Do you see life as something that is truly glorious, amazing, incredible and full of magic; a life that you would want to come back and live time and time again?
Waking up each morning in true appreciation of the mist in the valleys, the birds chirping, being in awe of the rays beaming through the clouds from the sun, or in the remaining glow of the last full moon. Feeling the freshness of the morning air on your skin and brushing across your nose as you open that first door or window of your home.
Do you allow yourself to feel the lightness in your body before you begin your day that allows you to feel what is needed to truly support you to continue feeling the glory that each day and each moment can bring?
Knowing that in each moment you have a choice to choose you, to make choices that lovingly support you to appreciate life, to see the roses amongst the thorns, to build a relationship with your body that allows you to live in a way that leaves you feeling vital at the end of each day.
Then to look forward to putting yourself to bed so you can get up and do it all again tomorrow. A bit far fetched you may say: well at one point in my life I would have agreed with you, arguing this was impossible and ‘airy fairy’.
I rarely was able to see the roses amongst the thorns; there were glimpses, but not for long and I certainly was not able to appreciate the full bloom from start to end. Now after many years working on my own self-appreciation, learning to love and accept myself, I can now truly appreciate life and all that comes with it, thorns and all.
My focus now is no longer on the thorns but instead on the roses; the beauty, scent, aroma, gentleness and delicateness that surround me every day – that same quality I feel around me is also within.
This beautiful quality that has taken me a long time to connect to, is one that I now choose for myself as a way of life.
A life that now has a flow and a consistency where the complication still presents itself, only now I am able to observe it, deal with what gets presented and move onto what is next.
In the past the complication used to absorb me; it would consume my day at times, even making it difficult to sleep, playing on my conscience for as long as I would allow it to.
By making the choice to stop my mind from running my body, and by not allowing my thoughts to take over what I was feeling, I began to feel differently.
Observing how with the simplest of choices life began to shift, the complication became less, and the magic of God began to take over: with every thorn came a rose, and after a while the roses overtook the thorns, a beautiful reminder of how life could be if I continued to choose me, to choose love.
Knowing there will always be thorns but also that there is so much more… by appreciating me and everything around me, the beauty began to outweigh the darkness I had once felt and lived with.
After many years and the support of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon, I have learnt to take responsibility for my choices, the way I live and to appreciate myself, to love the woman I am, to know I am not perfect and nor do I need to be, that life is not meant to be hard, that it is not meant to be complicated, that life is truly amazing, beautiful and full of magic.
By Nicole Serafin, 44yrs, Woman, Wife, Mother, Hairdresser, Tintenbar, NSW
Further Reading:
Wonderment
The Magic of God in Everyday Livingness
Appreciation, Appreciation, Appreciation
Appreciation of Life and Ourselves
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
The whole blog beautifully exposes the mind-set that life is hard, a struggle etc. sometimes things may be difficult and yet we can let that situation cloud the beauty and magic around us in the simplest of things, like the gorgeous sky and nature. We have so many blessings and we have been given so much, including how to connect to God and our Soul and find our way out of difficulties – it is really right there within us. As you share Nicole, that beauty and magic is also within ourselves and we can nurture that connection everyday and let go of the narrow and addictive focus the mind can have to the ‘thorns’.
Nicole this is really refreshing to read because at the end of the day we are too busy focusing on the thorns, than every beauty around us. And this statement was quite powerful to read, ‘By making the choice to stop my mind from running my body, and by not allowing my thoughts to take over what I was feeling, I began to feel differently”. This just goes to show how our minds can ruin our bodies than if we allow our bodies to run our minds. Big difference to live from this latter knowing than former knowing.
It is us who create all the complications in life whereas, if we live in tune with natural essence of who we are, life can be very simple and magical.
I agree Mary, we are our own environment. It’s a hard pill to swallow when we are accountable for this. Within all of us is our natural essences, its just coated with this thick crust of nothing that thinks it can burden us. But the natural essence is gently nudging just as equally if not stronger.
