698 thoughts on “Breakdown or Breakthrough?”

1. Having had what is termed medically as a nervous breakdown I can say from experience that if we do not address and completely renounce what led to the breakdown in the first place then our bodies will present it in another way. I had two mental breakdowns, followed by years of psychotherapy but it wasn’t until I met Serge Benhayon and attended his workshops especially Universal Medicine Healing level Two which is all about childhood imprints that I really started to clear the negative energy from my body and to absolutely know that I would not have another mental illness because I had cleared that energy from my body for once and for all.

2. Alison there is a huge concern about anyone suiciding but, you have highlighted an interesting point as to why there has been an increase in suicide rates in men in general, which is a concern around the world.

   During a recent incident at work I observed a father yell to his son, ‘why are you crying, you are a boy and boys don’t cry’, it was very disturbing to hear. A man once led to believe by others and this is passed onto the generations below.

   Men are just as sensitive to their feelings as women, and emotions are not gender related. What differs us is the organs between our legs and that is it. We need to see more men being sensitive and I have observed one man in particular show his emotions from time to time with people around him. A beautiful reflection for others to feel but also give permission that it is ok to cry and show your emotions and not necessarily anger ones too, which are just a mask of buried sadness anyway.

3. Understanding cause and effect brings an honesty to how we live.

   1. Most people understand ‘cause and effect’ in chemicals, or something structural but not many like to look at this within the human body, especially the emotions which once buried can erupt one day like a volcano, in whatever format that maybe. It is time to get honest with ourselves and with others. How we live has a massive effect on ourselves and everyone around us.

4. True intimacy is our ability to let people in so opening our hearts / inner-hearts to being transparent in all we do is like a revolving door energy flows in and out without any blockages, thus no illusion about dis-ease.

   1. Allowing ourselves to be vulnerable and transparent, ‘could this lack of expression actually be holding us in a prison of suffering, when being vulnerable could be the key to emotional freedom?’

5. I feel from my own experience that we hang on to emotions as part of who we are or as a form of identification because if we were to let go of them then who are we?

6. Things break down because they weren’t solid enough to stand through anyway, so why would somebody want to keep hanging onto something which can’t withstand what’s in front of it?

7. We certainly do not need to have our glasses smashed or our whole world turned upside down to know the truth, we already know it – every single one of us, but what we need to break is the arrogance running through our body which paints the picture of what our world is.

8. ‘Learning to cope, to be resilient and ‘keep it all together,’ are skills we’re taught to develop as children, with boys in particular feeling the pressure to ‘toughen up’ and ‘soldier on.’ Whilst we champion pushing through adversity, this actually does nothing to nurture or honour our true inner feelings or respect our sensitivity. When we negate these things, we set ourselves up for ill mental and physical health, a trouncing in our relationships and a flat, hard and loveless society.

9. Cycles are what offer us a healing and growth, time and time again. When we say no to the healing we go back to our old ways until such time that the opportunity is offered again and again and we get as many attempts as we like to heal and then expand and move onto the next cycle to consolidate and deepen what we have just embraced so that the next cycle can be presented.

   1. So what you are presenting Henrietta is that there is no fail we just keep going around in the cycles until we heal the hurt that stopped our natural expansion we expand as the universe expands.

10. Sadness we feel is often a letting go of the old so that we can embrace the new and true. The sadness in this case of embracing the True, is often confused as missing the old, when in fact it is expansion into the “new” and the feeling of re-bonding with a dear old friend which is in fact not the “new” we thought it was but a return to a grander way of being within. The re-connection with this grandness can bring the sadness of having missed what we have always known and have finally re-found.

    1. Henrietta Chang, I agree with you there is a sadness of having missed what we have always known and have finally re-found. This is when we need to bring understanding and deep caring to ourselves. That God doesn’t judge and un known to us was walking by our side always.

11. When something is not true or does not serve a purpose any more then it is best for this to be exposed that it has come to an end, and so it might break or wear out or simply be time for it to be thrown out so that things can be begun afresh. However, there are times when we hold onto the old for fear of stepping into the new and this too needs to be understood deeper and then eventually let go of for a true way forwards.

    1. It is important to express or nominate what we are feeling, to feel this and to then let it go, ‘The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development.’

12. What hurts is the choices we’ve made against our true essence and way of being. Take responsibility for that and it no longer becomes an issue.

13. ‘In light of this revelation, could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?’ A whole new perspective on life that may just support us to get to the truth of the protection we live in.

14. I definitely agree with you Alison that the letting go is the healing and as we let go so the healing can take place. I feel its the letting go of the right to feel hurt by other people. Is it possible that we get hurt because we have not read the energy passing through them. Is it possible that humanity gave up reading energy in order to live a more comfortable life? After all if we stop reading energy and everyone can do this we don’t have to take responsibility to bring the truth to everything we do. It’s obviously much easier to dull ourselves down and stop reading because that is what we have done.

15. Sometimes, in order to see where we truly are we have to have our glasses smashed. So when we are going through something that may seem like it is the worst thing in the world, it can actually (and in most cases is) the best thing in the world because it evolves us, it gives us a different perspective and we can grow from it.

    1. Well said Victoria – for when we are too caught up in wanting things to be a certain way, it locks our vision and then the only thing that can shift it is when the glasses break or are broken for us, finally allowing us to see the truth again.

16. Yes, it is a very sensible approach and clearly one that is needed, to be more openly vulnerable and allowing of our and others feelings, and not let our bodies become like emotional pressure cookers. Not letting ourselves or others express is really another way of saying it’s not ok to be ourselves.

    1. Allowing ourselves to feel what we are feeling, ‘We tend to think we can just brush them aside and move on, but these feelings like frustration, anger, grief and sadness have to go somewhere, and that somewhere is in the deeper layers of our body where they are held until such point that the tension becomes too great.’

17. Alison this is brilliant we really do need to start to look at the excess baggage we carry around with us so this is a great conversation to be having because no one seems to want to understand that everything is energy first and I quite understand this as it has taken me a long time to accept this myself. But having accepted this truth it is so easy to then see through the games we all play with one another and I can then choose not to get caught up in it all.

18. I have noticed a pattern over the years whereby there’s the build-up, the avoiding of the hurt/s because I assume and think that they are too big to handle. Then the explosion, lots of pain from holding hurt/s inside and not dealing with them. Then there’s a part where I may literally or figuratively be laying in a crumpled heap on the floor. But after that, I stand up, brush myself off and feel so much lighter after all of that.

    Or, more recurring now, is feeling what I feel and not dismissing or hiding away from it. It clears then I am left feeling lighter and with more understanding of the situation.

19. Resilience seems to be a key word I am hearing a lot more lately in that it is a good thing, but if we are making ourselves resilient are we ignoring what we truly feel or what is going on? Just putting that out there.

20. We constantly need another peak after the peak we have conquered, that’s why our sugar cravings are becoming stronger and stronger, that’s why the amount of food we consume is never enough and we want seconds, thirds and so on. We push ourselves, look for happiness on the outside and then wonder why things are the way they are.

21. “Learning to cope, to be resilient and ‘keep it all together,” are the damaging ingredients to living a life where we bury how we truly feel, and so end up living a life that is nowhere the quality that we could be living. The ‘keep it altogether’ encouragement locks within us what is waiting to break free from us, and from that breakthrough can come the healing that is being asked for

    1. Burying what we are feeling has many consequences, ‘Like a dead weight around our ankles we drag our unresolved hurts into every situation, reacting not to what’s right in front of us but to everything that has been thus far – all the moments we’ve felt abused, abandoned, neglected, invisible and unsupported.’

22. Spending a lifetime not expressing ourselves and then internalising everything that is said or done to us, is it any wonder we get to the point where the body needs to lighten the load. Getting ill does not happen by accident, it’s a response to the way we live.

    1. Pearls of wisdom Julie – our body is in constant communication with us – but how much do we heed this and then change the way we live and allow more love to be expressed?

    2. The body clearing what does not truly belong, ‘In light of this revelation, could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new’.

23. Yes “The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development.” But I can understand how unsafe it feels for many to let go when the world is constantly bombarding with messages that encourage you to put the lid on and pretend all is okay. The best gift and support we can always offer one another is the love, understanding and space for the person to let go and explore for themselves what this feels like and how it translates in expression.

24. ‘The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development.’ So, true Alison and we often don’t realise how much we hold on to stuff until we surrender and let go because the tension we carry reduces our awareness.

25. When we do not resolve our hurts and just keep going we build up internal pressure and like a pressure-cooker if we do not release the pressure we eventually explode. However, if we do not resolve the cause for the hurt the release is only a relief, not a resolution, and the pressure builds again and again and …..

    1. Is it possible that addictive behaviours are born from seeking relief from the pressure cooker of life. we use anything from alcohol to the more extreme forms of seeking relief such as taking drugs, cutting, extreme sports all to seek the temporary relief of the internal agony of not being connected to our soul. The eternal unrest will eventually be so in our face that nothing we do will alleviate the tension and then we will have to face and deal with the separation to our soul.

26. So true Doug; sometimes we have to go right to the foundation of how we have lived and be open to dismantling it, and beginning all over again. For if we try to fix it, or as you say “tinker with it” we are only putting off the inevitable and if we do, eventually the choice may be made for us.

27. If we have lived our lives surrounded by layers of protection from our perceived hurts, it makes sense that at some stage there has to be a ‘breakdown’ of these self-imposed walls. From this breaking down we are offered the opportunity to ‘break through’ all that has had us building these walls, so that we may finally live our true life, not one where we live so much lesser than the one we are naturally born to live.

    1. If we didn’t have that limit by which we eventually hit and breakdown from the world would be much worse off if we were allowed to continue to build our defenses without repercussions.

    2. Letting go of these layers of protection is a must if we choose to truly love and be transparent, ‘The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.’

28. Sometimes we may not be aware that we are holding onto emotions, like sadness, anger, frustration etc. until we allow ourselves to feel them in our body. For example, one morning I woke up feeling like my chest was compressed, my body felt heavy and a yucky feeling in my body I couldn’t shake off or ignore. I didn’t know why I was feeling this huge tension and I was going to sit down to start work but felt I couldn’t even concentrate. So I laid down and allowed myself to fully feel what was coming up, and immediately my body released a huge package of sadness. If I had pushed through and kept working, I would have buried this feeling further into our body due to ignoring it. Now, I understand how important it is to allow ourselves to feel what is coming up and surrender to what we feel and our body will naturally clear/heal when we are ready to let go.

29. To me our downfall starts as children because we are not encouraged to express how we feel but instead we are actively encouraged to suppress feelings and we then put into the strait jacket of societal life. But those feelings that have been suppressed do not just vanish into thin air they cannot as they are energy and if too much of this is stored in the body rather than just passing through it we get sick. It’s quite a simple process that we have complicated. So is it possible that if we were to deal with the stuck energy this would reduce our health problems substantially?

    1. I totally agree Mary, that ‘our downfall starts as children’ where we are conditioned to conform to a certain societally accepted way of living, a way that definitely doesn’t serve us or anyone else. Those straitjackets sadly come in very small sizes and can get very heavy indeed if what they are being used to hold back, is not identified and healed.

       1. Ingrid a member of the family is going to have a child in a few months time, the parents to be were offered a 3D scan and video and all that saw the video of the baby were reduced to tears because they could feel the delicateness, love and the purity of the boy yet to be born. My question to the family is, then how is it possible that having been reduced to tears by the sheer purity of the baby boy yet to be born, how is it possible that we then seemingly forgot their preciousness within a very short space of time, so that the delicateness, love and purity is quashed by the society we live in? This ability to squash such beauty in children has to be a pandemic, because so few of us grow up with our delicateness and purity intact. Why do we do this to ourselves generation after generation?

30. We all carry our past hurts with us wherever we go and they colour our perspective of life, and I agree that actually we can never truly embrace life and all that it offers when we have such a distorted view of it.

    1. Absolutely Mary, this makes sense of why we react to life instead of responding to life when we carry hurts. Our hurts triggers reactions and our reactions then hurt people around us. So, if we all carry our hurts, we will just keep feeding this cycle of hurts and more hurts.

       1. It is key to heal and let go of our hurts if we wish to respond to life.

31. Regardless of how clearly we live our bodies will always accumulate stuff whether it be our own choices or group karma and illness and disease is always a clearing. However, that clearing can be due to us listening to and working with our bodies or not listening to our bodies and being somewhat made to listen. There is quite a difference in each case and it is helpful to discern which it is.

    1. In certain circumstances if we did not ignore or abuse our body and build up the mess in the first place we would not need the clearing – it is really lovely to develop a relationship with our body where it does not have to shout for us to listen!

    2. Thanks, Nicola for explaining this so clearly. Understanding this supports us to look at illness and disease in a very different light.

32. Thank you for this explanation and I very much agree a breakdown allows us to clear things we have been accumulating and carrying along and when we accept this wash of clarity as a support and do not shame ourselves we can move on free of this package, instead of when we hold on we drag ourselves back into old habits.

33. When we use a breakdown sensibly we have to conclude that our free will is at times not as free as we thought and then come to the understanding that we have to surrender instead to the stillness within instead of using willpower to truly break through.

34. We have to dig to the roots of all the ill that we live with, not only in our bodies but also in our societies. As when we neglect to do this we only give solutions to the issues at the surface but underneath they will fester deeper in our system and cause all kinds of disabilities in our movements that at intervals will erupt to the surface in a disease or extreme violent act.

35. Sometimes in life things may have to break down in order for them to be re-built. Our pictures have to be smashed (strong word, I know) for us to see through again. Not always, but sometimes the low moments are actually as a result of us getting a deeper understanding and making a steadier step in life – like you say sometimes a breakdown may actually be a breakthrough. We just have to remain open and keep going regardless of the situation.

    1. it is about embracing life in full, no matter what comes to you and to just see each situation as an opportunity to learn and find more of who you truly are.

36. ‘The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.’ Yes, no matter how vulnerable or fragile we may feel at times.

    1. This is a great part to highlight and it is a great reminder for me because I can sometimes go into protection with certain situations/people and not allow myself to be vulnerable or fragile. It’s a work in progress to let go of the many protective layers I’ve constructed.

37. When something happens to me I can look at as that’s “Terrible”, or I can look at it as “Why did it happen?”. The first way, I have judged it, which makes it difficult to look at what happened, objectively.
    The second way I have a much better chance of learning from the experience.
    Everything happens for a reason, when I can look at things like that, it supports me to hear the message that is being presented.

    1. Yes we are responsible for everything that happens to us – it does not just happen. Knowing and living like this is very empowering and makes way for greater understanding.

       1. And for greater responsibility.

    2. Brilliant Ken, I like the second approach because it supports us to learn and grow. Any form of judgement will cap our opportunity to evolve.

38. ‘… or better said, freedom from our emotions’ – My experience of life has been to keep a lid on what I was feeling and when I haven’t I have been undermined and ridiculed for allowing my fragility and hurt to be observed by others. Yet to live as you have expressed here Alison is so simple and once we expose the old beliefs that have imprisoned us, the response from the body is immediate and can be clearly felt.

    1. I’m still learning at the tender age of 65 years not to put a lid on what I’m feeling but to express how I’m feeling. I learnt from a very young age that adults did not appreciate a young child speaking out and exposing so called ‘family’ life. So I learnt to keep my feelings to myself, so that if there was a disagreement I would go into silent running and pretend that everything was fine when clearly it wasn’t. We definitely carry our hurts around with us so that as has been said we react, ‘not to what’s right in front of us but to everything that has been thus far’.

39. When something breaks down we do have the opportunity to be honest about what may have lead to that situation and this can be a pivotal time of healing and breaking-through, although it needn’t be an either or situation.

40. It takes so much energy to keep protection in place… One of the greatest revelations is to feel how much energy is consumed, and when released, to feel the extraordinary sense of spaciousness and energetic freedom.

    1. Absolutely, transparency is naturally spacious.

41. Recently, on my way to work on the busy street, I saw a man on a bicycle, full of anger, yelling as he whizzed passed a crowd of people. It was very interesting how everyone just carried on their ways, totally ignoring the man. I was almost getting impressed by how everyone seemed to be observing and not absorbing, but no, it did not feel like that. Something felt devastatingly sad in all of that. I recognized the anger that man was enacting as I have done so myself, and seeing how that just repels people was one thing, and maybe I was in sympathy with that man, but I kept wondering whether that loneliness that man was in was just entirely for him to be responsible for. There was something that deeply disturbed me in that.

42. Absolutely – and because we don’t let go, we pile up unacknowledged, unexpressed feelings that get translated into some kind of emotion to create a pocket for itself to dense up what could otherwise be just an energy passing through. And it’s just amazing how the body can orchestrate a healing in a timing and manner that cannot be more apt.

43. Serge Benhayon has often presented on the power of healing hurts that we carry, after reading these alarming statistics on suicide one only has to feel how important and very needed true healing is for the body.

44. Sometimes we need to break down something in order to break through to a new level of awareness. On the other hand we could just accept what is there to be accepted and then no break down is needed.

    1. ..and this requires a level of honesty and willingness to accept the responsibility we have with what we choose and the outplay of those choices.

45. I’m learning to appreciate being sensitive to feeling my hurts over situations that could easily be brushed off as ‘nothing’. Stopping to feel what the ‘little’ thing is all about and I see it’s a keyhole into revealing many hurts of many lifetimes sometimes. If I ignore these small incidences and the universe has to offer you opportunities you are hard pushed to ignore.

    1. This is true Karin. Our everyday interactions are opportunities for the old held onto hurts to come up, better to pay attention sooner than later because we will get what is needed and not necessarily what we want.

46. Great blog that is so practical in its message: without opening up to ourselves – i.e. allowing ourselves to feel what we’re actually feeling, instead of putting a lid on it and pushing it down, we deny ourselves and others deeper connections and relationships and make-do with being on the surface of life – and then constantly looking to distract ourselves from that feeling of emptiness. When we start to feel and express that, life feels richer and deeper, and so do our relationships.

47. Learning to ‘keep it all together’ as a child gave me the ability to keep everything functioning but in a way that isn’t true for me or actually supporting anyone else. I have seen in people who have various aspects of their lives ‘fall apart’ such as health or work and just how much they grow and blossom from the experience. Living in comfort and security does not allow this to occur.

48. There is such an honesty available when we are vulnerable that can offer us the option to treat ourselves more gently, honouring our innate tenderness and sensitivity.

49. Life is very simple when we understand and start from the premise that we are already everything, we are in fact Gods behaving as un-gods!!! Therefore anything that is not of love or our Godly nature is not who we truly are and is something to become aware of, bring understanding to and renounce ie let go off.

    1. What I love feeling is that the simplicity of life is so clearly communicated to us through our body. We know innately what it feels like to live in rhythm with our body’s natural ways, and even though we might have temporarily moved away from it, our body is always calling us back.

50. The breaking down of old ideals and beliefs that are considered normal or true, can be challenging, but the breakthrough out of illusion is the re-establishing of a deep inner foundation to live from and well worth re-connecting to.

51. Bringing the Soul into the equation regarding illness and disease, brings a whole new understanding as to the nature of our choices throughout lifetimes awaiting to be exposed for healing to occur. If not dealt with, this ultimately leads to the Soul bringing in the package of illness and disease to support our return to love.
    “Enter illness and disease – the Soul’s way of clearing out our unresolved baggage”.

52. Taking the lid off our well hidden sensitivity is key to showing our amazingness and let that quality of energy flow through our body – enjoy this video by visiting Serge Benhayon TV https://sergebenhayon.tv/episodes/episode-14-the-gods-making-love
    “Rather than trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow”.

53. Sometimes we need to breakdown in order to breakthrough.

    1. It does appear that we have a predilection for choosing the hard way but it does not have to be that way!

54. Being honest about how it really feels when we live governed by our emotions is where we begin to see that we are the ones, at the end of the day, that have allowed our lives to be orchestrated in the way we experience it, through the quality of energy we are aligning to. As such we can feel then if we are living who we naturally are or not. The more honesty we are willing to live with the more the falseness becomes apparent, freeing us to be aware of the quality of our choices and respond with greater truth and knowing.

    1. So true Carola, accepting we choose the quality of our alignment and that we are powerful creators is key if we are to truly see clearly our potential.

