878 thoughts on “Growing Old Beautifully and Looking Back with Understanding”

1. Beautiful to feel and read, ‘ I am now developing a relationship with life from the inside out: I am me, in the world, understanding my purpose and responsibility – the part I play in a much bigger picture in which we are all so beautifully connected.’

2. Such a gorgeous read, thank you Matilda. I had a conversation today about comparison and this line has been so supportive to read – “striving for some external perfection keeps us in competition, comparison and separation from one another, sizing each other up to see how close to the mark any one of us has got.” It is so true and the answer is to build a relationship to who we are within, and to feel the beauty we all are that no external marker could come close to.

3. I loved reading this blog, its bought insight in how life forces us to be in a certain way. Growing old is an honour, it isn’t about others needing to owe us because of our failures or choices. Wisdom is within us all no matter what age we are, it isn’t about the number, we are all equally the same, we are fed that we are not.

   Somewhere along the way, maybe a point in time, we wake up and realise that this isn’t it and from this awareness we make a decision and then life truly begins and when it begins it doesn’t matter what age we are, we can start at any time and truly living from then on. We see life for what it is then what it should be.

4. Feeling our age when we get to 50+ has been such a Joy and as you have shared Matilda, who would have guest the vibrancy of growing older as we expand our Livingness.

5. Many of us are not confirmed as children that we are beautiful that we shine like the stars we see at night, how many of us I wonder have been cherished in such a way? I’m not blaming any parent or Grand parent because they were probably not cherished either. We seem to have built a society that is totally loveless and yet this is the total opposite to our natural state of being. And it wasn’t until I met Serge Benhayon that I had any inkling that love is our natural state so I wonder why we keep this hidden from ourselves? Why do we want to live in a loveless society?

   1. Mary a very good question why do we want to live in a loveless society? And when we present love to others, people fight it and make it about the person offering it. Love is continuing to offer love whether they say yes to it or not, after all that’s all we can and have to offer…

   2. We don’t want to live in a loveless society, at a deep level we all crave love; how the world is just shows what a mess we have got ourselves in.

6. “growing old gracefully alongside a lot of very inspiring men and women in my life.” Inspired by the presentations by Serge Benhayon, as each day comes around I feel my inner beauty blossom as my physical body reflects the path I have stepped this life.

7. When we take care of the basics in self-care there is a deepening sense of self-worth and appreciation that simply keeps going. We do not arrive at an end point; we go beyond it. The level of love there for us to access is limitless.

8. There is evil out there that wants us to believe growing old is for losers, and that your worth decreases as you age, this could not be further from the truth, growing old gracefully, knowing we are eternal, knowing that love never leaves us – means we break though that evil that wants to tell us we are lesser.

   1. If we understand we reincarnate and our inner being is eternal then we don’t need to attribute value to ourselves based on the age of our body, instead we can have a deep purpose to be more of the love that we are and share the wisdom we have gained, and appreciate what that means for those around us.

9. It is a gift to see elderly people take stock of their life & take care to age gracefully, to bring the wealth of wisdom they can connect to. It supports the young to appreciate their journey in life & make the most of it.

10. Beauty is ageless and beauty is in the way you choose to see things, which is governed by the energy that is sourcing you.

11. Serge Benhayon has presented for years on the basics of self care and self love, and though they are such basic steps, they really are such a super powerful foundation when they are lived on a day to day basis. With this as a foundation it is truly difficult to be rocked by those things that used to rock a person when they had little lived self care and love. A blessing that only each and every one of us can embrace by living it in full.

12. Matilda, much of what you have shared about aging resonates well with me – I too have found myself being far more loving and accepting of myself in general and my body too as I have aged and when I look at pictures of myself younger, I wonder how it is that I did not like what I saw – it is clear that at the time I did not allow myself to see what I see today which means that I have finally allowed myself to let go of some of the constructs that society does put upon us from a young age to be a certain way, to look a certain way etc. To discard these conditions and to just be is an amazing gift given to ourselves. And it keeps going…there is so much to let go of and ‘unlearn’ in life.

13. I agree as Universal Medicine have supported me loads in many ways, including offering a different reflection, in how to truly care for me. I can now say I am looking after me now how I would have wanted to be cared and looked after when I was younger, there is still loads of room for this to unfold and deepen but its a pretty good starting point and place to be in.

14. I never think of you as a 50 year old woman Matilda, I never think of you in any age really. But that is because of the way you hold yourself, your beauty is ageless, your grace is prevalent and your smile heavenly shines through.

15. What stands out for me when reading these blogs is that everyone seems to say the same thing in different ways and that is that Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine offer a foundation upon which we can rediscover and rebuild ourselves back to our inner most the essence of who we truly are if we so choose there is always a choice.

    1. With that comes an enjoyment of life and who we are, ‘I enjoy being me, which has the gorgeous side effect of my enjoying the way I look, expressing myself with clothes, make up, in my house, at work…’

16. So many beautiful lessons you’ve shared here. I especially like, ‘Eating in conversation with my body, listening to its signals’ and learning with humility.

17. Matilda, you are living proof that getting older does not have to fit in with the stereotypes we have grown up with. Very inspiring.

18. We are constantly barraged with pictures of how we should look – social media is saturated with it. I feel it is worse now than ever before because there are now so many ways to subliminally influence people especially if they feel uncertain about themselves. It is fascinating to see how it can take hold of people, so that they are seemingly obsessed by how they look and dress and how they never seem to be satisfied; they seem to be chasing something that is always just out of their grasp.

    1. Many people are obsessed with how they look, striving for some external perfection, and the consequences of that, ‘ I understand how this striving for some external perfection keeps us in competition, comparison and separation from one another, sizing each other up to see how close to the mark any one of us has got.’

19. Not only would I have ‘scoffed’ when I was younger if somebody suggested I would be as vital, beautiful and enjoying life as much as I now do in my late 60’s, I still find it difficult to accept. And even more amazing fact is that this joy and appreciation of life is ever deepening.

20. Comparison and jealousy only sets in when we have lost the acceptance and love for self. Unless we honour ourselves in exactly where we are at in our unfolding, reminding ourselves that there is no such thing as perfection, then it is impossible to evolve.

21. I wrote this piece over a year ago and it feels like ages as I re-read it today. The words are true and what I realise is that they have an aliveness to them that is dependent on a lived quality. Have I deepened my livingness of the above and/or settled for comfort or convenience? This is what makes life so interesting for me – it is always unfolding, there is always more to learn, not in a got to get somewhere way, more in a surrender and let life offer all its teachings way.

    1. Gorgeous Matilda, having markers such as this blog Matilda wrote just over twelve months ago offers us the opportunity to reflect and ponder on where we are today and to deeply appreciate knowing that in every moment we are being offered the opportunity to deepen.

       1. To deeply appreciate what we bring and share, our beauty and love, ‘It is amazing and remarkable for me to say I feel beautiful at fifty and that I am looking forward to whatever lies ahead’.

    2. So beautifully said Matilda – looking back is a great reflection and confirmation of the choices made since then. A moment to contemplate how much has been embraced of the all that has been on offer – and a celebration of those moments embraced and an understanding of those moments yet to be embraced.

22. Matilda, I can really relate to this; ‘from childhood to 40 – my relationship with my body was based entirely on how it looked and whether it met the grade of whatever aesthetic and fashion standard was set at the time.’ Reading this reminds me that I did not value my true qualities such as sweetness and tenderness and that my focus and self-worth was based on how I looked. It feels great to now focus on my qualities and I have noticed that since appreciating these that I can now see my beauty inside and out.

23. We have a second opportunity when we get older to address all that we didn’t address when we were younger and it sounds like you embraced that opportunity and now have a full life to live!

    1. Spot on Lucy, the opportunities abound and that is what makes life the blessing that it is – each moment is a moment to belong, to deepen and to embrace another level of the beauty that lies within. Cycles may seem like a curse at times, but really they are the greatest blessing and love that could be offered us to learn and grow and truly evolve. When we understand this, as you have shared in your comment, each moment is simply an opportunity to return to who we are.

24. Matilda you are beautiful, thank you for sharing this with us, the more we accept our own divine beauty the more we can not but shine.

25. Matilda, you’ve shown us how growing old is actually a very beautiful process, opposite to what society fears and are fighting. Embracing ageing graciously is the way to go and living The Way of The Livingness have support me with this very beautiful process.

    1. Inspired by women and men around me who show me that true beauty and grace are not physical qualities but inner qualities that then sparkle through our physicality, I embrace the potential of each moment as I age!

26. ” we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.” This is very beautiful Matilda, we are no island even though we live like we are.

27. This is inspiring to read Matilda; ‘It is amazing and remarkable for me to say I feel beautiful at fifty and that I am looking forward to whatever lies ahead; growing old gracefully.’ You are a role model to other women and prove that ageing can be a beautiful process where we can feel well and vital.

28. So beautifully expressed Matilda, and I too can relate in so many ways. Life is such a learning ground, a life-school. And I too have learned over the years to feel more and more beautiful. At 45 years old now I appreciate my own body so much more than ever before and this is a gift that I get to enjoy on waking up every day and also I get to go to sleep with this too! 😉

29. Matilda, this is Gold, for indeed we are born with all that we ever need and more within: “I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known. What Serge and Universal Medicine have done is to offer a foundation upon which we can build ourselves back to our innate potential.” – we are all born with it all, it is simply our job to activate it by living it.

30. In recent times I have come to see so clearly that the world we are born into is set up to keep us from not knowing who we are, as from the moment we take our first breath all the messages are telling us that we are not good enough as we are and that we need to take on a long list of ideals and beliefs to feel like we fit in. And one of those ideals is the “ever-changing set of rules about how we must look”. How self-worth destructive this focus on our outward appearance is, all the while missing out on the true and ageless beauty we all have within.

    1. So true. This looking outside of ourselves for our self-worth is so embedded as our normal that we rarely question it but the rising rates of depression has to tell us that something about the way we have been living is very wrong.

       1. And I have to ask, how much further do those rates of depression, sometimes resulting in suicide, have to rise before humanity as a whole, demands to know what is going on, and how can it be stopped? Have we simply accepted that depression is a part of life we can’t do anything about, another destructive normal that has entrenched itself in our belief system? Well, for me, it is definitely not a normal part of life and the answers to why it is has become so, as well as how it can be healed, are wisely presented by Serge Benhayon, a man who makes sense of a world that does not make sense to most.

31. Looking back with love and understanding is key and there is a lot we can learn and heal when we chose to live life in this way. I look back with understanding and I am able to clearly see strengths hidden, hurts healed, my potential here to live. If I was not understanding I would not have that clarity.

    1. Love and understanding are always an important part of our lives.

32. I can feel your beauty, grace and also joy coming off the screen, and that is without even seeing you! Showing me that beauty really is more than just skin-deep.

    1. So true Sarah, I too can feel Matilda’s beauty through her words, the quality and delicateness of the way she expressed is captured in this blog. And, I agree, beauty is definitely more than just skin-deep, when we connect to the vibration of what is expressed and the vibration of a person’s movements, this beauty we refer to can certainly be felt.

33. I don’t consider myself old as I feel very young but when I look back on my life and reflect what I used to do and where I was at I can see how much I have grown, learnt and evolved. This is something that I can really appreciate and I just love the fact this will always be the case. It doesn’t matter how old we are we can learn and grow all of the time, life after life.

    1. We can and do learn and grow all the time, appreciation for ourselves as we embrace our unfolding and evolving is a gorgeous support.

34. I have read something similar from someone else ‘I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known.’ and on reflection when I first met Serge I knew what he was teaching or presenting was a truth, there was not a shadow of a doubt of this the truth was clearly felt in my body even though at the time I was in a bit of a mess! Which makes me wonder if we know something to be true why on earth do we not live this as in this example it is only 3 people but in the world we have approximately 7.5 billion people. That is potentially 7.5 billion people living something they know is not true!!! No wonder the world is in such the mess it is currently in!

35. I am not listening to the beliefs and images that our world has about growing old. I am 67 and feel better then I did when I was 50. How is that possible? I have had support in this process, but most important was, do not limit myself in what I can and can not do. Yes, I need to constantly check in and make sure I am not pushing beyond what my body can handle, but having no pictures about what is possible is the key.

    1. I am in exactly the same place as you Ken, a place of common sense as to what ageing is truly all about. I know from my own lived experience, that it’s not all ‘downhill’ but that it can be a time of joy, vitality and a wonderful well-being. How vital and joyful I am comes from the self-loving choices I make, and from making these love-based choices, at 69, I too am feeling ‘better than I did when I was 50’!

36. To feel the best I have ever felt (and the most beautiful too) as I approach my fifties really is a surprise that at the age of twenty I never thought I would feel by the time I got to this age and stage of life. Getting older doesn’t have to be the pain and strain we are led to believe.

    1. I am with you there, more sexy, vibrant, confident then I have ever been. Age has it’s reflections to offer and stages to consider, but how we feel inside is not related to age. Breaking the trend of ill health and exhaustion in older age can be a reality, living well and caring for our being is a choice we can all make.

       1. Feeling younger, more vibrant and more joyful as we age really is a possibility and not the paradox we might think.

    2. It is very rare to meet someone in their late forties or fifties who are feeling like the way you do, Rachel. This will have a lot of people very intrigued because a majority of our population often thinks anyone aged forty or above is heading downhill but what you’ve shared is the opposite of our society’s model. Your beautiful reflection is what our world needs and I am joining you too in showing the world how joyful ageing can be.

       1. Beautiful chanly88, there is an age revolution happening… many are showing a grace and joy with the ageing process and going ‘uphill’ all the way!

    3. I love reading these comments and feeling the beauty and strength of ageing with self respect, lots of honouring and always appreciation. Thank you.

37. If only we lived forward understanding the true meaning of the past we would not stay imprisoned by our beliefs and hurts.

38. I am fortunately to have a beautiful friendship with an amazing women who is 88, she is super remarkable at this age and reflects the power of healing and being honest. Willing to look at what ever is not of Love, she is vital, sharp as a tack, still out volunteering at hospices, inspiring all generations and is taking deeper care than ever before. It’s never to late to honour ourselves with the absolute precious care we deserve.

    1. Natalie what you have shared is lovely as this shows us our future of what is possible. We do not have to live our elderly years checked out, living in care homes crippled with illness we can be vital and full of life to the very end what a beautiful inspiration your friend is to everyone.

39. If I drop those ideals of perfection that I have spent so much time striving for, I also can drop the need to compare and compete with others. Phew what a huge relief.

40. Every minute is a cycle, every day is a cycle, every month is cycle, every year is a cycle, every life is a cycle and we could go on and on. Aging is a part of this divine cycle and is a blessing on all levels as it teaches us to respect and care for the body which is our connection to the being that lives within the body.

    1. Beautiful Henrietta, I love your appreciation for our cycles, we cannot avoid them and we certainly cannot reverse them either. Our cycles are a blessing and once we embrace and accept our part in the many cycles that we live in, perhaps collectively, we may not fight them as much as we do now.

    2. Yes and with that at the forefront of our way of living it takes the pressure off getting it right. We have an opportunity to look in the mirror and see what is there to be seen not simply what we want to see.

41. Funny how as I grow older in life and see more wrinkles appearing or realise my body is not as nimble as it used to be as a child, I still do not feel older on the inside – to me this says a lot about there being a being on the inside that is ageless.

42. The mere fact that we can feel the same joyful self that we were when we were younger, despite the apparent ageing of our body, highlights for me the presence of the being inside the human.

43. Having a belief about what is beautiful will set you up to not beauty.
    Our world is so caught up with comparison when it comes to seeing beauty. But when you compare you are losing the ability to really see what is there.
    For me it requires stopping and checking in with myself, being present with what is going on with me, because this influences how I interrupt what I see. Then just receive what is being offered.
    Thank you Serge Benhayon for supporting me to truly see.

44. ‘Looking back, I also see how unanchored I was, having little to no relationship with myself on which to build a sense of who I was and what my purpose in life could possibly be.’ And I had no idea that the anchor was inside of me. But while writing this down I felt deep down I knew I had everything I am inside of me but did not know how to live with myself lovingly, as there was nothing in the outside world that confirmed this beautiful anchor inside.

    1. Reflections in the world can confirm our beauty, like a beautiful relationship with another, ‘we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.’

45. ‘I enjoy being me’ – that’s it, so simple, and so obvious, yet we spend years, if not life times, putting buffers in-between.

46. Thanks Matilda… It’s not just that for me I feel so much more appreciative of myself that I used to, is also that I actually did not know myself really at all so how could I appreciate what I didn’t know.

47. The more we can develop understanding in our younger years the easier it will be to bring it into our elder years.

48. Living up to pictures of what we should look like or conduct ourselves means nothing when you find out that your whole life has been built on lies. Every woman should feel their beauty no matter what age or physical appearance.

49. To spend 40 or 50 years feeling unsure of what is happening is an awful indictment of our education system and what is generally allowed in this world. That would be if it was one person, so the fact it happens to most is truly awful. To then be inspired to see the truth we know inside, to unlock our innate beauty… a priceless gift.

50. Using the words “old” and “beautiful” in the same sentence is wonderful because it breaks down the belief that we can only be beautiful when we are young.

51. I agree with what you have said Matilda, that you did not learn anything new with Serge Benhayon and he is the first person to encourage everyone to reach this understanding. Serge Benhayon has always presented that we know everything he knows as we all come from the same place and we do which is why what he presents resonates within our bodies and reignites our own truth.

52. It is a trend that elderly people are discarded as being useless for society and therefore are not appreciated for the life experience they have to share. And with that behaviour every new generation has the right to make the same mistakes or learnings over and over again and in truth does choose to not evolve back.

53. That what Serge Benhayon lives and presents is not new, it is the Ageless Wisdom he comes with in every step he makes. So when you meet him you got remembered that we know that too. The only point can be that we are so invested in this life we have created for ourself that we do not like to be disturbed in this activity, heavily react instead and make that what Serge presents ridiculous.

54. There is nothing more joyous than to feel and know that we are ageless and that our existence is out of this world first and formost: beingness, Soul.

55. To age with grace and step into greater wisdom, is a beautiful thing. Ageing doesn’t have to be the ill ridden, lonely, depressed and worthless image we are sold it to be.

56. “What Serge and Universal Medicine have done is to offer a foundation upon which we can build ourselves back to our innate potential” – yes what is offered is the return to who we truly are and the love we are from. Through the teachings and support of Universal Medicine I have deeply appreciated the one big swing door that love is; receiving and being open to it [love] together at the same time.

57. When we make life more about the quality we feel inside ourselves we won’t make it so much about our age but how we have to live to be connected to ourselves and feel that quality. A total game (and life) changer.

    1. And with that we not only live more gracefully for ourselves but bring that same grace into any relationship we engage in.

58. Life is a preparation for death, from the moment we are born, and death is simply the beginning of a new cycle. So how we live today and now is what guarantees our future and the quality of our lives to come.

59. Funny how the older I get in years, the more I can appreciate about my body and love myself more – which to me is how it should have been from the word go when I was younger too – but it is never too late to begin to love yourself up.

60. Yes how beautiful and loving is it to actually start caring for our body again: feeling what it needs, in which ways we can constantly support it and what we do no longer want. How powerful is this instrument when we love it to its detailed signals.

61. Ageing is not to be feared because in truth it is a wonderful time to allow more of ourselves to come out and be shared with all those around us.

62. I too made the leap last year into my fifth decade and I have to say I have never felt better or freer. I used to kid myself that I wasn’t affected by trends, fads or pressure from my friends, but I was, and I’m free of most of the vices that kept me from just being me.

    1. Love this celebration Kevin, as if the shackles that have kept you chained are coming off, and you are free to be and know yourself.

63. I am in my 40’s and most days I feel incredibly beautiful, I catch myself in the mirror and I feel wow awesome…this is not vanity, the is appreciation of the steps I have taken back to me..I see the glow and shine of a life lived with commitment….this is far away form my teens and 20’s when I was insecure and ‘shy’ and so what is beauty….it emanates from a deeper place than just our facial skin and structure and that in itself can change and alter when we choose self love. The love shines out when it is lived.

64. If we understood that from 40 years onwards we begin to lay the foundation for our next incarnation, we would not get so caught up in regret nor use this as a tactic to further delay our evolution back to Soul.

    1. Very well said Liane, for it is truth we are here to feel our essence first and than look at the temporal way of life. This would be so much wiser!

65. The benefits of deepening our own self care, to a level of self-nurturing are beyond measure and can only support us to age with appreciation and grace.

66. There is far too much negative talk about getting old and pictures to keep us from being our beautiful selves in full. No wonder people do not look forward to getting old and fight it at all costs.

67. That we have accepted a way of living that is in complete opposition to the divinity of who we innately are, is an exploitation of the power we all hold to live the sacredness that we are born to live here on earth. This sacredness never changes regardless of our age or gender. We have the choice to reclaim all the standards that we have set and imposed on us as to what it means to be an ‘accepted’ part of society and how we are expected to behave for us to belong. Whereas we already do belong to a stupendously greater whole, and in understanding and embracing our innate divinity and interdependence we reflect this lived truth for all others to see and feel.

68. “Looking back now I consider this one of the meanest set ups in society: the ever-changing set of rules about how we must look, that leaves most of us not ‘in.” . . .this a deliberate attempt to keep women down and insecure about themselves. It is such a relief when we see through this ploy and know that being ourselves is more than enough in fact it is what the world fears the most for a woman in her power is a woman to be reckoned with as she is not going to accept anything less than love and she will not be manipulated or controlled.

69. It’s a choice to either feel gorgeous, absolute, lovely, amazing, delicious and more amazing qualities. Or you can choose to feel everything that is not these qualities including heavy, hard, indulgent, abusive, only human and more.

    1. Well said Joshua. It is a question about to which source of energy do we align – all that is love or all that is not love – and once this alignment is made the whole gamut of choices can be chosen in relation to how we live our life in obedience to the chosen source of energy.

70. As I have grown older I have started to look after myself more, from simply allowing myself more time and not rushing, to understanding that comparison gets us nowhere, and through many self loving choices I now have more contentment and confidence within myself.

71. It is a great evil that we are sold a picture of how we should be and then spend our lives trying to squeeze ourselves into it. Is this not how reductionism works? The majesty of the Universe reduced to an isolated and barely functioning part that cannot remember the glorious Whole it has separated from.

72. It is a wonderful thing to allow yourself to be loved. It is a loving work in progress for me. I love quite freely and I know people love me and that I am loved, but too allow myself to really let that love in, is not always so easy for me. Slowly but surely. It reminds me of a time going through some cards once and reading one from my sister and I allowed myself to feel how much she loved me, and I rang her and I was like, you really love me don’t you, and she was like, yep. More of that Sarah x

73. I have just spent some time with two women I went through high school with, one I hadn’t seen for 35 years. The most delightful realisation that we all had was that even though we all look a little different, courtesy of wrinkles and grey hair etc, when we were sitting there together it felt as if no time had passed. I could feel, and shared, that this was because in our essence we were still those gorgeous 13-16 year old girls who had connected at such a deep level time had no meaning. It confirmed for me that it doesn’t matter how old I am and what I look like on the outside, if I am connected to my essence and feeling joyful on the inside this is what will be reflected to all those around me.

