by Rebecca Baldwin, 31 years, Australia
Dear Me,
If there was one thing I could tell you when you were 13 years old it would be this – drug taking is not rebellious; it is not just ‘experimentation’; it’s not really even defiance – it’s just compliant. It is one of many things in this world that is engineered to keep you from your power and your beauty. You are not the first person to think that smoking a cigarette is cool and you won’t be the last. You are not a rebel. You are walking a well-trodden path paved by all the other bright kids and teens who thought they were breaking the rules, only to play right into them. But I know there is more to it than that. I know that your bravado is just that and I know that you miss yourself. You miss the easy way you were with yourself when you were a kid, before the onset of all this intensity. And for the time being and for many years to come, the thick smoke in your lungs will make you feel for a moment that you are full. At the top of the drag there will be a split second, a fleeting moment where you feel there is an end to the empty feelings; the vague but persistent anxiousness; and you will feel at peace. Of course, and you already know this, it is then that you have to breathe the smoke out again, and your predicament will be the same as it was before.
But rewind a few months. Your body was always telling you this would not work – when you fought your burning throat and constricted lungs to teach yourself how to ‘properly inhale’. And months later when you taught yourself to pull a bong, trained yourself in the resilience to not crumple into yourself in a corner, red-eyed and paranoid (and often failed), your body was speaking to you loudly and you silenced it with more of the same. And you could pretend that you were a rebel but in fact it was the opposite. It wasn’t rebellion so much as a wanting to fit in. But fit in to what? Whose mould didn’t you fit? And what did you have to forego in order for you to cut yourself down to comply? What courage did you let slip and what love would you have walked with, had you not become a paper-cut out of all the other lost girls?
Consider that perhaps ‘rebellious’ is the girl in year 9 who you called ‘straight and boring’, who said no to drugs and sex-without-love without questioning that it was her right to be honoured and truly cared for; who refused to cave to the pressure of popularity and notoriety. Perhaps rebellion would have been to speak what you truly felt and allow those to fall away who inevitably would. Remember when at 16 years old you decided to quit pot, and all your smoking buddies stopped knowing how to be around you? Well, that was an act of rebellion. In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.
What would I say to my 20 year old self?
Beware of apparent ‘opposites’ and knee-jerk redirection. Rebellion is not burying your self in books and striving to write the best essay and get the best mark – that’s just another form of compliance. In fact, you may just find you do more damage to your lungs with the dusty book than with the cigarette. You may find yourself more strung out and anti-social from overdoing it with study than you did when you were sitting stoned in a corner. Don’t let yourself be duped again. No employer is ever going to ask you what grade you got on your 2nd year Media Studies mid-year assessment. Learn what you need to know but don’t abandon yourself in the process. Never forget that the greatest teacher in the world will not be found in any lecture hall or University. The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it. If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom. Cut the excuses and the overriding. Your body is always asking to be loved. When it is tired and wants to go to bed, when it tells you that alcohol leaves it sick, when it tells you that to pull the all-nighter hurts and that the fleeting elation of a good mark is just that, it is sending you a message. STOP. Say no to false highs – from the highs of driven academic achievement to the highs of ‘recreational’ drugs. Know that there is no difference. But know there is a different way; know that there IS a way to be with yourself beyond the constant ‘pursuit of happiness’ and / or relief. There is a way to honour yourself and be the full you in all that you do without compromise. There is a way to know love without substituting it for good grades, because the love is already there – in you. Not in any accolade, or in any box you ticked, or in any thing that you did or will do. It’s right there already in you.
What would I say to myself today?
Together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history. We are always the sum total of all our choices. And while the memory might become foggy, the body never forgets. The body holds the marks of every choice we ever made, it was with us for every one of them and it is still here with us today – at once a record and a crystal ball. Carrying with us all the imprints of moments past – imprints there waiting to make the next moment what it is; and these imprints are there with all people; in the sadness you can see held in a woman’s cheeks, in the way a man walks, either fluid or with the hardness he’s learnt to hold as he braces himself for the barrage of the world’s expectations. But is the next choice inevitable? Does it have to come with the loading of the past? Well no, that’s why it is called a choice.