55. If we are open and willing to heal our hurts, to be truthful, honest and transparent there is no need for a breakdown. Breakdowns are the result of the build up of the energy of suppressed emotions that can no longer be contained.

56. I think a ‘breakdown’ has the potential to literally assist with breaking down false ways of behaviour (ways that aren’t true to our essence) and with that help with getting back to more truly who one is. Not that everyone needs to have a full-on breakdown but also not to see it as a failure if that is what was needed, as it’s what we then do with it that counts…

57. A breakdown can be a pivotal moment to bring us back to who we are, as at that moment we have a choice to either seek comfort and or answers from outside ourselves, or to reconnect deeply and slowly rebuild our choices from how we feel within, learning what supports us and which choices do not.

58. “What can often seem daunting about this reality of energetic responsibility is actually the key to emotional freedom… or better said, freedom from our emotions.”

    I can vouch for this, since connecting to the fact the everything is energy and looking at the energetic quality of my life and then taking responsibility for that quality, I am less and less bound by my emotions. And man o man that feels pretty amazing and freeing.

59. Nature is breaking down at the moment. More than ever have we seen the extreme weather patterns in the last 20 years than at any other time in recorded history. This says a lot but it is crucial to not react to this and observe it for what it is; a clearing of the muck of lovelessness off this plane of life.

60. Break down is part of the process of moving forward. Yet, we can choose between breaking down layers that held us captive of a certain energetic configuration, or do nothing about the layers and allow the breaking down of the body because of the harm caused by the energetic configuration we are captive of.

61. The thing about break downs or enormously difficult periods we go through in our lives is that they ask us which direction we want to go in … will we turn inwards and resource from everything we have inside … or … will we continue to look outwards for all the answers we’re searching for?

62. It does feel amazing when we finally let go and express our hurts, all that energy spent in trying to cover it up then gets redirected into expressing more love.

63. The times that I allowed myself to deeply feel what hurt was arising in my body and not hold back what was coming up to heal, ended up feeling like I had removed a giant weight or other constructions from my body. This can look pretty messy from the outside, but is worth ‘going there’.

64. None of our illnesses happen out of the blue, they are the end result of a series of choices that can go back lifetimes. Our body keeps us honest, even if we are not willing to be as such.

    1. The fact that we are responsible for everything that happens is incredibly liberating and empowering.

65. Is a breakdown or a moment of things really getting to much a moment that we have deep within us the inner being say ok this isn’t working and now it is time to really feel and see everything that we have been creating for ourselves. Its a moment of choice to continue in the same way or to choose something different. Everything is a choice.

66. Yes we need to let out the tears when they are there but equally the love. What hurts many people the most is holding back their love and joy.

67. “If we each committed to this process of reflection and healing and took responsibility for our reactions rather than looking to others, our lives and our relationships would transform in every way.”

    Could you imagine our workplaces is we all made this commitment? The quality would be amazing and the outputs even more…. I know since I have committed to healing and taking responsibility for my reactions, that I bring a much more steadier less reactive human to the workplace.

    1. All of life would change radically if we adopted honesty and responsibility and committed to healing our hurts.

68. “What can appear like a cosmic dagger of attracting the same old situation time and time again is not a punishment from the universe but can be viewed as a helping hand to get us to look at what’s really going on so that we can resolve our hurts and make a different choice going forward”. The opportunity to let go of something we have carried as a burden for so long is a gift.

69. The freedom that comes with releasing old hurts and protection is deeply healing, holding onto our hurts creates all sorts of complication and misery in our lives and keeps us further away from love.

70. Our past hurts that lay unresolved haunt and compromise the quality of how we live our everyday in the present moment big time.

    1. That is if we hold onto them, but if we know who we are & live in the present the old things do not have to come and intervene. It’s kind of like saying that one person hurt us in a relationship so all other people may hurt us as well, not giving a chance to new people to love us, show us that we can trust them & be vulnerable. In that we are actually provoking them to hurt us because through the lack of trust we’re hurting them – a game that someone has to stop playing if we want to get out of it at some point.

71. We often don’t want to feel things because it can be painful and uncomfortable. In fact the way we behave says just this- ‘why would I want to feel that, it’s far too uncomfortable to feel’ But if we don’t feel things then we simply can’t let them go so we carry them until we get ill. Or we can choose to feel and live a life based on real healing where we clear the energy that we have buried in our bodies.

72. This has me pondering on the layers of protection I am still holding and how they are inhibiting me from being fully present and connecting from the depth of love that is possible.

73. And we support others to speak up by speaking up ourselves. I find it very interesting how I have not been one to speak up and have held back my expression due to shutting down yet feel very passionate about the importance of speaking up. The frustration I have felt in my body towards others has been palpable but that frustration was there because of my lack of love for self, to not choose to surrender and express that which was there to be expressed.

74. Thank you Alison, for it clearly shows us how often we make something look wrong, like a breakdown, whilst actually we are close to a breakthrough or already have accomplished it. As you say : ”breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.” There is no emotion included in that, only opening up for love and discarding what is not love.

75. Sometimes we have to get to breaking point before we are willing to deal what is there for us to deal with. This is never a negative thing.

76. One thing I am learning about the breakdowns or breakthroughs we may have is to learn to surrender and see them as a blessing. It’s so incredible that our bodies continually offer a clearing of energy that does not belong to our divine bodies. It’s something to appreciate.

77. Breakdowns are a stop moment and an opportunity to see that maybe there is another way to live.

78. True resilience is not a process of sucking it all up and putting a lid on it (a process that will inevitably lead to a breakdown), it is a process of allowing ourselves to become more vulnerable in the sense that we do not walk through life with armour on and a guard up, but simply allow ourselves to feel all there is to feel without sucking it all in and absorbing it. In this way, true observation paves the way for such resilience for when we observe and don’t absorb the world around us, we build a very solid foundation on which to stand and thus live life.

79. This made me smile reading it today because I had only recently realised that at least one situation I had been unhappy about in my last relationship has exactly recreated itself in my current relationship and, since the only factor in common is me, I had to take responsibility for clearing whatever the old hurt is. I am also learning to express what I feel as I feel it, not expecting anyone to change anything, but it just feels good in my body to express it immediately.

80. When the embedded hurts stay there long enough, people start to feel that they are their hurts… But as you say this is not true. We have to start, from a very early age, to allow people to express, to heal, and to as you say let go of the protection.

81. When I was a young boy my best friend was killed in an accident on a farm, and the only crying I did was in the bath alone where no-one could see or here me. Looking back I feel really sad for me as even at that young age I didn’t feel that it was ok just to express and cry as much as I needed to and be supported doing so. I even remember before the funeral being terrified that I would lose it and cry in front of everyone. No wonder the world is messed up.

    1. Yes, the world is messed up when a young boy does not feel safe enough to cry in front of anyone.

82. “…. could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean….” What an absolutely gorgeous, insightful and true description of illness.

83. If the extent of hurts that people carry for decades, if not a lifetime, was truly understood, perhaps as a society we would act to embrace the teachings of Universal Medicine. They are stellar at supporting someone to address past hurts in a simple and effective way.

84. Yes indeed… Our hurts are there, like someone commented recently, like a straitjacket that affects all our interactions and our relationships, the way we communicate, even the way we listen.

85. I never really thought about the fact that we take our accumulated hurts and experiences into every situation, so therefore not dealing with our hurts stops us from getting or having a clear view of what is really going on, a somewhat distorted picture of what could be a completely new direction.

86. It is no good pretending that we are not affected by something and then choose to bury our heads in the sand or in reality in our work. Ignoring how we are feeling doesn’t make it go away and on the flip side indulging in our emotions is not productive either but when there is something to be felt we must realise as what I am learning more and more the importance of feeling it no matter what the beliefs are I have taken on that try to get in the way.

87. ‘These emotions can feel like they are part of who we are, like being an angry or sad person, when in fact they are just an energy held in our bodies, the apparent difference between people only being how deeply embedded they’ve become.’ This is incredible, when one considers how people live by emotions, but it’s just a way of being they have taken on.

    1. Yes so true, we can get so identified by our illness (physical. mental or emotional) so that it is not just part of us, we are the illness.

88. This is a great question “could this lack of expression actually be holding us in a prison of suffering, when being vulnerable could be the key to emotional freedom?” When emotions are stored within us we often can repeatedly re-experience them adding to the distress and tension. Support is so vital to help truly nominate and let these emotions go through our expression.

89. ‘Like the calm after the storm clouds have passed, there is a deep settlement in the body when someone allows themselves to feel and let go, like a sigh of relief – “finally I don’t have to carry this anymore!”’ A new platform to appreciate, live and express from.

90. It’s so important to read deeper into why things happen and not jump to conclusions based on what is comfortable for us to accept at the time. As you’ve shared, a ‘breakdown’ or mistake could be an opportunity for shedding the old and making way for the new, but we could miss this completely if we don’t consider the bigger picture.

91. When we are free from our emotions we are free to live the impulse of our Soul. What you have shared highlights so profoundly how vital our relationship with our body is. For our body is an incredible divining vessel that will always indicate the vibration we are aligning to as such allowing to move us, through which our every choice is made. A truth like no other, available to us to discern and adjust what quality we are willing to align to at any given moment.

92. If we all looked at a breakdown as the “body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new” I am sure that it will remove all the stigma that is sometimes attached to going through such a challenging process. The feeling of shedding those layers of all that is no longer wanted, that often has been carried for decades, is one of liberation, making the space for the opening up of the doorway to amazing new possibilities.

93. Being vulnerable is the key to emotional freedom… I love these words because this is what I have experienced, that to let people in to see the real me I am in fact free to be without drama and chaos.

94. “If we each committed to this process of reflection and healing and took responsibility for our reactions rather than looking to others, our lives and our relationships would transform in every way.”

    I am a living testament to this truth shared here. Over the past 7 or so years, I have totally upped my commitment to looking at my life, and reflecting on what pockets are there to be healed, and committed to seeing the truth in situations and my life has been totally transformed. I have lost 16 kilos, kicked a lot of unhealthy habits that I had been meaning to do for years, and am a lot steadier and committed to and in life.

95. ‘In light of this revelation, could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?’ Yes but it is also about having the true support when this is happening so things do not get buried or ignored but instead cleared and truly healed. Universal Medicine are the true guiding and leading light with regards to this .. true healing, support and energetic awareness.

96. Breakdowns are often a wakeup call to show us that everything is not ok, that it is not ok to live the way we are living, that it is not ok to stay in that abusive relationship, that it is not ok to treat our body in this way, that it is not ok to pretend everything is ok when clearly it is not etc etc. When we get honest, listen to these messages and start taking more responsibility for our lives we move from breakdown to breakthrough. We can however choose to live in a more responsible and aware way by our own choice first and then don’t need a breakdown.

97. ‘Rather than trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow. The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development. ‘ Transparency, openness and honouring how we are feeling keeps us honest and loving with ourselves and others.

98. These moments in life are not so much a ‘breakdown’ as they are a ‘cracking open’ of the hard shell of protection we have built around us to keep us safe, but that actually keep us imprisoned. A much needed ‘breakthrough’ indeed.

99. Accepting how we feel and exactly where we are, and holding ourselves in love and understanding as we process and let go of those hurts is very supportive.

100. I have been told that I was too sensitive. It hurt. I knew it was not true but at the time I listened and took it on board. How can anyone be too sensitive? It was and is a question of accepting and claiming my sensitivity in full knowing it is a part of who I am and seeing it as a powerful quality I bring to the world.

     1. It’s a powerful comment Caroline because sensitivity is a gift to this world allowing ourselves to truly feel in every greater clarity and detail all that we truly are and all that we are not. By feeling what we are not we know what is true and what does not belong in this world – an opportunity for change.

101. The moments where we realise we can’t keep going on the way we’re going are often catalysts of great change.

102. Unresolved hurts poison to us, as, while we hang on to them, our behaviour is always the result of them – and not who we truly are.

     1. Our hurts do poison us Jenny and clog up the flow of love, learning to let them go is a very powerful and healing process.

103. In my experience happiness is not something that is sustainable or harmonious in the sense that it can be like a high and inevitably from that there will follow a dip, as opposed to the steadiness of what I would call joy – a settlement that isn’t about a stimulation but more a connection from inside. And so rather than the pursuit of ‘happiness’ what if we sought deeper within ourselves for the enrichment of a true connection with self that we can then joyfully share with all others.

104. “… could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?” We always have a choice – to resume our old ways after an apparent breakdown – be it physical, mental or emotional – or to choose to live a new way. Our body always guides is – if we listen.

105. Letting go certainly is a huge learning experience for us. The less attachment we have, the less emotional or hopeful we are.

106. I think we are slowly waking up to the fact we all need to express how we feel to be able to deal with so many things that don’t need to happen like the increasing suicide rates and the major rise in illness and disease since 1999.

107. Our apparent breakdown could be our body discarding what is not needed, getting rid of the old to make way for the new, ‘everything in our lives is a result of choice, and the choice to not feel what’s really going on inside us makes us ill.’

108. Whenever I consider moments of set backs or breakdowns I can see how these have been springboards for breakthroughs.

109. The moment we hold someone in a box of judgement when we do not like their choice of behaviour, seeing them as that as opposed to the grandness they innately are, we have introduced a barrier and protection to letting them in in full.

110. A breakdown is a great opportunity to look at what has been building up, not been addressed, and start fresh letting go of old hurts, beliefs and patterns of behaviour that do not support us or belong to who we truly are, allowing a deeper understanding and awareness of ourselves.

111. While I have experienced the healing that comes with fragility and vulnerability there’s something that gets in the way – believing that I am above hurts. I’ve nominated loads of hurts, healed loads, cried tons I should be over all that by now! Nope. Hurts aren’t stuff that happens only in childhood, and it feels like recently I am learning that addressing what hurts is going to be life long. I can’t avoid hurt-full moments in this current human life but I don’t have to let them linger.

     1. That’s exactly it Leigh, there is a reality to this world that hurts, so much going on that we know is not right, so life will possibly always hurt, but as you say we can learn to recover more quickly and stay with the love we are in essence.

112. There is a lot of self gratification in saying yes I have come through this hardship etc.. but what if we were the one who created the whole mess in the 1st place so then can easily come out of it but chose the struggle instead? It may sound crazy but I know atleast in my experience this has always been the case and by carrying on this way has hurt a lot of people in the process. But the moment we truly want to take full responsibility what was can almost instantly be gone allowing for what is to come. So we do not have to stay in the sturggle rather chose to see what led to it, change our movements so they do not reporduce the same and thus take responsibility for living the love that we are.

     1. it’s too simple for the mind to comprehend, but, yes, changing our movements means that we don’t reproduce the energy that is held in the body and doesn’t belong there, and we can switch the focus back to being love.

        1. It makes logical sense but I still at times want to figure it out. The more I let that notion of ownership and wanting to conquer the issue go the more I allow myself to simply be the love that I am and let love guide me knowing that so long as I take care of the quality I am living with everything else will be taken care of regardless of what it looks like.

     2. Beautifully expressed James, “The more I let that notion of ownership and wanting to conquer the issue go the more I allow myself to simply be the love that I am..”

        1. Thank you Melinda, there is such a beauty and depth we can all feel within ourselves when we surrender to the love that we are. It makes no sense why we would ever want to leave the feeling of love in the 1st place.

113. Although not a breakdown my body has been releasing a lot lately, the shackled weighted beliefs and built in protection I have been carrying around with me have been melting away, and I can absolutely feel the joy and lightness in my body that I no longer have to carry this around, and more of a settlement in just being me.

114. A breakdown is the first step to a breakthrough because before it there is nothing to stop us in our tracks and we will keep on going no matter what. The breakdown brings a whole new perspective that offers us the chance to change direction.

115. Recently I saw a client in her 20’s who felt depressed and miserable but did not understand why, for she had everything she was led to believe would bring her happiness. The right job, partner, friends etc. There is a whole generation that is experiencing this being brought up with pictures and stories by no connection to themselves or the people around them. It is at this point, where they realise something is terribly missing that they have the opportunity to turn their focus from outside back to within where there is no happiness but love, light and harmony.

116. Life only breaks us down when we keep repeating our movements and stubbornly refusing to break through whatever comes our way.

     1. I agree when we see something we can either act on it or keep doing the same thing and slowly but surely the end result will magnify into something we can no longer ignore which is when the so called break down occurs but as you say what if we changed our movements well before the breakdown event was anywhere near then we woud not come close to it.

117. For so much of my life I have tried to show everyone I have been doing well and ok. Yet underneath it all I have been struggling. I find it hard when you are down and someone asks hey how are you? yet they really do not care. So I started to keep things to myself and not let them out the problem is just like a garbage truck eventually it will fill up and it has to go somewhere – for me this has usually been an explosion and has hurt the people closest to me. And this is all because I held onto things to keep a picture of how I was rather than allowing myself to be the raw, vulnerable and deeply sensitive man that I am – crazy really.

118. My body has brought me to a stop and is clearing layers at present, at times I have been feeling very vulnerable, but know it is time to discard the protection.

119. As we clear the layers we begin to feel just how delicate, yet powerful we are and how hard, rigid and tight we have held our body, thinking we have to protect this beauty inside. Yet the more we let go of the more we feel that it doesn’t need protecting, we can hold our own in any situation. The learning is to surrender and allow ourselves to be, the body literally comes alive when we do.

     1. I’d agree with this and say that as a kid no one had our backs. As an adult now I’ve learnt to have my own back in a way. When something does come up to rattle me my sensitivity is actually my greatest protection without needing to be hard.

120. ‘Could lack of expression actually be holding us in a prison of suffering, when being vulnerable could be the key to emotional freedom?’
     Expression, transparency and sharing how I feel are essential ingredients for any relationship we have and allow for space in the body.

121. ‘Rather than trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow.’
     Something so natural is not normal for so many of us. I spoke recently with a young man who is under a lot of tension about passing his final exam this year, with doubts about his own capacities. All he wanted to do was cry and talk about all his uncertainties and yet it took him the safety that no-one of his family was hearing this before he could cry. And he felt a lot less heavy afterwards and decided to share at least with his dad how he actually felt to deepen their connection.

122. ‘could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new? ‘ So true Alison , making way for the new.

     1. I love that the body is constantly spring cleaning for this purpose – to make space for the new. Its an incredible system at work.

123. “could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?” I would say a big yes Alison, I can feel so much potential in me when I finally stop fighting myself. It is not a giving up, I have felt that when I have given in to the pressure to conform as a teenager, it is more a realisation that something very deep in my approach to myself and life has to change. It is a coming home and a fresh opportunity to re-imprint.

124. There is so much more to us than just being functional – sure functionality is something we need but if we make that the primary focus without embracing equally our sensitivity to the way or quality in which we live life and relate with one another then we suppressing a huge and essential part of who we are and that surely must lead to dis-ease.

125. It is powerful when we can go through difficulties is in life being able to see through the opportunities that they present for there is never a dull moment when we say yes to evolution, and the worst break-downs are in truth breakthroughs to more love and understanding for our self and others alike.

126. I can so relate to what you share here Alison, we are raised and trained to compete, to push ahead and pursue ‘the good life’. Yet in my experience and observation when ‘terrible’ things happen to friends of mine they are asked to go deeper, be stronger and know who they are more than ever before. So whilst we might not like these tough events, without doubt they can raise us up if only we see the beautiful opportunity they are offering up.

127. “..could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?…” This is a great way to look at and approach a breakdown. It offers space between the person and the complication (issue) that then offers a de-personalised assessment of the situation and its causative agents – much like being the bystander observer of an road accident.

128. I didn’t realise just how difficult I found it to let people in. I thought I loved people and having a lot of friends meant that I clearly was open to them. And I am open to them, but really letting people in is something I avoid. And, it definitely feels like it’s come from past experiences of being let down. hurt etc. It’s not a conscious choice to keep them out, but it’s like a default setting I’ve developed over time, that needs re-training.

129. This is a great blog Alison. “. . .the choice to not feel what’s really going on inside us makes us ill.” . . this is profound as what it means is that we literally make ourselves sick! This bring us back to self responsibility. We then realise that we can no longer override what our body is communicating in favour of an ideal of how we should be; or a belief that we should be doing something else.

