by RB
It was only 3 years ago, on a Sunday afternoon, that I would be at the pub; listening to live music, drinking a beer or glass of wine after having smoked a joint before leaving the car. I would feel anxious about being there, worrying if I looked good, nervous if guys talked to me, and really quite uncomfortable… but, to avoid feeling all of that, I would just get stoned and have another drink. I would eat junk food as it was easy and cheap. I wasn’t really enjoying myself, but it’s what everyone else was doing, so I thought that I should be doing it too. I did not know any other way.
Last Sunday was so very different, so relaxing, and I enjoyed every moment. I spent my Sunday arvo doing a session swap with a fellow esoteric student. We shared ideas on how to be more responsible with our savings, we discussed healthy recipes, and I shared what I had learnt at a recent workshop with Chris James. We were both connected with each other, listening and expressing, taking the time to fully listen to what each one of us was saying. We both laughed and had a great time.
Thanks to the courses that Universal Medicine has presented, I have learnt so much. What is so great is that instead of just learning, reading and gaining knowledge, I have been able to connect to me again, and make this connection my way of life. The connection to me has been created by my taking the time to tune into my body and feel it – rather than ignoring my body and its loud signals, and living life based on what ‘everyone else is doing’. I no longer need to do certain things at the expense of my body, just to fit in to what society considers normal, even if it is quite harmful.
Now I do know another way, and I wouldn’t want my life to be any different. Being present, aware, drug and alcohol free is what makes me feel so great today.
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
Those choices are so simple, always leading to a deepening few next. That to me is so magnificent how one choice that brings more awareness and love to life, always enfolds into another insight and opportunity of next step.
I really really appreciate your sharing RB because although this Sunday was simple and could easily be taken for granted, 99% of humanity have yet to experience a Sunday like it. This is a saddening fact but gives purpose as to why I wake up each day.
When the public is the most important part of our life, but we spend life in a pub, drinking with the inn’s publican on our sitting bones,we are not just doing this, we are cementing a specific pattern of movement that is foundational to avoid even considering our grandness.
I can see what you are saying here Eduardo, as the choice to reduce ourselves by sitting at a bar and drinking alcohol to numb our hurts can begin to feel so familiar that we start believing it is our normal way and then we start identifying ourselves with this contracted version of us.
There is an enormously wonderful life to be had without the need for escapism, or hiding, or getting high. That life is lived from the inner most and is available to all.
I have come to very much appreciate the quality of time with people who really love me for me and with who I can just be myself
How things change in such short period of time. We can turn our life around In just a couple of years, rather than living a whole lifetime of self-abuse.
What a great contrast – normal, because everyone else is doing it; or normal, because the body feels settled in that.
So great to appreciate the changes in our lives that listening to our body and making loving choices bring, where once we lived with self abuse as our normal which seems so abnormal, to honouring ourselves as our new normal.
I used to use alcohol as a respite from my life. I no longer need it as I have embraced my life and the responsibility it comes with.
I also used to go along with drinking and smoking, and at pubs, to fit into the group I was part of, yet as with you didn’t really enjoy it. So, I would have more of the same to override that deep sense I had that I was not honouring myself. Through Universal Medicine I have been inspired to explore more of that deep sense that was always present, and have discovered that in developing a loving relationship with my body, not only do I have a far greater understanding of who I am, but I love who I naturally am and no longer need to abuse myself to fit into any group, or do anything other than honor what feels true to me.
We say that sheep have little intelligence because they follow, but isn’t that exactly what humanity does? We have based our lives on what everyone else is doing and we consider this normal. But I feel we follow like sheep but we consider ourselves the superior race! How can it be intelligent when we trash our bodies to such an extent that illness and disease is so rife in our society?
Feeling great is amazing and should be cherished, simply and dearly and with great appreciation, because in feeling great you are also being all of you, and this in itself is what makes life so beautiful.
So true Shami – ‘Feeling great is amazing and should be cherished…’ as this is our ‘normal’ and through us living and reflecting this more and more, it once again will be.
If we stop running away from the horridness of what we feel, in time we can start to see beneath the mess is joy. Numbness wipes everything out. What is unpleasant to sense is there for a reason too, infact to inform and support you. Thank you RB for your sharing here.
Not going along to anything that doesn’t feel true and appropriate for our own well-being is the most wonderful honouring feeling in the body. Something I wasn’t aware of before Universal Medicine, but now can’t leave home with-out.
Going along with what everyone else is doing can be very subtle and play out in sneaky ways. Walking and living to our own rhythm is quite a different thing.
Thank you RB – it’s crucial to appreciate with every last one of our cells where we have come to. Thanks to the relentless perfection and ceaseless analysis, we are raised to adopt we often see the issues and downfalls we have. But focusing on this is pretty much the same as drinking the booze and smoking the drugs you mention. If we are not backing ourselves and appreciating everything we are and have said yes to, we are continuing to abuse our body in the most toxic way. We don’t need to attend ‘critics anonymous’ we can just let it go, and change today.
Every choice no matter how different it may look to others’ choices has to be appreciated, appreciation brings clarity and steadiness back to our lives and we have a solid foundation with ourselves, we trust in us.
Yes RB it is amazing what can happen if one can choose to connect back to the body . . . it is the greatest gift we can give to ourselves.
Practically everything in society presents harmful behaviours and activities as ‘normal’ yet, “Being present, aware, drug and alcohol free is what makes me feel so great today” – that is true normal. And, “Now I do know another way, and I wouldn’t want my life to be any different.”
Yes listening to and looking after our bodies is the best medicine ever and so much more fun and interesting than drugs and alcohol. Perhaps if we made it illegal or charged for it, it would be more popular!
“I wasn’t really enjoying myself, but it’s what everyone else was doing, so I thought that I should be doing it too.” Something we all fall for, that that what the majority does and all the trends and things on offer must be the answer to our happiness. But it is not, and I am forever grateful for all that Universal Medicine presents and teaches, showing another way to live where we are reminded of the true love and deep care that lives in all of us.
‘Thanks to the courses that Universal Medicine has presented, I have learnt so much. What is so great is that instead of just learning, reading and gaining knowledge, I have been able to connect to me again, and make this connection my way of life.’ So true RB, true education, from the inside out.
The so called normal life is actually very abnormal to the body who has to deal with the abusive effects of drugs and alcohol, now as we bring self love into our everyday lives we are in effect creating a new normal that will one day be lived far and wide.
We all have developed habits, be it drinking alcohol, using drugs or various styles of abusive eating to name a few, in order to deal with the hurts we are feeling from not being met in person but mostly for not being loved by ourselves in the first place.
I remember those Sunday sessions, thinking back, I religiously went to the pub every Sunday arvo. I was committed to this way of life and at the time, I thought that this was what I was supposed to do, as it was normal right? Naturally, we want to be liked and fit in and to do that you have to be normal. When I discovered that the results of doing what the masses did, would make me a statistic in the rapid rise in illness and disease, I began to question how valuable “normal” was to me and weather I would want this life for my future kids? Enter, Universal Medicine, a modern revolution that makes self care, a normal part of a rich and full life. Now my Religion is about clearing my way, so that I am deepening my relationship with myself and in turn with God or Love, even if the word God makes people uncomfortable.
Only by truly starting to like ourselves do we begin a relationship/connection with ourselves. When we choose to take drugs or drink alcohol or do/eat anything that takes us away from ourselves, we don’t really like ourselves very much, or we have chosen to like something else over our bodies.
There is another way of living that what the so called normal life shows us. We can enjoy each other’s company without alcohol, rich foods, or drugs. We can be together joyfully without sport or movies to engage us. We can be ourselves in a way that is very precious and loving.
Doing things just to fit in is a common one. How often do we over-ride what we are feeling and just go along with things to avoid a reaction from another?
One of the most wonderful things about attending Serge Benhayon presentations is there is a window into a new way of living, a way that is different to the norm most of us have experienced. I would have had no idea this other way of living, this true way of living that is so joyful and harmonious were possible had it not been for Serge Benhayon.
To be able to feel like you again – that is everything. Living simply, not needing to fit in, and following the cues from our body, is our natural way of being that we know so well, but have temporarily forgotten.
Yes I recalled the Sunday sessions when I lived in the UK. The norm was whilst
Sunday dinner was cooking, the afternoon was down the pub for a few drinks, sometimes so many that the dinner was a blur, I feel I wasted many of my Sundays. Yet when I worked on a Sunday, I would pick my previous partner from the pub, things would look so different, I felt different being around people who were drunk but unfortunately I never questioned it as I felt the odd one out – a cycle I didn’t know how to get out of.
Since living in Australia, Sunday drinking stopped and I certainly don’t miss it. Since leading up to Universal Medicine workshops, and having regular sessions with Universal Medicine practitioner, the whole normal socialising has been turned upside to downside.