    1. Yes I love this Ingrid. When a true connection has been made it makes no difference how many years have passed. Love is ageless.

74. When we buy into how one has to look, we also buy into what is that we have to look at and what is not of interest.

75. ‘ I am now developing a relationship with life from the inside out ‘ yes and I find how life transforming this is. More and more living by my inner guidance and the guidance of my body rather than being ruled by the should and expectations from outside.

76. “Looking back, I also see how unanchored I was, having little to no relationship with myself on which to build a sense of who I was and what my purpose in life could possibly be.” I can relate to this Matilda, that deep down I was unanchored and did not have a true relationship with myself until I met Serge Benhayon and attended the incredible presentations and workshop. To cover this up I would lie to myself that I was fine and would outwardly seem confident but this was built on an arrogance of pretending I knew who I was and controlling life to make sure the lie was not uncovered. Looking back I can see how much I was missing out on life, not really participating by being comfortable in my own little bubble.

77. Meeting Serge Benhayon and attending Universal Medicine presentations is the best thing I have ever done in my life. I am more with me and also more open with others and definitely have more understanding. Making new lifestyle choices is a no brainer as far as I’m concerned.

78. Gorgeous — set the whole different angle ON: in fact that we are multidimensional more than physical or of age!

    1. We sure are Danna, we just need to keep reminding ourselves of this fact, atleast I do! 🙂

79. This is great Matilda, and may I add that when we also have conversations at the dinner table as well as; “Eating in conversation with my body, listening to its signals” we can expand our awareness and evolve through the discussions that are developing our understanding of life.

80. Those lines on our faces are lived lines showing another that what is offered in our bodies as we age is a reflection of the experiences that shares what truly supports one to live the vitality and joy that is on offer.

81. It feels more true to say you are expanding gracefully Matilda rather than ‘growing old gracefully’ 🙂 Very lovely.

    1. These wise lines are lines of appreciation of what has been lived and shared for future generations to feel and hear.

82. Matilda this is a powerful sharing of how we can gracefully and beautifully age when we let go of pictures and ideals, embracing the ageing process is a cycle that is rich and full of wisdom and elder energy that is deeply inspiring for us all.

83. The more we look in our eyes each time to face a mirror and stop to appreciate what we have lived and what chooses we now make brings out the true beauty we are all seeking from the outside that so naturally reside from within.

84. It is so important to reflect on the past so we can let go of what does not support us to make way for new ways that allow us to live our potential more and more.

    1. I agree Suse, it sure is as we then get to appreciate and confirm all the choices we have made and also solidfy and strengthen the foundation we have laid. So then we can, as you say, ‘to live our potential more and more’.

85. The never ending search to ‘get there’ whether that be the dream job, certain body weight, house paid off, certain partner etc leaves us constantly searching for something outside of ourselves and then when we do get these things they are not enjoyed because we are in the momentum of looking ahead instead of being with ourselves.

86. There is such a simplicity shared here, how ‘there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth’ … and that’s just it, for many of us we load ourselves with ideals of how we think we should be and see around us in society until for some of us we’re offered a stop and we begin to unpick those layers and come to understand that wisdom lies in us, it always has.

87. Pingback: Going with or Resisting our Natural Cycles – Women in Livingness Blog

88. There is nothing more beautiful than someone who is accepting of themselves as they grow older.

    1. I agree Elizabeth, it is gorgeous to see this spark in older people.

89. When we don’t appreciate where we are then we can get caught up in needing to look a certain way. I caught myself looking at older pictures of me today and wishing I looked a certain way. This really hit home in terms of me not appreciating where I am at now. So it was a great learning for me in terms of what areas I avoid appreciating about myself.

90. “I am now developing a relationship with life from the inside out: I am me, in the world, understanding my purpose and responsibility”. This is what brings in the steadiness, stopping the reliance on the outside world and developing a connection to you and living what is true for you, out. It is the change the world is looking for (well maybe not the retailers at first 🙂 )

91. To truly feel beautiful as we age, is surely an indication in the world that belies what is presented to humanity through the media, through almost everything as to what is normal, that is, that as we age we are less.

92. “Looking back, I also see how unanchored I was, having little to no relationship with myself on which to build a sense of who I was and what my purpose in life could possibly be. ” I feel so many of us grow up with this uncertainty of who we are and our purpose in life, feeling unanchored and finding life confusing. To have this strong foundation from an early age knowing who we are and not be willing to compromise what we know to be true is something that we should all learn, and be the basis of our education both from our school and from our families. This is inner knowing is what supports us to grow into the beautiful men and women we naturally are.

93. Growing old rocks! I am so enjoying it.

94. “If someone had told me when I was younger that I would feel more beautiful in my fifties – for me, my 60’s – than ever before, I would have scoffed derisively”. In fact, this was totally contrary to what I had been lead to believe; that it was all ‘downhill’ and that’s just the way it was. Like you Matilda, I have certainly blown those old worn out beliefs out the window and now at 68 can say unreservedly that I am feeling the most beautiful I have ever felt in my life

95. Looking back can be useful but only if used to learn from and to support focussing on bringing the future to the present. As soon as we dwell or live in the past we are lost.

96. It is amazing Matilda and it shows how simply living the love you are and honouring yourself in full makes such a huge difference. It is inspiring having people like you offering reflections of who we all can be no matter what age we are.

97. If we look back and review recent events in truth, the first thing we’ll always start with is how beautiful we are. This gives us the platform to consider life with love and appreciation and wise eyes.

98. More people need to know that it is how we feel inside that defines the beauty of our outward appearance, and has little to do with the performance that we put in whatever theatrical make up we decide to wear that day.

99. When we ‘dislocate’ from our essence life is arduous, with all manner of thoughts controlling our movements. When connected to our essence, inner-most or esoteric, which are all one and the same, the movements become known in the ways that they will allow us to remain in that evolving connection. Thus growing in inner-wisdom; which has little to do with an age-modified-life, so life evolves by coming to us without any searching as our Livingness is assured through our movements.

100. It is really interesting to come back to this article and to realise that the process of growth and change is an ongoing project. A lapse in responsibility and self care means unsupportive thoughts and behaviours re-appear.

     1. Spot-on Matilda, and may I add that being of service through our divine connection is a vigilant task that requires universal maintenance in all areas of life.

101. Accepting and appreciating who we are and building a life of love really makes so much difference to how we feel and know ourselves and others with an understanding and glory that changes everything bringing a beauty and joy to the world and as we grow older. The sharing of this is an inspiration and much needed in society today.

     1. On reading your comment Tricia, it struck me how different your description is to so many people’s experience of getting older, it amazes me that our experience of life can be so radically different and all as a result of our choices.

102. The key is in how we hold ourselves. If we stoop and cower and shrink and withdraw then we are going to feel old and look old. Whereas if we hold ourselves with grace and move with grace and hold our body in an open posture we instantly look and feel so much more youth-full and alive. Ultimately it is the way we feel about ourselves that influences our choice of one or the other, so working on giving ourselves the attention and love we need is a great place to start in order to feel vital and alive and graceful.

103. “Looking back, I also see how unanchored I was, having little to no relationship with myself on which to build a sense of who I was and what my purpose in life could possibly be” – so true, building a relationship with myself that was caring and self-loving has changed my world and the way I now see life. When we see life from a place of love, we start to see how absent of love life has been and is, and thus what our purpose in life, to life actually is.

104. We think there will be a day, when we reach a certain age, sit back and enjoy the sunset with a loving partner and a drink, and start to appreciate what we have. But what if it doesn’t work like that? What if these kind eyes begin today and accumulate as we go to build a life that is well lived?

     1. I love it Joseph why wait when we can have it all now, we just need to stop and appreciate how everything we have is here to support us to be the love that we are. The more we appreciate it and ourselves the more magnificent we see it is and that we do not need to wait until a certain age to sit back and enjoy life as already are.

105. Beautifully said Matilda…”…there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.” Life really is very simple – it is us humans who have made it so complicated.

     1. Thank you, Paula, your comment has refreshed my awareness of this futile human behaviour and the simplicity that awaits our attention always.

106. This is great Matilda, so much of our time is wasted in searching for what you have shared in this one simple sentence. “I am me, in the world, understanding my purpose and responsibility – the part I play in a much bigger picture in which we are all so beautifully connected.” Feeling connected to everyone is such a joy in life and takes away the ensuing judgmental ways in, which life can be lived.

107. Beautiful Matilda and very empowering to feel who we are and claiming our beauty within growing more beautiful as we age naturally and gracefully with an inner confidence ,connection ,wisdom and love for all.

108. The cycle of life and how we are within that is everything. To dismiss any stage of this is dismissing all the potential of who we are. It is such a common belief that when you get older you become a waste of space. Yet not that long ago and in some place it still remains that the older you get the more wisdom we offer. Its about us sharing and embracing each other to appreciate that each stage is essential for the all.

109. The oldest I have ever felt is when I was 16 as I felt the weight of world on my shoulders and that I knew everything. Since coming Universal Medicine and making The Way of The Livingness my religion and way of being I have continued to grow younger. Firstly, I had to come to terms with the shock of actually getting it all wrong and begin to understand myself and the world from a whole different angle and now some 15 years on and in my early 60’s I feel younger and wiser than I have ever felt before even though my appearance and my physicality has obviously aged as we do.

110. From childhood to forty I had the upmost disregard for myself, raining down on myself a certain slow sort of suicide, I thought I was having fun but at what cost? I now can’t believe the audacity I had to treat my body with such disrespect we are only given the one so it should be treated like a temple and so we can go on feeling great until our job is done this time around.

111. It is so stilling to feel that age is not your enemy but is on your side, simply as a marker of your choices loving or not as they are.

112. Living within a rhythm that brings an understanding of the simple things you have shared Matilda, allows us to feel our body in a way that it is always sharing our next point of evolution. So what ever is in-front of us is a quality that will be a progression so that we are deepening our divine connection.

113. Serge Benhayon presents what we all know deep down to be true, but often find it hard to live simply because we don’t love ourselves enough to take ourselves to that level of nurturing, truth and integrity. Turning the tables on the lack of responsibility in the world today Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine are totally inspirational in how we can live, love and age gracefully and joyfully.

114. ‘There is a sureness in this that means I enjoy being me, which has the gorgeous side effect of my enjoying the way I look, expressing myself with clothes, make up, in my house, at work…’ Beautiful Matilda , very awesome!

115. When we look back in understanding we allow for ease to enter our body… an ease that doesn’t confirm what was right or not right, but instead an ease that comes from confirming what is true.

116. Yes to be offfered the road map back to living your divine nature is something I am super appreciative of.

117. The inner confidence and knowing of your worth is absolutely the most beautiful energy to be around as it supports another to feel relaxed and know their own inner beauty.

     1. This is very inspiring and confirming of the simplicity of bringing about great change just with the quality we live.

118. ‘Looking back, I also see how unanchored I was, having little to no relationship with myself on which to build a sense of who I was and what my purpose in life could possibly be.’ This is what I experienced too although there has always been a solid feeling in myself of who I was but I dared not to show it to the world and started to disconnect from my body which made things even worse.

119. When we look back with understanding our eyes are open, we see the beauty … and when we look back in lostness or regret, our eyes remain closed and we miss out in seeing the great beauty that’s there. Great beauty or growing old beautifully is therefore the beauty of full-sight.

     1. Beautifully expressed Zophia, full sight is the willingness to be responsible for what has been and therefore what is occurring now. When we can look back with understanding and not recrimination and blame our bodies become free from old patterns and ways so that our future becomes a fountain of possibilities.

120. Taking a leaf out of your book Matilda, and working backwards to undo the past from the point where we lost our connection or felt we had a choice is a great way to heal our past hurts. So now as in the past we feel our divine essence so we can connected to that inner-most. Then the past is starting to be lived now with-out the imperfection that our life has placed on us and this is immensely power-full as well as super healing. Re-finding our inner-most so we can clearly see the way forward without all our hang-ups is thanks to our understanding that our esoteric is void of that existence so we now have a choice to be re-connect again.

121. Age is just one area in our lives that we can explore our stereotyping beliefs and when we start to excavate these we free ourselves of their burden.

122. Age is never a deterrent in feeling beautiful when we express the fullness we are at any age. I especially feel beautiful when feeling connected to a source of love that impulses my movements without resistance.

123. When you look back, it’s crazy how long we carry on repeating the same old patterns. Perhaps if we looked back with appreciation like this more often we would live clearer in the future? The mindset that we degrade by default is ‘real’ but does it have to be that way? What if we opened up and embraced the fact that we are all here to evolve and learn? Perhaps then age could become as you show Matilda, very beautiful indeed.

124. There is such lived wisdom and truth in your words, Shirley-Ann. ‘We have a choice not to follow a trend into any kind of decline in self-worth but to choose greater self-appreciation instead.’ It’s up to each one of us which way we choose to go.

125. 51 now! And I come to see more clearly the endlessness of the learning and opportunities in life… today’s point of inspiration is to realise (feel on another level in my body) the constant forever flow of life.

126. Basic self-care ‘going to the toilet when my body asks to’ it might sound silly but I feel we do this quite a lot, especially as women that instead of honouring what the body is asking we just do that one more task, and another one and maybe another before finally going!

127. As a child I remember being treated like an out-cast and everyone seemed ‘ancient’ at the time. So! “Looking back now I consider this one of the meanest set ups” “Looking back, this is another cruel set up that keeps us at arm’s length from the very thing that breaks these beliefs and strangleholds… honesty, openness, connection, communication and relationship.” All the adults that were around me in my youth wanted to do when they got together was to tell yarns, drink and smoke. When I now look back we were all lost and “living in absence from” ‘our-selves’ so now looking forward when we express openly and communicate with the young and old alike there are no age barriers. This allows the exploration without the normal conditions that I grew up with to be ‘our-selves.’ So let each individual come to their own awareness of how much connection they are open to and thus re-connecting to the inner-most, which is the true self that holds the Love we all come from.

128. The beauty of growing old and connecting back to myself is a real gift that I have learned from Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon and the repercussions of this is a real miracle we can all connect to and live for ourselves in the grandness and joy of being ourselves and appreciating this lovingly.

129. Many of us pay out a lot of money to try and fulfill an idea of perfection to try to be be good enough, rather than accepting what we already have to celebrate.

130. The problem is that we are fed with the idea that only youth has a beauty and importance in life and when we age beyond this scale of youth we are degrading in beauty and in importance. While this idea is completely false it is widely spread in our societies and leaves its scars in the many people that do believe in it and with that hold this as a truth in life because it is their reality. But fortunately I have met Serge Benhayon who shows us the reality of life, that we tend to hold on to beliefs, but to that we can make another choice, the choice to live to our inner heart. And when we do, the beauty that then surfaces is not dependant of your age and radiates the vitality and grandness that we are as a being.

     1. Beautifully said Nico – thank you for this great summary. I love the radiation you describe and feel this quality with you.

131. ‘I take really good care of myself these days, ensuring the basics of responsible self-care are sustained’
     It’s magic to me that in paying attention to the seemingly mundane aspects of life, ie. basic self care, we transform our relationship with ourselves, knowing our value and worth when before there was none; bringing love and respect to ourselves when before it was self-loathing.

     1. A moment of awe and wonder to realise the impact of the apparently tiny details with which we move, touch, say a word, take ourselves to bed… so inspiring.

132. We can all age gracefully, but perhaps what gets in the way is the lifetime of self-compromising choices that hurt the body, such as excessive eating of chocolate, fast food, lack of exercise and a lifetime of pushing the body to stay up late when it really wants to go to bed much earlier and a life time of emotional outbursts and anxiousness. In this, the body feels heavier, denser and perhaps we are more prone to aches and pains leaving us not feeling very graceful at all. But what if we took care of ourselves…even later in life, and allowed ourselves to heal the hurts, make more supportive choices for the body and live life less from the emotions and more from the heart with greater understanding… would ageing gracefully not be part of a natural order even if we became sick?

133. We all are beautiful, there is something about us all that is there to appreciate. I feel this about everyone on this planet and yet so many of us are caught in the idea that beauty is for the young and cool. Beauty, like love, is a feeling, a way of being, a quality before it becomes a seen expression.

134. Beautifully said Matilda…”…there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.” There are no mysteries to life when we allow ourselves to feel and honour the truth we innately know within.

135. I’m experiencing that it’s actually quite beautiful getting older. There is a sense of surrender as I let go of needing to appear perfect, and an acceptance of the changes that are happening in my body. As I surrender and let go I can feel more of the true me emerging, and I don’t have to hold on to all the ideals I had that had me bound in the past. There is a freedom that comes with this.

     1. Yes Rebecca, there is a freedom in the letting go of the ideal how to look like that allows the inner beauty to come out and be lived in full.

136. For the first time in my life I am beginning to appreciate ‘Me’. I am taking the steps to really get to know myself and claim the beauty the world has been telling me is all wrong. Today I celebrate getting older and the elder wisdom that is there to share with others.

137. There is an inner grace that emanates when we are in harmony with ourselves and that grace touches all with whom we have contact and then others allow that/ I allow that in from others or react and keep myself separate. Allowing more openness yet not dropping our ability to discern we are able to hold ourselves and others in love, a continuous learning curve as we discover what is held in the body that reacts to love.

138. It has not been that many years that men felt confident to wear colours they liked. Our clothes came out of the closet breaking the mould of what was not manly. We are now expressing what we have suppressed for far too long. We are joining the women at being beautiful at every age.

139. The young are taught that the best years of their life are when they are young, making them feel like they need to be more reckless and abusive in order to have ‘fun’ but also making those who struggle with issues growing up they will feel like they missed their opportunity – rather than instilling in them the fact that every day of their life can be a great level of love

140. When we look to the outer to make us better or more successful or popular, there is so much there to distract us… a constant stream of quick fixes and solutions shiny and promising the world. Giving us a false purpose of needing to do it for a reason. I have found all complications, drama and outer influences drop away when there is true purpose in my day.

141. Life completely transforms when we view beauty as innately within each one of us, that shines from within for all to behold.

142. Growing old gracefully and feeling more and more beautiful is a very real way to be from living the way by inspiration and reflection from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and changes everything. Now in my sixties I feel more and more beautiful every day also.

143. So many of us have grown up with an emptiness inside, not truly knowing who we are, having abandoned our true selves early on in life because of the reactions of others around us. It is great to be given an opportunity to reverse this and to reconnect within and feel the beauty that was always there.

144. What I have noticed is, it is this understanding that dismantles tension in the body that we then see the beauty of this lived, and continue to blossom, as we grow older in age.

145. I can feel how newspaper magazines, fashions and trends hook people, especially women into looking outside themselves to try and keep up with staying young. But it is such an illusion and builds the emptiness inside, because there is always another hook. I was there and did that for a long time, until I came to realise I had everything I needed, all on the inside.

146. I agree often people do feel unsure of themselves and life and seek to fit in for security, this does not bring joy, we are here to express ourselves, join with what feels truth, but conforming for security, well that reduces us.

     1. And confirms more of the same to those looking… especially our children.

147. The Students of The Livingness are living examples of love who are “inspiring men and women” of all ages and who are definitely bringing so much to the esoteric community about how we age grace-fully.

148. “I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known”.
     This is beautiful Matilda – Serge Benhayon always re-iterates this fact – we have nothing to ‘get to’ as we already are everything. Returning to re-connect with our body and thus re-develop our innermost essence confirms this.

149. The stronger connection you have to yourself, the steadier you are.

150. I not only feel more beautiful now I am nearly sixty, I also realised since looking at photos of my self dating back to my twenties that I look more beautiful now then I did back in those earlier years .I feel this is due to a deeper contentment and love with myself and this is reflected in my inner and outer beauty.

     1. I too am looking more young and vital in my late 40’s then I did at twenty and as you say Mary Louise the true secret of beauty is not in creams or pots, nor in specific features and sizes, but in reconnecting to who we truly are and then letting this shine out.

        1. Agree Carolien you not only look younger and more vital but also so, so much more womanly, sexy and drop dead gorgeous. I love how you are not afraid to show this to the world and in this way of being you are an inspiration for other women.

151. In re-reading your beautiful blog Matilda I realise how we have made this a normal cycle of life, have fully accepted that we feel awkward, have lack of self worth or even self loathing in our earlier years and how amazing we then get to feel when we get to our fifties and think we ‘finally understand’ ourselves, accept ourselves and are less affected by the world around us. And even though there is a beauty in this realisation there is the sad fact that we had this from the beginning. That it is not a normal cycle of life to lose ourselves and then partially find ourselves back at a later age. What we are returning to is something that was there from the start and the reason that we leave it is not a natural way of being, it is because we have created a world in which being yourself is so difficult and scary. So yes let’s celebrate our return to being the beautiful, wise, tender, sensitive, strong women that we are and then make sure that the new generations get what they need to not have to go down the same road.

     1. Well expressed Carolien – returning and re-connecting to the truth of who we are offers a powerful and true reflection for generations to come.

152. “There are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth” how profound this is as it turns upside down a whole structure of ideals, beliefs and illusion.

153. It’s a shame most of us freak out about ageing and do whatever we can to prolong our youth, when the answer is in acceptance and grace. An older person secure in their age is a very cool person!

     1. Haha! Yes I couldn’t agree more kevmchardy. Growing old gracefully is not a throwaway line – it’s the potential we all have when we accept and embrace our natural ageing process. I’m loving it ☺️

154. When we look back how can we move forward in evolutionary steps, but when we are “super respectful in all our relationships” life takes on a different shape and we magnetically pull all those things that are already taking us forward so we can evolve.

155. So much focus is on the outside, in how we look and what we do, rather than the absolute gold that is within each one of us.

     1. So true Paula, it is the connection from within that shines brightly on the outside. This is a beauty that never tires or ages.

156. There is so much beauty and grace in every one of us that can’t help but shine forth when we deeply honour and nurture ourselves.

157. Focusing on how we look is such a set up. How we feel dictates what we see yet when we’re only looking at what we see without making it about how we feel, we are capped and set up for failure.

158. As I’m approaching 50 I am noticing the small changes in my body and learning to embrace them and love myself for them. As we grow older we need to take extra special care of ourselves, talk to ourselves gently and learn to adapt to the changes. The world is set up to discard people in their older years. We need to not discard ourselves and love ourselves even more.

159. Sure Shirley-Ann there is another way to become older as you and many of the students of Universal Medicine are a living example off. Thank you for being this example to me and the world.

160. Many people believe in the statistical commonality you mentioned Mathilda. The idea that we for instance are handed over to whims of our genes is deeply ingrained in many people. But too the idea for instance with the saying that If you are born poor you will remain poor all your life is one of these. Because we believe in these statistics and sayings we keep these alive and our self created reality but that will not say this is true and in full appreciation of the beautiful and powerful beings we are.

161. Tending to not know who you are is a means to withhold and to not live and share the potential of living a divine and purposefull that is already living within. That constant conflict of suppressing that what is already there brings us the abuse, misery and illnesses and disease we experience in our lives already for ages.

162. It is so true when we stay in comparison we need to keep improving ourselves to the external pictures and standards of the day.

