quite uncomfortable because I can feel the comfort in feeling unworthy and staying small more deeply in my body. It is a big ouch for it really does bring home to me my responsibility in the world… there is indeed much to ponder, reflect and feel.

     2. I would agree Amanda, we choose this holding back, keeping ourselves small as a form of comfort. When are we going to choose to be responsible, and be ourselves in full?

147. I love that list of things you do for yourself and right after finishing this thank you comment I am going to write my own list – simply as a brilliant foundation for today, to appreciate where I am at and be inspired to go on developing and learning. THANK YOU

148. Thank you, Anne. This is a great reminder to welcome nurturing within me instead of trying to meet any expectations.

149. Thank you very much Anne, this is also very enlightening to become aware for me through reading your blog today: “The truth is, I am taking more responsibility for being, and reflecting, self-care and self-love. The lack of self-love has come simply from not appreciating this – how enlightening I have found this appreciation to be!” I feel now more how I betray myself and therefore others, through being identified with what I do and grade it to never be good enough, as a reason for not appreciating myself and taking the responsibility for bringing all of what I already am.

150. I like the quote you give us here Anne from Serge Benhayon’s book – An Open Letter to Humanity ‘By choosing to self-love, we deepen our self-caring, which then leads to self nurturing’.
     Sounds like a simple recipe and it is but to live it is a different thing.
     From my experience it was just not an overnight thing and then there was more and what I came to realise is how my/our minds trick us into thinking we are on track and ticking all the boxes but that if it’s not LIVING then there is no true expanding or evolution. In other words you are not really going anywhere, just around and around thinking you are moving forward.
     First it was a choice and then doing my best to knock out my ingrained behaviour that is not self caring is the next step. Making deeply loving choices day in and day out to not harm myself or others took a bit longer and then dealing with my buried hurts. It was dealing with these hurts that started to bring about long lasting change. I noticed that it was a natural way of living and it felt real and very supporting for my body.
     It is no surprise that I have written much about self care as I myself have felt enormous change and the benefits are incredible. I owe it to the world to share what I now live – thanks to the life and work of Serge Benhayon.

151. It seems that only once we start becoming more self caring, that it is then only possible to see how we have actually resisted giving this very natural nurturing behaviour to ourselves. The way we can hold our body in tension, expectation or in emotion certainly does not let the heart pump the love around our body with ease!

152. One of the things that really supported me was cutting our dairy. I found my sinuses where clear and I have not suffered a cold for a good few years. If I have a little cheese or yoghurt, straight away I can feel my sinuses. It’s amazing how quickly the body responds.

153. “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.” This is so true it really is for us to be more appreciative, so often we will put ourselves down rather than appreciate, and more and more I am becoming aware how important it is to self appreciate. As we appreciate the self we are deepening our own self-love, self-care and self-nurturing.

     1. When I do not appreciate all that I have learnt and all that is on offer, I cut myself and life down to a diminished state. It is my developing relationship with my body that wakes me up over and over again. Appreciation is the key to building a foundation for a steady relationship with ourselves, meaning we do not have to be at the mercy of all that is going on around us.

154. I love how you bring in appreciating and confirming yourself in your last paragraph Anne. I wonder if this is something we often avoid doing so that we remain stuck in the pattern of never feeling we are enough and thus have to look for more self loving things to add on. What is inspiring here is that you show so clearly that stopping and confirming and appreciating ourselves is loving in itself. Wonderful!

155. Appreciation and confirmation of who we are allows us to accept our own glory and know that there is nothing to strive to in life but just be, thank you Anne!

     1. Through confirmation we develop a joy that is very normal.

156. Love this line Anne “I understand now that my resistance to self-care is in fact a resistance to loving myself”. Next time I’m resisting this line will bring me back. A wise friend told me resistance was not dealing with your hurt. Just for the record !!

     1. ah Rik the age old techniques that we have up our selves to not want to look at the hurts that we carry. It makes sense though when you are not able to fully surrender to deep self-love and caring that we have something that is blocking it. I wonder if it is the same wise friend that told me too!

157. Beautiful to actually write down the changes you have made in your life. It is so easy to accept where we are, without appreciating where we have come from, or to feel we have further to go to ‘get somewhere’. Confirming and appreciating every step of the way is so supportive – of ourselves.

     1. Yes, Sue, I agree – appreciating and confirming ourselves is a beautiful way to become more intimate with ourselves and to allow ourselves the space to expand our understanding of the very nature of life.

158. Appreciating and confirming ourselves for who we are, not what we do, is so important. When we do this, why wouldn’t we want to take care of our precious selves? We are enough, just as we are, something I have to constantly remind myself.

159. ​
     Well said Marika I agree “The more I value, accept and appreciate myself, I build my self-worth which then inspires me to self-care even more”. It is very important like you say, and needs to be known world-wide!

160. I really appreciate the wisdom and open sharing in this blog, it offers much to ponder and inspire.

161. Further to my previous comment, what came to me regarding the act of responsibility is how we see that. Is it a heaviness as we look at all our previous unloving and unwise choices or with an openness to accept what has already transpired and accept that our responsibility is simply to reflect who we are, nothing more than that.

162. “Is it possible that the answer to this question is that, knowing my uniqueness, and therefore how important I am, comes with huge responsibility, and that I am resisting this responsibility? Hence often my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe.” What you wrote here really struck a chord with me. It exposes all the reasons we hold onto for our lack of self worth as totally false, the unwillingness to be responsible being the root of it all.

     1. Yes Michelle, the lack of self-worth is nothing but an excuse I am creating to avoid responsibility for my part in the universe.

163. It’s amazing how blind we can be to our own natural qualities, especially when they’re so natural we don’t have to put effort in or try hard. How convenient, that the world tells us we have to slog it out to achieve and do well…
     Your list of things you do to care for yourself sounds very helpful, I’ll be making one of these…

     1. Agree it is something for each of us to learn – to appreciate the natural qualities we have.

164. It is so important to appreciate how far along with self care we have come. There are lots of choices I have made for myself these days that are much more caring than I was before and my days are mostly joyful and feeling lovely. So on that rare day where I don’t feel great, I shouldn’t see that as a failure, but appreciate how few those days have become and appreciate that.

     1. Beautiful Amanda, it is indeed very important to appreciate how far we have come and not to allow a ‘not so great day’ to throw us off track. This has been a tendency of mine that is to give too much focus and attention to the ‘off day’. What I get from Amanda’s comment is to be consistent with this appreciation for all those days where I have felt great.

     2. What I find supports me if I have had an ‘off day’ is that I remind myself that I have another opportunity to do it all over again and re-imprint instead of indulging in the previous day which is how I used to live.

165. Anne I love what you share about appreciating and confirming ourselves. I see that I have the tendency to always set the bar a bit higher so that I never feel ‘good enough’. What I am realising now is that by appreciating who I am I can then expand my expression of me, rather than holding back waiting until I am ‘good enough’. It shows that lack of appreciation is really a form of irresponsibility.

166. Thanks Anne for the very loving and supper gentle invitation you offer: “choosing to confirm myself – just for being me.” I appreciate the connection you offer between this awareness and the alternative and that is if I’m not feeling this then there is a very strong possibility I’m trying to prove myself.

167. I feel I need to quote you extensively here, it it so telling and typical of so many of us: “I have always pushed myself to achieve more and more, doing course after course, not feeling I was ever good enough, being very hard on myself, often completely ignoring my body, and always reaching for that (unattainable) goal of ‘perfection’ in everything I did…” What a trap that is, and one we so willingly wander into and don’t ever question! Until the teachings of the Ancient Wisdom come along, of course and remind us that there is a true way to live.

     1. Great to re-read that again Gabriele and was it one that definitely jumped out at me too. I can see more and more in the life that I have chosen that this has been a dominated belief in my life. Even as Anne says, after coming to the work and letting go of a lot but still having it come up as one belief that I have not fully let go of. Thank goodness for the Ancient Wisdom teachings for the constant reminder we are more than enough and to keep being deepening our acceptance of this day after day.

168. I ‘appreciate’ this line too. “The lack of self-love has come simply from not appreciating this – how enlightening I have found this appreciation to be!”. It’s so important when it is there to feel in the body and confirm those feelings that feel great. I have spent my whole life focusing on what feels NOT good when, feeling the body is glorious. A huge contrast – one is truly living and the other is existing.

169. Mary, seeing through this ‘blank canvas’ idea is very empowering as beliefs such as which encourage us to think that we create our own reality are very limiting. It promotes the idea that we are going somewhere with something to do rather than knowing that we already are ‘the glory that I am’ and we just need to return to that. Also we get the false notion that we are free to create but in fact we are focussing on using the limited range of colours on our palette which blinds us to the many vast possibilities that are open to us to truly evolve rather than just recreate the same old, same old.

170. Good question Doug. Until we see the game we are caught in we are like puppets having our strings pulled. It’s as if we blindfold ourselves to not see it because if we were conscious of what we were doing we would then need to take responsibility for the choices we made. By indulging in it we postpone the day when we need to be accountable but we also postpone the delight and freedom of being all that I am. How crazy is that?

171. ​
     Food has been a ‘killer’ for me. It can undo a beautiful day if I eat out of line to how my actual day was. What is clear to me when I did this last night (again) was that I was not truly confirming the day I was having in each moment. There was a moment I stopped and appreciated how lovely the house felt after I cleaned it but, I really needed to appreciate just how amazing it felt. Really feel it in my body ! Exclaim to the heavens that no other could have made this house feel as good as I made it feel.
     I am truly fantastic how I do things. I bring that uniqueness to things like no other. Its time the world felt more of me by me appreciating in detail just how I do it.

     1. Rik thank you for your heart felt appreciation and celebration of who you are and what you offer and expressing this in your comments. They are very powerful to read and feel and offer a forever deepening celebration of what we do bring with our own uniqueness which comes when we bring all we are to what we are doing without any need for external approval or recognition. A very beautiful and inspiring sharing.

172. ​”I am very much aware that each person on this Earth is unique, ..”. This hit the spot for me Anne. It made me realize and see that I need that specific type of love and self-nurturing for my body that no one else can bring but me. I cannot wait or expect this from outside of me, I need to specifically take special care for what my body needs for it to grow. For eg. I do things in the detail and celebrate most tasks I do. I might take a little longer, and I’m working on this however, this detail is what is needed to support my body. Just writing this comment I feel it is in everything I do and how much continuous confirming is required to really love the preciousness of me.

173. It can be difficult to break the cycle of proving ourselves by what we do, but well worth it when you do.

     1. Suzanne, it is as you say, “a cycle” which we have repeated over and over again hence why it appears so difficult to break. The awareness gained by seeing it for what it is helps us say No to the undermining thoughts that are wanting to enter. Our awareness keeps the door closed so they cannot come in. Building an appreciation of our value gives us a clear marker so we can more easily spot anything that is not confirming that.

174. Thank you for your blog on this topic, I find so often in life we are quick to see what we need to work on, but fail to see what amazing progress and developments we have made.
     I really like deeply appreciating every step I take away from how i used to be- full of reaction and angst, and now full of fun and so many awesome moments and events to appreciate over and over again. I also know there is so much more to come 🙂

175. awesome learning- the power and importance of self observation – its key to understanding and sky rocketing our evolution. this is exactly what we need to be aware of and deeply enhance in our lives. I spend much time really appreciating every step i take, its awesome to be able to enjoy this progress consciously and fully.

176. Self-care and self-love is a unique journey for each of us, so we can never compare our self-loving choices with another. And while it is uniquely ours, as part of our expression, it is an important part of the whole – that is, everyone can feel our choices to be more self-loving or not. Here lies our responsibility.

177. ” grand design” we’re two words that linked me to the all encompassing responsibilities we all hold, and it starts with us choosing to be in the ‘livingness’ which starts with a simple choice to self care and self love. Resisting is delaying our part in what is inevitable, our return to our connection to God.

     1. Responsibility is totally key for me and I have had to start afresh with my relationship with this. Responsibility is not the burdensome thing to be avoided at all costs that I used to think it was. It is the joy of realising that we are all parts in the whole and that everything we do, say and think has an impact. Accepting, living and loving this is our responsibility.

178. Mary what a glorious realisation you have shared … Yes everything is known if we allow the flow in our bodies, and indeed our canvas has the full picture and we are ” heaven on earth” indeed!

179. Introducing and developing self care is essential in our lives, much change happens when we take care. However, it is the reflection of our level of love that is felt by others that inspires.

     1. This is true Matt. Our reflection is what inspires as it actually says volumes on so many levels.

180. The temptation to fall back into the old belief of not being enough is always there, but part of me knows it’s a clever trick I play to keep myself small so, rather like when self-doubt comes along, I know its not me, it’s just a thought I’m inviting in, and I can choose to send it on its way. Going for a walk helps, because then I can just be with my body and my mind can re-align.

     1. I love what you have shared Carmel as I too know about this temptation as it is always around the corner so to speak. Going for a walk feels like a very good possibility to re-align back – very inspiring Carmel thank you.

181. Self care is only the beginning to understanding our true self worth – but it is an all so important beginning to understanding our own glory.

182. Who or what is in opposition to self appreciation? Where do we get the thought that it is false or wrong or not normal to self appreciate?

     1. These are great questions and ones that need to be asked, talked about and taught at a young age. I am deeply appreciative of when I met Serge Benhayon to this day and the rest to come. He presents the absolute Truth of what is going on. First and foremost that ‘Everything is Energy, there for, Everything is because of Energy’. With this as a your first point of understanding it is an energy, not you that is stopping you from not truly appreciating yourself. So to be taught how to read, connect and feel the energies that are happening around us, in and through us is crucial.

     2. Brilliant questions Coleen. They show me the madness and harmfulness of normal patterns of behaviour that when left unquestioned cause such devastation and misery. Without self-appreciation we unwittingly abuse ourselves on a daily basis whether that is in the way we think about all the things we do ‘wrong’, or belittle ourselves in comparison to others, or simply think that it is indulgent to take care of ourselves. These are all forms of abuse that leave us a long way from connecting to our true selves and each other.

        1. I agree, Matilda – lack of appreciation is akin to what used to be called ‘a sin of omission,’ rather than an active form of abuse. Because it’s an inactivity, it is much more difficult to pinpoint and identify – hence, I feel, why its effects are way more deleteriously subtle than an obvious abuse like a put down, for example.

     3. It’s so unreasonably normal in life that self-appreciation is not needed.

183. “The truth is, I am taking more responsibility for being, and reflecting, self-care and self-love. The lack of self-love has come simply from not appreciating this – how enlightening I have found this appreciation to be!” Gorgeous – the lack of self love came simply from not confirming and appreciating what you were already doing. I wonder if that is partly related to the fact that we are schooled to always seek confirmation from outside of ourselves and that it is seen to be immodest or egotistical to appreciate oneself – we’re supposed to wait for someone else to do it for us?? That’s a very strange set up and certainly not innate – I observe babies being very appreciative of their bodies and themselves.

     1. That’s true what you say Coleen, that “we are schooled to always seek confirmation from outside of ourselves and that it is seen to be immodest or egotistical to appreciate oneself”. The conditioning begins very early on with parents so attached to how their child performs and therefore making a big fuss when something is achieved, but then at school there is a lot of pressure to conform and it’s not cool to excel or stand out, except perhaps in the area of sport because you are representing the school. Once we come back to appreciating ourselves is a great step towards healing the hurt from not being truly seen or met as a child.

184. I wonder how much we resist self-care, which naturally leads to self-love and nurturing so that we do not have to feel the depths of the love we have in equal measure for all other people. Maybe the pain of seeing what we all do to ourselves without care and regard for who we are can at times be too great, so perhaps it seems easier to just enjoin in the dis-regard and the misery rather than to stand-out stand-up and be the love that we are. The irony is that this actually hurts us more, and the truest way to love with all is by self-love first. This takes a journey to discover and learn, step by delicate step.

     1. Shami I agree with all you’ve written. Avoiding the pain of acknowledging the pain we’ve inflicted on ourselves by inflicting more self-abuse on ourselves is, definitely more painful than acknowledging our actions and giving ourselves the space to recuperate and be self-loving. As you so beautifully say, one delicate step at a time.

     2. So true Shami the irony is super interesting that we have accepted the hurt as being the normal and that we struggle to even go there to our natural quality inside of us, Love. As you say, step by step and let down our barriers of protection we let more and more of the Love in. We can express from Love and feel the purity in this you realise what was the way of our normal doesn’t need to be.

        1. There is never a limit to storing love in the love bank. Keep appreciating and watch it grow!

     3. ‘Step by delicate step’, I am learning to love myself again; cutting through all the entrenched ideas that it is indulgent to do so. What blows me away about this is that it opens my eyes more and more to the power and sweetness of relationships with others – and by relationships here I mean my every interaction with everyone.

        1. ‘Step by Delicate Step’. This phrase alone is totally encompassing and beautiful.
           What a way to live.

185. Thank you Anne for your great blog and the reality of appreciation and confirmations that follow are so beautiful and really changes our lives enormously to one of the Joy and love we innately are. Acceptance of ourselves is a vital through the way we live as is caring for ourselves lovingly, inspirational.

186. Anne, I can relate to what you have written, I have also made many changes in the way I live in the five years and reading your article I realise that I have not been appreciating and confirming these changes, I now live much more lovingly than I ever have,’I do love and care for myself I was just bit claiming this’. I can feel how important it is to claim the changes we have made and that this will bring more appreciation of ourselves and allow less self-critical thoughts to enter.

187. Anne, there is true power here – the simplicity of acceptance that we are already enough and there is nothing needed to prove anything. What a great trap has been fooling and hooking humanity for many lifetimes to do exactly the opposite.
     “I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be”.

     1. I agree with you Stephanie, there really is true power and wisdom in what Anne has written. Simply accepting that we are already enough, no more seeking or trying, how awesome!

     2. We are not only already “enough” we are already everything. We are ALL already divine, glorious, magnificent, all knowing beings. Hard to believe when you see how some of us behave on this planet, but nevertheless true.

        1. Rather than choose to accept our innate divinity we instead identify with all the stuff that we are not, all the stuff we have taken on, all the made up issues, problems, ideals, beliefs, images, complications etc etc… far more simple to start from the knowing that we are already everything and then commence the process of letting go of all that we are not.

        2. Nicola, this truth comes straight from your body – thank you for the powerful reflection from your two comments.

188. Anne, I have just loved what you have shared here, this is so appropriate for where I am at right now, by simply stopping to appreciate where I am at right now is a self-loving act in itself, thank you.

     1. It’s amazing how simply self appreciating the smallest of self loving choices are the building blocks that set a foundation for one to deepen self appreciation in self and others- all confirming the love and truth of who we are.

        1. A great reminder, ‘simply self appreciating the smallest of self loving choices are the building blocks that set a foundation for one to deepen self appreciation in self and others’.

189. Anne this is such a great sharing and something that we can always be reminded of. That when we truly appreciate ourselves for being the divine sons of God that we are then we really do feel the enormity of our love. This can then be emanated in our day-to-day living.

     1. Yes, i agree that appreciating ourselves as the ‘divine sons of god that we are’ keeps us connected to Love and to the Truth of all that we are.

        1. Beautiful Deborah. Consistently appreciating and confirming ourselves is absolutely key to knowing our divinity. It is the counter to all that is out there that wants us to believe otherwise.

        2. Yes Deborah, appreciation is a great tool to build our foundation of love and when we are “connected to Love” anything that is not love is unable to enter us.

190. “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be. Through appreciation, confirmation and celebration, we can go from resisting self-care to truly nurturing ourselves. Indeed, it is our responsibility to do so.” Beautifully put Anne, thank you for unravelling the mystery as to why we can find it so hard to care for ourselves and our bodies, as even when we are actually making loving choices to be more caring and nurturing, we may still be judging and comparing ourselves to another who we feel is taking better care of themselves. Rather than deeply appreciating and confirming what we are doing and the enormous changes we have made, and from this foundation of appreciation naturally wanting to continue to deepen the care and love of ourselves.

191. “I am seldom angry now with myself, others or situations I cannot control.” Thank you for sharing this Anne, it hit me reading this sentence, that I used to get angry (many times furious) with myself and other people a lot of the time in the past, and nowadays since studying with Universal Medicine, this is a rare occurrence, and even if it does happen I quickly choose to come back to my body and connect to my tender self.

     1. Another great point of appreciation – to actually acknowledge that reactive anger and/or frustration are not a part of my daily life any more – this is amazing…

        1. Appreciating that the reactions in my life have virtually disappeared is almost a miracle.

192. “Then it hit me: I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me. I realized I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.”
     This is something that I struggle with, to confirm myself for just being myself, not what I achieve in life, its not that I only seek recognition and approval from other people for what I achieve, but I also have an inner critique that marks or assesses me on a daily basis, its very hard and judgmental, this feels like a very old and ingrained pattern for me.

193. “Is it possible that the answer to this question is that, knowing my uniqueness, and therefore how important I am, comes with huge responsibility, and that I am resisting this responsibility? Hence often my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe.”
     The truth of this sentence stopped me dead in my tracks, so to speak, and made me feel the irresponsible momentum I live in, by making myself less than others and playing the game or being less than a son of god I see how I avoid responsibility with other people and in the world. As long as I have low self worth, lack of appreciation of myself and all that amazing qualities I have to bring, or create issues that I then need to work, I can continue to live in irresponsibility and disregard.

     1. Well said Thomas. I also felt quite confronted reading Anne’s quote. We hold onto our issues we have created in the first place to avoid taking more responsibility.
        Ouch!

        1. A great way to let go of the “little me” that indulges in all these games is to connect to PURPOSE. We all have a purpose which links with what Anne wrote about responsibility, to reflect who we truly are in our magnificence so others can also connect to who they truly are – which is of the same essence. If we walk around being less, we are providing a reflection to everyone else that this contracted lesser state is normal and ok.