For me the norm is being sober 7 days a week for 365 days, no matter the occasion, weddings, funerals, public holidays, Easter, Christmas and the list goes on.
I would much rather spend a Sunday doing the things I want to be doing then things I don’t know what I am doing once the alcohol takes a hold of me.
When we make the choice to live true to ourselves it is amazing how amazing it feels.
Sunday’s were a day off, a relax, a treat, a time to catch up at the end of another week etc etc. The problem was that Sunday’s lead to Monday’s and then it was back to work. I remember trying to make Sunday’s last forever and trying to fit as much in as possible which would make Monday’s even worse. It was like the day of the week almost controlled my mood and I still see this around me. Sunday’s are now very different and have a different feel. They still lead to Monday but I take more care on Sunday’s knowing that this day sets my week up and so in that Sunday becomes the week and it brings a different awareness to things. I know what i use to do many years ago on Sundays and it didn’t support me, now my choice is to do on this day like any other day, support myself in what I feel and see and not use it as a day to wipe myself out.
I often have a joke about how my weekends are spent now compared to what they have been in the past. It’s become a life live for other to evolve rather than a life live for others to like me.
It is amazing how many of us do what the crowd is doing but don’t really enjoy it. If we were all honest and admitted we didn’t want to do it, then the pretense and the need to conform would be gone. After living the first 30 years of my life completely to go along with what others were doing, I can say there is nothing like living your life from your body and what is true for you.
So true, Fiona, living being honest changes so much.
Living a life free of alcohol is something I greatly appreciate, through attending Universal Medicine presentations I felt supported to stop ignoring the truth about alcohol that I had always felt deep down but I had over-ridden this feeling to fit in and be accepted. I have never once ever looked back after making this true choice.
Gosh that is a completely different Sunday afternoon!!! And sounds so lovely, also really lovely that it involves truly connecting with another person. Years ago my Sunday afternoons would be very similar .. lazy and I would be checked out; now mine are a lot different too. I have just come from a Wellbeing for Women event in London which was absolute gold. Connecting and sharing with other women, appreciating both them and myself (I struggle a bit on the appreciating me part!) which in turn bought a huge confirmation in my body I can feel. It just goes to show our choices our everything and we have the power to turn our lives around completely if we choose. My life is soooooo much more purposeful now than it has ever been and Universal Medicine has been a huge support in helping me with this.
Connection with oneself is everything. In connection, there are things you can do and things you would never try. The latter are things that are harming in one way or another.
I used to dread Sunday nights as the work week loomed ahead. I would often drink alcohol in an attempt to feel better. Now I look forward to Sunday evening as it is a time when I connect with others and prepare for the week ahead.
To be able to express yourself to another in honesty and openness, with no holding back is a great gift you give to yourself and those you spend time with. Thank you RB for sharing the real you.
Meaningful interactions are worth their weight in gold. I know that the reason I went out and partied so much when I was younger was to chase some kind of friendship and intimacy with friends and guys alike. Sometimes it worked and I felt like I had so much fun out, that it proved I was close to the people was I parting with. In the end though, when the tough times came, my friends never pulled through. I was always left feeling empty and sad. I am so glad I am able to experience a new and clean way of spending my time now, one that does not leave me hungover or regretful.
I agree Sarah, in the end we are all looking for intimacy and connection but it can’t be found in a disconnected state – the best we can do is numb ourselves or relieve a bit of tension temporarily but then we end up feeling worse afterwards. The only way as you say is to clean up our act and in fact not act but be true!
We try hard to fit in with friends and life, and however much we kid ourselves that we are having fun it still leaves us with an empty feeling, and a feeling that there has to be something more, lovely to read how you started making true connections and how that changed how you felt, when we drop the bravado of life and make it about connection the whole world opens up.
How enriching our lives are when we choose to live in connection to our bodies and ourselves. And to share the quality of this connection with others, and in all, that we do is what confirms us and supports us to explore more and more of the richness we are and are here to live, which is being our real selves.
When we connect and start to listen to our body it becomes much easier to make changes in our lives as you have shown RB.
Through Universal Medicine we are all learning to relate to time differently; adding purpose to it. It is amazing how beautiful time becomes both when we are able to generate spaciousness and when we bring it to time.
When we actually take the step to choose a more loving life, life becomes simple and less complex. There is a greater understanding to life and how it works, with more openness.
Yes RB life understood by how willing you are to read what is energetically true by honouring the body as the sensitive tool that it is. Life is so very different from abusing myself by going against what I feel, to now knowing me as the sensitive tender man I am. This is before anything else that maybe around me in others forceful actions unbeknownst just how harmful this is to their natural way of being. Awareness is the greatest accolade – this evolves from the body where our greatest love is.
You have shown us what is normal in society is actually not really normal and that there is another way to spend our day be it Sunday, Monday or any other day of the week that allows a deeper connection with each other. It is amazing how we feel when we choose to connect with each other without the influence of alcohol or any other harmful substance because it allows us to be more present, more ourselves and more aware.
After this loving ‘Sunday session’, I bet Monday felt pretty awesome too.
I don’t think many people look forward to Mondays because it reveals the unloving choices that was made the previous day or days. But RB’s Sunday session shows how we can make different choices that leaves us feeling amazing the next day and if we continue to make loving choices we get to feel amazing every day.
True the quality of our choices have a cumulative effect and we are always feeling the consequences of them no matter what day it is. Choosing love is a great choice.
A great point you make- “I wasn’t really enjoying myself, but it’s what everyone else was doing, so I thought that I should be doing it too. I did not know any other way”.
So much in life we can go with the flock because it is what seems normal and accepted yet we don’t stop to question if it is what we truly want. It takes courage to pause, look around and make your own choice.
Thanks RB, this is an amazing change and shows just what is possible – that there is another way to live life, one that truly honours who we are.
Thanks RB – loved what you have shared, loved your other Sunday. We know what feels true and no matter how much alcohol, food or other distractions we choose we cannot completely block out what the body is saying to us.
It’s interesting that in local village shops now there is so much more alcohol for sale. As the pressure in life rises we go to something that will block that out rather than taking that time to connect with ourselves and others on a more real and caring level.
Yes, I was surprised to see alcohol for sale in a supermarket here the other day, is it really considered as an essential purchase along with the fruit and veg?
I have a real aversion to alcohol being sold in supermarkets as all it is saying to the public, including our young and impressionable children is that it is a necessity just like all the other things that are being sold. When you use your common sense there is no way that it is an “essential purchase” but I feel that children will simply come to regard it as one without question; it has become one normal that I would love to see dismantled, and very quickly.
I can relate to what you say RB and the choices we can make in our lives to be in deeper connection with ourselves and the all..
There is a monthly ‘Wellbeing for Women’ group by Sara Williams being held in London – this is where I joyfully choose to be today!
RB, this is such a great point you make: “I wasn’t really enjoying myself, but it’s what everyone else was doing, so I thought that I should be doing it too.” – how often do we fall for this? We look around and because everyone else is doing it, we feel it is the only option, by default to choose as well. But there are always other choices, it is about us being willing to see them, as you have experienced here too! And boy does the world open up once we lift the veils that blind us so….sometimes what we see may not be so pretty, but at least we have the choice to see and then choose how we will live our lives – and this is the freedom we all seek at some point.
It is such a joy, and an inspiration, RB to read about your transformation and the level of responsibility you have taken to reconnect with your true self; thank you for sharing your experiences and wisdom.
When we live life according to what everyone else is doing it not only invites comparison and competition into the equation but we we totally miss the value of appreciating and developing our uniqueness too.
RB, how wonderful to feel that sometimes the simple changes in life (though not necessarily the easy changes in life) are ones that can open the door to far more things than we realise.It is simple but not easy to give up on drugs and alcohol, especially when one uses them to not feel so much as the sensitive being that we are, but in so doing much can follow. It is a life that is clean of the so called modern vices of ‘alcohol and drugs’ that does make it somewhat easier to then connect to our true purpose in being here, and then to embrace it as it deepens every day is the challenge and the gift both at the same time.
So true Henrietta. You highlight a very beautiful point – that our choices today are in fact our footsteps in the future, through which we either confirm and live more of who we are with true purpose, or struggle to exist in a self-created world that keeps us from living and realising how powerful we magnificently are as the equal Sons of God.
Weekends are seen as a time to relax switch off from the week and this usually for many includes alcohol. Sunday is either a continuation of the alcohol infused weekend or a time to recover. What you show here is how much more enjoyable and more meaningful your Sunday was when you did something different from your old way of alcohol and drugs, that numbed and took you away from who you really are. “Now I do know another way, and I wouldn’t want my life to be any different. Being present, aware, drug and alcohol free is what makes me feel so great today.” I couldn’t agree more RB
I remember as a child skipping church and wandering around in the woods with a friend. I felt that church was a waste of time.
