After dinner we decided to have some walnuts that, although dating from last year’s harvest and looking dull on the outside, still tasted magnificent. One of them split exactly in half and what we saw brought joy-full laughter and a deeper understanding to our dinner table.
The amazingly beautiful heart-shaped nut – sitting so well-preserved in its shell – for me was a symbol that inside everything, love is the essence. An essence that will always be preserved and can be revealed, no matter how thick the shell might seem.
Love is deeply nurturing and like the walnut seed, a magnificent tree can grow from it: tall, strong, deeply rooted, prepared to withstand any winds and magnifying the love from this little walnut seed by bringing forth hundreds of walnuts, all of which have the potential to grow into magnificent trees.
Not one tree will look exactly like the other, and yet they all are the same; differing a little in their growing habit, their genetics and the external appearance and the flavour of their fruit, but all are walnuts. They all have the same cycle of life and in their essence, stem from one seed.
This reminded me a lot of love, which is our essence. We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there.
If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.
There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love. The hard shell around it might sometimes not appeal to us at first, but what I have learned from yesterday’s experience is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.
Thank you to Serge Benhayon for the inspiration to constantly read what I meet in life and thank you to Felix for so gently opening this walnut and thus revealing the treasure within.
By Michael Kremer, Personal Assistant, Buchholz, Germany
Further Reading:
Love
What Would The World Be Like If We Only Did Things Based On Love?
Unconditional Love
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
“There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love.” The ever expanding love of the Universe calls us all to open up to be at-one with the love of the Divine.
I sometimes get too focused on the outside and forget to see past this exterior shell of hurts that I or others carry. This prevents me from having the depth and joy in connection with myself and the other. Letting go of this is easier to say than to do, but when we do take the leap and let it go, we get to see how much easier things are and how much more freer we are.
Michael, such a simple and yet powerful blog to remind us all and confirm us all of the deep and strong love that we all are.
“This reminded me a lot of love, which is our essence. We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there.” – great reminder Michael, especially when we have lost touch with the love within – and yet to know that this is always there even when we think we cannot feel it is a reassurance.
Appreciating the ways we can enrich our lives comes in many packages and keeping things simply and within a nut-shell gives us an example of the magic of God, as we explore and deepen our appreciation of our essences.
Yes Michael it is so true “love is the essence” and more we do not need to know from there we only have to live it.
Very true Doug. What we feel can often belie what we see with our eyes, which can deceive.
Seeing beyond what is initially presented, ‘it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.’
“Not one tree will look exactly like the other, and yet they all are the same; differing a little in their growing habit, their genetics and the external appearance and the flavour of their fruit, but all are walnuts. They all have the same cycle of life and in their essence, stem from one seed.” I love this analogy Michael. It makes it so pointless to compare because in essence we are all the same.
“….it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.” So true. In the same way, we should not ‘judge a book by its cover’, when the exterior is peeled away and the true essence is revealed, we cannot fail to see the treasure that lies within.
This is very true Sandra, ‘This reminded me a lot of love, which is our essence. We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there.’
There is a seed in every relationship that we have, whether that is an intimate one, friends, family… all are there with the potential for something. So do we develop, nurture, test and grow that, or hold back, protect, withdraw and so it does not get the nutrients it needs to grow strong and true?
Simon, thank you this is a great question and at the same time rather confronting for it asks us how much we have actually taken responsibility for the relationships in our lives.
Now more than any other time in my life I’m seeing how our outer shell might be of different sizes and thicknesses but our essence no matter how much we think we hide it away, is untouched and forever burning bright just the same as every single other person in the world.
I find nature contains such wonders. When you take time to consider the magic of a walnut growing inside the hard shell and the intricate nature of its grooves that is so similar to a human brain or the magic of a baby growing in a woman’s body which takes detail and design to a whole different level, both are such miracles really, miracles right before our eyes. We have simply taken them for granted.
Well said Lucy – miracles abound around us – but how willing are we to see this and appreciate it?
So true Lucy, there are many miracles all around us that we may have taken for granted.
Not getting distracted by what our eyes see first.. so true. If we limit ourselves to what our eyes see, we miss out on experiencing the depth, beauty and majesty of the whole, through allowing ourselves to feel and love deeply.
I love this – beneath a hard exterior shell may not be all it seems…. and could within every person be this resounding beauty, that may only be temporarily masked by a harder shell.
Within the hard protective shell of our own nut kernel there is the essence of love that we know is waiting for us to open up to.
When we open our eyes life can be full of ‘just so’ events. Some can be as clear as in this blog, some require more awareness but they are very often there.
Beautiful to feel the love we are surrounded by when we allow ourselves to be open to receiving it. Magic Michael.
I love this, the magic of God showing us on a far deeper level how we are all interconnected and come from an essence of love no matter how hard we try to conceal it, it is always there with us.
This is a gorgeous sharing Michael, thank you for the reminder that behind every tough and hard exterior we are all made of the same divine essence.
Yes Love is always there in every moment to be expressed in whatever way is true for us; it is a responsibility that only we can choose for ourselves and hence offer and reflect to another.
When we have worked through our own protection, our hard shell, it becomes more simple to look underneath the hard shell of another to feel their essence, like you say to not get distracted by what our eyes see first because then going in reaction is very easy, feel one’s essence and we see the energy of love in all of us.
there is such divine symbology in nature – a walnut being one of them. Often we distinguish each other just from the physical but it is so key to not forget the essence of who we are.
Nature is always there to support or confirm us, are we paying attention to its many messages?
I love this, so simple yet deeply profound if we yet choose to see the grandness of who we are and how interconnected we are. The magic of symbology is so powerful and inspiring, opening our eyes to seeing and feeling what is there to be read.
I love this magic of God, that gave you this insight about the love that lives inside us all and the shell is maybe hard to crack but eventually it will as in the end love is irresistible.
Love always prevails.
I love the title of this blog as it reminds me of how love and thus God is in the detail. WE may think of love as this big earthquake that happens between people but it is a state of being, a quality in energy that is on offer all around us all of the time.
The teachings of Serge Benhayon give us a new foundation upon which to walk.
It also shows that it does not matter that they are old, the love is still there. In other words however long we have not loved, it does not matter for it is forever there waiting untouched and ready to grow into all parts of our day where we can express love.
Very true. This was one of the most beautiful insights in my life.
Love that Lieke – its never too late to bring the love to life
Love is deeply nurturing and like the walnut seed, a magnificent tree can grow from it’. What a lovely metaphor. The potential is within us, it is only up to us to open up and ‘soil’ ourselves to the love can come out igniting other ‘wallnut’ hearts. I just get a big smile on my face just visualizing this – if we were to all crack our nuts and open up, what a forest of Love.
Well said Alison. I find that my ears can also be deceived, in fact all the senses are prey to this. I feel more committed now to staying aware and supporting my body to read what is truly going on rather than rely on these 5 senses that have been markers to the truth, which is not really the truth, for so long.
Indeed love is always there, and the more we are willing to surrender and connect to it, the more it becomes part of our everyday. When we try and control love it is no longer us accessing the quality of it that can pass through us but trying to make it our own. But love is never individual – it is always about multiple relationships including the one we have with ourselves.
Yes and it has to start with the relationship with ourselves as its foundation because we look out at the world and process and interpret what we see from that space.
Symbology in nature is always there to support and confirm us, if we are willing to see and read its language. And thus, the walnut seed is indeed a splendid example of the expression that from small things big things can grow.
A beautiful example of the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. If we judged the walnut from its outer appearance we might not even feel to open it and in doing so miss out on enjoying the delight inside. And it is exactly the same with judging others before we allow them to open up to us and to share who they truly are.
When you place your hand on someone’s heart and do some healing, it is one of the most beautiful experiences to feel when the person starts letting you in and what appeared to be a concrete wall, turns into tenderness and the heart ceases to be a distant, buried thing, to become very alive.
There is so much to observe in nature and around us, the world is talking to us all the time if we are open to listening to it. So much communication but how much of that do we really pay attention to?
It suits us to dismiss what is there to support and guide us back and we are much the poorer if not outright destitute for it. Symbology, in its true and unadulterated meaning, as the Magic of God in nature that it is, is there for us as a confirmation of our divine origins.
We look different to the world and see every human being with different eyes if we consider that ‘inside everything, love is the essence. An essence that will always be preserved and can be revealed, no matter how thick the shell might seem.’ Of course everyone is on their own path of return and choose their speed, but deep down we are all exactly the same. We are all love, we all come from God and we are part of the universe.
Most of us have our own version of protection, even if we don’t know we have it, and with the work of Serge Benhayon and the Ageless Wisdom we can first become aware, and then let go of that protection.
well said Heather, most of may not realise the extend of their protection as part of it has become the norm within society. To imagine living free of any form of protection, open and in our fullness, is something that did not come to life for me until I met Serge Benhayon.
Yes, and sometimes a thick shell gets formed precisely because it feels the delicateness and preciousness of what’s inside in contrast to what it is being surrounded by, and then it starts to feel like the shell, thinks it is the shell and forgets what was inside. Such an irony.
I was reflecting on your words about what grows from the seed, that we may take the seed of love we are in essence wherever we go, and we may not realise what may grow from that in terms of it’s ripple effects and our ability to inspire others.
Yes the magic of nature is very playful and is truly magical in all the reflections it provides and how the details of each reflection is exactly what is needed in that moment for the person receiving it. The last time I looked at a walnut it reminded me of a brain not a heart!
It also shows us that our love remains forever no matter what the shell is around us that we have created — for we are love, once and forever.
We are absolutely each so beautiful, no matter what the outer shell we have constructed to hide ourselves away looks like.
We would be nuts to ignore the potency of our essence, and what can grow from there.
ha ha very true!
Thank you Michael for you express the profound beauty of natures symbol.
A beautiful reminder of the messages always being received from nature for us to appreciate deeply.
“The amazingly beautiful heart-shaped nut – sitting so well-preserved in its shell – for me was a symbol that inside everything, love is the essence. An essence that will always be preserved and can be revealed, no matter how thick the shell might seem”.
Great blog. In a nutshell, human life is much more simpler than we think it is when we let go of all the emotional entanglements that drive us to distraction and allow the warmth of love and purpose to flow.
Life is so rich, it is continually gifting us although we often we run around oblivious to its offerings. I am reminded to stay connected to my body and pay more attention in the moment so as not to miss these magic and inspiring messages.
“a symbol that inside everything, love is the essence” we were made by love and we come from love it his our very essence beneath the tough shell exterior.
That’s exactly it Jill, we need to deconstruct the shell and let all that love out.
‘was a symbol that inside everything, love is the essence’, we all come from love, we just have to let it out.
Love can be found everywhere, if we are open to seeing it.
“a symbol that inside everything, love is the essence” Symbolism in nature is a constant reminder from God of all the love that He is and that we are also.
Love is always there, and it is up to each and every one of us who have started to build the inner connection and to know where love lives to reflect this back into the world, so that more and more people have the possibility and the opportunity of knowing who they are and thus the tide is turned
One of the beliefs we have is that we can be hurt if we love, and it’s true we can experience hurts in life but our love remains untouched. We cannot hurt or damage the love we have inside in our essence.
A beautiful call to action – who would not want to love more? But do we consider that this way of living has such a big impact on so many other people and not just see it from a personal perspective?
Having watched so many students of The Livingness blossom over the last 15 years, I can confirm that no matter how we morph the outer shell, the love is always there, magnificent and untouched inside.
There isn’t a shell big enough or strong enough to contain Love. Love cannot be contained just abundantly expressed.
Richard it must take so much energy to hide the power and brilliance of our love behind a protective shell or other facade. Holding back something so mighty that is meant to be expressed and a part of our true nature must take an enormous effort.
“Love is deeply nurturing and like the walnut seed, a magnificent tree can grow from it” Yes Love is what we grow on best. Better than anything else.
And just like a walnut not allowed to be let out of its shell and grow, we all miss out when we hold ourselves back and do not express our love.
Beautifully said Joshua.
If we prepare the soil … love can go to paraphrase what you so beautifully offer here Micheal. This is no limit to love other than how much we’re willing to nurture it, and no matter what it’s always there, a seed waiting to grow and thrive.
” The amazingly beautiful heart-shaped nut – sitting so well-preserved in its shell – for me was a symbol that inside everything, love is the essence. ”
This for sure this is true and the same applies to all people for truth at their true essence, there is nothing but the love of the source of their essence.
I love coming back to this gorgeous blog. It reminds me of how loving it is to be open to every person we meet regardless of what they look like, because we are all in essence exactly the same.
There is a beautiful equality and unity there that transcends all physical appearances when we relate to each other by our essence.
Nature is always reflecting, confirming and bringing understanding to who we are and that the divine is housed within us all, if we just, stop and feel vis the connection to the vehicles we are housed within.
The divine is there, in all things, and it is no wonder that when the divine in one meets the divine in another it recognises and falls in love with itself…
very cute 💕 and ‘inside everything, love is the essence’ so true
We, every single one of us, are a template of God, of love, of real life itself, and through our connection to our Soul our connection to our multi-dimensionality can be bought to life. Such is our purpose for being here to together expand God’s love, the love we innately are with every move we make, through our daily living.
What a beautiful simple analogy for the love that is at the heart of each of us. I could feel the joy and laughter at your table. Thank you for sharing!
We can recognize something as a symbol of something else, once we have established an inner connection to that which the symbol represents.
Love this Eduardo, as it relates beautifully to how we are here in this plane of life, as the living symbols of God, through which our connection to our love within, to our Soul, our Godliness is lived.
Michael we could also use this analogy for human-beings
Not one tree will look exactly like the other, and yet they all are the same; differing a little in their growing habit, their genetics and the external appearance and the flavour of their fruit, but all are walnuts. They all have the same cycle of life and in their essence, stem from one seed.
From the external appearance of human-beings you would think we were all different, but in essence we are all the same, one day we will come to this realisation and work together for the benefit of the all and not in the separation that we all currently live with.
We are so often distracted by the outer shell of something or someone and instantly make a judgement but in doing so we are possibly in danger of missing out on the beauty that lies behind the facade, the shell of protection. Within each and every one of us lie a well of love, a well that never runs dry in spite of all we do to hide it, to protect it and in some cases deny it is actually there.
It’s so true Ingrid and a great comment, we judge the shell and miss the essence of love in the person. Comparing the walnut story to how we judge does now seem quite ludicrous – the heart of who we are is not the shell we construct. I reckon staying steady in our essence of love means loving people for who they truly are, that’s how we love in a world where people and their behaviours have moved very far from their essence.
I have just moved house and have been going shopping in the local shopping centre and supermarkets. The staff in the shops have mostly felt beautifully open and very helpful, yet many of the shoppers have been carrying a quite hard shell. The difference in the the experience of these two way of walking around and relating is quite striking. The openness is such a blessing to be around. The hardness is a great reminder to me to keep me observing and not judging.
This shows what we are able to read and reflect on even from the simplest thing. Who knew there was so much in one nut and yet here we have a deep and personal reflection that is for us all. Why do I wait for the signposts I want in life to read like this? When in fact this could be my everyday, my every moment and far from hard work this quality of reflection and detail will support me not to carry the load of life of my shoulders which then weighs me down and takes me out of rhyme.
Our cycles in life constantly show us that life is not linear, that it is round and spinning, hence we can embrace all that is coming around and to us or reject another round until we embrace and see that which is love and that which is not. Eitherhow rejecting our cycles is not changing the fact that we go round and round until we move up to another next cylce.. Profoundly so. We are shown love in many ways in all cycles.
As the only movement of the universe is expanding the love that all is and is the all, everything that is in line with that order can give a reflection of love, even at the most unexpected or seemingly impossible places.
Extremely true and beautifully said and we only need open our eyes to it all and yet at most we are asleep and upset that we have no support. What you are speaking of plays out or ‘reflects’ at all corners of the world all the time and yet we can walk in the world thinking it’s not so. How strong are our pictures or should I say how blinding are our pictures, once we have walked then because at any moment we can see the truth of life or the truth full stop. Nothing has the power over this love because as you say, “love that all is and is the all”.
Oh yes, the hard shell that can have so many faces. Only when we open up we all get to see the treasure everyone equally carries deep within and how amazing that nature through symbolism helps us to do so.
I love the reflections we can get from nature and how we can be reminded of the deeper truths in life.
Thank you for the reminder that under the hard shell exterior, that love is there. And is always there. In each and everyone one of us.
I agree and yet we relate or live the “hard shell exterior” more at this point then the “love”. While it makes no sense and causes all manner of pain and hardship we still live it? Shows us the power of living something over and over, a rhyme if you like. Once you live it you become it and so to turn this ‘mess’ around all we need do is live the truth, live the love everywhere and that is what will be.
Being open to the possibility that our love is always there, residing deep within…no matter our experiences of life.
“Love in a Nutshell” – a great title because of its simplicity. When we deal with our hurts then what remains is love because we are love, we come from love and love never goes away, even if we cannot connect to it due to hurts that are unresolved.
I always remember the truth when someone first told me that when we cut open a person, we all bleed the same colour and we will not find any of the worlds labels etched onto their heart – inside we are all equally the same and within us all is a love that if expressed can unite us all
Wise advice to look beyond the obvious and superficial to see what the eyes cannot. It brings the opportunity for less judgment or dismissiveness towards those with a tough shell who are simply protecting themselves from a repeat of a deep hurt from the past. My experience of walnuts when recently cracked is that the nut itself is beautifully sweet and tender to the taste. Well worth the initial perseverance.
What a great analogy, a hard exterior can keep hidden a beautiful essence, never appropriate to judge by what is initially presented.
Love is at our core, and when we forget or ignore that then we believe all the things we are not is actually who we are.
How can you judge anything or anyone by an exterior when you’ve never made an effort to look inside it, find out more or build a deeper relationship with someone?
Beauty-full no matter how hard the shell might seem we all do want love and know exactly what it is.. That is our nature.
Gorgeous to read Michael, it brings tears to my eyes when i feel the preciousness of every single person whatever the shell they have placed around them portrays for they are love in the deepest part of their beings because they come from love first and foremost .
“The hard shell around it might sometimes not appeal to us at first, but what I have learned from yesterday’s experience is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.” I absolutely love how much we can learn about observing and reading life. The offerings for evolution are constant, it’s up to us whether we choose to see and accept them or not.
Sure is Michael, just waiting to come out and love, ‘We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there.’
Even though walnuts have a very hard shell, the meat inside tastes delicious. I also really love the smooth shell when I touch it. It takes more time to crack the shells to get to the meat, but this is the only way to taste the meat fresh. No matter how hard our shell is, our meat is the same and it is the same delicious and precious. Having a hard shell comes from how smooth and sensitive and delicate we really are.
We may sometimes build these hard shells or layers of protection throughout our lives but the beauty is found in the peeling back of these layers and revealing the very essence that then connects us all. Our heart then has the opportunity to celebrate and reflect in all its honest glory.
Thank you Michael… like with everything in our life, we need to learn to feel before we visually want to see. When we feel – we can not hide what is seen, if we do not want to feel we create an illusion of what we want to see.
Love can always be preserved… These are beautiful words as they relate to a solid commitment that brings about true evolution for all of mankind – the return back to soul.
It matters not the mode of encasement or how old or young the nut may be… for Love is endlessly at each of our core and is never weathered by the outer choices we make. Love is forever calling us to return to express the magnificence we each are.
Yes,this is so beautiful in its simplicity and unexpectedness. Life cannot but remind us of the beauty within if we only take in what is around us in every moment! Thank you for sharing this inspiring blog Michael!
Is it not amazing how simple magic brings joy to our heart .
Yes absolutely John. The joy is deep and our natural way.
When we open up to reading the deeper meanings of situations, that nothing is random and we are constantly given situations to feel into – life gets more and more amazing.
Everything is a part of the whole, are we living the love that we are or hiding behind our shells?
Written only from a depth of appreciation Michael to God’s magic at play, and how we, and everything around is a part of that.
So true Michael, what the eyes see first can distract us to what is truly of worth , the essence is inside everyone and always there .
As I read the title of this blog “Love in a Nutshell” I got a feeling of how HUGE Love is and how it could never be contained in a nutshell whereas the mind which actually look like a walnut could be!
I have often found the wonder of how something so magnificent as a flower or a tree can grow from a tiny seed. So much of what we depend on comes from these tiny things. Do we appreciate the power of the small details? Just because they are small does not mean they are without great potential just like us all.