But you can only make a choice if you know it is there to be made, otherwise you will default to the choice predetermined by the culmination of your life’s habits. You will live as you always have. So choose to be aware and to feel, deeply, everything that is there to feel, both the pain and the triumphs. And remember your body is your companion. Change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment. And it is these small moments that add up. It is these small moments of illumination that strung together make the light in your days. Don’t discount the simplicity of the smallest act or intention to love. Certainly don’t discount any act of love towards yourself.
And you will find there is a freedom to be had. It is not really a freedom born of rebellion, it is a simple act of return. A re-turn to yourself and to the body you have long ignored.
And there is a freedom in discipline, but this discipline is not harsh. It is the discipline to consistently and honestly love and honour yourself. To know that fragility is a strength that is indeed rare in this world, but need not be. There is a freedom to be had by putting a stop to the running and constantly striving. There is a freedom to be had in simplicity.
With love always,
You
P.S. Doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger or wiser, doing it hard just makes you harder, and that hardness stays with you unless you heal it.
Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman. What most of us are reluctant to admit is that we never needed to ‘”find out the hard way”. Had we honored our essence in the first place we never would have walked the roads we knew would hurt us. When we stop saying, “I guess it was meant to be”; when we stop romanticising our hardships and conveniently wrapping them in a fog of nostalgia, only then will we have the clarity to take full stock and full responsibility for our past choices.
Only then will we realise they were indeed choices; and with that knowing we have the freedom to make new ones – true ones – for and from the love we are.
P.P.S. Dear me, it’s me again, just a reminder for you to tell Natalie Benhayon and all the other amazing young women you know today, that they constantly inspire you to see that there is (and always has been) another way.
And say hi to Serge Benhayon and thank him from me; it is his perspective that will inspire you to see that the past was not inevitable, and neither is your future. And it is also him that will help you realise that there is more to you than just a brain on legs – there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.
Women in Livingness Blog 
“There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.” A gem of a sentence.
There is so much in this blog that makes sense, this sentence particularly stuck me as I read it
“But you can only make a choice if you know it is there to be made, otherwise you will default to the choice predetermined by the culmination of your life’s habits.”
Sometimes our habits are so ingrained we do not realise we have them and it is not until someone gently points them out do we realise we have them.
Looking back at my 13 year old self, I would tell her that no matter the attention she got, it was not truly loving, no matter how many of the popular boys were after her, was not because they loved her, we play a game at different ages but when we are given up & withdrawn the only thing that we can cling on is the tiniest bit of recognition to make us feel whole again – but none of that is true, it doesn’t last for longer than a few minutes & we are back where we started.
So many gems in this piece – “Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.” When we all awaken to this fact we will be unstoppable.
Beautiful to re-read this blog today. “We are always the sum total of all our choices. And while the memory might become foggy, the body never forgets.” The more we make choices that feel true for our body, the more we can wipe our our past poor choices and it shows in the body.
A letter with very wise words, one that teaches us that nothing is more important than to honour who we are first and foremost. Because nothing that we do, nothing that is sold to us on the outside can bring any depth of love or feeling of contentment within us.
There is nothing rebellious whatsoever about self harm. In fact you can’t get any more mainstream than self harm, it is something done by pretty much all of us all of the time. Sure it comes in different forms and we can get caught in the glamorous illusion that drinking, taking drugs and partying hard are different to most people but they are simply different forms of self harm. Self love however is unusual when practiced in it’s true form because it is practiced by so few.
“So choose to be aware and to feel, deeply, everything that is there to feel, both the pain and the triumphs”. I think that there are often ‘energetic triumphs’ to be had within our most painful experiences.
I agree Alexis. if I hadn’t had the last really painful experience I wouldn’t have woken up to what is really going on – with me and also the world at large,
“There is a way to know love without substituting it for good grades, because the love is already there – in you”. Yes it is and in quantities that are impossible to imagine.