Reflecting back to that I realize that what I was doing was a much more “religious” thing then going to church.
Great that as a kid, you followed what felt right for you, rather than follow the norm.
“Now I do know another way, and I wouldn’t want my life to be any different. Being present, aware, drug and alcohol free is what makes me feel so great today.” From a life of disregard to absolute regard. A true blessing.
Amazing how simple and enjoyable life is without the constant self abuse through the use of the things many use to escape and check out from life with.
Our idea of having a great time varies drastically based on how we regard ourselves.
And how we regard ourselves can be very different depending on who we have as role models and how we feel about ourselves. I so appreciate the role models that I have in my life such as Natalie Benhayon.
Yes, living a life of avoidance and numbing of our feelings through drugs and alcohol doesn’t sounds appealing at all compared to what can be experienced when we open up and share our true selves with another.
There is always a different way to choose, a different path, a different choice, when we are ready to grow and evolve. Honesty with ourselves is always good medicine as a springboard to change, whatever needs changing in our lives, whether that be our jobs, where we live, our diet, our friends, our habits and behaviours…. in every moment we have a choice to choose anew.
Yes… choices is what it is all about.
I was up super early yesterday and gave a friend a healing session before work and on my drive to work I was reflecting on how in the past, I would wake up late, rush and always feel tired. I love how now, I wake up early, looking forward to the day and even have an extra spare hour to do a healing session. It is a great way to start the day.
“Being present, aware, drug and alcohol free is what makes me feel so great today.” Such a great statement and so true. Many make excuses and that alcohol and drugs and other choices really don’t have anything to do with why they don’t feel so good, yet the truth is right there before us.
The shift from Sunday sessions at the pub to spending Sunday afternoons home, not needing a joint or alcohol to complete the week but instead taking care and nurturing yourself with wholesome food and conversations is a giant leap for health, wellbeing and humanity.
I’ve made a lot of changes in my life since Universal Medicine, all positive, but I wonder if I reflect on what I do, whether there are still many behaviours that I do just because everyone else does it. It is a strong pull to not stand out and follow the norm, yet it doesn’t have to be this way.
Love what you have shared here Rosie, one that I can so relate to as well. Putting your connection to yourself first is what is truly going to change the world and slowly breakdown the belief that it is selfish to do so. As you show here, when you connect to yourself, you are more open to truly connecting with others.
Yes, nothing selfish about it as when you care for you, it has an effect on everyone.
When true knowledge is lived, it becomes wisdom. A wisdom that is ageless and known deep to the core of our being. When we allow ourselves to truly reconnect with ourselves and each other then we allow this wisdom to become the guiding pulse in our life and we can visibly see the beauty of its expression in and through the physical form (our human body) through which it expresses through.
Beautifully said Liane, I especially love this line ‘When true knowledge is lived, it becomes wisdom.’
It is refreshing to read your account of spending a Sunday afternoon – rather than the pub, alcohol and bad food you are connecting with another student and looking at ways to take more responsibility for your finances, for example. Nothing like not being ruled by having to fit in any longer!
Sometimes the loving choices seem to be more uncomfortable, but in truth they are extremly healing and powerful.
I agree, sometimes the loving choices seem to be more uncomfortable, but when we stop to connect we can feel truth and power in them.
Its interesting that we can get so hooked by even what we do on a certain day of the week. Sundays for me when I was growing up were always about going to church and a family dinner, often with other family members or visitors. There was an expectation that I would always be there as that is what we did as a family on a Sunday. And to an extent I continued that ‘tradition’ when my own children were growing up. It was so liberating to break out of this old engrained pattern and to make Sundays no different to any other day of the week.
This is awesome RB; make Sunday a true fun-day, as opposed to how-much-can-I-eat-smoke-or-tire-myself-out-day! Haha 🙂
Sunday should be a special day to celebrate what we have been given. I was forced to go to church as a child. I used sneak out with a friend and walk in the woods and I realize now that was a truer form of worship then sitting in church.
As a child I could feel that church was a waste of time. I am remembering and honoring more those feelings. I know what is right and trusting that knowing is the way forward for me.
When we choose to engage with life, and what there actually is to do – and not in the classic sense of travel, food, events, hobbies etc, but with the everyday things it becomes so much more interesting, and there is a lot of fun in just doing all of that. There is also an ability to deepen, just like the skills we have in many various vocations.
What an incredible turn around RB. To be able to come to that decision on your own simply from feeling for yourself what a difference it makes when you connect to yourself, and then realise how much it is possible to feel what supports you and what doesn’t. Your example is inspirational and is worth sharing with others who may be in a similar situation.
RB, beautiful to read about the huge changes you have made in your life. I can very much relate to what you are sharing, I too would drink and smoke and I always felt lacking in confidence and never enjoyed myself, I no longer drink and smoke and eat junk food, since being inspired by Universal Medicine I now take care of myself, I have much more self worth and because I feel confident in myself I enjoy my life – also a huge turnaround and there are many other hundreds of stories like this, people who have turned their lives around after being inspired by Universal Medicine to live more loving and true lives.
A great turnaround RB. How important it is for us to learn that we don’t need to do what everyone else does, especially to fit in and that we are perfect the way we are. If we could share this with young people in our lives and save even one from going through similar experiences with alcohol and drugs then your sharing will have been worth it! As it undoubtedly has been!
When I first decided to give up alcohol, the thought of doing so made me feel uncomfortable. How would the food taste without my favourite wine? Well, the truth was it tasted better – much better.
Funny how we so often do something ‘because everyone else was doing it’ yet all along we feel and know the falsness of it and how we are diminishing ourselves in the process. What if we were to understand the greater harm of this – contributing to the diminishment of all – we can choose this way to fit in and be liked, or we can be the one who stays true to what they feel and in that offer a reflection of holding that truth.
Gorgeous RB. Your new Sunday afternoon activities sound really lovely and truly fun. I remember drinking alcohol in an attempt to feel like I was having fun but it was an empty and fleeting escape that was never truly fulfilling. It is so much more rewarding to truly connect with another.
If there is something we are not wanting to feel there a squillion ways in life to numb it and not feel it. If we have developed a society based on a form of living that is fuelled by numbing ourselves and we all did it, would our very definition of what is normal be tainted too because normalcy itself is based on the conventional way of being that most are living even if it is not necessarily true?
I can relate to this, I used to be quite grumpy and things were never quite right but since being a student of the Ageless Wisdom, I love and enjoy everything I do, I don’t fake it, I just choose to make the most out of it regardless of what it is. It can be doing the dishes, taking the rubbish out, dancing around the house, going to work or sharing a meal with friends. I can have my shine on no matter what and allow myself to be me in all that I do. It’s beautiful!
Its so easy to get caught up in an old pattern of checking out and not connecting. It is when we take responsibility for ourselves we can start to connect and and make choices which are true and loving for self.
It’s very odd that we are happy to accept what society accepts as normal even though we feel extremely uncomfortable doing so.
So true Nikki, there have been many things I accepted doing as that’s just what you did, and I would say all of them where never comfortable to do and always lacked what I felt was true. That’s a lot of movements away from love for many years.
It is actually a relief to step away from a life that doesn’t serve, on any level.
I was just feeling that Victoria, thank you. I was so caught in that life before and I did not know there was any other form of ‘sunday session’ so to speak. I love that there is another way.
I remember doing things because ‘everyone else was doing it’. I doubted myself so much at the time that I had lost trust in my own judgment and just wanted to fit in and feel that I belonged in some way. What I didn’t consider was that they too were as lost as I was and were just ‘doing what everyone else was doing’ too. There is no real basis in this for a true and loving way of being, no real connection with others and in fact no true belonging or togetherness. What I have come to reconnect to is a much deeper sense of self and who I am, felt from within, not sought from without – and in doing so have found a much more honest and responsible relationship with myself, one that honours me and understands that there is real wisdom in my body and in my beingness – something that can be trusted. Thank you Universal Medicine, thank you Serge Benhayon and also Chris James – from whom I have learned a great deal.
On one level it seems to make sense to attempt to numb our bodies and disconnect from what we are feeling – especially if it is hurtful and is causing us pain. But disconnecting doesn’t really change or heal anything – it just stops us from feeling. There is another option, one that sees us connect more deeply with our feelings, understand that they are a communication – and a wise one at that. We can choose to honour what our bodies are ‘saying’ to us and respond to them. In this way there is an opportunity to actually understand the cause of our hurts and our pain and hence to truly heal. A life of checking out can seem preferable to feeling what we feel, but my experience is that there is a much truer and deeper living way to be rediscovered in staying present and connected with what we feel.
True fulfilment can only come from a life of simplicity.