130. In the last times I’ve observed a common trend of ‘putting a smile on’ when the things go ‘wrong’. I feel this is very harming indeed, as it creates the illusion of an imagined and self-imposed happiness tha is not real at all, but instead is clearly hiding the real cause of sadness, anger, frustration… which in the end would be the bridge to really understand and face what is happening in our life.

131. This is a great article Alison. “The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development” . . . this is very important to note as so many times we get caught in the thinking that we have to accumulate or add to ourselves in order to evolve when all we really have to do is let go of all that is not truly us.

132. “These emotions can feel like they are part of who we are, like being an angry or sad person, when in fact they are just an energy held in our bodies, the apparent difference between people only being how deeply embedded they’ve become. ” It is interesting how we define ourselves by the emotions we are feeling which are really attached to our past hurts but are not truly who we are, but is an energy held in our bodies, to realise this is what is really happening is so freeing and healing.

133. This is something I am noticing, “The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.” that when there is another layer to deepen with intimacy with myself or others I have brought in hurts and old patterns to put a cork in it instead of simply surrendering to what is next and being okay with what comes up.

134. There is much to be said about what true health is, and how that can be a norm for each of us, but fundamentally a relationship within that is tender and loving is a great start.

135. If we were not challenged in our patterns we wouldn´t feel the need to change them or even get aware of them. Comfort needs to be jolted before we realise how uncomfortable it actually is when love and truth are taken into account.

136. This is such a great blog Alison, and may I add to all that you have shared, if we “each committed to this process of reflection and healing and took responsibility for our reactions rather than looking to others, our lives and our relationships would transform in every way.”
     As we learn to heal many issues come up and what you have contributed when you have shared is spot on. “ The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.”
     Then providing the space for a person to release there own shakes is an art form or science, as we have never walked in another shoes and they have to undo there own footsteps as they heal themselves. That said with the help of an Esoteric practitioner “the freedom from our emotions” can be expedited as the science of true healing opens a client to be honest with what has happened in there life so true healing can begin.

137. Yes the layers of protection we build around our hurts serve no purpose other than to keep us in misery in the end. Absolutely it is about giving ourselves permission to be the naturally sensitive and fragile people we are.

138. Observing how we make choices out of need, comfort, emotional reaction (and not founded on what is true) time and time again, it makes sense that this gathered momentum will eventually have to crack if we don’t share and explore what is going on.

139. I agree both genders are equally sensitive and aware, we put pictures on them of what they are ‘supposed’ to be but when free to choose they stay with that sensitivity and don’t discount it, this can only support them in their adult wellbeing.

     1. Well said Samantha, and may I add if we shore up the youth and preserve what they bring with loving support we all gain immense wisdom, as our youth explore being true we all evolve. Also then to not dictate to children, because of our modern day theories, which leads our generation to think it knows better or more and all we have to do is look closely to each generation who thinks they are getting it right but as Alison has shared “statistic alone is calling for a drastic change”.

140. Indeed Alison we are eternally given opportunities to deal with our patterns and hurts in order to live in a such a way that reflects our true essence and being.

141. Sometimes it requires a breakdown before any breakthrough can be made as the resistance, ie the energy we are held by, is too strong to give in to truth.

142. “The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development.” how very true Alison even though at the time it may not feel so it is like a heavy weight being lifted from us and more importantly it lets us feel more of who we truly are and not be stuck in what we have taken on when we haven’t dealt with our unresolved hurts from the past. “The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.” And as love is our essence, then this is our natural way of being with each other.

143. With our many layers of protection we can be hard nuts to crack. A vulnerable moment in our lives can be just the thing we need l to remove the tough outer shell and reveal the sweetness inside.

144. Breakdown or breakthrough is a great question. When is something a disaster and when is it an opportunity? Is it all to do with our choices and how we perceive a situation? From experience I have found there to be an opportunity in most things that come my way – if I am willing to see it. This is not just positive thinking but more an appreciation of what is truly happening, the letting go of the old and embracing of the future, allowing space for greater evolution. Well worth considering in my view.

145. Life is a cycle and there are cycles within cycles, activity and rest, focussing and initiating, surrendering and deepening, each must be honoured and not avoided for there to be true flow and alignment with everything, not least ourselves.

146. Bit like compost, compost breaks down and the richness of the nutrients that develop during the breaking down period (which is necessary) provide the foundation for new growth, new life.

147. I have found that what ever the hurt is, however deep or painful it is, it is momentary to feel it and let it go as apposed to carrying it around weighted holding me in a place that is not natural to be in influencing how I am in life and with everyone.

     1. I feel your comment is powerful. I avoided feeling my hurts for a long time as I once had depression when I was younger and I was terrified if I started feeling it meant going back to the void. Yet as you say to truly feel something takes but a moment. In that MOMENT we can feel complete devastation but this is then followed by the tangible feeling of space and freedom in our body. So I can say it is well worth going there and feeling anything that is there to be felt.

148. It can feel vulnerable when we are in the cross roads to another level and we want to protect ourselves and there is resistance to surrendering. The body wants to remain in tension but it is letting go, to allow the body to guide us that would feel true.

149. The other day someone I know was going through a hard time – they were sad and felt their whole life was in a big mess. I could feel in that moment there was a huge pull to comfort them with reassuring phrases, to ‘make it better’ and somehow go away. I resisted this and just cuddled them a bit but felt somehow inept as if there was something I had missed. It’s great to read your words today Alison and know in those moments where things fall apart it’s a beautiful opportunity for us to look at the truth. It’s so clear to me now that no one else can heal you – it’s up to us to want to change and the breakdown situation you mention is how it happens in life. So bring it on I say.

     1. I had a similar situation Joseph and nothing could be said as a person has to be ready to hear the honesty that is before them.

     2. It is such an interesting position to be in and one we are in so often in life. Supporting others is where we show love but love doesn’t sympathise it walks beside so what does that look like? I have found the moment I feel sorry for someone I give them the impression they are not equipped to deal with what is in front of them at which point they feel a confirmation of what they are feeling – that they are indeed NOT equipped to cope. Yet we know that we are never given more than we are ready for, therefore my job is to walk beside them supporting them to see they have the inner resources to know how to address what is before them and how to access support services if needed. That builds a lived experience in their body of how they got to where they got to and how to move through it with grace and love rather than the drama of the push-pull highs and lows.

150. Like a dead weight around our ankles we drag our unresolved hurts into every situation, reacting not to what’s right in front of us but to everything that has been thus far – all the moments we’ve felt abused, abandoned, neglected, invisible and unsupported. – And when we carry all of this with us, we lace each new moment with all of the past and often miss the beautiful opportunity that is before us.

     1. True, the past can keep us caught in a misery that prevents us from moving forward in a natural flow, open to the evolution that is always on offer.

        1. But it is only us that actually chooses to stay in the past, to allow ourselves to be caught in it for any reason.

151. ‘The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.’ So true Alison, a beautiful angle on how ‘breaking down’ is the opportunity to let go of all the things that we are not. ‘No more’ says the body, and we can listen to it’s infinite wisdom.

152. ‘The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.’ How true this is, and how often we build layers of fat in our body to cushion ourselves from the world that we are deeming too hard to handle.

153. I recently come face to face with a situation that was like it had been written just to press all of my buttons – if it hadn’t felt so intense in the moment I probably would have laughed at just how it was playing out so perfectly to all my weaknesses – and yet, unlike in the past, I was not blind to the possibility that it wasn’t the world conspiring against me, and it wasn’t a drama to get into – there was reaction, and there was hurt but these things where felt and moved on from and what I got to see in amongst an otherwise really not nice situation, was a massive opportunity to grow as a person.

154. We see a breakdown as a bad thing and make judgements and give our opinions if it happens to someone close or that we know. In doing this we impose and add to the emotional turmoil the person is obviously in. But if we saw it for the gift that it can be, and hold steady not putting in our 2c worth, that respectful support could really help them to start to see the truth through it all.

155. Alison! Where have you been hiding when you write like this??? I love this blog… love what you share.
     The breakdown, the stop, even the cancer is a gift… giving us and those around us to look at everything once again… what we do with it, is up to us.

156. So often we tend to ignore the natural flow and rhythm of life, instead we put our images and expectations as a measure of what is okay and what is not. We thus judge the unfolding that takes place before us and put our effort on imposing our expectations onto life. But if we were truly flowing and evolving with what life has to offer, we would not be segmenting life into such little pockets and would not be judging them as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, instead it would be one life constantly offering learning and expansion..

157. As we grow up we are taught that to be resilient is a positive and great quality, but in truth it has an enormous negative impact on the body which eventually shows up in a physical way.

158. A great celebration it is to rid ourselves once and for all of all that is not true and to rebuild our lives in the truth of who we naturally are.

159. Breakdowns offer an opportunity to reflect on the deeper meaning and move forward with renewed commitment and dedication.

     1. The stop moment is really crucial without it most of us would carry on forever without observing and reflecting on the depth of what we are offered.

160. And sometimes, when we develop a deeper awareness, it can feel suddenly like everything got more intense or worse or is falling apart, when really it has possibly actually been that intense all along but we just didnt see it fully and now we are, which means we are also ready to deal with it.

161. What a fantastic opportunity the way the body is communicating to us if there is a very loud stop with an ill-ness or die-ease. At first we can be surprised by it but really are we truly surprise because we all know that the way we are choosing to live is not who we truly are. I have spent my whole life trying to ignore this fact but ultimately I have known that the pure divine baby when I was born, I stopped shining because no one else around me was and it made others feel uncomfortable. I say no more to this and take the responsibility to be All of Who I AM no matter what.

162. What I have learned about healing is that it is about letting go of everything that is not true in order to reveal the true essence underneath. It is not about attaining anything or striving to get anywhere. Sometimes it needs a break down for things to melt away. Pushing through simply creates more of a barrier to our natural selves.

163. “The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development.” . . . this is so spot on Alison and well worth noting as many are under the impression that they just need to be doing more to grow and develop when all the time we just need to be letting go of what is not truly us.

164. Breakdowns create an often much needed stop moment for reflection.

165. Most of us focus on controlling life and keeping everything according to an image we have subscribed too. I know this pattern well. This lack of going with the flow, means any natural unfolding not initiated consciously by us will be experienced as a ‘breakdown’.

166. I am amazed at how willing the body is to start afresh after a breakdown, there is not even a whiff of resentment for the way it has been treated to get to a breakdown in the first place. If however we let the mind rule, we are easily taken into overwhelm and complaints about the situation we find ourselves in.

     1. I agree Eva and have often had that thought myself – there is so much we can learn from our bodies including unconditional love!

167. The breaking down of our layers of protection is essential if we are to live true to our essence.

     1. Yes the protection, collected over a lifetime to keep us ‘safe’, which in reality keeps us disconnected from ourselves and everybody else.

        1. And the protection is hurting us more than we can imagine. It creates walls that we are seemingly oblivious to until they start to be taken down, brick by brick. Blinded by the wall, the love and warmth that has always been there can, at last, be embraced.

168. Seeing it is as a Breakthrough rather than a breakdown feels so much more open and less oppressive, as you say it is not a punishment but an opportunity to clear often old and long standing hurts. “What can appear like a cosmic dagger of attracting the same old situation time and time again is not a punishment from the universe but can be viewed as a helping hand to get us to look at what’s really going on so that we can resolve our hurts and make a different choice going forward – i.e. the opportunity for a breakthrough”

169. “could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?” I completely agree its often when we have a ‘breakdown’ that we really are able to ‘breakthrough’ our stuck patterns and issues.

170. “In light of this revelation, could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new? ”
     I couldn’t agree more, a lot of the time we do not value how amazing the human body actually is, even in disease it has purpose and love.

171. Alison I really like how you make the difference between emotional freedom and then freedom from emotion. The are actually very different and I know which one I am working towards. The latter takes a much less toll on my body.

172. This exposes the falseness and harm of simply coping and the real gift and reality of allowing our own natural vulnerability and essence to be expressed and lived.

173. When we react from the bedrock of our unresolved hurts, what has been presented is only ever the trigger but not the cause for our reaction. And thus, it is not ever personal.

     1. That’s a great reminder Gabriele. It has taken me awhile to live this in my own life, on occasion I take things personally but this is also an opportunity for me to see where I still have pictures that are controlling me and not accepting another’s choices.

174. I can really relate to this, we get a build up of emotional debris and it is time at some point to clear the decks….”Like the calm after the storm clouds have passed, there is a deep settlement in the body when someone allows themselves to feel and let go, like a sigh of relief – “finally I don’t have to carry this anymore!”” , to be fair I have always felt the light at the end of the tunnel, but there have been tricky times of lows and in these moments I can feel how I can feel lighter and ready for life again when I have reached a critical mass and I have cried etc….

175. ‘But is there something very necessary, honest and real about going through an apparent breakdown that could actually be an opportunity for a breakthrough?’ – Indeed there is, a breakdown is an opportunity for true healing and understanding of what needs to shift in our life, as to not go down that same path again. Ultimately it is an opportunity for personal growth and evolution.

176. The joy of surrendering and letting go is immense and certainly life transforming and the key to breaking through and allowing love harmony and flow in our lives again.

177. It’s ok to feel vulnerable and overwhelmed and it’s ok to be tender and fragile. I feel this very often and when I feel it I hold myself very close and treat myself with deep tenderness.

     1. Me too – constantly learning to honor my tenderness and fragility.

178. “Could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?” I frequently notice that when as a result of an insight or understanding, my relationship with life in some way changes, that much of what previously was perfectly normal and acceptable, seems to no longer belong to my life. All of a sudden what looked perfectly normal and stable, in the new light becomes unsuitable and appears to be falling apart.

179. Allowing our vulnerability such as a breakdown provides a space for different choices to be made where we honour our sensitivity and listen to it earlier.

180. I was talking to a male friend the other day, and I can’t remember the details of the topic but the statement I made was that men are super sensitive and my friend nodded and said yes. I realised that this conversation is not the norm – where this is stated and so easily agreed. I think we need to have more acknowledgement of the sensitivity of men, and noticing that during our day and our interactions with them. If we held that as a truth, we could offer that to men more and allow them to bring their sensitivity to the fore.

181. Like you share people are obsessed with being happy as the main goal in life. It is so pointless in truth as it is an impossible goal. Much more worthy of time and investment is feeling connected and having a deep ease in your body so what ever is occurring doesn’t squash or elevate you it just confirms or challenges.

182. Unfortunately, most of life is based on survival which separates us from the delicacy, and tenderness, which is innate to us all and sets us up for the struggle and complexity we make life to be. Building a foundation, which is honouring of our sensitiveness is our way back to reclaiming that which is our natural right for all.

183. So often we construct things in life that are not true to who we are, but to which we become attached and consider to be who we are – when they break down it can feel like the end of the world but in truth it is giving more space for us to be who we truly are

184. Holding back our true expression ensures we will remain a prisoner of our own making… for the unexpressed feelings and emotions remain locked within us, forever building to a point where they demand release.

185. I suspect that the ‘keeping it all together’ way of dealing with life is a big part of the epidemic of anxiousness that people are facing. We are trained to pretend everything is ok, to smile when we don’t feel like it and push any feelings down that may rock the boat. It puts our body into a constant sense of disease as we cannot let the real us be shown.

186. Thanks, Monica. I love your simple and accessible description of illness and disease, how the tension of our unresolved emotions builds up in the body until it gets too much. The clearing of this disharmony can only be healing for us.

187. “The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.” And how different and gorgeous it is when we do start really letting people into our lives.

188. In some way, we do have to do the work on ourselves, to breakdown the self imposed ideals, beliefs and behaviour patterns we have constructed which is in the same effect breaking-through to feel the freedom and spaciousness of living beyond these constraints, rules or judgments.

189. “In light of this revelation, could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?: Yes, good question it does make a lot of sense and I can see how this could be possible.It is a moment to stop, take stock and review the past situation and what was actually there to be seen and felt.

190. I had a moment when I realised that I am absolutely miserable and that there is no way I am willing to go further down this cold and lonely road. Only then was it that I turned back to Truth and claimed it as my path.

191. The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.
     Absolutely Alison, and we all need this to take place and sometimes breaking down is exactly what is needed to get to the truth of us and feel vulnerable for healing to then start.

192. Releasing my vice like grip on life has been the most liberating and incredible experience; from control to letting go, things are transforming very amazingly.

     1. It pays to surrender.

193. It is a common way of living projecting to all that we have everything under control. That all is sorted and fine and dandy. The facebooks, instagrams and twitters of today are a way of telling the world everything is all ok in our worlds. But the more we try to hold onto things to be all fine, the tension that is being created in the body is huge. At some point it has to break and in this we are offered an opportunity to learn and choose differently.

     1. Yes, Natalie. So many of us strive relentlessly to present this perfect front online, but things are beginning to crack under the tension as you say.

194. When something stops us in our tracks, it is a great opportunity for a breakdown and a breakthrough to change a way we may have been living and moving that got us to that point. It is great to realise and embrace it with surrender.

195. We have moments all the time where we can breakdown or breakthrough, it’s a constant choice with how we want to deal with life. I’d say the 2 qualities that can help us the most in these situations are honesty and humbleness… and a total lack of criticism.

     1. It is an area where we can go into deep self-loathing and subsequent self-doubt which then makes us feel small and powerless, which all in turn perpetuates the untruth that we are worthless or not worthy of love. A downward spiral in motion.

196. Life without emotion, the so-called bad and good has a consistency, which becomes as you have shared Alison, a way of living that is “letting people in and living a more love-filled life.”

197. When we repeatedly suffer the same hurt time and time again what are we not looking at? What patterns are we stuck-in? Until we stop and assess and feel into the choices we are making, to cause our life to be a scratched record that never ends, nothing will ever change.

     1. Love it Steve, and may I add for those too young, a scratched record repeats the same words over and over again endlessly if not corrected.

198. If we have an idea about what we think love should look like and if our partner has a different way of being loving then not only do we not register his love we get hurt and go into protection because his way does not fit the picture we have. We need to expose the ideals as they prevent us from being in loving relationships.

199. I love what you have expressed Alison, deeply confirming of all of us and how life is. Letting go of protection and allowing who we truly are out…very beautiful.

200. There’s a lot of illusion in our society that we need to stay ‘protected’ which stems from not trusting to let people see who we truly are in fear of losing control and consequently our self made facade. A facade that keeps us limited and in separation, eventhough on the surface we may seem to have it all together.

     1. Our soul can give us a wake-up call at times to locate these camouflaged facades.

201. The idea of a breakdown being an opportunity to regard it similarly to a snake shedding its skin, releasing the old layers of protection in order to reveal the new being beneath, feels a beautiful way to view breakdowns and in fact all illness

     1. I absolutely agree Sue. There is no critique or judgement and allows what needs to unfold to do so gracefully.

202. “As everything is energy in this world, our emotions – much like electricity – are also pure energy, just differing qualities of it. We tend to think we can just brush them aside and move on, but these feelings like frustration, anger, grief and sadness have to go somewhere, and that somewhere is in the deeper layers of our body where they are held until such point that the tension becomes too great. Enter illness and disease – the Soul’s way of clearing out our unresolved baggage.” Such wisdom offered here, and it’s what many people don’t realise about how energy works in the body. If more people understood this we would have less rates of illness and disease.

203. What you bring beautifully to the fore here, is that it is ok to show that we are not perfect, that we have hard and difficult times, that we sometimes or more often struggle, that we feel sad and things do not seem to be working for us. Because if we do not acknowledge that and allow us to feel what is really going on with us we will keep chasing ideals and beliefs how life and we in it should be.

     1. How true – accepting that we are not perfect is key.

204. It doesn’t really make sense that we feel that we need to protect ourselves from others as after all we all belong to one big family. But maybe once we have been hurt in some way by only one person we may begin to build those walls just in case someone else hurts us as well and so the layers of protection begin to grow. To come to know that we are actually able to heal this hurt and release it from our body is incredibly liberating and I have found that then there is no reason to keep those walls of protection around me anymore and once broken down it feels safe to let everyone in.