Bringing back responsibility, appreciation and love for self can support amazing changes in our well-being, ‘ I have learnt to take responsibility for my choices, the way I live and to appreciate myself, to love the woman I am.’
True appreciation is the bridge to our Soul.
Thank you Nicole, I’m always inspired by this blog, it really opens me up to not accepting life as it is as normal, to see there is more love, magic and awe to live with, that joy can become my normal, and that appreciation and the power of my choices can support me to get there.
Absolutely Melinda, appreciation of our essence, which is our Soul-full-ness that has always been within, is an amazing step in our evolution.
The more I change my choices to be more loving the more beautiful life becomes. I’m not lucky or gifted, I learnt about the power of my choices.
We make choices in every second of every day, what are we choosing, ‘Knowing that in each moment you have a choice to choose you, to make choices that lovingly support you to appreciate life’.
There is so much to appreciate everywhere, and the more we accept that the thorns are a part of life the more we feel there is no limit to what we can appreciate.
Thorns can also been seen like the grit that enters the oyster and causes the pearl to form, an opportunity to respond and bring more of our true selves forth.
There is so much to appreciate, ‘Waking up each morning in true appreciation of the mist in the valleys, the birds chirping, being in awe of the rays beaming through the clouds from the sun, or in the remaining glow of the last full moon. Feeling the freshness of the morning air on your skin and brushing across your nose as you open that first door or window of your home.’
It is wonderful in this day and age to hear someone describing life as magical as it seems that so few people feel this. This can be a new normal.
And sharing the magic in our days opens us up to see more magic.
I thought of all the people who don’t wake up feeling light and energised in their body or having birds chirping outside their window. It can be easy to think that life is a chore and hope to get through it as best you can. I have also found that changing me is the only way to feel the magic of life again – and it is the only thing we have any control over! For me it came down to taking the focus away from thoughts and coming back to just feeling and honouring my body. When I don’t wake up feeling light, it is because I have not done this i.e. eaten too heavily, not gone to bed when I was ready etc.
I always liked the quote as a child about the man who looked down and saw mud but looked up and saw stars, it seems to me the direction of our gaze determines at large the outcome of our experience in life – do we truly see the magic at hand or are our eyes only seeking out the rubbish?
I think we are quick to separate body and mind when in fact they can work together and in union. Why separate something that is all one in the same?
I do not appreciate enough the lightness and the space I consistently feel in my body, and then to appreciate all my choices that have led to feeling this gorgeousness from within…appreciation is my missing ingredient! I already have a marker of the power of appreciation, so it is for me not to stop appreciating!
To be willing to see the good, the bad and the ugly not only prepares us to live in a world of human created horror, it also allows us to bring through that which we have starved this plane of life with and that is our innate divinity – the essence of who we truly are.
‘Do you see life as something that is truly glorious, amazing, incredible and full of magic; a life that you would want to come back and live time and time again?’ This line always stops me on reading it, where I give myself the space to feel this question…and with somewhat disappointment know that I cannot feel a resounding yes.
“Do you see life as something that is truly glorious, amazing, incredible and full of magic; a life that you would want to come back and live time and time again?” This question can really sum up where we are each at in our relationship to life. I don’t currently see life this way, so that has given me a great opportunity to look at why not and what beliefs are in the way, thank you Nicole.
Reading this blog today “is a beautiful reminder of how life could be if I continued to choose me, to choose love.”
So when we are faced with challenges or complication of any sort, keep it simple and choose love.
The blog is a beautiful reminder that how we live, and the choices we make, can literally change our lives, ‘Now after many years working on my own self-appreciation, learning to love and accept myself, I can now truly appreciate life and all that comes with it, thorns and all.’
“to choose love” is to choose to feel the magic of love that is all around and within us.