163. Understanding is such a loving, embracing and holding way we can be with ourselves and with others.

164. From reading your blog, I can see how the understanding and awareness we get to, offers a whole deeper level of settlement into the body and with this feeling and quality, it allows a grander love and approach of life

165. We can often look at society and think to ourselves “these social norms do not impact me” in arrogance, yet, although we may not be subscribing to them by copying, our rebellion and judgement of the people who do are just as poisonous.

166. “I am now developing a relationship with life from the inside out: I am me, in the world, understanding my purpose and responsibility – the part I play in a much bigger picture in which we are all so beautifully connected.” I love this it sums up how we could be truly living in the world where as we live the total opposite to what you present here Matilda.

167. We do seem to have an internal measuring stick when it comes to letting people in. Some people if they don’t feel threatening we let in more than say someone who feels aggressive or angry we all do this at some level which proves to me we do feel and we do know about energy or surely we would let everyone in without any discernment?

168. Very Beautiful Matilda and something I too, can attest to. Currently in my sixty’s and feeling so amazing, beautiful and claimed – I now know that there is a ‘Me’. All of this and more is already within us and the rest of the ‘stuff you speak of is life’s way of distracting us from this.

169. Looking back on life, I can feel the pain of not appreciating myself. The torment of my teenage years when I was body obsessed and could only see what was wrong and kept looking for fault was unbearable. I can definitely recommend self appreciation. From here our love for ourselves grows and we feel our beauty.

170. Even one of the bullet points you listed will make a huge impact on our lives. Take staying hydrated for example – what an impact this has on our vitality, how we feel and eventually how we look.

171. Seriously this is one of those blogs I would love the world to read – what you offer here in terms of self acceptance and evolution is grand. And in a world where getting older is seen as something to dread, Matilda you have shown another way – full of grace which completely blows societies normal negative picture out of the water.

     1. What if every girl was to read this article and chose to not lose their essence by giving in to the pressures the world places on us?

172. With the advent of Universal Medicine the whole way of viewing and feeling about old age has changed. Because the vitality and beauty of the inner-heart has been revealed our viewpoint and vantage point has metamorphosed hugely. Life does not end, the only thing that happens is that we have outgrown this particular body or vehicle. There in fact is no end. And if one feel so joyful a few wrinkles and bits falling apart make little difference.

     1. Loved that opening sentence … feels like people in a hundred years will be going ‘with the advent of Universal Medicine there was a whole paradigm shift… from trying to fix things from the outside, to realising how important our relationship with ourself and the divine nature of who we are defines and informs our experience and health in the world’.

173. ” Growing Old Beautifully and Looking Back with Understanding ” this is the openness and understanding everyone must bring, to allow the true beauty to emanate no matter what age we are at.

174. It is crazy how the conciousness out there is around how we look. This gets us into the comparing with others, it makes us loose our connection to ourselves.

     1. Yes, Amita, I had a moment this morning when I realised how destructive and abusive comparison is… there is no acceptance, appreciation, understanding or respect in it whatsoever… leaving us all much poorer and, as you say, disconnected from ourselves and therefore one another.

175. ‘Looking back, I also see how unanchored I was, having little to no relationship with myself on which to build a sense of who I was and what my purpose in life could possibly be.’ I know this one, I too had little to no relationship with myself with no true sense of who I was. Building a relationship with myself over that last few years I am getting to know me, life is purposeful and I’m really enjoying it.. feeling younger as I age.

176. One of the beautiful things about growing older is that I now connect more with my inner beauty and grace and allow this to be in the forefront rather then relying on my physical looks.

     1. This was stunning to read. Currently how many other women around the world can stay this about growing older? Trustfully it will be more and more women that genuinely feel this way about themselves ❤️

177. Why people feel empowered through working with Universal Medicine is because it supports you to reconnect with what you have always known but have moved away from. You get a sense of coming home and you reclaim your inner wisdom and connection to God and all humanity.

178. The more life is lived with love, the more that shows in the face and body to reveal not so much age but the wisdom that lays within externalised. There is nothing to not appreciate in this, and everything to love.

179. I love reading this blog. Your delicacy and tenderness can be felt through your words. Very loving and beautiful.

180. Living life from the inside out where we are naturally in connection to all that we are is such a joy-filled way of living. I was one who for so long allowed myself to be run and played with by so many external forces, ideals and beliefs that life was exhausting, challenging and most of the time definitely not enjoyable. Re-connecting to the truth of the woman I am is definitely supporting me to “grow old beautifully”, in fact I may be growing older in age but I am feeling younger every day.

181. That is an interesting point, that by being hung up on the way we look on the outside, keeps us in competition and comparison therefore keeping us away from true connection.

182. In my experience, the older I get, I strangely do not feel older. I then look into the mirror to be surprised to see the wrinkles appearing and the body changing gradually showing signs of getting older. I know I am ‘only’ 45 years old but in some ways I feel no different to when I was 25! And the hilarious things is that when I was a child, I used to think that being 30 or 40 was being old, then in my 20’s this suddenly shifted to 40’s and 50’s being old, and now that I am in my mid forties, its those in the 60’s and 70’s that are old! So funny how our perception changes and shows this level of denial perhaps? But also beautiful to feel that no matter what age, it is more to do with the vitality that we feel rather than the actual age that matters. For since discovering Universal Medicine, my vitality has increased hugely, and in many ways I feel almost younger (in other words far more vital) today that I ever have in my 20’s or 30’s. Amazing really!

     1. I too feel more younger now that ever, I may be aging in the temporal world, but in my truth I am feeling younger and younger each day, more vitality and energy.

183. “It is amazing and remarkable for me to say I feel beautiful at fifty and that I am looking forward to whatever lies ahead” – Mathilda, this is beautiful, and testament to the fact of you having embraced life and all it has to offer in its healing and learning.

184. I agree Matilda… I too feel more gorgeous, playful and joyful in my fifties than any other time in my life.

185. What I am appreciating more and more about getting older, is how I am so much more allowing of life in general. I am finding there is a grace and surrender in my body in situations that previously I would have been very caught up in, wanting or expecting an outcome or a result in order to satisfy my need, which was inevitably exhausting. It is so liberating to let go of that tension and just let myself and my body be where it is at.

186. We have somehow made life about body image and appearance when this is not what we truly connect to, we connect to the person within and this is what brings meaning and richness to our lives. I agree Matilda, body image ideals set up a meanness that is then expressed to ourselves and others.

187. “Looking back now I consider this one of the meanest set ups in society: the ever-changing set of rules about how we must look, that leaves most of us not ‘in.’
     Super super Cruel the way in which this has been set up, many of us spend our lives feeling dissatisfied and negative about the way we look.
     Accepting the true beauty we are (warts and all) and knowing we are all intrinsically beautiful is a foundation to a healthy life filled with the joy of our own essence.

188. Remarkable to grow older in a way that makes a woman be and feel more beautiful and gracious the older she gets. It does work, and does so easily, when we live life from the inside out and not the other way around.

     1. Gabriele so true, when we choose to live from the inside out, we can connect to that beauty and grace within us.

189. Growing old and older can be very graceful and not the ill, lonely and separate life we have made it to be.

190. When we make life all about the quality we choose to live, and that quality being one of love, honouring and nurturing… then our lives transform on all levels and we grace the world with that quality.

191. I can absolutely concur Matilda – Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine have supported me to re-engage with my inner compass and in turn my life and relationships no longer feel pushed and pulled by external influences but moved & expressed from what feels honest & true.

     1. I agree LucindaB… life is so very simple, joyful and vital when we live and express ‘from what feels honest and true.’

192. ‘I am now developing a relationship with life from the inside out’. Letting go of societal expectations of how we should act and look is life transforming and in that we naturally soften as we let go of the layers of protection that we have built up in a vain attempt to avoid getting hurt by life which brings a deep clearing that then allows our innate beauty to shine out for us and others to appreciate.

193. I have only just come to the understanding of just how much Universal Medicine has change my life and that of all the people who know me and that’s quite a few. Thanks to the support of Universal Medicine I can truthfully say I am much more vital in my 60’s than at any other time of my life. When my peers are looking to slow down and retire I’m just getting into my stride, it’s amazing!

194. It is true to say that most of the time at the age of fifty I feel a lot better than I did in my thirties due to lifestyle choices, although I have started to realise the self-care I take with myself now is no longer an option but a must, as I really do feel it if I don’t.

     1. I can definitely relate kevmchardy and your comment is a great reminder that our self-care is a dynamic process that we are forever adjusting and developing.

195. It can be quite confronting to watch the body change as it ages, but there are only 2 choices, love yourself as your body goes through what is a completely natural process, or do not love it. Ultimately it is up to us.

     1. Yes, a very simple conclusion, as what good is it to fight something that will happen anyway? It is only a recipe of a life long war within and with yourself.

     2. Yes, I agree, when we bring that love, we can see the beauty and the natural grace of our divine-ness come through which emanates out.

196. Looking back over the years, I am much more gracious in loving myself as I see everything in ‘hindsight’. But I am also aware that a part of me knew everything all along, I just couldn’t and didn’t want to go there at the time.

197. “we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.” Yep, I think you just captured it in a nutshell!! Relationships are everything whether it be with animate or inanimate beings and objects.

198. I love your mention of the suredness that comes from being at ease in your own body. This has to be one of the founding principles for good mental and physical health.

199. What can be clearly felt in your words is that life is about being open to learning and going deeper with understanding ourselves more and with that uncovering our potential allowing for it to pour forth ceaselessly.

200. ” Growing Old Beautifully and Looking Back with Understanding ”
     This is so lovely and everyone should have this possibility .

201. This is a great description “Looking back, I also see how unanchored I was…” I felt at sea without an anchor, jostled and shoved by reactions to situations, there was no steadiness. Consistency can be lived but it grows through humble steady practice, honesty and honouring how we feel.

202. There is a grace in ageing that is one of the most beautiful things. We emanate beauty and it cannot be measured by external means and comparison – it is far beyond such things.

     1. “We emanate beauty and it cannot be measured by external means and comparison – it is far beyond such things.” Yes and yes again. And this is the crazy part because this beauty is always there and yet how often do we allow ourselves to see it lest feel it. We have created a world of pictures and expectations that let us run around blinded, deaf and numb to the true beauty that is all around and within.

203. Today I had an amazing healing session. Just by connecting to my breath and my body, giving myself permission to surrender into it I was able to connect with and clear a fear that has been capping me from accepting myself in full. In being connected to my body in this way I could feel it vibrating in every cell with a new openness in it, which I could feel was also in my face. In this quality, I felt timeless and very held – I didn’t need anyone to tell me I was beautiful – I could simply feel it as a known – my age was totally irrelevant.

204. Beautiful Sharing Matilda and so inspiring to share , I certainly feel more beautiful now than ever in my life at 61 with the appreciation love and way of living growing more loving every day.

205. I agree Matilda I can say I feel more beautiful at 62 than I have ever felt in my life as I never ever appreciated my true beauty when I was younger as I was far too caught up in images of what I needed to look like or be like. Images that I could never live up to, rather than looking within and being blown away by the sheer beauty of the lightness of being I actually am. And this who we all are within and all we need to do is to connect.

206. Growing old is something truly joyful — start enjoying all the cycles and parts that make us growing old.

207. Rarely as a society or globally do we actually embrace ageing but instead try to forever look or stay young (or be completely miserable that we are ageing). This is really refreshing to hear how you are not only embracing being older but enjoying it. It also shows that when we truly love and care for ourselves, our body and being, we actually feel younger, this is something I have experienced as well. So there is a lot to be said for true self-love and self-care.

208. Paving the way forward in the knowing we are already a master and all we need to do is have a Livingness that connects us to our inner-most. This is the only way we will ever evolve.

209. I agree Shirley- Ann it has been so empowering to come to know the light of my Soul and allowing myself to unfold in my own time.

210. Its beautiful how you have shared the beauty in which you have allowed your acceptance of the natural aging process.

211. For years people told me I was going bald on the back of my head. I could not see this without using two mirrors, which I did not need to do. When my front hairline retreated to back, the image of my dad comes to greet me in the mirror every morning now. I had a bit of hair that refused to join its mates and was trying to be a comb-over. I now except my family genes that my mirror reminds me of what doesn’t grow on the top of my head anymore is a family trait. When I get a haircut now, I like the tactile feeling my head has with its tennis ball feel. Getting old is just new adventures to embrace and move on.

212. “If someone had told me when I was younger that I would feel more beautiful in my fifties than ever before, I would have scoffed derisively.”

     But you ARE more beautiful and it is wonderful how life can be turned around completely even late in life.

213. Every event that occurs in our life is a love letter from our Soul, a gift just waiting to be unwrapped, a package declaring the truth of everything. If only we stopped being annoyed with life being different to our pictures in our head we would see we are permanently supported to be free. Thank you Matilda for this sharing here.

     1. Joseph this is really beautiful what you have said ‘Every event that occurs in our life is a love letter from our Soul, a gift just waiting to be unwrapped, a package declaring the truth of everything.’

214. The deepening that naturally happens when we allow ourselves to be in the grace of our elder years is the most beautiful experience.

215. Inspiring read Matilda, and as a 65 year old I can also add that life just keeps on getting better, and this all started 15 years ago when I first meet Serge Benhayon.

216. I love the simplicity that you have allowed back into your life and can feel this developing within me also.

     1. When there is grace and understanding there is space for simplicity and the flow in life… stay with the pictures, the ideals and beliefs, and it is a life of tension and complication.

217. There is a joy you bring Matilda to this growing old gracefully story, that is not felt elsewhere. In magazines, it is all about trying to make ourselves look younger, or what we can do to combat older age like it is something to be feared. You show us an acceptance and I can feel a very different way to live and embrace my age gracefully.

     1. That is true. The vast difference between the managed decline shown in magazines and other publications is a striking contrast to your true expansion and joy.

218. ‘I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known.’ Serge does have the ability to bring out in others what is already known, but not always articulated.

     1. I agree he sure does have a way to bring out in others what is already known, yet not lived or appreciated.

219. ‘It is amazing and remarkable for me to say I feel beautiful at fifty and that I am looking forward to whatever lies ahead’, this breaks the mould of how being fifty and older is so often viewed and lived, no resigning to it but looking forward to it.. feeling beautiful.

220. I love your sharing Matilda in the finer details particularly the ‘Letting ourselves Love and be Loved”. Sounds like one that we assume is happening already but when we really surrender to the Love and let go of our protection you get to feel a much deeper level of Love that is available.

221. The steps I take to build my relationship with myself build my sense of who I am and what I bring, they are foundational steps that without, I too would feel rudderless.

222. Growing old beautifully and looking back with understanding is a beautiful way of living for us all and something close to our hearts and well being and very honouring of who we all are espcially with our current climate and health conditions.

223. There is a huge amount of grace that comes with understanding and reflecting on life and ourselves as we age. This grace is visibly beautiful in the body.

224. Beauty is not about how we look, it’s about how we feel. When we appreciate ourselves and feel how beautiful we truly are, we move in a way where heaven can walk on earth.

225. When growing older is interwoven with evolving then it is a very magical and almost sumptuous experience but when growing older simply means repeating the same old ways of being then it is a rather loveless and at times hostile affair.

     1. I love the way you have expressed this Alexis – growing old beautifully and with increasing awareness and evolution is a ‘sumptuous’ affair that i would not want to be missing out on. Youth is all very lovely, but the elder years have such a richness if one opts for deepening The Livingness – the living of love from the innermost heart in day life.

226. Thank you Matilda, such a delicious piece to read and super inspiring, that growing older is beautiful when we embrace who we are and enjoy being ourselves.

227. We can be such harsh judges of ourselves and our bodies, comparing and competing with many ideals and beliefs… and in complete contrast… we can also be the amazingly gorgeous, all loving divine beings we innately are… it is simply our choice.

228. “So, for much of my life I felt out of sorts and at times really desolate, knowing that this way of living made no sense.” That has been my sensation too. I ‘did’ fine, on the outside I might even have looked fine, although anyone who wanted to look below the surface would have seen an exhausted and ever searching unsettled woman. It has been a gift from heaven to have men and women around me who equally have an interest in living life with more relationship to the love we are from, the love we are made of and the love we are in our essence. Constant experimenting and a willingness to unpeel any layers that do not do justice to that level of love.

229. “Looking back, I also see how unanchored I was, having little to no relationship with myself on which to build a sense of who I was and what my purpose in life could possibly be.” This is a big one for me. My connection to myself first and foremost is my first step or I leave an untrue footprint.

230. I love the simplicity of the basic ways of looking after ourselves Matilda. super powerful and effective when practiced.They used to say “life begins at forty”, and that is what I discovered in 1981, but it seems now it begins at 50, and then 60, and then 70, and even 80! Each decade brings new gifts and deeper understandings, and opens up new horizons, and more opportunities to feel how beautiful we are at whatever age. I love being 76, and to me you are young! But I feel beautiful too, whereas for most of my life I thought I wasn’t. Looking back at some early photos I can see I was but never appreciated myself so caught up was I in the comparisons you talks about.

     1. This is a super beautiful sharing, thank you Joan. This just feels so true that life begins at 40, 50, 60, 70 etc. as it shows that there is no beginning nor an end just a continuous deepening and understanding and bringing to the world all that one is and has to bring. And I can very much relate to not feeling beautiful as for being so caught up in comparison. It shows how very important it is to learn to appreciate oneself and that every moment counts in life and not just the ones we pick and choose.

231. Thank you, Matilda. It is very useful to acknowledge the fashions and trends that we buy into especially as a teenager, in our search outside of ourselves for identity rather than enjoying the exploration of our unique self expression.

     1. So true Janet… to acknowledge the pictures we have bought into at any age is a huge support in coming back to honesty, and the truth of who we are.

232. Matilda; this is very gorgeous and not something that we read or hear very often; ‘Growing Old Beautifully’ We so often hear and read about the negative of ageing, of being ‘over the hill’ and ‘past it’, so I love that you have shown that there can naturally be much grace and beauty in becoming an elder.

     1. Yes its beautiful inspiring to appreciate and honour the natural aging process with grace and beauty.

233. Thankyou Matilda for exposing what an insidiously cruel setup we have created in society for us all to be owned, consumed and reduced by. When I was younger I remember looking at women in their 40’s thinking… ‘that is the beginning of the end of life, that is the point where we don’t mean much or are not valued in the world.’ All the while never being my real self, as I was owned by the belief that my worth was measured through what I did, how I looked and the lifestyle I lived. Yet who we are in essence never changes as love is love and our connection to our love within, our Soul, is what truly defines everything we are and are here to live. As you have wisely shared ‘…there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.’ The truth I have discovered is that our beauty, our magnificence, our power and divinity is ever-present for us to embrace, celebrate and live with every breath we take through our body that we honor, and is what allows us to live the glory of this light of our Soul… to which there is no end.

234. This list a definite must on the fridge or office space. A timely reminder of the quality we can connect to if we make those simple choices to take a moment and just be.

235. All of the looking back is cycles! There is only a wheel of fashion that keeps repeating itself. Competition is a spiral and endless that leads nowhere. We are told to stand in the middle to see everything we are or do that are all outside of us. They are our shadows that are always there but have no substance, but we still insist on chasing them! What if we fully excepted that we are all complete, not that the world revolved around us but we are all a part of something bigger… would life feel endless?

236. I love what you added to your finer detail self-care list Matilda.. ‘Letting myself love and be loved’. There is great joy in that – surely good medicine. I’m going to add that one to my list.

237. ” my relationship with my body was based entirely on how it looked and whether it met the grade of whatever aesthetic and fashion standard was set at the time. ”
     Is it not amazing how our lives are controlled with out us been truly conscious as to what standard we are living to.

238. To see ageing as a graceful and beautiful time in our lives and to appreciate the accumulated wisdom is a turn around to our current thinking.

239. Matilda, it’s really inspiring to read about these practical, simple ways of honouring and taking care of yourself; ‘Staying hydrated
     Resting well
     Going to the toilet when my body asks to
     Eating in conversation with my body, listening to its signals
     Bringing awareness to my posture and how I am holding myself.’

240. It seems like we put a LOT of effort into staying young – acting young, young skin care products, even surgical procedures, everything to avoid what we think getting older is about, but what if we’ve got it all wrong and we’re missing out on an enormous wisdom and deeper understanding and an amazing beauty to life.

241. Looking back with understanding instead of judgment is an important key to self-acceptance.

     1. Yes, true understanding is a big life changer in all our relationships as it truly supports and lets us be to see and feel, while judgement always crushes and gives no room for true growth.

        1. Judgement sure is very crushing for ourself and others. Understanding allows space to deepen relationships.

242. Matilda – I know you today as a beautiful and powerful woman who reflects grace. It is a joy to see you walking around as all of who you are – having unlocked and allowed the full you.

243. To allow myself to make mistakes brings a joy back in my life, a joy that I knew so well when I was a child.

     1. That is such an interesting and upside down way of considering a mistake! I too celebrate the learning that comes from what others may perceive as a mistake and the freedom that comes with that is indeed joy – but nominating it as such feels even more free, so thank you for my joy this morning which I can carry into the rest of my days.

        1. It is interesting to consider that as a child I was not afraid to make a ‘mistake’, actually mistakes did not exist at that time. The concept of making a mistake has only come into my life at a later stage and was brought to me from many angles when I had to fit into a by society imposed acceptable way of being.

        2. Well said, who judges what we do, think or say as a mistake?!

244. It is such a conditioned way of thinking that we have to accept the fact when we grow old everything starts to deteriorate and there is nothing really of value that you bring. Well I whole heartedly say what a load of nonsense. The elder I have become the more value I appreciate that I have and that my being and body has never felt so great. Yes of course some things are not quite the same as when I was 10 or 20 but there is the reality of our bodies. Thanks to Serge Benhayon and the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom when we connect to our Soul this is what dominates the quality in which feel and how ageless this really is.

245. Thank you, Matilda. I love how you claim that you are simply re-connecting to a source of wisdom and inner knowing that is and has always been accessible to all.

246. I know many who are embracing and growing old with their essence living in full bloom- and it’s so gorgeous and beautiful to see.

247. Being in true connection with our essence is beautiful at any age.

248. ‘Growing old beautifully’ and gracefully, knowing we can deepen our sense of self and worth as we age may seem strange to many, but confirmed by you Matilda in this tender blog.

     1. So true Kehinde, and a very important part we will find in the exploration of ourselves and our worth, will be the tenderness that is being expressed in this blog.

249. I remember receiving a card on my 40th birthday where the sender commented ‘its all downhill from here.’ I was shocked – I was positive about life and enjoying it… and still am now in my mid-fifties – in fact as I come to love and appreciate myself and my life more and more life is becoming more amazing every day.

     1. Yes, Paula, my life has certainly significantly increased in joy and fulfilment since hitting the big 40, as the love for myself and others just keeps deepening.

     2. Paula my life too has been extremely joyful in my 40’s, it is crazy how there is so many judgemental views out their about aging.