After attending presentations and workshops from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for almost 10 years my life has changed so much compared to how I used to live. There have been changes in the way I eat, what I eat, when I go to bed, the way I am in relationships, in being a father, a husband, at work and with people on the street, engaged with society and my neighbourhood. These changes have come step by step but boy oh boy what a difference with how I lived before, much more engaged with life, you can say I used to live in fact completely disconnected.
Your Sunday afternoon session sounds right up my ally.
Sometimes I get reminded of activities I used to be involved in, and a sliver of nostalgia will sneak in. Then I just remember all the misery that I was in during that time and how joyful, committed to life, committed to love, honest, and funny I now am. God Bless Universal Medicine.
This is beautiful RB – simply being yourself instead of following what is considered ‘normal’ by the majority.
“Now I do know another way, and I wouldn’t want my life to be any different. Being present, aware, drug and alcohol free is what makes me feel so great today”.
This is what is so great about Universal Medicine, they present a possible way to live that can be lived by us. It’s not a magical pill that can be taken and all will be fine, quite the opposite, we have to get astute with life and ourselves again and take FULL responsibility for how our lives will unfold because they will unfold according to the quality we invest in them.
Our lives ‘will unfold according to the quality we invest in them’ when we can see this fact it makes it so much easier to take responsibility for and accept our choices which gives us the wisdom to make different choices.
On the subject of investing… yes we invest energy in what we do and we get attached to the outcome because I put so much into this or that or this relationship… and we invest with our money…. So glad that I don’t invest lots of money on alcohol and cigarettes as I once did… the savings are astronomical…. in fact, I saved enough for a deposit and purchased my first home!
Life can be a constant drive to try to cope with a body that is deeply unsettled, or it could be one where we work on feeling settled, and grow from and with it.
It is so normal now for me, that Sunday is just like any other day – Full of service.
It’s a lovely feeling having no difference between the weekdays and the weekend. Far fewer ups and downs and a more consistent feeling of contentment. It’s something that I always aspired to but had no idea how to make it happen.
I agree RB, spending time with people that are open to share something about what is truly going on in their lives is the most beautiful way to spend time. Alcohol, food and other substances just take us away from taking the opportunity to give it a go to truly connect with someone.
Awesome RB, making choices like these that are loving and true have a ripple affect that inspires others to also feel empowered to make a different choice that supports them rather than blindly following what is considered the ‘norm’.
What you share here RB is awesome, showing us that there is another way. This makes me consider, how often do we do things that we feel are not supportive or loving but still go ahead and do it anyway because we feel that we have to because everyone else is doing it. I caught myself doing this just yesterday. Instead of listening to my heart and my inner wisdom, I looked around to see what everyone else was doing to support me with my decision. It was very interesting to notice how much I still seek approval from others instead of trusting what I feel and choosing from there. It was a great observation and one I can learn from this once I am aware of it.
I think it comes as a pattern of behaviour that many of us are not even aware of… from young, we watch and follow and are taught to do that rather than feel and do what feels right for us. I know I have also been a bit shy or afraid to stand out in the crowd if I am different, so rather than do or say what I feel I have often given in and gone with the crowd.
Thank you RB for sharing your Sunday with us, what a joy it is to be free of the addiction of so called our life of the past, and tune into our true life which is lovingly lived from within.
We have all been deeply inspired by Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon, and as a result our lives have become much better from all angles.
To allow ourselves to be inspired by all that Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine offer by way of true intelligence, not knowledge, is empowering. This is fundamental to embracing all that we already know, and in no way resembles the current educational process we have in our school system, a system we all enter at an early age. In this system it is fundamentally about disempowering people by constantly inundating them with knowledge and information they ‘should’ know, but apparently don’t. It is really an awful set up, one that comes with an enormous dose of complexity and complication, and does not prepare us adequately for life. Since being a student of Universal Medicine I now feel prepared for life because I have an understanding of what it means to be truly responsible and mature. Therefore, I am making different choices in life and my Sunday afternoons usually consist of quiet time, a nap, in preparation for the coming week, and it feels gooood!
Hi RB, what you have described here so beautifully and so clearly is the distinct difference between living a life in connection to yourself and others and living in a life of distraction.
There comes a point where you realise that life is not what you think it is. Despite your best attempts to fill every empty crevice with something, there is still a feeling of discontent. It is as this point, when you start to question life at its core, that there is a moment for opportunity to connect to the truth of life – a momentary connection to the divinity of your own Soul. And it is at that point – just a fleeting glimpse. In that moment however there is revelation, but certainly no enlightenment, rather just the beginning of a path of dawning realisation of what is true and what is false. And it is at that point that the wayward wanderer begins the path back home.
That’s my kind of Sunday afternoon – Love, connection, wisdom and sharing with others!
Living love is actually very simple. What is not simple is that we move in the way to thwart this very natural expression.
I agree Liane and our natural expression of love is like a forgotten art, but it is never truly lost, we have everything within us and around us that reminds us of this and reminds us of how to return to our natural expression once we choose to listen and observe to move accordingly.
We have learnt to manage life and we know what works for us. What we do gives us identity in front of ourselves and others. It is not easy to break free from that, because we can hardly see that what we know ‘to work for us’ usually works against us. Yet, accepting that bit opens the door for change and learning to appreciate what our body tells us that truly works for us.
Such a simple and clear story about different ways we can live.
“Now I do know another way, and I wouldn’t want my life to be any different. Being present, aware, drug and alcohol free is what makes me feel so great today.” Here Here. Once one has truly opened up to themselves, there is no greater stimulant on this planet. Or any other for that matter!
There is a lot to appreciate, with Universal Medicine offering a different choice to us all, and to hear the feedback from so many of how it has changed their lives, and the way they live.
. “Now I do know another way, and I wouldn’t want my life to be any different. Being present, aware, drug and alcohol free is what makes me feel so great today.” Me too – simply the best!
My Sundays use to go in sleeping till mid-day and then catch up with the house chores, I would be so exhausted by the end of the day. But now my life is so different, if I sleep till 8am that’s a lye in for me. My day now is full of joy with so many different things, lots more interaction with people.
“Being present, aware, drug and alcohol free is what makes me feel so great today.” This line makes me realize how great we are, all of the time, but how we avoid feeling it by abusive behaviors. And then we suffer under not feeling good… How simple and joyful life can be if we let go of the avoiding and just be.
A day exploring life and everything it has to offer us – sounds like a great Sunday to me!
Exactly! And why not making every day like that? Connecting to ourselves, meeting others in openness, share and talk about what is going on for us and in the world and see what healing can be done right now. Sounds great to me.
But to be honest: when I live like that it is sometimes not so easy. To feel the mess we are in and how far away we live, as a humanity, from our origin, harmonious way and to take the responsibility here and bring what is needed, stay with the love and truth even ‘the world’ so it seems is against us by saying something else is ‘normal’, and thereby accept less than we all deserved – this is not easy to become aware of and observe it. But. What is the alternative? In fact when I give up on living love I do so because of me and not ‘the others’. Even I take my responsibility to live love – or not. If I do, I will inspire others to do so as well. And if I don’t – I will inspire to in that way. Simple choices.
Yes RB it’s a vastly different world you describe… I could do similarly except my ‘drugs of choice’ were less obviously damaging. It was all about connection as it turned out… or lack thereof. Today I feel like you… light, clear, enjoying myself and my life immensely for a myriad of simple things I choose on a daily basis, none of which are harming, numbing, stimulating or disregarding.
Once you know what true connection is all about you can find joy and harmony in the simplest things in life.
“I no longer need to do certain things at the expense of my body, just to fit in to what society considers normal, even if it is quite harmful.” Beautiful RB. It is interesting that so many things we do that are accepted as ‘normal’ by society are in fact detrimental to the body. Making different and more healthy choices has certainly changed my life.
Amazing changes that many of us have made. The zillions of hours that I have spent doing similar have been replaced with a life lived with purpose, commitment and joy. Incredible to look back and see from where we have come – this needs to be immensely appreciated.
Yes, appreciation is key when we consider how far we have come and the different choices that so many of us have made since being introduced to Universal Medicine.
Yes it does Otto, thanks for the reminder.
I can definitely relate to the Sunday sessions of the past, the drinking, the feeling of passing time, but for no real purpose. That is what I have found to be so incredibly different in how I now spend time and certain Sundays. They are filled with purpose, learning, understanding about myself, others, community, science, religion, philosophy and how we apply that into today’s world. How we live a life of connection and relationship with our bodies. Very different and so much more rewarding.
It’s funny that at any moment in our lives we can choose differently and yet for me it was as if I wasn’t aware of this ability until Universal Medicine. It’s like through what they presented, I was somehow inspired to give myself permission to choose what was true for me rather than for another. As a result I took control of my life and made choices that supported rather than harmed me without caring of how far from the norm those choices may be.. Funnily enough the further away the choices were from those the norm were making, the more loving and healing they seemed to be for me and my body.