     2. This is huge Thomas, ‘by making myself less than others and playing the game or being less than a son of god I see how I avoid responsibility with other people and in the world.’ Yes, as long as I have low self worth and lack of appreciation of myself and all that amazing qualities I have to bring , I continue to live with lack of responsibility.

194. You have raised an important point Anne, I hadn’t made the connection between myself having low self worth and acceptance of who I am and not being able to self care and love myself, it makes a lot of sense. I feel I avoid the level of self-care and love for myself, as it will expose the lack of self worth and not appreciating who I am.

     1. I appreciate myself already more than ever but realize that this appreciation needs to go deeper on a physical level. That I move in a way which is confirming my beauty and deepens my acceptance and love.

195. Thanks for your blog Anne, I agree, we just need more appreciation, confirmation and celebrating of ourselves… something that many of us have not given ourselves permission to do but so worth doing.

196. Prior to my introduction to Universal Medicine I wouldnt of had a clue of the meaning of self care, and since I have developed a lifestyle of self care which will be forever deepening

197. “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.” Love this Anne when you put it like this I can see how vitally important it is to deeply love and honour who we really are.

198. On re- reading this article, Anne, it highlights the futility of the resistance and the old cycles that we can repeat thinking we are stuck in them forever. You show how it is very simple to return to looking after yourself and make it very clear with the examples how the difference can feel. A beautiful reflection for everyone thank you.

199. Re-reading this article, I was struck by the point of realisation that you have when it dawns on you that you have in fact been making changes in your life that have been self-loving and about self-care, and yet were focusing on the things that needed to be ‘fixed’ or that were missing in order to create some kind of sense of perfection in you.
     How often does that happen to us? For me, it is still pretty often. It is like a kind of false modesty comes in where I think that it is not ok to claim that I am actually doing well at something, and can’t possibly appreciate it because just look at all these things that still need sorting out. It is a destructive cycle which does not actually allow for love to not only come into our life but to be expressed truly to others as well.

200. It’s really beautiful to stop and appreciate just how far we have come with our self-love and self-care and it is true, it is forever deepening and expanding according to our choices. Thank you for sharing this Anne, a lovely moment to reflect more deeply on appreciation.

201. The list of confirmation shared here is so simple and yet so powerful – I have to question what holds us back from such simplicity in the first place.

202. “…. often my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe.” Whoa! That one reached me in a jaw dropping way, Anne: I had not considered this in this manner previously. However, reading your expression, I instantly felt this to be true for myself also. I ‘do’ a lot of stuff but rarely have taken the time to stop and feel what is there uniquely for me to do by feeling into and accepting what I bring. I say rarely – I’ve actually started the process over the last few weeks, so your sharing is hugely timely. Again – thank you!!

203. What an exquisite and deeply insightful sharing of the process of unravelling your resistance to self love, Anne: I am inspired – thank you!

     1. This has been an absolute inspiration to me also Coleen, it is such a sneaky way to resist our own awesomeness.

204. Life will consistently come in to try to knock us off with its hurriedness, busyness, complexity, dramas and in this whirlwind we may forget for an instant (or more) that we are simply here to reflect the fact that we are the Sons of God. We may sometimes forget, but truth is always within our hearts, and it is through surrendering rather than doing more, that this truth is once again felt.

     1. And it is through developing appreciation for all that we are that we can hold our own more and more with the ways of the world becoming something we simply observe.

205. It is from the absoluteness that we are the Sons of God that we go out in the world, our real work is in remembering to reflect this in any and every area of our daily lives. This changes everything we know life to be, life then does not own us, instead we begin a relationship with life, one which we can only go deeper every day more than the last.

206. Yes Anne, we are Divine beings who deserve to be loved and deeply cared for, a lovely sharing.

207. Yes we all know how gorgeously loving and empowering it feels to be appreciated and confirmed and how amazing it feels to offer that to another. But most of us, me included, could do more with offering that level of appreciation and confirming to ourself.

208. I think you are right … “the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be” If we do not feel and know this about ourselves it is easy to disregard ourselves.

209. Yes, there is always room to take our self-care deeper but first and foremost there is always that to appreciate what is there already and then quite naturally a sense of what is next will be felt.

210. Its an important point that when there is self-abuse, it is a reflection of potential self-worth issues. So rather than pondering why there is abuse, a focus on confirming the loveliness we are, and confirming it for ourselves rather than waiting for someone else to come along and do it.

     1. Yes great point Heather lets knock the waiting game on the head and just go for it and appreciate and confirm ourselves.

211. Confirmation of who we are rather than what we do is essential, and almost unheard of. It is however a sure pathway to love,

212. That’s a fun way to put it Mary, that we are “hardwired to God”. Our bodies are most definitely of the same intelligence, it knows that vibration of truth and love.

213. At first, self care does appear or seem to be an effort. There is much advertising that sells ‘immediate results’ so there becomes an expectation placed upon many things that are sold to us. We are so used to wanting immediate results that it can be easy to give up when something doesn’t happen in our own self projected time frame. However, from my own experience of taking care of myself and nurturing me, the feedback from my body is quite delicious and well worth the effort.

     1. Yes I agree mathew brown, self love and self care has been truly delicious and my body delights in the nurturing it receives. The true beauty of this way of being is I get to share this glorious feeling with everyone I meet!

214. Anne this is such an amazing sharing, one I shall re read many times. I love your revelation of the need to confirm what you are already doing to self care and acknowledging this. I will take much away from your words {your livingness} the responsibility is mine to make the changes that I need. Beautiful Anne.

215. You’ve hit the nail on the head: knowing and appreciating who you are, and that you DO deserve to be totally and gorgeously cared for and loved is a big part of being willing to self care. If a lack of self worth, or a desire to please others is at the fore, the willingness to truly care, nurture and cherish ourselves usually comes a far second.

216. I agree Anne appreciation and confirmation are key elements in claiming and living as the sparks of God that we innately are. I need to claim that I am the one, as we all are, and walk beside the masters in the true glory and wisdom that is available to us all

     1. Yes Mary-Louise this is so true and solidly claimed in your delivery. We are indeed all one and as we let go of the self we slowly (but surely) realise that we are indeed from a deeply glorious place and walk equally alongside the masters.

217. On the other side of the equation we also have the situation where we can revel in self-care to the point where it becomes a distraction and not an aid in our development back to the love that we are. Self-care is a wonderful foundation from which to embark on this path, but at times we can put all our focus here to avoid dealing with the hurts we have amassed in our bodies, but are unwilling to feel and take full responsibility for. By dealing with our hurts, we liberate ourselves from that which has come to impose on us that is not-love. Freed of this, the natural impulse is to express the love we already are, as nothing stands in our way to impede it.

     1. Beautiful Liane. It is very important to always look at the whole picture, and as you have pointed out self-care is a wonderful foundation but we also need to attend to the other areas of ourselves which includes dealing with our hurts. Yes that old chestnut, but necessary in order to live the freedom a life of love truly offers.

     2. What exquisitely distilled wisdom you share here, Liane: I can see that at times I have indulged in the self care and used it as an extra tool to not feel childhood hurts – at such times the self care is not true self care as it derives from a wanting to protect self from those hurts. Allowing oneself to feel the hurt and allow love to observe them and to bring space to them has been my preferred way insofar as it brings the dissolving of the hurt and the expansion into more Love – this I see as true self care – a doorway to connecting to more Love.

     3. I agree Liane, I have seen many people get hung up on their diets and being super healthy while ignoring the fact they are being very unloving in other areas of their lives.

218. “Hence often my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe.”

     Very well said Anne and I feel that this is the crux of our self-loathing. It is very simple to confirm that which we already are – love – but we have to want to confirm it. Because we know that when we do, we expand and evolve and with this increased awareness, comes increased responsibility. Thus the perpetual cycle of self-loathing that we find ourselves in is a self induced form of indulgence we set up to further delay the future that is ready to be lived again. Releasing ourselves from this bind is very liberating and far simpler than the ‘big, hard, complex thing’ we have tried to make it out to be. Our responsibility is to be love, nothing else. For in this ‘being’, all that is needed, is there.

     1. Yes, self-loathing is really but a way for us to delay the inevitable. Much more exhausting than living responsibility I would say!

219. Interesting how we can be doing wonderful things for ourselves and being quite amazing yet not know it. How conditioned we are to giving ourselves a hard time!

     1. Ha! True. “How conditioned we are to giving ourselves a hard time!” – But I found as well that I have to confirm this self-harm-condition again and again for it to stay ‘alive’ – if not it would not be there. To realize that it is me who creates and chooses it, is the first step to take responsibility and to get rid of it. And I found that it is supportive to bring another regularity or orderliness, like: putting myself on an ‘Appreciation-Program’. I, for example, email every day with a friend my appreciation for me of this day (and so does she) and I experience lightness, a raising that supports me to feel the pure joy in living again. Confirming myself – worth doing!

        1. Yes – confirmation is powerful and can be used to confirm how amazing we are but also can be used to confirm our hurts and issues – always a choice which way we go.

220. Thank you Anne. A little appreciation can go a long way. I’ve started to realise it is the foundation for feeling and recognising our power. I look forward to a future blog on this subject!

     1. I found it very interesting to read your blog Anne, in that your feelings about yourself did not at all match the reality when you wrote down all the self-loving changes you had made and were doing for yourself. It’s so habitual for us not to appreciate ourselves and focus on the negative rather than the radiant truth and loveliness of ourselves. How affirming it is to make a list as you did and give our minds a reality check.

     2. Self-appreciation and power, now that’s a great simple insight Victoria and a combination that it’s easy to remind ourselves of.

221. I was drawn back to your blog again this morning and really appreciate the fact that so many people shared the same connection and appreciation ie your willingness to ask yourself the questions and sharing the simplicity of your personal appreciation list. Very inspiring.

222. “By choosing to self-love, we deepen our self-caring, which then leads to self nurturing.” As you have so beautifully expressed Anne it is up to us to choose self-love and to heal the hurts that hold us back. To quieten the “thought monsters”, thus leaving more room for
     appreciation and confirmation, is the key. The operative word here is choice!

223. “Then it hit me: I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me. I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.” This is gold Anne. However, I still find this pattern particularly difficult to break – much easier said than done!

224. Anne, I felt drawn to re-read your blog today, and the word that sprang to mind was ‘appreciation’. I found your expression quite inspiring and did deepen my own awareness around ‘claiming’ that we have indeed come far and appreciating the fact that we have the choice to constantly be deepening our true self care and the feeling of responsibility that we each have as reflective sparks within the universe.

225. You are so right Anne – only we can break the cycle and it is up to us to simply make that choice. The importance of Responsibility in everything we do is becoming more and more apparent each day.

     1. True responsibility has a loving quality to it, an honouring of the fact that each of us is precious, and none more so that another, and so responsibility is embraced, and the world as we thought we knew it will never be the same.

226. “I understand now that my resistance to self-care is in fact a resistance to loving myself – for how can I care for myself and my body, let alone nurture myself, if I do not feel I am worthy of that care? And yet… I am very much aware that each person on this Earth is unique, and therefore each person, including me, is important in the Universe. Knowing the enormity of this, why do I have so many moments of not feeling worthy?” Thank you so much Anne – reading this has opened me up to an ‘aha’ moment.

227. A quote from a dear friend: ‘Work with what you have, and not with what you would like to have.’ Means simply ‘appreciate what you have and confirm it’.

     1. and bring it into this world so it can join what others have. So we see how beautiful the divine is designed. Together we are all that is needed.

        1. Hear , Hear, beautiful Sonja and Sandra your comments combined are a perfect example of this.

228. Anne, thank you for the honesty in your blog, a very inspiring piece of writing. You raise such valid points and I particularly related to your statement “I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all that I need to be”. I recognise I still have more to do here!

     How important is it for us to project outwards rather than draw inwards. However, to do that effectively we must have a deep self love and self nurturing to allow our divine light to radiate outwards. Only then can we inspire others by our livingness – just like you have done in your blog – thank you again.

229. Confirming and appreciating even the tiniest loving choice are words to live by for this is who we truly are.

     1. Yes Lucy and confirming in this way brings us straight back to our bodies.

     2. Those words to appreciate and confirm even the tiniest choice sound so simple, and they are, but for many it takes an initial loving discipline to change from either self-destructive thoughts, or from thinking our worth is from what we do, rather than who we are.

        1. I completely agree Heather. Sometimes it is the simplest thing to do but then there are other times when I choose the old pattern of self-destruction for whatever reason and to change the momentum back to loving and appreciative thoughts can seem like the hardest thing in the world. You’re so right when you say it takes loving discipline to change this.

230. “Is it possible that the answer to this question is that, knowing my uniqueness, and therefore how important I am, comes with huge responsibility, and that I am resisting this responsibility?” Brilliant question Anne, and the answer ‘yes’ being I feel, the underlying reason lack of self-care for all of us if we are resisting it’s pull.

231. A revelatory article, that finishes on a note that is still ringing in my ears: “Through appreciation, confirmation and celebration, we can go from resisting self-care to truly nurturing ourselves. Indeed, it is our responsibility to do so.”
     This is a formula for self-love like no other.

232. It is amazing how we all resist true self care in life and the responsibility we all hold in this seems to have been left out and misinterpreted in life today.Thank you for showing so simply how the little changes one by one we can make through our choices to truly self care and live more lovingly thus building the body of love that we all are back to our living intent and way. With this we can appreciate ourselves and others also and it is a beautiful way to be.

233. “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.” And with this comes a level of acceptance – accepting that we are indeed already ‘all we need to be’.

234. “To me this has meant not wanting to be responsible because I know at times I am not reflecting the level of self-love and self-care that I am capable of, or the divinity that I am” Thank you for bringing this out into the open Anne…I feel this is something we all do and avoid feeling the fact that we do this. It brings a level of honesty that we can then move forward with, knowing as you say that there is no perfection, only more learning, understanding and evolving in our own unique way.

235. I can relate to that Susan, that more and more my conversations are about confirming, evolving (growing), lifting each other up and not giving very little attention to issues, stories and drama. But to truly speak with appreciation and to always reflect each other: hey, you are gorgeous, bring it on!

     1. I can feel how supportive that is Mariette, just in your comment. To lift each other up, rather than giving attention to the stories and drama in our lives. This is true appreciation and we deserve to celebrate each other!

236. Self bashing was a choice I made for much of my life, it was a deeply ingrained habit that had been difficult to break. My concept of ‘self love’ was the lie that it is ‘selfishness’ to do so, how far from the truth that actually is. We mostly look at ourselves and our lives based on lack. Turning that around with the use of appreciation, as you say Anne, and confirming the richness and beauty of the changes I have actually made have been a turning point. I agree, it is essentially an avoidance of responsibility when we do not do that. Thank you to Universal Medicine and its students for the inspiration.

237. True Ariana – it is magic yet very real.

238. This is so true Anne. It is also that I often forget to appreciate and confirm myself…I just recently started doing this more and being more aware of it. There is still more potential of course I am glad to go deeper and your blog here inspires me even more to do so. Also the communication with my partner and appreciating us is of huge support. Thank You for sharing this. With love Nadine

239. I love what you have shared Mary and particularly: “I am already everything, my canvas is full, I carry everything with me, I’m hard wired to God and he expects nothing from me, just to be the glory that I am because I come from the glory that he is.” This statement is so true, so beautiful and so confirming and so very empowering.

     1. I agree wholeheartedly, Golnaz

240. There is a lot in the responsibility of being all we are. I know I’ve managed to bring up a lot to not be responsible. However more and more I’m feeling it’s easier to take responsibility and address what it is before me than try and bring in distraction, and this feels great.

     1. Yes Sandra – I too find that it is a constant refinement, no perfection, but there will always be a deeper level of responsibility we can go to.

241. I am understanding more and more deeply that there are natural laws and order in life, and part of that has revealed that there are formulas, processes in life, that can either heal us or harm us “Then it hit me: I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me.” Learning to confirm who we are in essence with no trying or push, is healing and, as you describe, it ‘breaks the cycle’.

242. Re-reading your blog Anne I was struck by these words ‘I do love and care for myself – I was just not claiming this.’ I feel this is so key in what you share, taking the time to actually claim and confirm ourselves. It makes sense that when we do this we actually make space for more love to come in and accept that we are enough as we are. No need for perfection or trying it all comes back to being who we are, knowing, confirming and living this.

243. Knowing we are already enough is difficult to grasp sometimes, so it was great to read your blog Anne and remind myself that I really am enough regardless of what I do.

244. I love what you are saying here Anne about the development of self-love, self-nurturing and self-care being a continuous development. This meant that we cannot ever plateau because there are always deeper levels that we can go to within ourselves. Love after all has no beginning or end.

245. “Then it hit me: I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me”. This is a great realization because it brings with it an understanding of responsibility and that we cannot blame others or wait for them to tell us we are great. That confirmation has to come from us first.

246. Everything comes back to the fact that we are already all enough just as we are. We have everything within. It doesn’t matter how many articles that I read on this, I am blown away each and every time. The absolute power and joy in living this and feeling this in another is incredible and truly inspiring.

     1. I agree Jenny, there is great power and inspiration in seeing someone confirm and truly claim their own being.

     2. Agree Jenny, and can feel the responsibility of living and reflecting this to others by the choices I make and the quality of movement in my body. It is mindblowing to feel how powerful this can be!

247. This was such an apt blog to read just now Anne, hugely confirming! I was reflecting earlier today how in appreciating myself for simply being me, and accepting the loving choices I have made, I actually choose to be more self-aware. So choosing to not appreciate ourselves is a sneaky game really… to avoid responsibility. With more awareness we see more, understand more and we get to realise very quickly how important it is to not shy away from simply shining. No trying, pushing or anything like that — there will always be an ongoing development and deepening of who we are and that’s something to embrace — but when we accept the gorgeousness we already are, we reflect that to others and in so doing, we remind them of the gorgeousness in themselves as well.

248. Great Anne – an awesome recipe for self care and confirming the essence of who we are. Ironically I have just written a comment on another blog site about how we don’t raise our children to honour and confirm who they are, so of course it is no surprise that as adults we have real difficulty with this and have to re-learn how to do it. What is great about this blog Anne is that as an adult you lovingly express taking back the responsibility for self and do not see yourself as a victim to how you were brought up, but it makes sense to deeply understand why we struggle with confirming ourselves so as not to be hard or judgmental for finding it difficult sometimes.

249. Anne beautiful sharing, I love the way you confirmed yourself, your method, your list, your awe when you saw how far you have come. We can all learn from this. How different this way of self confirmation is from the one in which confirmation is bestowed on us by church and cleric.

250. This is a great reminder that we are all already all we need to be and each step we make in confrming and supporting this is worth appreciating 🙂 Thank you Anne.

251. It is amazing to think how truly difficult it is not just to love ourselves, but even to take care of ourselves on the most basic of levels. It is ludicrous, but we are more enamored with the image of martyrdom, than we are with the concept of self care.

     1. It is ludicrous to realise that we struggle to care for ourselves, to honour the wonderful person each of us is, and to be our own best friend. There is something very wrong in the world when most people find self-care so challenging. This is where Universal Medicine is paving a new way.

     2. That’s really interesting and so true Adam – we are ‘enamored with the image of martyrdom’ as it offers us a form of identification – which as you say is ludicrous when deep down we know we are love.

252. I was chatting with my wife recently about how important confirmation is and she said something very wise to me. She said that confirmation of any realisation or deeper self-awareness we may have reached is like a vital part in a mathematical equation. If we leave out the confirmation part then we have not consolidated our new foundation and therefore can undo any realisation or awareness we have may reached. This prevents us from further expanding and building on things to the next realisation. So not confirming ourselves is a great way to stunt our evolution and keep us capped at a certain level of awareness.

253. It is very interesting and very apt for me at this time to consider that a lack of self worth actually comes from the fact that we do actually know our full worth but are refusing to take responsibility for sharing this with all others on this planet.

     1. ‘A lack of self worth actually comes from the fact that we do actually know our full worth but are refusing to take responsibility for sharing this with all others on this planet.’ Wow – this is a totally different take on what happens when we don’t care for ourselves, and the impact this has on others. Absolutely awesome!

     2. Indeed Andrew – what you are saying puts it into a yet another perspective, ultimaltely it all comes down to responsibility on a much bigger scale.

254. Thank you Anne for sharing this. I recognize in me that I have this ideal picture of how true self-care looks like but as you say: “the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.” What you have written supports me to make my own list to see where I already do self-caring and loving things for me.

255. Thank you Anne for sharing I could relate to everything you were saying, it really is about stopping and appreciating how far we have come, all the changes we have made and to understand it’s a gradual process of going deeper with the self care and self love. Like you over the last few years I have made so many changes and my life has changed so much, but I often forget to just stop and appreciate. This moment has allowed me to stop and reflect, thank you.

256. Thanks Anne, I love the reminder to appreciate all the little changes we have made in our lives to be more self caring. Each step we take back towards love is very powerful, and has an enormous affect on our health and well being as well as on the world around us.

257. I love it Anne, love the list of changes you’ve made. ..’choosing to confirm myself – .. simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.’ That is it in a nutshell, it doesn’t get simpler than that to nurture ourselves but the difference in feeling is immense.

258. Anne, I love your constant questioning to your self and your openness to take it all that bit deeper.

259. Imagine if we all decided to only confirm the beauty that we felt as a baby- our tenderness, fragility and surrendered way while being playful and light.
     All of our ways of being as a society would dramatically change for a way that is very simple yet amazingly glorious.

260. The list you have compiled and live Anne is beautiful. All of these things are really quite simple to apply each day and it makes me realise just how much humanity has complicated life.
     How you feel now each day is a confirmation in itself that simplicity and self care work.

261. Could it be that the illusion that we live in causes us to believe that we are who we THINK ourselves to be,as opposed to the truth supporting us to be who we KNOW ourselves to be ?

