Last year I shared a link to a web page with a very good childhood friend of mine. That web page was full of Before and After photos of students of The Way of The Livingness. These photos show how we were before we met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, and how we are now. They included a joyful ‘After’ photo of my husband and myself and a ‘Before’ photo of us eating ice cream sundaes and looking about 20 kilos heavier, a lot darker and with puffy glazed eyes… and it does not just stop there. In the Before photo I was 46 and in the After photo I was 57.
I am now 59 and looking and feeling younger, fitter and even more gorgeous and joyful and I can feel there is no end!
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There are tons of ‘Before and After’ photos of students of The Way of The Livingness that are quite jaw-droppingly remarkable. The first thing I always notice is the change in the eyes. There is such a joy, light, openness and presence in the After photos compared to the Before ones. In my own Before photo I remember we were on holiday when I was eating that ice cream and I would have thought I was having a great time, but looking at it now, a large part of me was not there at all and I looked really bloated.
There are other very obvious physical differences in many of the photos including some huge examples of weight loss, some scary, hairy men turning into beautiful tender men, some scary, hard women turning into beautiful delicate women and generally people looking much younger, healthy and radiant in the After photos when in fact they are years older.
These are what you might call miraculous transformations of hundreds of people going against the trend we generally see in society. People who have found a true and simple way to live where they not only transform their health and vitality, thereby saving the bankrupt health systems of their countries a fortune, but are also living productive and exemplary lives, engaged in their communities and dedicated to giving back.
A few weeks after I had shared the link to the photo with my friend, I was speaking to her on the phone and she seemed much more distant than normal and a bit angry with me. I asked her if she had enjoyed the photos?
She said “no, not really – I felt you were all gloating.”
It has been quite a revelation for me over the last few years to discover just how furiously people can at times react to my joy.
I realised in hindsight that as a child I was naturally joyful and was always being told off; people found me very annoying. As time went by when everyone kept reacting to me and people didn’t seem to like me, I came to believe there was something wrong with me. It did not occur to me that there was something wrong with everyone else.
So I stopped expressing, stopped being joyful, stopped trusting myself and comfortably joined in with others in being miserable but very functional and pretending I was not as miserable as I was. I became a lot more popular.
All that changed in 2004 when I met Serge Benhayon, a man who does not hold back in living and expressing the pure Love, Joy and Truth that he is (and that we all are at essence).
That meeting re-ignited in me a true connection to myself and through that, to life and all others. It started the return from my After back to my Before… ha ha, as I write this I just realised that really we have the Before and After photos the wrong way around. The graceful transformation that is reflected in these photos is showing a journey of us RETURNING, so really the After photos are us getting closer to who we truly are and were Before we took on all that is not the truth of who we are!
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However, what prompted me to write this was not about the process of return, which is indeed a whole glorious book of its own, but about the reaction of others to those who choose to return and make truly loving choices.
It seems that when we start to reconnect to and express who we truly are at essence, it can have quite a dramatic effect on others. Some are inspired and it can ignite a process of healing and transformation in them, as happened with me when I met Serge Benhayon. Others can be enraged.
The expression of love is first and foremost energetic, so whilst the photos show a transformation, it is even felt in a dark room with the lights turned out. We are all very sensitive to the vibration of others whether we are aware of it or not.
It can be very confronting to be faced with love (which is an energy) because it exposes all that is not of love (i.e. not of that same energetic quality). This can bring up in us many hurts that we may or may not be ready or willing to deal with. It can also hurt our pride and show us that we are not as truly loving, clever or nice as we like to think we are.
It can also bring up a jealous reaction. Jealousy is very harmful to everyone: the one expressing it, the one receiving it and in fact all of us as it is a direct attack on our very essence – and to add to that, these attacks come from our friends and family, for that is who we all are to each other. Jealousy is well explained at Unimedpedia and in the quote below:
“JEALOUSY is nothing more than self-fury. It is a personal attack on yourself for not doing what you knew had to be done, which is then vented outward to those who are doing what there is to be done.” Serge Benhayon, Esoteric Teachings & Revelations, p 123
Often people are not even aware that they are reacting or allowing jealousy to come through them. For those who are not aware of their sensitivity to energy, the reaction may not even be discernible, whilst for those who are more aware it can feel like a full-frontal assault.