250. True wisdom lives within all of us, a true teacher inspires us to live from that wisdom, not follow. This is Serge Benhayon’s powerful reflection as a teacher. No followers, but equals. I grow into my 40’s with a grace and wonder that is ageless, and has always been there within, while enjoying the changing reflections that the different stages of life reflect.

251. To look back with understanding is a great indicator of self acceptance and self love.

252. The world of young people can be very insecure, needing to follow trends and patterns, feeling huge challenges to reinvent themselves, trying to keep themselves always looking younger. We knew who we were when we were very small, and we can feel so lost without it, but whenever it is that we can return to that joy, knowing and understanding, the self-acceptance and true beauty returns.

253. “Growing old beautifully” is not a phrase we are used to. These words are not often seen together. It’s like we shut off the capacity for beauty as soon as we hear the word old. But there is beauty in every stage of life. There is always something to embrace and appreciate. And the more we do this the more our beauty can shine.

     1. “There is always something to embrace and appreciate.” I agree Rebecca this is the foundation of true beauty.

     2. ‘There is beauty in every stage of life.’ Absolutely Rebecca and a tragedy to see so many young people, teenagers especially, beginning to self-doubt and self-harm, instead of embracing their innate beauty.

254. ‘Going to the toilet when my body asks to’ this is one I have over ridden for years, hanging on until I was ready to go. Interesting as this has changed a lot recently, it wasn’t a conscious decision of I must do this, but naturally came into my daily level of care for myself, as I continue to deepen this.

255. Looking back without attachment has so much value.

     1. Detaching in the past present and to the future is key to living our true selves in life.

256. What a delight to read Matilda especially how you feel beautiful at fifty which is in contrast to how most women feel regardless of their age. When we honour self, we cannot but love ourselves.

257. Comparing our bodies to a societal standard of beauty and acceptance will inevitably make us feel less than, especially when we age. It is a totally different process to connect with and support our bodies and accept their own natural shape. This process of self acceptance connects with the whole being and understands the need to self care and self love the body as it expresses who we truly are.

     1. Any comparison and any looking outward just devalues our inner beauty and gold. Living our inner beauty is exactly what the world needs.

258. Learning from our life experiences is key to not judging ourselves for how we have lived. Life is constantly communicating with us to support our evolution if we are open to receiving this support.

259. Yes Matilda, and I am looking forward to what will evolve in my 60’s and beyond… who’d have thought! Thank you Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for showing how we never stop growing,

260. We start life and are imprinted for the first 20 years of life by how we have lived and observed. The next 20 years we are cast adrift on the world and are like salmon going to the sea. From 40 onwards we are in the grove that becomes a blur for the next 20. At 60 we wonder where our life has disappeared to. What if in that first 20 years, we lived who We are and what we bring?

261. Bringing awareness to our posture is transformational… we can change our negative thoughts by changing our posture – so very simple… how awesome would it be to be taught this from very young!

     1. Yes it is Paula. I was driving yesterday and became aware of my posture as it is so easy for my thoughts to be elsewhere while driving! I sat upright, straightening my spine, feeling my sitting bones underneath me. I immediately felt more present in my body.

262. Understanding brings so much grace to any situation… it allows an openness and willingness to open our eyes and our hearts to truth.

     1. What I also love about the quality of understanding is that it invites me to dispense with judgement, critique, comparison, competition and lack of acceptance. It is a quality, that I can apply to myself and others, of an all encompassing, beholding teacher caring for and nurturing a child.

263. It’s absolutely mad how we can live a large portion of our lives not doing the things you list in taking good or loving care of ourselves.What would life look like if we all took that loving care of ourselves all our lives from day one, each and every one of us?

264. I love what you say here, Matilda, about ‘eating in conversation with my body’. This would have been an alien concept in the past for me, as I used to eat with such urgency to numb what I was feeling, but now that I honour my body and listen to what it tells me, I eat with much more awareness of what supports me.

     1. How often is eating to numb, or eating to support generally discussed? To be aware that we eat to numb, to not feel what we don’t want to, alone is a huge opportunity for a shift in relationship to ourselves. To then actively make changes and start to listen to our bodies offers a whole new foundation and perspective for life.

265. ‘…I understand how this striving for some external perfection keeps us in competition, comparison and separation from one another, sizing each other up to see how close to the mark any one of us has got.’ and in our judgment of our self and of others therein lies this ideal of perfection or of right and wrong which is harmful to us all.

266. Looking forward I am filled with the knowing that living more from the fullness of who I truly am will be a joyfilled way of living.

267. We can be beautiful at any age and even wise, even when we are young, but it is easier to be both as we get older – at least it has been for me as I had more time to understand and express beauty and understanding.

     1. I was talking with my children today about the awesomeness of having got towards the end of one’s life having accrued so much experience that it feeds your wisdom and I get the feeling that life actually starts to become simpler as a result!

        1. For me to feel that is the key to life – making it as simple as possible and letting go of the complexity.

268. There is such Grace in what you describe here Matilda… ‘Growing old Beautifully and Looking back with Understanding’ … a way of living that honours our very being – absolutely gorgeous.

269. I recently read another blog about beliefs v/s truths, and this one about ageing as we know has many beliefs attached to it…It feels great to look at the ones we may be carrying that simply aren’t true.

     1. There are so many beliefs out their regarding aging and it is up to us to discern and read what is true for us.

270. Thank you, Matilda, I can feel that by committing to the basics of self-care, you are building a consistent foundation of love that is lived and shared in everyday life.

271. As soon as we make it about true connection and love we start to feel our innate essence and realise this is what it is about and not a number or a decade we are in (although this is to be claimed as well) then so much is appreciated and cherished. It is so important to love and care for ourselves ✨

272. As we age there is a huge opportunity to bring greater understanding not only to ourselves but also to all those around us.

273. One of the big ideals we can subscribe to in the world is that growing old is not something one should look forward to. Yet why not? Why have we made so many rules, ideal and believes around growing older and it being never as good as being young? We most of the time don’t think about these things because we just go with what everyone thinks and says but this is really something that limits us a lot and it is worth to look into.

274. Beautifully said Matilda… And the lifting of those veils that you mention is a process that can start so simply, just by connecting with oneself, in such a simple way, and then we have the opportunity to lift the veil after veil to start to feel it is true, and in that truth what is divine.

275. Looking back with understanding allows us to move forward with love for ourselves and others, it is definitely worth bringing attention too.

276. “Looking back, I also see how unanchored I was, having little to no relationship with myself on which to build a sense of who I was and what my purpose in life could possibly be.” This is such a common trait for so many of us. When I was introduced to the concept of having a relationship with myself and my body by Serge Benhayon, it took me sometime to understand what he really meant. But if we taught our children this from a young age, they would learn to grow up with this sense of deep self nurturing and appreciation of themselves and as a result, for other people too. And whatsmore, they would have a sense of purpose about thier own lives from the word go.

277. It still takes me sweetly by surprise when I look in the mirror and don’t abuse, critique or judge myself. One of many daily miracles that touch my life since I have been working with Universal Medicine.

278. Me too Matilda, I am also looking forward to whatever lies ahead as I embrace the aging process without dread or regret but with joy and appreciation.

279. If we look back with kind eyes everything slots into place and make sense. Going over past mistakes with judgement just leads to more of the same. Beautiful Matilda.

280. I agree Ariana. I am learning when I appreciate myself, others and everything that happens and also choosing to stay open to learning, then there is no regret. I can’t imagine living with full appreciation every day and then growing old, getting to my nineties thinking, I wish I did this or that. I find with appreciation, the tendency to go into regret is almost impossible.

281. We have so much grace and wisdom to offer as we age… in fact we can offer this at any age!

282. Grown old doesn’t mean we know it all, we have just had a lot more time to get it wrong.

283. One of the things that I have noticed since I grew older is that some days when one is clearing very ancient momentums/consciousnesses from the body one can look pretty bad physically. This will inevitably clear and I will always look much more beautiful when this is over . It is harder to handle as the body, when older, needs a clear emanation to pass muster, so I just hang in there, stay connected to the stillness and watch the storm pass.

284. In truth beauty is ageless. It may sound strange but I have never identified with being a certain age, it doesn’t feel true in my body. In fact we are ageless in essence.

     1. Absolutely agree Victoria! Beauty is ageless (I’ll say it again!). It is something exquisite, arising from the stillness – cheeky, lovely and full of joy. I see beauty every time you walk past me! And yes, I have always felt ageless too. I remember when very young (8-9) sensing this ageless ‘me’ that was way beyond any human demarcations of age, place, personality etc.

     2. I love this dissolution of the concept of age… a beautiful conversation to be having.

285. When we look in the mirror we may think we see our appearance. But really we are seeing quality and energy. From one day to the next we may look completely different. I could look in the mirror and think I look hot. Then I could spend the day overeating only to look in the mirror the next day and think I look fat. My shape hasn’t changed in the space of a day but the quality and energy I’ve been moving in has. If we commit to more love in our lives, then as we age, it is the quality of love that we move with and this is what we see. Moving in love can’t help but be beautiful.

286. Your looking back is an apt description of a small boat lost is a stormy sea. What have we left in our wake when fighting the storm, that we have had a part of creating. Have we all not heard that with age comes wisdom, only if we learn from our mistakes. Real wisdom can only come from within; this is something we are born with and have a tendency to forget this small detail.

287. ‘Looking back, I realise that most of the people around me were just as unsure and at the mercy of social pressures and the norms dictated by statistical commonality.’ Yes I too realised this at some point – was able to see through the guises of so-called authority, or ‘having it all together’, of those around me. Seeing through it all somehow melted my heart and enabled me to be more honest and open about my own carryings on – and this in turn let people laugh and relax from their own put-on facades.

288. How I care for and look at my body now is very different that when I look back in the past where the mind would over ride and dismiss the body for a sake of an experience of an ideal. Looking forward now from a place of cherishing how the body is a vehicle of expression it makes sense to keep honouring and deepening this self care and love.

289. Life felt hard when I was young. It is much simpler now. Difficult at times but much simpler and there is much more ease.

     1. If you are used to having lived with struggle, complexity or various others creations, coming back to simplicity can be difficult for the transition period. But in truth life is simple and that is who we are.

290. I work in skincare, and a customer was asking me for advise the other day. She was feeling quite desperate about a particular concern. As well as offering her ‘solutions’ from the products available I had a talk with her about acceptance. We talked about accepting the process of ageing and embracing her next stage of life, and that this would show in her face rather than the fear that was currently there. She got it and her whole body heaved a sigh of relief and her eyes started to shine. There is no point resisting something so natural, and it is our attitude to it and acceptance of it that matters.

     1. What a great job you have Rebecca; to be in the beauty industry and be able to offer this different way of viewing ourselves and ageing; super cool and inspiring.

291. There is often an expectation in society that everything fails as we get older, from our health, our physical body and good looks and even our memory and mental capacity. “I am getting older, I have to expect these things”. But does what is commonly experienced have to be true? From my personal perspective and what I have seen from some of my friends who are older is that no, it doesn’t have to be true and we can live in an ageing body (that does require constant care, maintenance and repair) that remains vital and connected to all of life.

     1. Yes, when do we decide we are old? Our body may age though it can still be vital, fully alive and joyful. It is more to do with the quality of life we have lived reflecting back to us…

292. Having the so called perfect body is the perfect set up because there are so many more of us that don’t have the so called perfect bodies and these days it seems to have become more of an obsession when people turn to steroids or cosmetic surgery in the search for that perfect body. The older I get the less I care about that sort of stuff, but the older I get the more care I am taking of myself.

293. When we know who we are in the world, and the part we play in the bigger picture, our purpose becomes clearer in that process.

     1. And life becomes much more enjoyable. Purpose makes a huge difference.

294. Feeling beautiful from the inside and living from this inner deliciousness is truly inspiring Matilda. Thank you for sharing your tips for living joyfully and with purpose.

295. Your list of awareness from looking back is relevant to me and all of us. We don’t realise at the time how manipulated we are by fashions and trends in body image. We don’t realise the most important relationship we can have is with our body and our mind can only lead us astray when its running the show. We don’t realise that almost everyone is as lost as we are as some are better at appearing to have the answers. We don’t realise how harmful and constant comparison is, and how it keeps us in opposition, with guns drawn.

296. The grace, understanding and wisdom in this sharing is tangible and truly beautifull… thank you.

297. Being aware of what is going on concerning our body, as in the body will age and die, and being aware of our ‘being’, regardless of the body is something that can only bring a knowing of how eternally beautiful we, you, I are.

298. I have discovered who I am through the Way of the Livingness and I am far more attuned to myself as a child now than the wayward years when I was trying to figure out how to fit in to those darned statistics of good, cool and acceptable!!! Now I feel the spaciousness of love and that we are all made of the same essence and I, like so many others I now know, embrace being older and the ease I now feel in my body because I bring honesty and understanding to all the ‘whoops’ moments in my past present and no doubt continuous learnings in life.

299. Our face is a road map of our life! Anyone now over 60 has seen and lived and experienced more change than any other generation of the world we live in. Smile and laughter lines are badges of honour in how we have lived. Our furled forehead expresses the effort that was required. Our eyes may now require glasses only because our arms are not long enough and because of the world full of things we have seen. Does it matter what we wear, when fashion, like everything, just recycles the same old things? The higher we climb the mountain of life, the greater appreciation we have of the view of where we have come from and the knowingness that the journey never ends.

300. I love this willingness to be honest and open with yourself, and how it is a forever deepening relationship, when we let go and allow it to be. The more honest I get with myself, the more I allow myself to see more clearly where I have chosen/choose to be me, and where I haven’t/don’t, and why this is. Nearly always, the times I don’t choose to be me are when I’m afraid of being hurt and trying to protect myself. Building a loving and respectful relationship with myself is slowly allowing the protection to fall away: it simply feels unnecessary when we start to allow ourselves to connect more and more to the grandness that we all are.

301. I’ve noticed how much posture plays a part in my day. It’s such a ‘tiny’ thing but i’ve seen it make a world of impact!

     1. So true Michael… our thoughts can affect our posture and our posture can affect our thoughts.

302. Every moment of every day we have a chance to look back at my choices with kindness and understanding. The more I do this the younger I feel. This seems to be ‘the secret’ of aging – not getting bogged down by what befalls you. Thank you Matilda.

303. Bringing understanding to ourselves is truly empowering and helps us to genuinely learn from our behaviours and ways of being so that we can change and be more true to who we are in essence rather than judge, condemn or identify ourselves with things that we’ve done or old behaviours.

     1. Yes, I agree, Fiona, there is a tenderness and openness in bringing understanding into our relationships with ourselves that allows for endless learning, inspiration and more understanding.

304. ‘I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known’. This is what I love about working with Serge. The teaching is that we are already whole and already masters (before meeting him I wouldn’t necessarily have agreed), but when he speaks a truth it is a known in my body – instant recognition and therefore a confirmation that it already there. In that moment of confirmation, there is an expansion in the body through the expanded awareness.

305. “If someone had told me when I was younger that I would feel more beautiful in my fifties than ever before,” and that this amazingness will continue to expand as we get older, “I would have scoffed derisively.” Could it be that when we understand that life is a cycle and that death or birth, young or old, what sex we are, and that we are hear can expand our awareness of the Love we all are, then the understanding that this make the cycle we are in matter little?

306. Old and beautiful-these words never used to be said in the same sentence-thankfully those days are gone!

     1. Yes, it is the beauty from within that we have rediscovered and thus living the truth of the word beauty once again.

     2. Perhaps only for furniture before, but now for people too!

        1. Hear hear Michael and Elizabeth. Likewise, old established gardens full of lavender, roses, magnolias, gardenias, graceful old trees are a delight to behold. The blossoming of maturity is a deeply beautiful and glorious thing.

307. I am looking forward to the wrinkles I’ll have on my face from the many smiling moments of Joy over my life.

     1. Loving this… smile lines as a sign of joy lived. Thank you, Thomas.

308. Living life simply without the complications allow us to feel our own inner wisdom and beauty embracing our own grace and integrity as we realise that all life is one and that we no longer have needs to be separate and in comparison.

309. Isn’t it lovely how we just keep on getting more and more beautiful and yet are all already totally beautiful to start with. I read this a few days ago and thought I was gorgeous then but today I am a little older and even more gorgeous!

     1. So cute. I love the deep appreciation you have for yourself Nicola.

        1. and the joy and added bonus is that the more we appreciate and love ourselves the more we appreciate and love everyone else :

        2. Yes, that is the magic, it starts with ourselves but is then there for everybody else.

     2. Spot on Nicola, as our True awareness deepens our gorgeousness expands and this could be we are getting a deeper understanding of how life is a cycle that we are living in? If True this takes the age or aging factor out of the equation.

        1. Hence the Ageless Wisdom….

310. The ever changing images of how we should look like from the advertisements, billboard and other media shows clearly to me that it is not real. It is only about the outer facade and needs to be renewed over and over again because it has no connection with the inner quality that naturally will bring the beauty that we are independently of what’s today’s fashion.

311. Love the humbleness factor that you have pointed out Matilda – remembering that we are forever students and always open to learn whatever may be on offer.

312. The quality in which we honour and care for ourselves in our day to day living is one of the corner stones on our evolutionary path.

313. No doubt about it Matilda you are looking more and more sexy and more and more beautiful the older you get, you dispel all the myths around aging.

314. Looking back with regrets and hindsight never serves us, but looking back with understanding and appreciation of our growth and development is super powerful.

315. My ability to see hasn’t changed as I have gotten older, but I certainly view myself very differently… realising and appreciating this means I am inspired to consider the changes in the quiet, inner relationship with myself; the quality and respect with which I hold myself… this is ever developing and super fun.

316. A beautiful simple sharing of the grace and beauty as we age we can grow with and appreciate so much from our lives .The amazing beauty felt now from being part of Universal Medicine and the graceful beauty lived seen and reflected to us is so different to the trends and impositions and distructive behaviours of the world at large.

317. When I have lost sight of the bigger picture and focusing on me and my little world, who or what is fueling my body? Am I in function or am I connected to the grandness of life making it my purpose to feel the connection through my simple, every day movements?

318. Imagine living in a desert all your life. It would be easy to think sand was all there was. But just a drop of water transforms the whole landscape. So it is with us and Love. Age is not the curse we think it is. But just another marker in our journey back to Soul. Thank you Matilda.

     1. Love your analogy Joseph!

        1. Yes, this is super beautiful. When we are met with love, we know and we can choose to claim this love for ourselves too.

     2. Yes our normal is what we have an opportunity to constantly question because what if we have lived in a desert all our lives, we wouldn’t know what lush looks and feels like to know what we were living was a veiled picture of what was there to be lived.

     3. This is beautiful Joseph, and so very true. Love is eternal.

319. We have so many hang ups about age, which group we fit into 40’s, 50’s or 60’s rather than just embracing where we are and celebrating all the unique qualities about our particular age.

     1. So true we get caught in the conciousness of age brackets that limits us to appreciating whats on offer all the time.

320. Love what you share Ariana, appreciate, appreciate and appreciate more for the beauty we have within.

321. Just as we have laid these veils over simplicity and truth, so we can remove them by choosing to re-connect with the truth of who we are and all that we are a part of and be impulsed from within, building a foundation of love with ourselves to then share in all our relationships. This foundation of truth is our rudder in the sea of life.

322. ‘ …. we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth’ – reading these words, the truth is felt in every cell in my body before the words are processed. We know the truth when we hear it – we feel the energetic quality of its vibration.

323. Matilda it is about the qualities you have shared in which we live that is the key as we get older, its not about the number. The beautiful awareness and wisdom we connected to is super amazing.

324. Thank you for sharing your reflections. There are so many areas in life where we have set-ups that encourage us to keep chasing some goal outside of our essence and gauge our worth according to how well we meet the pictures, which are by and large quite unachievable – hence more desperate chasing, more disappointment leading to even more chase. A great insight that the way to start changing this being governed by “external rules, expectations and shoulds” is to start re-building our relationship with life from inside out and allowing that to inform us of the steps we choose to take and what we appreciate about ourselves.

325. Ageing it is like the blossoming of a flower when we appreciate and feel the beauty within

326. Thank You Matilda. You remind us to appreciate that our lives are valuable no matter what age we are, and showing us that we are always beautiful when we nurture and love the person within.

327. As I age and come into myself more I can honestly say that I have never felt more beautiful!

     1. I know what you mean, i just became a year older and I feel so much more younger, the beauty is emanating through me and I can feel it and appreciate what I bring.

        1. At 47 I was joking around the other day with my kids telling them I was old enough to be a grandma, but we were laughing because I feel anything but and still feel very youthful. This has much more to do with a deepening self-appreciation and self-worth and I now simply enjoy being much more myself allowing more of my innate essence to come through.

     2. As we allow ourselves to be, connected to the divine essence within we are deeply beautiful. This is gorgeous to see and feel.

328. “…we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth” – beautifully put Matilda, agree, and it’s the understanding of the existence of such veils that uncovers the vast depth of our love.

329. ‘I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known.’ this is what is so lovely about what Serge presents, it gets you back in touch with your own knowing, remembering and feeling your own inner truth and qualities.. that are innately in us all.

330. What a gem of a sharing that would support so many men and women to feel that all these learning are in fact a healing that offers a truthful account of the measured life we can so easily live.

331. Matilda, I have never followed any trend but I know I was definitely unanchored in that I had no true relationship with myself since a child. And as you say working along side Serge Benhayon has enabled me to trust my self and my natural abilities again and at the age of nearly 62 I feel so alive and confident with myself and others in the knowing that no one can hurt me I can only chose to hurt myself and this has been my pattern for several life times now. Which with the support of Universal Medicine is being smashed to pieces.

332. I was out shopping with a friend yesterday and, amongst so many brilliant and beautiful moments, was touched by the playfulness with which we talked, tried things on, giggled about our relationships with our bodies and actually quietly and surely confirmed each others qualities. A far cry from the torture and critique of shopping trips in the past. Getting older and feeling more beautiful 🙂

     1. I was drying myself in front of a full length mirror recently and was drying my back with my towel. As I watched bits of my body wobble I giggled to myself with delight. No sense of needing to improve of change just a deep appreciation that I found fun in the way my own body moves.

333. The qualities you mention here about the way you live are so much more important than worrying about how we look as we grow older. By living these qualities we naturally shine from within and our true beauty is there to be seen.

334. “I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known. What Serge and Universal Medicine have done is to offer a foundation upon which we can build ourselves back to our innate potential.” When I first met Serge I had the sense that he sees the ‘best in you’ for want of a better phrase. This of course felt odd (and puzzled me for a while) because it’s not every day you’re met and greeted in accordance to your essence, our innate potential, but thank heavens we have this reminder in his knowing of us that we can rediscover for ourselves in what he sees all along.

335. “Eating in conversation with my body, listening to its signals” An art and science that when I choose to engage with, brought me huge awareness of how I used food to abuse my self and how I can use food to really support and enhance my health. Having been encouraged to start the conversation by Serge Benhayon, it has become an on-going process that my body is extremely grateful for.

336. Glorious to connect with who we truly are, fully appreciate ourselves and look back with understanding. No longer controlled by insecurities and self doubt, we become masters of life and honour ourselves.