262. It’s incredible isn’t it that we are almost programmed to feel that to be a “good” member of our community and family we must care for others, and also to put others first. It’s interesting that this is a view of brotherhood. The truth is we can only truly be responsible for ourselves and to sacrifice our own care for others is not necessary. It feels like a bit of an arrangement to care for others, ignore ourselves, and hope another cares for us. The idea of self care is also ingrained into us that it’s “selfish”. What I’m wondering is, how does something that does not truly represent brotherhood, or care or love, become so firmly entrenched into our lives, when self care so obviously works and benefits everyone? What’s in it for us to give our power away so absolutely to these ideals and beliefs that revolve around resistance to self care?

263. What I find important about taking moments to appreciate is not the aggrandisement of what I may have already done, which I feel is worthy of appreciation, but what those choices reflect about my true essence. Even when the choices were not great, the fact that my life and my body reflected the fact is a confirmation of my true inner alignment all along. This confirmation is indeed worth clocking and appreciating deeply.

     1. Very well said, Golnaz. Seeing that choices which at first sight might not seem to have been that great in fact have been an amazing lesson to learn and to move forward is a massive change, as we do not have to punish ourselves for failing anymore and can appreciate our learning instead.

264. So valued your blog Anne, and the line that made itself especially visible for me today was “I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me.” Thank you.

265. It occurs to me just now after contemplating your blog again, that we have inside us the part that can appreciate who we are through making a list. It is a factual history of our ability and actions which demonstrate we care and are loving towards ourself. These are known facts we are recounting about ourselves. When we align to this way of thinking, it is supportive for our confidence and our development to do more of the same.
     On the other hand we have our spirit, the part of us that can only focus on what doesn’t yet exist, such as what we have yet to do, or what we haven’t done. This type of thinking also focusses on the so called ‘faults’,’ shortcomings’ we believe we have. If we fall into this way of thinking it leads us to fixate on these, doubt ourselves and our abilities, feeling small, unworthy and so on.
     The truth and interesting thing about these sabotaging thoughts is that they are only thoughts and not things.
     But the real problem with this type of thinking, which sees ‘the glass half empty,’ is that it takes our focus, time and energy and delays us from doing what needs doing, and naturally being who we are.

266. Thank you Anne for a very inspiring blog, you have summed it all up in these beautiful words “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be. Through appreciation, confirmation and celebration, we can go from resisting self-care to truly nurturing ourselves. Indeed, it is our responsibility to do so.” I am making my list today.

267. Anne, your list of what you do for yourself now is deeply inspiring. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a sincere committment to taking great care of yourself , and making loving choices along the way. Thankyou for sharing your experience – it has inspired me to do the same, to write down what I have changed in my life and to appreciate how far I have come in a relatively short space of time.

     1. So true Sandra and Anne, it is so supportive to write down and appreciate my changes instead of just focusing on where I could still go deeper.

268. Anne, this is so lovely, ‘simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.’ I have struggled with this over the years, but more and more am accepting myself and not for what I do but for who I am. I can feel how society is so set up to reward and accept us for what we do and that it is all about the doing.
     Today I noticed how I was really enjoying just being me and going about my day with a lovely, content feeling that was not about what I was doing as I felt I could be doing anything, I was just enjoying me.

269. Awesome Anne. It’s like you were talking directly to me about how I have been with myself. I too have lacked serious appreciation for the self care choices I do make as I focus on all the other choices I could be making on top of the existing ones. This cycle is never ending, this notion of being perfect only suppresses me from being me. Thanks for bringing this to my attention…think I might go write myself a list.

     1. I totally agree, it was almost as though she was talking to me too, and I also have felt that I am more focused on what I am not doing or could be doing rather than taking time to appreciate and build on them.

     2. Count me in on this too – looks like Anne has expressed on behalf of many of us!

270. This is inspiring blog Anne, inspiring me to really feel your words and how i can deepen the confirming way of living…until it becomes a natural way of living for me.

271. “Is it possible that the answer to this question is that, knowing my uniqueness, and therefore how important I am, comes with huge responsibility, and that I am resisting this responsibility? Hence often my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe.” This bit also stood out for me as it is a game I play and I imagine many do, it is great to call it out and in black and white see how utterly ridiculous it is – said in the most loving way – no self bashing just owning up to what has been at play.

     1. I agree Vanessa. This tail chasing is an exhausting hobby and it is absolutely ridiculous.

     2. I agree Vanessa – when reading Anne’s blog it lovingly exposes the ridiculous games we play – no self-bashing required.

272. Wonderful to read this Anne, I can feel a difference in this piece of writing to others I have read of yours, I can literally feel the gentle loving warmth you have for yourself in this confirming and appreciation of yourself, very inspiring.

273. This is such an honest & crispy blog, confirming is very loving and it’s beginning to become a natural way for me.

     This statement stood out strongly for me
     ‘Then it hit me: I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me. I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.’

     This is it, to accept myself as I am already and not needing to be more so that I get something from the outside. To confirm me is like a huge inner surrender, like a falling feather from the sky landing ever so gently and lightly on the ground. Letting go of all those tensions, trying, striving etc just to be recognised.

     1. Beautifully expressed Karoline and I love the image of the feather falling to the ground – completely naturally as it sheds from the bird and rhythmically makes it’s way down…

     2. I love this Karoline. It reminds me that confirming myself is something that has to be re-done. Confirming and re-confirming. Appreciating and re-appreciating. The feather can become a rock quite quickly when I get caught up in trying to prove myself, but the transformation back to a surrendering feather is instantaneous when I choose to re-confirm and appreciate myself.

     3. Lovely image Karoline, and to feel the lightness…allowing in appreciation and confirmation is beautiful.

274. “I understand now that my resistance to self-care is in fact a resistance to loving myself – for how can I care for myself and my body, let alone nurture myself, if I do not feel I am worthy of that care? And yet… I am very much aware that each person on this Earth is unique, and therefore each person, including me, is important in the Universe. Knowing the enormity of this, why do I have so many moments of not feeling worthy?” A great sharing and ponder for the responsibility and appreciation of oneself is key to our lives on earth and allows the love, flow and harmony we are to simply be and it is the living of this that brings all of us to this world as an inspiration, reflection and knowingness, which is beautiful to feel and a real gift.

275. Thank you Anne, I enjoyed reading your article and a lovely reminder of the power to appreciate and confirm me as daily part of my rhythm.

     1. Yes I agree Francisco Anne’s blog is a great reminder to appreciate and confirm ourselves, i find when I am more loving towards myself the more life flows.

276. Anne, I love how you have given practical simple examples that are tangible when it comes to establishing a form of self love! I too have found myself in the past saying ‘what is this self love and self care thing?’ – but the simplicity that it is, is actually dumbfounding: if you are tired, go to bed early; if your skin is dry, put on moisturiser; floss your teeth, share how you feel; when you drink you get a hangover so don’t drink; when you over eat you feel lethargic and bloated so don’t over eat. etc etc. And when you begin to actually make the changes rather than just knowing that this is what you could do, then life really begins to change for you in more ways than you ever could have fathomed.

     1. Love this Henrietta, it is practical, simple and so logical – self-care is just a part of our day and it is something which we can all do. It is just a matter of making the choice to value, appreciate and confirm who we are.

        1. Spot on Jade – I love how you have said that self care is a choice that VALUES us, APPRECIATES us and CONFIRMS who we are! This sentence alone makes me want to rush off and do more self care!

     2. I love what you’ve written here Henrietta. It really can be that simple – listen to your body, and act on what you hear/observe. Your examples are gorgeously uncomplicated, ‘if you are tired, go to bed early; if your skin is dry, put on moisturiser’; maybe the key to self care is to take things step by step rather than make a mountain from a mole hill and approach self care as a marathon or trek.

        1. Excellent contribution Susie! If we start with small steps (like a centipede takes) then we can introduce these things bit by bit into our everyday, and then it is the consistency that builds a foundation of self care for us. Also I have noticed that the moment we are aware that something like self care needs to be done, it is like we get given the energy to do it and when we do it then it gives us more energy. Pretty cool!?

     3. Spot on Henrietta! “I love how you have given practical simple examples that are tangible when it comes to establishing a form of self love! I too have found myself in the past saying ‘what is this self love and self care thing?’……….” That’s exactly how I felt and I can feel the truth in your words “And when you begin to actually make the changes rather than just knowing that this is what you could do, then life really begins to change for you in more ways than you ever could have fathomed.”

        1. Thanks Tamara – and as we are learning there is a HUGE difference between knowing something and living it – this is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Too many of us walk around with so much knowledge, but of what benefit is this to anyone if we don’t live it?

     4. Yes it is indeed very simple and logical and does not require any deep scientific study other than that of our own body which is in fact science in its application.

        1. Love it Esther! Our bodies are indeed science in application!

     5. Thanks Anne for the reminder that self care is so simple, its just being in rhythm with our bodies and making the choices to support us in each moment. And yes the changes that are felt are truly amazing when we deeply honor and care for ourselves.

        1. Unimaginably so Chris! Such simple changes yet such enormous benefits! Here is to deep honouring and care of ourselves!

277. Your blog resonates with me and where I am at at the moment. Thank you for reminding me of the key to self-appreciate what I have already changed in my day to day life in regards to self-care, self-love and self-nurturing! It was beautiful to read about everyone of us being a unique and precious part in the universe – so I realized how absurd it is to not love oneself and striving for perfection or recognition within being identified with what I am doing. You are so right, that not accepting being already “perfect” for what I am entangles me in so much turmoil that I am distracted from feeling and taking the responsibility this naturally brings.

278. Thank you Anne. ‘So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.’ It’s like turning the light on isn’t it? And why not? The world is waiting for us all to shine. 🙂 🙂 🙂

     1. Kathryn, I love your questions “It’s like turning the light on isn’t it? And why not?” They bring such simple clarity and understanding to the huge importance of appreciation and confirmation. And yes, the world is waiting for us all to shine! Brilliant!

279. Since reading your blog yesterday Anne, I have been considering how much I self care, confirm and appreciate myself, and I started to make a list of all the changes that have happened in my life over the past 9 years since coming to Universal Medicine…and the list is getting longer and longer to my surprise! I assumed there were only a few big changes but there are many small details that make a huge difference too.
     I can totally relate to what you share here Anne, and so it has been very inspiring to then confirm and appreciate myself in all these ways. The more I did this yesterday the more joy-full my day became – gorgeous, thank you 🙂

     1. I am inspired by you both to do the same, take stock and really appreciate what is there already to love and see the worth of, not what needs to be done or is ‘missing’. Beautiful.

        1. Yes, good point Vanessa, it is so easy to hone in on the thing that need improvement and there is always something we can find if we look for it, which will guarantee we will never be good enough or ready to step into our true responsibility. Time to change perspective!

        2. I love the way you have said that Vanessa. It really is beautiful.

        3. I can feel that doing this brings a realisation of just how full our lives truly are, instead of the focus on what is missing or what we need to fill up. It is a really valuable thing to do, and one I’m feeling to make a practice of.

     2. This is beautiful Paula, to stop and take the time to reflect and confirm the changes we have made in our lives, changes and choices that led to where we are today. When i look back at my life, from the time i started to truly commit to me, to life in a way i have never before, completely inspired by Serge Benhayon, i can only appreciate, and celebrate. Because who i am today is a very loving woman, to who i was yesterday, so to speak, was a very hurt and anxious woman who just hid it well!

     3. Ah Paula, I was just about to write a similar comment when I read yours. I started my day reading Anne’s blog which was a gorgeous way to open my day as it was right there to remind me to appreciate the little things. For some time I have forgotten all about appreciation and I have been wondering why things haven’t been so great. Today I chose a different path that started with appreciation and here at the end of the day I feel far more complete than I have for sometime. I love the idea of writing a list of all the changes that have occurred over 9 years and feeling the appreciation in that.

     4. This is lovely Paula and is something that I have felt to do after reading this article, ‘I started to make a list of all the changes that have happened in my life over the past 9 years since coming to Universal Medicine…and the list is getting longer and longer to my surprise!’ This feels like a great way of appreciating all of the changes.

     5. This is great Paula and super inspiring, a little task I will set for myself also 🙂

     6. This is inspiring to read Paula. I sense the enormity of what you’re sharing here with us. I can feel myself – or more accurately, a part of me – resistant to do so. Me, can I give myself permission to write down all the changes that I’ve made. I can feel the joy of that and the fear of people judging me for being ‘arrogant’. But the Truth is, I’ve changed a lot! A lot! And I can feel the Joy of connecting to this, to applaud myself for making different choices. That I’ve actually chosen to be more and more me. Except celebrating the fact that I’ve made all those choices… I feel the lightness coming with it and I love it. Thank you Anne and Paula and myself :).

     7. Beautiful Paula, it shows the ripple effect inspiration has on us.

280. ‘Then it hit me: I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me. I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be. ‘ – Thanks for reminding us that we are all already all that we need to be.

     1. I agree Eva, it is a great reminder and something we can all be reminded of. We are already enough. The fascinating thing is that we are returning back to love and so essentially not going away or attaining anything rather discarding what we are not.

        1. That is also a great reminder James, as we become more aware we begin to discard all the unloving choices that have taken us further from ourselves, so we are in fact returning to the innate love we are and have always been.

        2. The more we can appreciate this Victoria, the more expedited our return journey becomes. It also blows out of the water the sense of spiritual attainment, because we are not going anywhere nor seeking anything rather discarding all the layers we have put on, ones we thought we needed to get by in life but which actually hindered us from being our natural loving selves.

     2. Eva just what I needed to read this morning, there are so many sentences that taken alone could change our entire life when reflected on for ourselves and then applied in the way that feels true for us. “Simple accepting that I am already all I need to be”.

     3. I agree Eva, when we get caught up in the things we do instead of accepting that we are everything we need to be, a blog like this is a beautiful and undeniable reminder.

     4. It is a great reminder for me too that just being me is enough and I do not have to do anything special because if I am me doing it then it is already amazing, awesome and spectacular.

        1. Yes!

        2. Yes Andrew, feeling that I am amazing as i am in each moment takes away the need to try and do or be something that I am not, and through this comes a celebration and appreciation of the love that I am.

     5. Thanks for highlighting this Eva, it’s so easy to get caught in that cycle, always thinking we have to be somewhere else ‘better’ before we ‘make it’. It is so simple and yet elusive for many of us to simply accept the gorgeousness of who we are now, in this moment, in our bodies and feel the love that is there and appreciate it. It can start small, with the choices around us, seeing our reflection in nature, in our own breath and then from there it can build and build. The more we claim this and know this as our truth, the stronger the resolve to remove that seed of never being enough that tries to derail us away from who we are.

281. Anne, this is such a beautiful account and a great reflection for all – it is amazing to feel how the moment you decide to confirm and claim yourself, it immediately also turns into appreciation of yourself.

     1. This is beautiful Eva – ‘…turns into appreciation of yourself’ In my experience with me and others, i see such little appreciation of ourselves. It’s almost like to appreciate yourself is being ‘up yourself’ or you don’t do that, etc…when we appreciate ourselves we are valuing who we are, and i don’t feel there is enough of us valuing who we are as we are!

        1. So true Karoline and it is only when this the lack of appreciation is exposed in the day to day or our work and relationships etc. by appreciating myself and others and making it natural and ‘normal’, that this will change.

        2. yes appreciation confirms who we truly are, and we are that innate divinity without ‘doing’ anything.

        3. So true Karoline, …. and when we appreciate ourselves, so too do we appreciate the divinity or divine roots we are from. Therefore to not appreciate or honour ourselves, is only and equally to dishonour the natural place of our home – the divine.

        4. That’s a great point Karoline and I can totally relate to experiencing lack of appreciation in myself and others. We live in a world where it is commonplace to undervalue the true worth of ourselves and others. It is our responsibility to start the conversation to make changes.

        5. Yes I agree Karoline, and if we do not value ourselves we cannot expect anyone else to value us as we are saying to the world ‘we have no worth’ So if we are feeling unappreciated then it is time to start appreciating ourselves.

     2. How quickly everything seems to turn around or change when we make the choice to confirm and appreciate all we are. Our body, our mindset, our purpose, our confidence all feels far truer and supportive.

     3. Beautifully said, Eva. Confirming and claiming ourselves turns into appreciation. Appreciation is to live in our absoluteness and this is what we have to confirm and claim on a daily basis: that we are equal Sons of God.

        1. Agree Rachel, confirming the divine, through living the divine is appreciation of the divine in activity. There is everything normal about divinity in life. There is everything normal about living as the real-us in life too.

     4. It is as if the three of them: confirmation, claiming and appreciating, form this lovely feedback loop in which each continues to build on the expansion of the other.

282. ‘I am already all I need to be’. This simple truth when fully understood is a revelation and stops all restless striving to be more. Knowing we’re already there and all we need to do is re-connect simplifies life and brings self acceptance and appreciation.

     1. Yes Kehinde, ‘This simple truth when fully understood is a revelation and stops all restless striving to be more.’ The liberation here is profound when truly felt and understood.

283. Yes,Brendan, and it is so easy to get lost in this constant striving to improve ourselves.
     Appreciating ourselves takes all this drive out of our life and lets us feel still instead of racy.

284. This article truly shows the very importance of appreciation for ourselves in our lives and the difference it makes . Wow a beautiful sharing and loving care of yourself thank you .

285. ‘appreciation, confirmation and celebration’…essential parts of life.

     1. Very well, summed up..! 🙂

     2. So simple and so true Lisa.

     3. I agree Lisa, spot on, 3 essential keys to life!

     4. And much needed in our lives, not in a spectacular or glitzy way, but in the way we live each day, appreciating and valuing our health, vitality and innately tender natures and the joy of sharing our lives with one another.

        1. Appreciation for who we truly are and the stupendous love that we are all returning to, confirmation, and celebration of this amazingly beautiful fact on a daily basis.

     5. It is all about the power of the 3s for me lately, and this is one to put at the top of the list!

286. How often have I gotten suck on not loving myself, or not feeling worthy, but have not looked deeper underneath to feel the responsibility I am avoiding by holding not being goof enough as an excuse. what you have shared has been great to read and I now realise that I am also not appreciative of what I do to care for myself.

     1. Self-Care and Self-Love has ha the most ginormous impact on my life! I actually consider my body now, whereas in the past I could very easily make choices that my body didn’t enjoy. From applying self-care and self-love in my daily life I find myself outgrowing certain patterns and behaviours simply because I prefer how I feel without them. I now realise it is natural for us to evolve this way through life and that self-care and self-love are foundational elements in order to live such a life.

        1. I agree – it is natural to move on and grow from different things – not because anyone say to, but because my body says so.

287. ‘I am already all I need to be’ – that is wonderful Anne and most confirming. We all need to hear what you say as the world is so set up to feel that everything ‘needs’ to be perfect. Your beautiful blog is an inspiration to us all that we need to simply confirm and appreciate – nothing more complicated than that..

     1. So true Susan. Confirming that we are already all that we need to be is what so many need to read, knowing it is that simple, appreciating ourselves for who we are and that we don’t need to try to be perfect. An inspirational blog Anne, thank you.

        1. It was so lovely to read your comment Lorraine and to confirm that we are ‘already all that we need to be’ as this takes away the need for trying which is so draining and debilitating. Appreciating ourselves fully allows our heart space to expand, and inspire us to expand the whole of ourselves as we make room for all the countless particles there are in the Universe. In this way we support the whole.

288. For so long I have waited for an event or outside occurrence to tell me at last ‘I had made it’ and was worth loving. Yet what your words illustrate to me here Anne is what happens when we choose to appreciate. It’s like these moments become building blocks true self love can sit on. So it’s not a thing that arrives suddenly one day but is built slowly, surely and steadily, day by day in our cherishing ourselves and our every way.

     1. Great description, the ‘building blocks’, we can build a true foundation when we establish a relationship with self care and nurturing and can begin to appreciate ourselves and others for being in essence divine and from love. It is a choice to be made, when something supportive, illuminating, confirming and expanding occurs in our life do we ignore it or do we take a moment and appreciate it.

     2. I love your description here Joseph of waiting ‘for an event or outside occurrence to tell me at last ‘I had made it’ and was worth loving.’ It is truly liberating when I can hold and sustain the truth that I am already complete and what I hold is unfolding from within me, not dependent on outside influence approval.

     3. So true Joseph, I too have looked long and hard for that special recognition in the outside world to tell me that I am worth loving, but the reality is it up to me to recognise and appreciate my own specialness and cherish myself accordingly. And once we begin to truly care and love ourselves, it is an incremental journey that continues to unfold and deepen everyday, something that may begin as a functional exercise that gently unfolds into a tender love affair with our selves and our bodies.

        1. Exactly rowenaaksrewart it’s like a love affair with myself that’s deepening everyday. It’s a celebration I feel in my body and it’s glorious.

     4. well said Joseph, self-appreciation and confirmation form the foundation on which self-love is established, it is ever evolving and the more I commit to these in my daily living the more I feel the divinity within me.

289. Anne, this line alone “I have eliminated alcohol, dairy, gluten, caffeine and sugar from my diet and feel less tired, exhausted, bloated, congested and sinusy as a result.” is a huge change, and one that could make a massive difference for so many people suffering as you once were.

     1. I agree Sandra, this is a huge change and not an easy one to do either, but definitely very much worth it.

290. I notice that when I am present with what I am doing I feel less tired and lighter at the end of the day and if I am not present with myself much then it feels like I haven’t been looking after myself at all no matter how much time I took to get ready and care for myself at the start of the day. For me, self care comes down to how present I am being with myself moment to moment and if that is the case then there is plenty of room to work on that and lots of scope to appreciate how often I come back to me during the day. I’m so enjoying having this blog to inspire me to check in on how I am being with myself today and to appreciate all those moments that I am fully present with what I am doing.