There are others who become so enraged and incensed by the reflection of love that they will go to extreme lengths to distort or destroy the reflection. They might close their eyes and scream at the mirror, spit, rant or throw excrement at it, deny or pretend it is not there or as we have seen throughout history, try to destroy the mirror by burning it, locking it up, putting it under house arrest, stoning it, raping it, crucifying it or in recent times embarking on campaigns of cyber-abuse, cult calling and vilification.
However, you cannot kill love or joy – it is eternal, always there and who we are!
By Nicola Lessing, Aged 59, Goonellabah
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Nicola Lessing shares that she only has one job ~ it is a 24/7 job, a lot of fun and one that she plans to never retire from. Her job is to be, live and express the love that she is in everything she does!
As the General Manager and Director of both Travelbay (www.travelbay.com) and In Your Interest Financial Planning (www.inyourinterest.com.au), leader of two voluntary international teams working on Unimed Living, a Justice of the Peace, an active member of the local community and married to the gorgeous Christoph Schnelle she has plenty of opportunity to put this into practice. |
Related Reading:
Everyday People in Livingness
Before and After My Self Love Program – Forever Unfolding the Real Me
International Day of Happiness – March 20th 2015 (The Difference between Happiness and Joy)
The Evil Effect of Jealousy
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
“However, you cannot kill love or joy – it is eternal, always there and who we are!” Knowing the essence of who you are shines the light through your eyes to the Soul.
I had an interesting conversation recently where I was explaining something to someone and my joy at the connection and realisation I had come to felt amazing and the response was that I shouldn’t get ahead of myself and to calm down because life couldn’t be that simple. And in that moment I realised this was the stance my family took, and that it was through jealousy because I was tapping into something they couldn’t feel but knew it was there because it was obviously within me. But because they couldn’t or didn’t have the same access wanted to belittle the experience and try to make is less than the magnificence it was and is. As an adult I can make a different choice to honour what I felt and just be in love with the deeper understanding I have of life and have always had of life.
It’s a key point about the change in your eyes Nicola, as there are many before and after photo’s and they usually focus on outward characteristics like weight loss, or a make over, but nothing truly changes until we return to the beautiful essence of who we are, which is often seen and felt very clearly in babies. As you say, it’s the joy and the love, the light within that begins radiating out again. I used to focus on my weight a lot and had ups and downs dependent on how I looked, now that I live from my essence I take care of myself for a different reason, because I love myself and want to care for my body, and because being connected to my essence is an unlimited joy. Achieving a body image/body weight ideal is so empty compared to the joy of being me.
Yes, the love and joy are radiating out of the after photos in this blog, ‘There is such a joy, light, openness and presence in the After photos compared to the Before ones.’
This is very true Nicola
‘However, you cannot kill love or joy – it is eternal, always there and who we are!’
And to go deeper you cannot walk away from love, we think we do because as you say
‘There are others who become so enraged and incensed by the reflection of love that they will go to extreme lengths to distort or destroy the reflection.”
At some point in our lives we reach that understanding that there is nowhere to go, nowhere to hide we are impulsed to turn around and retrace our steps back to the universe, back to God. We will all reach this understanding some before others, but it is a law that is irrefutable.
Nicola the first impression of the photo of you in the hot pink, feels as though you have been arrested and being sentenced to prison. And you probably felt as though you were in prison, restricted and contracted for not being able to be you. The after photo shows the joy and vibrancy, you look and feel amazing. Far as I’m concerned you continue being what you are, reflecting this to the other men and women, whether of your age or not, is going to aggravate one person or another and let it be.
I would want to know what is that woman doing that I am not, and unfortunately for many, jealousy is the poison that pollutes and prevents us wanting to know and learn more from that person. It is the king of poisons that often interferes our growth, if we allow it to be…
I did not feel that I had been arrested and sentenced to prison and I did not experience myself as contracted at that time. I am not saying any of these things are not true but it feels somewhat judgemental about how many people on this thread go on about how awful I looked etc. Yes compared to where I am now it is easy to say that, but this is what my reality was then as it is for many people and I was still me inside even if bloated!