So true, we have always had a choice, but like you, I wasn’t really aware of the fact that I could chose or that I was actually choosing even if was harming or not. Either way, it is a choice.
The stark difference between the two Sundays you describe above really says it all. I spent years going to the pub on Sundays, rain hail or shine, mainly because that what everyone else did but also out of the fear I would miss out on something. I was convinced it was the only way to meet someone and was afraid of being single too long. Thinking back to how I felt every time I went out I now realise that I was uncomfortable too, sometimes I would smoke 20 cigarettes within a few hours, I suppose there was not much to do just sitting around on a table drinking. I love how you describe the depth of the proper interaction you now have and how good it feels to truly connect with other human beings.
Oh my I can so relate to the pack of 20 cigarettes, I would do that too.. I think as they numbed me even more so I wouldn’t have to actually feel how uncomfortable I was. And the missing out… no way, you don’t want to miss out… and yes, how else are you meant to meet your prince in shining armour if you don’t go to the pub??? My experience of the men at the pub, with no offence to any men who do go to pubs is, that they were not there for a relationship but were there for a quick fix and that is what I did settle for a few times and it never felt great. Looking back, I don’t miss it one bit.
Yes, the quick fix – I have fallen victim to that one many times too. Convincing myself of course that there was a real potential for a “relationship”. Only to wake up wondering who this strange person was and what I saw in them the night before not to mention the fact that all I really wanted was to feel beautiful and loved and now I felt cheap and dirty. I certainly don’t miss the pub, not the smell of cigarettes, or the sound of the races, or the up and down stares you got from the old publican men, or the meat raffles, its really not my scene but sometimes when I am feeling lonely or sad, I miss the attention. Playing a kick ass game of pool and having everyone be impressed, or being the funniest story teller, it’s lame but its true, sometimes I miss people coming together but feeling the Pub – it’s a sad place not a fun place, and so I know when I have those feelings, something is going on for me. I have no judgment of anyone that goes to pubs, I grew up going to them but now I am free to have real fun!
I really relate to this beautiful simple blog. How many of us have been inspired directly or indirectly to change our everyday lives because of Serge Benhayon? I would say, thousands and this includes a change for life. Truly remarkable what one man has already inspired over just one decade through the way he lives and the way he walks his talk.
‘everyone else is doing it’, just no longer registers with me any more either, although I have to say when I’m not feeling so strong in myself and giving myself a hard time…I find I start to lean towards the easy option of giving up responsibility and adopting the attitude of ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’ . It’s interesting to note this, as I believe this is the basis for why we all make choices that go against our natural way. When we’re not fully accepting or appreciating ourselves, we give up and we further sabotage ourselves by choosing to distract ourselves from who we are.
So awesome RB! I couldn’t not think of a better sunday. I too have a very different looking weekend now to the past, and I wouldn’t change it back. Having the clarity I have now because I’m more accepting and appreciating of myself far outweighs the levels of self loathing and disrespect I had for myself during those so called ‘good times’.
I have done Sunday sessions of drinking and it left me feeling empty and wondering what life was about, it would be ‘fun’ for the first hour and then after that it would go down hill from there. There is still this feeling that we can only enjoy life if we drink alcohol, but my experience is the total opposite, my life does not have the ups and downs that alcohol can induce and life is a million times more enjoyable.
I used to have Sunday sessions like what you shared too. I too would find them awkward and be super self conscious especially around guys. I realised that I don’t have that anymore. I now have a confidence that I never knew, I am not nervous about what people think about me but more open to connecting and getting to know them.
That is a good point MW, my confidence has changed heaps and I feel that is because I have learned to love, accept and appreciate myself like never before. But I do notice, that if I do go in a drinking atmosphere, I still don’t feel comfortable and just walking into a pub can make me feel quite uneasy. It has nothing to do with my confidence and a whole lot to do with my ability to feel energy and to feel what is going around me. This is something that I felt in the past, but never honoured or quite understood but being aware and able to feel energy is an amazing quality that we all have even if we choose not to use it.
It is actually possible to deeply enjoy life and open up without needing to resort to alcohol.
It sure is Adam! I think we open up and are able to connect to people way more when we are sober than when we have been drinking so I wonder, do we avoid this opening up, connection and being transparent with others by drinking because we are afraid to go there, afraid to really let others see who we are and let them in?
I’m with you RB, I know the type of Sunday session that I would choose.
What a transformation RB and a joy to now be living a totally different life style. One which now includes taking the time to tune in with your body – connecting to you again and not trying to fit in with the outside pressures of life.
Being able to truly connect to people is a great joy to me. After eliminating alcohol from my life over 4 years ago I can look back and see that I used alcohol in an attempt to connect with other people. In fact when I began to change my drinking behaviour I was afraid that I would lose all my friends. Some friends did drop away, but others stuck around and new people came into my life. The difference is that when I am with my friends now I am more likely than not truly connecting with them, enjoying their company and sharing with them from the heart.
I was afraid to lose my friends too when I stopped drinking but you know what, yes a few dropped off, but the true friends still love me today if I drink or do not and like you said, I have made so many more and I feel so good since I stopped drinking and I was thinking about all the money I have saved. No Sunday session at the pub over 7 years would add up to quite a hefty amount I am sure!
‘Fitting in with the norm’ nearly always takes us into a way of living that is harming to ourselves and with little true connection to others. Universal Medicine presents the Way of the Livingness that offers humanity a way to make the ‘norm’ one of true love and equalness of all that brings healing to all.
Connection to myself was the thing I missed most, and I would have it fleetingly, but had trouble hanging onto it in my spinning life. Now, with esoteric healing, and gentle breath meditation, connecting to myself is the way I live, without the spin, without the need to be recognised for certain ways of being. Life feels full and lovely and I feel the extra special treats are connection with others.
Beautifully said RB, my Sunday’s are also more simple and enjoyable. In the past Sunday’s were spent getting over hangover’s. Thankfully since attending Universal Medicine presentations I no longer choose to drink alcohol and have more energy and vitality than I did 30 years ago, it’s a no brainer really.
It’s great that you share this RB. Your Sunday has become so simple and beautiful and it is easy to not fully appreciate how beauty-full this way of living actually is. I know that we can sometimes take these lovingly simple steps in our livingness for granted but the changes are colossal when viewed from an energetic perspective.
Indeed Joshua, the actual changes to life we have made seems sometimes so small, but in fact on an energetic level they are huge as we do connect to the energy of fire that is from heaven and is the fuel we are designed for.
Absolutely Nico. It is in the quality of what we do where the real key to living a rich life lies. After all, has humanity not tried almost everything and exhausted every offering this world has for us and still the quality of life is not rich or indeed full as shown by the exorbitant and ever rising cases of illness, disease, exhaustion, lack of contentment and overall struggle with life, not to mention the abhorrent and ever rising cases of murder, slavery, abuse, torture and mistreatment of our own fellow brothers.
I agree Joshua, we as a human body have fallen for a quality of life that in fact does not naturally belongs to us and the effect of this is so clearly demonstrated in our societies by all the illness, disease and horrendous atrocities that are taking place on a daily basis in front of our eyes. How long will it take until we find out that it all is our individual, and therefore common responsibility, to choose to live to that natural quality that we all know so well but at this current moment are rejecting as we are still too attached to our current life of creation.
I agree Joshua, every step we take towards self love and connection makes a difference, like a rain drop in a pool of water, it goes out and the ripples affect the whole, no matter how small.
What I love about your sharing RB is now that you have committed to your own connection it has also expanded your intimate connections with others too. Awesome.
Yes, I agree 100% and I am loving my connection with me and with others. It blows me away at times just because it is so different to how I used to be with people. I laugh when I think back to the times when I only knew a few people, would wear a hoody and baggy pants, I would only talk to a handful of friends and was out right rude to anyone else, in my massive protection and fear of people getting to know me and possibly hurting me. I would walk protected, I would talk in a way that was abusive and that way no one would want to get to know me and my body language screamed back off. Its almost feels like a different life as today I love being with people, I talk, walk and dress not to hide, but to connect. Very awesome to look back on and appreciate where I am today.
Thank you RB for stepping away from the so called normal way of living and changing your life by making self loving choices.
Sometimes there can be no greater way to spend time than in intimacy with friends. This is one of life’s greatest joys, but also a huge responsibility to work on all the time and never take for granted how far we have come together.
Being with others and sharing openly is so beautiful, just as is sharing and reading the comments on this blog. We all crave and love it, but often avoid it because we are afraid of loving too much, or sharing too much or being rejected…. well this has been the case for me in the past, or I would worry that they wouldn’t like me so I would hold back, keep my distance and not let others get to know me and we would all miss out.
What a great turnaround in your life RB, from one of self abusing habits to one of self love and a deeper loving connection and sharing with others. A whole new world.