     1. We learn that life forms us, that every experience moulds us and forms our character. But what you show here is, that it is not about life forming us but us bringing us to the world and not wavering from our inner knowing and quality. Yes, take life’s lessons as a learning but never dismiss our own worth and thus power we bring.

205. Conditioning ourselves from young to ‘soldier on’ and to ‘steel up’ and ‘deal with it’ are already many steps away from honesty and seek only to cement a well-worn override function to our body’s naturally loving-us-to-the-core ‘true’ feedback mechanism.

206. Perhaps it is time to redefine the work ‘breakdown’, there is such a stigma attached to it. Truth is something will always need to be shed for a new growth and expansion to occur..

207. I love that Shirley Ann, and from the ‘break’ there is the offering of expansion when we see the truth of it.

208. ‘Like the calm after the storm clouds have passed, there is a deep settlement in the body when someone allows themselves to feel and let go…’ I love this analogy and having been through times like this can feel the quality in the stillness following such a period of life.

209. That’s brilliant Shirley-Ann – it does not have to be any more serious than that!

210. It’s revealing of how much as a society we erroneously try and hold on to pictures about what life is, that a breakthrough is very often hugely resisted and not even considered. Rather, a breakdown is regarded as a nemesis not even worthy of talking about unless it’s under a hushed voice that talks of the misfortune of the other.
     This is where as a society we cut ourselves hugely short and place ourselves on a trajectory that cannot but have hardship along the way.

211. It is the only way to live, being open to our true feelings and bring transparent about it.

     1. Honouring our body and being truthful with ourselves is a great starting point.

212. It all begins with building a relationship with ourself..

213. A breakdown feels very uncomfortable and painful emotionally and often physically, and as though we are being pulled into a dark hole we cannot avoid. But can we? As you say, Alison, there is a way, if we could be encouraged to continue to be aware of our feelings and express them the way we do as young children. I remember growing up
     in the days when your true feelings were kept severely suppressed so that in the end I didn’t know what they were and mistook the emotions for feelings, which of course, leads to highs and lows, and some of the lows leading to breakdown.

214. When we let go of our protection we not only develop a deeper relationship with ourselves but with every one else in our life as well.

215. “Like a dead weight around our ankles we drag our unresolved hurts into every situation…” its no wonder that realtionships break down, as long as we keep holding onto to the heaviness of our past hurts.

216. In order to build a new foundation, much needs to be dismantled first. If we resist this process then we will often get a shakeup in much the same way a storm clears the air we breathe.

217. It is super interesting because when we seem to hit rock bottom we feel it is the worse thing ever and have shame with it. When we allow ourselves the breathing space to learn and be and see that what has occurred is not great but from the choices we have made then it is very liberating because we can learn from this and then choose to do it differently.

218. We tend to think of life as a linear path, with the name of the game to get ‘better’ every day. But what this means in reality is we grip on so tightly to our habits and past-times that we allow no room for things to change. In my experience life actually works in a circular way, so things get ‘worse’ and get hard before they get healed. So the true art of being alive as you show Alison, is to steadily embrace what comes our way, knowing we are supported with love to let things go and change.

219. When we are living from our True expression, which is our Tenderness and Fragility is there any way we would “toughen up and soldier on,” as we feel our connection to our inner-most essence, which brings clarity to how we express. Whilst it appears when we “toughen up and soldier on,” is serving us in the world and bringing the acceptance we’re desperately seeking, could this lack of expression actually be holding us in a prison of suffering, when being “Vulnerable” could be the key to emotional freedom? So opening our heart and feeling vulnerable from our True expression of Tenderness and Fragility, is allowing what issues that are going on around us to be felt for what they are and not reacting in any way. This is the True way to “breaking down of our layers of protection” and this “is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.” Life is about relationships, so therefore expression and when we open our heart and let people in our expression changes therefore also our relationships so we know longer are making “the choice to not feel what’s really going on inside us” that is “makes us ill.” So as you say Alison we can all feel that through our True expression we can “truly move forward and embrace new experiences and relationships.”

220. A willingness to be vulnerable instead of protected opens us to truly understand any situation and person and it allows us to always learn and heal and deepen our relationship with ourselves, others and life.

221. Maybe everything that seems like a breakdown is actually a breakthrough… a discarding of an old pattern, habit, behaviour. Its perhaps just the way we choose to look at things in life, something happens and we can either regard it as a ‘pull-up’ or if we take it personally, it has the potential to ‘drag’ you down. There are so many opportunities in life to learn.

222. ‘The key to healing then is about giving ourselves and others full permission to feel and let go without the imposing beliefs of it not being ok to cry, or that we are too sensitive.’ Sometimes we become so familiar with patterns and behaviour that were created as a form of protection or survival that we actually convince ourselves that we are them.. Hence why it is so healing to get to know ourselves first and foremost by our unique qualities and not what we feel.

223. We have not even begun to scratch the surface of what illness and disease actually are and that there is a much deeper reason than the diet and genetics. Yes they definitely play apart, but when we start to look at our own choices and the part we have played and the impact that they may have on our own body, then the body needs to clear this in some way.

     1. So true Jennifer, being responsible for our choices brings us to a far greater relationship with our-self and we start to feel when we are making Self-Loving choices or not!

224. Sometimes these stop moments are really needed to halt an ill momentum that has been driving us for years. It forces us to look at something we have denied or buried and gives us the grace to move forward without it, baggage free.

225. What you are sharing here Alison is really quite revelatory, in that not everyone joins the dots as to why and how we react the way we do in each given situation. I know I have certainly reacted to many situations not truly understanding my own hurts that were triggered as a result of a situation or from an interaction with a person. But it is on reflection, learning to feel what is deeply held in my body and sometimes seeking support from a practitioner of Universal Medicine Therapies, that I have been able to feel and heal what was there to heal.

226. If resilience isn’t it and I don’t believe it is, then what is this idea of being resilient doing to us? It seems like it is burying deeper the problems we have that abound in society that are causing the need for resilience to be touted as a solution. But it’s a band aid that will eventually lose its stick, and there in front of us will be all the issues that we can only address by accepting and appreciating vulnerability and openness in our relationships. This isn’t wishy washy but crucial to our health and well-being. It is also a natural progression back to a state of being we should never have walked away from and that will actually allow us to evolve in our communications with one another without being dominated by comparison and competition.

227. ‘What can appear like a cosmic dagger of attracting the same old situation time and time again is not a punishment from the universe but can be viewed as a helping hand to get us to look at what’s really going on so that we can resolve our hurts and make a different choice going forward…’

     Last week I had a whole catalogue of events to reveal a hurt I realised I’d taken into every conversation, every meeting, every workplace, relationship etc. I could see how I’d been given so many opportunities to heal this but had chosen to avoid it and bury it – at great cost to my health, finances and relationships. But that’s a great learning too, as is letting go the protection and surrendering to whatever is there to feel including my loveliness and feeling how all the yuckiness isn’t me.

228. From young we are constantly taught how to manage life in order to get through challenges that we are presented with, this not only has a detrimental effect on our bodies as we need to numb ourselves in order to not feel what truly is going on but also delay the flow of our own evolution as we resist to surrender to the flow of the soul.

229. If not everything would mean something, ie. have true meaning that makes sense in the context of what life is all about, the principles and laws that make the universe what it is and the way we live by the choices we make, we wouldn´t need to ask or even have a question about anything. But something deep inside knows the answers already, the questions arise from the disconnection to and longing for it.

     1. Spot on Alex, our connection to our inner-most brings a deeper understanding of who we are and then we have no need for a question as it is lived and known! Unless the question is for the expansion of humanity then everyone can evolve from the shared wisdom and Love.

230. When we are feeling the rawness and edge of life and our hurts we are often in a much more real place to be able to heal and move forward.

231. “These emotions can feel like they are part of who we are…” It’s interesting to reflect of the extent to which we allow ourselves to be identified by past hurts – I know I used to hold onto such emotional hurts and looking back I can appreciate what an indulgence it actually was and the negative affects it had on my body.

     1. Yes, I really identified with being hurt and the fantasy of look at all I’ve come through and how I’ve survived against the odds (!!!) I had abandoned my essence and used emotions to fill up the emptiness. Reconnecting with me means I now feel how toxic emotions are in my body and invite them in less and less.

232. Our fear of breaking down and the social attitude towards being seen to be not coping are two of the main things (insidious and cruel) that discourage us from feeling and expressing what we truly feel and observe in the world. This leaves us all in a state of deception, pretence and lack of honest connection.

233. Each relationship when honoured develops itself in its own grace.

234. We so often judge something like a nervous breakdown as a really bad thing for someone to go through instead of seeing it for the absolute blessing and possible point of healing that it can be.

235. I personally don´t see it as a curse when someone or myself gets sick at all. Actually every moment in life your body offers you reflection- it is just a natural result, if you don´t listen, you have to be made to listen.

236. Sometimes we have to breakdown in order to break through something. The breakdown can occur as a gentle surrender or a fight within ourselves that will eventually lead to letting go of what is not working for us.

     1. We use so much energy when we fight against the surrender, stubbornly holding onto our hurts, blame and protection. This is very harming for our bodies.

237. ‘Learning to cope, to be resilient and ‘keep it all together,’ are skills we’re taught to develop as children, with boys in particular feeling the pressure to ‘toughen up’ and ‘soldier on.’’ The harm in this is clear to feel when you understand the results of not expressing what is felt from life in this way.

238. The key being – the less protection the more our love can be lived. its protection that kills love, although love cannot be killed, but it can be imprisoned by our protection. Our love forever is burning within.

239. Based on the wisdom of this blog life on this planet would be worse off if we did not have illness and disease which is the bodies way of clearing energy and the universe’s way of correcting our waywardness.

240. We can make our issues bigger than they are or we can see them for what they are and take the opportunity to evolve.

241. Breakdowns give us the willingness to see the truth.

242. The healing can come more naturally when letting go of the need for perfection, as in ‘keeping it all together’ for whatever reason. We are sensitive human beings and this is worth celebrating not denying.

243. If we look at the ever increasing levels of suicide across the world, it seems clear that as a society we do not know how to truly deal with the challenges that we face in life – we are not raised or supported to have the tools to be able to work through our issues and express in a way that doesn’t bottle up the problems until the only solution that people feel is left is to take their own life. This is where blogs like this are so important because they show that there is another way to be.

     1. Tragic indeed that taking ones own life would be considered a solution. Without letting others in or letting ourselves be seen we keep the illusion going that we are separate, that what we do does not have an affect on all of us. It is our collective responsibility to support ourselves and ask for support when needed.

        1. While we remain divided by the constructs of society that confirm us as different we will never truly heal much of the suffering we currently see

244. Breakdown or Breakthrough? – in the end it comes down to being a choice, ie. one´s own responsibility to either moving forward and evolving from what has caused the crisis or to giving up and stay buried under the rubble of one´s own irresponsibility.

245. We are here to learn and at times things need to crack in order for the light to get in.

     1. If this is the focus- that life is there with every experience to learn- nothing that happens can lead to a giving up actually.

     2. I love this Kathleen. And although the light that comes in is exactly what is needed for true healing to take place, the readjustment in the body on every level can be a painful and uncomfortable process. But eventually there is a new balance as the light touches and reignites every cell, culminating in an inevitable breakthrough.

     3. Simple, true and inspiring… I reckon this would be a great car bumper sticker, reminding us all that gripping on tightly and keeping up appearances is actually holding us back.

246. I have recently had the feeling of past periods of being low in my life despite the fact that life is better than it has ever been this time round – this shows me clearly that this is a clearing of the old feelings which have been buried.

     1. That is an awesome feeling, if you realize you could let go of a big package… And getting the feeling that it will never end, letting go of things, that make you individual.

     2. We need to allow space for these clearings and be patient with ourselves and those around us.

247. Recently someone was sharing with me how they were close to a breakdown and had been to the GP. While they were sharing they were holding back tears that they clearly wanted to shed but held strong not wanting to feel vulnerable, which reminded me of how we think we need to be strong and not show how we are truly feeling, even though I had felt for some time this person not really coping. We see this kind of behaviour as a failure, but to me in that moment, it was a great point to be at for them because it had brought more honesty and we all need much more of that in our lives so we can start to heal.

248. I’ve recently been speaking to someone about an illness they have – and in this conversation, we spoke about the possibility of that illness being onset by an old pattern they were living. They agreed and saw that it is about their movements and breaking the cycle of abuse they have allowed for 20+ years. It is still their choice what they do next, but if what they do is break the pattern, then that is so healing for their bodies.

249. Letting people in isn’t a withdrawal at all, in fact the best way to let people in is to let ourselves out.

250. More often than not, when experiencing an illness or disease we would call success that which is the regaining of health and vitality, but what if success or true healing is the breakthrough in consciousness of that which has led the person to become ill in the first place and to be open to live more from the heart regardless of their time here on this plane of life.

251. I know when I have felt safe and encouraged to feel what I have buried in the way of hurts with practitioners of the Universal Medicine modalities it has been astonishing to feel how much I didn’t even realise that I had allowed to foster in my body. It is life changing when we truly allow such a healing to take place and I personally have felt physical alignments and my body feels so much lighter and freer because of it.

252. There has been a lot of emphasis in enduring difficult situations and being stoic and yet we miss the point sometimes that different responses are needed.

253. Our body is like a house, if we keep filling it up with junk and rubbish that doesn’t belong we will end up with many issues, one of them is the ability to walk from A to B, the flow is blocked for example by rubbish. So, similar to our body, if we accumulate excess of emotions, hurts and undealt with stuff, our body, mind and general health suffers. Often the state of our house is an indication of what is going on in our body.

254. I have found that the greatest growth comes when there is a breakdown of what is not working in my life. Without the breakdown, I wouldn’t be able to see it as I am like a hamster on the wheel, continually running to try to make it work. Managing life is not what we are here for and certainly a reduction of the love and joy we can be living. So, although its uncomfortable at the time, from the mess comes a new truer way of living.

255. ‘The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development.’ – Indeed it is, if we are not willing to let go of that which is holding us back, whether it is physically, emotionally and/or mentally, there can in effect be no true change.

256. Such an important call to allow such conversations relating to depression which affects such a high proportion of the population at some point.

257. Our so-called breakdowns can be our greatest moments of change, often when we are in the mud very deep we really have to start to be honest with what we are doing in the mud and how amazing it would be to be out of the mud. In this realisation we can commit to getting out of the mud because we are now aware of being in it, if we are willing to be honest and take the next steps.

258. ‘Breakdowns’ give us a much needed stop moment to reflect on all our choices that has taken us to that point.

259. Illness and disease is a great example of how we have reduced human life to be only about the physical and in that missed the bigger energetic picture that is taking place.

260. One of the most obvious useful and practical ways to feel the letting go of the layers of protection is to keep letting go of the tightness in our face… It has a remarkable effect on our awareness, our energy, and our body

261. Our bodies are always on our side, calling us back to unity. What we often call a ‘breakdown’ in the body can in truth be a healing when it is understood from the whole.

     1. Very true Victoria. It’s important to appreciate that what is being ‘broken down’ is what is getting in the way of this undeniable unity. When this is the case, it is indeed a beautiful healing that is taking place.

262. I agree this is insanity, so many live this way to keep it together, even if their life and world is falling in.

263. It is the holding onto and burying of unresolved hurts that eventually lead to acts of self harm as the pain in the body is hard to manage.

     1. It is here when we need to make sure we are seeking for true support and help, to deal with the underlying cause to avoid self harm and find a way to express what we are feeling. With expression we can then find a truer and loving way to live.

        1. This is a great point Amita – there is a significant difference between seeking healing and just relief.

264. ‘These emotions can feel like they are part of who we are, like being an angry or sad person, when in fact they are just an energy held in our bodies, the apparent difference between people only being how deeply embedded they’ve become.’ i is great to remember that emotional energy is not us, we are just letting something through that we have let in.

265. I know that my body responds physically to the way I live. My cycle for instance is a perfect example of what can happen if I choose to burry for a month. I usually get zero symptoms now with my period due to the way I live but if I have a month that I am emotional and I rush and I don’t take care of myself, my breasts will get sore leading up my period. Illness does not just appear out of thin air, it is there to communicate and clear out past choices.

266. “If we each committed to this process of reflection and healing and took responsibility for our reactions rather than looking to others, our lives and our relationships would transform in every way.” The more I confirm myself, the more I know myself and when people fling stuff my way about me that is not true I am able to read what is going on and not take it on and react. Appreciation and confirmation are key to building a strong foundation where ill energy cannot enter.

     1. Without appreciation we are left with self bashing, self critical harming thoughts.

267. We live life like cars running around a race track without taking moments to stop, so it is inevitable that our bodies eventually make us stop through illness and disease.

268. Allowing something to fall apart gives us the space to see and feel what we were invested in that kept us holding on to a broken picture. It is through this period of reflection that we are able to grow.

269. When making emotions personal to us (I am angry etc) we erroneously believe that this is who we are. Observing any emotion as being only an energy that is not who we are in truth, releases the attachment and stranglehold of this belief.
     “These emotions can feel like they are part of who we are, like being an angry or sad person, when in fact they are just an energy held in our bodies”

270. A beautiful understanding of the need for us to express all we are feeling and allow ourselves the space to simply be who we are. Being brought up to suppress all we feel is very sad and the straight jacket we put on ourselves but the freedom of breaking through and breaking down this is a real break through in our lives with ourselves and others allowing love back and the beauty of this everywhere is very powerful.

271. The devastating impact of pretence and keeping up appearances (something I exhausted and constricted myself with for years) and the release, honesty and openness that comes with letting go of this pattern, is really amazing to experience and for every time I do let go of something (a belief, opinion, need to be right, for example) I am blown away by the sense of liberation and realness.

272. Beautifully said Alison. Just recently I have started to see that there is no destination that will ever be enough, but it’s in the quality I move that the richness of this life lives. It’s not the where, what or why but all about the how. I haven’t been able to maintain it, but I got a great glimpse to see that putting the rubbish out or cleaning the sink can be as beautiful as a kiss. It’s all in the connection and depth we choose to bring.

     1. I can so relate to your comment Joseph, I feel the same and learning to appreciate the quality of what I do that matters and not the quantity or location.

273. It is our unresolved hurts that make us irrational and lead us to act in ways that harm ourselves and others. It makes absolute sense to feel and deal with these hurts in a way that clears them from our bodies. This then leaves us free to feel the natural joy that we have been all along.

274. The irony is we can think we are ‘putting a lid on it’ and keeping things functional, but it is in truth far from functioning well – as our bodies are taking a huge weight and strain while we try to look like all is OK.

     1. That so true, we don’t realise the impact on our body, the strain it is taking to bury it within the body. Which then sits there and festers to later come up as an illness and disease.

275. Breakdowns are like the last straw that breaks the camels back, because the resistance to surrender to something just gets so intense that something has to blow. These times can be much needed to bring us back to a point of surrender where there is space to see clearly what is not true for us, but choosing to focus on it as being a bad thing and getting caught within the struggle to get back, can override any true understanding of what we are holding onto.

276. ‘But is there something very necessary, honest and real about going through an apparent breakdown that could actually be an opportunity for a breakthrough?’ I have been through a number of apparent breakdowns in my life and each of them has been profoundly healing once the choppy water has settled and I have been able to gain perspective on what was going on.

277. ‘Like a dead weight around our ankles we drag our unresolved hurts into every situation, reacting not to what’s right in front of us but to everything that has been thus far’ We get what we think is justifiably angry about situations either in our personal lives or in global situations, not recognising that the energetic impact of our emotions is spraying the world with negativity.

278. Any issue we experience comes from not expressing the love that we are, this hurts and when we let ourselves feel the hurt it comes up, hurts then leaves. Giving us another chance to express our love. Its awesome putting this into practice as I feel invigorated and inspired to go into the ‘hurtful situation’ again but with a chance to express rather than holding myself back. Knowing how much the holding back doesn’t work!

279. ‘We’re baffled by the sudden deaths of seemingly healthy, happy people dropping dead with strokes, heart attacks, aggressive cancers and the like, but could there be more than bad luck going on here?’ More than baffled I think we are plain confused and scared because we have bought into the all the ideals and beliefs of the current consciousness around health and education, in utter denial that we know they aren’t it! Somewhere deep inside we know our current set up isn’t working but because we have such an invested pride in making it all work the way it is we have been very closed to the truth and making life about love rather than function.