I was certainly a hard nut to crack when it came to the ways I interacted with others before attending Universal Medicine events but once we choose to connect back to our essence we have the opportunity to make different choices and dismantle the layers of protection we have built up over many years which allows our essence to shine forth wherever we are
What a beautiful reflection you were offered by God Michael and you chose to take it deeper and appreciate what was on offer to you and now you share it with others for them to deepen their understanding. Truly an amazing gift for us all, thank you.
Reading your blog really touched me this morning, and it was a perfect reminder that love is always there, no matter how thick the shell covering it might be.
A beautiful analogy of the sweetness of our inner essence, no matter how much our exteriors are different, tough and protected.
And the joy of what that feels like with oneself and when it flows lovingly from another.
Such a sweet example of how reading and appreciating what each moment presents us brings deep understanding and much joy.
Well said Fumiyo.
Some shells are harder to crack then others, but it doesn’t mean that what lays in side isn’t as lovely, worthy and full of potential as every other nut. In fact this might just be the one that has the specific genetics that evolves the species. Funny how humans have a lot in common with nuts, it’s not our outer shell that truly counts it is what comes from our essence.
A beautiful analogy Michael illustrating that love is something we have within us, and not something that is given to us (by another) because we deserve it.
I love your analogy Michael, it reminds me that no matter how old or hard the shell that we carry there is love within all of us.
A gorgeous analogy Michael, Love is always there and we can build a stronger foundation of love in our body in every move and moment..
It’s pretty incredible to stop and know that everyone on this planet has a love deep within, their essence, that is there, untouched by life just waiting to be connected to. The other incredible thing is that if we start to connect to this essence and love and let others see it then we can inspire another to re-connect to their essence and then its like a domino effect until we are all living this way.
A beautiful powerful analogy Michael, thank you. What a gorgeous reflection of nature for us all to be inspired by;
“The amazingly beautiful heart-shaped nut – sitting so well-preserved in its shell – for me was a symbol that inside everything, love is the essence. An essence that will always be preserved and can be revealed, no matter how thick the shell might seem”.
The magic is that – what we see with our eyes is not always the truth that is there. Our visions are limited – our feelings not. Only the will in our true beingness will expose this. Hence what we learn from Universal Medicine, the teachings by the Ageless Wisdom and beyond , given by Serge Benhayon, are allowing us to see the difference and become aware of what we are choosing. As when awareness is — we can truly see , and rise to a higher form of wisdom from within. Our vision will change by that true inteligence.
I love this – The Sacred Geometry of the Universe, reflected in one tiny nut. How absolutely beautiful this is.
How blessed are we with these reflections from nature, offering powerful reminders of the multi-dimensional beings that we are in truth.
“The amazingly beautiful heart-shaped nut – sitting so well-preserved in its shell – for me was a symbol that inside everything, love is the essence. An essence that will always be preserved and can be revealed, no matter how thick the shell might seem”.
“tall, strong, deeply rooted, prepared to withstand any winds”, this is a great metaphor for life, and invitation for us to be our own version of walnut trees, to hold steady, firm and not get knocked about by life.
Beautiful Michael. Love is always to be found or in truth is always there.
Divinity is everywhere!
Michael, I love your blogs. You write and observe with a simplicity that reminds us life is in fact… simple. When I read them I feel transported back to a time when we knew how to live in this way.
How easy it can be to forget that at our core is love when we only see the outer shell. Be that looks or behaviours, there is so much more to all of us that lies deep within – and that is otherworldly and divine.
We can have a window into an extraordinary gift of life , when we see something so small evolving into something so beautiful
When we recognise that the outer shell is purely there for protection and once opened the beauty of the essence is still there and remains untarnished and complete, it helps us to understand the beauty that lies within each person. When we rely on our eyes we can get stuck on only seeing the outer shell you describe Michael and missing the grace and beauty that lies within.
Beautifully expressed Alisonmoir, when we use our other senses we get to see a lot more of who we are.
It is an important message to look inside at the essence of a person rather than to focus on what we only can see with our eyes, this is important too for when looking at ourselves, to appreciate and accept the beauty that is the essence inside.
This is such a great lesson on ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ Michael – and in fact don’t judge at all, but know that the heart-shaped essence lies within everyone and can be known.
“We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there.” This is a great reminder that when we meet someone and are faced with either their walls of hurts and protection or our own, that underneath is something quite different. When we stay connected to the essence of ourselves and others…wow!
What a beautiful analogy, love in a nutshell. That sometimes people can be hard and awful looking on the outside, but actually on the inside they can be very yummy. Life and relationships definitely are the same. We tend to look at and see what is presenting with people and take that at face value, not then being able to look past that to the loveliness and tenderness that is inside of them, which is there, but just not making choices so that an energy that is love can come through.
‘We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there.’ Years ago, when I realised that I was actually hurt ( which was playing out as frustration) it was such a revelation. It simplified everything and I could begin to look and let go of all that I was not.
How lovely to be able to appreciate and celebrate a moment such as this.
We all have an untouched, unblemished fiery kernel of love within that is forever alight and never dimmed by even the most extreme chices or actions. We are all Love at our core and nothing can change that.
I love that nature is constantly reflecting to us such beauty and wisdom.
Simplicity and divinity exquisitely on offer.
What a beautiful reminder that inside everyone there is an essence that is deeply divine. No matter how thick our protective shell may be our essence is always there ready for us to crack open to share with the world.
I love the simplicity of what is here shared. Love is going nowhere folks and is forever at our core.
Absolutely Deborah, love is forever at our core… no need to hide what we all naturally are.
Our essence remains always – pure and divine and no matter which way we live or have chosen to move with life until this point, our inner-most truth is forever calling us to return to Love and to express God forth.
Many of us have a hard shell, and choosing to take that off can be scary, but it is possible and ultimately what we all desire is to be openly loving with everyone.
You’re spot on Heather – it can be scary but once removed we are free from the burden of fear and life becomes truly joyful.
“Love is deeply nurturing and like the walnut seed, a magnificent tree can grow from it”. I love what you have said here Michael; a few words that encompass the power of love and what magnificence can unfold when we open ourselves to it.
The wisdom of nature in the reflections it offers us is amazing and unending.
Every reflection bar none is a wondrous gesture of the universe offering us wisdom, infinite learning and a lit path home (to the grandness that we are).
I have felt this for myself and witnessed it in so many others who have chosen The Way of The Livingness. There is a beauty, a power and a infinite love. Very gorgeous.
A simple love story, getting to the heart of the matter – everything we ever want is within just awaiting our breath to give flames to the fire.
What a great line Michael, “it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.” How true this is for all human beings.
It is wise to know with our whole body and not restrict our sight to two eyes that see what they want to see and filter life through perceptions and past experiences.
What a gorgeous message that even underneath the toughest of skins there is a most beautiful and tender heart.
An essence that remains the purity of God and that can never be tainted or vanquished.
A very tender analogy that shows us that there is a love that we all carry within us that never leaves, but often we choose to leave it by surrounding it with a ‘hard shell’ just like the walnut. But we have a choice in every moment to break through this protective shell and re-connect to our essence, our true love, and begin to truly live once again.
Reading this analogy again – the seed is very symbolic of our choices. How often do we make choices based on what we want life to look like rather than simply moving with what we sense and feel and being open to an outcome to evolve from there? Looking at a seed, even if you know what species it is, you cannot tell what the tree will look like, but it has everything in it to make the choice to be, like us.
It is very beautiful for us to touch upon our love, we can be opened in a myriad of ways by different people, but we have to have said yes to re-connecting with this depth and truth of who we are.
A perfect reflection of the quality we old hold within us and can be shared with all through the expression of it as our way of living – The Way of The Livingness.
Awesome Michael, you explained life in a nut shell. Under every shell is the potential for incredible growth back to the divine grace we all are.
A beautiful example of how the love we are within remains true, steady and eternally waiting for us to embrace it and let it out, regardless of how far we have chosen to walked away from it. For as soon as we choose love we return to living the potential of all we truly are.
I agree it is a huge inspiration be open to read what life presents to us, there is a richness and deeper appreciation that comes from this as well as a deeper understanding, beautiful.
Removing the picture of love being about that one special person, or reserved only for family is one of the necessary steps to experiencing love in its full glory.
I love this love in a nutshell! No matter if life looks ugly on the outside beneath that is love and if we live from this knowing and have a relationship with the love that is in another then they are given a very clear opportunity to drop hurts and come back to love.
I was writing about Shakespeare’s play The Tempest the other day and the ship smashed against the rocks in the storm was compared to a nutshell being cracked. This would lead to a real transformation and regeneration for the characters who chose to raise their awareness. I thought of your blog of course Michael! The seeming disaster (at one level) of the cracking or smashing can lead to the discovery of something truly priceless.
I love the analogy Lyndy. Oh how we so often want to hold on to and protect that hard shell as if our all is dependent on it, yet when there is a crack and we finally start to let go, we invariably find that the inner tenderness that is revealed is all the love and beauty we have ever wanted.
Beautiful – no matter how hard the exterior might be, there is always love inside. And if you think walnuts have a hard shell, wait until you try to crack a macadamia nut! You just about need a hammer, a nutcracker will definitely not do the job. And yet, on the inside there is a yummy kernel; creamy and rich when mature, crisp and a bit like a coconut when very fresh. Nature provides amazing reflections all the time.
I find it fascinating that a little seed can give birth to a ginormous tree with many other little seeds, and so goes the cycle. To me, we can’t deny the intelligence of this planet, how it works and what keeps it all alive. There is so much magic going on that reflects the more we are from. The more being the universe and its spacious intelligence.
Beautiful to read this blog again and appreciating how nurturing, strong and powerful love is. Apply love to anything and it will always grow, from the tiniest seed or nut to our own body love is our nutrition.
To allow love to be revealed we have to proceed with utmost delicacy.
“If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow”, so true when we nurture and prepare the love within it will grow and emerge out being a beautiful inspiration and reflection for others.
That is so important Michael, that we do not let the eye fool us as to what lies beneath a tough or hardened exterior. To feel and see the essence of another is one of the most deeply beautiful experiences we can ever have – the beauty of it, and the revelation that we are all the same, is worth everything.
With Love, the toughest nut can always be cracked.
Nature offers us such truth and wisdom constantly and when we choose to stop and enjoy the fruits of it’s teachings, we too can grow and prosper just like the seed into a large, bountiful tree.
A stunning reminder to always look through the outer to the truth within… too many of us hide behind sometimes the ugliest of protections but the inside is always the same.
Thank you Michael, a beautiful, simple yet powerful analogy; the magic of God is everywhere.
‘Love is deeply nurturing and like the walnut seed, a magnificent tree can grow from it: tall, strong, deeply rooted, prepared to withstand any winds and magnifying the love from this little walnut seed by bringing forth hundreds of walnuts, all of which have the potential to grow into magnificent trees.’ Just reading this powerful and beautiful description of nature and feeling the miracle of nature (which is natural not really ‘miraculous’) and the growth of these magnificent trees from a tiny seed, is something so full of wonder.
A sweet post full of meaning. A lot of the time we are oblivious to the treasure we hold within because we are busy distracting ourselves from things we don’t want to feel but if we choose gentleness and stillness the conditions are just right for cracking that hard shell open.
The simplicity of symbolism can reveal so much
To continue on adding strength to our shell really is nuts to me. We are sweet and so yummy inside why on earth is this something we continue to hide? Your words are like poetry to me Michael reminding me that sometimes we need to be cracked open to appreciate the natural beauty that is in you and me.
I love your comment Joseph, I agree it certainly is nuts to keep our shell for protection and safety. Cracking my protective shell open is what I am working on. Crazy to have carried it for so long when all that is inside all of us is pure joy and beauty.
Indeed Michael, the love in a smile can change everything. If we are prepared to see, there are messages of love everywhere.
I had never really thought about trees in that way, that they are all the same trees but all express themselves in their own way as each tree never looks the same. But their essence is the same. Just like us humans.
The shell of protection and hardness can slowly melt away as we choose to connect with the love we are, and then begin to know we are all the same.
Nature is so beautiful and in that continuous reflecting to us what love is and how it works out in its many appearances. So much to learn from nature…
Yesterday, because of having to teach Shakespeare, I was looking up ‘The Doctrine of Signatures’ to refresh myself on the Renaissance theory that a plant (fruit, berry, vegetable, bean) that resembled the shape of an organ could be used to cure that organ. The walnut of course looked very brain-like in its shape and so was thought of as a cure for brain disease. I love how you have transformed the ‘brain’ nut into the ‘heart’ nut Michael, showing that the true knowing and intelligence cannot operate unless it comes for the inner-heart.
This is very sweet and a great reminder that ultimately the innate essence that lays within all is love.
It’s so true Michael, despite not one walnut tree looking exactly like another they are all in essence the same. The details may differ of their ‘growing habit, their genetics and the external appearance and the flavour of their fruit, but all are walnuts’. We human beings are no different.
Just thinking about the hard shell of a walnut yet the heart within – shows that no matter how hard we try to protect ourselves or put on an outer layer our heart within never leaves us, no matter what!
That is a great reminder James, whatever we are experiencing in real life because of the situations we are in, that inner core remains and will never waiver from us and will be a place to go where we can connect with the real essence of us, the core of our existence.
Thank you, yes the love is always within us not matter what – the choice is ours whether we choose to let it out or not.
How glorious it is to get so much understanding and meaning from one tiny moment. It really goes to show how symbols speak volumes.
‘not getting distracted by what my eyes first see’ This is a lovely line and always worth remembering.
From seemingly small and insignificant beginnings can come events that can turn the world upon its axis… This is so for something even as simple as a smile.
And it’s the vastness of God’s love when activated within ourselves and then chosen in a relationship that then brings forth some amazing feats. This morning I was tugged to look at the couples category and this article came up to read. I felt the inspiration and joy of what a couple committed to evolving, to having love as their absolute foundation can then bring: love that is for everyone equally, and constant inspiration to be more, share more of who we all truly are.
Thank you Michael, for sharing what is so true and a reality of the messages of God, we might at times deny (miss to see, by virtue of our lack of appreciation and connection).. So it is so beautiful we arise to a point where this natural example shows us our way home.. Just like a walnut tree.
Another observation about walnuts is that they look like a little brain. If we put this with your analogy Michael then the message we receive is that great intelligence is accessed when we let the (Christ) heart impulse the (Buddhic) mind. Through this process we have access to what we have lived in separation to for so long – the vastness of God’s love, the Universal Intelligence that we belong to.
I love this analogy and the beautiful feeling that came from you opening up the walnut; I was able to feel the essence of the love that you described so clearly. And I too have come to know that it “is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.”. The hardened shell may tell a story but it is not the true story, that story lies within.
What a beautifully simple lesson about life and love Michael. Thank you.
“If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow” – Absolutely – life takes a lot of preparation and dedication and hard work to make it truly loving and to enable us to move forward, preparation is absolutely key.
What a beautiful analogy and sharing on love deeply touching the essence of who we are in a nut shell. Thank you Felix walnuts will never be the same again and the heart is always there.
We can hide within the brittle protection of our shell but the love within cannot live to its full potential until we crack the protective shell and allow our love to grow and share our beauty and inner love with all.
Everything we do is a seed as what will follow comes from what we have laid before.
Everyone has a tender inside even if they have a tough shell on the outside, and just feeling this in another and allowing them just to be sometimes allows them to let go of some or all of the shell to reveal their gorgeous essence.
It is definitely worth not only cracking our shell wide open but letting go of it altogether.
The true substance and gold is within awaiting us to let ‘us’ out in full.
A great reminder that no matter how much protection a person may come with there is something very delicate and beautiful to be uncovered.
Holding onto hurts voids another from experiencing the true nature of the love that we are, it is only through letting go of the hard protective shell that we can truly let love in and let love out as that is the innate right for all.
Thank you for the reminder that we are all love, it is our essence. And what I got from today, is that we can nurture that love and letting it unfold and expand.
It seems to make sense to protect the fragile seed with a hard shell so it does not get hurt. But just when the seed stays as it is it needs protection. Let it grow and unfold and it becomes a big, great tree which has its fragile parts but also it deep and solid roots. So the key is to unfold, let grow, expand.
Such beautiful,and insightful analogy here. I am so glad you are able to express that no matter how hard and closed off someone might seem to be, they still have the same beauty within, that just wants to be met and connected with. The key in life is to know that everyone has this beauty within, regardless of how they behave externally.
What a beautiful metaphor for our essence as love. We might have a toughened exterior as a protection but inside in our inner hearts we are untouched.
I speak from experience, my shell was thick, (at least it felt like it) I called myself a car, hard on the outside, soft on the inside….”An essence that will always be preserved and can be revealed, no matter how thick the shell might seem.” And yet now, I am soft and open inside and out to a great degree and I fear life less and protect myself less…so how does that work…? I realised the protection does not work, if we cut ourselves off, to try not to be hurt, we do so from all, hurt and love, observation is the key that has unlocked my openness, no more taking it all on, but observing life and appreciating the love that is often presented for us to feel. (Inside and Out)
No matter what we have done, what ever our behaviour Love is always there residing inside us.
Thank you, For writing this down so beautifully, our essence is love. That is all that is to it, it is all we crave for so when we choose to open the nut, we get served by this beauty.
Thanks Michael, a beautiful reminder that love is just the beginning… it is the activity of love that is the ‘tree of life’, magnificent, strong and resilient.
Beautifully said Jenny. The activity of love spreads the seeds, that become the many tree’s of life that then too, continue this cycle.
Exactly Vicky, it starts with one, and spreads… there is no other way.
So very true Jenny, love is just the beginning it is then what we do with it and how we haste it which really counts and makes the difference in the world.
Yes exactly James, there is no point sitting under a tree enjoying our own love, whilst the world around us is aggressive, violent, nasty, corrupt, manipulative or just plain lost in the illusion of a ‘good’ life. Without the activity of that love expressed in everyday life, nothing will change.
In a nut shell Michael you hit the nail on the head when you have shared life is all about “love, which is our essence.”
Life is constantly reflecting back to us our choices. The symbology in nature is very powerful, but only if we choose to notice it. How beautiful that you chose to stop and take note Michael and then see what was being presented. It really is very simple.
“This reminded me a lot of love, which is our essence. We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there.” Yes we all have the essence within us, we are all born with it, if we let go of the protect and hurts it is there for us and all to feel.
To bethink oneself of the essentials, ie is our inner essence and receiving one´s impulses from there is living an esoteric life. Nothing can be simpler as there is none complexity in our essence that is love. So either we are impulsed by love or not-love, we are either living esoterically or are impulsed from stimuli outside of ourselves, which means we bring something inside that doesn´t belong to our true making and thus is disharmonious. Nature is reflecting the whole science in its simplicity for us to re-know and live.
It is all so simple! We have spent so much energy indulging in the complexities of life. Time to come back . . . in a nutshell.
Such a beautiful illustration of love.
What I felt when I read about preparing the soil so that we can grow in love, was how important it is to hold everyone and especially our children in that knowing. I can often get lost in what’s not right and what needs fixing and what is wrong but when I do I miss out on the ever amazing essence that needs no changing.
I love how a whole article can be written about a nutshell and taken to a much deeper level
The walnut is a great analogy for what all humans beings can show us about themselves if we take the time to truly connect to people. It’s true that we often only see the shell, and we may navigate away from people based on what we see initially, yet underneath we are all this same love. And, we may in relationship to self only know ourselves by our constructed exterior, yet we too have this opportunity to go within and find the absolute beauty that is our inner essence.
With these details we are shown the intricate beauty of life. Showing us the true nature that is deep within us all.
It’s a great analogy you give Michael of preparing the soil to let love grow! It gives a sense of the potential that is within each and everyone one of us – ready to grow if we tend to it.
I concur that Love is our natural essence and is a relfection presented ceaselessly by natures every way.
‘thank you to Felix for so gently opening this walnut and thus revealing the treasure within.’ It is walnut season now in England and I have been enjoying a few wet walnuts as they are called when they are first picked and still white and soft inside. Using nutcrackers, if we are forceful, we smash the shell and destroy the seed inside but being gentle and careful we can split the shell into two perfect halves and the the nut can be easily released from it’s protective coating.