     1. “For me, self care comes down to how present I am being with myself moment to moment..” Well said Fiona. This is key for me too. Otherwise I am doing things on auto-pilot so there is no feeling or true caring in what I am doing.

        1. Me too Fiona and Lucy. If I am not present with myself when I am exercising, cooking, eating, moisturising etc, then it feels like I am just ticking boxes and not truly nurturing myself.

        2. I agree Fiona, Lucy and Jeannette – being in conscious presence with ourselves moment to moment is a great foundation for self care which brings more awareness to everything around us. Auto pilot mode brings tension, disconnection and separation from people and life.

291. Thanks, Anne. I love how you have emphasised that it is our responsibility to deeply care for and nurture ourselves, as we are part of a grander design that cannot be complete unless we step fully into our role with a body of love.

     1. Beautifully expressed Janet, “…we are part of a grander design that cannot be complete unless we step fully into our role…” One of the first steps back to this is to begin to comprehend and feel the possibility that we are all connected. The so called ‘reality’ of ‘self’ , ‘survival of the fittest’ and ‘separation’ is often forced upon us at a young age. And yet we are in essence the exact opposite, under these layers of illusion we are all connected.

        1. Yes, Samantha, if we see ourselves as being connected at all times, it shifts our awareness and focus from self to the whole. There is great joy to be shared when we stop trying to control ‘my life, my world’ and come back to a more inclusive and expansive way of being together.

        2. We are all connected, once we start to fully feel this again it helps take the focus away from the individual and self, ‘One of the first steps back to this is to begin to comprehend and feel the possibility that we are all connected.’ The responsibility this brings is huge.

     2. This is what stood out for me too Janet. The connection between deeply caring and nurturing ourselves and this being our responsibility as part of the grander plan. The quality we are with ourselves is the quality we will be with another.

     3. “it is our responsibility to deeply care for and nurture ourselves, as we are part of a grander design that cannot be complete unless we step fully into our role with a body of love.” I’m going to write this down and read it often. Absolutely beautiful Janet. Truth and simplicity – a magnetic combination.

     4. Fantastic, Janet. A great reminder that the whole is not whole without us as a part of that whole.

     5. Yes, and this brings it always back to every single one of us, we each hold the wisdom of the universe and our responsibility lays in living accordingly so this wisdom becomes a daily living.

     6. Yes, it is our responsibility to be with our bodies in such a loving way so that they can hold more love.

292. ‘Hence often my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe.’ – ouch … I love the insight you had in asking yourself the question as to why you didn’t feel worthy enough to self-care. Then as you allowed yourself the space to acknowledge and appreciate how you do in fact care for yourself …. this has me pondering on another question …. I can be very hard on myself and am learning to appreciate myself more and more each day, however, I am questioning whether my resistance to appreciating all that I am isn’t also the same energy – a resistance to wanting to take full responsibility.

293. ‘I understand now that my resistance to self-care is in fact a resistance to loving myself…’ This must be true for just about everyone, a great illustration of an issue facing humanity globally.

294. I am asking this questions myself, too; Why don’t we feel worthy to look after our nutrition more truly, and why do we feed the comfort and not that what our body really needs to stay healthy and in true vitality each day the same for us? Knowing the enormity of the fact that every person in this world is important and needed as part of their contribution to the whole and to the bigger picture of what is going on in this world.

     1. This is a great question Monika, making choices to really honour our bodies with food is a responsibility that each of us has, through making these loving choices we are saying yes to love.

295. I decided to write a list of all the areas where I now care and nurture myself. I was blown away at how much I had changed. It brought tears to my eyes. Thank you Anne Scott. Claiming myself in this way allows me a greater sense of me in my fullness, it changes my posture and my confidence and the way I feel about everything.

     1. Thankyou Anne and Elaine for your inspiration. We carry so many beliefs that “we are not doing as well as we would like”, that we are “not very good in that area yet”, or “still have a lot to learn” for example, yet the list exercise has really shifted those things out! It’s surprising what we can find by focusing on the “what is” as opposed to the “what is not”.

296. I absolutely agree with you Anne. Appreciation, confirmation and celebration are the key to truly knowing who we are in addition to the acts and quality we bring to the self care and nurturing we choose. For without confirmination and appreciation aren’t we just then fixing the things that are not working for us so well, hence keeping us in the making it better or slightly negative mindset rather than starting with we are amazing, we are divine and because of that we treat ourselves with the love we deserve.

297. This sentence stood out hugely for me, ‘ instead of accepting that inside I am already perfect and so I don’t have to strive to be perfect in everything I do.’ Just recently I have been feeling a slither of needing to be perfect before I am accepted by God, which is crazy I know and it surprised me to feel that I had some part if me running with this. I felt this from a weekend presentation of the Ageless Wisdom where Bill Foley posed the question of ‘what images do we hold of God’. And so since then I have been unpacking my images around God and images that I falsely hold in other areas of my life.
     So Anne, your wisdom in this sentence in a beautiful confirmation for me. Thank you !

298. I have been noticing lately how any appreciation for myself and the changes that I have made has slipped away. Although, I have brought so much more self care into my daily rhythm I have not stopped to appreciate it or how supportive it is and what you raise here Anne, is that we actually have a responsibility to not only take the steps to care for ourselves but to appreciate and confirm ourselves. This is a lovely way to start the day with a beautiful reminder of the importance of appreciation.

299. Have you ever gone hill walking? The bigger the more dramatic the effect of walking especially on a steep rocky path is had only when you stop! As you are walking you need to be self aware and focused on your movements, rhythms and presents of what you are doing. When you pause and look to see how far you have come , your view is amazing. We so often forget to stop to appreciate what we have ascended our selves too.

300. Getting intimate with self love has been an interesting journey for me over the last 8-10 years and I spent many saying I have no idea what that even looks like, it seemed like such a selfish and foreign concept. Well boy has that changed and so has my level of self love, it is one of those things that seem infinite, as soon as I learn a little more another whole level or understanding opens up as to how I can deepen it and how I can support myself more to support humanity even more. I am beginning to understand the term ‘the forever student’.

     1. This is so incredibly true. There is never a level that I reach that suffices, it constantly needs refining, even from day to day. As I look backwards I can see how far I have come, yet I know there is so much more…but it doesn’t come from a hard place, trying to get somewhere, more a deeply nurturing place surrendering to what’s already known is warm and cosy.

301. Yes I can relate to what you are sharing Anne. Confirmation of ourselves and appreciation are indeed deep self-care and self-love. The striving and the bettering is exhausting and even though it might look like improving our self-care it is actually still the same old way of bashing ourselves. Confirming how amazing we already are is something very needed in the world. From there I have found I have naturally deepened my self-love as I feel how worthy and beautiful I am.

     1. So true Lieke confirming how amazing we already are is something the world really needs, we have spent so much of our time self bashing instead of accepting our beauty and greatness. It really does make a difference to how we feel about ourselves and what we reflect to the world.

        1. Absolutely Alisonmoir and caring for ourselves then becomes a natural thing to do instead of a heavy task or chore.

     2. We are so far away from confirming that we are already amazing without having to ‘do’ anything, I can remember literally not being able to appreciate anything about myself. How far have we drifted from the truth for this to be the case. I love what you have written here Lieke ‘Comfirming how amazing we already are is something very needed in the world. From there I have found I have naturally deepened my self-love as I feel how worthy and beautiful I am.’

     3. I agree Lieke, ‘….still the same old way of bashing ourselves’. When we use the word appreciation and confirmation of our love, I can feel the harshness of ‘bashing’ ourselves, it really hurts us. Where bringing confirmation into our lives is a loving way to be and it changes everything, as love does that!

     4. “Confirming how amazing we already are is something very needed in the world”, It has been a real revelation to have discovered my exhaustion was from not appreciating myself. Instead trying to prove myself in so many ways, blinded to the fact that I am already 100% all I ever need to be.

        1. Yes rosannabianchini our beauty is always there and when we stop and appreciate it, it really comes out and grows.

302. When we come from a place where we are always not good enough, needing more qualifications, needing more recognition, never feeling like we know enough because we compare ourselves to how we imagine others to be, then we can bring that with us when we start to care for ourselves, like not self-caring well enough. We can bring our lack of appreciation with us to everything else we do, even when we are doing the most loving things. To be truly loving we need to truly appreciate how amazing we are and to let go of those voices within us that do not serve us.

303. Anne, awesome blog! You give the key to exit the vicious cycle of resisting self care and that is…”by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me”… Superb!

304. Thank you Anne. Reading your blog I can feel I have looked for recognition from others in order to confirm myself. Funny thing is I only want specific recognition from specific people that will not give me this type of recognition. I then use this to confirm I am not enough. A ridiculous game indeed.

     1. I agree Leonne. It is a ridiculous game indeed and can say that I have caught myself doing the same. Thank god I now question myself when this happens as a way of breaking this.

     2. I decided to introduce the self-care aspect with food coaching and cooking classes to public and soon to schools, too. This is where everyone can start to take more self – care with the food we eat and therefore contributing to the bigger picture. The world needs more vital people with clear minds and healthy bodies to make healthy decisions in politics, governments, teachers as living healthy examples to our kids.

305. Making the distinction between appreciation and ‘rah, rah’ seems to be key for me. With Rah,Rah we are trying to mentally prop ourselves and the inspiration stops almost as soon as the Rah,Rah does. With appreciation, your actions answer the question “How many ways do I honour how important I am to the universe”. If something is simply part of how you move, its inspiration continues long after any Rah, Rah.

     1. Well said Joel.

     2. Great distinction Joel – Rah Rah actually needs a lot of energy to keep it going, and has some kind of incentive or goal at the end. Whereas appreciation is just accepting and acknowledging what is already there – no carrot, incentive or goal needed.

        1. Its interesting Sandra, how sometimes the only reason we choose appreciation is to avoid feeling that lack of it in our lives. So we appreciate in a rah, rah way, rather than honouring ourselves in each moment

     3. That’s beautiful Joel, I also find that in honouring and appreciating ourselves and how important we really are, the appreciation for all of humanity comes bounding along with it.

306. Anne if even 10 % of the world practiced the self care that you do then it would be a radically different place.

     1. Wow, this is so true Alexis. That in it self is an appreciation for anyone who has made any effort with themself to self care and bring a quality and love they deserve to their daily life.

     2. Indeed Alexis – it would serve humanity well to look more closely at the benefits of truly honouring and caring for ourselves.

307. I have a feeling that when we appreciate ourselves, it’s not really personal; what we are appreciating is not a personal accomplishment, or this body each one of us relates to as ‘self’ – but we are actually feeling what comes through our expression, and appreciation feels like the recognition and acceptance of that connection with the source – so the way we care ourselves doesn’t just get contained within this body of expression either.

308. I can really get that feeling of ‘I am not worthy’ leading to ‘I don’t have to love myself’ – it took me a while to understand that this self-negation was actually a huge arrogance. In fact, claiming or living as anything else but love is arrogant, and I can only thank God for His patience.

309. What a great exercise to sit down and take stock as you did Anne, and appreciate the care and loving way you are with yourself. Appreciation and confirmation are evidently a hugely enjoyable way to responsibility.

     1. Absolutely it is a fabulous exercise to take stock of self care. Lately I have been also taking stock, appreciating and marking in the moment the confirming and nurturing things that support the truth of who I am. I have found this hugely supportive and it has allowed me to claim just how solid my foundation is and my willingness to ever deepen it.

310. It can be too easy to overlook the changes we have made in our lives for the benefit of our bodies, our wellbeing and of those around us. It’s then that lack of self worth creeps in, because we’re not appreciating where we are. Appreciation is the means by which we can keep a truthful track on things. Without it, the changes are each just a series of stones that make up a wall without the cement that binds them together into the whole. Appreciation is our cement, firmly glueing together what we have built, to provide a solid, known, tangible foundation from which to support us in being the all that we already are.

     1. ‘Appreciation is our cement, firmly glueing together what we have built’. These words stood out for me this morning Cathy as I have never thought of appreciation in this way. I have felt how important a role it plays in assisting us with any lack of self worth issues and that by being consistent with it is key or else the changes which are made go barely unnoticed and become reduced in some way.

311. “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be. ” Anne this is a great reminder to appreciate ourselves, it’s so easy to appreciate others and forget ourselves.

312. Anne this was so beautiful to read ! Yes I would have to agree, realising how amazing we are and appreciating that makes all the difference. No longer putting ourselves down with negative thoughts but loving who we are. “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.” wise words.

313. Resisting self-care is definitely something I have done, which is ridiculous to say really, but it is the truth of how many people live. Working through that resistance and why we choose not to make loving choices for ourselves is key, as it allows us then to build a true foundation of support.

314. Seeing the list of things you have done to take better care for yourself, Anne, really helped me to appreciate the things I had done myself and either forgotten about or negated in some way as not a big deal. But the reality is that these types of changes ARE a big deal and need to be celebrated, because without them I know I would not be anywhere near where I am now on my way back to living the true me in every moment. It feels like appreciation and accepting where I am at in my development has been a real key to not getting sucked into a negative tailspin when I have met certain challenges in my life or feel down on myself. How can we be down on ourself when we know we are perfect at our core being, as you described in your blog Anne?

     1. So why do we have so many moments of not feeling worthy and contributing only a small part of that who we truly are, thinking we are not important? My experience is that this is a big thing and why we ae getting it wrong in so many aspects in life is because we are missing self worth and self- care.

315. “…I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.” This line rings true for me Anne and is a trap I often fall into. I struggle to see the 99% that is amazing and focus on the 1% that still requires work. Acceptance and appreciation of the ways in which I care and nurture myself feels like an important aspect of self-care and this blog gives me inspiration to explore this further. Thank you Anne.

316. So true Anne – self-care is not something we need to obtain or is outside of us as something we need to learn. It is and always has been within us all, equally, an innate knowledge and wisdom with how to treat our body and being with the delicateness it calls for. It is only the layers or shells we have put on top to cover our awareness of how this feels and looks.

     1. Beautiful said Rachel, everyone has this innate wisdom how to maintain our self-love with self-care. I also see self-care not only in activity but also in saying no to the disturbing thoughts that the mind wants to feed to not allow this self-care for the body. It is like an ongoing challenge to how far we go with looking for after ourselves, but this is the only way to get out of the miasma we are as a society this days. Cutting this construct in the mind with loving thoughts for self helps to break the cycle of disregard.

317. Anne, what you share is so true – we are worth appreciating and celebrating, but this is not necessarily the way we are raised. Much more acknowledgement is given to what we do and what we achieve, not who we are – a divine being of love. But at the same time, this is no excuse, your words that really stand out for me and expose the whole insidious game are, “…my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe.”

318. That need to constantly prove ourselves through what we do is very strong and ingrained in us from such a young age. I can see how it has driven me many a time and caused me to push myself when my body was clearly saying stop. It is a cycle we need more of us to break so that we can be shown there is another way. The way things are certainly isn’t working, with illness and diseases on the rise, not to mention the steep increase in mental health conditions.

     1. The crazy thing is- no one is asking us to prove anything. I have found we tend to be our biggest critics. How powerful though for us to turn this around and learn to be our own biggest supporter.

319. It does not make sense, now does it, how much time we focus on what we are not and what we think is missing, while we can also use that time to focus on what we are and all that is there. What you give attention and energy to, grows. Now what do we give our attention and energy to….?

320. I could feel myself avoiding to read your blog Anne, the first 2 times that I saw the title. Because I knew that I could relate to what you’re describing. And relate I do. While commenting now I feel the difference in writing when I take time to connect to myself and feel my loveliness and tenderness. It is actually so so simple, yet many times I choose to not choose this. For a long time I got away with myself that this is ‘normal’, that I would be the one that wouldn’t be able to get there. Now I am accepting that the truth is that I am allready there, only arrogance, ignorance and stubbornness keep me from feeling the love that I am inside.

321. Anne, it seems here that the key to taking self-care deeper is through appreciation of ourselves and the steps we have already taken to care and nurture ourselves. Without stopping to appreciate the loving choices we’ve made we’re likely to focus on what we’re not doing which actually takes us away from loving ourselves more deeply.

322. Thank you Anne for unraveling this game of lack of self worth, and exposing the tricks we use to avoid responsibility.

     1. And that’s all it actually is- tricks we use against ourselves. Thank you from me too Anne.

323. We are designed to Love and confirm ourselves. The more that we do this, the less we look to others to do it for us AND the less needy we become.

324. “I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.” Recognition is something I have come to see is also playing out in my life, in subtle and not so subtle ways. It is a constant striving outside of ourselves, run by nervous energy and its exhausting!

     1. Absolutely Paula, wanting recognition and striving to be perfect, are extremely exhausting on our naturally lovely bodies.

325. What you say in this paragraph Anne is profound for me: “Then it hit me: I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me. I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.” I have noticed that this seeking recognition for what I do and trying to prove my worthiness is not just with other people, but is also with myself! It is also with God. Crazy I know but it is so ingrained that I have needed to actively work on it. When I do surrender to the choice of confirming myself it becomes fun, playful and very loving. It beats that dry driven seriousness any day.

     1. There is a lot that we can provide once we live this self-care for ourselves, others can be inspired to do the same, and this starts in our own families and with our friends, at school and at work. Everyone is important and deserves a true life with self-care!

     2. Recognition has many fine and unseen threads holding and hooking us but the more willing we are to see them and the more appreciative we are of what we have already cut and lovingly discarded the more obvious they become. Being playful and loving, not so serious and dry with it all makes such a difference, so much easier to confirm and appreciate as well.

326. I loved your blog Anne. It certainly resonated with me on many levels and I love how you got yourself out of the way ( by acknowledging you were seeking recognition and trying to prove yourself), and brought it back to the simplicity of “…accepting that I am already all I need to be.”
     So much to learn from this. Thank you.

327. It is also important to realise that as we unfold the layers that we are being asked to be more and this can feel as if we are “slipping back” but in fact we are being shown how to go deeper in our connection to ourselves. As Anne has said- appreciation is the confirmation we need to accept and allow where we are at.

328. For most, from our early childhood on, we only get taught that we have to get better, which leads to our constant hunger for more. Realizing that we are enough just as we are makes a massive difference and lets much of the stress and tension in our lives just fade away.

329. Great blog Anne, your words..”inside I am already perfect and so I don’t have to strive to be perfect in everything I do”… stopped me in my tracks and i read this over again a number of times. What a great confirming statement, one to remind your/ourselves of instead of going into the ‘doing’.

     1. This is the exact sentence that stood out for me too Jo. It us super powerful and deeply confirming.

330. My level of self-care does fluctuate quite a bit. If there is something that I don’t want to feel, then it goes straight out the window, when it is needed most. Developing an honesty is the first step in developing self-care that has substance to it and not just about going through the motions of looking like it on the surface. I have been using a well-being diary in an excel spreadsheet where I fill in all sorts of details from food I ate, to amount of food, the quality of food, how many hours I slept, the quality of sleep, what exercise I did that day and how I felt waking up, at midday, at bedtime and an overall ‘score’ for my level of connection for the day. It does support me to get more honest about my choices and how they affect me.

     1. What a great idea Jinya. I think keeping a diary, is a good way to stay focused on your well-being. I am also currently keeping a diary where I jot down how my day has been and what I’ve done to support myself during the day. It particularly helps me at work where the demands and pressures of work can lead to me putting my self-care at the bottom of my priority list.

331. Thank you Anne – this appreciation has absolutely been a missing link for me as I have preferred to play the perfection game with self care and self love. I can now see that this is part of a game of irresponsibility which is very simple to address.

332. Cherishing ourselves in every moment and honouring our divinity and preciousness is a self-care recipe made in the stars.

     1. Words of pure gold from heaven Deborah.

333. I agree Elizabeth – a beautiful deep appreciation of where we are at and our divine quality.

334. Thank you, Anne, your list of self care reflects beautifully what I am already doing as well as areas to work on. I know that how I live at home, away from anybody else, is still with me as I walk into work, the supermarket, a friend’s house, wherever. How we live is with us 24/7, so if I want to live love, then I have to be that love 24/7. That is my responsibility, and a deep level of appreciation is key.

335. It is this simple isn’t it Ariana? And when put like this the body feels so much lighter and expanded in the knowing we are incredible as opposed to the self-imposed prisons of self doubt the same body often craves to return to. Our responsibility is to catch this before it happens – we are own worst enemies seeking to return to indulgent excuses that we are not worthy. Poppy-cock – we are incredible!!

336. ‘my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe’ – love it Anne! Expose this for the indulgence it is – the love for myself from reading this article and the clearing out of the way of the myriads of ways I seek to find excuses to not love myself is incredibly clearing and healing. Your article feels like a grader just went through and cleared out all these choices and a wave of appreciation of the awesomeness of who I am is flooding over me. I feel free of these self imposed prisons I put myself under, and more expanded and full of vitality to be more of me, living, inspiring and reflecting in the world for a way for others to be their awesome self.

337. How totally brilliant Anne. I find as well that a common behaviour in students of Universal Medicine who are choosing and coming back to the Way of the Livingness have made amazing choices but cap themselves by comparing themselves to where others are with their self loving choices. But, as you have nailed and shown here, there is always a deeper level to go to and we are all on our own return to glory, so using the tendency to not appreciate ourselves because there is always someone to compare our self to who appears to be doing ‘better’ is: one, not self loving; two, totally lacking in appreciation of oneself; and three totally irresponsible. I am guilty of this without even realising I am doing it. But if I attend live Universal Medicine presentations knowing and appreciating that I am incredible and perfect, as you say, in my divine essence, and making choices to return to this being, then I am already equal with everyone on this level. And how amazing it is that I am choosing to commit to the best of my ability to return to my divine essence and inspire humanity to do the same. Today I ditch comparison and choose confirmation.