“The greatest teacher in the world is your own body”. I love this line. I really do.
Yes, having a tidy room, being ready for the day, looking after yourself physically and emotionally, and considering the how in all of the physical and emotional looking after, brings a simplicity that forms a foundation to walk day after day.
Doing it ‘the hard way’ begets an anticipation of life being hard which makes our body hard, which in turn makes it harder to trust and embrace the strength in vulnerability.
My body endlessly reminds me of the tenderness and warmth we naturally are. When I let this radiate, I love and am loved back in equal measure.
This is such a classic, it should be printed and distributed to all of the schools in the world where young girls and boys can have access to this immense wisdom, access to lived experience an the importance of not complying with the crowd.
Yes there is a misconception that rebels are not complying. They are, and actually stepping out from complying is incredibly hard because the only place left feels like no-mans-land.
Yep, because if we are truly not complying, if we truly do not bend over and take this world on our shoulders, we are left standing up straight and our from the crowd. Everybody can see the person who’s head is sticks out, the one who is taller and standing up right. There are those who then do everything to bring them back down and kill what they see, and those who love a person who is not afraid to do so. The latter will be inspired, they will support the growth & those are the people worth standing up for.
So true, ‘ There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.’ – To be reminded of this, to actually connect and feel this and then to be able to share this is really what it is all about. Hence it is no surprise or at least it is very interesting that we are brought up not being aware of such a precious quality within ourselves. A huge thanks to Serge Benhayon for showing what we are truly made of.
Living our preciousness is pretty much our sole purpose. Once this is established everything else we do is in line with what is needed.
Yes and I recently heard that ‘we are not born ignorant’. We are educated to be so – as society currently doesn’t value truth , nor true love. A baby knows the vibration of love – they shine it out – until we instil them not to be aware and not to feel what is really going on. We too were educated thus, until we chose to be awakened.
Rebecca, what an absolute stunner of a blog. A piece of writing which is so needed and will remain relevant for a long time. So many young girls will be lucky to get their eyes on this, so many adults will be touched by the feel of it. Thank you.
What a letter of profound healing for us all! A letter that should be part of the educational curriculum.
There is so much that will change in our education system when we come to live the warmth, tenderness and preciseness we naturally are.
What a timeless blog, what i would tell my 13- year old self? I would tell her to not compete with the boys, that she doesn’t have to be the sports champion or the academic genius to get love. I would tell her that she is embarking on a journey of becoming a woman and that is the most important relationship to consider.
An amazing blog and understanding of life and our choices and how we can always make a change For together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history. We are always the sum total of all our choices. And while the memory might become foggy, the body never forgets. The real responsibility we all have in our lives is something we are not taught and so the beauty of this blog unfolds.
So as a grandmother Watching young ones grow – whether they be in my own blood family or not, I have a responsibility to offer a different reflection as to how life can be lived.
This blog is for the world to read, again and again – it is a timeless piece that is so, so needed in our world today. So many young women completely leave themselves behind in their sought after success. There is pure gold inside of our own bodies, something we are to reconnect to and appreciate very, very dearly. Thank you Rebecca for all that you do.
I totally agree Viktoria – This blog is worth sharing and re-reading as it is a reminder for us of how precious we are and how to really treat ourselves, no push no imposition, a loving approach on all levels, with no perfection but an open heart.
Together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history. We are always the sum total of all our choices. And while the memory might become foggy, the body never forgets. What a beautiful sharing and offering to ourselves and all young women which reflecting back is so true and needed. “To know that fragility is a strength that is indeed rare in this world, but need not be. There is a freedom to be had by putting a stop to the running and constantly striving. There is a freedom to be had in simplicity.’ Something I am still realising more and more the older i get.
A freedom in the loving discipline to absolutely love and honour what our bodies need.. how would our relationship with ourselves and each other change if we committed to loving ourselves even for an entire day, let alone 24/7.. No playing less or overriding what we need, just the simplicity and steadiness that comes with listening to and acting upon what we can feel is needed, in any given moment.