“Observing how with the simplest of choices life began to shift, the complication became less, and the magic of God began to take over: with every thorn came a rose, and after a while the roses overtook the thorns, a beautiful reminder of how life could be if I continued to choose me, to choose love.” Beautifully put Nicole the more we listen to and feel the magic of God the more we realise how much there is in our lives.
Choosing simplicity over complication, ‘A life that now has a flow and a consistency where the complication still presents itself, only now I am able to observe it, deal with what gets presented and move onto what is next.’
For me today the most joyous moments were driving and turning a corner to be greeted by thousands of sunflowers dancing in the breeze and later when a little girl, just one years young that day, took me by the hands and toddled towards me and as I stepped back she stepped forward with such sparkly blue eyes and just kept walking towards me full of joy, playfullness that the same rose up in me to greet her.
Very beautiful, and magical Elaine.
Once we truly start to heal we can connect with, and feel that there really is grace and beauty in the interconnectedness of all things
I woke up this morning and after a while started to think about the new job I was doing today and whether I would go well doing it or not. I was concerned that I wouldn’t do so well and it was starting to cloud my thoughts. When I read this line ‘Then to look forward to putting yourself to bed so you can get up and do it all again tomorrow,’ I realised I wasn’t seeing the bigger picture and magic of my whole day just the thorns that may come up amongst the roses. To consider that I would be living a whole day not looking at just the thorns that may get in my way but lovingly putting myself to bed tonight so I could get up and do it all again was a very deep consideration. A beautiful blog Nicole reminding me to appreciate everything that is on offer everyday, the absolute magic there is in life and to appreciate myself as I move throughout the day and how I respond to it.
When I read this line ‘Then to look forward to putting yourself to bed so you can get up and do it all again tomorrow,’ I realised a lot of the way I live is focussed on the thorns that crop up in my day and not in appreciation of everything that is simply beautiful that comes in my every day such as the natural beauty, the smile on a person’s face, the simple things like the beauty of a rose. To look at getting up to do it all again was a very deep consideration in how I live a whole day. A beautiful blog Nicole reminding me to appreciate everything that is on offer everyday and how I live my day.
An ode to appreciation and how choices we make can compound either our loveliness or it’s opposite and the thing is in each moment we have another choice.
We can appreciate more, and so build our appreciation muscle, ‘Knowing there will always be thorns but also that there is so much more… by appreciating me and everything around me, the beauty began to outweigh the darkness I had once felt and lived with.’
I woke up this morning to the birds singing to greet the day that was coming, the sun wasn’t up but they knew it wasn’t far off. To me there is nothing more magical than to listen to birds singing first thing in the morning the sheer exuberance of their song is so uplifting.
I agree Mary, the stillness of the morning and the beauty of birds singing signalling a new day, it feels very magical.
I agree, the magic of life is not just what we can see with our eyes…
I love listening to the birds sing, they always have so much joy.
There are so many moments full of space and connection that are there , around and within us, that can remind us of the magic that is there always.
“Each moment you have a choice to choose you, to make choices that lovingly support you” – I agree, getting to know and rekindling the connection with the truth of what we are builds confidence and trust that supports us move through life in whatever ways it gets presented.
Every day we have the opportunity to choose what do we make life about: a small thing closed in itself, or feeling that we are part of the all.
Life is truly magical… The more appreciation there is for life the beauty and magic reveals itself.
To live as you describe is not a pipe-dream. It is a reality that can be lived and it is one that I am embracing more and more each day and it is glorious.
When we invite complication into our lives it is like we allow a great big spider web to be woven all around and through us, its stickiness attaching to everything, making it so hard to separate what is true in our lives from what is not. And trapped in this web we begin to not only lose ourselves but also the magic that is life. To begin to say no to complication and yes to simplicity the web no longer has anything to attach itself to so life begins to sparkle once again.
I love the image you give here, Ingrid, it conveys so clearly, and simply, the complicated life that is created by complication.