280. This is very true Alison …”The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life…”

281. ‘could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?’ – Speaking of experience I can testify that a breakdown is indeed the body’s ultimate spring clean, forced to happen by past pattern of overriding my body’s signals. For me the breakdown offered a true healing and an understanding of true self honouring.

282. If everyone had this understanding of breakdowns and such events in people’s lives then we would not be so quick to stereotype and label people and instead our communities would feel and be a lot more supportive to those things which can come up for us to deal with in life.

     1. We can be very quick to judge another whilst having absolutely no understanding of what they are going through, especially as so many of us walk through life with a smile saying that everything is OK when quite often it is not.

283. I can vouch for the “keeping it together” not working. All it does is build a brick fortress around ourselves, eventually making us sick.

284. There is something very interesting in considering that in something breaking down, we are given an opportunity. Often its hard to see at the time that this is the case, for a breakdown can be quite overwhelming. But we can see something in ourselves during these times that we don’t ordinarily see.

285. It feels a bit like when a volcano erupts, the pressure can build up so much that there appears to be a breakdown, but breaking through the understanding that the body supports us with illness to give us a break from the pressures of life we are subjecting ourselves to, can then be viewed in a very positive way.

286. Living behind thick, seemingly solid walls of protection is like embalming ourselves in layers of numbness so as to not to feel the deep hurts within. This creates more pain as we then feel a deep separation from our essence and others.
     “The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.

287. It is possible to approach illness and disease from a completely different vantage point – one that actually embraces the illness for what it is removing from the body. It is then that we no longer fight the illness and no longer fight ourselves – and the healing that takes place is immense.

     1. Another example of how letting go transforms our relationship with life.

288. If there’s one thing I have learnt, it’s that things are so often not what they seem. When we are open and allow the space to read a situation rather than immediately reacting to it, we discover that we’re actually being presented with absolute magic every single day, whether it seems ‘good’ or ‘bad’ at the time, there is always learning there, that is very specific to us.

289. Super blog. Emotions are toxic in our bodies and can feel really heavy and if we don’t release them the body finds a way to release them through sickness and illness, and so our breakdown is indeed a breakthrough and can be truly serving and healing us in so many ways if we can be honest about how we have been living.

290. “… could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?” This brings a whole new awareness to the purpose of illness and disease, that it is the body clearing something that does not belong inside it. Every disruption to our health is a message from the body that how we are living is not supporting it.

291. It’s true – the world is ‘obsessed with the pursuit of happiness’. But you cannot create happiness on top of a whole load of unresolved stuff. To connect to the joy in life we need to deal with the issues that are stopping us feeling that joy. If we don’t, we are likely to feel misery instead of joy. It’s well worth facing the challenges and issues that are right in front of us.

292. “Without full acknowledgement of how much we’ve been affected by our past hurts and traumas, we can never truly move forward and embrace new experiences and relationships.” So true and while it can feel like a break down when we start to look at our hurts and our own part we have played in them, there is so much to gain by embracing all relationships with more understanding, acceptance and accountability.

293. When we feel hard done by in life are we not missing a golden moment. When we stand still, nothing happens and when we only look at our past. The simple movement of looking forward will always leave mistakes in the past lessons we have learned from.

294. This really challenges the notion that the bad or challenging things that happen in our lives are really “bad”… or …. could they be a whole new introduction to a whole new way of living life?

295. Until it breaks, we do not question the structure that encloses us and keeps us imprisoned. There is great beauty in such a ‘break’ if we surrender to the healing on offer through this process.

296. What can appear like a cosmic dagger of attracting the same old situation time and time again is not a punishment from the universe but can be viewed as a helping hand to get us to look at what’s really going on so that we can resolve our hurts and make a different choice going forward”. This is a powerful teaching for humanity as often there are times we’d rather not look at our imperfections, however this is how we grow and evolve.

297. ‘Like a dead weight around our ankles we drag our unresolved hurts into every situation, reacting not to what’s right in front of us but to everything that has been thus far’ It is so easy to go through life with reaction after reaction and with no understanding of why situations keep repeating themselves, we feel that we are victims… until we are supported with the revelation that everything is as a result of our own choices, we are the creators of our world which is simply a reflection of all our choices. Then we can choose to explore the hurts and let them go. Amazingly, when we do that, the situation stops happening and that is because we no longer need the lesson.

298. Resilience is an interesting word. I have felt that there is something not quite right with it, but there is a strong movement that is asking us to all consider how we can be more resilient. We can say yes the world is not going to suddenly become gentler and more accepting of us, but to be resilient does seem like a mask that may bury how we feel and not address the issues that have made us feel in need of coping mechanism. If we focus on being more resilient though it seems to take the focus of us addressing how we have set up society/ our world. Toughness becomes the go to, where in actual fact we need more love and care in every aspect of life, the more we appreciate ourselves the less we need a counter to the world around us.

299. ‘Like the calm after the storm clouds have passed, there is a deep settlement in the body when someone allows themselves to feel and let go, like a sigh of relief – “finally I don’t have to carry this anymore!”

     I remember sitting on a bench on a clifftop by the sea after the storms have come, and the wind and seas battering the shores, have passed and there is an ease, a new beginning that feels so fresh and full; and this is how I feel after letting go of old patterns and emotions and hurts I’ve let rule and ruin me by trying to bury and ignore them. There’s then the space in which to breathe fully deep into my lungs, just like sitting on the cliff top breathing in the gentle sea breeze.

300. It is easy when things don’t go to plan, to panic, brace up or push for control. Yet recently I have been realising that there is a great deal of learning, healing and empowerment can come from opening up to flow, observe, understand and respond lovingly in such instances.

301. There is much wisdom that you have shared with us Alison, thank you. One particular nugget that stood out, is when you talked about we are not our emotions. Quite often you can hear people say, “I’m a sad/angry/frustrated/anxious person”, but what you share here is that we are not that, they are an emotion that is in us/coming up to feel but it is not what defines us. The key is not to identify with the emotion, but to see why you are having it, and to learn to let it go.

302. Yes, this makes sense to me Jane. Young children know this, it just gets covered over by well-meaning continuation of the imposition of ideals and beliefs from significant others that continues through life, unless another way is reflected – as Serge Benhayon lives.

303. It is true for me at least, that in the expectation to be a certain way, when there is a rough patch or I wake up feeling not so great or a but vulnerable, there is an instant worry – oh no what’s wrong with me! As if the one day in amongst the 10 or 20 amazing days is somehow of greater weight!

     1. This is very true Rebecca, we tend to nit-pick ourselves on the days we have a hiccup, rather than nurture even more lovingly.

     2. I have been allowing myself to consider that when I’m feeling unsettled, maybe this is because I am transitioning into a new level of responsibility, where I’m making more loving choices, and the tension I’m feeling is actually my body adjusting.

        1. I agree Alison – tension need not be the unwanted guest – we can either focus on the tension that is often there that wants us to step down and away, or we can embrace with all of us the tension to be more, to step up and keep stepping up and expanding and this tension can become the pull back to living all of who we are.

304. The answers are all there for us, as they always have been

305. Baby boys and baby girls are equally sensitive this need not change as we grow.

306. When having emotions in our body, our ability to respond and see how things really are is reduced because the emotion wants us to play out the situation with the current that is in our body. From. It being taught how to truly handle emotions as children we live at the mercy of them and think we are them, but we are not.

307. Of the three people I have personally known who have suicided, all three were men. As a woman with a young Son, I get to see first-hand just how equally fragile and sensitive a male is and what a reflection he delivers to me each and every day to accept (and learn to live as) the sensitivity that I am too. Being sensitive is actually a great strength that beholds us when the times are tough or the tension is great. supporting us to deal with life.

     1. Absolutely Cherise. There is this false notion in the world that to be sensitive is a negative thing – a weakness. It is an incredible strength that we all have within us to discern our way through life in honour of what we have felt is true in any given situation.

308. Reflection has become a key tool to learning about life, what is going on and how to be. It is the impartial story teller, offering so much to learn from it’s similes, symbols and tailor-made allegories,

309. I like how this blog presents that a breakdown is actually something positive, rather than it being reaching the end, it is the beginning of the new, a releasing of what does not belong to us.

     1. I’ve experienced someone close to me have a breakdown and I had one myself earlier on in life. Seeing it as a breakthrough puts a whole different perspective on it, and with this view what a great place to start with the healing process.

310. Every challenge is an opportunity for growth. The harder it feels the more of an opportunity it is. Facing things that we find challenging helps us to deal with issues that need clearing, and dealing with them allows us a breakthrough into more freedom. There is something wonderful about facing a challenge. It feels scary but satisfying. Very different from the wishy-washy feeling of walking away from it. Commitment is the key.

311. Great blog Alison, I was so identified with my anger and hardness, I thought I was a hard, loud, self centred person and played these behaviours out for forty years. Since breaking down my layers of protection I am quite the opposite, I am a deeply sensitive, delicate women who loves and cares deeply for all humanity.

     1. Same here Mary-Louise, I too was very hard ( from all my layers of protection to shut the world out). My voice sounded hard and I rushed everywhere in a checked out state. Like you, since I have shed many layers of old skins (protection), I have discovered how sweet, delicate and precious I am and in that I can show my vulnerability and sensitivity which feels lovely to do so rather than hiding it.

     2. Same here Mary-Louise, all I knew was that I was hard ( the many layers of protection to keep the world out), and the sound of my voice was hard and I rushed everywhere in a checked-out state. Since shedding the layers of many old skins ( protections), I too have come to discover how sweet, delicate and precious I am and in that I can show my vulnerability and sensitivity which is a strength not a weakness.

312. Yes, Alison. If I consider how I have put my body on the line over so many years, it is no wonder that a process of ‘spring cleaning’ occurs periodically. So when I get sick or something brings me to a stop, I now see it as a golden opportunity to learn more about myself, and how I can be more loving with my movements.

313. This is very well explained how illness is a matter of unresolved emotions and as such you give already the key to heal or prevent them. Thank you.

314. When we connect to the immutable truth that everything in this 3 dimensional realm is impulsed by energy, including us, it provides us with the opportunity to see beyond the personal and understand how and why weird things happen. The more layers of protection we peel away, the easier it becomes to read the quality of energy behind impulse and alter our response or reaction to it. The more we deal with our hurts, the less the reactions pop up and the more we are to respond and grow, essential activities for our self-evolution.

315. Breakdowns strip the house of cards we so often build to protect us from the perceived hurts in the world. They are opportunity’s to discover our bleak, dark view of the world is just the dirty sunglasses we are wearing!

316. It’s quite staggering that more people are not breaking down given the state of the world, of relationships and of society at the moment. The getting through life seems to be the motto yet with that we always seem to miss out of feeling the vivaciousness that we did as kids.

317. ‘The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.’ as I was reading this I had a constant feeling of the meaning of the word breakdown meaning to take apart and identify the constituent parts of something. This allows us to see clearly what is there and identify anything that has been hidden within which can then be removed or worked on. We have attached a negative connotation on this word in that we breakdown like a car, broken and needing repair rather than an opportunity for significant learning and change.

318. The sooner we all start to realise that everything is because of energy the sooner we will get a grip on life in general and start developing true cures for disease, or by living from our bodies getting to a point, where through making true choices and being able to express all that we are, we can turn the tide on the runaway train of illness and disease.

319. “The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.”Absolutely agree wholeheartedly Alison. We are so identified by our layers of protection that we think this is who we are. It is bit like the band-aid thinking it is the skin.

     1. That’s a great analogy kathleenbaldwin because those layers stop us from feeling what would otherwise be so obvious.

320. The more we surrender and allow ourselves to trust in the love that we are, this is the greatest strength and gift we have to support us in whatever ‘difficulties’ we are faced with in life. These difficulties always offer learning and an opportunity to heal. Trusting in ourselves and allowing the space to feel what is truly being presented allows the grace for us to feel the enormous support that is always there for us, to guide us forward.

321. ‘In a world obsessed with the pursuit of happiness – an ever-elusive destination we live in a constant search of, but never seem to arrive at’ … because we already have what we seek, we’re just looking in the wrong place, it’s nestled deep within. We always have the choice to re-connect to our gorgeous selves, to feel the beauty of all that we already are and to live the enormous love that we have to share.

322. There is much on offer in terms of healing when we choose to deal with our hurts and let go of old reactions which keep us cycling in old behaviours and interactions with others.

323. ‘could this lack of expression actually be holding us in a prison of suffering, when being vulnerable could be the key to emotional freedom?’ So many of us can feel shut out and it is ourselves holding back from our true expression.

324. ‘The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.’ The word that comes up is ‘surrender’, surrender to letting more love in and expressing more love out.

325. The subliminal message we always get in life is that what ever our next goal is that when it is achieved we will reach nirvana or be “happy” but as you say Alison to “not feel what’s really going on inside us makes us ill.” Reconnecting and feeling from to our inner-most starts the “healing,” which “then is about giving ourselves and others full permission to feel and let go without the imposing beliefs,” or ill messages that come from outside a True connection.

326. I was of the ‘fearlessly independent’ school. Seldom asking for help, or only when I absolutely needed it. Self sufficient in ways. But really all I was doing was not letting people in. We are meant to work together, to share and support one another, get to know and build quality relationships where we are honest with ourselves and others and one where we grow each other. There is no weakness in this at all and is the way to begin dismantling the walls of protection we have placed around ourselves.

327. So true Alison, we do need to encourage each other to speak up, to get things out, to share and, however clumsy we may be at the start, to express how we are feeling. It is medicine.

328. It has only been thanks to Universal Medicine that I have been able to see what would have in the past been massive breakdowns as possible opportunities to grow and evolve and it has totally transformed my life.

329. The body cannot help but discard what does not belong. And what does not belong is what is not of the divineness we are from.

330. What I’m discovering is it’s a re-learning what it is to surrender. We have live so long in a way that turns a blind eye to what we are feeling inside, and have become so comfortable with the way in which to cover theses feelings up. When we begin to surrender to all we are, we start to see the false way in which we have lived, and the layers we once were comfortable living become so uncomfortable we start to discard them.

331. Holding on to emotions is very harmful to the natural flow and harmony of the body. In time, beyond the mental state and initial physical changes that go with emotion, it will begin to affect the body and state of health much more obviously when not addressed and released.

332. Allowing a deeper connection and not continuing to ignore our feelings is an enormous breakthrough when for so long we have just hung on rather than become vulnerable. Vulnerability is the opening we need to begin the healing process.

333. We are not aware of all our stored baggage but the body sure is and it plays out in all aspects of life whether we are unaware of it or not. What a blessing the body knows how to clean it all out.

     1. The body is fabulous at clearing out its stored rubbish but only when we’re with it, which is why most people are hauling around container loads of unwanted junk, because they are simply not with themselves.

334. Sometimes we do everything to keep things the way they are although they are not supportive or what we actually want to live and thereby we hold back from initiating the required changes. When the changes then come as a challenge, crisis or breakdown we may be scared or feel helpless but when everything then settles again we have experienced a clearing of what we have held on to so strongly and have the chance to make new imprints on freshly washed grounds.

335. If we changed the word ‘breakdown’ to ‘breakthrough’ then this would change the experience entirely, which just goes to show how the meaning of words can and does dictate our experiences.

336. When we hit the bottom we are faced with the reality of where we are. When we are coasting, we can fool ourselves into thinking all is well.

     1. Yes and find so many distractions to fool ourselves that everything is fine. Eating smoking, drinking, countless activities so we don’t have time to stop and think, chasing sports teams, even working extra hard, oh, the list of distractions to fool oursleves is endless!

337. People can think that because something has past them and may have happened a long time ago, its done and dusted but the pain from that experience is still with us in our bodies when we are not honest and don’t deal with it. Men in particular can hold this, she’ll be right attitude, while still carrying deep unresolved feelings, or self judgement around something that happened in the past, all because of that tough exterior that they feel they have to uphold.

338. A great sharing Alison and thank you for the wakeup call. We all need to seek support when we first feel things are getting too much for us in this life.

339. Could it be “our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new? Bring on the “spring clean” for once the cleansing has finished our bodies feel rejuvenated. And our connection to our Soul has deepened.

340. Yes, Alison, holding onto an unresolved hurt creates tension in the body, which builds up and then leads to a breakdown, health condition or accident. Surely it is time for the medical world to acknowledge that our emotional state of being needs to be addressed, in order to heal the underlying cause of our ills.

     1. True Janet. And this would also highlight that superficial fixing of health issues and regaining function is neither the end of the story, nor a true healing.

341. Doing everything right and by the book does not deliver us health and wellbeing. We actually need to cultivate and nurture a relationship with the body in a way that only our body can teach us and not the from intellect.

     1. Yes the mind is not the holder of the truth, yet our body knows and communicates loud and clear to us if we are willing to listen.

        1. We do not gain an ounce of truth when we listen to our mind

342. Whilst having a breakdown could be our body’s ultimate spring clean and is healing when it comes, but it would prudent for us all to express and share well before getting to that stage.

343. I have been having several conversations recently about how we judge certain experiences as good or bad, but in many recent example, the people around me have felt that the bad ones actually were the best outcome, although they didn’t think so in the first instance. When we judge situations we can be closed to seeing the lessons or opportunities they present to us.

344. The suicide statistics are shocking and bring a stark reality to what is really going on with men these days, which highlights the fact that they are struggling. It makes sense that the burden of carrying all of the emotional baggage can eventually result in a breakdown, but unfortunately, we do not encourage our menfolk to speak up of the pain they hold inside.

345. When we make life about integrity, responsibility and energetic discernment, we will naturally experience joy, a steady quality that cannot be rocked. Simply pursuing happiness keeps us on a roller coaster of emotions that can never deliver a constant quality, just bob us around on the highs and lows of life.

346. We have already set ourselves up for the mess you describe by desiring to be happy. Happy is an emotion and will only perpetuate the unrest. The true quality of the Soul is Joy. Unimedpedia Joy provides some great quotes and free audio that expose the happy myth: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-joy.html

347. ‘Like the calm after the storm clouds have passed, there is a deep settlement in the body when someone allows themselves to feel and let go, like a sigh of relief – “finally I don’t have to carry this anymore!” I can relate to this. People carry emotional baggage for years unaware the path to healing is to let go not hold on to.

     1. Yes indeed kehinde2012, I can say I feel physically lighter as a result of letting go of emotional baggage I had been holding onto for many years. I have done it by having healing session and also the support of others together with making a commitment to myself to let go of the things that didn’t serve me.

348. A goal of ‘happiness’ is very short sighted as happiness does not deliver us from the tension we feel. Imagine if we could take a ‘happy pill’ that left us feeling happy no matter what was going on around us – war – murder – rape – cyber bullying … being happy despite all that? And if you don’t like a pill you could choose a sport a hobby a drug a drink a food a tv show to deliver that happy moment to you. Doesn’t sound fun or true to me. We are all connected and all we choose affects others. Joy is our true state of being and we will never feel true joy if we settle for happiness.

     1. Yes, being happy despite all there is in the world that is unloving and needs to be acknowledged and not ignored feels to me very false and unsustainable. Why? because we are all in this together and it is natural to feel the tension when some of us are experiencing abuse. So, for example, having a happy holiday next to refugees who’ve risk life and limb to get there feels at odd with this, even very dangerous as our ignoring our fellow man’s plight means we don’t stand up for love and say no to the abuses of the world as long as we are happy. Those who live joyfully and reflect this natural embrace of our innate responsibility inspires me greatly.

349. It is often when we are brought to our knees so to speak that we then become very real and honest… the question is – why do we let it get to this stage? Wouldn’t it be less complicated for everyone if we were open right from the beginning – like when we are children we are so transparent! There are no lies (generally) but an open honest account of how things are – life is so natural and simple.

350. When we hold onto something we naturally feel impulsed to share it creates a tension in our bodies, so when we finally find the courage or whatever it needs to express, there is a kind of settlement.

351. ‘there are no pockets that aren’t affected by the past hurts we carry.’ …. so every conversation, every movement, every single thing we do comes laced with all the baggage that we are hanging on to, hurts that weigh us down and prevent us from sharing the fullness of who we are. Bring on the spring clean.