Somehow society is asking us to act irresponsibly. If we listen to our Inner-Heart, the level of responsibility is way higher than all societal standards I know of.
Yes, I feel that in the past I would compare and think well, it’s not that bad, or I have done way worse. But doing anything that is harming is harming and even a little still harms… so you can’t be just a little bit irresponsible. We know, deep within what is okay for us or not, and I know that I used to play dumb but that didn’t just affect me, it affected me and everyone around me.
What an awesome way to spend your Sunday, in full connection and being present. That is not only a big present to yourself and your friend, but in being that, you reflect back to all of us that this is the most loving way to spend time with each other. Just being with each other, without any distractions.
Love to hear your have done a 360degree turn around RB! There is nothing I would change in my life concerning the joy of living and the continual learning and living of The Way of The Livingness since meeting Serge Benhayon and family plus the Universal Medicine Practitioners.
This is wonderful to hear..”I have been able to connect to me again, and make this connection my way of life.” As we all begin to do this, others are allowed to connect to themselves and we can begin to transform our communities with more loving ways.
I agree Suzanne – we have mixed up fitting in with feeling numb – and this keeps us from seeing there is so much more to relationships we are dumping on with food and alcohol. There really is a responsibility that comes with breaking the mould, and in that, the responsibility to listen to our bodies no matter what comes at us or what criticism we may feel.
Gina I can feel the joy in your comment and it is really beautiful, I know myself when I commit to community, family and humanity I ultimately feel the love of God pulse through me reminding me we are all and never have not been one.
We all have so much to offer and we offer nothing when we are wasted but worse than that, when we are wasted we are offering it as a role model and that alone feels horrible. I didn’t realise at the time, but I do now so appreciate that I am a completely different role model today.
Fantastic turn around RB, how amazing you could feel the harm in what you were doing previously, I too was lost in the illusion before finding my way out with the help of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
Where as I used to live a life of full disregard I now live lovingly taking responsibility and committing to life, and wow is life more joyful, life is filled with magic when we ditch our disregarding behaviour and commit to being true – how could I have had it any other way just shows how lost I truly was.
A great sharing here to be honest about why you were making choices such as numbing your body and avoiding life. Yet this is so commonly accepted in society.
They way you have experienced such a profound change, to now have real conversations about how we live and the choices we make, says a lot about starting to be responsible for our own imprint in the world. I too have had an amazing transformation in starting to be more honest and open to the fact that numbing myself in any way is me holding back and not taking responsibility for the reflection I can be to others.
I agree. We have all gone along with the illusion of behaving in certain ways to fit in but when we are able to step back and honestly acknowledge that we are still left numb and empty, the possibilities for change emerge. The turn around in our lives is quite miraculous when we start to address all the layers we have built up and there is no way I would ever go back to my old life.
We all have so much to reflect to each other, and even when we are not living in our fullness, or to our full potential, that is exactly what we are reflecting. I really appreciate that most of the time now, I reflect something that will inspire someone else to take more care of themselves and that they too can change.
I get that now Hanna, but there is no way I could have been open to understanding that I was holding back and and not taking responsibility when I was wasted and plus my level of self worth was so low back then that I didn’t or wouldn’t have imagined that I had anything to reflect to another.
What I find interesting is that up until recently you knew no other way. I wonder how many others are still in the same boat you used to be in. It seems even more important to share your experience so that this choice could be known more widely – what ever the subsequent choices made might be.
I was talking about this fact with my daughter just the other day and how lucky she is because she see’s how a lot of people live and she sees how I live and how a lot of my friends live so she has role models from every angle around, whereas when I was young there were no role models around that didn’t drink and smoke.
What an amazing change RB and how you now honor yourself and how you feel is inspiring. Sharing ourselves and sharing quality time with others is a beautiful way to deepen our relationships. And in truth if we are honest, being truly met in this way is something we all love.
My life now is not a reflection of the way I had thought was the normal way of living… I am a completely different person or more accurate I am now who I have always been inside of me but was hiding and running away to be their normal. I really am enjoying just being me now.
‘I no longer need to do certain things at the expense of my body, just to fit in to what society considers normal’. What a great place to have landed.
Isn’t it terrific to live life based not on what ‘everyone else is doing’ but on what feels right for ourselves? That seems a very loving way.
A Sunday spent healing and going deeper within yourself sounds so more productive than getting wasted and burying your issues.
Amazing how we can say ‘getting wasted’ or go out and do that without batting an eyelid, not really even recognising how self destructive it is. I have done that too in the past and I cringe when I think of the days wasted over the years. Fortunately I woke up to that one day and stopped but what a waste of precious life it was.
Yes and the after effects create more space for feeling great and for sharing that with others versus being broke and hungover!
To read how you lived before, nervous, shy and ill at ease, and then of the choices you are making now, to be fully engaged with life and confident with people, and the abundance they have to offer is beautiful.
Yes, what a turnaround RB, inspiring.
How awesome it is to find another way, a true way that brings health,wellbeing,love,harmony and joy back into life. Through the teachings of Serge Benhayon I and many others had that way, returning back the the glorious beings we all naturally are.
Thankyou RB for sharing so honestly that at your Sunday sessions (which I am sure was just a reflection of other days in your week too), ‘I wasn’t really enjoying myself, but it’s what everyone else was doing, so I thought that I should be doing it too. I did not know any other way’. Its like we all can get caught in the complicated web of life that just because everyone else is doing it that’s what we should be doing – but through Universal Medicine more and more of us are realising there is in fact another way to live
It is great to hear the difference RB, I can feel there is such an ease versus your previous uncomfortableness. An ease by just finding and living yourself and no longer having to fit in.
The second version of the Sunday is something that I would love the world to know is possible. I know that there are so many youths out there who would love to choose this version and who are not satisfied with getting drunk or stoned.
Thank you Felix for the inspiration to share what I choose to live more broadly with my youth friends, and all. Being a young adult, I am defying the norms of: partying, drinking, late nights, diet, sleeping around, etc. If this is all the current “norm” that people want to choose and accept, I wonder what would happen if worldwide there was another way/choice: Either the above what RB mentioned (with drugs, alcohol, etc), OR if there was the completely opposite way, that is equally possible, not set on ideals or beliefs – but a true way of being? – I wonder what people would choose. But then again, why is the world accepting this norm?!
Arianne, I absolutely know that you choosing to go against what’s normal will inspire so many people, my experience is that many younger people are searching for something different, but they are afraid to stand apart from the crowd… so total kudos to you for making the choice to be true to you.
So awesome how you are choosing another way, to no longer do what everyone else is doing but what you feel is right for you. You inspire others to know that they too can choose to connect with themselves and others with out any influence of alcohol or drugs. To be fully connected and to have a great time by just being yourself.
What a transformation, RB. Connecting back to you has made “you’ amazing!
Why is it that we feel compelled to conform to ‘what everyone else is doing’ even when we know we are not enjoying it and it is not good for us? Since I became a student of Universal Medicine I have gradually reclaimed my truth to be who I am and I love every minute of it with a growing understanding and knowing of who I am and the purpose of life. My ‘normal’ just keeps getting better with the choices I make and the way I live.
Great question Mary. For me, the reason was to blend in, to not stand out or make people too uncomfortable. I was also afraid of creating too much attention if I went against the norm. I was afraid of people becoming jealous of me if I was too amazing or expressed myself fully. Now, since becoming a student of The Way of The Livingness, I am no longer afraid to be who I am. I am learning to express who I am and not to hold back. One of the greatest realisations for me is that what society deem as normal is actually very harmful, like drinking alcohol, competitiveness, getting together to gossip, loosing ourselves in comfort and to escape our issues, so on and so on. Now, I am choosing to step out of my comfort and try something profound, amazing and powerful, to return to who I am, to live in truth and love through The Way of the Livingness.
I love this Mary “My ‘normal’ just keeps getting better with the choices I make and the way I live”. It is so beautiful to get to that point in our lives and look back in appreciation of the road well travelled to know that we are the ones ourselves who can make those self loving choices/changes. It is with enormous appreciation to Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon that I too am now aware that I am the one to make those changes and implement them into my everyday.
My normal is so different now that I read back on this blog and can’t believe that I used to live this way. It feels more like a past life. And yes, my normal keeps on changing and I am loving it!
That’s amazing. From spending your weekend at the pub, eating junk food and taking drugs to what you choose to spend your time doing now. That is worth celebrating and is yet another clear message as to the true quality and power of Universal Medicine that allowed you to choose a life more in line with your true worth.
I would prefer the second Sunday too- it feels so yummy to be in real connection with yourself and with others…No need to numb yourself, just enjoying the fun that I am 🙂
It sounds like a really lovely day. It is inspiring that instead of seeking relief from a life not enjoying you and others, you have developed a beautiful connection with yourself which you cherish, share and deepen with others through your presence and expression.