337. When our awareness of just how much love we are increases then we naturally feel more beautiful and this is independent of our physical age. Love is beautiful and those who express love are beautiful.

338. ‘I am me, in the world, understanding my purpose and responsibility – the part I play in a much bigger picture in which we are all so beautifully connected.’ We all have our amazing unique part to play and it is so important not to downplay and de-value that.

339. So much can revolve around our relationship with ourselves and whether this has a basis in our connection to all we are from within or based in the search for this outside of ourselves with falsely identifying with external factors.

340. If we allow ourselves to understand that every phase in our lives comes with a quality we can explore to live it in full, life becomes a joy and a forever learning.

341. ‘Growing old beautifully’ is not about a number but all about a quality.

     1. All about quality, is the process of ageing, are we allowing ourselves to age with this quality of life.

342. When we bring understanding to life, our perceptions completely transform.

     1. Paula I completely agree with what you say.

343. It is actually very dis-honouring of the gift that we are, to not fully appreciate our own divinity.

344. ‘Looking back, I understand how this striving for some external perfection keeps us in competition, comparison and separation from one another, sizing each other up to see how close to the mark any one of us has got.’ … so true, the focus is about how we measure up, compared to others, rather than a knowing that we are all already divine just as we are and it’s about living the truth of who we are, bringing our own unique flavour to life. Then we can appreciate all that we are, the gorgeous unique qualities that we all bring, as opposed to our attention being on all that we are not.

345. ‘What Serge and Universal Medicine have done is to offer a foundation upon which we can build ourselves back to our innate potential.’ Yes, we have been provided with all the tools we need and the inspiration to look within ourselves for the answers to all our questions, to access the wisdom of the body and to live in a way that maximises that access.

     1. Appreciating how much we learn from and are supported by our bodies brings a whole new level of respect and care into my relationship with my body… this is fun… whether it is hand cream, lip salve, early bed, pyjamas warming on a radiator, it can be the small details that maximise the ‘access’ to wisdom you talk about, Carmel.

346. We have so much to offer another from a body that has been honoured and cherished in the knowing of how precious we actually are.

     1. Just a persons movement and reflection says volumes when there is deep self care, appreciation and confirmation lived.

347. Growing old gracefully takes a whole new meaning, not just meeting societies standard of beauty into old age, but more importantly a quality of aging

     1. Yes Rebecca, it is important that we look at the quality of being and the lived experience when we age and not to the outer and the things that we do or not are able do anymore.

        1. I agree – our measure of success needs to shift to be based on a quality of life

348. There is such grace in being able to look back at our lives with understanding, and without judgement.

     1. Yes, to appreciate that everything happens for a reason and therefore, everything that has happened, all our choices have played a part in allowing us to be where we are today.

     2. That judgment can at times hurt more than the mistakes we made.

        1. I totally agree with this, Christoph, it is the mental cruelty I entertain that is so destructive… much more so than the initial mistake, which, if approached with understanding, can be an inspiring point of learning.

        2. Yes it can be very crippling to say the least.

     3. Sandra yes it is to appreciate everything happens in our life for a reason, and bringing an understanding to that without judgement.

349. It makes sense when you say you were living in a way that was absent from yourself. One thing the Universal Medicine courses do very well is to expose the lies we have chosen to live with as our truth.

     1. I agree we are so supported in exposing the lies we have chosen to live with as our truth. Universal Medicine courses allow us to connect back to our truth and live in a way that is loving.

350. Understanding is the gift to us all, when we let go of all the expectations and pictures we have on ourselves and others then we have the space to be, observe and bring understanding to any situation. How powerful is that so no wonder this is something that very few people have in there lives on a day to day basis.

     1. Hi Natalie, powerful it is indeed to bring understanding to life and possibly it is a fear of that power that keeps people choose to stay in the mold, the mold of commonality that keeps everything as it is.

351. When we grow old do we take on resentment and regret or do we embrace the wisdom on offer? I think I know which this author has chosen!

     1. Wisdom is the journey I would choose, a journey of unfoldment.

352. “there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.” this tells us that no matter how miserable we feel or how elated, driven, successful, exhausted or ill we feel, there is always the opportunity to take the veils down and understand life more clearly.

353. There is nothing more inspiring than seeing or being with an older person who is not only themselves, but sees that they are beautiful because of that and not because of what they may look like.

     1. The simplicity of this is remarkable. Embracing, appreciating and being ourselves in the world… no comparison or critique… this really is an inspiration for us all.

     2. It is true beauty. Beauty is a lived and moved quality that comes from being who we are. It has nothing to do with what we look like, although what we look like is hugely affected by the quality we move in.

354. I love your list of guidelines, they are super simple, and your words, ‘we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.’ are truly inspiring.

355. Awesome to look back in the way you have here Matilda and realise that how we have been living is the cause of so many of the issues we have faced and which have been of our own making and then to let go of this with a new understanding.

     1. It is great to reflect back our own movements and to understand that we are the cause of our own issues. It is with this understanding we can bring change.

356. ‘Looking back, I also see how unanchored I was, having little to no relationship with myself on which to build a sense of who I was and what my purpose in life could possibly be.’ This is the crux of all the lack of self-worth and self-loathing that we take on. When we are not confirmed or do not take the time to confirm ourselves then we stop appreciating who we are and what we bring. In the ensuing emptiness, we need to fill the void by taking on outside beliefs and ideals, aligning to what is not true but using this as a yardstick from which to judge ourselves by.

357. ‘from childhood to 40 – my relationship with my body was based entirely on how it looked and whether it met the grade of whatever aesthetic and fashion standard was set at the time.’ …. me to, and as I never did meet any ‘standard’, the rejection I felt towards my body had a huge impact on how I was with myself – enter self-loathing.

358. Understanding is one of the most blessed stances to adopt to life – it is natural way of being, and somehow as we grow elderly there seems to be even more an opportunity to develop this wonderful way of living.

     1. Yes, understanding is a graceful way of living… it takes away the pressure we can create, the need to fix, to bring solutions… and allows space for acceptance and responsibility.

359. “Eating in conversation with my body, listening to its signals”. Isn’t this the exact opposite of how food and eating are often used, to numb and not feel or be aware, it’s clearly therefore a crucial part of caring for and nurturing ourselves.

360. I love your list of responsible self care because they completely debase those attitudes that encourage us to give up on our selves. How awesome to be walking into your elder years in true style, caring more deeply for your self than you did as a young woman and really feeling the benefits of it too.

     1. That’s what I would call living the future now – no need to stay stuck in the old or adapting what society is reflecting to us.

     2. Its an awesome list of of responsible self care, great reflection.

361. ‘… I understand how this striving for some external perfection keeps us in competition, comparison and separation from one another, sizing each other up to see how close to the mark any one of us has got.’ Yikes! this was my life and sometimes I catch this and say that poison is not me. And it is a poison that kills our connection to our loveliness and the opportunity to have loving, appreciative relationships with one another. This comparison takes us away from the true beauty within that we can shine out.

362. Gosh isn’t that amazing that the key to feeling amazing at any age is to care deeply for yourself, listen to your body and love yourself!

     1. Yes absolutely Lieke .. this is true medicine for everyone ✨

        1. Completely agree Vicky sure is true medicine.

     2. And, it is never too late to re-connect to the amazingness that has never left us.

     3. Yes absolutely Lieke, since I have started to deeply care for myself and listen to my body more and more, I feel amazing. I have more energy than ever before, I get up early in the mornings with a spring in my steps and I feel much more myself throughout my day.

     4. It’s not rocket science yet why do so many of us resist?

     5. And it is so very simple too! We complicate our lives with all the other ‘stuff’ when life can be this simple.

363. Serge Benhayon confirmed to you Matilda, everything that you knew yourself but were too afraid to accept. The elder energy you are embracing is the wisdom you already had and are now sharing it with others.

     1. The more we love and appreciate ourselves, the more confidence we have to share our love and wisdom, not for any other reason than to support those around us.

        1. The deepening of our own relationship with self is what supports our confidence to share the love and wisdom with others.

364. Thanks, Matilda. I love all of your ‘looking back’ examples, which help to me to reflect on and appreciate how lost in the wilderness I was until I came across Universal Medicine.

     1. I agree, Janet, I loved all the examples of how you felt growing up, Matilda, it was confirming to know that ‘it wasn’t just me’, that in fact many or maybe even most of us felt this way. Such a shame we weren’t encouraged to openly share how we were feeling, however, we have the opportunity now and have much wisdom and support to offer all the young women and men battling with similar struggles today.

        1. Well said, Alison. We can value what an amazing support it is to the younger generations when we provide a space to discuss these things openly with them, and of course learn more ourselves.

365. I have never seen humans grow old so beautifully and gracefully as I have within the Universal Medicine community.

     1. Beauty and grace are within each and every one of us and we are not trying to be better than anyone else, but to reveal once again this natural part of ourselves that we all equally are.

        1. Yes beauty and grace is within everyone, there is no reason to try and be better than anyone else. It is very much about reflecting that we are all equal and equally share the beauty.

     2. But that should be everyone in the world, every single person in this world deserves to know and live this.

     3. Same here Michael, it is in the Universal Medicine community that I have seen people look 10 -15 years younger than they are, and they shine with vibrancy, vitality and joy that is hugely inspiring.

     4. It is a great reflection of what is possible.

     5. Yes, it is not the New Age for oldies but love at any age making everybody beautiful.

366. “the point is that the way I was living (in absence from myself)”.
     If we truly understood the deep harm it caused our body, as well as how much it hurts another to live “in absence” of ourselves, we would begin to make choices that allowed ourselves to be fully present, aleart, aware and understanding in our lives and our choices would then be very different to the ones we make in absence. Our bodies would be cared for and our movements would be made in appreciation and honour. This could only bring to our world a human being living with a level of integrity that we all know we hold inside, but have as yet been unable to sustain living with.

     1. When we live in ‘absence from ourselves”, then by default nobody else can truly be there either.

367. ‘Looking back’ is a great way of appreciating where we are today.

368. There is so much grace and wisdom to share in our elder years.

369. My goodness me, we are beautiful, we really are such exquisitely glorious creatures. Which begs the questions ‘what have we done to ourselves? and for how long? and when will we choose something else?’

370. Growing old is turning out to be a very wonderful experience as it brings a settlement in the body as we learn to accept that we are here to not be here.

371. What I am loving more than anything about growing older, is reconnecting to so many of the innate and beautiful qualities of myself that I seemed to have lost touch with in my younger years, without the hangups, self judgement and attachements that would have been there previously.

372. Its good to look back with understanding and not beat ourselves up, for we are lured away from who we are by circumstances and surroundings even though we all know what we are doing is not in truth but we just make do and make the best of it till truth walks right up and says howdy.

373. Knowing you, knowing how I feel today… I am looking forward to the 60s! Thank you, Ariana.

374. Super simple, Doug; rather than desperately trying to adhere to the ‘rules’ of society, we have a depth of wisdom and guidance within us that inspires a standard of living that surpasses any external rules and encompass the needs of humanity as a whole.

375. “So, for much of my life I felt out of sorts and at times really desolate, knowing that this way of living made no sense.” Sadly this is the norm for so many. At present the joy of aging with such grace and wisdom is the exception, but actually it should be the other way round. With enormous thanks to Serge Benhayon, more and more people are transmuting this exception into their norm and altering our experience of aging into the magical process of growing wiser that it is intended to be.

376. Few people who think that its possible to be “Growing Old Beautifully and Looking Back with Understanding” and yet I feel blessed to not only know people like this but also to see the depth of grace and beauty really shine through as certain people I know age. It’s very inspiring to all generations.

377. What I felt and was met with as I looked in the mirror this morning was all of me. An absolute knowing and appreciation for all that I am and am a part of, and in this, such a joy to be here and to finally be living the truth of all that I am. The beauty shining in my eyes is everyone and everything – it’s the whole that we are all a part of.

378. ‘This in itself was an exhausting exercise, being ever at the mercy of the latest trends and ‘must looks.’ – I remember well, it’s like being in a washing machine, going around and around, never getting any clarity, rather, being pulled this way and that, causing more confusion and emptiness as we leave ourselves a little further behind.

379. I often hear that you learn to accept your body more when you become older. But what if it is a choice that we can make at any age?

380. Which then reflects how we look…

381. Feeling more beautiful as I get older – when I was young I read a few articles expressing that sentiment. I didn’t believe any of them. I was actually right – most of these articles are wishful thinking. However, it actually can be true as I am experiencing it right now – getting more beautiful as I get older because it is the level of love and truth I express.

382. Looking back with understanding feels to me is a way to release any chords to the past, anything that we may have held onto, so that we make space to embrace the future, especially our elder years when we are in a phase of life of letting go everything that hinders us going deeper with the relationship with ourselves and at the same time clearing and preparing the way for what’s coming next.

383. There is a huge irony in the denial of reincarnation. On the one hand it allows absolute irresponsibility in that if you aren’t coming back it doesn’t matter what mess you leave behind. But then it also puts the person into extreme tension whereby every passing year feels like a year less of their self – this is the root of the obsession with staying and looking young. Once you know that reincarnation is a truth, this is all flipped on its head and we then live with a responsibility that every step we take is an imprint that we and all of humanity will live through again, and we live with a joyful knowing that every year (no matter what age) is an opportunity to deepen our connection to our soul and expand our innate beauty.

384. I was reading this and also pondering my exercise, staying fit and how I build my body to support me. We are bombarded with so many ideals and pictures about how are bodies should be or look – what constitutes beautiful. What I can feel now is how true body care is not about building a beautiful body, but is about building a body that supports it’s beauty. The beauty is already there (and, in relation to this blog, is utterly irrelevant of age), thus our responsibility is to build a body that supports the expression of that beauty in full.

385. Every woman should feel beautiful at 50, 60, 70 and 80…

386. It’s beautiful how you say “…developing a relationship with life from the inside out..” – like a flower unfurling it’s petals and blossoming.

387. If growing older brought the expansion that it’s designed to, then we would all relish getting old but unfortunately for many it is a continuation of a contracted way of being, hence our resistance to getting older, as it simply compounds the contracted way that we’ve been choosing to live our whole lives and that is nothing short of miserable.

388. I love the finer details you bring attention to in your life, it is palpable how worth we are to be cherished and honoured by ourselves and everybody else.

389. To see ageing as something to deeply appreciate rather than to dread is a U-turn in our current thinking.

     1. Having a model- background it is quite sad to see some of my former colleagues totally struggling with ageing. The range of staying young methods is endless as people can´t accept that the outer youth does fade away. Instead of investing a lot of money into the pockets of cosmetic/ plastic surgeons, women should invest in themselves- welcoming, accepting, allowing and seeing their own innate beauty, that does not need any facelift or betterment as it is the endless beauty we all carry inside. Yes, you can be wrinkle less at 50, but what purpose has a wrinkle free face if noting from the inside is shining out ?!

390. It seems to me that in the pursuit of all that ‘society says we must have’ to get its recognition and approval, we lose awareness of our connection to our essence, our true self. It is in the moments of stop, feel and sense – feel all that we are, that we start to become aware once again. The Gentle Breath Meditation is a great way of achieving this in my experience – and so very simple too.

391. What I have come to realise since knowing Serge Benhayon is how pitiful our education system is. We are not taught the fundamentals of life and that is to deeply love and respect ourselves first this will have a natural knock on effect of how we then treat and respond to the world. Humanity has been sold such a huge fat lie that we are less than who we truly are.

     1. “We are not taught the fundamentals of life and that is to deeply love and respect ourselves first…” Yes, this is indeed what we are so deeply missing, to be loving and caring with ourselves.

392. This really stood out for me this morning ‘Eating in conversation with my body, listening to its signals’ what a great way to understand how to be considerate of what our body is telling us when we eat.

     1. Having just eaten and practiced this it was amazing that my body was clearly telling me that I had eaten enough food half way through the meal. Normally this is something I would not have realised or listened to feeling that you should always finish your meal.

393. ‘If someone had told me when I was younger that I would feel more beautiful in my fifties than ever before, I would have scoffed derisively.’ Yes Matilda – me too. And now in my late 50’s I can attest to the fact that this is completely true, but only from living in a way that connects me to the deep beauty of Soul and Stillness and deepening this every day. Thank you Serge Benhayon for bringing and reflecting The Way of the Livingness in the world.

394. “If someone had told me when I was younger that I would feel more beautiful in my fifties than ever before, I would have scoffed derisively” – it’s interesting how we describe being “more beautiful” isn’t it, and how we count that in years or by age, mostly youth based. My understanding and feeling of beauty changed the more and deeper i began to live my own love [self-love]. For what is beautiful to a self-loving person is totally different to the one not already in love.

395. The depth of understanding one gets with reflection ‘looking back’ brings such insight, awareness and ease to the body that one could otherwise be living in tension or undelt regret, sadness, frustration, agitation… etc… This deeper awareness, insight, self love and self acceptance are the ingredients that support the body to naturally blossom and radiate an innermost beauty outwardly.

     1. Self-acceptance and understanding, as the steps back to self-love, are key ingredients to living a life in connection with what supports and serves us all.

396. ‘Looking back, I realise that most of the people around me were just as unsure and at the mercy of social pressures and the norms dictated by statistical commonality.’ – which is the perfect opportunity for us to have ‘real’ and honest conversations with each other. To openly share about what is going on for us, rather than feeling like there is something wrong with us and that everyone else has ‘got it’.

397. I too am embracing ageing gracefully and lovingly due to being around inspiring men and women of all ages.

398. Age has nothing to do with beauty; in essence we are ageless. I have never really related to being an age, now in my fifties also I feel lovelier than ever.

399. ‘Being super respectful in my relationships’ this is one I am learning, and respectful includes not judging – in the past I have been highly critical of just about everything but now I am aware that is a distraction from feeling what is going on, and there is much to appreciate in all my relationships, including the more challenging moments.

     1. This is inspiring and super cool to read, Carmel. That ‘highly critical’ judgement is all too common in our relationships with ourselves and therefore others. The more I accept that to be judgemental about someone or something else means I have to be applying this same critique to myself in some area of my life, the more open I am to the opportunity to reflect where this is, explore the whys and let it go. The quality in my relationships these days is beyond anything I could ever have once imagined and this process of releasing critique and judgement is a key part of this.

400. ‘Looking back with understanding’ as the title says, exposes to me how much we can fall into the pattern of looking back at our life with judgement. But to actually be able to look back with understanding also highlights how far a person has grown to accept themselves, which is beautiful.

401. It is certainly beautiful when we embrace all of who we are and the beauty that is within and see that this is ageless.

402. This is one of those blogs Matilda where I want the whole world to read it, what you write is massive – what a blessing to have the understanding that you have come to.

403. The fifties may have been great but the sixties just get better and better. For me, this is absolutely without a doubt, the best time of my life.

     1. Confirming the fact that it is the loving connection we have with ourselves that is truly beautiful and that is ageless.

404. Yes, Matilda, competition and comparison are crippling when we are not connected to our body and soul as a solid foundation of who we are.

405. Haha YES, I can confirm, Ariana that you are indeed an explosion of love!

406. How awesome to have people living with more love and feeling more amazing in their bodies as they age, this is the antithesis of modern life, go students of The Way of The Livingness, we rock.

407. It seems these days even more than before that body image and image period is more important than looking after ourselves lovingly, but the more we lovingly look after our bodies from 0-40 the more our bodies will be loving us back from 50 to beyond.

408. “Looking back with understanding”. That in it self is an awesome triumph. Rather than looking back at your life with regret, bitterness or anger, you have been empowered to understand the reasons why you did certain things, move on positively so and transform the latter part of your life with such gorgeous simplicity. A truly inspiring example of what growing older is really all about, allowing your wisdom, grace and beauty free reign.

409. I am enjoying growing older. I have my scars from the journey I have chosen to reach this point in my life. Aging of life brings a lived knowingness and as you have stated, it is time to live life from inside out.

410. ‘If someone had told me when I was younger that I would feel more beautiful in my fifties than ever before, I would have scoffed derisively.’ Me too Matilda, I was looking back on past photos and could see how as I aged I got more and more beautiful. I feel this is connected to the settlement I have in my body now which is deepening all the time.

411. It’s very glorious way to live when we relish a) the present and b) look forward to an even more glorious future as we enter into our 50s, 60s, 70s. Life expands when we live from our inner most it doesn’t shrink down along with the wrinkles of old age as society has succumbed to believe. How amazing is that….

412. I love what you have shared about the ways you take care of yourself.

413. I love it when people pay me compliments, who doesn’t. However, now, these compliments are a confirmation of how I already feel about myself. Whereas in the past, it gave me a boost as I didn’t have the level of love and appreciation that I have for myself today.

414. ‘Letting myself love and be loved’ and yet we search so hard for the purpose of life…

     1. Love would travel in and out from our porous bodies, even more freely than our breath if we stopped manually restricting its flow.

415. ‘… my behaviour and choices were governed by external rules, expectations and ‘shoulds.’ I am now developing a relationship with life from the inside out’ – sounds so simple, and it is. We have spent too long underestimating how amazing we truly are that it can seem hard to trust that we really are this divine. Learning to trust in ourselves is all part of developing a relationship with ourselves as we re-connect and start living the truth of who we are.

416. When we deeply and lovingly connect to ourselves, then we can offer that same quality of connection with all others we meet.

417. The grace and wisdom of our years, of our life lived, is so easy to share when we truly appreciate ourselves and all that we bring.

     1. Appreciation is a beautiful quality, and there is so much to appreciate.

418. This is great Matilda, what a wake up call that brings in transparency, so we see through all the illusion-based situations that we can live in, and in scoffing derisively we are simply being contemptuous about the True depth of our “Love”!

419. There is a group of women who meet periodically at Ballina to share on the subject of ‘being a woman’. Last meeting we broke up into smaller groups to discuss a topic and in our group the younger ones were asking us, the elders about menopause, about what it is like to be older. The young women there had tears in their eyes (of joy!) hearing how beautiful it is to be old, and all that we we were sharing with them dissolved the fears of the unknown, and fears of the myths that are paraded as truth about this glorious stage of life.

420. When we care for ourselves it grows into self love and when we love ourselves we realise how gorgeous we are. Our beauty is something we feel and it is this what emanates.

421. I had the joy of being with someone in her 70s last night and it has been awesome to see her getting younger as she gets older! Her playfulness has been increasingly coming out and she has been blossoming into her beauty. How gorgeous to know that as we age there are no limitations to increasing in vitality, joy, health and expression.

422. The wisdom of my inner beauty is now a reality for me, and it shows in the mirror each day I am connected to it. Fashion or age has no place in this equation.

     1. Fashion and age have become two major points with how society measures beauty. But in truth, they have no place at all when it comes to beauty.

     2. I loved feeling the authority in what you’re sharing here, Heather. This is what is so inspiring, to feel the authority in the lived expression from other women. The authority that comes from a claiming of themselves – an appreciation of every aspect that makes up the exquisite woman that they are.

423. Are we actually growing older or isn´t it much more a process of shedding of the layers that are hiding the inner beauty, the very being within that is beyond age?!

     1. True beauty, we are indeed timeless and ageless…when you look into the eyes that shine the light of truth it confirms the love we are…not confined by any number other than One.