352. At times we are attempting to keep something together that doesn’t work and needs to fall by the way side in order to create the space for something of truth.

     1. So true Deborah – there when we are in force or trying to control life we can be blinded what we think we need to happen and not seeing the beauty that is being offered through another avenue or opportunity.

353. I have observed that at times it is the deepening of awareness and ability to engage with life that can lead to an increased level of sensitivity and honesty about what is going on. So the apparent ‘break down’ is actually our Soul’s way of inviting us to face those areas that we need to address, a chance to build, deepen or solidify a loving foundation.

     1. I concur Golnaz, and sometimes that might be what we feel is horrendous but it is what brings the greater level of service for everyone equally.

354. ‘In light of this revelation, could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?’ – It can be quite disarming to feel the unsettlement in the body as this process takes place, so much so that I have found myself resisting at times, wanting to take away the feeling of restlessness. So, it’s very beautiful to understand what is actually taking place, the gift that our bodies are offering.

     1. Even in our darkest hours of illness and disease our bodies are giving us gifts.

        1. Our bodies are so amazing and they know how to exactly work with us, their timing is so precise – simply divine.

355. “Rather than trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow.” – a great reminder to not bottle things up!

356. Letting ourselves be seen is a scary process but it does feel so freeing!

     1. Yes Henrietta, beautiful beyond words to experience this feeling of freedom.

357. Sometimes a breakdown can be in the subtlest of ways, for example, a simple point of the day when, during a conversation I may feel very exposed about the defences which I have placed around myself to feel safe or protected. The shock of this, of how I have constructed a way of moving which is ultimately designed to shut down my heart and keep people out, leads me to a kind of mini breakdown because of the love that is there which really is not meant to be kept hidden. So the breakthrough becomes opening up again to love in and throughout myself and everyone I meet. learning that no matter what, there is always love and vibrancy to be expressed.

358. Well said Alison, when the amour is taken off the body is left to feel all it has lived and has not let go of. You could say the state of the body is truly felt. It pays well to live a life that has no amour, we would then expose and deal with life as it comes.

359. I love the notion that we are not our emotions but we simply have feelings. And the ability to observe and not take things personal is still very relevant in letting go of old hurts and patterns,

     1. Absolutely – are not our behaviours for we are in truth divine… we are a soul.

360. So much freedom when we simply be with what we feel rather than trying to control every thing.

     1. We’re like tin soldiers, all marching around, swinging our stiff arms and legs and holding our chests rigid, desperately trying to micro manage life in a vain attempt to reduce the discomfort that we perceive is coming our way if things go awry; all the while, entirely missing the point that it’s the way that we are choosing to live that is producing the discomfort.

     2. Spot on Vanessa. I have been experimenting with accepting what happens around me and it does feel freer.

        1. It feels empowering to stay with what we feel rather than try to fix what we cannot control. It’s not always that easy as we don’t always want to stay with the uncomfortable feelings.

361. Whether we like it or not, our hurts must be healed at some point.

362. A breakdown at times might be necessary to break open the ingrained identification with the imprints of life we have identified with. When we only know ourselves as the persona formed by our emotional history it isn´t easy to look through the layers that cloak the original being we were as children. A crisis may be needed to crack open the shell so that we can take a peek inside and rediscover what is underneath.

363. I am so starting to appreciate how life happens in a way that offers me the opportunity for a breakthrough. Someone I meet, something happens and a familiar hurt I’ve kept buried pops up and says ‘hi, look at me again so I can no longer bother you.’ Most of my life I’ve spent trying to hide myself from the fact that I’m feeling hurt. The loving, healthy thing is to welcome them from out the shadows a the lengths I go to to hide them are so harmful; and the willingness to feel them and my part in creating them is so healing.

364. Though this was not the way I handled it at the time, there can’t be any judgement on breakdown, even from ourselves towards ourselves, just the call to look at life differently and an acknowledgement of what we have been aligning to.

365. It seems as if we live in a way where we build up so much tension and unexpressed things and stress and so our bodies need some sort of outlet. So it is possible that the actual ‘breakdown’ is not bad, but the sum of all the choices we have made leading up to this point.

366. To put a lid on what we feel is like living in a castle with thick walls and a moat so no one is allowed or able to come in. As you say Alison ‘The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.’ Lets break down the walls and cross the moat so we can become transparent and open for learning to live with our heart.

367. Lack of expression, certainly holds us constrained in the limitation of our own making.

368. Absolutely, our relationships deepen as we deepen within ourselves. When things feel unresolved in a relationship seek a point of resolution within yourself first and foremost.

369. Yes, Alison. It is so true what you say about dragging our unresolved hurts around with us, and so having a breakdown, illness or accident is a powerful healing, of what keeps us contracted and identified as a victim in life.

370. It is so common to keep on going no matter what is going on for us… and yet when we ask for support, it is often there in bucket-loads, and we wonder why we didnt ask earlier!

371. When we look at the word ‘break-down’, there is a break, usually of a momentum of choices that are harming. The breakdown is the turning point as there is nowhere else to run and escape what is being created.

372. Holding everything in can harm us but can also end up doing as much damage to those around us… we can choose to ignore this or we can express how it truly is for us, which often opens the floodgates for very real and open conversations.

373. Alison, this is a great point to raise; ‘The cultural bias towards it being more ok for women to express how they feel but not men, has unsurprisingly led to the ever-increasing gap in rates of depression and suicide, with an alarming 76% of the 3,027 deaths as a result of suicide in Australia in 2015 being men’, reading this I can feel how there is a very strong idea in society that men don’t express and women do, it is seen as just the way it is, how crushing for boys being born into this consciousness that it is ‘normal’ for them to hold in what they are feeling, otherwise they may be seen as ‘weak’ and ‘too sensitive’. Observing young children I can see how very natural it is for boys and girls to express what they are feeling and to cry when they are hurt.

374. “Without full acknowledgement of how much we’ve been affected by our past hurts and traumas, we can never truly move forward and embrace new experiences and relationships. ” – This is so true and the more we do it the better it feels inside the body and in our whole being; it affects all our relationships and all we do – how awesome by just addressing our hurts and starting the process of healing we can have the most beautiful relationship with our selves and others,

375. What you are saying Alison rings true to me, I carried ideals and beliefs and thought they were mine but I had actually taken these from my family and when after many years I discarded them I could feel the space that opened up in my body and I felt I could breathe again.

376. We do need to be able to lift the lid and open up and express, how else will people know what is really going on and I feel this is what builds true family.

377. This leads me to ponder the importance of how we consider what is happening in our lives. Is it a ‘breakdown’, or a ‘breakthrough’? The distinction between the two attitudes is perhaps an obvious one, the latter being so much more positive than the former. But there is something deeper here too. What is the energetic truth? If we reach a point in life where our body needs to make an adjustment or a correction, we can appreciate the fact and lovingly embrace the healing that is taking place. But if we label it as a ‘personal disaster’ there is resistance to what is perhaps a natural process and an ongoing thought process that keeps us in denial of what is truly going on. How important it is to understand and appreciate the truth of such an event in our lives.

378. It needs to become ok or normal for us in society to admit that we are not coping or handling something for in that rawness and vulnerability we can actually heal what it is that is causing the issue.

     1. True – deep honesty is needed of us all and the willingness to admit that the accepted life for most is nowhere near what it could and need be.

379. The alarming rates of suicide and depression and anxiety in men in particular is showing us that ‘keeping it all together’ and ‘keeping up appearances’ is not working and we have to start talking more to each other with a greater level of honesty about how we are really feeling and what is going on for us.

380. The world needs more people sharing their vulnerability. If we open our eyes we can see how many people are struggling and living with anxiousness, medicating for it with so many things, not just drugs. If we show vulnerability it allows us to be less trapped in the idea that we should be able to cope with the intensity life throws at us without feeling its affects. Of course we can perhaps get to that state, but only if we are honest that life is not always easy and that we don’t need to be able to hold it all in.

381. Without a doubt breakdowns are the opportunities for breakthroughs as they make us stop and take stock. However the challenge is not to get lost in all the stresses that come with the breakdown but to keep connected to the bigger picture.

382. “Looking at little boys and girls it is abundantly clear that we are each equally sensitive and fragile, regardless of our gender.” Nurturing this fragility is the key to life, allowing our selves to honour and respect this immense sensitivity that informs us about the quality of life we are choosing to live. So often the disasters we experience arose from small incidental occurrences that if dealt are prevented from escalating out of control.

383. When we stay identified and caught in what has hurt us and let our emotions rule, we are giving free reign to toxicity to circulate in our body. whereas when we consider everything as a reflection and an opportunity to heal, we allow for more and more space within ourselves – and that space is filled with love.

384. “The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life” – very true Alison, being honest, being open allows intimacy to be at the core of all relating and relationships and it’s this that so makes life so satisfying and enriching.

     1. It’s ironic that when we hide away to protect ourselves, we often feel more afraid, because we’re less connected to people and more isolated. When we completely accept ourselves, there’s no need for protection because there’s nothing we’re trying to hide or protect. Could appreciating ourselves more, and deeply caring for and loving ourselves also be the key to dropping protection?

385. When we are so used to ‘controlling’ things in our lives to maintain an ideal, to ‘let go’ may seem like a very drastic ‘last resort’, when in fact, it’s the lifeline that saves us from the relentless pressure we are putting on ourselves in resisting the truth and it guides us home to live in a way that honours who we are.

     1. Great point you make here Alison that the more we let go of the trying to control and manage life the more life flows and the better equipped we are to handle everything before us.

     2. Yes so true and after we wonder what all the ‘fuss’ was about…

386. ‘But is there something very necessary, honest and real about going through an apparent breakdown that could actually be an opportunity for a breakthrough?’ – it’s so awesome to be discussing this. Because we have been so conditioned to ‘keeping up appearances’, it feels like we need to give ourselves permission to ‘let go’ and allow ourselves to feel how things truly are, and to know that it is actually very supportive and necessary for us to do so in order to live the love and joy that we naturally are.

387. Learning to give yourself space and grace to go through the discarding of what is not true is so important.

     1. Gosh this is so true Rebecca and it is so important not to self-judge or self-criticise ourselves but to see everything as a learning.

388. Sometimes things come up for me and I need to release it, it might come up as a sadness or frustration, in the past I have tried to attach a story to these feelings, so my brain can understand what is happening. Lately I have been just feeling it and letting my body go, I have found it very supportive.

389. The breaking down of… “layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.” Layers of hardening up, toughening up, soldiering on, being independent, capable, resilient, etc all have the effect of shutting out the love and intimacy we all crave – that comes from within us to be shared with all, and therefore received from others too.

390. ‘Learning to cope, to be resilient and ‘keep it all together,’ are skills we’re taught to develop as children,’ I have recently been through a traumatic time dealing with some bad health news of a loved one and when people asked me how I was with it all, my response was along the lines of ‘holding it together’ meaning I was being stoic and not allowing myself to cry, not allowing myself to feel the devastation of what it could mean in the short or long term. Being honest and allowing my vulnerability would have been a more true expression.

391. I used to go into sympathy when I hear someone has been through a breakdown which was not very supportive. But what I realise now is, a breakdown is actually a blessing in a way because it is our body saying ‘enough is enough’ how we are running our body is not working. It gives the person an opportunity to stop its current momentum and an opportunity to choose a different way.

392. I have spent most of my life being very emotionally attached in all manner of ways and really thought that this was all there was to life, a constant roller coaster of highs and lows. However, learning to nominate what I am feeling and move on has brought an amazing level of freedom that keeps on expanding my ability to observe and understand many of the activities that caused the distress in the first place and consequently make different choices that deliver a much more stable foundation to life.

393. ‘The key to healing then is about giving ourselves and others full permission to feel and let go without the imposing beliefs of it not being ok to cry, or that we are too sensitive.’ So true Alison and it needs to start with children so that they do not shut down their feelings because of the reactions of the adults around them. Furthermore as adults we can also reflect our vulnerability so that they have role models of how to deal with uncomfortable feelings rather than trying to ignore them.

394. There is so much suppressed hurts the body can hold before it can no longer do so and then illness, disease or suicide results. Learning to be vulnerable to face, feel and resolve one’s hurts is the best medicine one can give oneself.

395. Being honest with ourselves about how we’re feeling inside is key for us to be able to process and heal emotions rather than bury them; it doesn’t have to be overwhelming, a big catharsis or what we would traditionally call a ‘breakdown’, but an awareness and understanding that we allow ourselves to have without any judgment.

     1. If we are honest along the way and don’t deny how we feel there perhaps is much less need for a ‘breakdown’. Feeling along the way offers a gentler way to be with ourselves and others as we live our everyday

396. “In a world obsessed with the pursuit of happiness – an ever-elusive destination we live in a constant search of, but never seem to arrive at …” – this is a very revealing sentence and shows us how so many of us can be caught up in the picture of a perfect world, wanting everything to look rosy and pink and lovely and not wanting to see the not so pretty parts. But what if life is not about everything being hunkey dorey? What if life is about seeing it for what it is – the awful parts, the not so nice parts, and also the parts that we know to be from the same truth that lies deep within each of us and it is simply about recognizing that which is from our essence and recognizing that which is not from our essence and choosing to bring as much as we possibly can from our essence itself? Now that makes a difference in perspective!

397. Thank you Alison for a great reminder of how important it is to not hoard our emotions, but to actually let them out with the intent to heal and keep our body clear – It is almost like doing a big garage clean out, which is often not fun to do, yet feels amazing! “The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development. Without full acknowledgement of how much we’ve been affected by our past hurts and traumas, we can never truly move forward and embrace new experiences and relationships. The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.”

398. Nothing can truly be ‘swept under the carpet’, as it all eventually comes out.

     1. So true Vicky, there is no way we can hide what is actually going on, our body reveals everything eventually.

     2. It all comes to the surface, the body is a great marker for truth, and anything that is not truth will rise its ugly head – and so we can address it and heal or dwell in it so that our body will say even more…

399. “If we each committed to this process of reflection and healing and took responsibility for our reactions rather than looking to others, our lives and our relationships would transform in every way” This is spot on the money Alison, and testimony to so many I know in the Universal Medicine student body who have done and do exactly this. No perfection of course… but the willingness to take responsibility for our reactions and look more deeply at ourselves is key. As a foundation for good relationships, it is essential in my view.

     1. I totally agree Jenny and the guidance of Universal Medicine is without a doubt transformational in enabling one to do this.

        1. Yes, Universal Medicine is the first to teach true self-responsibility with no blame of self or others, with no self-critique or condemnation, but the ability to self-reflect knowing we have an essence that is intact regardless, as does every other person we might have our ‘issue’ with. This viewpoint, that who we are is intact, allows for a level of self-responsibility that is truly free-ing, allowing love, which is our essence and once claimed and known as who we are, to be what we offer to others in relationship.

        2. The viewpoint that at our core we are untarnished I had before I met Serge but the difference that Serge brings is the approach of how to re-connect and live the essence. All other approaches focus on the problems, issues, etc. to get to the essence, i.e. ‘from the outside in’. This achieves short-term solutions but keeps one trapped in the illusion of getting to the essence but never achieving the desired outcome. With Serge, however, what he presents is to, and how to, connect, and keep deepening that connection, to one’s essence and then that which is not of one’s essence falls away, i.e. ‘working from the inside out’. Then the ‘miracles’ happen.

400. Alison what you are describing is the understanding that our situation – whatever it is – is not hopeless and we are not victim but there are actually ways with dealing with our situation that work and work permanently. I agree.

     1. I agree too, and it is awesome to experience when we have had hurts, and true healing has occured by first taking our own responsibility, and I found when all that occured all of a sudden I was wondering where it all went as it simply had no energy anymore.

401. “What can appear like a cosmic dagger of attracting the same old situation time and time again is not a punishment from the universe but can be viewed as a helping hand to get us to look at what’s really going on” – This is a really stunning quote, wow. What if the universe was there to support our every move, showing us exactly what we need to see when we need to see it. And when we feel like it’s acting against us, what if we’re actually making movements against the flow of the universe and this is what’s creating the tension?

402. We are given zillions of signs and warnings before the big breakdown; God is constantly looking out for us, nudging us and supporting us. However, it is always our own free will as to whether we heed his calls and in the end our bodies may have to deliver a bigger message.

403. “…the key to letting people in…” It’s a much used expression, but when I actually consider it I realise that the very fact that it even exists shows how far we have strayed from both our true selves and also from true brotherhood. I’m going to really look at how much my protection keeps me from the world and from others.

404. Thanks for highlighting the disturbing rates of suicide for men as this is a problem worldwide and is something that needs more open discussion rather than ‘trying to put the lid on it’ and hoping it disappears.

405. Men are so sensitive, living in a world that asks them to be everything but that.

406. “Rather than trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow. The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development.” Absolutely. So much tension builds in the body when we do not speak up, and we can hold onto old hurts for years and even lifetimes which can, if left unexpressed eventually have devastating effects on our physical and/or mental health.

407. All the riches of life come from the quality of our relationships.

408. The stiff upper lip is an ingrained part of our culture. Very few of us are comfortable showing our vulnerability. Its a shame, because underneath we are all tender, fragile and sensitive, and we are the most at ease when we can be that with ourselves and others. It follows then, that if we are walking around guarded, most of the time we are not at ease. No wonder then there is so much disharmony, illness and disease.

     1. Yes, learning to have the confidence to walk around less guarded gives us a much better choice how to live as we are more aware and much more able to receive love.

        1. Love your comment Christoph – and it is so true, the more we drop our protection and let people in, the more love we are able to receive, and even if we do encounter hurtful situtations, we are much more able to discern what they truly are and can move on much quicker.

409. ‘If we each committed to this process of reflection and healing and took responsibility for our reactions rather than looking to others, our lives and our relationships would transform in every way.’ I have found that when I look at each challenging situation and am open to asking myself how I contributed to it I naturally find that I can take responsibility for my part without getting caught up in feeling like a victim – much more empowering!

410. When we identify with our emotions – which are just reactions, we keep ourselves stuck in harming the body. The constant harm inevitably leads to the body showing us so, and possibly, left unabated, to the breakdown.

411. Thank you for sharing Alison the importance of being vulnerable. It seems we are not this so much of the time and we have developed a shield of protection to get us through, but on the other side of that is illness and disease. To be able to share how we truly feel is actually so healing for us all – because it is the deep truth we carry.

412. “could this lack of expression actually be holding us in a prison of suffering, when being vulnerable could be the key to emotional freedom?” thats a great point and one that I found to be spot on and true, whenever i try to ‘hold it all together’ i end up falling apart inside, change this and when I let myself be vulnerable and my body relaxes and anything is possible, the support is there and I don’t go on pretending things are fine.

413. There is a huge tension that builds up in the body when we feel one thing but say another. When i was a child, we were told not to speak up, and not say what we were feeling. I have felt the tension so much in my body in the past that it became my normal, a pressure that I thought was a part of my life forever. The relief felt of letting go of the hurts, the tension accrued and the not expressing what was in the body, is physically palpable when we break through this way of behaving.

     1. Great point Gill that so many of us have accepted tension as a normal, day to day experience. But when we look more closely at tension, we get to feel that it’s not normal – as in a natural way for our body to feel – but that we have normalised it. Tension is our body’s way of letting us know that there’s something going on around us, or the way we’re choosing to respond to a situation, that doesn’t feel great

414. I think this is a brilliant piece of writing Ali, so many great points. The behaviours that occur in a dysfunctional society are often band-aided with punishments but rarely do we address the type of societies that foster anger and the deep sadness that resides in so many from a reaction to a very unloving society we so errantly accept. And yet the answer to life resides in our own acceptance of self and understanding that the model of normality in life does not mean it is loving or what we should accept.

415. This is a very interesting take on breakdowns, as we have many of them in the world but it seems little of them have the breakthrough that you mention. What you describe is that with the breakdowns we have the chance to get rid of things (behaviours and habits) that are not serving us/are not longer needed, but we do not always take this opportunity but simply endure and maybe even fight and hold on to our old patterns or just transform them into a different flavour. So the simple advice to ‘let the tears flow’ is really really beautiful as it has us surrender to our body and stops the fighting, the push, the it has to be different, and opens us up to feel and see.