Why do we allow ourselves to get caught up in what others are doing even though we don’t really feel that we want to? Is it just fit in with every one else? What would happen if we all felt what we truly wanted to do, instead of getting caught up in what everyone else is doing in the name of fun? I feel there are a lot less people who really want that partying lifestyle, but nobody is expressing that because they don’t want to be seen as not being part of what is the ‘normal’ way of having fun. A bit like the emperor and his new clothes. What a lovely turnaround your Sundays are now RB, they sound like so much more real fun.
I agree Deidre that there a lot of people who don’t want or enjoy the party lifestyle (or any of the other myriad of ways of distracting themselves) and I’m sure a lot would choose the second option if they knew it was available. It was a defining moment in my life when I finally found Universal Medicine and discovered that there really is a purpose to life.
I like how you point out that you did not know any other way, but now that you do know you choose this other way. A life of ‘being present, aware, drug and alcohol free.’
That’s right Ester. I feel that many people have simply lost touch with what they think is a fun day. Even though drugs are illegal, drinking and taking drugs have been passed on and sold as a way of having fun. It is also enticing because it allows us to escape reality and to be blissed out for a short time, to not deal with life. This blog shows us that there is another way to have fun and to truly connect with friends. That is to do it without drugs or alcohol, to be fully present and connect with each other is the most beautiful thing.
RB your second Sunday afternoon session sounds amazing and I imagine what most people truly want in their lives.
Great to share how your life has turned around RB, when you embraced the love within.
I agree RB, to live with love is the ultimate freedom.
I herewith confirm it is quite magnificent to not having to rely on drugs, food, entertainment or other stimulants to really enjoy myself. What a blessing to have the reflection and presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
It’s an awesome gift we gift ourselves to truly listen and express to another. This is so reflected back to us and that does feel amazing; a lovely sharing RB thank you.
Beautiful to feel how you have claimed you back RB, now that’s a Sunday session I want to be a part of!
Your Sunday’s have become sacred rather than spaced out RB. Awesome that you are back!
The new ‘Sunday Session’ sounds sooooo much more enticing than the former!
Thank you RB, my life was very similar until I turned 40, virtually every day smoking pot and drinking alcohol. It was not until 10 years later that I realised at a presentation by Serge Benhayon that even though I had ‘stopped’ all the drugs, I had just replaced them with other things.
So true Greg, if it is not drugs and alcohol that we use to numb ourselves or distract and check out, we can quite easily use food, video games, movies, and sport to name just a few. At the end of the day, it is not so much what we do, but the quality in which we do it and if we are present or not in each moment.
Yep. I know which one I’d pick too RB- awesome change.
Bringing and living everything that we are not, takes us further away from what feels true. Such a simple choice to be all of you in every day and celebrating that with others is so life giving. Thanks RB for sharing the changes you have chosen in your life, so different to what you experienced in the past. When you choose connection to ‘You’ first -Everyone benefits.
It’s inspiring to read how you have turned your life around through developing a deeper connection to who you truly are, and taking responsibility for your choices. Wonderful to feel the joy you get from the sharing and connection the session swaps offer.
Awesome RB, sometimes we don’t always see there is another way of living until we are presented with it, and it’s beautiful to appreciate these different choices we can now make.
I would now never swap my sunday afternoons with the ones I had before. I wasn´t the party girl more the getting distracted girl. Spending my time being conscious with myself is so much more fun, although it takes discipline sometimes to not fall back into the bliss of checking out.
I get what you mean here, you can spend the afternoon at the pub checked out or equally you could spend it watching movie after movie and be checked out too.
I can relate to the past version of a sunday afternoon, I live quite a different life now to what you described and much prefer the new version, of a walk, hanging out with family and friends, writing, expressing its awesome.
RB I can so relate to what you have written, my weekends were very familiar to yours, drugs, alcohol, more drugs, more alcohol and lots of endless rants about nothing to other “out of it” people, with no one listening to each other. Now I love to be at home with a friend connecting, laughing, playing or working on my latest project, or cooking a meal to share with friends, without a joint or alcoholic drink in sight. Oh times have a changed. Thank God for Universal Medicine
I had forgotten about how everyone is talking but no one is actually listening! This is so true, and no one grows, nothing is remembered…. it is all just wasted.
Thank you, RB. It’s very beautiful to feel how you have been making different choices for these 3 years to find yourself spending a Sunday afternoon in a totally different way.
RB, the scene you describe in the pub was so familiar to me, I always felt particularly anxious drinking on a Sunday because of the looming ‘Monday morning’ coming. Your latter experience with your session swop sounded so joyful and real in comparison, I know exactly where I would rather be.
It is great how you highlight how many of us ‘do’ so much with with our body, and allow so much to be ‘done’ to our body, that does not support us, just to fit in with society. In fact as we grow up many of us are taught, as a way of life, to over ride our true feelings about how to live and care for our bodies. I really sensed that you had reclaimed and appreciate yourself ‘just for being you’ and that is beautiful to share in through reading this blog. Thank you.
Life changing RB – your blog is absolutely inspirational – it is possible to change, and it is never to late to do so.
Completely different worlds, thank you for sharing the RB
It feels a very inspiring Sunday afternoon, and what a turn around you have, and a lot of other people have made, once they have felt that life is about connection. Where we have come from and the quality of living we choose now is definitely to appreciate.
Wow, what a great way to spend a Sunday arvo, socialising with your friend via esoteric sharing! Lovely! Such a great way to support each other and a world away from trying to fit in at the pub. RB – I hope you have gotten to share many more Sundays in this way since you wrote your blog.
Definitely a different Sunday Session RB. The difference between disconnection and reconnection are worlds apart and thank you for sharing that.
Big changes come from big commitments – the biggest being to be all that you are and express that in the world. Feels like this is the commitment you made RB.
Dear RB,
I too have spent my share of Sunday arvo’s at the pub, like you I always felt uncomfortable being there, but if I wanted to spend time with people, this seemed to be the way to do it. Well those days are well and truly over for me, little did I realise the that I was not truly spending quality time with my friends, as when we all had a couple, all that seemed to happen would be that we wanted to outdo each other with our stories, or berate world events and politics. Sitting in our bar stools passing judgement with a candor that I find truly disturbing now. Now this Sunday afternoon I am preparing a meal to have with some beautiful women that I have met at Universal Medicine, fellow esoteric students that mostly live in Sydney, I on the other hand live in a little town in Qld. So our dinner is a Skype dinner. I have dressed, and cooked and can’t wait to sit down to a meal in front of my computer tonight. So much fun.
That’s an amazing contrast It sounds like a very lovely way to spend your Sunday afternoon nowadays. You are able to be with yourself and be with another, totally enjoying it rather then having to drink to avoid the anxiousness you were feeling before.
Wow it is amazing what recommitting and taking responsibility can do RB! Like you it was only 4 years ago that I was avoiding such responsibility since committing to life and letting go off old beliefs and ideals I have flourished as I have recommitted to society and found my way.This of course is an ever deepening unfolding one a journey back home to which I am so grateful to Universal Medicine for shining the way forth. Thank you for sharing RB
Thank you for sharing your new Sunday session RB. What a beautiful way to spend an afternoon, connected to your heart and connecting with another.
That is a very beautiful sharing, it is great how Universal Medicine inspires us to be the one who we really are, and making it possible to have these beautiful connections.
I too love the connections with people and being connected with. I so love being me and with others who feel the same. Thank you RB.
The new way RB – connecting with people without all of the ‘stuff’ we have learned to use to distract us from who we really are – absolutely on board with that.
Thank you RB, yes it was not long ago when Sunday was not what it is for me today . For the last 20 years, on most Sundays I worked in my shop . Today work is fun and I get to meet a lot of gorgeous people and play.This is a far cry from what Sunday or any day at work was , it was just hard work. Thank you Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for offering this Way of the Livingness.
What can truly happen in this state of living is a warm and intimate relationship with others. Before in the drunk and stoned consciousness it has been empty and both agreeing to spend time miles away from each other. I’ve experienced this too and I’m happy to return and get true reflection now!
Sure is far cry from the so called “normal’ Sunday sessions that are full of false joy and laughs from being doped up to the eyeballs, I know where I’d rather be spending my Sundays.
Great simple blog RB, I remember those days also and like you I was just doing what everybody else did – I never questioned it. I have never been a big drinker because of the side effects but it did not stop me from trying. I am only just realising what a huge part alcohol plays in the lives of those around me and that I was like that also. It took attending workshops run by Universal Medicine for me to understand what alcohol did to my body and why we drink it.
The beauty of Universal Medicine is that it presents what we already know, and when we feel the gorgeous ways that we change ourselves, they are solely our own choices, as UM never tells us what to do or not to do, therefore utmost responsibility is experienced in our own unfoldment.