338. It’s confounding that self care and self love almost has to be packaged up with a pretty bow, analysed and investigated before we commit to it. It’s as if self love is in a court of law and has to prove itself before we will align to it. However we so easily accept the self neglect and abuse, never question the symptoms in the body and find all that truly harms us a great deal of fun – drinking, smoking, and poor diet etc. When it comes to self love and self care we can take a lot of convincing, and sometimes a nasty wake up call like illness to get us to begrudgingly care for ourselves. We act like we are missing out on something fantastic by letting go of “fun” things that pollute and harm our body, but without self love we are actually missing out on something much grander – the love that we naturally are.

     1. You put this so well Melinda. And I agree, Coming to self love when so use to self abuse takes time as we let go of the identity we control our life with. Self love is beautiful though, and my life has changed for the better from adoring, appreciating and accepting myself more.

     2. Great comment Melinda Knights, it is paradoxical isnt it, “fun” things that pollute and harm our body,”. Poisoning ourselves in the name of fun, but really its more of an escape. From what? Amazing how easy we find it to be unloving and careless with ourselves. Missing out on the grandness and love we naturally are.

339. How gorgeous that you are appreciating how far you have come, how lovely you are just as YOU, (very lovely) so easy to forget this in the striving and being hard on ourselves for not being perfect.

     1. Yes, perfection seems to be a plague for many. When it’s not attainable. Why not have fun being who you naturally are ?

340. Absolutely a great and important topic. I started to self-care little bits at a time and I feel this also built my self-worth – so they all go together. It is true that the more I love myself the more I am inclined to self-care so it is a lovely cycle to live in.

341. Anne with a flick of a switch you were able to change your perception of who you are, that’s nothing short of extraordinary.

342. It seems crazy that we should resist self care because it is resisting love for ourselves, yet I know I can do this behaviour too Anne. As I read your list of all that you do for yourself, I can feel an appreciation within me of what I do for myself too thank you. The barriers to the resistance are coming down.

343. I agree Marika – as one increases so too does the other develop. For a while I tried to get self care ‘right’, but I wasn’t enjoying exercise or my evening routine because I didn’t have a foundation of self worth that gave me the motivation or purpose to do it! More recently I’ve been trying to balance them out, and it has allowed me to develop both a lot since!

344. I look back on the unhealthy lifestyle choices I have given up and wonder how it came to be that they fell away so easily, and the answer is simply that self care, built slowly, no magical transformation, the more we appreciate our selves as we are, not what we might be the easier it is to give up what doesn’t support us. A few years back I never thought I would be able to give up sugar and yet now the temptation to eat it arises much less, as I know the consequences are not what I want for my body, having that level of love for oneself is greater than the momentary pleasure on the tastebuds.

     1. I agree with you on the sugar temptation Stephen. In the beginning the desire for sugar was greater than the care and responsibility to my body. Now I hardly have sugar cravings but when I do I instantly know how it is going to feel in my body and how exhausted it is going to make me feel and this is enough to stop the temptation.

     2. It is definitely an unfolding process as you describe Stephen – one precious step after the other each building on the foundation of Love we have said yes to.

     3. “having that level of love for oneself is greater than the momentary pleasure on the tastebuds.” so true Stephen. There are many times where I thought exactly this, not realising it was due to my level of self love.

     4. Great awareness and appreciation Stephen. The sugar days are definitely over when I used to just eat it first and think about it later – then the big struggle, sometimes overcoming and sometimes giving in to the temptation. But it was all the indirectly self loving things that I chose more consistently as well as the honesty realising that I needed sugar for exhaustion, which lead to more self care around sleep and rest, that really brought about the ‘effortless’ capacity to say no.

        1. Lindell, this is a very clear way to look at it, the desire to have sugar is weighed against the effects, and the outcome is determined by how much we have self loved. So if I make any choice that I know is not right for my body I need to consider increasing the dose of care I take for myself. As Simon says it is the “indirect self loving things” that make the difference and I have certainly found that it is not willpower that stops the choices, but more the value I place on myself and the responsibility I am willing to take.

345. Really great Anne, I could relate to your blog very much. Similar story around how I used to be with myself, but in looking more deeply at ‘why’ did I have self worth issues, it was quite exposing to understand it was about more responsibility, along with the many other things you shared around self love, self care and self nurturing. Also learning to confirm, confirm all the amazing changes I had made in my life and deeply appreciating myself.

346. After reading your blog I decided to reflect on all the things I have incorporated into my life that contribute to my self care. It made me feel a deep sense of appreciation for myself and made me realise how hard on myself I can still be, and how I still have a tendency to focus on what I’m doing badly rather than what I’m doing well.

     1. This is an interesting phenomenon that many of us curiously resort to.
        When we deeply appreciate ourselves and connect to the loveliness that we are, the preciousness of our every breath and the grace of our movements, there is simply no room for such thoughts of self-critique.

347. ‘Hence often my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself.’ Reading this comment Anne made me stop. I would have been happy to leave the reason at not feeling worthy, but you have taken it deeper to look behind the reason for not feeling worthy. We can give ourselves permission to stay in a rut because we don’t want to take responsibility. Us humans have lots of ways of avoiding being our magnificent selves.

     1. We so do Debra- so many ways of diminishing our light.

348. This is such a precious key of wisdom to share with the world “…is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves,” We can begin to self-care and but if we don’t appreciate it, the power of it is reduced , it becomes function not an honouring of who we truly are.

     1. Love what you are saying here Samantha – this is so true, if we don’t confirm and appreciate the loving choices we are making, it is simply a matter of ‘ticking the boxes’ and ‘doing the right thing’.

349. Reading your brilliant sharing with us this morning Anne gave me a ‘stop’ moment to feel and appreciate the journey thus far travelled as I continue to deepen and unfold. It identified for me how at times it is so very easy to skip over appreciation. But, what a beautiful celebration to simply accept ‘that I am already all that I need to be’.

350. That word ‘appreciation’ is the key to this. I was just reflecting this morning that on the one hand I still judge myself for not being perfect… maybe food, thoughts, reactions. When I do, as has been well said in the blog, I instantly forget all the steps I have made toward a more self caring and responsible life that is a million miles from the one I was leading 10 or 15 years ago. When I appreciate how far I have come that is what gives me the motivation to continue learning about all love that is available… the judgement leads to the precise opposite of me feeling worthless and not good enough.

351. Appreciation is something I did little of until about 6 months ago and it has made a huge difference to how I feel about myself. All the self care I was doing came with a judgement or a need, ‘I have to do more’ my self care was never enough. When I stopped and allowed myself to appreciate how far I had come, all the judgement and criticism of myself fell away and I was able to start truly loving and enjoying who I am.

352. To be able to truly self-care we have to be able to connect to our being and to our body because self-care is not a mental exercise. It is not a list of do’s and don’ts. It is simply a matter of connecting with our body in any given moment and listening to what it is trying to tell us.

     1. So well said Elizabeth. This should be on a poster 🙂

353. Appreciating me is the basis to appreciate others, which is the unalterable foundation to also pull others up, to ask them to express more (to evolve) and so to be in service for mankind.

     1. Yes, the basis for true Brotherhood.

354. I agree so much Anne – by criticising or doubting myself, by making myself less, I am just wasting time, denying my divinity and avoiding my natural and joyful responsibility for being me, a love-bomb. And even if I am maybe right with my awareness of ‘I could do more’ it is nevertheless not the way forward to judge myself (or others!). Through confirming my being and how far I have come, by appreciating me – I can build a foundation on which the next step comes naturally and easily to me.

355. Self care is the window to knowing and understanding love in all its glory. Without self care, there can be no love – simple.

356. I appreciated how you took stock Anne in the form of your list, the changes you have made, and the appreciation of how significant each choice has been that now lovingly holds you where you are today.

357. Simply gorgeous Anne Scott to feel the strength and authority of your sharing here. Truly inspiring.

358. Hi Anne – I so agree with what you share here – that to appreciate where we are at is a key step in accepting the love we have for ourselves and therefore the self care that comes with that. I love your examples you share here about the changes you have made to your life – i too have made similar changes, and now if I do have even a thought that is not self loving, I can say ‘that is not my thoughts, that is an energy i am choosing but it is not who i am’ – and then the thought is released.
     It is amazing to also appreciate how I am now, and how there is opportunity to deepen the self nurturing each day and see how my body responds. To me the appreciation of this is very confirming, and makes self care a normal and consistent part of how I now live.

359. Gold is the game of appreciation. This whole blog, these comments, everything that is being shared here. It is all so powerful and game-changing. My immense appreciation to Anne and everyone that has written.

360. a beautiful blog of appreciation to combat that inner critic.

361. I let my level of self care drop a little over the Christmas period, I stopped exercising except for walking and ate more food than I usually do and spent more time lying around doing nothing, giving myself a bit of a break as I have worked hard all year without a holiday. I got a bad cold and my body hasn’t had so many aches and pains for a very long time. This just goes to show how little it takes to be in disregard compared to how I used to be and how much my body needs to be exercised.

     1. Super sharing kevmchardy, and just highlights how easily we can drop our self-care with just simple and small things, yet they have a big impact on our awareness…..and yes my body is yelling to me loud and clear it needs more exercise…..

     2. Great observations you have made here kevmchardy. Its funny that the things we call treats and breaks, can actually be more harming to the body than we realise. I have always found doing regular exercise very supportive, and on the occasions I’ve stopped, I have felt more aches and pains and also less energised.

     3. In the UK we have an extra holiday after Christmas called Boxing day so this year the way the holidays fell you could get 10 days off of 3 days of leave. It did not take long to miss the purpose of working.

        1. I agree Steve – it is natural to fill our days with true purpose, if we allow ourselves to feel this, we will miss it when it’s not there.

362. “.. for how can I care for myself and my body, let alone nurture myself, if I do not feel I am worthy of that care?” Good question. When we start again to take care of ourselves in the same way we would do of a fragile baby, that’s the beginning of the path back to love ourselves thoroughly.

363. “..choosing to confirm myself – just for being me.” This Anne, is a big one, as we then finally accept our being – our essence. Loving all about me starts with exactly this, before I go into any doing or making. Every action afterwards contains this loving connection and is a confirmation of it at the same time.

364. I found this a great dose of medicine to read Anne. My body has been showing me very clearly lately that I haven’t been choosing to deeply nurture myself, and what I had felt before reading this was to start appreciating all the ways I do self-care and self-nurture then move on from there, without the trying or needing to. There are so many great revelations in here that I will be coming back to read again. Thank you

365. I found too that appreciation of oneself is key Anne. As when I started to more appreciate myself I found too that I was already taking care of myself in many different ways compared to how I used to live some ten years ago. And as you say the self care is a continuous development and we can always take this to a deeper level. Appreciating the fact that I am already caring for myself helps me enormous to develop it even further as I now can feel that I am worth it.

     1. Truly appreciating ourselves and being able to surrender to our deep knowing and sacredness is all that it takes – it is all there inside us, infinite wisdom, knowing and absolute Love.

        1. That is absolutely true Deborah, simply to connect and surrender to our divine being, as that is what we are, and the appreciation that we are that will guide us to a way of living that will not only be with great care for oneself, but for everybody equally so.

366. Anne, your “simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing” sums up your blog beautifully. This great what you realize that, “often my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe.” It busts the game of making ourselves less when we realize that it’s just been an excuse to not take full responsibility.

     1. Very true Sandra, the statement about not wanting to take responsibility is profound as it totally shifts how we can look at lack of self worth and our resistance to loving ourselves.

367. I love what you have presented here Anne. I especially love this point you made that ‘each person on this Earth is unique, and therefore each person, including me, is important in the Universe. Knowing the enormity of this, why do I have so many moments of not feeling worthy?’ This is such a key knowing and wisdom. As Serge has been presenting to us the part is crucial to the whole and made of the same substance – love. And you have nailed that it is responsibility that we have been avoiding. We are just as responsible for our well-being and the well-being of the whole as God. Knowing our worth and caring for ourselves is so important. No more trashing ourselves!

     1. Absolutely Lyndy – it will not be possible to diminish ourselves or to withdraw in any respect if we deeply value our light, divinity and Universality. We are each an amazing expression of an infinitely wondrous Kingdom of God.

     2. Beautifully shared Lyndy, “We are just as responsible for our well-being and the well-being of the whole as God.” This really elevates it beyond a “me and my body/quality of life” issue to something much grander. Imagine if we were taught our true place in the Universe in childhood? I doubt we would be scrambling over recognition or faltering in self love. Thanks Lyndy, this is true responsibility.

368. ‘I understand now that my resistance to self-care is in fact a resistance to loving myself’. This is a great line Anne. Resistance is disguised in many thoughts and ideas.

369. Thank you Anne for sharing so much Gold! These are treasures and blessings to apply in my own life.

     By looking back, taking stock, you get to appreciate yourself for all the changes you have already made as written on your list…the dedication you have to actually do the things which you felt needed changing.

     You recognised that you could “accept that inside I am already perfect and so I don’t have to strive to be perfect in everything I do”.

     And ” So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.”

     We don’t need to try or strive, as we are that by nature.
     Appreciation makes us cognisant of the fact of our growth and the power of our choices and actions. Appreciating the changes in our lives confirms the the stuff we are made of and allows self care and responsibility to be embraced and developed naturally.

370. It is crazy that we resist something that is so deeply beautiful and develops self worth, something so many struggle with. I love what you have shared about this being to avoid being responsible for ourselves… for with true self worth we cannot deny how amazing we are and what we are capable of and therefore the responsibility we have to live all we are and reflect this to others… In doing so we can rid ourselves of excuses to hold back or hide behind something we can choose to change at any moment by honouring and cherishing ourselves and what we bring.

371. I have heard Sara Williams describe appreciation as…the glue that holds the livingness together. It is so true that it is easier to fall for the ‘what else’ and the ‘what’s next’ and ignore the great strides we have already taken.

     1. I love this Joel, appreciation being the glue. That makes so much sense to me. I am feeling a deep level of appreciation for what appreciation actually offers us.

     2. Well said Joel. I too have heard Sara Williams talk on the topic, and her emphasis on appreciation being key and to always be ‘curious but not critical’ has inspired me to bring a deeper level of understanding to my life, and eliminate being too judgemental toward my choices and actions.

        1. Love this Susie, can you can learn more with curious and not critical…

        2. Thank you for sharing this Susie and Joel, can definitely feel the easiness of living life being “curious but not critical” it is like giving myself permission just to be me.

     3. Yes I agree Joel, it is so easy to be focusing on “what’s next” instead of taking the time to appreciate what we have just completed and to allow what’s next to simply unfold from there.

     4. Beautifully said Joel and Sara Williams. This is great -‘appreciation as…the glue that holds the livingness together. It is so true that it is easier to fall for the ‘what else’ and the ‘what’s next’ and ignore the great strides we have already taken.’
        This begs the question – why is it that we find it very easy to search outside of ourselves yet seldom look within or allow ourselves to truly honour and appreciate our inner beauty and richness?

     5. …without this ‘glue’ we are but a seeming fragment wandering lost and oblivious to the Whole we are always an inextricable part of.

        1. so true, always looking for something to be fulfilling, because we have allowed ourselves to digest what is already in our lives.

372. Thank you Anne for this blog. This is just what i needed to read today!
     There are so many realisations here for me to ponder and revisit – which i shall!
     I have been feeling such a struggle in recent months, and again in just the last weeks, of the gap between what my body needs in terms of what activities i do, the quality in which i move, how and what i eat and the feeling I need to adjust everything to take more care for myself .
     And then came to this very same question..
     How can i be more caring about the body if i am not (more )self loving….or “do not feel worthy of that care?”
     “Is it possible that the answer to this question is that, knowing my uniqueness, and therefore how important I am, comes with huge responsibility, and that I am resisting this responsibility? Hence often my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe.”
     What does this even mean to me? To me this has meant not wanting to be responsible
     because I know at times I am not reflecting the level of self-love and self-care that I am capable of, or the divinity that I am”

     A lot to accept here.. Deliberately acting against the requirements of a naturally vital body so I can pretend that I am not that grand and therefore not live the responsibility of my grandness! Wow, big ouch!

373. Our spirits can be so tricky in pulling the wool over our eyes so that we do not see the glory of who we are. Through self-care, self-nurturing and self-love we reconnect to the beauty of our essence and the spirit loses its battle.

     1. So true Donna Gianniotis, and one of the simplest ways I can support myself in this is through Esoteric Yoga.

     2. Yep, I agree. It’s a choice to either listen to it whisper in our ear or not to listen.

374. Absolutely Anne, appreciation is the key to taking our self-care to self-love. Unless we are appreciating and confirming all of the amazing steps that we have taken then we will always be looking at ourselves with the glass half empty syndrome. Yes, we always have the capacity to deepen in our self-care, but what deepens it is our appreciation and celebration. Thank you for a beautiful and confirming article Anne.

     1. Half a glass… you were lucky, you had a glass! The only thing I had before Universal Medicine that is involved the word Self was abuse. What a difference a few years and some simple choices do for ones life!

        1. Me too Steve. And seeing the transformation in myself and those around me has been amazing.

375. Anne, the key thing I felt reading your blog was how much we hold ourselves to ransom, that somehow that next thing will do it, and yet if we truly claimed the loving things we do we can really appreciate us and understand that our deepening of our self care is from that confirmation and appreciation. Without that we are constantly looking outside us for things to do, and nothing is enough, so today you reminded me how important it is to confirm and appreciate us and where we’ve come to. Thank you.

     1. Thank you monicag2 – your comment allows me to feel how real and practical this approach is.

     2. It is so easy to slip into looking outside of ourselves when we stop building the appreciation from within. From reading this blog and the comments that have followed I have realised just how big the lack of appreciation hole is that I have created. I don’t need to wait for the big things to appreciate, I can appreciate all the little things along the way, like how gently I have chosen to type this comment.

        1. You are so right fionacochran0, the little things are just as important to appreciate than the big things we tend to focus on. And when we begin to observe the little things we realise how important everything we do is – as in you being aware of how gently you were typing your comment.

        2. Fiona Cochran you’ve nailed the opening that’s there if we don’t appreciate and it’s the little things that really support us to do so, like typing this or the fact that I can feel when I go hard on myself, years ago I would not really have noticed, and now I do. That’s what I love about what Anne has offered here that appreciation is key and that we can stop and do it anytime and with the smallest thing.

     3. Yes, a great reminder to take stock and to appreciate in every moment. Let not another moment pass that we have not fully embraced and appreciated its blessing.

        1. Deborah, .. ‘to not let a moment pass without fully appreciating it’s blessing’ this I needed to read today to remind me that no matter what is going on, I can appreciate.

     4. Well said Monica, there is infinite wisdom and knowing within us and little point turning outside for a morsel that does not live our life nor know what is needed for our evolution.

376. Thank you Anne. Your blog made me ponder why I stay up late too! I often appreciate others more than myself so your blog is a supportive reminder to confirm and appreciate me. It is true that we are worthy so so much love.

377. Confirming ourselves by appreciating our own self care creates a haven of love and one that is continually shifting and deepening as we learn more and more from our own relationship with ourselves. This sounds like a pretty cool relationship to me. Thanks Anne.

     1. I love this Kelly, creating a haven of love with ourselves based on appreciating that which we already are. Beautiful.

378. Thank you Anne, your article is proof that self care is in fact very simple and although there is always more we can do for ourselves, the simple act of appreciation is a central part of it. It is important to take a moment to stop and appreciate the changes made, especially when one is a bit of a perfectionist, as this energy can subtly sneak into the self care arena and trick us into thinking that we are not getting this right either. Honesty is so important, in all ways, so that we can confirm our loving changes and expose the other areas of ourselves still in need of more nurturing. This is an ever deepening journey so great to keep it light and fun by acknowledging the accomplishments along the way.

379. Resisting loving ourselves is very common, and definitely needs to be addressed in all of our societies as it allows us to perpetuate many cycles of self-abuse that result in a plethora of illnesses and diseases. Thank you Anne for showing the key to starting to love ourselves again – and forever continuing the process – through confirmation and appreciation.

     1. It really is the best medicine.

     2. What a beautiful comment Amelia, self love and self care does need to be addressed as a vital part of a healthy society, so that it can become one that is full of vibrant and self supported individuals. Until the world gets real about the impact of self worth on choices and addresses this, we may continue to see escalating rates of illness and disease. Self love and self care is a very practical foundation for a healthy life.

380. Woo hoo I loved this real and honest with a ‘lets go for it’ .. appreciate and confirm there’s no hidden key

     1. Well said Jaime ’there is no hidden key’ – we can stop looking outside ourselves for the solution to ’better ourselves’ and start to confirm and appreciate all that we already are.

381. Now that changes the tone of the word RESPONSIBILITY Anne and actually shows that it is a deeply loving way to live and is not a burden as often we can believe it is. What you describe about actually confirming and appreciating ourselves is RESPONSIBLE, as that way we are also not relying on anyone else to do it for us.

     1. So true Shevon. Response- Ability. The Ability to Respond to the way we truly express and hold ourselves…. We ALL have it and its up to us to rise and shine. 🙂

     2. Yes, there are many definitions of responsibility afloat in life and many more pictures and ideals of what it should and needs to be when all of this is a mere charade – a diversion from taking the true responsible steps needed by each of us to arrive at a loving and truly rich society.

     3. Shevon when I read your comment about not having to rely on another to confirm or appreciate us, I realised that when another supposedly confirms or appreciates us that it may feel like it blinks us momentarily into existence but that there is no longevity in it. For us to come into a more lasting form then the confirmation and appreciation must come from us. We are what brings us into being, we can’t bring another into being.

382. Appreciation and confirming of ourselves is a gorgeous reflection to all and a responsibility I commit to!

383. The importance of self-appreciation and confirmation cannot be emphasised enough. It is the key in breaking the cycle of lack of self-worth and self-abuse.