424. The ‘looking back’ offers valuable reflections and insights and from this, comes a mastery of oneself and the way to live in life.

425. Superb “…we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.” I walked around with this feeling of ‘this is not it’, this so called reality of the isolationary and separative world we have created, where we need to look after ourselves and the ideas in our head are ours to hide and own, none of this makes sense to me. How could we, can we experience feeling so connected with on another (which can occur in all of our lives) and yet think our thoughts and choices have no impact on others. Serge Benhayon, lives this universality and knows it in every particle of his being and he lives it without compromise and so when you meet him, what I have doubted and reacted to, I instead have chosen to live and celebrate. A reflection of grace to be celebrated, from a true man and also a beautiful woman such as yourself.

426. Matilda this entire blog feels beautiful. If growing old can feel like this count me in!!

427. Trying to maintain and or strive for a body image simply keeps us away from enjoying the quality our body can connect to. Nothing looks better than a body connected to itself, in movement, care and love and this will never go out of fashion!

     1. Beautifully said. Our focus can so often be on the outer and what we look like. That is always rather painful in my experience and it definitely keeps us away from a quality that is so exquisite to move and groove in. This quality has nothing whatsoever to do with what we look like although as you say, it is rather beautiful to observe and see this quality in movement.

     2. Love this line … “Nothing looks better than a body connected to itself, in movement, care and love and this will never go out of fashion!” So very, very true… love emanating from another is absolutely ageless and timeless beauty.

428. I met up with my high school friends on the weekend as we have all turned 50 in the last few months. I had the same realisation as you Matilda that I am feeling more beautiful now than I did when I was 17. When I was told I haven’t changed at all, I took this as a compliment. Yet I knew that everything has changed as I now know and love myself more than ever in this adult life.

429. The most beautiful face is an honest face; the most beautiful body is a true body full of honesty.

430. When I was very young I often wondered about the year 2000, which seemed such a long way a way, but i was looking forward to it and I worked out that i would be 54 when it came. This seemed incredibly old and over the hill to me at the time. Little did I know that a time would come when I still felt incredibly youthful and full of energy and would look back at 54 and go ‘That is so young!’ I say to all women in their 50s, have fun and serve with all of you, as you are still very young with many years to go.

     1. Thank you for your comment Lyndy, I’m 57 now, and I feel as though I have so much to give and if any thoughts come which say you’re too old to do that or start that project, I tell them to get lost because they are after all just lies. Growing old does not have to mean giving up, in fact, it can be quite the opposite if we so choose.

431. Absolutely Matilda “Looking back now I consider this one of the meanest set ups in society: the ever-changing set of rules about how we must look, that leaves most of us not ‘in.’” The other day I was in Selfridges London. It’s been years since I had visited the store but what struck me as I walked into the handbags and fashion section was how the whole set-up was designed for us to feel less, to make the consumer think that this is IT and lose sight of what is truly beautiful within us all.

432. I can’t help but wonder if there is ever any true benefit to looking back, even if it’s with a desire to understand. All that we ever need or want is given to us through our connection with our body in the present moment.

433. Yes, Matilda, I too can remember the feeling of being unanchored, and I see it so often in young people today, cast adrift and trying to find their way. Universal Medicine has provided me with a steady compass for fifteen years now, and everything points back to the inner knowing deep within.

434. “I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known.” So beautifully captured Matilda, the awesome gift that Serge Benhayon hands to us, the ability to resurrect our awareness and connection to our enormous wisdom that gracefully encompasses everyone.

435. When we can look back and not be judging or critical of ourselves and appreciate where we have come to and how we can make different choices along the way that are lovingly supporting us this is something to deeply appreciate.

436. How true Ariana. I have come to see that what people express generally says more about them than it does about anyone else. If we make hurtful remarks about another then it is very likely we are simply living in hurt ourselves. I find that the more loving my relationship with myself is, the less desire there is to be critical or judgmental of others.

437. I heard an Italian say that cars have no need of mirrors, who cares about what is behind us! When we are lost, without knowing how we got to where we are, are we not really lost?

     1. Steve what you bring to the conversation is great, as when we get to where we can live in the “Love” that we are then everything that has gone before is supporting us, so we are no longer a “lost” cause searching in the dark.

438. It is true, what Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine presents is already known from within and boy when I am ready for what is being shared do I feel confirmed with an absolute knowing that sits with every cell in my body.

439. I used to avoid thinking about getting older. ‘I mean, being 50, well you’re past it aren’t you’. But, here I am at 54 and feeling amazing, loving life, loving the ever growing awareness of who I am and who we all are – and like you Matilda, appreciating all the wonderful and inspiring people I share my life with. Who’d have thought it.

440. It is a trait of us humans that we can only make sense of things retrospectively but it doesn’t have to be that way. If we returned our bodies to being the natural receptors and communicators of energy that they are and we practiced listening to what our bodies had to say, then we would be able to understand life as we went along and not just when we looked back on it. How much simpler and more pleasurable would life be if we didn’t have to keep crashing in order to learn how to take the bends.

441. Society is set up to distract a woman from the true qualities that she brings – the distractions abound in terms of impositions and demands and shoulds and should-nots… It takes a strong woman to know herself and hold this essence as a priority. And it takes a strong woman to return to this when she has lost herself in the falseness. Thankfully we do have some true role models such as Natalie Benhayon and Miranda Benhayon and others too, who have not traded their essence and qualities to fit in to society’s plethora of demands that do not honour and support a woman and support her in appreciating the very gift of being a woman, and the body she is in.

442. Growing older and being more loving and accepting of my body has been one of the greatest gifts I could have offered myself. It is kind of ironic that when I was younger and so gorgeous, I never really stopped to appreciate it, but instead always found something to criticise or see as wrong or needing fixing – such as my bum being the wrong shape or my belly not being flat enough etc etc. But today, despite all the obvious wrinkles appearing and the less youthful body that I have now in my mid 40’s I have thankfully turned around the way I look at myself. It is still a work in progress, but the reality is that this would not have changed for me if I had not encountered the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine – which has taught me to appreciate myself as a women and value all that I bring and all of who I am! And this is not a plug on UniMed and Serge Benhayon (which I could easily do!), but it is the simple facts and the truth of how I came to be where I am today!

443. I like the three suggestions:
     (1) Being super respectful in my relationships – very true, no need for me to speak to anyone in emotional voice tones
     (2) Letting myself love and be loved – I am learning to express my love more appropriately with no need, no hook
     (3) Exploring humility and the learning opportunities on offer when I make mistakes – being able to say ‘oops’ and not to create a drama when I get something ‘wrong’

444. Yes our body ages and decays but what is truly unpleasant and ugly are the ideals and beliefs and emotions we carry – and what about everything we hold in and do not express? It all gets stored in our body. It’s this that we struggle with, not getting old. Thank you for clarifying Mathilda.

445. Your expression communicates your beauty as much as your face does Matilda. You have me remembering the seven years I spent working with women in clothing stores. I got to see that even the most beautiful woman I had ever seen found reasons to despise their bodies. I remember being in awe of the beauty of one woman and then shocked when she began crying because she did not like her elbows. The pictures we are sold are a very cruel joke designed to play on insecurities in order to profit from them. If we honour the beauty we are from the inside out nothing can take it away from us.

     1. The ‘cruel joke’ is also played out at work. I see the beauty in people who absolutely despise themselves! This set up makes for a society that is stuck and imprisoned by false walls that don’t actually exist.

446. “Looking back” I can see so clearly that I lived so much of my life fuelled by the unquestioned beliefs of others, especially in relation to growing old and being a woman in this stage of life. As a young girl the idea of being in my 60’s seemed not only so far away but also a very scary place to be with everything sagging and wrinkling and the belief that there was nothing you could do about it. Have I ever proved that to be wrong! I love being in my 60’s, the wrinkles and the sags are simply a beautiful part of who I am, and I have finally discovered that who I am is pretty amazing.

447. When people share their lived experience regardless of their age I find it inspiring and supportive in deepening my relationship of life. And in each stage of our life we have a different flavour of focus, exploration and insights. It will be a blessing to society for the elder members to choose to live the grace and wisdom available to them and share it.

448. ‘I understand how this striving for some external perfection keeps us in competition’
     It is the lack of knowing and living ourselves from the lack of a developed self relationship that causes us to seek outwardly and then compare and be in competition with others and their outwardly lived lives – which is really a mass reduction of who we truly are that has been reduced to comparing the what we haves,the what we’ve done etc rather than embracing life from appreciating and confirming the flavours we bring from within.

449. ‘Looking back, I also see how unanchored I was, having little to no relationship with myself on which to build a sense of who I was and what my purpose in life could possibly be’
     When we do not make the space, time and effort to develop a relationship with ourselves then we bring a fraction of our true selves to the world, making it easier for us to be engulfed by what the world can demand or impose on us. However when we know and support ourselves and develop this relationship then we bring our inner gold to the outer.

450. There is great beauty in the power of reflection – being able to look back and reflect upon what has been lived and the reflection this provides to others.

     1. It’s always easier to see yourself when standing in a room full of mirrors 🙂

451. We have been conditioned to believe beauty is seen with our eyes, which it is, however, that is only a part of the whole, the quality of beauty in it’s entirety is first felt with our heart.

452. “we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth”. As a fellow student of The Way of the Livingness, I was just thinking about this topic the other day, that there are no longer mysteries to life. This way of life makes thing very clear. And when it is not, I know there are more veils to be lifted off to see the truth.

453. ‘Looking back now I consider this one of the meanest set ups in society: the ever-changing set of rules about how we must look, that leaves most of us not ‘in.’ – which may be a good thing, even though it doesn’t feel like that at the time! If we are not connected with ourselves, we are connecting to something else. When we are ‘in’ with something outside ourselves, we are aligning to an energy that is not true, allowing ourselves to be manipulated and pulled even further away from our loving selves.

454. There is so much Grace in ‘growing old beautifully,’ in honouring the wisdom of our years, and sharing this with everyone.

455. Life truly transforms when we stop being harsh with ourselves and our past choices and bring understanding to all areas of our lives… the self-critique and self-judgment falls away and we start to make more loving choices.

456. I agree with you Matilda, in my fifties I am feeling more vital and healthy than I have for most of my life and I am embracing life more and more as I get older, thanks to the presentations of Serge Benhayon and the growing loving relationship I have with myself.

     1. That is awesome Doug and you are a living testament to prove it! 🙂

        1. I say yes yes yes to this Doug and James. It gets better and better if you align to the true impulse of the inner-heart (or the ‘winner-heart’ as my auto correct just delivered!) – 60s- 70s – I have found the sky is not even the limit.

        2. Awesome auto correct Lyndy! I have lots to look forward and enjoy now and moving forward the more I align to and move from my inner heart :).

     2. Awesome Doug, I agree you are feeling younger and younger to me.

457. I agree, growing old alongside other inspiring elders is a blessing. It is at Universal Medicine that I have seen and been hugely inspired by how the ageing process is embraced, with absolute grace and power. No signs of fear, regrets or irresponsibility but with inspiring willingness to learn and grow, and this is all a gorgeous part of our evolution in life. Our world needs more and more people who are not afraid of ageing to reflect how loving and expansive this process is when we fully embrace it from head to toe.

458. i get the sense from this piece, that the most treasured beauty is the one that is lived and shared with other people.

459. Yes, once we know love, we can express it regardless of our physical attributes and we are then beautiful. Even the bellringer of Notre Dame would be beautiful.

460. It is such a relief when we settle into ourselves and enjoy being who we are and stop trying to be a certain way to please others. This surrender often comes with age but can be attained a lot earlier as seen in many of the younger generation I know.

     1. I agree Mary-Louise it sure is a relief when we simply trying to be someone or something for everybody else and essential are truly content, in fact more than content, within our own skin, knowing there is far more to life than purely physicality.

     2. Its seems to have become a norm that people dread getting older and reaching ‘milestone’ birthdays but surrendering and stopping trying to measure up to imposed ideals and beliefs means that ageing allows an appreciation of what is offered in every moment.

461. Matilda, this is so true; ‘Looking back now I consider this one of the meanest set ups in society: the ever-changing set of rules about how we must look, that leaves most of us not ‘in.’ This is a great point, this ever changing set of rules about what being beautiful looks like is crazy, so many of us try to live up to it and cannot/do not and so that leaves so many in society feel less and not beautiful, when in fact we are all uniquely beautiful and that’s the lovely thing – that we are unique and beautiful in our own special way and are not all cardboard cuts outs of each other.

462. We have such strong preconceptions about growing old – that we are going to lose our youth, our vitality, beauty and vervaciousness and be left on the shelf. But around me i am so inspired by the older women in my life who are only growing in their love of life, their spark – growing old doesn’t mean anything needs to lessen, we can choose to grow.

463. “I enjoy being me”, we all should be able to say this and yet how many can truly say that they enjoy being themselves. This is what Serge Benhayon is offering us to find our way back to a simple and loving life, where we do not have to be anything or anyone else but ourself, and from there everything unfolds.

464. There is such an honesty and openness in your writing Matilda that is not seen in the everyday world. People put on a brave face, say they are ok, everything is fine, that’s how life is, etc, when you come along and show there is a very different way we can live. And more to the point, it is there for everyone to choose to make some very simple changes to grow old beautifully too.

465. We knew about living from the inside out when we were young and experienced life from our bodies. It is a natural way to be so we just have to choose to live this way in life again, by bringing it back to being present with our bodies and not keep entertaining the head.

466. “I am now developing a relationship with life from the inside out: I am me, in the world, understanding my purpose and responsibility”. Thank you, Matilda, for sharing the joy of being fully you….gorgeous.

467. There is a strong consciousness that tells us that as you age you have no purpose in society, you become invisible and are a burden – what a shame so many people succumb to this belief and give up. When in fact the total opposite can be true if we so choose.

468. The older I get the less I am worried about what other people think of me, it’s not that I don’t care what they think but if they think ill of me for just being me in my truth, well it is just too bad.

469. Women in their 50´s who truly accept, love and express their inner beauty are super attractive and glowing. It is like they freed themselves from any conditions, like you describe, and after menopause it seems like women gets more detached from being involved in dramas or circumstances. I am very looking forward to that age, as it feels for me very glorious. As every age has its own glory of course. It needs women like you that change that false picture that life and beauty as a full woman ends after a certain age. SO wrong.

470. Image and fashion is so overrated. To judge someone by these standards is ludicrous. We are all beautiful human beings who can choose to shine from the inside, and this true beauty is more powerful than any fashion statement. What would we rather be met with – a perfect outfit or a warm heart?

471. I recently met with an old school friend, and we were discussing how unprepared we were to go out into the world and actually be able to deal with everyday situations when we left school. The main thrust of our education, seemed to have been about how to behave respectfully and politely wherever we were. We were even given the opportunity to win a badge for our ‘deportment’ if we held our posture well. But looking back, I can see how I too was living at ‘the mercy of everything and everyone around me’, and it was a perfect environment where I was able to hide away and not have to stand out and be seen for the gorgeous young woman I was then.

472. It’s interesting to see how for many people when they are honest with themselves can feel that the life they are leading makes no sense to them. Is it possible that this is why we have a huge rise in dementia? Is it possible that these people can feel that their lives and the way they are living makes no sense but they don’t know how to rectify the situation so they withdraw from their family and friends and then life. I have first hand experience with people with this condition and it seems to me they have checked out of their bodies completely there isn’t anyone there to engage with. It is very distressing to see a fellow human-being so devitalized and given up.

473. “I realise that most of the people around me were just as unsure” So true and what good con artists we are, pretending we have it all worked out and are super cool. I know that prior to meeting Serge Benhayon I had a very cool veneer but very erratic and unstable relationship with myself. Thankfully after 12 years of re-learning how to nurture myself with Universal Medicine, my relationship has evolved into a beautiful appreciation of the qualities I bring and who I am and so no longer need a veneer or facade to cover up that lack of self worth.

474. If we get enveloped into the looking back, are we not choosing to put our self in a jar on the shelf and watch the world pass by? I prefer to keep an empty jar on the shelf as a marker of where I never wish to be.

475. Matilda, I love your open appreciation of yourself now in contrast to where you were before. Your grace and beauty shines through in your way and we’re all blessed to be in your presence. .

476. Great contribution and insights into a way of living that nourishes us and keeps us fully engaged way past any societal use by dates – and most importantly, with joy, vitality and zest for life.

477. As I connect more and more to the truth of who I am as a man, I fall more and more deeply in love with all the women in my life. I know women of all ages and love them all for what they bring – but there is something very special about the ‘older woman’ who has embraced and claimed their sacredness and freed themselves from the imposed, external parameters why which ‘beauty’ may be judged. Such a woman is a true powerhouse and I am in absolute awe of the many that I know who are now living this way. They are truly beautiful.

478. Yes the ‘confidence’ people often have is not true confidence at all but really just conforming to what society deems important. True confidence stems from being who you truly are.

479. So beautiful to read this. ‘Looking back now I consider this one of the meanest set ups in society: the ever-changing set of rules about how we must look, that leaves most of us not ‘in.’’ Yes! It’s so mean. All those beautiful people (and that beauty is all of us, no exceptions) thinking they are less or not as good is actually really sad. But I can see it’s been my choice to think I’m not ok by comparing myself to someone else, or to what is held up to be how to look and often in defiance of natural, beautiful signs of aging. And it’s also a wonderful choice to get beneath any self-loathing I have let in and mistakenly thought was me when it clearly is not, and feel this inner beauty and let it shine out. In many wonderful people I know who let this spark shine out I honestly see their beauty and nothing else. For those who, like me, have been caught up in self-deprecation that beauty is undeniable too. There’s come a point I can’t deny the beauty within.

480. I can remember when I was younger and less confident and settled in myself and constantly looking out – I would leave the house and be always aware of those around me, other women, what they were wearing and how they looked. It was almost a corrosive disease, the way looking out and comparing would eat at my self worth and confidence. Coming to have more of a settled inner sense of myself has been so amazing, no longer looking out so much

481. I find it very shocking and confronting how long it has, and still is, taking me to truly accept and appreciate myself. It shows how readily I accepted the false ideals and beliefs all around me, over the truth. Also, how destructive we can be, as women, when we are not choosing to meet each other in the love that we are. The hurt we can cause each other when we go into jealousy and comparison cuts very deep, leading to a lack of trust with each other which only love can overcome.

482. This is so the opposite of what we have been educated with about growing old.. This makes far more sense than the negatives that I have heard about growing old. So I trust that with this presence of yourself right now, growing older is actually very much fun & enjoyable.. That just makes so much more sense..

483. The key to moving forward is to look back with understanding.

484. That’s the beauty about Serge Benhayon’s teachings, they are very practical and relatable to every aspect of life, and life can truly change. The Universal Medicine students are an amazing body of evidence of the truth Serge presents, with our lives reflecting better health and wellbeing, and a contentment and joy of living in reconnection to our essence and the love we truly are within – you could say this is true well – being!

485. Thank you Ariana, that is a loving and supportive way to look at these kinds of situations.

486. What is it about telling kids that their childhood is the best days of their lives especially when they are raising some issues that show they are not having a great experience, and scoffing at the notion that it is possible to for example to “feel more beautiful in our fifties than ever before”? Blogs such as this expose the falseness of these pictures we have been circulating about life and aging. I now know many people among the students of Universal Medicine who clearly show a deepening quality and relationship with life year after year simply because of the way they have been choosing to live.

     1. Yes, there are some nice aspects to childhood but overall I much prefer my life now.

        1. Me too. In fact I too am one of those people who have a constantly deepening enjoyment and relationship with life. Beliefs that this age or that age is better or worse are groundless and misleading. When each case is observed and considered on its own merit then we have an opportunity to see the true picture, whatever it is, and learn from it.

487. The points you mention about your daily life hold the simplicity of how life can be.

488. What a prodound shift this is Matilda and what a beautiful reflection you are to other women who may be seeking confirmation outside of themselves.
     I deeply appreciate you sharing your part in how you were – it supports me to consider all the ways in which I am holding onto an image.

489. Matilda, you are so gorgeous and there is a beautiful grace and deep wisdom that flows throug your movement and expression.

     1. Hear, hear Stephanie, you are spot on. I feel the same, and we are all blessed with divine wisdom, grace and exquisiteness that is beautifully expressed here by Matilda. Wow, amazing!

490. There’s no reason why we can’t be graceful in our old age, whether that it is with a disease or not.

491. “I realise that most of the people around me were just as unsure and at the mercy of social pressures and the norms dictated by statistical commonality” – With social media and the opportunity to put out an entirely different, confident and glamorous image of yourself, what you’ve shared is even more key Matilda in the sense that this is all still going on; people are still feeling unsure about themselves, anxious about life and at the mercy of social pressures, but we now have a skewed solution to make everything look okay without addressing or changing what we are fundamentally feeling within.

     1. Yes, a very great point to make, we think we are finding solutions to fix our problems but all that we do is change the outer appearance all the while deep inside we still feel the same and need to deal with this every day.

492. “Looking back, I understand how this striving for some external perfection keeps us in competition, comparison and separation from one another, sizing each other up to see how close to the mark any one of us has got.” What a massive disservice we do to our selves and to one another when we choose to make life about external measures that can never actually marry up. Comparing our body shapes and sizes, how we dress, what we own and so on, will never show us the true beauty that resides in us all. It is only when we make a U turn and start connecting to our innately loving qualities within that we begin to appreciate the commonality within us all, a deeply loving wisdom that can be shared all life long.

493. “What Serge and Universal Medicine have done is to offer a foundation upon which we can build ourselves back to our innate potential.”
     To embrace and explore all that it is to honour and nurture ourselves is the greatest invitation to again know who we are.

494. I observe the young women today and those that come into my counselling room, and I can recognise such a strong striving for physical perfection, to the point where they do not value their inner qualities at all. I remember how empty this felt due to the absolute dishonouring of the beauty and deeply loving nature within.

495. What a great insight into the way you can at 50 feel amazing and appreciate that you really are beautiful. Fascinating when you look observe that the usual trend is the opposite and going into the elder years with reservation and reluctancy. I love your commitment to yourself and others and you are a joy to have in our lives Matilda.

496. This is lovely Matilda to embrace your beauty more as you enter your fifties, enjoying being you freeing yourself from the constraints of beliefs that mask true beauty within.

497. With all the fear and anxiousness around growing older is beautiful to have a reflection of someone that is living more vital and amazing each day, the depth of appreciation is lovely to read.

498. I feel that a lot of our attitude towards getting older is influenced by the fact that many of us believe that death is the end of life, but it’s not. Life is one glorious continuous unbroken thread and if we remembered this fact,( a fact that we all undoubtedly know) then it would support us to embrace all stages and all aspects of life, knowing that it’s not ever possible to not be.

499. Matlida what you have written here rings true for me too
     “I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known. What Serge and Universal Medicine have done is to offer a foundation upon which we can build ourselves back to our innate potential.”
     Serge Benhayon has given Humanity an opportunity through his presentations, workshops and books to reconnect to something they innately know. The choice is whether they reconnect back to this knowing or not. It’s as simple as that.

