Why is it so hard to accept, really accept a compliment?

You would think that accepting a compliment from someone would be easy, something nice said to you or about you, but do we really stop to allow ourselves to feel what is being shared with us about ourselves?

This is something I have been recently observing in myself. Someone offers me a compliment, and I quickly say thank you, brushing it off like it was said in jest, a fleeting moment, or simply to be polite, or better (worse!) yet I go into an explanation of why I may look good, or why my hair is incredibly amazing on that day. Continue reading “Compliments and Me” →

How often have we thought that art is something created outside of ourselves and our daily life? I am finding art to be more, in-truth, much more than the time we actually devote in ‘doing’ art, as how I have been living is always clearly reflected in the work I have done throughout the years.

Recently I had a meeting with a client and a photographer I am working with for the first time. I woke up that morning feeling a little tired. It was awesome to just observe how I was feeling and not go into judgment immediately or wanting to fix myself up because of the meeting later on. Continue reading “The Life we Live, is the Art we Make” →

by Alan Johnston, Pottsville, Australia 

May I tell you a few things I love?

I love the breadth and depth of expression that is coming through all the student blog posts. So uniquely and universally real.

I love each writer’s different way with words. The sense of how they set them to abide with each other and convey the whole. And within such honesty I love the words themselves, the sound, the form, the flow. Continue reading “I Love that Match” →

by Anna Karam, Goonellabah, Australia

I was recently inspired by two young women who came to my home for dinner. What inspired me so much was that when I was their age, I was so lost and unsure of myself, and had already changed so much in order to be liked and accepted, that I had become a product of what I thought the world wanted or needed me to be.

When my guests arrived I couldn’t help but see and feel how natural these young women were in my home, so playful and loving; there was no big noting of themselves, no competition, no gossip or drama (as I remember it myself at that age), but rather I could feel them so content in themselves; it was so freeing for me to feel this. Continue reading “An inspiring meal with two inspiring young women” →

by Kim Schultz, NSW

With my work Christmas party coming up I tried to wiggle my way out of it, saying that I was too tired to go and that there was no dairy free/gluten free menu, thinking that they would put me in the ‘too hard’ basket. WRONG!… the boss solved the problem in five minutes, speaking with the chefs to cater for my food request and offering to have someone drive me to the event.

At the time I thought ‘Bugger!’ as all my attempts to avoid it had failed. To be honest, I was concerned with how I was going to communicate and what I was going to say to people who were drunk… ‘What are we going to talk about?’ ‘How am I going to connect?’ I was also anxious that I would be seen as a ‘party-pooper’. Still, I did feel the pull to go – and how awesome it was to revisit my past, as it turned out. Continue reading “The illusion that getting ‘smashed’ is fun” →

by Beverley Croft, NSW, Australia

For most of my life through to my late 60′s I was a very nervy, highly strung, withdrawn woman with very little self-confidence and few friends. I spoke sharply and very fast (nervy), and was always rushing to do things, totally unaware of how this was affecting my body. I hated myself and my role as a woman. I buried myself in books so I did not feel any of this. I was widowed in my mid 60′s and continued my search for why I felt so unhappy inside. My husband had been pretty controlling, but as I realised much later, I had let this happen. He was a good man and never violent physically. Who knows what our relationship could have been if I had been the woman I now am? Continue reading “I am at Last Learning to be Playful (in my 70’s!)” →

by Josh Campbell, Australia

I felt to say something very short and simple as a student of Universal Medicine. I do not wish to defend Serge Benhayon but rather just say what I feel others may need to hear and ponder on. Serge has shown me true love. Before I found UniMed I found life was a persistent struggle where nothing ever really made sense, not even so called ‘love’. Continue reading “To Honour Another You Need to Love Yourself” →