     1. Thank you Jonathon, a timely reminder for me to recognise the importance of these words – self-appreciation and confirmation.

     2. Yes Jonathan, i completely agree. Self-appreciation allows us to appreciate all others and not only arises us from unloving thoughts and patterns but extends to those around us and inspires and lifts them to equally bring their amazing all.

384. “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be. Through appreciation, confirmation and celebration, we can go from resisting self-care to truly nurturing ourselves.”- So claimed and beautifully said Anne. In knowing this it is never too late to change how our life is, and embrace a more loving and evolving one.

385. What? Wait a second! Are you sure you’re not me Anne? 😉 You certainly have written my feelings and experience pretty much exactly – it’s so awesome for me to read this today. Thank you.

386. Really loved how you mentioned that appreciating and confirming is the next step in self love to confirm ourselves as divine beings. We know we are divine, but confirming and accepting is the action of living this through our way in life, and hence providing a loving reflection for all to see.

     1. Thanks Harry – great point that we confirm our divinity and worth through how we live.

        1. I agree Annie. So important to confirm all that we are through our livingness. And yes, the reflection is awesome.

     2. This blog is perfect timing for me to read Anne and has been something I have been feeling into recently. Resisting self-care = resisting responsibility that has stopped me in my tracks as I realise the truth of this. And also I appreciate what Harry White has contributed. “We know we are divine, but confirming and accepting is the action of living this through our way of life, and hence providing a loving reflection for all to see”.

     3. So true Harry, an essential step forward in our acceptance and expression of our divinity. So often it goes against the socially imposed grain to appreciate and confirm ourselves, but it is always so uplifting when we meet someone who does confirm themselves and thereby naturally confirms other people too. This is a part of my expression that I am gradually evolving and it certainly brings a beautiful quality into everyday life, a quality that lifts our normal routines and puts a sparkle back into all our relationships.

        1. bringing the sparkle back to life, Love it!

     4. And there is great joy in confirming our divinity in every day life – this brings a depth of Love and purpose to all that we do.

387. Great blog Anne. I have had trouble self nurturing and valuing Myself for who I am and what I bring to the World. But over the past few years in particular I am recognising that we all have a unique gift to offer and if like a puzzle one part is missing it is incomplete.

388. In revealing the responsibility that dwells at the core of all our choices allows an ever deeper level of honesty with which I can choose as foundation to all I do – allowing the murky veil of kidding myself I’m not worth that level of care to be lifted and disposed of as the rubbish it is. Thank you Anne for igniting the Fire in me.

     1. Giselle it is true that we allow ourselves to be fooled into thinking and believing that we are worth less than another 2016 is time to bring the focus back to ourselves and our bodies and to stop using other’s as a point to compare ourselves to. Instead I will be practicing reflecting on my life from everything within me I know is absolutely true.

        1. This is an awesome tip Abby, as I have grown to know comparison to be one very unhealthy acquaintance, one that has stood strong by my side for way too many years now, relentless in its ability to steer me down the ‘wrong’, or more so, deceitful path.

389. It was great reading that once you allowed yourself to look at the changes in your life with honesty you found many areas that you could acknowledge and appreciate – and to see how this allowed your conversation to change from thinking “I don’t even self-care” to realising you already do and that you can take this deeper. I find I can trick myself into complicated thoughts and reasons for staying stuck in things, but when I choose to look with honesty as you did and nominate what there is to appreciate as well as what needs attention, everything starts to flow again.

     1. Golnaz your comment was the stepping stone to me realising that appreciation is like a spotlight. Whatever we shine it on stands out in relief. Appreciation actually brings things into being. Without appreciation everything is 2D and then we shine the light of appreciation on something and it becomes 3D. Holy Moly, imagine then the effect of living with self loathing, it keeps everything flattened as if under the weight of an x-ray vest!

        1. I agree that appreciation is magic – it allows us to connect to the magic we are and of and to the world around us.

        2. ‘appreciation is like a spotlight’ Gorgeous Alexis from 2D to 3D and onwards we brighten.

        3. Yes, self loathing deadens us, hardens us and renders life flat, dull and heavy – an arduousness in place of our true lightness of being. Appreciation is full of joy and knowing- the word is a loving song to our whole being.

     2. Well said Golnaz. I have played this game too and I thought it was responsible to always push myself harder, try to be better etc. Now I see that this approach is what keeps me stuck in a miserable cycle.

     3. That is gorgeous Golnaz – who would not want this. It’s such a loving way to Live Life.

     4. So true Golnaz. I find that it is very easy to see and focus on what I am still working on or still have to master rather than see how far I have come and appreciate all my hard work. This blog is a great reminder for me to truly appreciate this.

390. Great blog Anne, by uncovering the layers as you so beautifully have that otherwise keep us held under beliefs and mis-truths of who we are, it allowed me to connect to the truth of what it does truly mean to care for myself. That without appreciation for who I am and the fact that I actually can be honest about that, the care I take will be without the depth of Love I know myself to be.

     1. Giselle by sharing ‘That without appreciation for who I am and the fact that I actually can be honest about that, the care I take will be without the depth of Love I know myself to be’ has really supported me to feel that appreciation really is one of the fundamental elements of alchemy.

391. “I have always pushed myself to achieve more and more, doing course after course, not feeling I was ever good enough, being very hard on myself, often completely ignoring my body, and always reaching for that (unattainable) goal of ‘perfection’ in everything I did… instead of accepting that inside I am already perfect and so I don’t have to strive to be perfect in everything I do.” This is what i know very well Anne. How beautiful to be reminded ” I am already perfect and so I don’t have to strive to be perfect in everything I do.”

     1. This is a beautiful reminder Janina. I love the feeling that we are already whole, or perfect, in ourselves and therefore not everything we do has to be perfect.

        1. I agree Lee. In already being whole there is nothing to ‘achieve’ or get to. It’s quite liberating and leaves me to just Be me.

        2. I can’t be reminded enough Janina and Lee. Reading your comments made me surrender to my body and feel that I am indeed already everything. Only when I disconnect from this, I am searching for me outside of myself. Thank you.

        3. Absolutely Lee, it wasn’t until Universal Medicine that I came to accept that I am truly whole and oh what a relief to stop the searching outside of myself.

        4. Yes, Lee it is liberating to feel that there is nothing to proof and that we have already everything we need inside and just need to unpack and allow.

     2. Yes Janina, the perfection ‘disease’ I know well too, and Anne’s blog beautifully reminded me that I am already there, already enough and there is no striving or trying necessary.

        1. How refreshing – no pressure, no trying, no striving when we allow ourselves to be and the universe within to flow.

        2. Perfection is a disease. Well said Monicag2. Constantly striving to be something we are not and attain a false ideal, belief or picture from outside of us is not only a constant pressure on ourselves but an erosion of the love and light and purpose of who we are and what we are each here to bring. We should be celebrating that we each offer a divine uniqueness and work together with that rather that trying to fit a mould.

        3. Johanna, I love this unpicking of perfection, and yet it is indeed ‘an erosion of the love and light and purpose of who we are and what we are each here to bring.’ That captures so much more than the stress we put ourselves under and gets to the heart of what we are here to bring. We are love and we are here to reflect the love and light we are in everything we do, and to use perfection stunts that, and more, it’s a force we need to draw on to negate the love and light we naturally are. We naturally are love and anything which debilitates that is a loss for us and everyone.

     3. Beautiful Janina, and I can also relate strongly here to Anne’s article, which has been posted in the perfect timing for me. It is a huge energy waster and something that has exhausted me to the point of feeling as though my body was going to break down. This is a serious issue across mankind and so it is great to have discussions such as these. Given that we are not in anyway taught that we are already everything from birth and lead to believe that we have to become this way, through our work, body image, education and all the many other go to’s that life does present, it is paramount that we understand fully what is here present as a humanity so we can return to our simple and very natural way of being. So thank you Anne for this deeply confirming and profound article.

        1. It makes sense Amina what you have shared here about the related exhaustion because of the drive we go into to do more to gain recognition, instead of the steady and loving place of confirming we are already enough and complete as we are. Without the daily diet of confirming and appreciating all that we are, we are going to feel empty because we are not in a true relationship with ourselves. We will not be strong in knowing ourselves. Once we are, that is a very solid place.

     4. What a line – ‘I am already perfect and so I don’t have to strive to be perfect in everything I do.’ This is going on the bathroom mirror!

     5. I agree Janina – when we feel deep within that perfection of who we truly are, everything else in life naturally falls into place and we can express from there our full and innate beauty that confirms to the world that we no longer need to strive and struggle and just be.

        1. Beautifully said Susan. I could feel too that there is nothing missing within us, that we are complete in our being. And that each of us has another job to do here and therefore we need to have different skills and how we approach, do things, to work together.

     6. I too can relate to this, getting lost in the doing rather than accepting I am all just in being me….and there is no need to be perfect in everything I do.

        1. Simply allowing to be who we are…

392. It is like we try to make self-love another box on a list to tick. Yet as you beautifully illustrate Anne, its not a matter of achievement but of uncovering, appreciating and celebrating everything that is already there. Awesome.

393. Oh, the big R – responsibility. That changes the game of self-pity, self-critique, lack of self-worth etc as something we like to feel helpless about to a very deliberate choice of avoiding to be who we are in full and not contributing our unique expression to the greater whole. Responsibility is so uncomfortable 😉 and exposing all the falseness we like to excuse ourselves with.

394. Appreciation for myself has not been my strong suit so far. You remind me of how important it is to confirm and appreciate myself as without there is a limit to how much we can truly be who we are. We are divine, graceful, precious, gorgeous beings – there can be never too much appreciation and the tiniest lack of it can mean we are not in our fullness.

395. This is beautiful Anne thank you. I have been understanding and realising how appreciating and confirming ourselves is key in deepen our self-loving and caring relationship with our selves. It is empowering to accept this responsibility of embracing all that we already are, all that we have in truth come to and as such we build a solid loving foundation so we can simply live all that we are here to live. As when we chase recognition through what we achieve we forfeit the greatness we already are and are connected to and settle for a reduced version of ourselves that is leaves us feeling less, needing and seeking more acknowledgement from our doing. It is in appreciation and confirming our already Divine being-ness that deepens our connection to living and breathing our true and loving way in our daily lives.

396. Thank you Anne I loved reading your blog and the wisdom you have shared with us. This line really stood out for me and is worth repeating – ‘So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be.’ A beautiful reminder that the more we appreciate and confirm ourselves we naturally deepen our self-love and self-care – so simple and yet very powerful.

397. I have been recently reflecting on my living environment and looking at the condition of our house, our car and our boat, all three areas have similar conditions and maintenance problems. What this reflects to me is my resistance to self-care and my level of self-worth. What is interesting is that each is projecting the same message. It’s amazing to understand and read what is going on, to then accept and start working on deepening self-care and self-worth. I already know what to work on, its a matter of committing to it through appreciating myself and creating an environment that reflects the amazing person I am. It also shows me that I have to discard, clear and make space for more love in my life.

398. ‘I am already all I need to be’. Great words Anne, ones I needed to read right now. I get so caught up in trying to have the right career that I lose sight of the bigger picture.

399. Dear Anne, thank you for taking the time to write this blog. I feel we need more articles like this in the world where people take self-love and self-care audits of how they are living their lives….and take the time to appreciate what they are doing and to look lovingly at what they are not and how could they bring more self-love and more self-care into their lives. With love, Sarah

400. Brilliant blog Anne, such an awesome reminder for me to confirm and appreciate myself more and more. I can totally relate to your list and I too have been feeling my level of self-care needs to deepen and understand it’s a continuous process without perfection.

401. I love how you bring in the responsibility we have. I am a divine being and caring for myself comes naturally. Making choices to not care for myself are actually choices – they may have been made a long time ago but nevertheless they are choices. I am responsible for expressing my divinity, anything less is irresponsible.

402. I can relate to this a lot Anne. I have often looked forward, pushed myself and only seen what I lack and how far I have to go. Yet when I stop and take stock it is not only amazing how far I have come, but also how amazing I am right now. About a year ago I put myself on an appreciation program where before I went to bed I would write at least 3 things I appreciated about myself. At first it was hard to even think of one, but as it went on I was able to see more and more of who I am and really appreciate me (and as a note – the things I appreciated had to be about me and not about what I did).

403. What you say about ‘confirming me’ is something I have become aware of more recently. I too have done lots of courses and sessions and still have been feeling not good enough. I knew deep down that I am more than good enough, but I could not connect to the truth of that. In trying to confirm me, another question came up… what is ‘me’? I have heard Serge and others that we are love, but what I felt inside was ephemeral and transient. I then knew that I had to take the step to connect to love. It’s not going to just be there because I want it to be. When I made the choice to connect to it, i.e. confirm myself by its feeling, I knew that yes, I am love.

404. when I first heard about self care it made sense to me but was superficial. Then came the depth of self care and the responsibility that was truly being called. It has been necessary for me to step back and appreciate my changed choices thanks to Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon. Although I still shy away from responsibility in its fullness I clock that I have come a long way and that is to be celebrated and allow the space for myself to embrace the next level of self care and responsibility.

405. Thank you Anne. I often give myself a hard time thinking that I don’t self-care. But you are right, after reading your blog I realise that I do self-care more than I think I do. In fact I have a loving rhythm that is now so familiar to me I forget I am caring for myself. This is worth confirming and celebrating, for without the self-care that is now my norm my life would definitely be a struggle.

406. I love how you bring in the forever deepening process of unfolding and surrendering and this keeps deepening our self-care and our self-worth. What is self-caring today is not self-caring tomorrow, simply because we keep deepening, so the details change to support that.

407. Love how simply you present the fact that it requires no more than simple confirmation of who we are to provoke enormous change in how we see and feel and care for ourselves. There really is no need to try to find the answer or the fix, we have it all, we are it all, we just have to surrender and honour ourselves accordingly

408. What a beautiful insight into the life of a student of The Way of The Livingness. It makes it very tangible that we are “students”. We are not perfect in what we do. We are perfect in our making and this love can be seen in the way we relearn what we once gave away.

409. How powerful it is to confirm ourselves where we are at, instead of always looking at what we haven´t mastered yet. It doesn´t matter how far you are personally with your self love but confirming yourself is already a huge part of it .

410. I love how you have chosen to confirm to yourself all the ways in which you actually are self caring Anne. As I read the list I realised how many of them confirmed for me the changes I too have made and its beautiful to acknowledge that yes I can always deepen how I care for myself but look how much I have already discovered I can do. Thanks for bringing this to light.

411. Great sharing Anne. We are always enough but need to appreciate this. When we do, self care comes naturally and we would not consider doing things any other way but from love of self .

412. Confirming and appreciating the changes we have made and the qualities we bring is HUGE medicine. It stops fuelling the massive weight of self-bash and gives us a whole catalog of qualities we can look back at and go ‘Wow, I am awesome’ From there why wouldn’t you want to care for yourself? And what was awesome about this blog Anne was the knowing that there is always more love and care and appreciation to be experienced and being totally ok with it rather than seeing it as ‘you’re not ‘there’ yet’. ‘There’ is an imaginary place that constantly changes whereas where we are right now is real and has a history and background we can look at.

413. The power of self-love, appreciation and confirmation of ourselves cannot be underestimated. A few months ago I felt like I was doing all the ‘right’ things for myself, nurturing myself with moisturising cream like there was no tomorrow.. but I was still beating myself up in my head and not appreciating any of the loving choices I was making for myself. We can do things that we think are self loving, but it doesn’t make a difference unless we start changing the energy in which we do them, confirming and appreciating every little thing a long the way, while still being honest and true to ourselves.

414. I am so with you here Anne Scott. I sometimes can feel down on myself for what I am not doing or how far I have not come instead of appreciating all that is: appreciating how much I have stripped away what was getting in the way of my being me in my essence. In confirming myself I am already inspired to be more.

415. The true power of appreciation, confirming and celebrating us for who we are is not discovered on a wide scale yet. It is however a crucial element without which we cannot truly grow individual and as humanity. A day without appreciation lays a brick on our way and this easily builds a wall on which we stumble. Our growth and evolution is not dependent on how many new things we can learn or incorporate, but on how constant we can lay the foundation to grow on by appreciation.

416. ‘Yes, there is room to take my self-care deeper, but is this not always so, for us all?’ This is such a great sentence to come back to when the lack of self worth and self doubt come knocking at the door. It makes so much more sense to confirm and build on where we are caring for ourselves and even pondering on this just now I feel more spacious in my body.

417. It is definitely breaking a cycle by claim what has truly changed and to feel the responsibility to accept and live the divinity we are. Beautiful confirming blog Anne, thank you!

418. The more I value myself through appreciation and confirmation, the more I notice the qualities of appreciation and care in other relationships. This really is just a small example of how as you say Anne, we all have a part to play… and how the relationship with ourselves is a very powerful tool to bring change.

419. This is great perspective on ‘responsibility.’ Self nurturing is our natural way and yet it is seldom made a part of everyday life. For those who have successfully committed to self care and felt the benefits of integrating into their lives there is a responsibility to live this so others can also have the opportunity of discovering self nurturing. The same can be said for those who have discovered a truer way of expressing, honouring themselves, speaking from authority and any other truth that can be lived.

420. True appreciation is the building block that our foundation of self love and self care sits on. We cannot sustain this momentum of self love without appreciation of it.

421. I love the list you wrote for yourself as something I have come to learn is that self-care is different for each person and the starting points as steps taken which lead to self love and nurturing vary and for me what started out as the changes I made are now normal ways in my life. This is what makes it an ever evolving process. Thank you for the awesome practical sharing. Anne.

422. Self-care is a way to build humbleness and to surrender to the human frame. Through self-care we build a body that serves the divine and this body is then the marker of the self-responsibility we live with in our daily expression.

     1. This is just what I needed to read this morning Rachel – thank you for the inspiration. Having done an esoteric yoga program recently I have been surrendering to my body much more and it has been amazing to feel just how much my body has been telling me, all of which I have been avoiding feeling. But once felt, I then know from my body what my next move is…the body’s wisdom is super-supportive when we surrender to it! Our bodies know self-care, self-love to the bone – we only need follow its guidance.

423. Self-worth is the knowing that we are divine. When I start my day with the knowing that my body is the main holder of truth in anything I will be doing during the day, then I will treat this body with the upmost care and delicacy to be a steady and supporting messenger during the whole day. If I crush my body already in the morning by altering it with coffee or making it racy with sugar or dense with carbohydrates, then I have to live the whole day with a reduced version of this vehicle that is capable of so much more if I let it be the amazing divine vessel that was offered to me by entering this world.

424. Self-care is the love I wake up with and go to bed with, it is the nurturing quality of my daily expression that holds my body against the forces that are consistently driving me into abuse. Self-care is saying no or yes according to what is needed and an initial no to consistent abuse with the time turns into a confirming yes to love. Self-care is responsibility, responsibility to nurture my body as the holder of my awareness and divine expression.

425. I really love this blog Anne it so beautifully and simply revealed that the root of not loving self comes from our lack of appreciation and confirmation of who we are. So simple and something I am becoming more aware of. It makes sense that through such an approach we build up our sense of self worth, confirm who we are and therefore feel more inclined to treat ourselves with greater care and love as we truly see our value. I so appreciate what you have shared and feel this will be a blog I revisit often.

426. I love the questions you posed for yourself Anne and the reflection they allowed. Confirmation is a big one and something that is so easy to do for another forgetting that everything is a reflection and that we are every bit of the love we see so readily in others. Appreciating, confirming and surrendering opens the way to truly knowing and accepting the love we are and tenderly holding ourselves in that.

427. For me this screams appreciation. You have highlighted actually how easy and simple it can be to self care, yet how hard and difficult it can be for us to stop and appreciate this. Thank you.

     1. Hey Jenny, for me I actually don’t think it’s that hard to stop and appreciate – it’s just that we’re simply not used to it. Anything we are not used to can seem super hard or a near impossible task – especially when we’re always looking for the next thing on our never ending checklist of things to do, fix, or improve. It’s about making a choice, then developing a consistency with that choice – the more we do it the easier it becomes 🙂

428. Just being me, knowing that I don’t have to be anything else, better or more. Confirming and appreciating this is the way forward, step by step.

     1. The way back to the truth of my being…step by step.

429. Hi Anne, I have loved reading your open and honest account of your life since you started on the path of loving yourself. I very much relate to all you talk about and it has inspired me to claim and confirm my own love now instead of striving to confirm it when I feel it is good enough, which is never, as there is no end to it. I am beginning to appreciate more the all and see the gift in the learning to return to who we truly are. Thank you.

430. Thank you Anne – stopping and taking the time to appreciate ourselves in even the smallest of ways is the key.

     1. So true Deborah…it can be an excuse to avoid the smallest things, and only recognise, confirm and appreciate the big things…but it is often the smallest of details that hold the most gold, and it is for every thing we do, say and think, big or little, that counts at the end of the day.

431. Wow Anne, great article. Great timing for me also as I feel waking up this morning this is exactly what I needed to hear. I have been beating myself down thinking I was failing at self care but through your article realise the beat down is actually a finely tuned way of simply preventing me from taking what I do to the next level, a distraction in itself. As soon as you appreciate what you do do you feel great and want to take it further. I just realised how hard and exhausting the beat down was in comparison to the appreciation. Really appreciate you taking the time to write this.

     1. Well observed philsargeant – from giving ourselves a hard time to truly appreciating the smallest thing is self caring and self loving!
        ” the beat down is actually a finely tuned way of simply preventing me from taking what I do to the next level, a distraction in itself. As soon as you appreciate what you do do you feel great and want to take it further”.

432. Great article Anne, when we appreciate and confirm all that we already are, we have a solid foundation from which to continue to expand, thereby calling for more confirmation, appreciation and (of course) celebration! It is an awesome process that we can either embrace in full or attempt to stymie and delay with self-criticism and judgement.