When we surrender to the love we are within we then allow this Love to grow and magnify through our movements, through our bodies, personifying the magnificence we are, from the source of Love we are all from.
An incredible example of life’s truth through nature! How much more do we need so that we can see that life is beyond measure, it is energetic and carries all symbolism of wisdom to show us that it is like that. Attach from any need to see, and you will truly feel and see what is abroad.
Funny when I look inside a walnut they look like brains but when I read your blogs all I see is love.
This is just great, letting us see in every moment that we are love in essence, even if we choose to bolster it with all we got. But it is still there, we just need to allow ourselves to let this seed blossom to live all the beauty that we are.
I love reading the signs, symbols, reflections and confirmations that are around us every moment. I never tire of natures beauty, wisdom and order. There is an endless divine magic at play.
Life’s beautiful reflections are everywhere when we have the eyes to see. Very lovely analogy Michael.
We walk around in our suits of protection, hiding in our shells and giving the impression that we are ‘hard nuts to crack’, when all the while and deep within us all lives a love that knows no boundaries, as pure and pristine as the day we were born. Talk about illusion!
I always love your analogies Michael.
This is such a beautifully spherical blog Michael! I never tire of reading it and can feel its wisdom spreading through me like the wise old walnut tree that will grow from that very tiny kernel.
The little things like these, are the ones that truly makes one stop and appreciate All that is truly on offer
To go about life reading & appreciating the wealth of symbols before us is a sound acknowledgment of the multi-diamentionality of life. Yesterday we saw a heron in our garden, the children and i pondered what this may symbolise, we felt that stillness & steadiness was key, as you never see a Heron in a rush, they are quiet reflective and steady in their every move.
Beautiful symbolism here Michael. I love how there are these messages being communicated to us all the time, it is up to us to choose to listen to them.
I love the reminder that everything in life is a reflection and the joy that this brings. When we understand life like this everything around us comes alive with meaning and an opportunity for true growth.
This reminded me of two things, one the amazing squirrels that leap about in the walnut trees daring enormous distances as they fly through the air to reach another hanging supper that they will carefully, yet quickly, carry to some spot, sometimes in my lawn, and bury for later, when the snows come and food is hard to find. They seem very playful as if they are enjoying every moment, their bright eyes sparkling. There is also a phrase. ” He is a hard nut to crack” which makes me realise that holding to truth and love is well worth it but being stubborn because of a need to protect a perceived threat that may not in truth be a threat at all, is not so wise and only keeps us from the truth, the absolute truth from which we may be hiding.
Peeling away the shell to reveal and live from one’s essence is the most exquisite thing possible.
This is a beautiful analogy one that I will take into today and not let my shell get in the way of expressing the huge love I am to all I met.
I love what you share about the walnut- you have captured so much so easily when you say, the outer shell may not appeal, but the inner seed is its essence and from that we can grow a mighty tree. I love what you see in nature to be able to deliver this so beautifully.
Never judge the book by its cover or the hardened person by their shell, because inside is the pure essence, that potential to become something huge if we choose to let it flourish.
This beautiful blog demonstrates, in a nutshell, the way that the universe is constantly communicating with us and sending love letters if only we will be open to it and look after our precious receiving instruments, the body. The harvest is then abundant.
We will do well, to focus on the heart-ful nut in the shell, and then observe the ill-ness of the world from there.
“We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there.” As I read your words Michael what came to me is the many loveless crimes that we here about being committed world wide, your blog confirmed to me that no matter what a person does there is still an amazing amount of love inside each of us it is just that they have not chosen to feel this and accept it. When we refuse the love that naturally resides forever within we say yes to all that is not us and hence why people can ‘lose themselves” and commit such horrendous acts against one and other.
Nature offers us glorious little nuts of wisdom for learning, when we allow the space to enjoy its love. Thank you Michael.
Michael, I love the symbology and it is so true that ‘inside everything, love is the essence’. No matter who we are, where we are from, or even what we have done we are all love.
I found a heart in something I was throwing away yesterday, I was breaking it up and there on the table was a heart shape, it felt like a confirmation of the clearing out I was doing. Being open to signs and symbols deepens our understanding and appreciation of life.
Beautiful, preparing the soil a wonderful way of looking at how life can evolve “If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.” This is where the power of change and choice can occur, if we build a foundation it is steady and will live through challenges with grace and wisdom. I have self worth, love and care in my life for myself and others and this is something that was not available to me before, I have built it and it is growing.
If we are all effectively love in a nutshell is it not time that we all cracked ourselves open from the confines of our protective shells?
This is precious, there is an essence of love in all of us, which we can choose to cherish or hide, but it is always there, and the most incredible thing to feel and appreciate our expression from this love.
Clearly beauty is everywhere including our dinner plate.
Such a beautiful reminder Michael that in our essence we are all love, equally so, and in our essence we hold an amazing wisdom. The analogy of the walnut is very powerful indeed.
Great analogy Michael we all hold in our essence a deep love no matter how hard and thick our outer shell of hurts and protection is. It is just a matter of cracking the shell and letting go of the pain associated with our protection and emanating the love that we all truly are.
“There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love.” Yes I found this too – when I make the smallest step towards being more loving with myself, this choice gets magnified and soon it becomes a huge momentum of expressing more love.
Beautiful Michael, and yes in our essence we are all the same love and the more we appreciate ourselves the more we can accept this and let it out to the world to feel.Thank you.
Beautifully said Michael – ‘There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love. The hard shell around it might sometimes not appeal to us at first, but what I have learned from yesterday’s experience is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.’
‘is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.’ This reminds me of the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. Love in a nutshell is all of us #humanity ✨💖
“ Inside everything, love is the essence. An essence that will always be preserved and can be revealed, no matter how thick the shell might seem.” This is beautiful just confirming love is with us all, we just need to connect to for it to flow out.
In essence we are one in all – our expression is however unique through the nature of our lives and experiences. But underneath it all, we are all the same, of the same quality and origin as the love we are all seeking outside of what is and always has been within.
‘…it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.’
Absolutely Michael – clocking the essence first will confirm any person for who they truly are, then people have a choice if they are in any behaviour that is not of their essence to choose otherwise. If we reduce a person to what ever behaviours or protections they are choosing, then we don’t really offer a choice for them to be more.
Knowing that love is our essence – equally – completely transforms the way we can hold others in understanding; and thus not react to any moments we are observing the outer shell as opposed to the tender seed within.
Gorgeous Michael – this nut shows us something important indeed. Love is untouched and is within each and everyone. Life is simply about peeling the hurts and hard casts away so that the love has space to claim its place back for return.
‘There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love. The hard shell around it might sometimes not appeal to us at first, but what I have learned from yesterday’s experience is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.’ The eyes can be very misleading when it comes to the truth – they require a non-conditional approach to life and the capacity to feel energy to accompany them so that when they are receiving the visible realm truth can be known.
Thank you Michael for a lovely blog reminding us to look deeper, beneath the surface of the shell for the divine love that lives within the heart of every human being on earth. this is hard to do at times when the outer gives no indication of what lives inside.
I was reminded of this blog today, sometimes we can be hiding ourselves behind or inside such a thick shell that it is hard to know we are still in there. I know it is a choice and actually it takes time to know it is safe to take the guards off and let the shell go.
Looking behind the shell means looking with all of our six senses. If we just look with the eyes, we miss out a lot.
Wow we can have so many hard layers and if we look around many many of us in society are carrying these hard protective layers. I love how you say Michael that the love is always there inside no matter what kind of an armour we have built around it.
It’s kind of crazy the amount of protection we all live in, and we all stop this enormous amount of love from coming out the whole time. Imagine if we all just dropped all the protection and let ourselves love each other, the world would be such a radically different place.
‘If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.’ The simplicity of this is amazing, if we bring quality to our movements and what we do then the love we are will naturally do the rest.
However thick the shell there is love on the inside, tender, fragile, solid, strong patiently waiting for us to give it permission to be the way we live.
Beautiful blog Michael. Reading it again reminded me that love and magnificence is inside us all. Often we are quick to judge others on what we see on the outside forgetting that what is behind our outer shell is pure love, undeniably magnificent and grand. When we are not willing to see past the superficial layer we end up missing out on a deeper connection with each other and not only that judgment can easily creep in causing harm and conflict. This blog inspires us to crack our outer shell ever so gently and let the world see the beauty and grandness within.
I’ve read a few blogs like this in recent times and it seems that no matter where we live in the world we come to the same realisation. That in a nutshell we are all the same. Like every ant is an ant in a nest, every ant has its part to play.
I often feel that we judge others as hard and a long way from themselves when we feel the hardness of the protection they have built around them. They may feel the same way about us. It is a lovely metaphor to consider the hard walnut that needs such force to crack it, yet this tender heart lies within as it is for all of humankind. The inner heart is tender indeed.
What about when a walnut is rancid? Is it still love? Sorry I am totally kidding….hahah You have to hear my tone of voice to really get my jokes but seriously its a beautiful romantic little piece of writing that is as sweet as the totally un-rancid walnut you ate after dinner.
Spot on Brendan, nature and kids and animals around us can certainly be very powerful in bringing us back to the essence of love that we are. And so too can the look in the eyes of someone who just exudes the warmth of the heart, reflect the warmth that we too hold within and may have forgotten to let out.
Michael, thank you – this is gorgeous! There is certainly a powerful potential that we all hold within ourselves – the love that we are that we often keep hidden or protected, not realising that we are even doing it! How important is it to crack that shell open and let it all out! Thank you for the reminder!
Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine have helped me not only understand the very essence of true Love but to reconnect with this, although work in progress I have a marker in my body of what I know love to be.
Just knowing that we all eternally have an essence of love gives us a firm rooting from which to grow! From this foundation we don’t have to go out and find something we are missing but instead be willing to let go of the shell or any layers we may have that are covering it up…
Great story shared Michael. One nut from one tree and many trees may come from one nut. Like Love the ever expanding and infinite possibility.
So beautiful to read this blog again, we are love, and this shows again so beautifully how we can be reminded of this when we constantly read what is being said through symbolism.
Such beautiful blog Felix. I love what you have said here about the hard sometimes ugly-looking shell around the sweet heart of the walnut : ‘The hard shell around it might sometimes not appeal to us at first, but what I have learned from yesterday’s experience is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.’ I have in the past been unwilling to look beyond what appeals to my eyes – now I am discovering love in everyone. Such a blessing.
An excellent display of true intelligence Michael, writing about a walnut and how symbolic it is to our existance
A great reminder to continually read what life brings and to look beneath the surface of what is presented to ensure we get to the true essence.
“There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love.” Absolutely Michael, each seed of love can grow to be an amazingly strong and magical tree which can live amongst the majestic forest with a whole family of other trees. Sharing their beauty and connecting together. Awesome.
Michael thank you for your sharing, it is great to remember that we all have this seed within us and as we allow it, it will blossom beautifully with its true essence. Removing the outer shell, allowing others to see and feel this true beauty.
We all carry the seed within us and sometimes what we see on the outer shell may not be loving; the seed of love is always there waiting patiently to grow in its next cycle.
I love the way a seed can start so small and hidden under the soil and grow to become a massive strong tree – it’s a great reminder that there is nothing wrong with small humble beginnings.
Thank you for sharing this Michael. It is amazing when we open ourselves up to receiving the reflections that surround us so that we can even see the love in a walnut. It really is worth removing the protective shell that many of us have built.
Simply beautiful!
Never worth judging a person by the skin just like a book by its cover. The outer does not always give credit or express in full the beauty within
Underneath a hard exterior is always something exquisite…
and delicious 🙂
and deeply beautiful … 🙂
There is so much on offer from God in every moment, all we need to be is aware and present. What a beautiful moment when you opened the shell and there was such a gorgeous surprise waiting for you. We all have moments when a hard shell blocks others from seeing the love we have inside but this tender story proves that when the casing is gently opened there is much love waiting to be shared.
‘This reminded me a lot of love, which is our essence. We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there’ – this is a beautiful reminder for me today as I let go of the thick shell of hurts and protection and allow myself to be connected to the essence of each one of us, because as you so eloquently say Michael ‘this love inside is always there’. It is imperative to our growth that we do not become distracted by the outer shell which is a mere diversion from who we truly are.
Beautiful Michael, love is there within, without exception. And as this occurrence so beautifully presents, it is always worth a look.
As you say Benkt ‘love is there within, without exception’ and it is important to allow this love to support us as we explore our deeper selves and discover that everything is not as we would have believed – and that these beliefs are a subtle way of blocking our connection to this love.
love inspires, re-vitalises, nourishes, and nurtures all to blossom and flower into who they truly are.
Each nut that you come across is full of flavour, nutritious and half the fun is cracking the shell and it so easy because it is a focused attention on cracking the hard shell to get to the best bit in the middle. That is the way we can be with ourselves, enjoy the process of letting go and getting to the best bit in the middle that is going to feed us back.
This is beautiful Michael! It also would seem that you are saying the Walnuts coming from the one tree all being Walnuts , but all individually genetically different to look at are symbolic of Humans, all the same on the inside, but from the one God.
Thank you Micheal, I love feeling how you and Felix were touched by the wonder of life and nature and by the confirmation it brings of the beautiful essence we carry inside.
No, just nuts that can be cracked.
So, you don’t have to be nuts to truly understand love after all.
Underneath the protection is love, it is our choice to let go of the protection and just be love.
Love is the greatest nutcracker of all (sorry, could not resist)
Ha ha ha! Love it.
The more I look past the sometimes rough or hard or protected exterior that I sometimes carry into the gentle, loving and precious interior that I am the more I am capable of doing this with others. If I am living life where the exterior is more in my face than the interior I know I need to go deeper with myself first.
We miss so much if we only consider the differences and compare the external package of others with our own. Where there is infinite depth when we can cherish and share that precious interior.
Living life connected to the spark of who we truly are is a totally different experience when compared to living from the exterior where we are fed thoughts, beliefs, ideals and pictures of how life should be that are all designed to make us smaller than who we truly are. Only if I had of been reminded this as a child!
It always starts with ourselves first and foremost. This is the absolute beauty of life. We cannot change others but we can look at ourselves and make that change. The change need not be a change as we know it, but more a deeper connection within ourselves as you have shared. This is often more than enough.
Yes I too have felt this, that there can be great change or a big shift on the inside and it may seem like there’s not much change on the outside, but the truth is there and people can’t help to feel it, and eventually there will be fine details of one’s life that needs to adjust to match the expanding inner.
It is so wonderful to be able to see beyond the outer shell and to then feel the innermost beauty of what is truly being presented.
This is simply beautiful Michael. No matter the hard protective exterior we may hold our unique essence still comes back to the same foundation of love.
Gorgeous to re-read what you’ve shared here Michael to know no matter the outer appearance or casing we build around ourselves inside our essence remains the same. Beautiful also to remember that while the essence of us all is love, our expression of that love is unique and when we allow it can be felt and seen by all.
This is a lovely reflection and reminder of what we all hold in our essence, love. No matter what hard outer shells or protection we put in place love is always at our core. It is our choice whether we connect with this core and share it with others or not.
Agreed, our hard shells transform as we honour that we are love in essence.
Thank you Michael for a very beautiful article, reminding us that inside all, the divine essence lives, regardless of the outer appearance.
Michael this is a gorgeous analogy of how hard our outer shell can sometimes be only there to protect ourselves from feeling past hurts. The reminder you share, to always remember to look for the essence and not just see that hard shell is one well worth reading. Thank you.
When I read your blog today Michael I could feel the joy and laughter you and Felix shared when you opened the walnut and revealed the beauty within. Gorgeous.
Me too Jane. I could feel the joy and delight in discovering this beautiful reflection and the sense of childlike wonderment. Thank you for sharing Michael.
Absolutely there is such joy in connecting with others in that essence of love that we are.
I agree jennym and there is a divine magic and simplicity in this.
So true Linda. Our own protective shell is so worth opening no matter how thick and hard it has become.
Great analogy Michael. No mater how thick, battered, worn and tired our outer shell is, our essence lies inside untouched and radiant,
In fact it is our responsibility to dismantle the shell so we all come to understand and see ourselves from the unified inside out.
This article has inspired so many people to appreciate the opportunities in the tiniest of moments. One article – so much change – super inspiring. Thank you.
Agreed Matilda. Crack open one nut, and there is no end to what we can rediscover about ourselves and the true nature of love, which expands and deepens ad infinitum… So much to embrace, that is all there awaiting us, as it has always been.
It takes great inner strength to acknowledge the truth of the love that is at the core each and every one of us is, within. And one who has reconnected to the love within himself, to see the vast potential of love in all others. Thank-you Michael for opening your heart to us with this blog, and sharing the beauty of your heart and the way you hold the world within it – with us all.
Very well said Victoria. And we must see the Love in us all and never lose sight of the greatness and potential in Humanity that remains always and in doing so we can never pit ourselves higher or less than another for we are equal and never can one heart be more Godly than another.
Your words bring a welcome tear Deborah. This truth we all know within – Godliness is not bestowed upon one more than another, for that would not reflect the truly encompassing love of God in which we are each eternally held. And so it is the life purpose and innate responsibility of one who knows this fact, that it be reflected that all may know it once again, until we are in conflict no more.
Thank you for delivering the purity of Heaven
As you have also done in spades. Thank-you for the deep inspiration in every word.
An analogy that is completely ‘true at its heart’ Michael – thank-you for sharing this. There is so much in human behaviour and life that would have us not want to believe the truth you have shared – the horrors of war, our inhumanity towards each other, including racial hatred, violence, prejudice, dominance, control, anger, any form of abuse… (the list, as we know, goes on). Yet fundamentally, I would say that what hurts most in all of this lack of true loving behaviour is that we DO know, deep within, that the essential nature of who we are IS the love you speak of. Is it not this that hurts the most? That we have strayed so far from this great love, and are capable of such harm to our fellow brother?
And thus perhaps when we allude to someone as being “nuts”, perhaps the analogy makes much more sense in light of what you have shared.
Even nuts can and do reflect the love we are.
To honor the seeds is funding the trees, the blossoming.
A beautiful and wonderful reminder how nature shows and offers such relatable truths about us…” a symbol that inside everything, love is the essence…”
‘…inside everything, love is the essence.
An essence that will always be preserved and can be revealed, no matter how thick the shell might seem.’ Simply delicious Michael 🙂
I like the analogy, Michael. No matter how thick the layer is, inside is and stays love.
The beauty of nature is profound if are eyes are open to receive the gift offered. Your blog is a reminder to appreciate the details of our life…every little thing counts, is not a coincidence, and has relevance to our life as a whole.
This is one of those blogs I come back to and re-read for the sheer delight of it. Thank you Michael.
So true Simon – this blog is a sheer delight. I am beginning to put together a scene of a delightful country domain with green pastures, symbolic snails and message-bringing walnuts – a whole book of nature comprised of the magic of God. And it shows us that it is like this everywhere.
Wow, look at how much inspiration cracking this nut is bringing. This goes to show that there is much more to life than meets the eye.
What a beautiful reflection Michael thank you, love is reflected in a nutshell magically and beautifully shared. Living in our shells in the world there is always our divine essence inside waiting to be open and revealed.
“If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.”, so beautiful and simplify shared.
It’s beautiful Michael, how you explain this ‘magic of God’ moment. It shows how much we can read from a simple action and how much we could read from everything around us if we allowed our awareness to be fully expanded.
Absolutely – the expansiveness of every single moment and expression and the great learning that is available to us all is constant.
From something seemingly small and perhaps insignificant, can once seeded become grander than possibly imaginable upon first look. The depths to which we can feel these precious Truths are what brings Wise words such as yours Michael Kremer to print for all to feast on, goes to show how much there is to be shared from one simple nutshell.
We may be tough nuts to crack at times but the innermost part of every one of us is the same.
This is a great reminder, Michael, to not judge another person by their appearance or initial demeanour as underneath they have a loving essence which may be buried under their hurts and sadnesses. A lovely reminder to take into my day.
Beautiful reminder Michael that we are all divinity within, regardless of our outer appearances, the potential to self realise is ever there, within us all equally so.
‘What I have learned from yesterday’s experience is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.’ this is a great reminder and what I will take to my day tomorrow.
So much is revealed once the harder exterior is removed, layer by layer and a softer centre is there for all to see and feel.
There is nothing like cracking a nut and finding the divinity within.
Amen to that Kim!