416. Sometimes, when we have resolutely refused to deal with our hurts and issues as they arise and they build like a bottle neck waiting for release. A breakdown is the breakthrough we need to let go of the pent up emotion that has had no outlet.

417. Alison, ‘Rather than trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow. The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development’, reading this I can feel how this often does not happen with children, that at school staff are often too busy to listen to children express how they are feeling and little space is made for this expression and if family at home are too busy and do not encourage a child to express how they are feeling then children can hold onto hurts. From observing children it feels very natural and very necessary for them to talk about what they are feeling and things that have happened and to cry if they are hurt or upset and then they are able to move on rather than hold onto unresolved hurts.

418. ‘“therefore, everything is because of energy” (Serge Benhayon, 1999), this means that everything in our lives is a result of choice, and the choice to not feel what’s really going on inside us makes us ill.’ – accepting this is an opportunity to completely change the way we treat our bodies and to start appreciating the constant support and wisdom being shared with us. When we have an ache or pain, or feel bloated after eating, our bodies are letting us know instantly that our choices are having a negative affect on our bodies, to ignore these messages or worse, numb them so we can’t feel them anymore is actively choosing to make the situation worse. What could have been an opportunity to deepen our awareness, understanding and make different choices, over time may become a life-threatening situation and then maybe we decide to take notice, but perhaps it’s already too late.

     1. I agree Alison, we get into habits of compromise, where our choices, that we say wont hurt, slowly chip away at the body and its natural harmonious rhythm, until we end up with a breakdown or illness that makes us sit up and take stock.

419. “But is there something very necessary, honest and real about going through an apparent breakdown that could actually be an opportunity for a breakthrough?”
     This is a great question Alison. It had me reflecting upon periods in my life that seemed to be like being stuck in a super thick-glue-like substance – feeling anxious, separated and ‘discombobulated’. The breakthrough would come with an awareness of mental ideals and beliefs that were binding and not serving or healing anything other than to stay stuck in the ‘glue’.

420. There is a beautiful rawness and honesty when we are going through a crisis or health scare that many people experience and can mean a richer quality of life in terms of the relationship with ourselves and others.

421. We are like a pressure cooker, and without a way to release the pressure we have created, something will have to give! It is easy to see why men have a higher suicide rate. We have from birth, moulded into something that has shunned tenderness and caring for hard and unfeeling. Does this explain why men also commit more violent exits? What happens to a tough piece of meat that has been in a pressure cooker for a long time and then has the pressure released, you get something that is now, once again that is very tender.

422. ‘could this lack of expression actually be holding us in a prison of suffering, when being vulnerable could be the key to emotional freedom?’ – absolutely, to button up and keep things inside just suppresses and buries all that we are feeling, but it doesn’t stop us from feeling or address whatever hurt we have felt. Whereas, if we are open and share what we’re feeling in the moment, not only would we feel so much better, it creates an awesome opportunity to discuss, share and address the situation at hand. In so doing we learn and expand our understanding and appreciation of each other, growing as people and deepening our relationships with each other.

423. The understanding that not dealing with our emotions is the cause of a lot of tensions in relationships and can lead to illnesses and diseases down the track would be a break through in many area’s of our life. If we would understand that we do attract the same partners to have the same dynamic because of our not dealt with hurts this would totally change this area of our lives.

     1. So true, in the long term it hurts much, much more to not deal with our hurts than to take the lid off, have an honest and responsible look, perhaps a few tears and let them go. It is actually very liberating to deal with our hurts and imprisoning not to.

424. Beautiful Alison. Many times when I’ve felt at my worst have been followed by times where I feel wonderful and begin making positive changes in my life. It takes a lot of honesty to break down but when we choose to get up again we are stronger than ever.

425. The ‘pursuit of happiness’ sounds a very reasonable thing to be doing – but the pursuit of happiness is not happiness itself and it could be said that it is actually ‘unhappiness’. If we are pursuing happiness then we are not happy for why would we pursue it if we know we already have it? For me, the same is true of love. The pursuit of love is not love and our choice is around continuing to seek love…or to connect with and be love. Continuing the pursuit of love just keeps the illusion alive that love is outside of us, distant and aloof maybe – when in fact it is within us all.

426. It is true that the world feels obsessed with happiness as the ultimate achievement. What a consciousness breaker to reveal that it is not in fact the wholy grail! The fact that life can be lived in a joy not dependant on outside things or events is freeing and inspiring.

427. With the suicide rates as they are, especially in men, we need to be able to open up and take the lid off, not put one on and for it to be totally acceptable to express what is going on and how we feel.

     1. So many men are growing up unable to see that “it doesn’t have to be like this”. Everywhere they look they are told to do, to be more, to look this way, to act that way, to provide this, to wear that….amongst all of that, it takes true courage to stop and feel and be.

428. Breakdowns in themselves do not necessarily lead to breakthroughs: only when we open ourselves to honestly reflect on the learning offered does it become so. And when we do we are graced with true understanding and healing.

429. Breakdown is often considered to be a failing, whereas this article presents it as something much more profound: an offering from our soul to heal our body and be true to ourselves.

430. Thanks, Alison. I love the simple wisdom you have presented here – “the choice to not feel what’s really going on inside us makes us ill”. There is a very different way to regard illness and disease, to embrace everything that is being communicated to us by our body and listen intently so as to learn and evolve.

431. I am very thankful of the healing modalities Universal Medicine presents, especially Sacred Esoteric Healing as it supports me to look at life patterns which have loaded my life, to feel the heavyness of them and eventually to let them go.

432. All the predescribed ideals and beliefs we hold of how to behave in life when we enter a hurtful situation does hold us away from truly feeling what these hurts mean to us and have a basis from to look into our lives.

433. and too susan, in these moments of crisis there is always a choice to make. We either ‘break down and surrender to that what is so strongly coming to the surface or we choose to not surrender but bury the hurt deeper within and move on with living our ‘normal’ life.

434. “If we each committed to this process of reflection and healing and took responsibility for our reactions rather than looking to others, our lives and our relationships would transform in every way.” That is so true Alison and it shows that responsibility is something we should become more use to in our daily lives.

435. After reading this blog for the second time, I couldn’t help but think of how butterflies emerge from a chrysalis after a period of their former caterpillar’s body being broken down into its constituent building blocks of matter and reforming through some amazing magic of Nature/God. It may sound kind of corny, but perhaps their is something to learn from that as we can let go of our individuality, allow ourselves to show our true feelings, even if it means a bit of a meltdown at times, and call out what the deeper hurts are to heal and transform into a new being without those emotional energies controlling our way.

436. The negative beliefs that we have surrounded all illness and disease with prevent us from feeling the truth of its true function

437. Allowing ourselves to feel vulnerable is key to our own healing, we build hard walls of protection and keep people out but our expression and openness are what is truly needed to inspire good mental health.

     1. I agree vulnerability is such an under-rated quality in human beings and one that I am learning to allow in my life more and more which has supported my health immensely.

438. Anything that asks us to be anything other than the Divine Being we are is asking us to choose illness and disease. Our boys hold the same senitivity and fragility as our girls and the world is in desperate need of this. No wonder suicide rates for men have escalated as the push to deny their exquisite continues. We can change this by the way we interact with our boys and by openly celebrating their tenderness as it is expressed.

439. This is a great blog describing how one may look and and therefore respond to a ‘life crisis’ such when things don’t unfold the way they were expected. Depending on one’s viewpoint, it can be either a situation that one can choose blaming others or everything else around them, or a great pull-up of responsibility to see what more has gone on when one finds themselves in the disagreeable consequence of a situation.

440. Sometimes we may wait to hit our lowest point before we are actually willing to look at our hurts and heal them. But it does not have to be this way – we can make a choice to look at them before it gets that bad, and hence in this it is about the willingness to go there even though it hurts.

     1. Very true, Henrietta, we don’t have to wait for a big storm to pass through to see and feel the tension in the air or in our bodies.

441. Opening up and letting people in is definitely a key to our own evolution and those around us. The ripple effect of being open to Love by opening our heart will be a blessing that allows the appreciation, which is a great contributor to our evolution.

442. There is a strength in letting ourselves be honest about how we feel, and not hiding it, and hence allowing it all to be seen by those around us. It is often in those moments when we try to ‘hold everything in’ that we end up doing more damage to ourselves, rather than being open and calling for support when we truly need it!

443. Wow Alison this article has laid out a way forward out of the quagmire and into the light. Beautifully expressed and delivered without missing a beat. One to re read and refer others to as it speaks to everyone in everyday language that cannot but evolve the reader.

444. Sometimes I wake up and the first thing I feel is the awareness that I have received which has not been expressed. This is a constant reminder that what is there to be expressed is not for me and the moment I hold it back I have made it personal.

445. The fact that seemingly healthy, happy people can unexpectedly die with strokes, heart attacks, aggressive cancers and the likes very much suggests that there is far more to consider when we look towards true health and well-being. There is evidently far more at play than we currently give credit to.

446. When we let our vulnerability speak its amazing that this level of honesty then allows for more intimacy within our connections. Vulnerability is a true super power and one to be honoured and appreciated for the strength it offers.

447. ‘Rather than trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow.’ – giving ourselves and each other permission to open up and not bottle things up and in is so fundamental and deeply beautiful, because it is through this vulnerable process that we come to know the essence we are within and share this with everyone else.

448. This is what I have experienced Elizabeth and this is why it never works when we hold back expressing and being love, or wait for others to be love first. We ultimately hold the key to a loving life, no one else holds that for us.

449. When we break down our protection and live a love filled life, we get to see so clearly it is our choice to protect ourselves or react to others that hurt us the most. When we let go of the different layers/forms of protection, love is present even in the most unloving situations because we can chose to reflect love even when others are not.

450. I am still learning to no longer ‘put a lid’ on emotions that come up and feel the consequences when I do continue to do this.

451. ‘Rather than trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up’ Supporting each other in our expression – there is no right or wrong.

452. The keeping up of appearances is probably our chief skill these days in life. But like the proverbial saying of ‘painting lipstick on a pig’ we are wasting our time beautifying something that’s not right. We grade ourselves and others we know on the use of make up – all without questioning whether any of it’s true. It’s uncomfortable as you show Alison to feel raw, unorganised, out of rhythm or just plain in pain, but it’s time we understood this a natural part of expanding rather than a sad mistake.

     1. Nothing wrong with pigs but for sure it does not suit them to wear lipstick any more than it suits us to be anything other than who we truly are.

453. Definitely a great piece of advice ‘let the tears flow’ keeping a lid on it just causes so many problems later on, it never stays hidden!

454. I never quite understood how healthy people get sick – especially really fit people who didn’t smoke or drink. I didn’t understand because I was missing a key ingredient, which is energy and how everything we do and express that is not inline with our true and divine self is having an impact on the body which it needs to clear. Suddenly, everything now makes sense.

455. I love this part ‘Like the calm after the storm clouds have passed, there is a deep settlement in the body when someone allows themselves to feel and let go, like a sigh of relief – “finally I don’t have to carry this anymore!”’ I recently was able to see and let go of a very old hurt. As I was understanding it I made a record of what I felt at the time, how it has impacted me and my understanding of these events from where I stand today. I re-listened to myself and felt how my voice became more powerful. I shared the recording with my husband and these were events that have happened in my life which he had not heard about before. I felt great and lighter by the whole process and being able to share with him felt like what you have described of not needing to carry that anymore. Profound and inspiring.

456. Why have so many of us given in to trying to seem OK or look OK or act like we are doing well while we continue to neglect dealing with what does not feel right inside us, in our lives, in our relationships and in the world?

     I know the first step to healing what does not feel whole or true in ourselves is to stop pretending “it’s all OK’ or mostly OK and stop settling for ‘good enough. We need to start by allowing ourselves to feel and face what is going on so we can get the to the self-honesty we need which begins to push out all the stuff that we know we don’t want. As we let go we make room to find and learn a new way to go forward.

457. When there is a societal standard that you are not allowed to show your emotions or feelings, like it is especially for boys and men, then you don’t know where to put those unresolved hurts. We then chose vices, activities, excessively work or exercise as a form of relief and way of diverting the intensity of not dealing with what is there to deal with. This is a great blog that exposes how we can always chose differently and we are the only ones that can give ourselves permission to heal and express and come back to love.

458. Surprisingly the first thought that came in respect to “encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow” is that the whole society will be filled with emotional people crying and whimpering all the time and not being able to rely on anyone to do anything! How conditioned can our thinking become.
     The truth is that this is not what will actually happen, at least not long term. What this is offered is the understanding and support during those break-through moments.

459. Sometimes everything has to fall apart so it can reform in a more true way – if we can hold steady as it breaks down and focus on the building a new solid foundation, unafraid of leaving behind what we might have wanted or needed or attached to.

460. I agree, ‘trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow.’ Talking about how we are feeling, nominating what hurts us is very supportive. When I look into the eyes of someone who shares, they definitely look brighter afterwards. I know I feel completely different… ‘taking the weight’ of our shoulders does ring true.

461. Breaking down protection is a process, as a very wise woman once told me it takes time to build hence it makes sense that it will take time to heal.

     1. Wow Abby, I love what you have shared here – breaking down protection does take time and I had not thought about the fact that it also takes time to build, but this totally makes sense!

462. Awareness is key in getting to know and understand ourselves and others.

463. A much needed blog thankyou, changing the way we look at adverse events in our life.

464. ‘… illness and disease – the Soul’s way of clearing out our unresolved baggage.’ I just love this understanding of life and the very beautiful possibility that something we have come to regard as a major disaster is in truth supporting us to heal. This really helps me to see and appreciate the so very loving nature of our Universe.

465. Absolutely. Letting go frees our body and creates space for the love that we are to just be there. And with this we can then choose to express from our true light, playfulness, joy and brotherhood.

466. A truly beautiful blog Alison. Thank you for taking the time to write and share it. Yes letting go, moving forward and embracing are so important to us living a truly love filled life. We can isolate and control our space so it appeases things are ok at times but then when we interact with others all that which was suppressed gets triggered for us to deal with. Embracing life, embracing situations and bringing our true quality to this is all part of healing and evolving.

467. This paragraph Alison is actually the awareness and understanding that if society took onboard fully – it would be the answer to all our woes and an acceleration to our evolution. A long but worthy copy and paste.
     ‘As everything is energy in this world, our emotions – much like electricity – are also pure energy, just differing qualities of it. We tend to think we can just brush them aside and move on, but these feelings like frustration, anger, grief and sadness have to go somewhere, and that somewhere is in the deeper layers of our body where they are held until such point that the tension becomes too great. Enter illness and disease – the Soul’s way of clearing out our unresolved baggage.’

468. A fabulous blog and question ‘could this lack of expression actually be holding us in a prison of suffering, when being vulnerable could be the key to emotional freedom?’ in schools I observe many programs trying to teach children resilience and I’m always left asking – ‘but when do they get to express what is really going on for them ?’

469. I love what you say here, Alison, about seeing challenging times as an opportunity to clear old patterns and hurts once and for all, rather than as a cosmic dagger punishing us, keeping us in a victim mentality.

470. ‘The choice not to feel what’s really going on inside makes us ill.’ So well put. Burying our feelings is not a solution to dealing with them, but storing them up to be dealt with by the body later, through illness and disease. We can’t avoid the consequences of our choices, a fact that our bodies so lovingly communicate with us all of the time.

471. There has been a lot of shame around having a breakdown and now there is a also a dismissiveness as though it is not something we want to talk about. I agree a break down is a potential break through. The body, physical, mental and spiritual has reached breaking point and can no longer function in the way it has been. Everything is saying stop. With the stop we have an opportunity to release and make way for a greater awareness, allowing us to see what changes could be made to start anew. The quality of support that we choose at these times will contribute to the new foundation that we build for ourselves.

472. It does feel freeing to have a breakdown at times, I have felt that sense of relief as a huge weight drops off me. We break down the beliefs and ideas and hurts that wrap around us like a suit of armour, leaving us hard and protected. The more I get out my hurts the lighter I feel without those weights.

473. The hardest lessons we learn in life are always the most valuable ones. When we experience a trauma or come upon hard times, there is always an opportunity to see it as a catalyst for change. Ultimatley the choice to change is up to us.

474. Beautiful Alison, what you’ve shared makes perfect sense to the heaviness most of us carry ourselves in throughout life. The light, joyful and playful steps of small children is something we need to use as a marker for how it is we can be throughout our whole lives. Dealing with emotions and things that have affected us in the past and letting go as you say, is key in being able to restore this lightness of being we all have at our core.

475. True Alison; to move on from or initiate a different way of addressing something requires us to voice what’s going on, creating a platform to move forward from. Burying issues or feelings, although often an easier solution, does not create a clean slate but can actually magnify the negative effects of it, such as how it affects our relationships.

476. Great question: ‘could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?’ We are fed such negative perceptions about having a breakdown whereas we can choose to see it as an opportunity to re-evaluate and clear out what is not supporting us to allow space to become more truly ourselves.

477. Very beautiful blog Alison. Shows that reaction to the current state of the world is all part of the ill that constitutes it at this present time. Seeing it as a cleansing and a necessary healing process changes ones perception on it entirely

478. A brilliant sharing Alison of the necessity to let go of everything we are carrying and the true benefit of this. Realising the harm of our emotions is something I am learning more and more and where emotions come from and that they are not really me. The real breakthrough of letting go and allowing is very necessary in our lives allowing a freeing to be and live who we really are. Beautiful ” The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.”

479. Thanks Alison, it’s essential we get to the bottom of this illness and disease which is now in every corner and pocket of this world.

480. ‘Like a dead weight around our ankles we drag our unresolved hurts into every situation, reacting not to what’s right in front of us but to everything that has been thus far – all the moments we’ve felt abused, abandoned, neglected, invisible and unsupported.’ I have definitely experienced this – sometimes I am reacting before I realise what’s happened, but as soon as I reflect it is easy to see what the underlying hurt is/was and then it is easy to let go and there is no longer a reaction.

481. Burying our issues and hurts is not the answer yet it is seen by society as being strong and able to cope; but what are we really saying to the person you are doing ok so we don’t need to talk about. The hurts we carry as a child don’t disappear as we become an adult we just learn to hide them well and learn to manage life as best we can. If we could learn to openly express as children and allow our sensitivities to be at the fore we would take this into our adult life. and…… “Rather than trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow.”

482. What a belief dismantling sharing this is Alison. For as long as I can remember the word ‘breakdown’ had connotations of a failure and the inability to not be able to deal with what life is presenting us with. But to look at what is unfolding for the person as “our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new”, not in any way a failure but a priceless opportunity to heal, is so very refreshing and potentially life-changing.

483. We are so pressured to put on a brave face, if I was to go to the shops feeling vulnerable and maybe cry in public people will react in many ways, some will be kind, others will avoid the situation, and others will judge an emotional person as mentally unstable. That style of judgement shows how much we have locked down our humanness – our ability to just be with what we feel, accept and express it.

484. A very great and simple start, to not turn a blind eye where things are so obviously not right and where we are all struggling. We have made life so complicated but in fact it is very simple if we but start with the awareness we have and put it to action.

     1. Great point Esther. Whilst reading your comment I felt how important it is for everyone to share experiences of breakdowns and breakthroughs so others can be inspired by them.

485. Alison the amount of hurts that we all carry can be huge, how we deal with those hurts, the support we have and the way we look at them. For me this meant a crisis point of what is the purpose of life, what am I doing and the only true answers that I found came from Universal Medicine and the support provided. A breakdown and letting go of those hurts is in my view a true breakthrough.

486. This is beautiful Alison. There is so much love and acceptance in this blog. Putting a lid on it in order to function does not allow us to bring all the true gifts we have to offer, and these are only available if we let go of the old baggage that is sitting in us from the past.

     1. Yes so much acceptance and willingness to heal. Very beautiful and although a short piece of writing it could be the cornerstone for others to be inspired by to truly change their lives.

487. Universal Medicine has supported me to see that my anger, frustration, sadness etc are not actually me, they are not what moulds and make me, they are the culmination of my unexpressed awareness & that if i commit to moving and verbalising what i feel when i feel it, then my body feels lighter, less burdened and I can feel the pull to stand up for what feels true.