     1. Beautifully said Hannah, it is that simple when you put like this, “It is an awesome process that we can either embrace in full or attempt to stymie and delay with self-criticism and judgement.” One is so easy to choose and the other requires a force to go against our natural way of being, to choose it.

        1. So true Aimee, it is our natural way of being to continue to expand and there is a natural rhythm and flow with this process so it definitely requires some hard-core effort to go against this!

433. “I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me. I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be. ” Yes absolutely Anne. Time to confirm and appreciate young children, so they don’t grow up repeating the same cycles that so many of us did – in knowing that being – in quality – is more important than doing

     1. This is a great point sueq2012. As well as breaking the cycle for ourselves we can do the same for the young people we are in contact with. Confirming them for just being, rather than for what they do. What better way to do it than leading by example.

434. Thanks Anne – great reminder as I’m in the same spot of doing all this stuff for myself whilst barely recognising or appreciating it! To support this, a friend and I have been sending each other daily appreciation texts to shift the focus from the constant self bashing to appreciating all we do actually do for ourselves. At the beginning it was hard to think of myself in that light but now it’s easier as I create new loving momentums.

435. Confirmation has always a universality to it. We confirm ourselves into qualities that are universal. And this is then what we offer to other via reflection and emanating from us. Judging has always an individualising element to it that confirms the mainstream view of the status quo. Of course, ours in an individual journey. Yet, it is important to feel into the qualities that help us to become more and more universal while in the physical body.

     1. The other thing I find Eduardo, is that when I become more adept at appreciating myself, then that is what I take out into the world and I am so much better at appreciating others. This of course then allows them to feel how awesome they are and encourages them to be more as well.

436. Well said Marika, very beautiful, simple and clear.

437. Thank you for your blog Anne, this is an area of life which for me still does not feel completely clear so I feel inspired to read your journey so far with it. It feels very true that there is a close link between, acceptance, appreciation, self-care and responsibility. I know I have changed much in my life so that it is almost unrecognisable from the choices I used to make however I do not stop to appreciate this. I make choices now to be in regard of me and my body and which are caring of me but I avoid making this a focus and deepening these, almost like I have the brakes on. Josephs comment and question therefore also stood out to me.

438. I’ve increased my self care enormously in the last year and I can really feel the difference it has made to how I am with other people. It is so much easier to be aware of and sensitive to other people and their problems when we develop a sense of our self and our place in the world. And it is easier to appreciate that the love we feel for others is more real, not emotional and needy, when we develop a deep love for ourselves.

439. This is so true for so many..”Is it possible that the answer to this question is that, knowing my uniqueness, and therefore how important I am, comes with huge responsibility, and that I am resisting this responsibility?

440. Such a powerful line “I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me.”

     1. Agreed Nicole, this line stood out for me too “Then it hit me: I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me. I realised I was still trying to prove myself by what I do and seeking recognition for what I did, rather than simply accepting that I am already all I need to be.” We put so much emphasise on being identified by what we do, that we totally forget who we are, where as this is in fact the most important thing for us to remember. When we truly know who we are, everything we do is then a reflection of our amazingness.

     2. It is amazing how powerful confirmation is and how through confirmation we can make changes within our lives we never thought would be possible.

     3. I feel the same nicolesjardin. As when we choose to live in connection to who we are, we are powerful beyond compare. And through confirming ourselves we honor and deepen our connection to our Divinity and as such appreciate of our Divine connection with All.

     4. I love this too nicolesjardin – simple.

441. Affirmation, confirmation, and appreciation — the key to self love, and so to living the Love we are. These three together build a powerful foundation from which to live and express in life. Add a fourth, consolidation, and it becomes even more powerful. This can be felt in the words themselves and the energy they carry. It is not self congratulatory, or arrogant, if we know what it truly is we are affirming, confirming, and appreciating, which is our connection to who we are in the Body of God, with every other unique being. You show so simply, Anne, how if we take some time to review where we were and where we have got to, how we can no longer deny there have been changes, and that we can appreciate that.

442. “why do I have so many moments of not feeling worthy?” It is really nice to feel that as of late, I do not have many (any?) moment of not feeling worthy. One of the keys for me is the sort of experiment I am involved with myself based on nurturing moments every morning, being much more aware of my chest and its quality during the day, and stopping when I feel I am loosing it and choosing consciously to honour myself first because without this, I cannot hold anybody else in love.

443. Thank you for sharing Anne! I used to do the exact same thing – claim that I had no self care or self love in my life, and complain about how it seemed ‘difficult’ and ‘tricky’. What I came to realise is that there were things I did in my daily rhythm that were very self loving, and recently I have developed them and now have a pretty great routine of taking care of my body. Although there are improvements to be made, I love the things I do for my body, and I feel like now it’s more important to build self appreciation and self acceptance.

     1. And by not appreciating what we do in fact choose day in day out to care for ourselves and others, we then delay feeling the next deeper care that is needed.

444. “I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me.” I love this Anne because it is so true. Confirming ourselves confirms all others too. Simply beautiful and perfectly timed for me. Thank you.

445. Self-care is an enormous topic and one that is the backbone to shaking off the layers that I know I have laced myself with. My journey with self-care was initially to take me closer to my soul, to live with this being once again residing with each step I take. Self-care is now about everyone else as well. I am responsible for presenting a body that is clear, non judgmental and open to letting love in and out for if I choose to not care for myself, it can be very easy to shut others out, causing great separation and taking the world further away from discovering the truth that lives in us all. I can be responsible for either pulling humanity together, or equally responsible for separating humanity, and it starts and ends with self-care.

     1. I love this last line. The ginormousness (word?!) of it married with the micro, simplicity of self-care. What you have written Matthew and what many others have written is massive. And deep appreciation of you and all our other brothers for whom this kind of humanity-spanning (word?!) dialogue is now the norm. Yes. Much has changed.

     2. This is very true Matthew, ‘I can be responsible for either pulling humanity together, or equally responsible for separating humanity, and it starts and ends with self-care.’ I have been ill recently – after not taking care of myself and pushing my body and when I was ill i realised that i was very focused on me being ill and on recovering and i could not support anyone else during this time, as i have recovered and now feel well again i have noticed that my focus is now not on being ill and that i am able to now support others as well as myself and the more well i feel in myself the more i can support and love others too, so I can really feel the responsibility in taking care of myself and how this affects everybody.

446. Absolutely Anne, I agree, it is our ‘responsibility’ to nurture ourselves. When I take care and responsibility for all I do life becomes a lot simpler. A simple life for me just flows with no needs or wants, with just a joy of being in the Livingness.

447. This is great observations of your behaviour that I can relate to myself Anne, the relationship with our level of self worth is interrelated to our level of self care. As we appreciate the changes we have made, so the changes are able to unfold more and more. This takes the emphasis from trying because it’s already there, we already are all we need to be.

448. THIS IS HUGE! ‘We are not self-lovingly because we avoid our responsibility in the world.’ Ouch! and: Wow! What an enlightening awareness and realization! No ‘poor me’ or ‘victim of circumstances’ or whatever excuses. We are responsible. To self-love, to confirm myself in my power, grace and divinity is a foundation of truly living and the only way to truly serve.

     1. The ‘poor me’ or ‘victim of circumstances’ is the whine of a petulant child. That may seem harsh, but by doing so we are trying to dodge our responsibility for our own choices. We all have the choice to introduce love into our day, no matter what the circumstances… and that’s it. That is simply all we have to do.

        1. So the start of self-care is also the start of taking responsibility again.

449. Another great reason to practise confirmation Adele.

450. Love the practicality of this blog Anne and the confirmation that can be felt in your list of some of the ways that you care and nurture yourself. Amazing the resistance we can have to recognising this which keeps us in a cycle of never feeling good enough and striving for perfection. I have been focusing on appreciating myself for several months but it is only in the last few days that I feel the penny has dropped that unless I am willing to deeply accept my journey I will continue to give myself a hard time for what I am not doing rather than celebrating where I am currently and my commitment to myself.

451. “Indeed, it is our responsibility to do so.” This is so key Anne, for resisting self care is the truly selfish option – whereupon society would have it the other way round. For in the resistance we are shutting down from the oneness of everything and everyone and hence seeing only our own individuated path. From self love we walk open hearted and realise the power of letting love out and in.

452. Yes Adele, when I appreciate myself, this opens the gates for truly appreciating others. This feels a completely natural and beautiful way to be with each other, confirming that we were designed to express in this way with each other.

453. I have never really considered self-care and self-love to be a part of our responsibilities to humanity, but as you have said in the blog Anne, there is the responsibility we have of being ourselves in our full glory so that the people around us can have this reflection and choose to be inspired by it or not. Therefore, building up the self-love and appreciation for ourselves will inevitably be key in being able to embrace life in our fullest way possible.

454. Thank you for this Anne. Self-care and appreciation go absolutely hand-in-hand, and the relationship between the two is what takes both to an ever deepening level. Turn one off and you turn both off. Turn one up and the other is pulled up.

455. Anne I really loved your blog, it is beautiful to read and feel the appreciation and care you are showing something that is a great reflection for all of us. Your last sentence is gorgeous to read so I felt to highlight it again “So perhaps the simple key to self-love, self-care, and self-nurturing is to be more appreciative and confirming of ourselves, and to celebrate the fact that we are, as divine beings, already all we need to be. Through appreciation, confirmation and celebration, we can go from resisting self-care to truly nurturing ourselves. Indeed, it is our responsibility to do so.”

456. This is a great blog that highlights the importance of appreciation. All too often I see myself, and others, being very critical on ourselves and putting lots of attention on what we are not or things we have done wrong instead of appreciated what we are and how far we have come. And I feel this is a general trend throughout society as we often have a picture of how much life will be better if we change in some way, so what we already are is bypassed. So yes, let’s bring on the “appreciation, confirmation and celebration” of who are already. Thank you Anne

457. The two points you mentioned about rarely reacting and getting angry with yourself and others are huge. The other points are definitely worthy of note. But for me these two stand out as we often travel through life with all of our emotions on our sleeves, without any consideration for the effect that they are having on ourselves, let alone anyone else. Acknowledging these is a big step in the direction of love and the responsibility this brings. Thank you deeply for your inspiration.

458. Thank you Anne. I really enjoyed reading your blog. It makes so much sense what you are saying here. To build a solid foundation within ourselves we need the tools of self-appreciation and self-acceptance so that we remain solid and steady and can keep on expressing more and more love.

459. Anne your blog has confirmed for me the importance of taking stock of where we are at and how far we have come. This is something that we can very easily overlook, in the attempt to continuing to make life about achieving more (self critique), but this is a trick because we are not appreciating the tiny but very important details that we are re-discovering (or reconnecting to) about ourselves. And it is simply that we not only deserve to treat ourselves in the ways that you have described, but it is also a responsibility that comes in knowing who exactly we are.

     1. When we focus on achieving more we take the focus away from who we are and make it about what we do.

460. Anne, this is a great blog on a topic that is very relatable to all.
     Perfectionism is a hard task-master – a highly abusive driving and striving force that practically prohibits true self care. Stopping to appreciate the way you are living now is a beautiful way to confirm and claim the huge steps you have already taken in self care and enjoying a deeper relationship with yourself.

461. Anne, this is a great article, I too can be hard on myself and not appreciate all of the changes I have made in my life, I love the idea of writing a list and can feel how supportive this can be in seeing and feeling the changes I have made in my life and to then be able to appreciate and confirm how much I do actually care and love myself.

     1. It is deeply supportive to feel the Love with which we have chosen to walk with rebeccawingrave, well said. To appreciate and confirm our loving way is what builds a deeper connection to and knowing of the Love we are. As it is our connection to Love that is our greatest strength.

462. That is very similar to what I have experienced, Marika: The more I accept myself as I am and stop making plans how to be in the future or how I should be, the more I become able to see how I really am and that this in fact is just gorgeous. We always can go deeper with ourselves, but we do not need to get better or anything like that.

     1. Your right Michael we don’t need to try and perfect ourselves, we just need to accept and honour who we are and feel the gorgeousness in our body.

     2. That was a stop moment for me Michael “The more I accept myself as I am and stop making plans how to be in the future or how I should be, the more I become able to see how I really am and that this in fact is just gorgeous.” I am really feeling this from my core as I have no plans in the immediate future for work, or things I need to do… First time in my life I don’t have an ounce of ‘ must do list’ on my mind, just staying in the feeling of gorgeousness and that has me deeply appreciating the level of self love and care I am living. Yes I will continue to deepen from this foundation, surrendering to purpose and indeed knowing this is enough.

     3. ‘We always can go deeper with ourselves, but we do not need to get better’. Good point Michael, it is important to understand the difference between the two.

463. We constantly are shown or told that we are not enough, should be more, have to reach a goal,… . As you state, Anne, taking the time to stop and honestly observe ourselves will show us that we are not who we get told we are or how we used to see ourselves. Appreciating what we do and bring is a magical step in learning to love ourselves.

464. Confirmation and appreciation is such an important part of self-love, when we don’t, there will constantly be an idea of what we don’t do. While there are so many things we do and are caring for our own bodies, for me it is about appreciating that what we do and are.

     1. Indeed Benkt, when we do not confirm and appreciate ourselves in our self-care and self-love that we do apply to ourselves will not have the same nurturing effect on us as what it will have if we appreciate and confirm ourselves in full.

465. It does seem as though confirming the steps we have made towards self care and appreciating those steps is so important, along with the intention to deepen the care and love we have for yourselves. For the first time in my life I can now see how lack of self worth can become a thing of the past and that it serves no-one to hold ourselves in that way of being.

466. Thanks Anne for writing this as I found it very helpful and revealing of the patterns that I am often trapped in. Far too often I focus on things I am not doing and the times I slip up instead of appreciating the things I have changed like many of the things on your list.

     1. We have definitely have been taught that we are not enough just being who we are and so have learned to develop a relationship with ourselves that keeps us, as you say, ‘trapped’ in a cycle of needing and seeking to do more to receive more attention, recognition or acknowledgement. Yet when we choose to instead to appreciate who we are we confirm that the connection to our Love is a greatness that is never-ending.

467. Confirming self-care and self-love can be in an awareness of all the things you do for yourself rather than the things you don’t do. For example, choosing, preparing and eating food that supports my body rather than listing what I don’t eat. This puts the emphasis on the self-worth of self-care rather than making rules.

468. Reading your list is a stop moment for myself, I can say ditto and there are more. I also feel how confirming this list is to how I am living… that is constantly evolving.

469. Thank you Anne, I enjoyed reading your blog as I can never get enough of this topic of self care and self love, it is such a foundational part of our lives and will determine much in the way of how we live. I find I am constantly being asked and shown deeper levels of how I can/need to be with myself, and Universal Medicine is very much at the centre of this.

470. “From Resisting Self-Care to Confirming Myself”, – just reading the title is exactly what I need to read today! We cannot confirm and appreciate ourselves enough.

471. Thank you for sharing Anne, appreciating and confirming ourselves is huge and makes such a difference. When we appreciate ourselves it does not matter what anybody says or does and makes such a big difference. I love using the analogy of 2 people both going to the same work place and having completely different days – one loving it, the other hating it and finding it a struggle – it shows that it is not about the work place, who you meet or interact with but rather the choice(s) you have made. For me the way I prepare for work in the mornings and the way I walk into work sets up my day – the more I appreciate myself and take care of myself the more enjoyable I find work to be and if I am in a rush, frustrated etc, amazingly that is how the days unfolds it all builds up. Yet essentially nothing has changed – just me!

     1. Brilliant example James. Love it! So real and relatable.

     2. To appreciate and confirm this fact, that how we are with ourselves is key in how we experience our every day’s lives. It is that important and is a huge support in building this deeper and deeper as to me, when we do not appreciate and confirm we are giving up on ourselves and stop the evolving ourselves.

        1. I agree Nico, it is always a great reminder to hear this. It can be so easy to get ‘caught up in life’ and forget that we are here to learn to return back to love and not to actually make here perfect!

        2. That is a great reminder James, we are here to learn to return back to love and not to be perfect at it as this is not needed. And this makes me wonder, what has made us go into the ‘wanting to do things perfect’ as it is not our true nature to be like that?

        3. For me Nico, not that this answers your question, I feel our lack of appreciation means we are never fully satisfied so always needing to prove ourselves. Whereas when we stop to appreciate and confirm ourselves, what we have done, the choices we have made etc.. we realise that even though we may not be perfect, what we have done feels great and it does not matter if it does not appear from the eyes to be perfect. We have to remember there is much more than just what the eyes can see going on.

        4. And to add to that James, we have forgotten that life is that much more than we can see with our eyes, that we live in a world where everything is energy and that there are other realms of life we are energetically connected to and live with. All our movements are because of us responding to energy by the choice of our free will and do affect anyone and everything we are connected with. To appreciate this all and the fact that I am an immutable part of this grandness we live in does subsides the need in me to strive for perfection, as the perfection is already there in everything I am connected with and surrounded by.

        5. Well said Nico, there is far more than just what the eyes can see. So even if it may look ‘perfect’ from the eyes perspective if the energy does not compute then we will feel a miss and content – something I felt most of my life. I would make things look perfect, get perfect grades etc.. but was never satisfied or content as I knew there was something missing that I was not looking at. Sure I could fool people but never myself.

        6. But in truth you could also not fool people James. Everything is felt.

        7. Very true Nico, everyone can feel everything.

472. I am worthy of love, I can say this now and feel it to be true, which has totally transformed my life. There is so much support available to me and so much love, as much as I can handle or allow. In the past, I held the belief that I was unworthy of love and that I did not deserve love which created so much struggle, disconnection and separation. But I was blessed to meet Serge Benhayon and attend his Sacred Esoteric Healing courses.

     1. “I am worthy of love, I can say this now and feel it to be true..” I feel it in your words Jacqueline and it’s powerful.

     2. jacqmcfadden04 I love what you say here, this quote is beautiful in total, I particular enjoyed, “I am worthy of love, I can say this now and feel it to be true,” I also can feel the truth of what you share and it is glorious to be witness and share in some one else’s joy and appreciation of themselves and life. When we are open to it, it does confirm and expand us, I can say this is true because it happened through reading your quote and happens through my day. I have trod a similar path from lack of self worth back to love and I will be eternally thank-full for the reflection that Serge Benhayon shares.

473. An awesome lesson in accepting our responsibility Anne – greater appreciation and confirmation of how amazing we truly are. Just for being us as we really are – no more and no less.

     1. Beautiful, Simone, how you bring in it is our responsibility to appreciate and confirm that we are amazing as we are now, without reaching any end goal.

474. Thank you Anne, for sharing your experience with appreciation and confirmation, perhaps in themselves the greatest way we can begin to deepen our relationship with our self and our equal part in the All.

475. I have resisted the responsibility of truly accepting myself and living my light for a lifetime, and lifetimes. I have made immense changes and am living with an amazing level of self-care and self-nurturing, and yet, I am still able to numb my body from receiving the fullness of my spherical awareness that is constantly there, tapping me on the shoulder, or slapping me in the face, as is the case because I resist and refuse to feel the pain to see what is laying there underneath it all, preferring to just keep existing.

     As has been recently revealed to me, I am terrified of truly being in my body because of the suffering my body has endured in times gone by, as a result of living my truth and my light, choosing instead to hide and retreat. Yet this hiding is so painful in itself! Nothing can ever take away the pain of not being who I am; no food, drink, behaviour or activity. And so I sit with responsibility, knowing that there is no other way but to accept it and the game of delay must come to an end.

476. This is exactly the place I have come to recently Anne – and you have raised such an important point about the place that appreciation has in respect of self-care and responsibility. Of course, there is always another layer of self-care and responsibility we can work on, but in my experience, along the way we need to deeply and regularly appreciate all that we are already, and from this our self-care and responsibility naturally deepens.

     1. Great comment Angela, this is a timely read for me. I have been a bit stuck with self-care recently and now I have a greater understanding and appreciation for where I am and with developing this area of my life.

     2. Yes appreciation is key as I definitely find if I miss out a round of appreciation I am not able to value how I care for and what I bring myself and thus my self care does not deepen and I lose connection with what my body is feeling.

477. To be able to confirm who we truly are; that we are enough just as we are, and that we don’t have to do anything but simply be all that we are, is such a liberating feeling; it is like we have taken a fully conscious breath and on the out breath surrendered to all that we have resisted for so long. There is no longer any need to try to be something we feel we are not in an effort to fill an emptiness inside, to please someone or to get somewhere, but to be responsible for the way we live our lives in every moment knowing that everything we do and say affects not only us, but all those around us.

478. The key message is responsibility for the body – from all angles (inside and out) then the magic begins. We get to walk and talk our full self.

     1. Very well said Deborahannhansen, I totally agree.

     2. Walking and talking our full self – living this is a revelation within itself Deborah.

479. Agree Marika re the inspiration to continue in deepening care, or confirming this. And noting for myself the other way too i.e. when there are moments in self-sabotage, there is the need to go (even) deeper with the confirmation(s), as opposed to any self-judgment.

480. “Is it possible that the answer to this question is that, knowing my uniqueness, and therefore how important I am, comes with huge responsibility, and that I am resisting this responsibility? Hence often my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe” – love this contemplation Anne because it unfolds the fact that when we self-care we get to understand and feel the preciousness of ourselves, and hold ourselves in the value of this, which develops a sense of true worth. And feeling worth it, feels so spacious and capable. And in capability, we can take up responsibility. Self-care and nurturing naturally leads to greater responsibility.

     1. I agree responsibility developed through self-care and nurturing is a key here, how precious to ponder the magic, order and purpose in each of us being a unique part of the whole. Responsibility is so often misrepresented, it is not a dry, heavy and stifling word, its true meaning is freeing, grand, expansive and divine.