Ha ha ha Kim!
Beautiful we all have that divinity within us.
And how the world as we know it would change, if we accepted this as absolute fact Amita…
When we are present there are so many signs around us that speak back to us of the magic we all come from. Just this morning feeling very fragile I passed by some gorgeous delicate flowers greeting me on my path on my way to the station to go to work. Thing is, I pass the same place where these flowers are every day! But I only noticed them today leaning towards me, reminding me of my own delicate essence as I decided to walk with more presence than I normally do.
A great reminder Katerina that the things that bring us back to remind us who we truly are always there in one form or another. Nature is magic how many ways it supports us to re-connect to what is truly divine with-in and around us.
Katerina when we are ready to see it’s there, it has me wonder what else we are not seeing as God’s communicating constantly… I will bring this reminder with me today 🌼
Nature is a wondrous miracle and indeed every gesture of Life is calling us to return to all that we naturally are.
A great reminder to keep life simple, plant the seeds, nurture the soil and allow our Love to deepen – we will naturally evolve.
Beautifully said Deborah. In creating our own complexity, we keep the grandness of love at bay. Crazy, and yet worth noting, for we indeed have one glorious choice before us – always – that of choosing love.
Absolute Love – we are held in Love that forever calls us to return …it is that simple. We all know Love for we are Love.
And the more we can connect to this truth the more love we will be, as love is self sustaining and deepens as we embrace it more and more.
Its a great recipe for expansion – Living the Love we are and forever deepening our Love
We are nuts to ignore the simplicity of God
Giggle embarrassedly and nod emphatically – our madness exposed – ignoring the simplicity and ‘always presence’ of God.
Michael to crack a walnut with a heart-shaped nut is really a sign – thank you for not holding back your feelings about it.
This is a very beautful blog Michael. The core/essence of everything is Love, no matter how the shell looks like and/or how hard it might be.
I love how you have brought it all back to the simplicity of love Michael – pure, simple and always there inside us all.
I too appreciate the Simplicity of God and the reverence Michael has paid to our fathers endless love letters to Humanity.
How many of us are so caught up in life, so busy and so distracted by things that we don’t have the time to notice such beauty as a heart shaped nut. Such beautiful symbolism!
I just love your writing, Michael. You share with so much insight and sensitivity, bringing focus to the beautiful details in life, which are often a reflection of so much more. Thank you.
Gorgeous Michael, this blog is really a nutcracker!
Absolutely Danna – we would be nuts to not heed the wisdom on offer.
Simply nuts Deborah. And the funny thing is: nuts stay natural, so now it is up to us. Nuts really!
Michael I have read the title to your blog many times and each time I do my body delights when it reads the word ‘nutshell’.
Forever more walnuts will remind me of love, which is our divine essence.
Thank you Michael for this beautiful example and metaphor.
In gentleness we open back the trust to expressing our essence which is love, thank you Michael, Felix, Serge and many more others.
Love emanates, the essence from the source coming out is a natural movement, no matter how hard or thick the protection is, how much we want to hide it, emanation is still a natural movement, and the essence of every single person in this world comes from the same source.
Beautifully expressed Adele.
True Jane, the very process of making the choice to self-love brings a whole lot more to life then can be imagined. Then, when you make it about people and you realise you play an important part your choices become more and more about your essence and nurturing yourself in a rhythm that continually deepens this.
Thank you Michael, a simple and profound analogy of how we keep love out but also how easy it is to “prepare the soil ” within us to live the love that we are every day.
From the title and the first sentence, I wanted to read on. I could feel the joy and confirmation of the love that was shared at that dinner table, revealed in the nutshell. It is a gorgeous analogy and spot on (as magic of God tends to be!) There is always an amazing core at the centre, even behind the ugliest facade.
Michael your sharing is for me truly a sharing – beautifully simple and from your inner-heart, your essence from where every word sings of love. It shares what The Livingness means, because the words and the understanding behind them and your relationship to nature comes in an unmistakeable way from the richness you have chosen to live. Very inspiring is the call to live the love that we are and see it in others equally, so we send our roots down deep and become these magnificent trees grounded in the same soil of love.
Beautifully said Simon. Trees so powerfully rooted in love, that they need never be wavered, no matter the ‘hard shells’ that may attempt to push back and sway them so… For the truth of who we all are is known, without question or doubt.
A well preserved heart shaped nut, what a great reflection, message and gift from God.
A beautiful gift from God.
I loved your blog Michael. It is amazing how a simple walnut can reflect so much bacteria to us about life.
The joy in this blog is palpable! A lovely moment to have shared with us all and the deeper appreciation it brought. Also “thank you to Felix for so gently opening this walnut and thus revealing the treasure within”. It takes our gentle connectedness to appreciate those moments offered to us and to recognise them for what they are. The appreciation you share in your love for Felix’s yumminess is also shared by me.
You make me melt, as you always do, Michelle. You are living appreciation, it’s what you radiate and I see the people around you blossom. When you allow God’s love to come through, as you do, Michelle, you become heaven’s gardener on earth.
Felix, thank you. You have a beautiful way with words (and English is a second language for you too!) You have also here beautifully demonstrated your yumminess in public for the record, which is great as it will be in black and white forever for many others to be touched by!
I agree Michelle it’s so beautiful to be touched by Felix’s words – and to feel what he means when he says ‘When you allow God’s love to come through, as you do, Michelle, you become heaven’s gardener on earth’ – words that feel as though they come from the soul.
Yes they do Susan! This is divinity in expression coming through Felix. I am very touched by his words and when I read them I feel confirmed, held, loved and filled with the gentle purpose of what I can offer to all around me just by being me – beautiful indeed.
A constant reminder of how held and supported we are from every angle if we choose to open to the love we are.
Very well said Marcia -‘A constant reminder of how held and supported we are from every angle if we choose to open to the love we are.’
So true Marcia…everything is there available to us if only we open our eyes to see what is there to be seen and open our hearts to allow it all.
Discovering signs and symbols in the everyday objects of life makes life a rich and abundant experience, because you are in a constant communication with the universe.
So well said Shami! I love God’s multidimensionality of symbolism – it is always such a delight ad quite often filled the grace and great humour.
Absolutely Lyndy – a feast of Divine magnificence – perfectly constellated for our evolution, learning and with humour, magic and God in every gesture.
so very true Shami, the wonder of the universe is always there for us, a constant reminder and reflection of the magnitude of who we all are.
What a beautiful and simple symbolism and offering you have shared. I love finding hearts, and they pop up in the most unsurprising of places. Love is the very heart of everything. Yet even knowing this, gentle, loving reminders, like your walnut, always serve a purpose to remind me just how awesome that actually is.
Michael what a great blog and the analogy of the walnut seed/core like our own core of love and strength beyond measure. We all hold some much potential to shine when we allow ourselves to let it out, express and share it with the world.
Agreed, Greg, when we allow ourselves to feel the potential, no self-loathing has power over us. In those moments all thoughts that try to make me feel small suddenly can be felt as what they truly are: ridiculous.
There is a lesson for us all in this line, “The hard shell around it might sometimes not appeal to us at first, but what I have learned from yesterday’s experience is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.” We have to allow another to be where they are, whilst knowing that within them is the exact same love that is within us. It is just that some of us take longer to connect to it than others because the shell is a bit harder and thicker.
I’ve discovered this week keeping my outer shell a bit tough because another has one is truly un-necessary. If I allow myself to feel their essence – what’s under their shell from my essence and not focus and having a shell myself then both our shells dissolve, maybe in different times but me having one slows the process up.
Absolutely Sandra. And when we allow ourselves to truly appreciate another regardless of their outer shell, you cannot fail to see and feel the beauty of their essence. And that is pure joy.
Surrendering and allowing our True Essence to express forth, gives all others permission to do the same and in doing so, ignites great fire on earth.
This is a beautiful analogy for relationships too – to not react to the outer shell but to always seek and interact with the divine love and essence which lies inside each and every person.
Amazing – ‘If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible’ – this is a beautiful analogy of how the soil is our livingness. The richer the soil/livingness the greater the growth of the tree/soul.
A stunning sharing of wisdom to bless us all with, thank you Michael… as always your blogs are a pleasure to read reminding us of the love we are.
‘Love in a nutshell’, just waiting to be cracked open and shared with all…beautiful blog Michael.
I have a question – How do you meet someone in their essence OR, how do you connect to your essence and come from there? Through the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom I am unfolding the answer to this .. It is not always possible to come from your essence because of the long ritual of not being in your essence. Accepting me both in my strengths and weaknesses has helped, knowing how to connect to my body through tender movements and my graceful breath, and trusting others no matter what they feel like – letting them in. All in all it is about remaining connected and nurturing this brings more of you each day.
I agree Rik. Being in your essence, surrendering to being the divine you, rather than taking the bits of divinity you like when it suits you , is something I oscillate in. I am inspired to see in others through Universal Medicine that we all will finally say enough, and surrender completely – realising there is nothing in the false you that is worth hanging onto. This does nothing to create love, rather it creates more of the same not-love that is so prevalent in the world today.
This line is a ‘pearler’ – “An essence that will always be preserved and can be revealed, no matter how thick the shell might seem”. Serge Benhayon knows how to deeply touch you in your essence. He gets right past all your issues and confirms you and not your issues. This is a deeply loving feeling.
Spot on Rik – that is exactly how Serge Benhayon conducts his relationships. With his beholding love he knows the essential and divine you through and through, and he names what is not you and never identifies you with that. That line is such a ‘pearler’ . . . though could we now call it a ‘nutter’?
To focus on the false and the ill energy we have allowed in gives such a foray false footing in our body – far wiser to confirm all that is True, natural and divine for this is the core of every man.
As the nut showed us, love is not a doing, we don’t do love, it is just being and in that, look how much comes from it, joy, laughter, connection, it unites and so forth…everyone on this blog can comment because we all know this love that the walnut so beautifully expressed to us: for some of us to remind us, for others to confirm……
This is ever so sweet and such a joy – that a walnut shows that inside is a heart in all of us, a heart that loves
I wanted to add and………… a healthy heart…….. as walnuts are little powerhouses that can have a positive effect on our cholesterol.
I loved the simplicity of this reflection from a walnut – that we are love within – and the hard shell of protection and hurt can be cracked through…the love is there always. This is really inspiring, messages are everywhere if we choose to see them.
Very true Karoline, we just have to have eyes and hearts attuned to seeing what nature and the universe are communicating. For instance, if the people at Michael’s dinner were just focussed on eating the walnuts, as a comfort or distraction, this moment would have slipped by without notice. The love in a nutshell could be seen as it had already been felt and shared between them.
The Love that lives inside every one of us equally, certainly is a treasure, and when we allow the outer hard shell that we have build over time to crack, the Love within has the opportunity to ooze out. And the more we let go of the hard exterior, the more Love is allowed to flow. Pretty glorious if you ask me!
Absolutely Robyn … the more love we allow, the more love flows.
And the more everyone gets to feel this… and it serves as a reminder to All of the Love that lives innately in them. Pretty cool if you ask me!
Wisdom in a nutshell, thats the simplicity of the magic of God!
Absolutely, in a nutshell – LOVE. This is how we roll.
Turn off the TV and computer and be inspired by nature. The simplest of things like a ‘walnut’ can create such beautiful conversations, laughter and joy. Now that is inspiring – thank you Michael.
The shell may well keep the nut safe and protected, but it also prevents us from savouring the delicate delights it holds. A lovely reminder to open up 🙂 thank you Michael
Beautifully said Rosanna. Protection leaves us feeling hard and isolated and unable to feel the delicacy of who we are or the love that is naturally there between us all.
So true rosannabianchini. Stop the love for a protection and a safety from another and we are also stopping it for ourselves.. we often ignore this one!
Thank you Michael for sharing the symbolism of your heart shaped walnut, in a simple, clear and joyful way…a real pleasure to read from one that understands God’s symbols.
It is great how you express the hard shell that the nut has as a form of protection, since attending Serge Benhayons presentations, course and workshops I have become aware of such protections that I hold. Over time I have let go of many layers that were their ‘protecting me’ from all the hurts that I didn’t even realise that I was carrying. I have come to feel, see and enjoy my glorious untouched essences and with the support of Serge realised that this pure essence inside of me is inside of everyone. It is our divine make up that is bursting to be connected too. Let this Love in and out and allowing others Love in naturally drops all protection. Seeing what is not Love and understanding that that is just a choice to not be who we really are makes it so much clearer to not take things on personally and hold the Love that we are for all.
It is such an irony that we use protection to stay safe and not get hurt, yet being hard and protected hurts us more than we can imagine. It is just that we have gotten used to living this way. Often with this being the only reflection we see in others. As you have said Natalie, we often carry hurts that we are unaware of. It is well worth exploring and freeing ourselves from these hurts, as they only hold us trapped in the past, unable to evolve and enjoy the love that is there.
Natalie what struck me whilst reading your comment is how many of our protections are not hard but soft. I protected myself for a long time by being nice, very, very nice. No one could get through my marshmallow wall of protection and I certainly couldn’t get out through it’s spongy layers.
Indeed Michael, it is an incredible power that is contained in any seed of love. Irrespectively of how small or how well protected it is, the potential that in contains has the power to dissolve even the hardest shell of protection and when well nurtured and taken care for can grow to a grandness that is extraordinary and perfect in its earthly existence.
Your words bring me deeper to the true power of love – something that should never be forgotten Nico, thank-you. We should never underplay its power in the world, or hold it back.
So true Victoria, we tend to underestimate the power of love and that is only because we have walked away form it and with that have purposely forgotten about it. Instead we try to change things in life that do not work with force and make up all kinds of solutions and these only work for a moment and do not sustain. The power of love is much grander and is in service for all of humanity and will provide a way of life that is worth to be lived and that is in honouring of our being.
Thank you Nico and Victoria. Love is true Power and nothing in this World comes close – that we are each Love by our very essence gives some indication of the immeasurable power that we each are and as a Humanity the yet to be lived potential that is here for us all.
Words spoken Nico, from one who clearly knows this power, and what it is to embrace life with love as its absolute foundation. From this, we must never waver.
What you felt from just this one walnut is stunning, even more so that you shared the expanse of this with others. Thank you.
Absolutely Vicky, the power of brotherhood and inspiration is magnificent and needed.
Yes we do hide our love in a nut….in protection. We become so fearful of loving people or letting love in, in fear of it hurting us, we shut down and shut people out. It is crazy really when you think about it. We are all so full of love and wanting to share it, to think what we do to ourselves to ‘not’ let it come out is just crazy!
Indeed raegancairney, it is insane crazy… but by living a simple life and making space for fun (letting go of our serious ways) our hard shells drop away, layer by layer, as we return to our essence, which is love.
It is crazy Reagan, but what happens is we forget this is who we are and we start to identify with the shell and it gets very hard when it’s in protection. We think we are our hurts… to crack the shell – its remembering there is something in us that is so much more and that is our loving hearts and what a joy it brings…its like pulling the blind up and letting in the day.
So true Raegankcairney for many many years I hid my love behind very thick and high walls of protected not allowing anyone in or expressing my love out of fear of being hurt. This was a sure way of hurting myself and being hurt by other. Since learning to love myself and feel my body and reconnect with my inner-self I am learning to love myself deeply and feel the abundance of love I am and to openly express my love to humanity knowing there is nothing “out there” that can hurt me when I’m in my essence.
It is crazy, Raegan, we are our own worst enemy when we keep ourselves shut away in our protection. Whilst we live in our hard shell no one can feel our sweet, tender, love and our ‘shell’ actually protects us from the love that’s all around us, constantly, the thing that we all crave most of all.
‘…it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.’ It certainly is. We get taught not to a judge a book by it’s cover and I’m not sure how often we actually consider this phrase before our unexpected surprise of what lies beneath.
The metaphor of the heart you found in the walnut and how that relates to our inner essence is really gorgeous to read Michael. This also reminds me of just how much we are supported to gain a deeper understanding of Life by the constant messages and signs provided by God every day. The trick seems to be staying open to knowing that nothing happens by accident, and the fact that you and Felix were able to come to the reading that you have shows your openness to the Love that is there all the time supporting us.
This is a fair point Michael, because the messages are there all the time, it is just a matter of being willing to not only observe them but also to read what they might be personally saying to you. Which brings up another topic, about holding oneself with so much love that you know that you are worth being communicated with by God.
Thank you for sharing this Michael. Sometimes I feel as though I have cracked my own shell to reveal the love within only to then quickly put the pieces of shell back in place in an attempt to protect myself. I am still not sure what I am trying to protect myself from as nothing hurts more that not being the love that I am with everyone.
I can relate to this too Lee. A layer gets cracked and meanwhile I have to adjust to feeling more open and at the same time watching how I try and put the shell back on. Until eventually I realise I feel so much clearer without all these self-constructed shells.
It is hard work this adorning shells, peeling away and encasement again – reading this alone feels exhausting let alone what we choose to hide, protect and delay our essence coming to the fore.
I agree Lee and Vicky…and yet there are times when I make a choice to not be the shell, and feel absolutely delicate, tender and gorgeous – and then suddenly the shell is back before I can catch how and why it came back. Somewhere we are making a choice and the question is why are we choosing that shell?
Thank you Michael for a beautifully simple blog, that seed of love lives within every one just waiting to germinate and grow, the potential for us all to live this love, is enormous.
The potential awaits – unfathomable and available to us all…we need only say ‘Yes’.
Beautifully said Jill. I know no greater joy than the embracing of this potential – the love that has always awaited our return.
Love is within us all “no matter how thick the shell might seem.” All of nature is there to show us messages from god, we can ignore them, or like Michael, welcome the blessing, and share it with the world.
Yes I Bernard have welcomed the blessing of what nature shares with us and it has been so supportive and giving me insights or revelations in an instant..and its for all of us!
I too appreciate natures many messages, smells and calls and divine expression of God.
Absolutely true Bernard. The choice is ours: ignore the blessing of God, or, welcome, appreciate and express the blessings of God with an open loving heart with humanity.
Life reflects constantly the blessings that are there for us to see and appreciate, it’s in our surroundings we are being shown a reflection of Gods love even in a nutshell 💚
What a great parable Michael this relates in so many way to the love we grow inside, it is very simple but true. Love nurtures and lets us grow to the fullness of who we truly are, which is the Livingness as a Son of God!
We all have such great potential and Universal Medicine has an incredible way of supporting the choice to peel back these protective layers.
Universal Medicine has brought so much awareness and understanding to us globally on energy, energetic integrity and the absolute Love that we equally are.
What I Love about Universal Medicine in the 12 years that I have participated in their course, workshops and presentations is that fact that they present so clearly how we have strayed away from who we really are. That our Love is there equally for all and no matter you will get to feel this Love and realise that this too is your truth.
It could not be simpler than allowing the true ‘you’ to come out – there is nothing to do, arduous journey or mastery needed when we are already Masters of the grandest degree, choosing at times to play a game of blind man’s bluff and a puppet show of a million flavours.
When I feel into it I am blown away by the love we are held in. Everything is a reflection in one way or another, and the reflections are often perfectly timed with a feeling that they were designed, also perfectly, with the exact answer or confirmation needed, and all are there to lovingly support us on our return to ourselves.
I just love he way God speaks to us in such unexpected ways, He is ever present, allowing every opportunity, if we are open, to deepen our love and understanding of ourselves and life.
Understanding about God’s eternal communication has helped me to stop reacting when someone stops communicating with me. I now understand how I, on a daily basis, stop being aware of God’s prayers for me, God’s poetry he writes in the sky, in flowers on my table and in walnuts. I know that whenever a communication with someone drops, I have stopped listening to God’s communication beforehand. It has become a marker for me. With support of Serge Benhayon and Michael Benhayon I am now more able to listen to God and read his love letters instead of ignoring them.
Just as I am reading your spot-on comment Felix, a beautiful butterfly flies past my window, and a little breeze shakes the berries on the trees. All week I have had goannas walking around the house, crackling their way through the fragrant bushes and sun-baking in the sun, and yesterday there was a baby goanna on my patio. The day before many aqua coloured butterflies. The beauty of this communication is beyond words.
“I know that whenever a communication with someone drops, I have stopped listening to God’s communication beforehand.” Wow, this sentence from your comment really struck me Felix and I too will use this marker to come back to myself and to listening and being aware of God’s communications. Thank you.