Great sharing Nicola, and adding to what you bring to all of us is the way you appreciate your divine connection, that bubbling Love you exude from every aspect of your life.
“everyone kept reacting to me and people didn’t seem to like me, I came to believe there was something wrong with me. It did not occur to me that there was something wrong with everyone else.” I feel like I’m still working through this, as there can be such a sense of disapproval and subtle form of bullying that goes on to get people (and children) to not be loving, joyful and brightly shining in how amazing they feel. I really enjoyed your straightforward and direct way of expressing, it’s very clear. Thank you Nicola, it’s an important conversation to have.
I agree too Melinda, we always make it about ourselves, that something is wrong with us, when in truth it is the other way round. We need to remind ourselves that people will react when we bring a quality within us out, they are reacting because they are not bringing that quality within themselves out, simple.
The eyes say it all ✨ … and smiles 🤗
Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon has certainly played a large part in inspiring many people to change their lives and to live fuller, healthier and much more connected lives: “These are what you might call miraculous transformations of hundreds of people going against the trend we generally see in society. People who have found a true and simple way to live where they not only transform their health and vitality, thereby saving the bankrupt health systems of their countries a fortune, but are also living productive and exemplary lives, engaged in their communities and dedicated to giving back.”
Nicola I can really relate to your childhood as I experienced the same reaction from my family too.
As children I guess we naturally assume there is something wrong with us rather than something wrong with family and society. So we shut down our natural exuberance and that puts us on the path of withdrawal from life and it is so insidious that in my case I didn’t realise this is what I had done to myself. I became effectively a zombie sleep walking through life. Meeting Serge Benhayon and listening to his practical advice was the day I started to allow myself the possibility that life didn’t have to be lived in isolation from the rest of the world.
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“As time went by when everyone kept reacting to me and people didn’t seem to like me, I came to believe there was something wrong with me. It did not occur to me that there was something wrong with everyone else.” I am still examining life from this different perspective after taking on others abuse or reactions for years, I’m beginning to allow myself to see the truth based on how I feel within myself, and that if the disturbance is outside of me I can leave it there and keep enjoying being me.
Nicola – these pictures sure do show so clearly how much lighter, joyful and vital you are today compared to many years ago! And to think that in our society we think that it ‘should’ be the other way around ie as you age you get more worn out and less vital…Thank you for showing that our lives can be filled with the beauty that lies within and that this only gets better with time when we allow it all out.
These pictures, in the blog, capture beautifully the changes you have brought into your daily life, and how you now choose to live.
It has been a blessing to know Serge Benhayon, an example and guide to living joyfully and not being affected by others who get bent out of shape and jealous.
Nicola you are one sassy, spunky, amazing and very inspiring woman!
…… how blessed are we/everyone to be able to see what true JOY looks like, feels like and sounds like. As, one day they may feel brave enough to venture past their hurts and choices to reach within for that ‘JOY’ that equally lies within them.
Nicole the light shining from your eyes now is a joy to behold.
What a beautiful transformation Nicola – I think anyone who looks brighter, younger, more vital and more beautiful as they get OLDER is going to make other people react – essentially you are taking the opposite trend to the rest of the world – and I think it’s amazing.
Thank you Meg – feels amazing 🙂
and mega massive thanks to Serge Benhayon for showing me the way by his living example and now 2 years later I am even more amazing than when I wrote this!
“There are others who become so enraged and incensed by the reflection of love that they will go to extreme lengths to distort or destroy the reflection.” Love when lived in every move is indestructible, it just keeps expanding.
Love the second photo, very you, although there is even more you now… brimming over with joy.
Thank you, yes it is true I should update the photo for now at 61 there is even more…. seems there is no limit to the love and joy on offer to all of us 🙂 🙂 🙂
Our beauty shines through our eyes but also there is a delicateness in your posture in the after photo that is very powerful to feel, you are a living proof of ‘…you cannot kill love or joy – it is eternal, always there and who we are!’