Agree Ben, once we really feel into what Universal Medicine presents there is familiarity and a sense that we already know it, and once felt it is completely our choice as to what we do with that. As RB says, ‘What is so great is that instead of just learning, reading and gaining knowledge, I have been able to connect to me again, and make this connection my way of life’. This has also been my experience and ‘I no longer need to do certain things at the expense of my body, just to fit in to what society considers normal, even if it is quite harmful’. Now that I know another way there is no going back, just a forever deepening of the connection. It is a very joy-full way to live!
If I were told what to do, I would of reacted and resisted and dug my heels in further, and that is what I love love love about Universal Medicine. I have never been told what to do but the reflections and role models have been so strong that I have said, YES, YES, YES.. that is what I want and I have made choices to change my life. Quite simple really.
Very cool RB! So awesome to read the honesty in how you actually felt when you were hiding behind the drugs and alcohol. At the time we’re being destructive with our bodies we’re not aware of it, but when we give ourselves the opportunity to stand back and observe our behaviours, it’s eye opening.
I remember it seemed like such a big deal to stop drinking, and that was the exact moment I knew I had to try and see what it was like not to drink, because that meant I was relying on it for something, and I wasn’t sure what that was. I knew I changed when I drank, and I used it to relax and unwind, so the question for me was unwind from what? How was I living my life that I needed to unwind? For me it was a gradual process and fascinating to see how people reacted and how much I was attached to how people thought.
Now 8 years on I marvel at the irony that society considers drinking normal, even if it is quite harmful.
An awesome blog RB, thanks so much for sharing where it is at for you now (well in 2013 at least – would love an update!).
It is so worth looking back and indeed taking stock of how life may have changed. Before I was a student of the Way of the Livingness, my life was also very different. The joy I feel today – consistently, every day… is absolutely amazing, and my vitality – greater at age 46 than at age 26… All of which I put down to living in a way that truly honours who I am, a way I continue to lovingly refine and grow with.
Without Serge Benhayon stepping forward as he has, and offering the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom and all that Universal Medicine presents, I would not feel this way today. The transformations so many hundreds of people such as ourselves have undergone are miraculous, and nothing less.
Hi Victoria, update (2017) and still no Sunday sessions at the pub and no alcohol and no smokes! On one level I have saved enough money to put a deposit on a house. I can’t believe how much money I wasted on getting wasted in the past! And aside from that, I feel more vital, alive, joyful today than at any time of my life. I love waking up early each day, I enjoy going to work, my relationships with people have gone to another level as I am not in paranoia or in protection all the time, and I feel more beautiful, sexy and more like a woman than I have ever before. Embracing the fact that I am a woman, and no longer have to be tough or a tomboy is a beautiful thing to do! Loving life.
Wow and thanks for the update to your blog here RB – I love that you’ve responded personally here 🙂
What you’ve shared here is no small thing, and something I’ve witnessed on countless occasions with students of Universal Medicine, myself and my husband included… and that is: through a deepening sense of inner-connection, through committing to building upon our own worth and taking responsibility for our own healing in life, alongside commitment and engagement in every aspect OF our lives, there is a sustainable change occurring here for so very many. How many step out of the fog of regular drug and alcohol abuse, of feeling little regard for themselves, and TRULY prosper? Not only prosper, but actually continue to build enriching and purposeful lives?
For myself and I suspect yourself also, the profound inspiration and role of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine in such a transformation, and ongoing quality of living, is vast beyond measure. I hold not the slightest reservation in saying so.
What a contrast RB, I could feel the stress and closed off your body while reading about your earlier days, compared to the softness and openness of the life you have chosen now. It’s really a no brainer when you get to feel both, side by side.
RB, universal medicine brings a whole new understanding to the word session, so much healing and love is achieved during these types of sessions, I now can not think of anything worse than partaking in the old kind of session.
Lovely to feel how your body feels now. What only 3 years can make a difference.
RB what an awesome inspiration for us all. It’s wonderful to think that if we simply listen to our bodies and connect to our natural way of being we can truly just be ourselves and enjoy it.
Great to read another one of your blogs RB. When we truly connect with ourselves and with others, it is simple, lovely and enough. No need for bells, whistles or even alcohol and drugs.
Super simple RB and a much more loving and connected way to share your Sunday with a friend and I don’t detect an ounce of being anxious, worried, nervous or uncomfortable. Sounds like a gorgeous day.
Hi RB. I love how you describe the simplicity and connection with your friend and the time spent together. This has been my experience with the friendships that I am developing. No gossip or comparison to others, but a deeply supportive and unimposing care for another. Supporting each other in very practical and loving ways. It is beautiful to build true relationship in this way.
Awesome transformation and the appreciation you have for making such changes.
Awesome way to spend your Sundays.
It is so beautiful to be able to know in my body what it really feels like to be me. With that marker it is so much easier to say no to self-abuse. We are indeed provided with this wisdom by Universal Medicine and I got to know many people who have benefitted in similar ways like you, RB – including me!
This is an awesome example RB of how we can turn our lives around by simply reconnecting to who we are and listening to our bodies. So beautiful and very inspirational ✨
I agree it’s a great example, by simple reconnection how we can make hugh changes.
I wasn’t ever a heavy drinker, but I have to say, when I came across Universal Medicine and was presented with the idea that perhaps alcohol doesn’t really serve me or my body in any way, I was relieved. I felt as though I had finally been given permission not to drink. I gave it up instantly and have never missed it.
I agree Elodie, i always remember my first try of alcohol as being disgusting and chose not to listen to my body so I could fit in and be accepted. It is amazing to reflect back on these self abusive behaviours and the way I was living that is a far cry from the self care and love i chose instead.
It is interesting how on one level we know it…. and yet we don’t always honour it…. and yet, when we are given permission or we meet others who show that it is okay, then we can do it. Now there are many, offering this way of not drinking as normal and I know for a fact that I have inspired many as do others.
Yes, what a transformation. It is so great to remember where we have come from and to appreciate where we are now.
Yeah the old kind of Sundays you use to have makes me think of the amount of anxiousness you would have been in and the Sundays you have now you seem more at ease with yourself that you can actually connect with someone, alcohol and drug free.
RB what you have described is freedom in it’s purest form. x
Great sharing RB about the desperation and emptiness that is behind all this socializing and hanging out having a drink. For most of my life I lived that way totally convinced about the fun I had partying and that this was the way to have a good time. Today I know true vitality and love every second of my life without needing any special events.
I know what you mean RB. I too have been inspired by Serge Benhayon and the teachings of Universal Medicine to live in another way to the self-harming and dishonouring style I used to call normal. It really is so much more fun to be more loving with myself, clear, light and present with other people. Thank God I gave it a try.
Hi RB it sounds like you have come so far in such a short period of time, well done.
Hi RB, I can relate to what you say here, I used to go to the pub on Sunday afternoons also. Then I met someone who used to run marathons, so I started running with her. It felt different to the pub and I thought it was better, but I realise now it was still hurting my body, numbing what I didn’t want to feel and I could feel the pain in my chest and joints.
I bet you are feeling better on Monday also, thanks RB.
I love to feel the difference between Sunday afternoons. I definitely go for the second one – love it.
Beautiful example of radical change!
What a lovely change and so simple – by being connected to you and listening to you.
AGREED RB, connection to self is priceless. In connection we make choices that support this naturalness to be, and things like alcohol, drugs, stress, and generally disregarding lifestyles spoil this to leave us feeling wasted and depressed. Experiencing the beauty of connection as you have and do RB, is just amazing.
I love the extremes you shared with us RB from where you once were to where you are today. You can feel it tangibly from the start of your writing to how light you are today. It’s like we have a choice between these two paths, and it is super clear that the choice you made was to choose you. Thank you RB – what you share here is for all of us to see and to know that we have that choice.
It is so lovely to come to that realisation that we don’t have to do things that we do not really enjoy like going to pubs so as to fit in. I find that the more simple and solid that I am in my understanding that the activity will not support me, the easier it is for others to accept my decision. This is particularly the case with work related social functions.
Wow I so related to this RB, I was there sitting in the pub, affected by drugs and alcohol and feeling anxious, know how that story goes! What an absolute blessing to have discovered Universal Medicine and all that have presented about life. I no longer suffer this way and enjoy life in a way that before I never thought possible.
RB, what a wonderful journey! So, now you know both possibilities and you are freer to choose how do you want to spend the days are still to come to you. Fantastic!
Your Sunday session sounds beautiful RB. Truly connecting to yourself and others is a much more loving way of spending the afternoon rather than checking out at the pub
RB, thanks for sharing, I can also say it is lovely to leave that way of living behind, which included alcohol and numbness, the true loving way is beautiful when you are able to enjoy the moments.
It is really lovely to be able to sit and chat so freely and openly with someone and not consume ourselves with doubts and fears because after all we are each unique and amazing in our own right. Thank you for sharing RB.