Exactly Rosemary and it’s often done so playfully. The way we often try to learn or teach ourselves can be so harsh, full of expectations, self criticism and reprimands, yet if we watch the a magic of God it communicates new awarenesses to us in a way that is playful, sweet and delightful.
Yes that’s true Melinda the magic of God is often playful and sweet but it can also come through an accident or illness… none the less magical and just as deeply loving.
Beautiful reminder Rosemary of the pure joy of connecting to God.
Michael, I love the title of this blog, it is so sweet and makes me smile when i read it, much like your blog – gorgeous to read, thank you.
“What I have learned from yesterday’s experience is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.” This is a great lesson to be had. I have been noticing recently that even though I regard myself as a very open people person, I can still sometimes judge someone based on their physical appearance. The judgement is now much more fleeting than it used to be and I know not to listen to it at all.
“There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love.” This seed is in everyone however hard and rough their shell may be. Remembering this I find it so much more able to not to react if I bump into the shell.
Very true Jonathan true understanding and acceptance of the outer shells bumps and all presented to us along our journey in life all have something to reflect to us and are there to be embraced with love.
and the silly thing is that it is not just randomly there, it has always been there, we just have been blind to see it!
So true Danna understanding and appreciating everything that is reflected to us is such a great opportunity to heal our hurts if we are open to see the truth in the reflection.
A great comment, thank you Jonathan
What you present here Jonathan is a powerful analogy, thank you. It is those hard, rough outer shells that cause so much reaction – especially when one shell bumps into another! However, remembering we all have a ‘seed of love’ within us brings an equality and understanding to every connection with another and to every situation.
And if we do react, then in remembering that in reaction we are not in touch with the true love within our very selves, we can hold ourselves lovingly and allow the space for deeper understanding – therein being the opportunity for ourselves to heal the shells of our own construction which have held humanity at bay…
A wise woman you are Victoria Carter. It is true that we are busy building the shells to hide beneath and to guard, protect and enhouse us when we are pure fragility, tenderness and divine droplets of pure Love that need for nothing.
I realise by the day, just how fragile and precious a being I am – and, the true strength that lies in this and its honouring… Our reactions in life – both obvious and the deeper, seemingly subtle ones to humanity and human behaviour as a whole – offer us the greatest opportunity to break down these shells we build Deborah. It’s our call, isn’t it, as to whether we construct them, or further reinforce those that already exist, or are willing to feel when they come up and surrender them – just let them go, in the knowing of the love which holds us.
I truly appreciate your words Deborah, for they come from the totality of such holding love – a love we have stepped away from, but which has always been there for us to fully embrace in our lives once more.
“They all have the same cycle of life and in their essence, stem from one seed.” What a lovely metaphor for how we are all sons of God, equal to the core.
I’m always amazed at how a perfectly intact walnut looks like a brain, which can’t be a coincidence either. Freeing the love that we are from the shell, also goes hand in hand with freeing the mind.
Another beautiful blog Michael, which is such great reminder to me that we can see and experience the love of God in all things, and when open to the communications, all of nature carries a symbolic meaning that reflects part of our journey of healing.
Not being affected by what our eyes see is a great lesson to learn, it can be so easy to judge something on first appearances without taking a second glance as you did Michael, and seeing how everything has an essence that is untouched and pure. I know that I can still do this so it is a great reminder reading your beautiful analogy.
Your blog confirms giving up is never it, love can crack every shell and will reveal the beauty that is inside. We are all from the same grandness and in time we all will open our eyes to see our true nature.
Yes Annelies, and in some people that true nature becomes visible already and that I can clearly see that as being fed by the beauty from the inside.
The simplicity and love all in a nutshell . . . naturally
Love and Simplicity, Naturally so
The beauty of the world we live in is that everything in this world is reflecting to us the love that we are and are from. For us human beings it is just a matter of recognising and to accept that we are part of this and then nature will be like a roadmap for us to read and it will show us our way back to our original way of being and living, a roadmap to live heaven on earth.
Nature is ever-busy with messages for us and reflections that offer us evolution.
It is well worth paying attention.
“It is well worth paying attention” indeed Deborah as otherwise we only lose our tracks and in that delay our coming home to where we truly are from.
Off track, stuck in our tracks and at times losing our steam – what a game we play to not bring our Heavenly goods and get to our needed evolutionary destination.
Love in a nutshell is that love is just love, no more and no less.
Such a sweet article, I love it.
Sweet is the word that came to me as well when reading the article. I also love the Honour of life, nature and people in this article. There’s much appreciation and humbleness shared in this article full of Wisdom! Thank you Michael for another great and simple blog.
It is this quality of sweetness which I connect to with in this blog that allows me recognise and appreciate my own innate sweetness and how it is equally present in others.
Beautiful Jenny M. I wasn’t connected to my sweetness tonight and reading your comment made me smile and re-connect to my own sweetness. How Powerful are the reflections of ours? How Powerful are we? How lovely is it for ourselves and others to be connected to our innate Sweetness…
Yes, a truly sweet article and a sweet reminder of the love that is inside us always despite the outer shell of protection.
“There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love.” And this seed lives in the heart of every living being on the planet. Regardless of the protection that we may see first.
Absolutely Sally, the potential is in all of us no matter the external appearance.
Gorgeous Sally. and super true. Secretly, we all have mighty trees inside us just waiting to grow.
“There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love.” the seed of love is absolutely in the heart of all of us if we choose to cultivate it with self-love we will shatter the protective layers and love will blossom.
I agree Sally that we have unending potential, not unlike the seed.
With nurturing the seed will grow and evolve and become a greater more magnificent expression.
They say ‘ never judge a book by its cover ‘, but I would prefer to say ‘ never judge a nut by its shell ‘.
Great Merrilee – it appears you have cracked the nut wide open and got to the heart of the matter.
I love you comment Merrilee, very clever….and true.
Love this Merrilee, it made me giggle and is a phrase definitely worth applying to life.
So true, Sally, and in spite of all our past choices, the love inside us all is always there, waiting for us to tap into, it doesn’t disappear, it is who we actually are first before any other choice we have made.
Beautiful Sally – we are all innately the same at our centre; simply love.
It’s such an incredible reminder and thing to feel that our essence never changes and always remains untouched. There is so much power and strength one can feel when this truth is fully felt, for if we live this as truth everyday we would see the shell for the delay it is.
I agree kimweston2, this is a beautiful reminder that our essence is there, within, waiting for us to connect to it.
True, the purity of God is ever present in us all and can never be destroyed.
How Godly we are.
Beautiful analogy Michael, defiantly a moment worth sharing, it really does sum love up in a nutshell, thank you.
I agree Gill – it is enormous to feel this knowing. We humans are all like a mixed bag of nuts – we come in many difference shapesl, sizes, textures and flavours but all are nuts.
Love this line “it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.” We can apply this to everything and everyone in life. We allow the eyes to distract us very easily, not allowing ourselves to truly feel someone’s essence first. It is super important to see that in someone first, knowing they are that love and essence and not the behaviours that sometimes present.
So true raegankcairney. It is such a loving gesture to hold someone in their essence, love, even if they can’t feel this within themselves. This can help them to connect to their true essence and feel the love that they are.
Definitely agree Lee, to be seen for your essence, by reflection we then get to see our own essence clearly. It can be quite challenging to then accept the magnificence of this reflection, but over time with consistent reflections you get to know yourself for the qualities you naturally bring.
Spot on Lee, for when we bring such a level of understanding to the other and ourselves, it is like it allows the hard outer shell to melt so delicately, far more effectively and with tenderness, than any other material or method such as using an acid or corrosive or dynamite even – which really only shatters things and does not build a level of trust in the world.
I agree Lee. I am really enjoying and deeply appreciate all in my life who do hold me this way and feeling the responsibility I hold to hold others in their true making.
A gorgeous reminder Reagan — always to let ourselves see underneath the veneers and facades, and to observe what’s happening around us. The more I am like this in everyday life, the less attached I feel to a desired outcome. It’s like we sit back while being fully engaged at the same time. We can let life play out in front of us while we hold the players in our understanding all along the way.
Love this line Katerina: ‘ We can let life play out in front of us while we hold the players in our understanding all along the way’. Now that is love!
“Beautifully said Katerina when we bring understanding to a situation we can let go of a desired outcome. It is like we sit back while being fully engaged at the same time.” While we hold ourselves in the love that we are we offer others the opportunity to re-connect with their soul the love that is always deep within waiting patiently behind the walls of protection never giving up on those that have given up on themselves.
Beautiful Katerina, being in life this way allows so much space for ourselves and others to evolve. When we surrender to God and Universal Law we will gain the understanding that is needed in any given moment.
I agree Raegen, despite how difficult it can be at times, everyone at their core is nothing but love.
So true Raegan, well said. Even with the pretty things that our eyes love… Feeling energy and discerning first enables what is truly behind them to be known.
“it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.” This is so true I don’t have any trouble feeling the essence underneath the presenting behaviours of others and often the more sensitive and gentle they are in their essence the harsher and more abusive they present because they struggle to feel the lovelessness in humanity. I feel a sense of responsibility to claim myself in the presence of everyone equally and emanate my love to all equally. This does not mean to accept abuse therefore understanding of where others are at and that they have we all have free will be choose the energy that runs us.
I have come to realise this also Margaret, we are all sensitive, we choose different ways to cope, this temporal world is not aligned to our tender, fragile loving beings we are in truth. I have also noticed the self abuse often is related to the understanding of this world being in a mess and the sense of devastation is overwhelming … It’s the biggest cry for help, but I also have found the attachments to that identity, it ends up owning them until something else is presented that cuts to the core breaking the illusion and offering true connection like Universal Medicine.
Beautiful comment merrrileepettinto, and may I add the importance of understanding and accepting that not everyone will be ready in this lifetime even when true connection if offered to them free will allows them to choose otherwise.
That is a beautiful reminder Reagan to not become distracted by outer appearances but allowing our hearts to be open and non judgemental. As we all learn to allow people into our hearts the universe will begin to expand and we can explore deeper.
Relating from our essence is so important. From our essence, all is known and understood.
This was one of my key revelations listening to Serge Benhayon. Whenever I have a reaction to a person, may it be a judgment or getting frustrated etc, I now remember to connect to the person’s essence and to the love that I have for everybody. No longer has the reaction power over me.
This is our greatest opportunity for learning in life, isn’t it Felix… To recognise that our reactions come from things we ourselves harbour within – that are not of our own essence, and to hold ourselves to lovingly as to be open to healing these elements, that we may come to truly meet and hold another in the divine essence of who they are. The grandest opportunity, for within it, all can return to love, our most Godly essence.
Very True – an expression comes though a person and never does it define them. Our expression will be with our True essence or without it and often times a dance between both.
I agree, Raegan, I feel that we often see similarities with people, without really realising and we can then make some assumptions. Feels so much truer to see with our hearts first.
A great comment Raegan. How quickly we can sum another up to be their behaviour when this is part and parcel of the energy they have aligned to – with their essence or without. If we see life as interplay of energy that it is, we will seldom react to what we see and open our eyes to receive what is truly there before us, not cast with the images we prefer to see or through a filter of our choosing.
Agreed Deborah, and well said. The key is our willingness to not personalise the behaviour of another that is not of their true essence, to go deeper and see the actual energetic interplay… Never do we accept abuse, but we need not personalise this. The greatest and deepest learnings in life all stem from this, and what we ourselves have the potential to heal in human relations if we take this truth to heart (literally).
Heavenly expression Victoria Carter – and agreed ‘what we ourselves have the potential to heal in human relations if we take this truth to heart (literally).’
I agree Reagan, a great message and reminder this is for us all.
So true raegankcairney. Michael could have discarded the nut because it looked dull on the outside but chose instead to open it and access the beauty inside. What a great reminder for us in every situation to connect to what is on the inside first rather than focus on the outer shell.
A great reminder to always feel the essence of the other person first, ‘it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.’
I am returning to this Truth and allowing and surrendering to be impulsed by God.
It feels like heaven here on earth………
“There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love. The hard shell around it might sometimes not appeal to us at first, but what I have learned from yesterday’s experience is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.” Thank you for sharing your simple yet deeply profound experience Michael.
“If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.” Absolutely!
Oh yes, Tamara, I am still preparing the soil, after 3 years of having met Serge Benhayon, now the first little roots are taking ground, and already my life has turned into something that I never thought would be possible!
This is the beautiful thing about potential and evolution – never do we stop growing and learning for evolution is eternal.
Something to appreciate so very deeply Deborah… that we live with the most magnificent opportunity to grow, learn and evolve, i.e. return to the essence of which Michael has written. To live shut down from this, is not living at all.
Simply divine Michael – I could taste the sweetness of the essence of love as I was reading this delicious blog.
“…it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.” Yes I agree Michael, when we see first we are missing out on much that there is to be felt truly.
Yes, when we rely solely on the eyes we can miss so much of what is truly going on.
Yes Robyn, ‘they’ say that “seeing is believing” and we do tend to believe what we see rather than feel what we are reading. We also create pictures in our mind and tend to see people through the filter of this image and then react to something we see or hear in accordance to whether it matches or conflicts with our idea. So it might be truer to say that ‘believing affects seeing’.
I completely agree with you, Sandra, that ‘seeing’ can be a very subjective exercise. What if we were in fact not actually seeing but instead receiving? And in this we were distorting what we were receiving to fit the images and pictures we actually have. For me, I keep coming back to what I feel about something, because my body is the ultimate guide of what is truth or not truth.
There is a saying ‘the eyes only see what they want to see’, but the body always feels the truth.
The body absolutely feels the truth and it pays for us to listen to what it has to say in each and every moment.
Yes the senses when used in isolation without our felt sense so often only provide us with a very limited picture of what is really going on energetically. To be able to go past the tough exterior and feel and understand this as a protection is to know that in essence we are all from the same source of love.
Yes Jenny and Robyn, it is so brilliant to get the whole picture by not isolating the ‘felt’ 6th sense. When I saw the comment I had only just read these words in ‘Time Space and All of us’: ‘When we are too racy which anxiousness alone can create well before any stimulating food or drink achieves likewise, we are shifted from our sixth sense to the point where we are at the mercy of the five senses receiving life rather than being observant of life as it happens or with life as it happens’. This is a bit of a nutcracker involving the magic of God.
So well said Jenny. I agree, without our 6th sense of feeling and reading energy we have “…a very limited picture of what is going on…”.
Very true Shelley. We have many senses in addition to sight and yet we focus strongly on what we see. The trouble with this is that if we do not engage our knowing and indeed all senses then we are missing out on the whole picture and therefore missing clear, unobstructed and unaltered sight.
I loved this line too, Shelley …. it’s so easy to ‘judge a book by it’s cover’, but life has taught me that there is always so much more hiding under the surface, waiting to be found. People can often give off quite a different demeanor to the love and grace that they actually are.
Yes this is so true, we can have a tendency to judge a book by their cover. But there can and always is so much more under the surface. People usually are full of their hurts and protections, so how they present can be prickly and unpleasant, but it is up to us all to bring understanding that there is a deep ocean of love and grace within us all, which is in essence how we truly are.
When we bring this depth of understanding to another we in effect are saying I know you, and you are much more than the behaviours that are playing out here. Receiving this level of understanding you feel supported and safe enough to let go of any abusive behaviours that have been used to escape feeling and accepting what is there to be felt. We all carry hurts that are challenging to face, supporting each other this way is an essential part of healing.
Alison that is key for us to actually be able to see beyond what is being presented to us. We do it with out ourselves even realising we do it, so instead of taking things for face value it makes more sense to honour what we are feeling. One that I keep reminding myself of and it feels great when I do.
Yes, so true Shelley, the eyes can be deceived. We often judge another or situation from our eyes, but if we learn to feel first or read the situation then clarity and truth can be felt.
A very wise man, namely Serge Benhayon, once said ‘close your eyes and feel’, and it really works, it takes me right back to my body every time.
The deepest opportunity for learning rests within this Shelley. For if we do not first see the truth of another – the essence of who they truly are – then what is it within ourselves that clouds our vision? Why do we not want to see, the truth?
Many nuts are sweet, some turn out a little bitter. But they are all nuts nonetheless.
The bitter ones are there to tell me when eaten enough nuts 😉
And in reality, if you dig deep enough under the shell they are all in essence, sweet.
‘They all have the same cycle of life and in their essence, stem from one seed. This reminded me a lot of love, which is our essence’. Yes, and this also reminds me of our innate equalness. We are in essence the same, all springing from the one source, even though we might develop shells of varying kinds and a slightly different flavour.
Absolutely Victoria – we are equal in essence and we each express aspects of God, none greater than another when we express from our true source.
To bring this understanding to the work place, our families and other relationships would bring some much more love to the foundation we can build as a community.
Absolutely Victoria. For me, it is so important to connect to this equality and the shared essence of love that we all have. This is how I feel beyond the tough outer shell that some present.
I loved this line Michael: ‘…magnifying the love from this little walnut seed by bringing forth hundreds of walnuts, all of which have the potential to grow into magnificent trees.’ As it illustrates so well, the design and on-going miracle of life is both magnificent and divine. And what a beautiful analogy for us.
Beautifully expressed Truth Victoria – Lived Love inspiring forth Lived Love in others.
The inspiration offering the opportunity to crack open the shell, and reveal the depth of love that was always, and is ever, within…
I expect if you told a little acorn that one day it would be a magnificent oak it would laugh out loud! The same could be said for us human beings, acknowledging that we are all magnificent Sons of God may be hard for some to swallow, but as Serge Benhayon has presented, and I have unequivocally felt, it is not too good to be true, IT IS TRUE 🙂
Sandra absolutely it is true, ” we are all magnificent Sons of God” we just need to acknowledge, accept and claim this as our truth. Like the magnificent oak tree from a little acorn and like a beautiful butterfly from caterpillar.
True Sandra, standing where I currently do it is often inconceivable as to where I will be in the future, but I have felt the grandness of my potential.
Very true Sandra, it can be hard to swallow for some to acknowledge that we are the Sons of God, magnificent beyond words, yet is a simple Truth!
Love has the ability to crack many a tough nut.
There is never force but always unending patience and deep steadiness, then what is ready, cracks open naturally.
So true Victoria, and many a tough nut can be cracked from the inside out AND the outside in. I should know, I was a tough nut to crack myself until Serge Benhayon came along and the shell started to crumble away bit by bit. Feeling love from the outside and realising I was this love on the inside was the breakthrough that I had been waiting for since…… the year dot.
Beautiful Victoria. Although I find at times when I am being a “tough nut” that I react to love initially, but love always wins out in the end.
So true Victoria so does playfulness and sharing our joy.
Ha ha, this is very true Victoria.
Our expression is unique but our essence is one and the same. A very beautiful thing to know, that we are all deeply connected with each other by the love that we are.
It is so true: a walnut needs to be opened very gently or else the delicate nut shatters and divides, it is hurt by a heavy hand. So it is with us, that to crack the hard layer of protection, tenderness is the way to melt the guard, allowing the essence to shine in its completeness.
It is a great life lesson to learn to see beyond what our eyes will allow, to see with our innermost heart, to know that beneath the external image is a well of beauty yet to be revealed.
And also to see what is really there when we look at another or a situation, not being fooled by what we want to see or expect to see, but rather what is there, which once seen and exposed can then be let go of to return to love.
This is a gorgeous and profound symbol: The magnificent walnut tree growing tall and strong, “deeply rooted, (and being) prepared to withstand any winds, magnifying the love from this little walnut seed by bringing forth hundreds of walnuts, all of which have the potential to grow into magnificent trees.”
This is how I feel: laying my foundations and feeling a solidness returning to my body, something that I can trust and rely upon, to allow me to bloom into really living life. Not to feel attacked by what comes but rather holding steady in my power, with the potential to re-ignite the same magnificence in others I meet, simply by choosing this level of connection.
Michael I have not met you but I hope to one day. I always delight in reading your blogs, the simplicity and preciousness you bring with your reading and observation of life.