488. Having been told to ‘keep a lid on it’ as a young person – ‘we don’t wear our hearts on our sleeve in this family’ – I can so relate to your line ” The letting go is the healing and a very necessary part of someone’s growth and development.” Until we do this we are carting around old and unnecessary baggage throughout our life.

489. Alison, I love this; ‘Rather than trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow’, I observe in my local school that as children get older they start to hold the tears in and pretend they are ok, whereas the younger children , whether boys or girls will naturally cry and talk about why, this is the equal with boys and girls – this feels very natural and things get talked about and resolved, whereas I can feel how with the older children things are held in and not dealt with and that is where the hurts can build and the hardness can come.

490. Unexpressed emotions are poison in our body and if not cleared the body then has to deal with them. Illness and disease is simply the body’s way go getting rid of what is not natural or loving for the body. We have to start assuming responsibility for the choices we are making and the diseases/ illnesses we are experiencing.

491. “could our apparent breakdown actually be our body’s ultimate spring clean, shedding the layers of what doesn’t belong to make way for the new?” What can seem tragic at the time can open new doors – new possibilities – in the long run. I can vouch for this.

492. Humanity is, indeed, ‘putting a lid on it’, so much so that the underlying tension feels at times like a massive pressure cooker, with the lid beginning to rattle and move, threatening to burst off and be propelled violently across the kitchen of life, at any given moment.

     1. I love your very vivid and tangible descriptions of what is going on.

     2. Hence why suicide rates are are incredibly high and many have depression from not expressing what is bubbling away inside.

        1. Showing that expression is everything, that is where Universal Medicine comes in and supports healthcare by bringing the energetic outplay of our choices on the body.

493. Realising that our emotions are not actually us but an energy that is so attached, or ’embedded’ in us, that we come to believe that they are changes our whole outlook to life. To then extricate oneself from their enthralment is like pulling oneself out of a quagmire, which can be very challenging but oh so liberating.

494. Becoming aware of these harming emotions that may be held in the body is the first step to being free of them.

495. When we begin to understand the true nature of energy and how it underpins our emotions, thoughts and actions, we can begin to decipher our real selves amidst our emotional turmoil. It is a life changing revelation and one that has the potential to free us from our self-made emotional prisons.

496. I got dumped by a girl friend in my twenties and really played down how hurt I really was and coped by drinking lots of alcohol and brushing those feelings under the carpet. It wasn’t till, I think it was last year during a healing course that it came up and I felt the hurt, and let it go so that energy is no longer in my body. How many of us carry stuff around weighing us down when it is totally unnecessary to do so.

     1. And how many of us carry around hurts we’re not even aware of, until they surface, years later? Our relationships with ourselves and all others would be very different if we committed to dealing with those hurt feelings, because, left undealt with, they manifest as not-so-helpful behaviours that sometimes play out on the subtlest level – yet they’re still there.

497. In London, we have buses that run on Hydrogen to help in reducing air pollution. The only thing created as a by-product of this energy source is water. Now, when we look at what high grade melted dinosaurs, better known as Diesel, what its by-products do to us is well known. Our bodies are amazing and will run on almost any kind of fuel, the choice is always ours, even when we know the consequences of the wear and tear it causes to our vehicle of expression and the world we live in!

498. The statistics for male suicides in Australia are alarming. It makes sense to attribute a large part of this to how boys are raised, encouraged as they are to ‘man up’, ‘not cry’, ‘not be a baby’ or called ‘sissy’ in many families. Boys and girls are equally gentle, fragile, vulnerable and should be supported to embrace this, talk about how they feel and understand that to do so is a strength not weakness.

499. To consider the possibility that living with unresolved emotions are tied up in illness and diseases does make sense especially as you can’t help but notice or feel how disharmony affects human movement, behaviour, and choices.

500. To feel our life falling apart is a very good place to be in. It’s the very point we should stop fighting and let it happen, let it all out.. As you say Alison, holding back the tears is not the answer. Connecting to deeply held feelings and sharing them with a supportive other, drops the protective guard and opens the floodgates. When this happened to me a few years ago, I felt a deep sense of relief, connected to the true me and began to breathe again.To share how we are truly feeling with another is an important step back to healing.

501. When we can let go of the emotional hurt and allow ourselves to feel the root of this hurt, we are on our way back to who we naturally are. And in that allowing oneself to be vulnerable in any situation, we are able to see and feel any abuse we experience in life and can observe it for what it is and will not absorb it and put it away as something we do not want to deal with.

502. Reading your chapter I got more aware how superficial and trapped in patterns of control,and protection we often are in our relationships. So seldom there is the person directly is open to show her true self but there are layers of protection corresponding and interacting with each other.
     This is sad and needs humbleness to get honest about.

503. I had the feeling that resilience wasn’t it but never quite the understanding of why. To be vulnerable is not a weakness but a way of connecting more closely to how we feel and let go of harming emotions that in resilience get trapped in our bodies.

504. Healing takes many forms and true healing is releasing the ill energies that kept us from living the Love we are! So could it be we need to be Love and see everything else that is less than Love as an ill? Then we can be Love “so that we can resolve our hurts and make a different choice going forward.” Looking for replacements at best fills the gap but never gets to the root cause so seeing things as being love-less starts the healing thus opening us up to True Love and healing that will nurture the body. This is great Alison, and by allowing us to be “encouraging one another to speak up” develops a trust so that our sharing reveals how we have been open to living less than Love.

505. A beautiful sharing Alison and very relatable to how I have dealt with things in the past.. I have started to listen to myself more and when I do how different the outcome is.

506. Letting go of something creates space…to see…and what is seen can be understood.. and what is understood can be embraced.

507. If we have created a momentum based on a series of movements that have taken us away from our true self (Soul) then it is inevitable that, no matter how much we delay, there will come a time where we have to face all that we have put in place that imprisons us and finally make the choice to renounce it so we can once again move unencumbered by all that prevents us from moving true to the love that we are.

508. ‘…illness and disease – the Soul’s way of clearing out our unresolved baggage.’

     Beautifully put, Alison, simple and succinct. And it doesn’t mean illness and disease can’t be scary – for some of it surely is at the purely human and medical level – but it does allow us to bring a big picture understanding to the table.

509. Letting go of our hurts has a huge impact on everything that we are a part of. Not only are we freeing ourselves from these deep sores, we are also, energetically, clearing out what doesn’t belong, making space for more of who we truly are. Allowing our true selves to shine more brightly, everything we say and do now has a deeper, richer, quality of ‘us’, which is deeply felt by everyone. It is so beautiful to peel back the layers, letting go of who we are not and feeling the exquisiteness being who we truly are.

510. Keeping the deck of cards stacked high is exhausting and takes so much focusing of attention that actually letting them all fall down and discovering I’m still intact at the end of it is actually a wonderful letting go of what wasn’t true and being more honest so I can build a true foundation from which to grow.

511. When you consider it … everyone meets those protections and hurts we carry so they do not in fact get us in the essence of us – they get the version because of what’s happened in our lives and it has nothing to do with them these hurts we carry … we deplete who we are in living in this way and the key to letting go is with us being willing to address those hurts … why would we not want to be all of us with each person we meet and with ourselves?

512. ‘could this lack of expression actually be holding us in a prison of suffering, when being vulnerable could be the key to emotional freedom?’ – very much so, Alison. It becomes a vicious circle, our lack of expression, feeling like we need to be ‘tough’ and hold our hurts inside, just buries them even deeper. The longer this goes on we become weighed down with a plethora of emotional sores that we carry with us into absolutely everything we do and say. If we, instead, chose to open the hatches and allow ourselves to be vulnerable, to feel what is truly going on for us in our bodies, we would be amazed at how simple it can be to free ourselves of these heavy weights which we have been holding onto for years and years.

513. Thank you Alison. I agree, it is in the breakdowns that I have alway experienced the greatest levels of honesty which have in turn allowed me to see clearly what energy I have been running my body with, which then gives me the opportunity to make changes to how I respond to life. So the breakdowns are perhaps our gifts for truth to come back and be a greater part of life.

514. Apparently healthy people may only look healthy on the surface. I often hear something in people’s voice or see it in their movement or how they feel overall and I get the feeling that something can be quite wrong even though the body still is considered healthy.

515. Often it is an event of massive proportions that stops us in our tracks and provides us with the opportunity… but as I have become more sensitive and learnt to listen to my feelings here and now, so I have developed so many more opportunities to feel what is hurting me, and what the right choice is.

516. Isn’t it amazing how we learn to ‘cope’ with life while not really being allowed to live who we are? It’s like telling ourselves never to put our foot wrong while not even knowing how to walk in the first place.

517. Makes perfect sense. Bottling up all our stuff is a classic ‘what not to do’, yet is basically what we’re taught to do even though perhaps not directly. Ultimately, it’s ‘suck it up, and move on’. But, we don’t move on when we don’t deal with what’s in front of us, and the knock on effect is so much greater than society really wants to see.

518. So true, in the hardening we lock ourselves away further, however, when we open up and express our vulnerabilities we give ourselves permission to let it go.

519. This turns the general perception of breakdown upside down. A breakdown is not usually seen as a ‘good’ thing, but if it is seen as a breaking down of our layers of protection to enable us to heal our deepest hurts and live free of constraint and control, this to me is a cause for celebration.

520. The number of suicides in Australia in 2015 is staggering; it equates to something like eight people taking their own life every single day of the year, on average. Multiply that by the number of people who are directly and indirectly affected and it is clear that this is a topic that concerns us all.

521. Thank you Alison and so true. We invest a great deal of energy in shielding our most powerful quality, our vulnerability. When we finally begin to dismantle the layers of armour we have applied to our bodies in order to protect this precious gift it is a huge relief. The more open and honest we are about what we are feeling and experiencing, the more we enable our selves and one another to process and deal with all the tensions in life without causing our bodies undue stress.

522. Reading this has reminded me of something similar with someone who is very gentle, loving and kind, and recovering from a breakdown. When there are so many things unsaid and emotions held onto in these situations it is not surprising that something has to give.

523. A wise woman once said to me – ‘the only real protection is our Love.’ When I heard these words and felt the undeniable truth of them I melted into myself. It was like I was being given the warmest most delicious hug from this Love within me that I had dismissed and forgotten about until that point. Those words activated the resolution in me to remember this Love again and to live it… and letting go of all the hard walls I would carry has been a journey of amazing surrender back to my soul. Better than any holiday journey or trip one could imagine… the ticket back home to our soul is the most amazing trip we can ever take.

524. It is very supportive to reflect on our day, to appreciate the good stuff and with out judgment, critique the not so good stuff. Then we can learn from our mistakes and make a different choice the next time around

525. ‘Rather than trying to ‘put a lid on it’ and keep things appearingly functional, we should be encouraging one another to speak up and let the tears flow.’ Yep I so agree and be honest about what we are feeling. Burying and denial get us nowhere and takes an illness or dis-ease to clear it.

526. Great article that puts the spin on what a ‘breakdown’ is and could be. I remember points thinking I was having or going to have a ‘breakdown’. It was like the pressure was to great and you just had to let go before you broke. I had allowed the world to be on top of me and the only way out was to walk myself out and choose to live another way. I tried living the opposite which only bought about the same feeling but just looked different and then it all came back to truly feeling and letting go, feeling and letting go. It was like that everything I had felt I was holding onto and this built the pressure. We are always feeling and so it would make sense to keep being aware of what you are feeling and appreciating what this brings.

527. Brilliant blog Alison, you’ve shared so many key points that supports us to let go, heal and be love. Being vulnerable and allowing our sensitivity through is actually so important. I find when I’ve had a good cry from letting go of a hurt, I feel much lighter and more connected to myself. Holding onto hurts just hurt us more.

528. I went through a very stressful period in my life and it culminated to a point where I took six weeks off to recover from that. My body literally said no more and I had to stop. It was not a full on breakdown but it was in that camp. It was the best thing that ever happened to me because I was forced to stop, take time off and rest, and in time heal the hurts that led to that spot. I also learnt some important life lessons (albeit the hard way!).

529. These emotions can feel like they are part of who we are, like being an angry or sad person, when in fact they are just an energy held in our bodies, the apparent difference between people only being how deeply embedded they’ve become. I used to think the emotions that I constantly had were me and that I was just weak and couldn’t change that, until I went to Universal Medicine presentations and courses and met Serge. It makes so much sense that we are not those things because they are not with us all the time, only when we feel less in some way, and then these things spring up from those places where they have been nicely tucked away by us.

530. A beautiful invitation Alison – to give our selves permission to be the tender beings we innately are. What a world of difference this makes to how we respond to and with the world around us.

531. Alison this is gorgeous. Lately I have allowed myself to feel more vulnerable and at first I thought there was something wrong with me, but when I allowed myself to simply feel what was there and not toughen up, it felt glorious. It is only our hard shell that breaks down and not us. We are ever steady even when feeling it all. When we drop the protection the adjustment can feel like a break down.

     1. I found that if I label it as vulnerable I will have a strong urge to protect myself but if I note it as being fragile and very aware, it is much more harmonious even though it has the same starting point.

     2. Interesting point you have shared here Nikki Mckee. By just allowing ourselves to feel this and nothing else in a step in the direction of feeling truly what is going on as this blog so powerfully shares.

     3. Nikki I had the same reaction but unfortunately went back into old patterns of using food not to feel. I’m glad to hear gloriousness awaits once I learn to crack this particular nut!

        1. For me all I had to do was be willing to go there. It is far more glorious than a bloated belly!

532. I used to think that my emotions were who I was and it was quite a revelation to realise that they are not. Once we understand this it frees us up in our relationships as well because we then don’t spend so much time reacting to others emotions and can see the essence of the person rather than the emotional hurt that they carry.

     1. Very true Elizabeth – I used to think the same, and it’s exactly as you have shared here. It is a freedom like no other to realise that who we truly are is pristine and pure, that there is an essence untainted by emotions we take on and experiences that have hurt us along the way. Our entire perspective on life, on ourselves and on people as a whole, changes when we connect once again to the pristineness we have inside of us, knowing that this is who we truly are and not the rollercoaster emotions we would otherwise identify ourselves with.

     2. This has been very supportive for me, to see people for their essence and not for their choices of emotions.

533. To understand emotions as simply ill-energy held in the body makes sense Alison. To know these emotions are not who we are is a powerful way of being able to begin to observe them and then make choices to heal them.
     “These emotions can feel like they are part of who we are, like being an angry or sad person, when in fact they are just an energy held in our bodies, the apparent difference between people only being how deeply embedded they’ve become.”

534. I have noticed that the times that I have been able to let myself really feel the source of something that I let hurt me, there was a feeling of that emotion be released from my body- like a giant weight lifted from my shoulders or an expansion of my chest and heart. The fact that I felt these palpable physical reactions in my body shows how the energy of emotions affects the physical plane of life- just as Serge Benhayon has taught since 1999.

     1. True Michael. If we accept the hurt is there instead of trying to protect ourselves from feeling it, we realise we then have a choice as the whether we hang on to it or let it go and allow ourselves to heal.

535. When we are more settled within – we are more capable to handle things from the outside. The more we surrender to our body – the more we feel.
     The more space we allow the more truly loving we get, as space is God”s love.

     1. Beautiful Danna – that feeling of the ‘everything’ that can be found inside when we feel the space inside us. Whether we call it Love, or God, or Joy it is always there, all the time, waiting for us to connect to it.

536. A breakdown is now often seen as a weakness but as you say it is often a point in our lives that allows for change and growth. Really seeing it for what it is and supporting each other when we have a hard time is the way forward to encourage people to learn and grow instead of push away feelings of not coping etc.

537. ‘Like the calm after the storm clouds have passed, there is a deep settlement in the body when someone allows themselves to feel and let go, like a sigh of relief – “finally I don’t have to carry this anymore!”’ I can certainly relate to this. I recognise those times when I have taken on unnecessary burdens but then have allowed myself to let go.. A very welcome feeling!

538. This understanding is profound Alison because people, on the whole, have difficulty explaining or understanding these events with their own knowledge. Expressing the description in this way gives an opening to think differently and be offered another feeling how the Soul clears the way for change. It feels like we have to go through this process for the breakthrough. I love your final statement of “The breaking down of our layers of protection is the key to letting people in and living a more love-filled life.”

539. I love what you share here – sometimes I have been in situations that feel like everything around me is breaking down, or maybe a picture or attachment I had held onto for a really long time is shattered or challanged and it feels hard, painful or uncomfortable. And yet when we ride this out, stay open and honest and are willing to go there, what is actually being offered is an opportunity to go deeper and shed all that is not who we truly are.

540. The very fact that statistics like this are so un-published and un-known is exactly why these statists exist in the first place.

541. This article inspires a stillness and openness in me, a lack of judgement, regret or guilt, an equality and beholding, a universality and purpose, an invitation and inspiration to the whole. This is the perfect foundation from which i can drop my protection and then begin to feel deeply into any hurts. This article is a true form of psychology. I have sat with many a counsellor or shrink, and can say that I have never felt this level of support, understanding, clarity, care and true purpose.

542. Dear Alison, what a fantastic blog to read. Straight to the point, clear and direct. I am sure a lot of people can relate to what you are describing here.

543. ” Break down ” from my understanding just about everyone has a ” break down ” for what causes a break down , is living a way that is not truly us , unloving , uncaring, giving up, eating abusively, drinking alcohol, smoking , drugs , simulating war battle by ” sport ” this list goes on . The break through comes when we stop not being us , but the challenge and difficulty is letting go of what is not us because we have accepted it and think we own it , but the truth is if we hang onto it ( not been us ) it will own us.

544. Just like everything is energy so is expression is everything. I honestly find it not so easy just to express how I feel because of the reaction. When, in fact expressing is all for the real face of change that is needed to restore balance on earth – easy said then done (pun intended). I suppose if I see this as a truth, then it’s a responsible I am to live.,

     1. Many times the reactions come from myself more than others in the denial of how I am feeling. Because many times I say how I feel and others don’t bat an eyelid or have a completely different take on the situation I hadn’t considered.

545. How important it is to let our protection go and to heal our deepest hurts – and allow our Love to express forth.

546. This is such a wise blog, thankyou very much for writing.

547. ‘Learning to cope, to be resilient and ‘keep it all together,’ are skills we’re taught to develop as children, with boys in particular feeling the pressure to ‘toughen up’ and ‘soldier on.’ Whilst these can appear like they’re serving us in the world and bringing the acceptance we’re desperately seeking, could this lack of expression actually be holding us in a prison of suffering, when being vulnerable could be the key to emotional freedom?’ I love this paragraph as it really resonated with me. Absolutely! My method of coping with life was to make the veneer look good, work hard and tick all the boxes, whilst underneath there was a lot of unresolved stuff going on! This toughening up really took its toll and whilst I am undoing all of this, the patterns I went into around not showing my vulnerability and expressing are still getting revealed and exposed!

548. ‘Learning to cope, to be resilient and ‘keep it all together,’ are skills we’re taught to develop as children, with boys in particular feeling the pressure to ‘toughen up’ and ‘soldier on.’ Whilst these can appear like they’re serving us in the world and bringing the acceptance we’re desperately seeking, could this lack of expression actually be holding us in a prison of suffering, when being vulnerable could be the key to emotional freedom?’ An absolutely brilliant paragraph, and who hasn’t or continues to be trapped in this cycle?

549. It is very confronting when we come to see that our emotions and go to behaviors are but mere tricks to keep us boxed and held in our old ways. But also very freeing, a trick exposed is one that no longer holds power over us.

550. The rate that men are suiciding worldwide is at crisis point. Surely it is not possible to look at the rates and not consider that there is something seriously wrong with how we are raising boys and treating men. Forget about going into space and let us spend more on educating men and women on how to look after themselves and how to connect with themselves and each other in a meaningful way.

     1. I agree with you Elizabeth, I read an article recently about a family who son committed suicide and the devastating effect it has had on everyone in the family and their circle of friends and it seems they had no idea their son was struggling with life. And what was so poignant was that the mother said that if she and her husband could have that time over again they would have raised their son so very differently, without the burden of expectation they put on him to succeed in life and have the security in a university degree with great job prospects.

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