     2. As I read your comment Zofia what struck me was the ridiculousness of avoiding responsibility – for who else is going to do this for us? If we don’t accept the responsibility of caring for ourselves are we not still looking outside of ourselves for a mother replacement? As you say, the more we self-care and nurture the more responsible we become because we can feel we are worth looking after. No mother replacement needed!

481. Agree Anne, it’s not possible to appreciate what has not been seen. Your list being a wonderful example in seeing and then marking this, so that there could be appreciation.

     1. “…it’s not possible to appreciate what has not been seen.” Such a great comment Zofia. This and Anne’s blog really highlight to me the importance of really seeing how we self-care and deeply appreciating this. I am not perfect and there is no need for me to be perfect either, but I am amazing so starting to appreciate and confirm this with myself will bring this quality more into my daily living.

482. You have made a great point Adele about how judgement of ourselves or others has a ripple affect and adds to the ‘pool’ of hurt and unworthiness in the world. By choosing confirmation and appreciation instead also has that same ripple affect that touches all.
     When put this way, the answer is a ‘no brainer’. Thank you for posing the question.

483. I LOVE what you have presented here Anne, for when we focus on what we don’t do, aren’t doing, haven’t done yet or should be doing we miss out on the absolutely precious opportunity we have every day to fill our space up with the appreciation and confirmation we deserve. We always have a choice on what to focus on in our day and when this focus becomes about our purpose and responsibility in living in this world we are held more and more in the love and truth of who we are and this just magnifies beyond the stars.

     1. So beautifully said Cherise. We are always gracefully offered the opportunity to deepen our connection to Love through appreciation and confirmation. In continuing to choose Love, we build a body of Love that naturally walks without hesitation knowing the Oneness we are all from.

     2. Beautiful Cherise. It gives me tingles to read these words. We do have a choice as you say to focus on the love and truth of who we are or what we should have/could have/didn’t do/havent’ done.

        1. Agreed, it’s much easier to build from love than attempt to change with self berating. Starting from a place of appreciation is a much better way to live each day.

     3. I agree Cherise. When we are able to confirm what we are already doing, we have taken a big step forward.

     4. I agree with what you have written here Cherise, it does seem as though the pool of all the things we judge ourselves and others with is so huge that we have become accustomed to that and know that far clearer than we know the pool of appreciation and self love – it’s as though we are re-training ourselves to change our focus.

     5. Beautifully expressed Cherise – self appreciation and confirmation are not to be underestimated in our own evolution back to love.

484. Gosh this is awesome !!
     This is like heaven on a stick ..
     Reading your strong lines of your changes gave grace to my body and I let go of a holding that was happening. Great blog to remember to appreciate appreciate appreciate !!

     1. I love your expression “heaven on a stick.. simply appreciate appreciate appreciate.”

485. I like how you outsmarted the self destructing mechanism of not feeling good enough (in your case not caring enough) by simply confirming and appreciating all that there is already. We so easily judge ourselves but this only keeps us small. When we stop judging and simply work with what is there we will be very surprised how easy life flows as in fact there is a lot there already.

     1. I agree Esther, there is much joy to be had in the simplicity of letting go of judgments we hold against ourself and instead allow ourselves to appreciate and grow what is already there.

     2. There is a very deep message being conveyed Esther when I read between the lines of your comment. Our lives are truly transformed when the judgment is stopped and as you say we simply work with what is there.

     3. I appreciate how you describe the power of appreciation and surrender, as you say ‘simply work with what is there…’, I agree it is vital to be able to discern the quality of our choices, self-care is powerful but to be judgemental of ourselves undermines and retards our evolvement. Each step of learning to live love and express love can be imbued with appreciation and confirmation, a beautiful process of unveiling who we truly are.

     4. Confirming and appreciating all that is already there will let us see that there are always things to go deeper with, but from the basis of already being fully enough and amazing just as we are, instead of from the basis of constantly having to get better to be worthy at all.

     5. Not feeling good enough is a pretty clever tactic to avoid taking responsibility in life and being all that we are. And yes I agree Esther, the technique to come out of this is pretty simple, so no real reason to stay in it, which shows us how deep our investment in staying small is.

     6. I like the way you have expanded on Anne’s comment Esther – we can choose to stop judging ourselves and clock the ‘not feeling good enough’ and ‘not caring enough’ and know that the love we are has always been there and is there, confirm and appreciate this. The time has come to challenge what keeps us small.

486. Anne your blog speaks to me on SO MANY levels. I recently felt my power and the responsibility that it came with. For a moment there it frightened me and I ran away. But in reading your blog, I can see that this keeps me small and going in circles. “Hence often my resistance to feeling worthy is because I am not willing to be responsible for myself, or for my part in the Universe.” This phrase is golden. Your blog clearly allows me to see that to even say ‘I am not worthy’ is choosing to hide by feeling sorry for myself. In truth we are so GRAND that when we say things like that, there is a part of us that knows it is a lie, as we have felt the Truth of who we are and therefore no denying it.

     ‘…I can break the cycle by choosing to confirm myself – just for being me.’ Another absolutely Golden nugget Anne. I often will say I am the Son of God, but the energy is not there, as I don’t truly TRUST it to be so in my heart. HOWEVER having felt it, lived it and confirmed in it, there is no denying the depth of love, wisdom and sacredness we come from. To doubt this is not only arrogant but simply not true and a trick to stop us from being Universal Beings. Thank you for sharing such incredible Wisdom!

487. Thank you Anne, what you have revealed here is probably a world-wide problem as it is often frowned upon to actually appreciate ourselves and pat ourselves on the back. But here is an opportunity to turn the tide and bring back allowing, accepting and appreciating ourselves. I know this has been part of my learning too because how would God or universal energy be able to be the amazingness that it is (and we are) without appreciation which means that we are confirming who we are. Without confirmation and appreciation of ourselves we cannot know ourselves fully as the Sons of God.

     1. Yes Susan, to challenge feelings of not being worthy by taking action, listing the choices we are making to love and confirming ourselves as Anne has done, has the power to stop us getting caught up in the images the world has set up for us to meet. Appreciating and confirming is changing old patterns that separate and brings us back to the truth of who we are – ‘Son’s of God’

488. This is a great initiative Anne to take this time to list the ways you are self caring. Beating ourselves up over not being enough, as you state, is really one of the top priorities for clearing ideals, habits and behaviours that are not self loving.

     1. A top priority indeed Simon. In parallel with Anne’s list, it has been staggering to rediscover just how extremely damaging allowing negative thoughts about myself has been for my sense of self, health and well being,

489. The responsibility of being a human being is to first love ourselves, how cool if this was the first class a student learns at school.

     1. It would change the world Adele!

        1. It most definitely would change the world steffihenn. It possibly isn’t even something we would need to teach as children are naturally very sweet and tender and know love…they just need to be confirmed in who they are.

        2. They forget who and what they are, if you don´t confirm them and support them to live this in this world- true! Because the world doesn´t reflect us the truth at all- true reflections are very much needed…

        3. Yep…that’s our job 🙂

     2. And even better, the feeling we stayed with because our parents supported the knowingness a baby has of love.

        1. Yes Adele and Suzanne…the way children are currently brought up and educated needs to be changed in a big way, and that way starts with us confirming and appreciating ourselves, developing self-love, and reflecting to others there is another way to be, and to live, in the world.

     3. So spot on Adele!

     4. If children would be taught that it is our responsibility to first love ourselves and what it truly means to do so that would be awesome Adele. The most important lesson they could possibly learn.

490. What does it truly mean to be me? What does it truly mean that I am the fullness that I know I am? What do words really mean when we do not feel the truth of them in our bodies? To me, they do not mean very much, until these words become irrefutable feelings that my body is absolutely certain of and in that the only way to feel this is to preciously and gently care for the body, to communicate with it all the time and learn from it every moment. To allow and accept that there is no perfection, but to be aware of what these lessons bring and accept the deeper wisdom imparted.

491. When we confirm ourselves we can confirm others, and this confirmation is true for all. When we judge ourselves judgement also falls to another sometimes without us being aware, and we reinforce the deep hurt of unworthiness in the world. So what do we truly want our world to be—one where confirmation and appreciation are normal, or one that is ruled by judgement and non-acceptance?

     1. ‘When we confirm ourselves we can confirm others, and this confirmation is true for all.’ Gorgeous Adele, beautiful wisdom to live.

        1. Yes I agree Anna. All-encompassing as is the nature of true Love.

     2. And the answer to that question IS our choice, IS our responsibility and starts with our relationship with ourselves.

        1. So life is all about us but perhaps not in the way we used to imagine it… in terms of living responsibly rather than the self-obsession and indulgence we have been used to.

        2. Yes Dean. An interesting twist.

        3. Mmmm relationship with self, the all important foundation of everything. I love that we all keep bringing each other back to this point.

        4. ​You cannot escape the responsibility that it is you you go to bed with. It is you that has those thoughts, AND, it is you that has those feelings. Expression is everything. I have learnt it’s best to go for it and discover You !

     3. Beautiful point Adele – and one I can really relate to. It actually hurts when another is harsh and judges themselves – because you can feel on some level that we are, in essence, equal – so an attack on one is an attack on all. But equally so, when we confirm and appreciate ourselves, we offer that same confirmation and appreciation to the world.

     4. Well said Adele, judgement can only be in the world when we live denying our divine origins. What is it that we do not accept in the other and in ourself? It is the human frame and our choices we don’t want to assume responsibility for, but by focusing on it we repeat the cycle of confirming the human existence over the divine being. We build self-worth by confirming our divinity and appreciating our grandness, not by trying to be perfect human beings.

        1. Gold Rachel Andras !! “We build self-worth by confirming our divinity and appreciating our grandness, not by trying to be perfect human beings”. !!

     5. The way we treat others is a reflection or extension of how we treat ourselves. It is very difficult to be truly loving towards another if we are not that way with ourselves. If our body does not move in a way that expresses love, how can we love another.

     6. Gorgeous Adele – great observation and question to be asking.

     7. Thank you Adele, your comment highlights how we are with ourselves reflects how we are with others and therefore how things get bounce or reflected back to us. This shows we are responsible for everything that surrounds us.

     8. Our world ruled by judgement and non-acceptance is not really working out for us. We have wars, famine, over indulgence, illness and disease like never before. It’s time we gave confirmation and appreciation a go. Who knows it may even work out for us and then what? Where can we go from this foundation of confirmation and appreciation?

     9. Wow really well said Adele. This puts it in fresh perspective for me – how I am towards me directly influences how I am with others.

        1. Yes it does Annie and everything we do affects everyone else so self-care has beautiful ripple affects.

     10. Great question Adele Leung, “So what do we truly want our world to be—one where confirmation and appreciation are normal, or one that is ruled by judgement and non-acceptance?” This is something for us all to consider, our attitudes, opinions, outlooks impact on everyone, and so when we reflect, what do we choose? I know through personal experience that the more I have learnt to confirm and enjoy life with self-care and self nurturing being part of it, this has been reflected to others and they have been appreciating the potential of this in their own lives or/and feeling where they do live with love themselves which is so vital. Exactly which reflection do we want to choose in this world?

     11. So true Adele. Learning to truly self care, confirm and appreciate can be a huge task because the momentum of judgment has been flowing for so long, generation after generation of self bashing and bashing each other. These days I can now stay open and loving with myself when I don’t ‘get it right’, which is a HUGE turn around for me. In doing so, I am finding that I am not harsh and judgmental on others either, able to express how I feel with more ease and grace. Those of us who are learning this new way are heralding in the New Era, a way of life focussed on the expression of Love, that begins with self and ripples out into all our relationships, our work and play with joyful and astonishing results.

     12. ‘When we judge ourselves judgment also falls to another sometimes without us being aware, and we reinforce the deep hurt of unworthiness in the world.’ True. I have become aware how judgmental I can be and how much I hurt others with this behaviour and sabotaging myself in the process. Once we truly start to appreciate who we are we can start appreciating others – hence build a world where confirmation and appreciation are a way of living.

     13. Beautiful to read. Beautiful to feel. That is confirmation Adele of the wisdom within. Spoken with purpose to ignite the spark !

492. Anne I really enjoyed reading this blog, it is such a good reminder – so many of us are habituated self critical do-ers! It feels exhausting just writing it! Appreciating and confirming what we bring to the world by simply being ourselves certainly feels more loving.

     1. Debra I was speaking with someone about this yesterday, it feels great to read your sharing as I can feel a pull to deepen my level of appreciating in life rather than continue with the pockets of self critical judgement that are societies normal.

493. How is it we can hear that ‘self-care’ is the key to our health and life, and nod along in agreement, yet its like we will perform any task or duty way before actually embracing it? Isn’t it crazy that we literally seem to need to be forced to be loving to our own selves? The appreciation you mention Anne is like a bridge that helps our self-care flow. Like a friend we haven’t spoke to for years, it begins an exchange from which love can grow.

     1. “How is it we can hear that ‘self-care’ is the key to our health and life, and nod along in agreement, yet it’s like we will perform any task or duty way before actually embracing it?” I agree Joseph, it’s the madness we all signed up for but thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine we have been reminded how to reconnect to our loving ways again.

        1. I agree Donna, before i was in contact with Universal Medicine i lived so far away from self care and self love. And it still takes focus for me to choose it and live it!
           As Anne has said it is important to appreciate all the steps we have already taken towards self love, to be able to deepen and confirm it.

     2. What I also note amongst us is the many ideals and beliefs around self-care that it is in someway selfish, when in fact the truth lies in the definition of self-care being actually about everyone. As Anne shares, self-care leads to self-nurturing which is honouring oneself for the divinity and presence that you are, and once this is lived it is impossible to not honour and nurture others as equally.

        1. Very true Cherise that has been my experience. So, therefore it is selfish to not self-care!

        2. Beautifully expressed, Cherise, these beliefs and ideals are a set-up designed to encourage us to hold us back from giving all of us and it affects everyone, not just us.

        3. So true Cherise when we truly begin to self-love, self-nurture, appreciate and confirm we then bring this quality to all our relationships as you say it then becomes about everyone.

        4. I know this to be true for me Cherise…that the more I honour and nurture myself, I have way more love and the capacity to support and love others. If my own self love isn’t felt, then it’s impossible to love another.

     3. It does seem crazy that we have to “re-teach and re-train” ourselves to love ourselves Joseph. Especially when we can so easily – (and seemingly) – love another. Deepening my appreciation and acceptance of myself has supported me to develop my love for myself. And, I now know that I cannot really love another until I love myself first.

        1. Whilst we are learning to love and care and accept ourselves we just start to get a glimpse of what love truly is, and the more we then learn to love the deeper we can and need to take self-care and self-acceptance. One does not go without the other and there is no end to that process as there is no end to love.

        2. Yeah it sounds like a bit of a cliche but it is actually the complete truth, that ‘I cant really love another until I love myself first’.

        3. Love that Ariana. I am with you. I too ‘want to remember all of who I am’.

        4. Absolutely, the more I really appreciate myself and my natural qualities the more the more there is to cherish and remember.

        5. ​
           Yes, that is awesome Ariana “I want to remember all of who I am”. If your not connected to you there is no way you feel all of you. I have an amazing life compared to how it used to be. If I’m not connected to that it can feel as though I do not have it no more. Gone in an instant if I’m not connected. Connection is paramount to building the love that we are.

     4. Very true Joseph, knowing something and living it are two very different things (as I have found from personal experience). I used to ‘think’ knowing was enough, but it is just the all important beginning.

        1. Well said Anna. We can spurt out all the knowledge we like but it is very empty with out a living way to back it up. When we live something, no words are needed.

        2. I was the same Anna, I used to think knowing was enough and I would ‘preach’ it to others, only to find it was falling on deaf ears or people reacting and ‘win’ the argument which would frustrate me. I realised you have to live your livingness and embody it. Preaching is a part of the intellect knowledge that can only come from your mind. Universal knowledge comes from your all knowing which you live through your body, through your livingness which doesn’t need to be preached as others can see and feel it for themselves.

        3. Yes, this is a forever deepening process for myself, the commitment to living what I know is true.

        4. I agree Anna awesome comment. Simple concept – no excuses.

     5. That’s a great point, do we really need to be forced into loving ourselves? But when we start to appreciate ourself, the love is just there.

        1. That is the irony isn’t it, that love is always there… we have just got very good at not remembering that and therefore making choices that confirm us in the ‘what is not’ which leads us in a downward spiral. When we turn things around and start to confirm the ‘what it is we are’ then we have the opportunity to grow our true selves.

        2. Benkt, the word ‘force’ is not loving. I’m learning to just be with no force or agenda. Surrendering provides space to let go of what hurt I’m holding onto. Loving myself is letting go, which then allows what is there to come to you. The allowing confirms you.

     6. “Isn’t it crazy that we literally seem to need to be forced to be loving to our own selves?”
        Yes it is totally crazy Joseph, before universal Medicine I thought my self care was pretty standard, yet when I realised how disconnected and autopilot my whole routine was, I was shocked, for all along I had been missing the most important ingredient, me! Through connecting to my breath and bringing more awareness to my body I have re-learned how to truly take care of myself, wrap myself up in the same loving way I do for my children.

        1. Agree Lucinda, I was also convinced I had it all, but had no idea how far removed from loving myself I lived. It was always the focus on the outer and what I had to achieve and taking care was a necessary pre-condition to manage my busy life and all the abuse I went along with. With Universal Medicine I learned that love is all and everything and that it is the love we live in that makes me self-care and not the abusive lifestyle I have to counter.

        2. Its interesting the dictionary definition of pamper – is to spoil and over-indulge yourself.
           If we approach self care in this way, then by the nature of it being overindulgent we will only allow ourselves pockets of care, which as you say Rachel are set up to counter the exhausted and abusive lifestyles we accept as our everyday normal.

     7. Previous to Unimed, self-care was simply nonexistent for me. Over time, in Unimed I learnt on the importance of self-care and slowly I have started incorporating it into my life (e.g., daily care, eating, clothing, etc). So, self-care made it into my daily life in specific instances-moments of it. Now, I have added the challenge to preserve-deepen a certain quality of being in my body no matter what. So, confirming is in the game too.

        1. Totally Eduardo! Before Universal Medicine self-care was non-existent to me. When I look back at the things I did, especially drugs, and mad things like diving off huge heights or under a big rock that I was told had a passage underneath it and swimming through it. (If i had got stuck I would have asphyxiated) makes me shudder. It is amazing that I am still alive. All this is not even taking into account how I would override what my body was telling me in everyday life and do all the things that were considered ‘normal’ but we now see is ‘abuse’. Thank heavens for Serge Benhayon and Universal medicine! Without him and other great masters the world would be lost.

        2. Same for me Eduardo – I also learned the importance of self-care through Universal Medicine and I just introduced things a little at a time. There was a lot to change in my life but now many years later, self-care is so important I can’t understand how it is not mandatory schooling when we are young!

     8. Well said Joseph. Self-care should be simple common sense yet it feels alien to many. We want someone to bring us love, care, nourishment and to be met but no matter how much another brings this to us, it is ultimately up to us to love and appreciate ourselves first.

     9. I am not sure that I can truly appreciate myself when I don´t love myself, but what I found is that I can take an inner posture of seeing and holding myself as a precious person equally worthy to everyone else. It begins with a potential – the possibility of me being precious – and while holding myself in such a space, opens where self-love and the willingness, of not being very caring and honouring with me, arises.

     10. Very true Joseph. It is crazy that we can talk to others about their need to take care of themselves etc but often find it hard to do for ourselves. I realised as I was reading that, similar to Anne’s comments, that I have a habit of undermining my appreciation of the ways that I have already increased my level of self care by often feeling like I should be doing more. This subtle self abuse hasn’t allowed room to really claim a connection to my self worth and thus an expansion of self love, care and nurturing. It’s great that this has been brought to my attention so that I can now refocus on what self love and care means to me.

     11. I’ve often thought how crazy it is too Joseph, but as Anne says, it’s all to do with the ‘R’ word – Responsibility. Lack of self-care is a convenient way to sabotage ourselves so we then have a great excuse not to take responsibility for living and bringing the magnificence of who we truly are into our daily lives. Let’s face it, someone consistently living in a way that allows them to feel this magnificence is never going to let themselves feel less than this by eg. eating food that doesn’t support them, watching TV to check out and dull themselves from it, indulge in emotions etc. and so how many of us a truly willing to let go of our comforts? I know for me I am willing to go so far but then as my self-care deepens something else I do becomes exposed for not being supportive of me but if it’s something I have a strong attachment to I can become quite stubborn in letting it go. Gradually I pleased to say this is changing and it is largely to do with the inspiration I feel from many people who have chosen The Way of the Livingness as their living way. The power of inspiration and reflection is huge.

     12. I am with you Joseph. There are many simple things we reluctantly embrace in life sometimes out of stubbornness, sometimes pride and sometimes even fear of what it will be like to be free of our issues and feel absolutely fantastic most of the time.

     13. Joseph your words here, ‘Like a friend we haven’t spoken to for years’, pulled me up and I realized I have never asked myself, “how are you going my friend”, from the intention of truly caring for myself, like I would ask a close friend. A sad and revealing point for me, and one that I will absolutely change. Thank-you.

     14. It does seem crazy Joseph how much resistance there is to being self loving, and this seems to be right across the board with all ages. I used to think it was because I was in my 50’s that I had longer to unravel my unloving ways, but I know people in their twenties who have struggled with this also.

     15. Joseph it is indeed crazy that we literally need to be forced to self-care sometimes. I like the analogy of appreciation being like opening up a conversation with a friend we haven’t spoken to for years. We so often forget to appreciate the little things about ourselves.

     16. Love this Joseph ‘The appreciation you mention Anne is like a bridge that helps our self-care flow. Like a friend we haven’t spoke to for years, it begins an exchange from which love can grow.’ an awesome way of expressing it.

     17. I agree Mary these words touched me too. As you say it is rewarding to acknowledge and accept what you feel is true.

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