“Love is deeply nurturing and like the walnut seed, a magnificent tree can grow from it: tall, strong, deeply rooted, prepared to withstand any winds and magnifying the love from this little walnut seed by bringing forth hundreds of walnuts, all of which have the potential to grow into magnificent trees.” Beautiful symbology, Michael, love it. It is amazing how much we can learn through nature, what great symbology it provides for us to learn how to live in this magnificent world of ours. How blessed are we that God has provided this great learning for us, where we are willing to open our eyes to see it. What joy at your dinner table to find that one walnut with the heart shape inside. When we connect with our true essence, we too can become like that magnificent walnut tree, “tall, strong, deeply rooted, prepared to withstand any winds and magnifying the love…” for others to experience and follow.
Thank you Michael for sharing so beautifully the graceful power of the love of God that we are. A love that remains omnipresent, never diminishing or fading away, but always calling us to accept and surrender to depths of its Divine way. With symbols, signs and cycles through our universe, nature and each other, we are constantly offered to see and walk the true way of love, the way of our Divinity. A beautiful reminder that this is the purpose of our birth; to be the love we are and to live the love we are with all so that together we can restore our Heavenly way in this world.
The quality of Love has the ability to crack the hardest of shells exposing the sweetest of nuts.
I have printed out this lovely piece of writing, a great reminder of the essential nature of us all and of the bigger picture. Feeling a great love and respect for the tree as well as all the walnuts.
A gift from heaven…they are everywhere if we allow ourselves to receive them.
There is always something more to connect to sometimes it is just being tenacious enough and hanging around for long enough to get through the shell – and a nutcracker can come in handy as well. A Beautiful piece of writing thank you!
I also love the fact that we can crack many of our outer shells to eventually live with and reveal this inner love, letting it all out and allowing it to be seen.
So true Matthew.
A gorgeous blog Michael. There is nothing quite like the symbolism of nature to remind and reflect the love which is within.
Loving the stop moments that are always on offer to us – in the nature of all things. It’s up to us to actually stop and marvel at the beauty we see and feel the relation of what that reflection is offering us. There are so many gifts, we just need to stop to open them.
This nut is so ready to crack! Thanks for the gorgeous and simple reminder Michael – it’s all there, inside us, ready to be lived… the Love we are.
A gorgeous sharing Michael, your writing really contained the joy of seeing the delicious nut within the hardened shell – and all that it represented.
Insightfully beautiful and such wisdom as to what nature offers us day in and day out… To translate natures messages as you so eloquently and tenderly have done is priceless, thank you
Your words are so beautiful and so simple and offer a wonderful insight into our essence – which is always constant and present whenever we choose to connect and nurture that connection. Thank you Michael for another gorgeous blog on love – it feels as though as your love grows you are offering us all a great blessing with what you so lovingly share and that like the walnut we all have so much to reveal to the world.
I love the analogy of the walnut seed growing into a magnificent tree Michael.
A beautiful offering of reflection and the magic of God that is all around us, thank you Michael. Seeing ourselves living as nuts of all variations; living in our shells of varying designs waiting to be opened up to our loving essence inside – very tasty ,nurturing, loving and symbolic of so much.
Yes, this is ‘love in a nutshell!’ Thank you Michael.
“This reminded me a lot of love, which is our essence. We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there“.
Understanding that all the hurts can harm our body but our essence is untouched. To know that enables to start healing our hurts because we are not our hurts, we are much more and to reconnect to the love that is waiting for us within to be lived and shared.
Yes, Janina, this article is simple yet powerful because it reminds us that we are not our hurts, and gives us a beautifully symbolic representation of the treasure we hold within.
I like your analogy here Micheal between love and a seed and how it can grow into a tall strong tree able to withstand the forces of the world. Very poetic and very beautiful description.
Starting to read this new blog (and not knowing the author) i could feel that it is written from you Michael. You have such a beautiful way to express!
Thank you Michael for reminding us how delicious we all are. Once we are supported to deal with that ‘tough nut’ exterior, feeling and sharing that deliciousness is so easy.
“Not one tree will look exactly like the other, and yet they all are the same” – so true also for humanity yet so many people claim some are special, better or superior than others leading to conflict and abuse. Although all the mass migration is causing huge suffering it is, however, by default ‘mixing’ the nationalities, which can only eventually result in there being but one nation that in truth we already are – no one looking exactly like another but all the same
“There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love”, so true Michael, we can often underestimate our potential, all we have to do is discard the outer protection to find our true selves within and allow this to grow.
A very beautiful metaphor Michael; tall strong and deeply rooted able to withstand the winds of life. A gorgeous reminder of the love which is our essence.
Michael your blog describes the absoluteness of love very beautifully. It’s not a matter of being big or small a seed or a tree, but the absoluteness that it is and its all encompassing quality that expresses in diverse forms.
Great sharing Michael that in a very simple way shows what love truly is, the essence of who we are and something we can connect to as it is not something to be achieved, but just to be lived.
I see gems under hard shells every single day. However bad the tough, hard exterior, however prickly, it really is in there, some shells are just a little harder to crack than others. Out of respect, and in honour of the respect that was shown to me, I always wait for the shell to crack open of its own accord. However, I always make sure they see that my shell is open so that it shows them it is safe to come out of theirs. No perfection but always a willingness to live with the hard shell off. Thank you for the blog, it was fun to remind myself of all the ‘hard nut times’ in my life!
Lovely sharing Lucy. Being willing to live as best we can with our shells off we can then see and feel so much more of the beauty in others and around us.
In a nutshell, love is a beholding quality that allows to connect to the fact that behind everything is the beholding quality of God.
This is very beautiful to read and receive Eduardo ” behind everything is the beholding quality of God”. This is exactly the confirmation I have called for in this moment, thank you.
The knowing that love is our essence makes it possible to transcend the apparent; the made up characters. This is the only path to something true because we are saying yes to it.
The knowing of love being the essence of everything is an open invitation to connect with it from every angle in our daily life. Suddenly, life reveals its preciousness.
On top of this being an exquisite piece of writing I love the invitation to feel what we ‘see’ rather than just using our eyes. The world and my understanding open up to me so remarkably when I do this.
What a lovely thing to feel from something so simple – we can find inspiration if only we care to look, and where better than the magic in nature.
No matter what happens to our outer shell, the essence of love at the core remains.
Yes, even though we have rough nuts, tough nuts and just nuts, at the end of the day most of us are all nuts, sweet at heart. What a playful article this has been! Thank you Michael.
Gorgeous Victoria.
Yes Micahel, through tenderly tending to the essential ingredients in our garden, great beauty can grow. How limiting it is when we look at life and people then, simply as the shell, instead of knowing each one of us is in the process of growing and holds within us this loving seed.
Absolutely Jane. There is beauty and wisdom surrounding us in our everyday if we choose to see it.
What a great reminder of the fact that love is our essence and that this doesn’t change depending on whether we choose to hide it or bring it out to shine and share.
So true Carmin. What a blessing to know that with every breath we have the opportunity to connect to the love we are. An ever-deepening return, regardless of which point we are at, as we are constantly held by Gods all-embracing love.
Very gorgeous Michael and a lovely reminder to look beyond the surface as there is almost definitely a treasure within!
Michael, ‘nutcracker’ extraordinaire. The delicate movement in your expression is beautiful to feel.
Yes , it is truly beautiful Jane.
It is a constant reminder for me that we all stem from one seed – in our essence we are the same – and need not get caught up in reacting to what our eyes see. Thank you Michael.
Your blog reminds me of those moments when strangers meet. At first there is a veil of protection between us and then once the veil is removed and a connection is made a moment of pure essential joy is experienced. This can happen with almost anyone at any time in any circumstance because the love that we are is equal within us all underneath our walnut shells.
Gorgeous Jeanette. A beautiful reminder indeed that in truth there are no strangers when we realise, as you say ‘love that we are is equal within us all’. As it is only us that estranges ourselves from the joy of our love and so from the joy of connecting with each other.
It’s a most peculiar choice we make to estrange ourselves from the joy and love we are wouldn’t you say Carola?
Yes it would. We get to experience the gloriousness of that with Serge Benhayon and we glimpse it regularly with the Universal medicine students. This I value immeasurably.
We have all held back our love and put up protection, sometimes a veil, sometimes a heavy attitude. What I am learning is life is much richer without the veil, which does naught to protect me anyway.
The veil is an illusion, as you say Bernard it “… does naught to protect you”. I have found that not only is life richer but it is much uhf simpler as well without the protections.
“We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there” Yes absolutely, our love is always within, and wears away naturally the suit of armour or the shell we keep constructing to avoid being seen for the ‘nuts’ that we are.
‘Yes absolutely, our love is always within, and wears away naturally the suit of armour or the shell we keep constructing to avoid being seen for the ‘nuts’ that we are.’
That’s gold Harry – and what a joyfully gorgeous ‘nut’ you are 😉
There is such simplicity in the way you write Michael and feel it is but a mere reflection of how you live. Thank you for sharing your eternal wisdom with us all.
What gorgeous symbolism you share with us Michael. The not so attractive shell of the walnut revealing something so beautiful within. This is a message for us all to look deeper, to not just take things on face value as we have been taught but to feel with our hearts.
Yes Kate I agree, what Michael has shared is a very powerful message – ‘for us all to look deeper’, that our hearts will always guide us to know what is true and what is love, as in essence the truth of our love lies within the heart of all.
How gorgeous Kate to feel the warmth and connection that we all find when we look deeper within.
Beautiful Michael. This also reminds me that I can connect to this love in another even if they are only presenting their shell.
That is such a gorgeous truth that we could all do with remembering more frequently Lee.
Serge Benhayon is such a great example of this. Over the years I have seen him stay consistently loving, honouring and deeply caring even in the few cases of an individual being far from gracious in their communication. During earlier such situations I would be silently reacting, judgmental but Serge seemed to only see and respond to the gracious part within the person and each time I would be astonished to see the person slowly unruffle their feathers, breath more easily, lose their animosity and actualy become playful!! Many years on after consistently witnessing this pattern I know the truth of what you say “I can connect to this love in another even if they are only presenting their shell”.
Yes Jane and I love how so many students are looking at these reflections and seeing the greater picture that is always on hand for us to see if we so choose. It is a richer life when you see the different dimensions.
Great to remember the all encompassing love that we always have inside – ‘This reminded me a lot of love, which is our essence. We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there.’
I agree Jenny. It is truly beauty-full to realise and feel that our connection to love is one that reaches far and wide and is unlimited and as you say all-encompassing.
Sometime we forget the breadth and power of Love and it’s constancy – this blog brings the reflection of the small seed and all that is possible
A moment to stop and truly appreciate the love we are held in… I agree ch1956.
Beautifully said ch1956, we can stop, breath and feel how this seed truly isn’t so small when it is watered and fed with care.
I have often been touched by the magic of God that reveals itself in life, including in the kitchen when preparing food. Over the last couple of years many symbols, reflections and confirmations have appeared. I have found a clear heart shape in the centre of an onion, an angel in a tomato and a string of delicate flowers in a zucchini. I am continually appreciative of how we are supported to return to the love we are.
I agree Victoria that I have witnessed many magical things appear or happen that do feel like messages from God to support us to come back to who we truly are. They are always there if we are open to them.
This is beautiful Victoria – thank you for sharing your magic of god experiences in the kitchen. A great confirmation of the nourishment you were preparing for your body.
I had another beautiful magic of god moment the other day while sitting in my car eating my lunch. I was sitting in the back seat and saw something out of the corner of my eye float by. It was a delicate white feather that moved across the front of the windscreen then circled the car and stuck to the right side of the car where I was sitting. I was completely held by the loveliness of the experience, which was so beautifully symbolic.
When we have the eyes to see we are met with so many beautiful reflections in nature and in life to remind us of the truth of who we are. I love your nut analogy Michael, thank you, let’s get cracking..
Yes, Victoria, when we have the eyes to see…God is everywhere to be seen and felt, within us and all around us.
You make me laugh Victoria…nut cracker at the ready.
What a gorgeous blog Michael and so full of great analogies. I loved, ‘Not one tree will look exactly like the other, and yet they all are the same; differing a little in their growing habit, their genetics and the external appearance and the flavour of their fruit, but all are walnuts. They all have the same cycle of life and in their essence, stem from one seed.’ As it is oneness in a nutshell 🙂
‘when we have the eyes to see’ beautiful Victoria and so true, it is always there but it is in our way of life that our eyes will be bale to truly see what is offered.
It is gorgeous how everything can remind us of our essence. When I look at the inside of a walnut it always reminds me of the brain. One difference between love and a walnut is that you can get walnuts that go rotten inside, but our essence is always pure and never shrivels and is not even a small seed but something huge!!!
Michael, I love the power and the simplicity of your sharing. Confirming we don’t have to do complicated things, the answers and the reflection of what we need at that point in our lives is right in front of us.
I agree Monika. Yesterday in my lunch break i dropped a bit and was not appreciating myself. Walking through a forest there was suddenly a white feather falling on the ground. That was the reflection and confirmation for me to stop putting myself down. Beautiful once we open ourselves to the divine reflection and support we have all around us.
I agree with you, Janina, if we open ourselves to the communication that is there all the time we have so much support on our way back to being divine. I had an amazing day today at work and when I looked up I saw the most beautiful rainbow ever as the perfect confirmation.
We can all feel that inside we are the same, come from the same source and will return to love and divinity. Holding on to an outer appearance is a comfortable way of not reflecting to the other that we are all love and not taking the responsibility we have to shine our light 24/7. I agree with what Michael writes:” it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.”
Reading this is a gorgeous reminder that we can choose to remain open to seeing the inspiration, learning and or confirmation of our essence in any aspect of life. And we do choose that the Magic of God does not disappoint – it shows itself in the most playful of ways.
Love your comment Golnaz – it is up to us to remain open to seeing the Magic of God!
We are like walnut trees with the possibility of yielding something divine for humanity.
it is wonderful how in life we are constantly offered these moments to stop and reflect more deeply – the key is to live in a way to be aware and pay attention to what is always right in front of us 🙂 Thank you Michael for a simple and beautiful sharing.
This is a truly beautiful story Michael, it does bring great joy to be able to see all the little signs of the magic of God, that present themselves to us.
Underneath every skin is a divine essence, gorgeous Katie. If this knowing was lived there could be no separation and our return to brotherhood would be easy.
There is not a single one of us who is too hard to crack – Love is the Universal Language for we are Love to the core.
Beautifully said. And therefore we should never be backed off, feel offended or turn our face from someone, as we are then reacting to the outside. Stay steady in love and hold the other is the nutcracker.
Stunning Caroline. Staying steady in love and holding the other ‘is the nutcracker’.
Absolutely – Love is our core and the seed we are to sow.
Absolutely – all Love, bar none.
Why is it then that we choose to express less than our True Grandness?
In a nutshell, We are Love.
So simple and so beautiful, thank you Michael.
A gorgeous reminder that inside even the toughest shell, there is a big heart.
Beautiful imagery to express “that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.”
And I thoroughly enjoy to read, what you read in this little occurance at the dinner table, inspiring to feel and look deeper into everything that is shown to us, symbolism is everywhere.
Such reflections are deeply joyful.
Beautiful Michael a great reminder of the nature of love, it is in us all, equally so.
Thank you Michael, for another amazing blog; love in a nutshell indeed, the perfect representation of the love within everyone of us.
I love your words Michael “The amazingly beautiful heart-shaped nut -sitting so well preserved in its shell- for me a symbol that inside everything, love is the essence.”
Beautifully written Michael, in essence we are all the same once we open our hearts and discard the shell of protection. I love how you have observed something that could so easily have passed you by, but in your reading and sharing you have brought something to my heart that is both confirming and joyful. Thank you Michael for bringing the beauty and delicateness that you are into your blogs for us all to share.
Thank you Michael. A delightful message of the symbolism in nature if we choose to see.
A heartfelt and heart opening blog Michael!
We must consider that every hard exterior hides a treasure within. As a woman I always knew this about many people and especially men and was surprised that everyone did not see it. After a while I accepted that I was wrong but now I know that what I felt was the truth and I have more understanding of the ways and why many people try to disguise that. I now appreciate this knowing because Serge Benhayon inspired me to trust what I know.
How true it is what you expressed here, Amanda, I can totally relate to it. I often differed from the opinion of a member of my family years ago ago, when great judgment was made at times of someone that he was critical of. I could so often see something underneath what he was observing, and would support the person being referred to in the conversation, I tended to look at that positive feature myself. I would constantly be accused of ‘making excuses’ for the person under scrutiny, and very much ‘put down’ for my attitude. But looking back, I can see that I was correct, I was feeling their true essence and worth, could feel what might have been holding them back in some way. Thank you for bringing up this point.
I agree. Seeing and feeling the sensitivity in a big, tough, possibly even rough guy is quite something to experience. Then responding from that awareness and seeing how that man then responds to you is a strong experience as well. Very nice.
So true Amanda, we all feel the beauty tucked away behind those tough exteriors, but so often dismiss this in favour of the external persona. Serge Benhayon is a master of seeing through the shell right into our inner heart and meeting us there first and foremost, a natural and inherent quality that many are choosing to regain due to Serge’s example.
Yes, if we really did consider that every hard exterior hides a treasure within we could bring a deeper understanding to ourselves and to others. When love is present the treasure unfolds and reveals itself… no digging necessary.
sweetness personified
True Marcia it feels so sweet and delicate, like an angel.
‘it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see’ something always worth remembering. Thank you Michael
Beautiful Michael. I love the way that everything in nature is perfectly designed to communicate exactly what is needed for us at that time. Sometimes I don’t know the meaning of what I see, unlike your walnuts. But I certainly appreciate that I am being offered meaning somewhere and the beauty and majesty of what is before me.
Yes, Jennifer, I agree with you. And sometimes when I don’t know the meaning of what I see maybe I don’t really need to know at that time, some part of me deep within knows what it is and when the time is ready, if I need to, it will be known. But it is so beautiful to know that we have so many messages and meanings available to us, all around us, especially within nature. How wonderfully God and nature support us all, would we just realise that.
What strikes me is how easily this symbol can be overlooked, but because of your deep appreciation and presence every detail has the potential to be a confirmation or a message and as you say without the inspiration of
“Thank you to Serge Benhayon for the inspiration to constantly read what I meet in life and thank you to Felix for so gently opening this walnut and thus revealing the treasure within.” I echo your gratitude Michael for reading the confirmation/messages within these situations requires deep appreciation and presence and above all a knowing that we are the sons of God.
In the past I may not have given a heart shaped nut a second thought. The world is a far more beautiful place when we open our eyes to the possibility that there are messages for us everywhere.
There is pure joy in your connecting to every tiny expression of love. Beautiful Michael.
I agree Kehinde, every time I read one of Michael’s blogs I feel connected to an innocence and a tenderness I seemed to have lost when I grew older. It’s the wonderment and openness we can approach life with which brings pure joy.
great analogy Michael. Thankyou.
Michael, this is such a sweet article, i love the analogy of the nut and the nutshell and how we as humans build a hard protection around ourselves, great to read and ponder on.
I feel the same and would like to add the bit where Michael talks about the fact that “it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see”. It shows that what we perceive via the eyes can be very perceptive if not downright false, no matter how predominant this sense has become in this visually overloaded world.
I love the title, it really gives justice to the simplicity of love, which is expanded on in the blog.
Agree Judith it is a great way to describe the power and the simplicity of love. The for ever holding quality and the always tender heart.
Yes Rachel, not only is love incredibly simple, it is deeply nourishing.
Life is forever willing to offer us the reflection of our essence if we care to look – and read – as you rightly say Michael. Thank you for sharing your reflection here.
“Love is deeply nurturing and like the walnut seed, a magnificent tree can grow from it: tall, strong, deeply rooted, prepared to withstand any winds and magnifying the love from this little walnut seed by bringing forth hundreds of walnuts, all of which have the potential to grow into magnificent trees.” Beautiful analogy Michael, thank you.
‘If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.’ Beautifully expressed Michael, if we work on our hurts we create the space for our love to expand.
And when we do it brings an immense richness to our lives that until we begin to nurture and tend the soil within us, we could never imagine such richness existed.
So simple, so beautiful, the messages of love are always there if we take the moment to see and appreciate them, thank you Michael.
To allow God to speak with us through nature is divine and Michael has certainly brought this to the fore through this gorgeous blog.
I can beautifully feel the love and tenderness in which you write Michael and it is exquisite. In a world often not about love it is a real treat to feel it so powerfully and simply on this page!
Yes and his attention to the fine details of nature, they are a treasured stop moment in the day.
It is very inspiring to read how when we truly take the time love is around us everywhere, it is simply there the moment we choose to open our eyes and simply live.