500. I have read this blog and scanned/read through most of the 200-ish comments. What we have here is an incredible collection of testimonials and lived experiences all inspired by the teachings of Universal Medicine and the lived example of Serge Benhayon. It is a truly extraordinary anthology that debunks one of the most toxic forces in humanity, literally turning the whole thing on its head. This is massive and is a conversation that needs to be lived, walked and shared amongst all of our brothers. Stunning – and with gigantic appreciation to you Matilda for instigating it.

501. We are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth. This says it all really and I love that this is so, thank-you Matilda for sharing with us.

502. “…my behaviour and choices were governed by external rules, expectations and ‘shoulds.’ ” – yes I can relate, beforehand i ticked the boxes and felt like a processing robot, stilted in movement and looking to everyone else in regards to ‘the next move’ [of the robot]… Though the more i ticked ‘the box’ of myself that said “self-love” i ticked the same ‘box’ of everyone too, to realise there is no box at all only the eternal circle of love.

503. Looking back I see how contracted I was, living at the mercy of everything and everyone around me, a choice I was choosing to align to to not shine in the world. Today I am uncovering gently the qualities such as delicacy and truth from within and bringing them to the fore. I am no longer hiding and when I do find myself in situations where I have gone into comfort I reflect and learn from them for next time round.

504. In my experience age has the potential to set you free from the constrictions laced upon us as more and more we get to see the pictures and expectations and how little good but much harm they do to everyone. It is not dependant on age to become aware of the impositions nevertheless do experience, error and trial, investment and failure, hope and disappointment, and eventually coming to one´s ‘own senses’ definitely expose the falseness and encourage one´s own truth to be lived.

     1. Yes, Alexander, Universal Medicine has constantly supported me to live my own truth, in a world that is dominated by external pictures and pressures.

505. A lovely and inspiring read Matilda

506. Beats buying a sports car and signing up to decathlons in an attempt to still feel young!!

     1. Ha ha!

     2. hahaha, love it Otto- you nailed it. How ridiculous that feels speaking it out like that in regards to that beautiful, truthful blog!

        1. Indeed. But it is the truth of what I see amongst so many men and women of my age. Many of us are really, really lost and rather than consider that there might be an alternative, we harden ourselves even more and build bubbles and fortresses around ourselves to protect the choices that we have made. The problem is that we all know what we are doing and this is what causes the pain…and then the need to deepen the denial. It’s a very exposing illustration of the love and support that we all need.

507. And it is the simplest of things – like choosing to hydrate as Matilda has so beautiful explained – that anchor us. Amongst all the ‘complications’ that we can create within our life, the simplicity of these choices is specifically and scientifically powerful in that it slices through that complication and sucks the wind out of its sails.

508. Super gorgeous blog Matilda, thank you. When we live from the inside out we are able to stand firm in ourselves and a woman or man knowing themselves in this way is a very beautiful thing.

     1. Elizabeth, very true. beauty emanates from within and has nothing to do with what we do, or possess. Just simply loving being ourselves is a beautiful thing.

509. So interesting to read this blog – just the repeated use of the expression “looking back” was such a powerful and exposing way to write; the pressure this puts us under and, very simply, such a crazy thing to do.

510. Growing old has so much to offer as I feel more alive in my mid sixties than I did in my Fifties. “What Serge and Universal Medicine has done is offer a foundation upon which we can build ourselves back to our innate potential.” Thank you Matilda, it is thanks to The Livingness of this way of life that it is simpler to ”access everything I had always innately known”. What a True blessing it is to understand the way of evolution and it is available for all who choose to re-connect. And to quote Matilda “I am looking forward to whatever lies ahead”, even passing over, when it eventually arrives!

511. And I for one am looking forward to growing old gracefully alongside you Matilda and it is your grace that inspires me each and every time I see you.

512. ps: I know you Ariana and I can confirm you are awesome and have a hot beautiful body!

513. Spot on Ariana. I know I am amazing and how deeply I care for people. If someone says otherwise that is their issue as I know me. Equally if someone says I have 3 heads and green hair that really says more about their perception than it does about me.

514. A beautiful woman indeed Ariana, wise, loving and very playful.. you can see that you know this about yourself and that you are super strong with it. Its a beautiful quality.

515. At what point in life do we willingly become a lemming and run with the pack to the cliff? Once we stop and remove the veil we have hidden life behind, life becomes our oyster.

516. Yes I agree I also felt more beautiful than ever in my 50s but wait until you get to your 60s – wow that brings a whole other level of beauty, grace and sexiness.

     1. How very awesome to read these words, in a world where growing older is handled like a punishment.

517. The most beautiful thing in anyone, young or old, is to see them living fully as themselves. For many of us that has taken years of being lost, finding a way of living and then rediscovering our innate gorgeousness – and with you Matilda it shines out irresistibly. There are also kids growing up with this way of living and I’m privileged to have see them shining already. Young or old there is no need to wait, we can just live fully as ourselves now!

518. Glory is when a man or woman surrenders their physicality to the divinity they have within them. And as they hold us all in the elder years of their life they lead the way for all of us to get there.

     1. Beautiful Katerina.

519. Who does not want that “growing old gracefully alongside a lot of very inspiring men and women in my life.” And we are only open for this if we can detach ourselves from the imposed ideals and beliefs society is continuously casting on us, ideals and beliefs that keeps us away from appreciation, a quality and attitude to life that is so needed for reconnecting back to our natural essence in which we can gracefully live our lives.

520. You are so right Matilda the world is upside-down and we need to live from the inside out and not from the outside in!

521. How awesome it is to appreciate and cherish the movements we make and how each and every movement, is like throwing a tiny pebble in a body of water and watching how the fine delicate ripples spread and gracefully expand outwardly to all corners of the world. Thank you Matilda for sharing how precious our movements are and the reflection of grace, beauty and love they truly behold.

522. Developing a deep level of self acceptance and appreciation of this body we have to express from is a true foundation from which to live.

523. It is only seen as remarkable that we feel and look amazing and beautiful as we age because the opposite has been sold to us from when we are young. We have allowed and created all the influences that do not support reflecting who we are. Most of us were brought up by women in our lives that were jealous of our joyful, sweetness and beauty, as they had also been sold that as an adult that diminishes. A big high five to all women who are walking in the knowing that while they will age, their spunk, magnificence, beauty and enormous light never fades… young and old women need to have something to remind them of this.

     1. This is so true and yet so toxic when deeply considered. Why is it such a given that ‘young = more beautiful?’ It’s certainly not what I feel in myself and certainly not what I feel when I look at my wife or many of the other women I know whom, because they are no longer in their twenties or thirties, much of society would consider them ‘past their prime’. I beg to differ. From where I’m standing they are getting more and more beautiful, sacred, powerful and inspirational with every year that they get closer to their true selves.

        1. I totally agree Otto, what is considered as beautiful has been bastardized and affects us more than most of us realise. I, like the women you speak of, have actually never in my life felt as sacred, content, solid and sure of myself and my body than I have in the last few years… and that just keeps deepening every day. Conversations like these are super powerful in knocking out ideals and beliefs that hinder this being a natural way to feel and express from when we are born all the way til we pass over.

524. ‘ …. we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.’ – and as more and more people are choosing to live in connection with themselves and each other, we share this truth with everyone, through the power of reflection, just by walking down the street or through the supermarket, making a cup of tea at work. The livingness of what we know to be true is expressed and shared in our every movement.

525. I too am moving into my fifties in a very ‘un-fifty’ way. Getting older is not what I thought it would be, as so many of my models and expectations were based on a way of life that was not rooted in nurture, care or the deep appreciation of our delicate bodies. Having jumped the tracks in my forties, I too can vouch for the fact that we can exponentially feel more beautiful and gorgeous as we grow older, and the older we grow, the more grace there is to discover and express.

526. ‘Looking back now I consider this one of the meanest set ups in society: the ever-changing set of rules about how we must look, that leaves most of us not ‘in.’ – that’s the insidiousness of the energy, creating pictures to continually pull us away from ourselves, yet these pictures are not only unattainable, they are the complete opposite of the love that we already are. We are all already beauty-full, from the inside out. These ‘pictures’ prevent us from appreciating everything that we already are, we ‘think’ they are IT, when, in fact, we are already IT.

527. As we gain more understanding, we can appreciate what life is truly about. We can change some old ideas we may have held and step into the wisdom we know.

528. Matilda gorgeous, thank you for sharing. It is deeply inspiring seeing and knowing people older than me truly embracing life and so I do not need to have any doubt as to how I can also be in my 50s and later years and so do not need to fear it in any way.

529. Look back and know you are ancient, and so is the wisdom you represent. Look back and see our divinity is ageless, it’s only our body that crumbles away. And if we celebrate our true origin every day our body will gracefully change to support us along the way. Thank you Mathilda.

530. I can so relate Matilda… I feel more beautiful and settled in who I am than I ever have in the past 55 yrs, and I look forward to deepening this further in the years to come!

531. The world is lucky to have you Matilda.

     1. That is for sure!!!

532. To grow old gracefully with an increased sense of self-appreciation and acceptance is a beautiful thing indeed.

533. If I look back at how much my life has changed since meeting Serge Benhayon and how deeply rewarding the journey back to me has been I can only look forward to my future knowing I will continue to deepen the connection with me, express more of the love and beauty that I am and evolve in my wisdom and way of living. Whats not to love about growing old(er) in this way?

534. Matilda, I love your blogs, they are always oozing with warmth, love and wisdom and it can be clearly felt that this is not only who you are but what you are living in your daily life. Your writings quite literally warm me from the inside out.

535. I would say that most women’s perception of their own beauty is that it diminishes over time (I’m not talking about when we think we look ‘hot’’ in our teens, I’m talking about feeling beautiful from within) and yet we have the opportunity to deepen our true beauty with the passing of the years, until such time that others get lost in the reflection of their own beauty when they look into our faces.

536. It strikes me that any one of your dot-points of basic responsible self-care and the finer details are each one in themselves capable of bringing quite monumental shifts to the quality of our health and well being, and therefore, life.

537. The teachings and inspiration from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine have also deeply supported me to grow from a teenager into a young woman feeling confident and beautiful without picking myself apart with the unrealistic images that are around of how you should look as a woman.

     1. This is an incredible achievement. Truly. Navigating those waters is a treacherous journey and ever-more-so with the explosion of social media that means that our every move is made in public and we are constantly bombarded with these ideals and beliefs. And so, Lieke, I have gigantic admiration and respect for you. In my book, this is true success.

538. If I replace ‘fifties’ with ‘sixties’ Matilda, this could be me writing about my life. And now getting ever closer to my 70’s I too am feeling more beautiful everyday thanks to the incredibly supportive foundation that I have been building for the last 13 years. This foundation has been built with the loving support and wisdom of Serge Benhayon and is one that holds me so steadily as I return to the amazing woman I naturally am.

     1. I’ve had that experience reading blogs too, where it feels like it someone has done an article about me!

539. Matilda, it is very gorgeous to have so many graceful, beautiful, wise and powerful elders in the community such as yourself, I feel blessed and now look forward to being an elder myself.

540. YES that is a great key to life – to live from the inside out not the outside in. It is also from the inside that we can truly meet and connect to others.

     1. Yes Nicola, when we live from the idea that we have to reach outwardly in life we are in the illusion that we have to become something we are not yet but one day will be. But when we turn inwardly we connect with a quality of life we already are, know very well and have lived before.

        1. The funny thing is that in a way we do have to become something but in the way of stopping being what we are not so it is a letting go and returning or an un-becoming. Funny that we use the word unbecoming to mean unflattering or not looking good, because there is nothing more beautiful than stopping the becoming and returning to the being 🙂

     2. Ah yes but we have got it all the wrong way around and for the most part live from the outside in and get through life in twisted garments showing only our surface self and not the true self that lives deep within.

        1. The deeper in we go the more we bring out to become.

        2. I remember when a visitor from overseas came to stay with me in Australia how much she enjoyed and laughed at the big signs on the motorway slip roads that said: WRONG WAY GO BACK – if only she had lived that in her life and choices her end may not have been so devastating.

        3. Yes, these roads signs have also caused my overseas friends to laugh out loud! What is not so funny is that we all have such a marker inside us that tells us in no uncertain terms when we have stepped onto a path that does not support our evolution back to Soul. The tragedy here is how often we ignore it.

541. Love the point you make about humility, something that I am also exploring at the moment in the school of life! Every where at every moment there is something to be learned.

542. I can still be wondered myself, being in my fifties, over how much more energy and joy in life I have compared to 10 or more years ago. Thank you Serge Benhayon for what you offer!

543. It pays to look back on the past sometimes. Not only may it reveal more of the truth of what has occurred, it can also support us to appreciate our choices and where we have come to in life.

544. So true Matilda ‘there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.’ In looking outwards for confirmation of our path in life we create complication and competition and it is only when we come back to ourselves and commit to deepening our relationship with honesty and transparency that we start to lift the veils and reveal our innate beauty to both ourselves and others.

545. I can really relate with what you have shared here Matilda as I grow older I actually feel more lovely and it is starting to become less about ‘age’ and more about essence. It is completely awesome to break the consciousness with regards age and ageing and instead appreciate the true beauty of who we are no matter what our age.

546. ‘I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known.’ What a great line of truth Matilda, love it.

547. I feel there are many of us that would hum to the same tune since coming to Universal Medicine. Serge Benhayon has guided us back to our inner beauty that has a depth that far surpasses any physical form.

548. I agree Matilda. As I approach 50 I feel more beautiful, more sexy, graceful and appreciative of myself than ever before. Humility and understanding are dear friends who support me along the way. Thank you Serge Benhayon for the constant, and I truly mean constant, inspiration.

549. A huge realisation of mine when I was young was that everyone else at school was also desperately trying to fit in, not stand out, be a part of a group, look a certain way. But in realising this, I also realised how trivial the measurements for what made you fit in and stand out where, because no one person of group defined it, it was ever shifting thing because everyone was jostling to achieve it. If everyone stopped and just was themselves, then the whole game would drop.

550. I enjoy you being you too 🙂

551. We are so set up by society and out there as it’s always a moving target, so one day you may be ‘on trend’ say, and the next you’re not, and you’re still you. But ‘we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.’ captures it exactly … we have chosen to live this way and it only when we’re willing to step back, develop a relationship with us and understand that inside there is a beauty that is untouched no matter what that we begin to live life differently from the inside out as Matilda describes so clearly here. For me exploring this path I feel more solid in me, and more committed to life and the world in a way that does not leave me behind, I couldn’t imagine living differently now.

552. In a year 8 class this week (in an all boys school) we were looking at the Femme Fatal role in literature and it really struck me then how there is very little reference point anywhere for the innate preciousness, delicacy and sweetness of girls and women. Not having that reflection anywhere it is, of course, understandable why girls reject these qualities so early on within themselves, but not being able to see it doesn’t mean we can’t feel them and connect to them or not know that they are there. As women – deep down, we all know they are still there but how much we allow ourselves to be aware and then how much we allow ourselves to express them naturally, at the end of the day, simply becomes a matter of choice.

     1. I see this also Michelle when I hear teenager boys talk about girls… because so much of society supports girls to step away and hide their innate preciousness, when it is spoken about to most boys, they don’t have a reference point of what that actually looks or feels like.

        1. Yes, Aimee, there seems to be a total disconnect to how girls are feeling and what their innate essence is but this stems from the fact that the boys are also disconnected from themselves and have found no reference point in themselves either.

        2. This is true Aimee. A reference point – lived reflection of preciousness is very needed today.

        3. Well said Michelle, showing the impact a woman expressing or not expressing from her essence can be for everyone.

     2. Both men and women seem to model themselves on pictures and ideas of how they either think they should be or want to be, rather than simply being who they innately are. If we had more living examples of people being ‘who we innately are’ then this would support us greatly when it came to making choices as to who we ‘want to be’.

553. Yes, Matilda, there is nothing beautiful about living disconnected to ourselves and being constantly influenced by the outside world, no matter how much we try to make it look good. True beauty comes from the sparkle in our eyes when we are with our soulful light, which is breathtaking no matter how old we are.

     1. Love this Janet. The sparkle in our eyes says it all.

554. ‘Looking back, I understand how this striving for some external perfection keeps us in competition, comparison and separation from one another, sizing each other up to see how close to the mark any one of us has got.’ – so true and it almost becomes less about trying to meet some unattainable ideal and more a case of saving ourselves from being at the bottom of the pile. We may not be at the top, but we’ll do almost anything to avoid being at the bottom. What a terribly divisive and destructive way to live, keeping us in separation from ourselves and each other, when, in connection, these false ideals and beliefs fall away and are exposed for very insidious and harmful trap that they are.

555. The beauty that you are reflecting to the world is the beauty of us all.

     1. And this is the power of reflection. What we choose to live always reflects to the all and is there for the all. Everything we choose always reflects something. It is our choice to whether we reflect our inner Gold as inspiration and embrace that or if we choose less than that.

556. ‘If someone had told me when I was younger that I would feel more beautiful in my fifties than ever before, I would have scoffed derisively.’ – me too, Matilda. But when I was younger I was so disconnected from myself that I had no notion of not only, how exquisitely beautiful I am, but also, my understanding of beauty was very shallow and almost entirely dictated by someone else, with every changing markers.

557. Matilda you are beautiful. Very beautiful indeed.

558. By allowing myself to surrender more and more to what I know to be true for me, and then following that rather than what my mind wants me to tell me, I am finding that I am opening up to the depths of grace and beauty that have always been within me but that I have kept under lock and key for most of my life. So to have access to those qualities now, and to allow them to flow in me as I grow older feels like such an honouring of who I am. And its a whole heap of fun as well!

559. “Growing Old Beautifully and Looking Back with Understanding” – agree Matilda, it is ‘understanding’ that gives one a face and being of the greatest beauty .. at any age, for wisdom is ageless.

560. Matilda this is just beautiful – how many women can say what you have said at 50? this is absolutely amazing, so many of us give up as we age feeling unwanted by society, and let down by life – You Matilda are showing us it does not have to be that way and in fact as you have experienced you can feel more sexy, more beautiful then ever before. This is something to celebrate for sure.

561. For what feels like eons i have lived with the belief that i should care for others before myself, Universal Medicine has flipped this on its head. Its been a profound learning to understand that it is through committing to self care and responsibility, building a solidness within that has naturally seeded greater connection, love and care for those around me. A beautiful blog Matilda – thank-you.

562. I love the older women in my life who are aging playfully, gracefully and lightheartedly showing the world there is a very different way to live in our 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and beyond.

563. These words caught my attention
     “that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.”
     This to me is exactly what we have done laid veils over truth and simplicity and sometime we can see clearly everything in front of us as clear as daylight and then the veil comes down again and we are left in the fog of life.

564. I’m reading this at the beach today. It is a great opportunity to observe the way body image issues separate us as it’s obvious that many women feel self conscious being in public in their bathers. When I see a woman who is at ease with herself and in love with her body it’s inspiring and very beautiful.

565. If we have a dread for older age then we haven’t lived in a way that was appreciative of ourselves or of what we have, or accepted the love that is there for us.

566. Fashion is interesting, for everything seems to go full circle and just keeps repeating itself. When we Look back, life becomes the dog chasing its tail, which may be fun and keeps us in motion, but gets us nowhere. When we get older we know it is our tail and we wag it!

567. “What Serge and Universal Medicine have done is to offer a foundation upon which we can build ourselves back to our innate potential.” This is so to the point said and says it all, that we are already everything and just need trust that this is so. And that is what Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon bring.

568. Developing understanding is such a loving act, one that is super supportive in allowing healing and a way forward that is free from ideas and beliefs.

569. “we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.” As the veils of linear age disappear we rediscover the joy and lightness of the inner child.

570. I wonder when we reject our ageing process, does this also reflect that we are in a way rejecting ourselves, who we are and our responsibility? Matilda, your beautiful blog is very much needed because it is a great example of self-acceptance, taking responsibility for life and appreciating the grace and wonders of ageing with love and true care.

571. Matilda, having met and worked with you I feel that yes, you are absolutely as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside, with a calm stillness and a gentle way that inspires us to be all of who we are.

572. Women and men with each passing day deepening their love for themselves walk gracefully in life. This bucks all stereotypes of aging.

573. Matilda I love this part of your sharing “I am now developing a relationship with life from the inside out” as it perfectly sums up the changes in my relationship with myself and life, from one where I would be the slave to whatever I thought everyone wanted me to be like in order to be liked and fit in, to feeling what life is from the inside and living that in a greater fullness each day.

574. Matilda, embracing your true beauty and coming of age fifty is simply gorgeous and confirms what’s possible when we connect to our deepest selves.

575. The totally unnecessary things we do and cling to, to complicate life and keep us from the truly being the beautiful selves we are, are many and it also took meeting Serge Benhayon to make me see this and start peeling back the layers to start returning to that beautiful me that lays waiting, who has never been anywhere, who just needs connecting to. I am also enjoying turning 50, I used to have a mate that was 15 years older than me and when he turned 50 I thought my God man you are over the hill but now I have reached that mile stone myself I actually feel so much better than I did when I was 35 as I had absolutely no regard for myself back then but now it is a priority.

     1. Beautiful expression from a beautiful man….and whilst I am tending toward having less and less awareness of anyone’s age, it is stunning to read such words from a man who, at the age of fifty is embracing and accepting and loving of that age, rather than fighting it. You are inspiring.

576. Appreciating who we are and truly loving ourselves is a blessing at any age.

577. Looking back on when I was a young woman and teenager I see how my whole existence was at the whim of what others wanted from me, if I was liked that day, where did I need to bend and change, and pretending to be confident when I was anything but. How I feel now in myself and about myself, I could have rocked my world back then and everyone else’s too by showing who I was and hence who we all are. That’s where it is super powerful for elders in the community and in families to reflect the stability, solidness and sureness of themselves, and share openly about what they have seen and felt during their life that supports us all to come back our true selves.

578. “…there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.”

     Thank you Matilda for this drop from Heaven that dispels all shadow.

579. Matilda I only can agree that: “. . . this striving for some external perfection keeps us in competition, comparison and separation from one another . . . ” For me this is what made us ill and OLD as it is so exhausting. Therefore I love it that you put your finger on it – we do not need a plastic operation – we only need us living from the inside out.

580. We are far more than our physical body, when this is truly connected to it is impossible to have body image issues.

581. I love what you have shred here Susan, that in looking back you ended up being in regret. That’s super important for not living in regret is a key to our evolution and especially as we enter the passing over process. I feel there is benefit in looking back only to appreciate how much has changed and shifted in our lives, so we can appreciate how far we have come. When we become attached to our history of events, wishing we had chosen this or that instead of.. – we are caught up already in the regret of our past. Coming to an understanding that everything in life is about supporting us to return to who we are and that everything is a learning supports me to not get caught up or hooked in.

582. I love these articles that are blowing a hole in the myth that being in an older age group is all downhill and not something to cherish,as well as something that we cannot feel well with. Over the course of my life I have heard variations of “Oh I’m getting old”. Now I understand that we can use these beliefs as an excuse to not make change or to live in way, that we do know, will completely change our outlook.

583. Great summary of the development from being fixated on what the world wants and expects to the maturity of knowing that it is within us first and then from within out.