I am choosing to say no to complication when it tries to enter my life, and yes to simplicity, ‘In the past the complication used to absorb me; it would consume my day at times, even making it difficult to sleep, playing on my conscience for as long as I would allow it to.’
There’s such a shift of focus when we live from love and appreciation; life does become magical again, just as it was when we were children.
The more we open ourselves up to love, appreciation, and magic, the more we have in our lives.
I love what you have shared here Nicole, life is truly magical if we open ourselves up to this truth, if you always focus on the thorns you will be blinded when the roses appear.
Gorgeous to read Nicole how life can be lived when we come from love and appreciation of our divine qualities and way of living, the magic and joy of life can then be appreciated.
In every situation in life we can appreciates its beauty or we can focus on the thorns of life and let them spike us.
Life is so magical! I clock now if it is a thought that is lesser than who I am i.e. straight out abuse. If it’s not tender, absolute delicateness and love I know my movements need to slow back to that heavenly all body movement of my heavenly touch.
And the more we appreciate life the more the magic reveals itself.
No matter what is going on in our present life there is always the opportunity for the grace and magic of learning to help us accept and understand what is going on.
It is not just changing our perspective on life but as you share here Nicole when we start living with more care and love this will deepen and then the beauty can but be seen and with every step more.
When we absorb what is around us we can get caught up in the thorns but when we observe all that is around us we are aware of the thorns as well as the beauty of the roses and move through our day with purpose to share the roses with those around us.
There is no doubt that the soul is beautiful and that it comes from even greater beauty, so I appreciate the reminder if I’m not feeling that then I may have stopped observing and got caught up in the mess that is life at times.
Thank you Nicole for a beautiful reminder of the love that is on offer all around us and within us, that life need not be a struggle when we claim this love which only deepens the more we appreciate the magic of God that is present.
‘Knowing that in each moment you have a choice to choose you, to make choices that lovingly support you to appreciate life.’ Thank you for this loving reminder to appreciate ourselves and see the Magic of God that is always on offer and which I am increasingly choosing as the thorns get correspondingly more insignificant.
Thank you Nicole. I have been wondering why things are as they are in a certain relationship and it is very simple I am being too serious and therefore too heavy and not letting the spontaneity live. Ironically this is exactly what the other person needs too.
Thank you Nicole for a beautiful blog, and the appreciation you have of the amazingness that life has on offer, learning to see the beauty in the roses and allowing the thorns to just be.
‘After a while the roses took over the thorns’, life feels so much fuller when the roses start to take over the thorns.
The times that I have chosen to focus on the ‘thorns’ of life, what I feel is unjust, cruel, corrupt, harsh, etc. in a reaction to those things without simply calling them out as an observer, I have begun to then only see the ‘thorns’ as if the ‘roses’ were not even there.
This is great Nichole, as I have never thought about life in such a way “to appreciate the full bloom from start to end,” and may I add that the thorns have there place as well. Thorns are some of my greatest lessons in life for with-out that little prick we remain asleep and disconnected.
Powerful meaning that life is simple and this is for us to come back. Now or tomorrow, we are love and love is simple, so should our way of living to be too.
A great reminder to always connect with the glory within us. As it is always there, it is just a matter of connecting with it.
I have found too that the more we bring appreciation into our lives the more our attention goes onto the beauty that is naturally there, ‘This beautiful quality that has taken me a long time to connect to, is one that I now choose for myself as a way of life.’
There is so much for us to appreciate, beginning with who we actually are in essence and the love we are constantly held, as is reflected though the magic of nature, reminding us all of the our own magical and innately divine nature. As from this point of appreciation, the power of who we are can be naturally lived through whatever we do in the world.
That life is not meant to be hard … now this is something so many of us in the world do not live, I know I didn’t for a long time until slowly and surely I allowed myself to take greater care and in doing so I noticed more of the beauty including in me. And that has changed everything.