Yes, connecting with nature can be very healing in so many ways.
Totally Robyn and Lucy. Even on screen nature is such a treasured stop! iI have just shared on Facebook a video of some beautiful mandarin ducks perching on branches then gently diving into the rippling pond. The absolute serenity and stillness of the scene feels so renewing and refreshing. And the details, colours and stripes of the ducks plumage rivals anything seen at court in 18th century France!
Gorgeous Lyndy. There is so much on offer to us from nature. It certainly pays for us to take note of this, as you have shared here.
I agree Samantha, ‘I can beautifully feel the love and tenderness in which you write Michael and it is exquisite.’ Reading this article melts me, it is so sweet, thank you Michael for these very beauty-full articles that you write.
Love your simple but profound blog. We are all like nuts in a way, all a different variety, all with a different shell but beautiful and full of love on the inside.
I love that analogy Rosie, and I agree our different variety is what makes us all equally important all of the time as we all have our part to bring to the world.
Yes, the world would be so boring if we were all the same!
Ha! I love that we are all a bit nuts Rosie!
Your blogs are such a treasure to read Michael. I love this one about walnuts…a perfect analogy about the love we always have within, despite the outer layers of hurt and protection.
Michael, this beautiful, simple ad symbolical blog has so touched my heart. I have tears in my eyes feeling the Love that was present, with you, in you, and throughout space. To see that little heart-shaped nut revealed from within the hardened shell was such a joy-full gift from God saying ‘I love you Michael and I love all my Sons. We are One’.
“revealing the treasure within” – Yes!!!
Yes, if we lived from a connection to the ‘treasure’ within rather than getting caught up in the outer trappings, our lives would be divinely simple and joyful every day.
And we will only find out if that is a truth by experience 🙂
Yes, Janet, how true that is, and how important it is for us to keep our days simple and joyful as you say, and stay connected to the “treasure” that is deep within us, not letting ourselves be distracted by the unnecessary nonsense.
….and this is becoming a reality for many who are doing just that!
So so true Janet. When I am open, in the joy of who I am, God’s treasures are everywhere. The innocent curiosity is met by God’s wonders. But if I’m caught up in something negative, in a bad mood, in a ‘poor me’ state then I can’t see anything but that ‘poor me’ reflected back to me!
Exactly Sandra a big Yes to that. Let the it shine and be seen by all and not locked up in a treasure chest hidden away. We have the map in our hearts and we don’t have to go the long way round to get to it, why would we want to it’s too shiny and valuable!
Time to let the world see our brilliance. And ‘the world’ starts with ourselves.
I love how you described the tree – absolutely gorgeous. “Love is deeply nurturing and like the walnut seed, a magnificent tree can grow from it: tall, strong, deeply rooted, prepared to withstand any winds and magnifying the love from this little walnut seed by bringing forth hundreds of walnuts, all of which have the potential to grow into magnificent trees.” From this I can really feel the expansiveness of our love – we are magnificent just like the tree you described.
Beautiful Lieke, and yes we are magnificent and this is reflected in all that we do while being connected to our innermost.
Its a little piece of magic Michael, a message for you both of the love that lives within us all, no matter what we have done to protect ourselves from the outside world. If we choose to open up, the love is available to everyone.
Yes Simon, how playful is nature to make that moment so obvious for them so they could both appreciate it? Magic indeed. And we got to share it, which makes it magic for us all!
Absolutely Simon, this is ‘a little piece of magic,’ a beautiful message about love.
‘If we choose to open up love is available to everyone’ – simple truth Simon.
Yes Simon, it is allowing ourselves to be open to love that is the key. I am finding the more I do this, the more the magic happens : )
The Magic of God is alive and well!
. . . in a nutshell!
It takes many years for a walnut tree to produce these wonderful nuts for us to eat, so this is definitely a process that takes its time, gently gaining strength as its root systems get the nourishment from the soil, sunlight and the rain. Its dancing grouped flowers like catkins, joyfully dancing in the breeze prior to the nut forming waiting for the pollination process to work its magic. Its magnificent show of big bright, veined leaves, like umbrellas creating shady shadows beneath them on a hot sunny day. Then in and around late September/October the green protective shell starts to open its casing and reveal this little brown shelled gift as it drops gently to the ground – to be gathered and shared by all. Your sharing Michael brought us some gorgeous memories of my childhood collecting these nuts (getting bright yellow fingers in the process) and eating its encased delights. The wonderment of the cycle of this amazing tree, it never disappointed, the magic of nature how it naturally unfolds. Just like us.
A beautiful description, Marion, I don’t think I have ever seen one. I love how you describe the whole process, and would love to be pointed in the direction of where they are grown. So many of our beautiful trees have the ability to share with us the magic of nature, such a wonderful symbology for us of how we too can live that wonder on this beautiful earth of ours. Isn’t it great how much we can learn from everything around us, like the tiny white, 3 petalled flower I found on the rainforest floor some years ago, and from one seed I have a number of little plants wandering through the garden, a joy for me at this time of the year, and a great symbol for me of the need for simplicity in my life.
Marion, I love how you describe the process of how the walnut grows in such a playful, delicious way. I have never collected nuts like this, but I can feel the joy that it brought you as a child through your words.
Symbolism is a very important part of life, because it places the mind in to other perspectives not necessarily accessible by words alone. With symbols we can side step the man-made intellect and reach something more profound that touches the heart directly, with out any need for re-interpretation.
Wow! Gorgeous comment Shami and a beautiful expansion of what this blog offers. In symbols we are invited to see beyond the human-ness of the world and into the magic at play in each moment. It’s like symbols are communicating appreciation back to us, that we are more then human and aligned to something far greater then what meets the eye. We are constantly being communicated the multidimensionality of who we truly are.
This is beautifully expressed Shami and takes us straight to heaven.
Shami I’ve really loved allowing space for symbolism in my life, it adds not only a layer of magic but of real appreciation for the details, it supports a constant celebration as no matter what is going on there is always the reflection of God around us.
How gorgeous Michael……..God’s symbology is to be found in the most unexpected of places. What a joy when we come across them.
I know exactly what you mean Janice, it is amazing how God is quite literally everywhere when we allow ourselves to be open to love. Otherwise we tend you go into tunnel vision mode only seeing what we want to and what we deem important to get through the day. It is quite extraordinary how 2 people can walk down the same street at the same time and see completely different things.
It is so true, when we open our heart and our eyes to divinity, God is in everything, he is everywhere. It’s always our choice if we choose to read and accept what is being offered to us.
Absolutely James and if we all walk with God in our inner hearts we all see the same love!
Very true Greg, and well said.
I agree James, it is about being open to what is there to be seen. Not only is it extraordinary that two people can see completely different things walking down the same street, but that the same person will see different things depending on how open they are and the reflection that they require in that moment.
I know Lee, it makes no sense on level but complete sense when we look at what we are seeing and what it is showing us.
Yes this is so true Janice: “God’s symbology is to be found in the most unexpected of places”, so it is up to us to keep our eyes and our hearts always open so we are ready to receive these divine messages, for they are constantly and lovingly being presented to us.
So true Janice and beautifully said. Gods symbology indeed surrounds us everyday, we simply need to open our eyes and hearts to see and feel it.
Simply gorgeous Michael.
The expression of someone being a hard nut to crack, by never letting anyone in comes to mind. If left for too long the seed within withers, contracts and becomes bitter. Even the hard nut when planted finds a way to grow so everyone can appreciate what we bring for all.
Good work Michael, that is love in a nutshell
Beautiful Michael. A clear message that until we crack open the brittle outer layers of protection we are not able to grow and live the love that is our essence that then brings this same growth of love to others. The magic of God in a nutshell.
Absolutely Mary. I love that it is a beautiful reminder that regardless of the outside the inside is always spectacular…. worth connecting to and embracing for it holds the magic and magnificence.
I love this Michael. “If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.”
A gorgeous metaphor Michael… thank you. When we crack open the outer shell of protection, what is beneath is more exquisite than we can ever imagine.
tastes great too!
Love this Michael – what a beautiful analogy – love to a walnut and how at its centre is always a treasure – and it is simply our choices that will crack this open or not. It feels as though the loving support you have from Felix and Serge Benhayon has encouraged you to drop the defenses and start to open your shell. I have found this too – and I have been deeply inspired by the words and actions of the Benhayon family and my husband, to allow more of me and less of my protection.
Amazing Hvmorden to receive this level of support from people close to you and I can feel your deep appreciation towards them from your comment. When one person chooses to reflect love, this inspires people around them too. What a blessing!
Yes Chan Ly – it is very powerful when we realise that we are all a reflection with a responsibility that how we are will be seen and felt by others, giving them to be that too, or to walk away. So reflecting love in all that we do can be so easily passed on to another if they feel this is true.
Considering the beauty of what lies within, and that it is simply our choices that will crack this open or not… the responsibility is enormous to choose wisely so that we can share all that is held within and inspire others to do the same.
Michael I love the analogy and representation of love “Love is deeply nurturing and like the walnut seed, a magnificent tree can grow from it”. If love is at our foundation then anything is possible.
Michael what a beautiful confirmation of what we all hold inside. I also appreciate seeing past the many hard shells that are held up like fortresses around some people, and connecting with the divine essence within. It’s amazing when I bring a deeper understanding to work situations and what is more honestly going on underneath. Feeling past the hard shell can defuse blame and reaction and give everyone involved an opportunity to grow.
What struck me Michael is the absolute joy in which you wrote this blog. What a delight to read something like this on the Internet.
Nuts were made for cracking so let the love pour forth! Our armour we think protects us, in-truth imprisons us so that we move restricted and confined. When we let go of this hardened shell and surrender to the love that we are, we are irresistible. Another gorgeously simple and profound offering Michael, thankyou.
Yes it is certainly time we got cracking.
because anything less than that is nuts….
Beautifully said Liane, we are certainly spectacular when we surrender to the love from within and let our love blossom outwards to be shared with humanity. No more hiding it or protecting it, allow our love to grow and it will touch many, many lives.
The illusion we all fall for … that the armour we create protects us yet in truth just ends up being the self-made barrier between us and everything we are and everything we truly want.
Everywhere around us are delicate reminders of the truth of life and who we are. Do we allow ourselves to see them? Dare I say not so often as we are offered them…
Beautifully said Rachel – “Everywhere around us are delicate reminders of the truth of life and who we are.” Definitely a form of communication worth opening ourselves up to…
Thank you for this, Michael. Very lovely and inspired to feel how you appreciate life and what is around you at any opportunity.
A tree cannot grow to be an old willow if its roots aren’t firmly established.
Yes Luke, a solid foundation within ourselves holds us steady in the cycles of life.
“it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see” – how true is this of life Michael, what lies beneath any exterior is always worth a deeper look…and, at the deepest level arrive at its core.
Thank you Michael for the loving reminder for us all to see beyond the outer shells we wear that are protecting that deep well of love and wisdom and the true essence within.
Very beautiful Michael, thank you for sharing this with us and reminding us to crack the hard shell to reveal the love and beauty from within. To also allow ourselves to see past the hardness of people’s outer shells knowing that love is within all of us regardless.
“lf we prepare the soil it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.”This is a great truth to ponder, as each moment is us preparing the soil for our future. There’s never a moment when we stop. Every action is a preparation for what is to come next. The quality and integrity of each choice builds what we we will soon live in our future. So choose wisely.
We shall reap what we sow…
Thank you for this lovely reminder to always look for the essence, first, within each of us, no matter what the situation or the circumstances and to remember our own as well.
It changes everything Irena!
A great analogy – so simple and clear – and a great reflection that love can be found in absolutely everything if we’re open to seeing it. Everything is a fractal of the whole.
Simply gorgeous Michael. No matter how thick our outer shell may be, love is always there, just waiting to be shared in abundance. Thank you.
Yes absolutely Kelly, I feel this too. When we connect to love it expands when it is being shared; when we try to hold onto to love it is then no longer love, we don’t own it, and it is here to be openly shared.
I think there are a few more nuts to be cracked! Beautifull blog.
Absolutely Vicky!
Michael this is such a beautiful experience that you have shared and I love how you allowed what was being presented to you from the walnut in the shell. It opened up and expanded to the enormity of what is possible when we surrender to what is naturally there. I know to well the see things and taking them at face value – looking deeper and seeing what is really being presented in life in everything is key. Discerning the energy of what is being delivered in front of you – Serge Benhayon has been saying this since 1999 and still it just as powerful back then as it is now and always will be.
Yes, Michael, it is definitely well worth looking beyond the hardness and protective front of another to the deeply beautiful soul within.
Ah Michael, your words are like music to my ears. The way you describe Love is so far from the flimsy, elusive and intangible thing many of us grow up thinking it to be. This blog is a cracker.
ha ha and so is your comment Joseph!
So simple, so tender and so playful. Love. Beautifully expressed.
In essence we are the same and equal, but we offer different qualities and flavours to the whole. Without one, we cannot have the full spectrum or enjoy the full rainbow. A rainbow wouldn’t be all it is with colours missing. Likewise in brotherhood we are not complete without each other bringing our unique and divine expression.
For me, preparing the soil is preparing my body. I can often disregard my body and this limits how much love I can express to another. Yesterday when I chose to listen to my body, to be gentle with it, it was like there was more love for me to express as I was loving myself first.
I love what you share here Annie and agree “preparing the soil is preparing my body.” It is so true, without a lovingly prepared body, love has no vehicle to express from.
Beautiful writing Michael. The potential for love IS huge.
For a nut, the nut and the shell are together. For a human, love is what they are and the shell is what they are not.
Indeed Christoph and rather than cracking off the shell we grow and refine the nut until the shell no longer fits & drops away.
Nutting will ever be greater than the love we already are. 😛
And we can go nuts trying to find our love if we don’t realise where it truly is. I have love and it is us.
Beautiful Michael, communication like this truly is divine.
I loved how one split in half just like that – like it only takes a moment to open that hard shell to reveal what’s preserved inside always there and perfectly intact.
It appears that one never knows what gem is hidden within a seemingly tough exterior.
Thanks Michael for sharing your ‘ordinary’ little experience with the walnut.
Absolutely Roberta. We are often so quick to judge the tough exterior before considering that everyone is equal and is thus made of the same things we are, having equal capacity to love.
True Roberta – I have had many a ‘surprise’ to find what’s hidden within, absolute gems.
I love that Michael, your thanks to Felix for breaking the nut so gently that the clear heart shape was revealed. Some nuts can be very hard to crack, but the walnut less so I feel, for it has a textured shell, only if someone is too harsh with it the walnut is inclined to break into pieces and the heart shape is lost. Another metaphor to remind us that we cannot reach or feel the love we are if we are hard on ourselves, and that becoming gentle and being gentle in everything we do is the way to Love, and a bridge to the Soul.
Yes I enjoyed that too Joan, the immense appreciation for the everyday mundane things that shine through in this blog is amazing.
I love your comment Joanchristinecalder, this is a beautiful reminder for us to be gentle with everything we do and the way we are with ourselves. Gentleness is ‘a bridge to the soul’, very gorgeous, I am appreciating this very much. Thank you.
It has always been very easy for me to see what I don’t like, what’s there not to like and make comment on that first. Choosing to see what is underneath the un-likeable stuff is a whole new approach to living, and is far far more enjoyable and caring for me and everyone else on the receiving end.
It’s a much more beautiful way to be. I know at work, when I was working with someone who was challenging, I would always wait for the moment where I would catch a glimpse of their gorgeousness and be delighted that grumpy was not their normal way, but how they were hiding who they were from the world. Now I don’t have to wait, not only do I see it but their gorgeousness comes straight to me.
I have done this also Suzanne, and it has felt like an easy option but feeling into it more there is a whole lot of protection going on from both sides to not see past the stuff and feel what we naturally know is there within us all. Could it be that it’s our way of not being responsible, and making it okay to not be ourselves by only looking for the faults?
Agree, “because the world / people are so terrible I cannot or don´t need to be love” – shall they change first then I may open up again as well.
Crazy reading this Alex but very much what is at play in many relationships… holding others to ransom. Thanks for sharing because it gives us an opportunity to see all the ways where this may be hiding out in the corner.
Absolutely Suzanne – I too am learning that what is seen at first glance is usually not it, and that what is covered up underneath the protection is the real thing.
“If we prepare the soil, it (love) can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.” – Beautiful analogy Michael 🙂
Yes and it is up to us to us how much care and nurture we give our soil to let ourselves grow or not. It all comes back to us and our choices.
So simple, so beautiful, so real and true! What a walnut can say!
A beautiful meditation on love and nuts. Wonderful to read and be inspired by its simplicity.
‘It is always worth looking underneath for the essence.’ This is such a cute comment Michael and well worth it indeed for whatever the exterior, the treasure is always within us all. Knowing this to be true and holding someone in this knowing is absolute gold.
We are constantly being shown signs that are leading us back to the truth, it is up to us to be aware and read these messages as they are lovingly provided.
Ah Michael that was lovely to read. Such a super analogy, and a reminder that underneath our sometimes tough exteriors, there is love.
True Debra. All comes back to Love, for we are Love.
Also, just as the hard case of a nut has to first crack to allow the seed to grow into the tree, we need to crack our protective shells to allow love in and to shine our love out so that we may grow in our unique expression of love.
And sometimes, to get the nut to crack, it needs some support and to get it to grow, it needs love and care just as we do.
“Love is deeply nurturing and like the walnut seed, a magnificent tree can grow from it: tall, strong, deeply rooted, prepared to withstand any winds and magnifying the love from this little walnut seed by bringing forth hundreds of walnuts, all of which have the potential to grow into magnificent trees.” Love that, Michael, what a beautiful expression. I just love how you used the walnut seed as a symbol in this case, and with us, that love is there within – we just need to connect to it, and from that we too can grow and magnify that love, we too will grow strong, deeply rooted, able to withstand any onslaught from whatever direction, strong and unyielding in our love.
What I learned as a student of Universal Medicine is that I don’t need raw force to open a hard shell. The gentler and more tender I move, the easier the shell opens and the more loving I am the more obvious the essence of love shines forth underneath the open shell. This is the total opposite of what I was taught at school, in sports, at university, from massage techniques, body therapies and many other forms of psychotherapies.
Beautifully shared here Felix. A lovely reminder that the more gentle we are the more love shines forth.
I agree Felix and I found with very hard shells it is the consistency which makes the protection melt one day – so the maxim is being tender, lovely and : don’t give up on it.
Beautiful, Sandra. Don’t give up on being tender and loving. To open our eyes to see that even the smallest choice to be tender actually adjusts our momentum and influences the rhythm of our body is a gift we all need to honour.
True Leigh. Every choice counts.
I agree Sandra, consistency is a major player in the cracking of the shell. Gentle and loving softening the shell and keeping your eyes consistently on the nut.
Yeah…consistent love does hold the treasure within safe and secure while melting the hard shell. We could of course break the shell with force – but that would also maybe hurt but defiantly shock the treasure within.
This is very true felixschumacher8 – it interesting how we are taught that the more force the better.. when truth is that with a gentle approach a whole world of tightness and holding opens up.
Dear Eva,
Then, with a way more flexible body and mind, understanding becomes a given and much gets changed in our world.
Very true Felix. We are but a blossoming flower or a self-opening nut should we use this analogy. Choosing Love, developing self-love and allowing ourselves to receive Love from others and to express this forth is deeply nourishing and sets this miracle into being -allowing the natural magic of our unfoldment for the benefit of us all.
So true Felix, I grew up with the same ideal, that tough and hard is better! Being strong in my body I was able to take this literally and my delicate body suffered much as a result and I am still living with the ramifications of this today. I now know that tender and gentle is definitely much more powerful.
The science of plant care: A man reaps what he sows.
Alex, this truth is so real, when one considers what is really being said, it humbles and centers us, connecting us to the strength we hold within to look at and feel our way of living, and how we are being with others.
A great reminder Felix – tenderness not force is the way to open our self-made, hard, protective shells and shields which we use to cover our true essence and inner beauty.
tenderness…and surrendering to the strength and beauty of what lies inside knowing that in connection to that there is no need for the protection and the essence can be lived in all it’s beauty.
A great metaphor for how we all shine with an essence of love within, our hurts may cover us superficially, but gently discard them and the light within shines bright.