584. This is a really great blog. The point that any recognition that comes with a ‘should’, i.e. a demand, is a burden, whether it is a recognition of being beautiful (you ‘should’ be nice to me because I admire you) to any other recognition.

585. Building ourselves back to our innate potential is one that I am finding to be absolutely remarkable and I still don’t feel that I fully claimed and living all of the potential on offer. I can feel it though and it keeps pulling me close to it, the more I say yes to lovingly caring and adoring myself on all levels the stronger the pull.

586. In a world where we currently mostly dread growing old this is truly lovely to hear and not only that it is tangible in your writing that what you share is not just words but instead deeply true embodied and embraced.

587. A friend of mine recently commented how she felt she had aged in her late forties and yet all I saw was her deepening beauty. Her eyes were brighter, her skin clearer and her hair had more shine.

588. It is depressing and distressing to constantly compare our physical body to that of a photoshopped other physical body which we have been subliminally told is the ideal look to have. And if we continue to do that as we age then we are setting ourselves up for more and more disappointment.

589. Staying hydrated is not something to be overlooked! We often run ourselves in a constant momentum of ‘doing’ the next thing and the next thing and the next, without making the space to pour ourselves a glass of water. What we drink and how we look after ourselves throughout the day hugely affects how we feel at the end of our day, and whether we can go to sleep and feel refreshed the next day or ‘out of it’, dry and damaged.

     1. Fully agree Susie W. Yesterday I was speaking to a patient about it: the patient mentioned that when under stress, their oral hygiene suffers. We discussed how we have to be aware of not letting ourselves down when we get busy and I shared that for me, overlooking hydration is a marker of having let myself down when I get busy.

590. “I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known.” Thank you Matilda for so beautifully pinpointing the true grace of Serge Benhayon’s work that empowers us to gently reclaim the immense realm of our inner wisdom through applying his teachings to our everyday life and the way we care for ourselves. Awesome to feel the depth of your beauty at the age of 50, may you keep on re-writing the rules of aging for years to come.

591. I loved reading this, thanks for sharing Matilda. When you see others embrace their wisdom and themselves as they age it is very inspiring and it turns this focus of ‘youthfulness’ on its head.

592. It is true that we seem to take on whatever society says we should be and looking back on it now, it all looks quite crazy and unfathomable why we should put ourselves through all of that. Life is so much more simple when we start to listen to ourselves and stop playing to the tune of others.

593. Yes I have often reacted to trends and whatever is fashionable because I could sense how mean and cruel these fads are in that they keep changing and keep forcing us to conform to some outer ideal and the message is you are not ok as you are you have to be something else. However what I did not realise is that if you react and go the other way and try not to conform or rebel against them you are actually still joining a different trend. So the answer really is just being ourselves knowing that this is more than enough – we don’t need to fit in we simply just have to ‘go in’ meaning connect inside with who we really are and live that even if it is not the so called normal, whatever that is anyway.

594. 40 years of life is a lot of time. Many things happen to us. Many changes take place. It is almost impossible to put them together and say something about such period. And, yet, it is not only possible, but the fact that is possible only is a reflection of pretty substantive changes happening as a result of an increased connection with life and truth; the true source of beauty.

595. Beauty if a series of movements that forms the rhythm of who we are. it is a reflection of our inner light and one that has been felt, accepted and appreciated by ourselves first and that is truly beauty in full.

596. “What Serge and Universal Medicine have done is to offer a foundation upon which we can build ourselves back to our innate potential….” Indeed, this is very true.

597. Absolutely Matilda, I couldn’t agree more! There are amazing people growing old with beauty radiating out for all to feel, sharing there is another way. As someone in my later 50’s I now count myself amongst these people, with a forever deepening appreciation for all the wonderful Universal Medicine presentations and re-connecting to who I am, letting go of images of what any external source imposed.

598. This was quite a heart-warming blog to read, like being held in a warm embrace and being told a really lovely story. And I loved this line “I did not learn anything new working with Serge, but I got to unearth and began to access everything I had always innately known”.

599. I remember not having a real sense of what to do at times when I was younger. Part of me was looking to live one way and when this clashed with what others were doing or what it looked like society was expecting then I changed. None of what I did from there truly made sense and it was like being at the mercy of what ever was happening next, there was no solid ground to stand on and at a whim you were changing your mind almost. Enter Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon to peal back these layers of behaviours to bring things back to how they were. It’s not that now you ‘drop anchor’ but I stand more in a sense of what I truly what and what is needed without leaving yourself in the hands of what everyone else is doing.

600. I agree with everything you have said Matilda. There are very cruel set-ups laid open for us to buy into and ‘reach the mark’ in, that leave us all as ‘failures’ in one way or the other. We have descended into a world of images and accepted their reality and played the game – the game of impotence, ugliness, and unloving-ness. Saying ‘no’ to this game has been one of the most empowering things in my life, but even more empowering is the saying ‘yes’ to Love and discarding all the images ( which allows the beauty to flourish) no matter what age.

601. When I was younger, I always thought that I had to make the most of life whilst I was still young as then once you get past the 35 mark in years, it was down hill from there in terms of being a valued member of society….But my experience of life has actually been the reverse in terms of learning to value myself and funnily enough being younger was an uphill battle of never feeling like I fitted in no matter how hard I worked, but since abandoning this as an approach it has been such a freeing experience to let go of all these constraints and just allow myself to blossom as who I am. Being in my mid 40’s today I find myself much more loving and caring of myself, enjoying of my own body and appreciating my body more than every before – something I never once stopped to do when I was younger! And now I know that this appreciation and love and care for self is foundational in life, so next time around I will not forget this and will begin to expresss it from a far far younger age than I have in this life!

     1. Yes, I had a similar experience when studying in my 50s for a Masters degree. It was fun and quite simple as I wasn’t in neglect or had to deal with heavy emotions.

     2. That’s so lovely because it shows it’s never to late to start appreciating ourselves and the incredible wisdom our bodies share with us because the way we live this life will prepare us for the quality of our next life.

602. Gorgeous blog Matilda, if only we had known how to tap into all this wisdom when we were younger. Though it is great we are reconnecting to ourselves now as in our essence we are in truth both timeless and ageless.

603. Connecting to ourselves instead of comparing ourselves to others is the key. If we are looking at others all the time then of course we are going to feel insecure about ourselves as we have not invested any quality time to build a solid foundation from which to then relate with others. We can feel beautiful with or without the latest trends!

604. Matilda this is a gorgeous sharing, written with much appreciation for all that life has had on offer for you, and an openness to what is there for us to unfold into. I too can share a similar experience in terms of finding that the older I get the more beautiful I feel and the more I have deepened my relationship with myself, so that I am not owned by the dictates of society when it comes to outside constructs of how we should look etc. And all this is because of my encounter with Serge Benhayon and his presentations and what I have learned from them that has allowed me to develop the relationship I now have with myself today. What a blessing – and one to enjoy be reminded about and appreciating deeply each and every day!

     1. The deeper inside ourselves we go the more beautiful we become.

605. Brilliant blog Matilda, I too feel the same about ageing. I feel more beautiful now than I have ever before and that is thanks to the amazing inspiration from Serge Benhayon and the students of Universal Medicine. I have been developing a more loving relationship with myself and appreciating more and more how beautiful we all are. Also, I am beginning to see that beauty is more than skin deep, it is the quality we move and express in that emanates true beauty.

606. How different the world would be if beautiful was measured by ourselves and how we felt.

607. it is about building trust in our essence, that knocks out all the images we are been presented as how life ought to be.

     1. Great point Benkt, and we hurts ourselves deeply when we allow false images of who we should be take over, instead of trusting ourselves and connecting to our essence.

608. The gift of the awareness of ageing gracefully and joyfully with a flourishing inner vitality that is not attached to age is life-changing. Thank you Serge Benhayon for The Way of the Livingness.

609. Yes looking ahead and growing older is going to be a pretty special experience – should that happen, can’t arrogantly think we will automatically have another day let alone years 😍. Having grown older in this community 15 years in fact I have often been blown away by how people have transformed into truly beautiful men and women – deeply inspiring.

610. To allow this truth back into my life has been life changing for me: ‘we are beautifully, inextricably in relationship with one another and that there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.’ It allowed and allows me to keep letting go of anything that isn’t loving or the truth.

611. Could it be that the more we explore life and what it’s truly about the richer and more beautiful life becomes? It feels to me that when you start to get to the core of life and begin to love being who you are and every opportunity that’s out there our age begins to matter less and less.

     1. When reincarnation is our reality, age holds less weight. It plays a role in the current life in terms of life experience, but in essence it is just a marker for this life. I remember speaking with a child about when I was a child and they said to me “that was when I was older than you”.

     2. Beautifully said Meg – for in the appreciation of the true detail of the foundations that we hold, we can feel its holding and so anything that is superficial in our relationship with ourselves is exposed and can be seen for what it is!

     3. I totally agree with you Meg, in that the more we come to have an awareness of the truths of life and live in a way that is more connected to our inner self, then the only result of that can be to see the Divine beauty that is there and is our source of being in the first place.

     4. I so agree with this and am less and less aware of my age and less and less aware of other people’s ages. Indeed, with so many, many friends in my life, I have absolutely no idea how old they are.

     5. And further to this Meg I am also amazed at how different friends of different ages offer different angles on life – and it isn’t always as expected. Deep, deep wisdom from an 8 year old. Beautiful simple transparency from an eighty year old.

612. Such a significant point made here: “there is no retirement requirement; that a deepening engagement with life and the people in it means we realise how much we still have to offer and how much we want to continue to do so.” This awareness about retirement alone if embraced by society would turn around so many of our issues connected to ageing.

     1. Yes we do not have to retire from life and spend our twilight years isolated and withdrawn. We can actually engage more and more with life and our communities as we learn, evolve and grow into old age and till our last breath thereby maximising this life we are in now.

        1. I love the fullness of what you have expressed.

           A recent wonderful example for me of the fact that at no point in life do we need to withdraw from this level of engagement, evolving and growing was Judith McIntyre, who in a wonderful interview showed how even when bedridden, physically weakened by terminal illness, and needing support for pretty much everything, you can be fully engaged with life, people and the joy of learning and evolving right to your last breath.
           (here is the interview (http://theworksofsergebenhayon.com/judith-mcintyre-an-intimate-interview-on-terminal-cancer-serge-benhayon/).

        2. Yes thank you Golnaz I have seen this interview and it is deeply moving and inspiring – it is how I want to be when I am old or on my death bed so to speak!

613. What I got while reading your blog Matilda is the feeling of appreciation, the appreciation of a woman who feels comfortable in her skin, is commited to be herself in life whatever happens and is eager to learn from any situation that occurs. Appreciation of the grace of ageing.

614. “What Serge and Universal Medicine have done is to offer a foundation upon which we can build ourselves back to our innate potential.” – To have the real support and inspiration to reconnect with who we truly are, to release that quality back into our everyday way of living and expressing is totally priceless.

     1. I agree and it was like they uncovered or pealed back this “foundation” as it was always there just never listened to or heard clearly. It is like when you walk away from this foundation there is a gap created and in that gap something, a behaviour enters. Now between you and the foundation you have created something else and if you do this 10 times for example you have then 10 things in between the 2. This goes on and on and before long you are living from these gaps and while the foundation is still rock solidly there you have created things in between. The reason so many people have been not only able to change their lives but sustain and expand this change is because the ‘miracle’ has occurred in the transformation or the clearing of these gaps or behaviours which in turn has returned us to the true foundation.

615. The more we love and honour ourselves, the more beautiful we are… no trend can’t interfere this ever ending path

     1. There is nothing that comes close to the unfolding beauty within when we choose to say yes to love.

616. Matilda, this is really beautiful; ‘growing old gracefully alongside a lot of very inspiring men and women in my life.’ It feels so ‘old fashioned’ to grow old gracefully nowadays, it feels like when I loved and respected my wise old beautiful grandmother growing old gracefully, without any fears or judgements on herself that she wasn’t beautiful, nowadays it seems that grandmothers have the pressure of trying to stay young and are no longer giving the same grace and accepted for their absolute beauty as they age, so I love that you are claiming your beauty and not being caught up in any of the ideas that you can only be beautiful when you are young, as from what I see in the Universal Medicine student body this is absolutely not the case, the elder men and women are just as absolutely gorgeous as the youngsters.

     1. Fascinating what you say here – that ‘growing old gracefully’ is considered old fashioned. This is so true. But if the life has been led in constant pursuit of ideals and pictures and in a constant denial of the innate grace of us all, no matter what age, then it is not a switch that we can suddenly turn on when we get older. Thus, is it possible that we now undervalue the elder energy and dismiss it as ‘old-fashioned’ because that then allows us to sit more comfortably with the lack of grace that we may be feeling? Easier to dismiss than be honest? And yet the crazy irony of it all is that actually, an honest acceptance of this, at whatever stage and at whatever age, would in fact be an immediate switch and wow, what an amazing grace and gift to the world it would be for an eighty year old to suddenly claim this and be honest about how they have lived. My point being, that it is never too late and certainly not old-fashioned.

617. As a woman – I deeply relate to the way in which we have relied on other people’s expectations. And this is something I too have bought into. I have in turn stacked up other women against how they ‘should’ look – without question. And so feeds the cycle of us not actually appreciating the qualities of a woman at any and all age. This sharing starts to bring it back to the truth of women – of their natural beauty and qualities that we overlook.

618. I too turn fifty this year and a couple of days ago it was exactly 6 months until this happens. As I realised, I felt tears rise. Tears of deep appreciation and joy for what I had chosen and how I now live my life. I would never, in a million years have thought that turning fifty would be such a joyous time.

     1. This is gorgeous Leigh, what a beautiful and joyous sharing. You have gone against the trend of how most people in our society feels about turning fifty and you are reflecting to the world how joyful this stage of our lives can be. There are certainly no signs of midlife crisis here, but a midlife joyousness and beauty.

619. A beautiful sharing. It is so easy to look back at our previous years and hold ourselves still in the same old patterns. But what is shared here, is looking back and seeing the way of living for what it was, and allowing the grace of how life currently is to be lived, no longer hidden and lost under the many old ways of the past.

     1. Yes and it’s to bring how you see things need to be forward into now. Living the future now and it’s not that you divide life up but more bring life to the point you truly see it’s needing to be. I mean at times you could feel yourself going around in circles. The day and date were changing but the feeling was the same. When you tap more or honour more the sense of these feeling then you know life is about this and you allow and understand more of how things physically play out. In place of moving things around physically at the time you look more to the feelings that are reading life before it’s physical and the surety and solidness that comes with that.

620. Beautiful Matilda – ‘Looking back’ this way offers true understanding and learning.

621. There’s so much in your blog Matilda, particularly bringing attention to the ‘set-up’ in society and how this has persuasion over people’s choices. However, keeping things simple allows one to see that there are “no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth….” I love this line!

622. Reading this I get a sense of how crazy it is to ‘follow the crowd’. Who are we following? Someone who knows the truth of their beingness – or someone who is just as lost as we are and then the group of equally lost people doing the same thing. Having met a man who obviously knows the nature of his true being, Serge Benhayon, it is clear there is no need to ‘follow’ him – or anyone else – for we have access to our own innate and natural wisdom – if that is what we choose of course. Before we choose to follow any crowd, best check out where they are heading.

     1. Yes and you could already see this in your own life. You would have so many hats and following so many crowds that it was exhausting to attempt to remember who you were. I mean were you you or were you a mish mash or everything else you were seeing in front of you?

623. Beautiful Matilda, I love how you expressed that this is all something you’ve known, it’s just now the veils are being removed so you can return to living that truth….and surrounded by a beautiful community to support that process in one another – the way it will eventually be for us all.

624. “I realise that most of the people around me were just as unsure and at the mercy of social pressures and the norms dictated by statistical commonality.” – And as a young man in todays world, this has not changed. The picture of who we should be and what we should look like is still very much broadcasted and indoctrinated into the young.

     1. Yes, I would even say the pressure keeps building with for example social media adding to this pressure cooker.

625. ‘…there are no mysteries to life, only the veils we have laid over simplicity and truth.’ – that is my experience as well with the teachings of Universal Medicine, my personal processes and experience and as well with other people. That´s why it is not learning anything new but re-awakening the awareness of what we already know but have veiled by the choice of not wanting to be aware.

626. “If someone had told me when I was younger that I would feel more beautiful in my fifties than ever before, I would have scoffed derisively” Matilda everyone I know would agree with you here, in fact when I was younger the thought of growing older was horrific, I was worried about what everything would be like, the loss of ‘youth’ and the reflection at the time of nursing homes and sickness is enough to put anyone off. Its amazing to see people like yourself as shining examples of what growing older can be like. It’s actually very settling to appreciate that an even more incredible beauty, quality and depth is there for us with each day that passes and not a dread of counting down until we end up in a nursing home.

627. Beautiful Matilda, it’s funny how we look back at life and use it to blacken our future, when as you show if we truthfully examined the past of us as a race we would see deep inside we have all the wisdom we could ever need, and not only that but we have lived thousands of times and will continue to till we all evolve. How about that? It’s time we prized getting wise rather than focusing on age.

628. When looking outside of ourselves we forget who we already are, hence the feeling of being unanchored. The more I connect to who I am the more I realise that I needed not go looking elsewhere in the first place. Oops.

629. Women and men who are claiming themselves in whatever age they are at are truly inspiring and reflect a beauty beyond this world no matter how old or how young we are. It is our connection within that is the key.

630. Beauty is something that is felt before it is seen. Everything else is just ‘looking good’.

     1. Gosh so true Leonne, well said. I just recycled a whole bunch of clothes (like almost 200 items) because they were all about ‘looking good’, and was left with clothes that radiated my beauty.

     2. What a beauty! … And stunningly true Leonne,

631. I completely agree, Matilda, it was a merry-go-round that i was stuck into too, in a life based on the superficiality of the latest fashion and the external rules, without any true connection to who I was. I only started to become aware of this in my late fifties, but the lovely thing is, it is never too late.

632. An absolute joy to read Matilda, it offers the way forward with that very common ‘state of affairs’, – the way we live, breath and move when we do not yet know and cherish ourselves from the inside out: “the way I was living (in absence from myself), meant that my behaviour and choices were governed by external rules, expectations and ‘shoulds.’ I am now developing a relationship with life from the inside out: I am me, in the world, understanding my purpose and responsibility – the part I play in a much bigger picture in which we are all so beautifully connected.”

633. ” It is amazing and remarkable for me to say I feel beautiful at fifty and that I am looking forward to whatever lies ahead; growing old gracefully alongside a lot of very inspiring men and women in my life.”
     Wow !, how wonderful is this statement in todays world.

634. You raise a really important point about where and how we anchor ourselves – I also realised recently how I didn’t really have a solid, steady internal anchor – I was anchoring myself in external things, in what I can do and how others thought about me, how much others loved me and in not making any mistakes and so my internal equilibrium and steadiness was so easily disrupted, thrown out of balance and into turmoil as soon as a mistake is made, or someone acts funny around me. This constant flux is a horrible feeling, never being truly settled, until I choose to anchor myself to my inner essence, within me and therefore not tied to anything external.

635. Love the simplicity you share here Matilda – no secrets: just simple, tender, loving care

636. What is so gorgeous about what you are sharing is that you are appreciating the beauty of living true to yourself but also looking back to your former self with understanding rather than beating yourself up or feeling regret for past choices.

637. Your beauty within shining through-out Matilda.. My beauty has evolved too through evolving by holding steady my connection to my essence and expanding the quality by extending it to all my body. Essentially listening to my body and what care and nurturing it tenderly needs.

638. Yes indeed, Matilda. Looking back, I too was crippled by the need to be everything I thought life wanted me to be, rather than nurturing and tending to the essence of ME that was ready to blossom from inside. And as you say, it is never to late to bring out that uniquely divine beauty into full bloom.

639. “If someone had told me when I was younger that I would feel more beautiful in my fifties than ever before, I would have scoffed derisively.” I totally agree, except that I am in my mid-sixties and it gets better every year.

640. I absolutely love the elders in our community, the grace with which they move, the sparkle and vitality in their eyes and the warmth and holding that simply oozes out of them. It is such an amazing support and healing. Our community is the role-model for the societies of the future, and our elders are reminding us all of the joy and grandness that comes very naturally in the later years in our life. Truly amazing.

     1. I couldn’t agree more Katerina, what amazing role models that inspire and hold with their ever holding an acceptance of where people are at. Just today I was thinking of contacting an elder woman for support because I know she has, as the saying goes ‘been there, done that’ when it comes to parenting and I know the wisdom from what she has lived will be super supportive. I also know this is what younger women feel from me.

     2. Katerina, I agree with you, it is very beautiful to see elders with a sparkle in their eye, living with purpose and looking amazing; ‘Our community is the role-model for the societies of the future, and our elders are reminding us all of the joy and grandness that comes very naturally in the later years in our life.’

        1. Beautifully said Katerina and Rebecca, the elders are living the future and paving the way for how to live in truth and joy as one approaches the end of this particular life. Just as the younger ones are living the future and pioneering the way of how to parent (whether that be one’s own biological children or not), and how to develop true group work at work or at home, amongst many other future ways of conducting life in Brotherhood in an evolutionary way. What an amazing opportunity we have to live it and give it.

641. “striving for some external perfection keeps us in competition, comparison and separation from one another” – If we can pinpoint what exactly causes us to go into competition and address this ideal of perfection, or the expectation we are holding ourselves too, then we can go about changing things. Without honesty it’s impossible to see through the smoke.

642. Really amazing to hear you have rocked the beliefs which held you captive and started to be “you” in the world and understand your responsibility as a part of the whole.

643. Gorgeously inspiring review of yourself Matilda and a worthwhile “looking back” in which to confirm the effervescent present with no trace of nostalgia.

644. This is an inspiring blog to read, masterfully exposing that which appears to be true, and is not –(looking back and being governed by external rules and the changes made through bringing self care and a deeper awareness to the innermost connection to live from

645. If we are not truly with ourselves then we are at the mercy of society’s ‘norms’ and rules – an exhausting set-up, as you mention.

646. Beautiful article Matilda. “It is amazing and remarkable for me to say I feel beautiful at fifty and that I am looking forward to whatever lies ahead; growing old gracefully alongside a lot of very inspiring men and women in my life.” I can say the same and I’m 67! Who would ever have thought it?! Huge appreciation to Serge Benhayon for showing us the Way – and reminding us how life can be lived.

     1. This is so cool! Thank you both for being shining examples of how we can continue to shine and feel beautiful well into our old age. A reflection that is definitely needed in a world that measures beauty by the outer shell. Shining from the inside and radiating that beauty blows anything else out of the water. Nothing compares.

647. I can really relate to what you are sharing here, Matilda. i am also loving and self caring for me and appreciating my place in the world so much more than I have done in the past. We are tipping the ideals and beliefs about ageing on its head!!

648. To feel beautiful from the inside out, rather than outside in, changes our relationship with beauty completely.

     1. Great sum up Rachel and absolutely true.

     2. It sure does Rachel and nothing ever can take that away from us.

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