Indeed Samantha – no hurts can ever destroy the fact that our essence is always love. We can all choose to re-connect to this natural state of being.
Signs and symbols are all around us, illuminating meaning and offering support, confirmation and great awareness. I appreciate Serge Benhayon sharing this for myself and all humanity. Reconnection with signs in life has offered me a greater understanding and I feel supported and held by God through being open to them.
It’s a great reminder Sam, to slow down and notice what is going on around us. The universe is communicating all the time, it’s just a question of whether we are paying attention.
I’m with you there on that one Samantha, signs and symbols are so much fun and offer us so much. Recently I was having a struggle with my new job of two months and I was wondering what this was showing me and the very next day, whilst out driving, learner drivers kept pulling out in front of me and at the end of the day, the fourth one, just as I was due to pull into my drive. What I got from this was to slow down, build my foundation and to remember I still have L plates on, and that I am not expected to just know the job straight away. Now if I make a mistake or don’t know something I tell my boss I still have my L plates on.
Totally agree davidsonsamantha, developing appreciation and presence has lifted the fog from my eyes and i now see & read the offerings that surround us.
If we stop and consider the signs and symbols ever present we will quickly see that never are we without reflection, from every angle in every moment.
There are not the words on earth to express my appreciation of our Divinity and Godliness and of those who don’t hold back on bringing Heaven to us all.
Yes I absolutely agree Samantha it has been a joy to reconnect to what was always there right in front of me! It cracks me up sometimes how obvious the symbols are, once I saw the BIGGEST bumblebee ever, just sitting on a flower, looking dead, couldn’t help but feel it was a symbol to say get moving there is work to be done!
This is so gorgeous, a powerful moment of presence allowing space to read what life and God has presented before us, and then sharing this with us all. The analogy and symbolism of the walnut is perfect, underneath the hard shell exterior is the tender heart that is in every one of us.
It is true Katerina, that creating space and a moment to stop and observe what is before us and to read these divine messages enables us to more deeply understand life, our part in this and the learning at hand.
‘There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love. ‘ This is so true, as one loving act leads to another.
Yes love building love and what a foundation on which to grow, live and learn.
Dear Michelle,
“as one loving act leads to another”.
The simplicity of this statement is profound. It is how we in effect, each one of us influences the world in which we live.
I love what you write here Michael. Love is the essence of all of us and we choose to live it to varying degrees and when we are hurt by life, we put up these outer shells to protect us but that is one of the greatest illusions in life. When we are coming from our essence – love – we stand firmly and nothing can break us because that essence is unbreakable. And we are not talking about the emotional kinda love which breaks many things (hearts, lives etc..) but the steady unconditional unshakeable steady as kinda soul love. And when we prepare the soil, it can grow and unfold into such magnificence.
I love the messages that nature is there to reveal to us if we are open to seeing them. And how beautiful this message is that you have willingly taken the time to share, thank-you Michael.
Yes deidremedbury, God is communicating with us constantly through nature.
True Deidre – one wonders how many messages we in truth receive each day, or even each hour that we pay heed to, or even notice?
Great comment Deborah. I know for myself that being present in my body has expanded my awareness of what is going on around me. Worry and living from our heads alone is so much like putting blinkers on to the beauty of the life we can have.
Thank you Michael for sharing a beautiful understanding of the simplicity of appreciating the love we all are deep within. It is the gentlest of touches that can truly open the hardest of shells revealing the preciousness that lies at the heart.
We are indeed all precious to the core regardless of our presentation.
Dear Sandra,
“It is the gentlest of touches that can truly open the hardest of shells revealing the preciousness that lies at the heart.”
Beautiful.
I agree Leigh – it offers us such a delicate and tender feeling when we can connect to ‘the preciousness that lies at the heart’, it is exquisite when we can touch the divine within that is forever waiting for our return.
Michael, thank you, you have a beautiful sense of symbolism ably displayed here with love being in a nutshell. Our love is always there beneath sometimes a hard exterior but as you say if ‘we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.’
Thank you Michael – Nature is always there to offer a reflection of what is true to support us. Absolutely Beautiful
“Love is deeply nurturing and like the walnut seed, a magnificent tree can grow from it: tall, strong, deeply rooted, prepared to withstand any winds and magnifying the love from this little walnut seed by bringing forth hundreds of walnuts, all of which have the potential to grow into magnificent trees.”
As we as individuals let go of our protective ‘shell’ of hurts and walk in a raw, vulnerable and tender way, power-full in our hearts, among others who are yet to let go of the protection, we demonstrate by example that its safe and possible to let go of the shell of protection we have collectively agreed on wearing.
“There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love. The hard shell around it might sometimes not appeal to us at first, but what I have learned from yesterday’s experience is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see.” This is gorgeous Michael, we often get put off by the hard shell (our protection and hurts that cover the love and tenderness within us ) we can feel that it’s too hard or difficult to start removing the shell and it can feel uncomfortable to begin with. We also sometimes do the same when meeting other people with a thick shell of protection around them on the outside, which says, ‘Keep away from me’, but I have found the more I open up to people I meet in the street even if they are angry, aggressive and hostile, the hard shell soon starts to soften and the warm tender love inside starts to show itself bit by bit.
“If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.” When we are absolute in the choices we make to bring love into our life’s more, it becomes our roots or foundation, from this strong foundation it’s possible for more love to grow, a love that can withstand the jealousy and attacks from others, a love that can see the love in all others even when they are not currently choosing it.
Love in a nutshell – what a great analogy Michael. Love is always there regardless of what appears on the surface.
Life can be so very inspiring and magical if we are open to seeing all the messages, big and small, that are offered to us many times over, every day ☺
Beautiful thank you Paula, life is magical and always reminding us that we come from something far greater and stupendous than what we are currently living. If it were not for these reflections it would be so easy to forget.
Dear Michael,
The tenderness and simplicity with which you write is very stilling. Thank you for sharing this experience with us all. I too have marveled much at the magnificence of the trees in our world. Huge, strong, individual, yet forever present, asking nothing, but offering much with their presence. Could this be the simplicity of our own lives?
“Huge, strong, individual, yet forever present, asking nothing, but offering much with their presence. Could this be the simplicity of our own lives?” – well, it can and from what I feel, it is. Like in a tree there is so much magnificent detail to discover once we start to really observe the details. Thank you for these inspiringly beautiful words, dear Leigh.
Michael,
I can feel a shift in myself from reading your comment today. How many details do we miss, or sweep under the carpet? Details that shine light on our lives and daily choices, details that if noticed could well change how we respond in our lives. We have the forever ability to see the true communication and support they are.
What a beautiful way to start the day. Thank you. I will carry your words with me today Michael and I am sure I will be given the opportunity to look further than the surface in many instances.
The shell we build around love that is inside all of us, is like an old suit of amour that was put on long ago in an attempt to protect ourselves from being hurt by others, but this armour has become too small and keeps us confined and separated from others, yet we have become so used to it and even polish it at times, convincing ourselves that without it we are naked and unprotected. Yet wearing this heavy armour we cannot see through the helmet of protection if the enemy are approaching us, and it’s too heavy to move in quickly. When we start to remove piece by piece the armour and the veil it casts across our eyes, we see that no one and nothing can destroy the love we feel in our hearts.
Without the shell there is pure vulnerability and at times I find it difficult both to be vulnerable, and also to feel that a beloved one shows him/herself vulnerable. Something very precious is offered in both cases, I am called to surrender. I learn to say yes to feel and everything in that moment.
“If we prepare the soil, it can root and let us grow into more than we ever thought would be possible.” This sentence really stood out for me Michael, the preparation of the soil for the seed of love to grow is the following:
Living in a routine and rhythm that supports me, which is early to bed early to rise.
Being present and feeling my body throughout the day and not going into my thoughts and head to not feel.
Appreciating and confirming myself, and not needing or expecting others to do it for me.
Taking care and honouring my body as no different from any other divine beings body.
Allowing my heart to open and not keeping others out,.
The list could go on but, but the more I do these things the more space there is for love and joy to flow in my life.
Beautiful Michael – so true, that underneath the hardest of shells lies a very precious gift.
A beautiful blog Michael exposing no matter what we see or create on the outside, we are all the same on the inside: love is our essence and we each bring our unique way of expressing this to the world.
Such a beautiful reminder Michael to always allow ourselves to look deeper into what is before us, and that if we don’t, we may miss out on something magical, like the message of love in a walnut shell.
Ah the simplicity of love, always reflected back through the magic of God. Thank you Michael.
A good reminder to pay attention to life and the beauty that it is always showing us beneath the ‘ugly’.
Good reminder Vanessa – don’t be fooled by outward appearances. We don’t know and cannot judge the experiences of another, what reasons and excuses they may have for building their tough exterior. But we can guarantee that their essence is always there, untouched and pure, and by applying some understanding we can see through the shell and connect with the love within.
What a beautiful and evolutionary chat at the dinner table. Feels delicious in more ways than one and very healing also. Inspires me to take this to my every meal and my day! Thank you Michael
I agree Joshua, the group appreciation for magic no matter how small is a delicious reflection of brotherhood.
I agree – being open to the many messages that abound leads to the most delicious moments, whether they be meals or other occasions.
I love that Joshua, it was something I hadn’t clocked while reading the blog and you are absolutely right, it’s an incredibly beautiful conversation to be held at the dinner table.
Yay Kim – the nourishment of Love’s repast.
Absolutely kimweston2, lets make the incredibly beautiful the norm we experience everyday
A beautiful analogy for the flame of love we all have alight in our inner hearts. Some are protected by a shell, usually when we think the flame cannot withstand the force of the emotional winds that can buffet and blow, and yet if we but feel, we will know that there can never be any winds in our inner heart. It is a place of stillness where the love we all naturally are resides until the time comes when we trust enough to take off the shell and stand openly, tenderly and solidly in our love.
Looking behind the hard shell can only happen when we look with our heart. Once we look with and from our heart, we can not but see and feel the love within everybody.
I very much agree Mariette, when we look with hardness we will be very much attracted by the hard shell and most likely miss out on the beauty and deliciousness that lies underneath.
Thank you Felix – how do we get to that Love within and feel it when we have hardened ourselves to shield against the world and we may not even be aware of it? The esoteric healing modalities as brought through by Serge Benhayon have supported me enormously to feel that spark of Love and piece by piece let go of the hurts. There’s still more to let go of, but the connection to my inner-essence tangibly remains.
Hello Michael and this is quite poetic and reminds us as you say to look a little deeper with things to ‘get to the heart of it’.
Michael, such a simple but very powerful analogy. Thank you.
The title is exquisite. Although love is as vast and limitless as the universe it is nevertheless captured in a nutshell without losing anything of its stupendousness.
Great word Alex stupendousness – i shall pop this in my pocket today!
Haha, in your stupendously great heart pocket.
Well said Alex – the essense of love perfectly captured.
Beautifully said Alex – and my exact thoughts… ; )
The everyday magic nature provides to us when we are willing to see it – and wisdom speaks.
Raises the question how do we prepare the soil to make this innermost treasure grow to become that amazing tree. First of course, there is the choice to make it all about love and then there is the way to be walked every day living that love. The beautiful thing is that once we choose love, love chooses us and comes along our way, i.e. we figure out love while we are on the way to be love.
Loving the universal gardener in you Alex!
I love the word you bring in here Simon, it describes so aptly how Alex expresses, he is really a universal gardener, caring for every little detail there is, always with love as it’s foundation and purpose.
Absolutely Alex once we make the initial choice to be love we are supported to be more love and it is ever expanding.
I agree love is amazing and definitely worth investing everything into.
I love how you emphasize the foundation of ‘making it about love’ as the soil, Alex. And the importance of the way we all walk as universal gardeners, as Simon so beautifully writes. By the way we walk, move and express we influence the growth of our seed of love and those of others. Thank God for the support we get when we make a step towards love.
I feel that God´s actual ‘support’ is the absolute grace of free will he holds us in and by, in that sense the support is there incessantly and never can it not be, but only when we make the choice to turn towards that endless source we realise what has been available all the time.
I agree, Alex, to allow us ‘free will’ is a big support and I can also feel how much God loves us the absolute grace of free will. Also the enormous amount of love and no judgement at all is also very supporting if we are open for it.
Gorgeous Alex!
I have noticed that everyone around me then feels that I am dedicating more to loving myself and the movement of that impacts them, I particularly notice this with my daughter all the difficulty, resistance drops away and we are much more in harmony in being with each other whereas when I am not choosing love we really work against each other and it is horrible to feel and live like that.
This is gorgeous Alex – every moment there is a choice to choose love or that which is not.
“The beautiful thing is that once we choose love, love chooses us and comes along our way, i.e. we figure out love while we are on the way to be love”.
‘The beautiful thing is that once we choose love, love chooses us and comes along our way, i.e. we figure out love while we are on the way to be love.’ I very much like this, it shows the rhythm and flow we bring to life.
When I read the energy of what I am presented with, the outer stops determining my day. I can consciously choose how to respond to life, space is created to breathe and to have fun within my day.
I absolutely agree Felix, reading energy allows me to observe, stay out of judgements, have understanding and accept. I can stay with myself and know exactly what is needed and my day flows.
I can relate- when I see and accept how there is much more to life than meets the eye everything becomes more interesting and precious.
I also had a similar experience opening walnuts and hearts were coming out. This reminded me that everywhere we can get a confirmation of how we live our life. Nature is full of miracles, which reflect to us the deep wisdom and love we have inside and is a mirror of how we bring these qualities into our lifes.
I agree, Kerstin, the space around us is communicating and reflecting non-stop about how we live our lives and what is the next step to learn. We do have to be open to see and receive the messages though.
Cracking through the hard exterior and finding the exquisite essence beneath is so incredible to observe both in myself and others. Thank you Serge for showing us what has been there all along.
As I read the first line, I knew the words were yours Michael. You have an ability to touch, feel and express love so beautifully. I love the reflection the walnut gave you and it might just help me to view nuts differently!
I agree Fiona, Michael does have an ability to express the detail of love and touch / ignite you in your essence. More to come from Michael and very inspiring myself to do the same.
Michael, I love your sense and keen eye for detail and the connection you draw between nature and our daily life, between the microcosm and the macrocosm, your dedication to see love where it is.
I agree Esther – love is everywhere if we are but willing to see it.
Yes Esther, we can learn and get confirmation from nature. Nature has its own pulse and magic, in a sunset, snow flakes or in a walnut. And if our heart beats the same pulse we are able to see all its beauty.
This is most beautifully expressed Sonja, ‘if our heart beats the same pulse we are able to see all its beauty.’
That is a great point Esther how the seemingly small events are actually showing what is going on in the big picture. The key is in paying attention to the minutiae.
It is honouring every little detail that contributes to the whole as without the littlest detail the whole can’t be truly whole. We have it a bit upside down in this world, we like to have the end product or want the big events and moments in life but this will never satisfy us as we are missing a big part of the whole, it is like only seeing little bits and pieces but never the whole picture.
Love can be found in the seemingly insignificant but yet is always so very magnificent.
‘This reminded me a lot of love, which is our essence. We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there.’ – Love this, it is very easy to relate to – when I first came to Serge Benhayon’s presentations, my body was severely contracted from attempting to cover up my hurts and lack of true care for myself. It is amazing to discover what is underneath the shell.
‘There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love.’ – Yes indeed, a small seed of love makes the entire difference.
The whole universe in a seed of love.
Absolutely gorgeous thank you Michael and what a simple storytelling of the essence of love, something perhaps a squirrel would tell her babies at bedtime!
Hilarious!
Haha, love it Clare!
Michael – the simple yet so profound message in this account is stunning – thank you.
Love it Michael…
Thankyou Michael, a beautyfull reminder of Love.
Absolutely gorgeous analogy and reminder Michael, thank you
What a discovery. This one wasn’t a hard nut to crack.
Super gorgeous Abby, some can be hard nuts to crack but they are always worth it.
Gorgeous Abby 🙂
Michael, such a simple story and yet it reveals so much. I love the analogy you highlight that no matter what the outer looks like, be it a walnut or us, we can look underneath and see something different, something that can grow into something magnificent and something that is precious and always there, love is always there, ready and willing to blossom and grow.
Love this Monicag2 – ‘ love is always there, ready and willing to blossom and grow.’. I am just now seeing that all that lays in between is our willingness to know, feel and live this love, when we let this go anything is possible!
Yes anything is possible and all we need to do is let love lead the way. Today I’ve been feeling how often we get caught in the end result, the thing we need to do, rather than seeing that actually our main job always is to be love and feel how to act from that love.
This is so true Monica, it is the same as a chrysallis turning into a beautiful butterfly or a new born creature that has no fur or feathers, but as it grows develops wonderful colours and markings, eventually expressing in all its glory. But the essence of beauty was always there, deep within, regardless of the outer display.
Thank you Michael – Yes, this is a beautiful reminder for us to always be seeing beneath the hard exterior or shell people have put in place to cover their true essence.
“This reminded me a lot of love, which is our essence. We sometimes hide this love underneath a thick shell of hurts and protection, but this love inside is always there”.
Yes agreed Stephanie no matter the surrounding layer there is always love within. This can be difficult to remember and or feel at times, given the horrendous things we can do to each other but it goes to show how de-natured we have become that we can at times act the complete opposite to the enormous love we all are.
Yes a beautiful reminder including for myself when I’ve put a hard shell around my essence and how simple it is to crack open.
Equally ourselves as others. It can be much easier to to see past the hard exterior another puts up but often seeing our own is much more challenging and requires a huge amount of honesty.
Awesome Michael, what a lovely reminder!
Michael, this is gorgeous. I love how Nature is constantly reflecting back to us the truth of who we are and the way we are living – either confirming our alignment to what is true or reminding us of a re-adjustent to consider.
“There is such an incredible potential in this small seed of love. The hard shell around it might sometimes not appeal to us at first, but what I have learned from yesterday’s experience is that it is always worth looking underneath for the essence – not getting distracted by what my eyes first see”.
Me too Stephanie, and as you say, the reflection either confirms us with where we are or asks us to step up to the next point of expansion in returning to who we are in full.
Stephanie I find it much easier to feel the love that is within each and every one of us when I am not in reaction, once I have gone into reaction then all I see is the person in front of me on a very one dimensional level. When I am able to stay connected to my stillness then I am able to feel the depth of stillness in another.
Love is very simple and is always there, regardless of what covers it. Thank you Michael.
Very true Leigh, simply and ever powerful, always much more powerful than whatever it is that is trying to cover up that love.
I agree Katerina. I find that the more I try to cover up love the more is revealed to me that it is the centre of all that I live and do.
This is a great reminder for me to remember that love is the essence of every single person on this planet. No matter what the mask or what we are greeted with, everyone comes from the same limitless love. Like Michael said, it is our hurts and protection that gets in the way.
True Annie, it’s great to be reminded of this, and the fact that we are not our hurts, our reactions or our protections.
Yes so true Annie, as Leigh states ‘Love is very simple and is always there, regardless of what covers it’, the beauty comes in knowing to look beneath those layers and to see that the essence of love is within all of us.
Absolutely Annie, this is an awesome reminder of not only our essence but that which resides in all. This is the foundation of equality.
It can be really hard to believe with all the atrocities in the world that under all of this is the same loving essence. What is very revealing is that we grade someone else’s act as worse when in truth all acts away from our true loving nature are all adding to the same pool of pain.
Wise words Vanessa, it is the laws of the universe, if they are not aligned to the quality of love with any self-gratification that is needed to come back, then it is the same pool we are adding to and nothing changes.
Noticing a reflection from something simple such as a heart shaped nut, or a similar shape of cloud, or leaf of clover shows me how many reminders are all around us every day that we come from love. No matter how crusty or knobbly the shell of the exterior of a nut or a conker may look, the smooth inside is very different and represents love.
Yes Gill, we are blessed with any number of reminders throughout our every day of our Divinity and the Love we are.
Thank you Michael and Gill, I agree, appearances can be deceptive, but underneath there is always a heart of gold!
I find that the more connected with myself that I am and the more present that I am, the more reflections that I am aware of. This shows me that these reflections are always there, it is just my awareness of them that changes.
So true Gill, the amount of reminders of love or God I see daily now warms my heart. This has changed a lot from how it use to be for me when my perception was more focused on my lack of self-worth. Just got to be aware on discarding any images that are not loving and really accepting the beauty that is there when it is there!