This is such a beautiful letter and holds wisdom that is applicable to all ages in many ways. And such a great point that – “In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.”
‘Learn what you need to know but don’t abandon yourself in the process’. When we abandon ourselves we have lost ourselves to the outside world. Make the focus connection first and then we have everything that is needed to learn. This way of being I support my children.
The is stunning….”In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.” A true rebel walks all that they live with responsibility and does not compromise or cower to the posturing and bullying that is so prevalent in our society, they may just push the envelope, break the chains, step out of the norm and that is a true and meaningful rebellion. Love it.
We always have a choice, ‘ It is the discipline to consistently and honestly love and honour yourself. To know that fragility is a strength that is indeed rare in this world, but need not be.’
“Change your posture and you will change the world.” Too simple to be true? No, not at all!
When I was thirteen this would have been the most supportive thing I could have ever received, being confirmed, appreciate and celebrated for me and having space to be and explore.
I love this point of consideration, Elizabeth. It is happening already and the more people that live with this connection to their bodies, the surer and more inspiring is the invitation offered to others.
We can ‘re-write the future’. I see, in myself and so many friends around me, the possibilities on offer to change trajectories of habit, upbringing and beliefs, simply by opening up an honest relationship with ourselves that explores the root of these familiar behaviours and offers a true review and opportunity for different choices.
What would I say to myself today? All the self-made problems that seem to take over your day sometimes are there as a distraction from the amazing woman that you are. It is not worth entertaining them or giving them any breath, acknowledge that there are parts of your life that are to be looked at and worked on, but never make them the focus because that will take you away from focussing on loving you.
This is very beautiful.. that acknowledgement that yes, there will always be parts of ourselves to look at and work on, that we’re not perfect, nor are we designed to be – but to always remember that the purpose of life is about love: loving ourselves to the max, so that we naturally love all others equally, accepting our purpose and committing to life in full. Acknowledging the learnings without getting stuck on them.
This is so true, ‘Had we honored our essence in the first place we never would have walked the roads we knew would hurt us.’ Now we can appreciate that we are making new choices to honour our bodies and our essence.
Yes. Re-tracing our steps down the off-track road, already feeling the impact of living on track. It is inspiring and empowering to consider the responsibility we have; a combination of being in the driving seat at the same time as being guided by a sat nav that has the bigger picture ( a true impulse and sense of direction).
I wish I had had a letter for my 13 year old self like this or even an adult had been able to speak to me from that livingness. All the things we look forward to being able to do when we are adults, like staying up until late and drinking alcohol offer no freedom at all. You become another hamster running round in its wheel, busily getting nowhere, becoming more and more a conformist in society (even though you may think you dress or act in an anti-establishment way).
For so many of us today this love you describe Rebecca can seem so far away, it seems like even if we were to write a letter we would not know which Po Box it should go. It’s clear that we’ve often become seriously estranged from our true selves. But your sharing here reminds me it’s never too late to open a dialog and also our heart.
I agree, it is so important to connect with our body, to listen and honour its innate wisdom, and by living in this way we inspire others too.
‘The greatest teacher in the world is your own body.’ It has taken me half a century to come to this understanding and it would be awesome if children were taught this in school as there would be much less wayward behaviour if the wisdom of our bodies was freely shared and discussed with all ages.
Gosh when I was 13 I really could have done with a letter like this. I was so lost and did not have a clue about life. It is gorgeous that at any age we can choose to take care of ourselves in a way that honours all the parts of us that felt uncared for in the past. We can always catch up.
The greatest teacher in the world is your own body.” Just imagine what a different world we would live in if this was the first and regularly repeated lesson for all our children. But sadly there are few children who are taught this and the consequences can been seen clearly in their bodies as adults and in the shocking global health statistics and the escalating suicide rates throughout the world.
If I was 13 again I certainly would love to have read your letter Rebecca – but I’m not letting the fact that I’m nearly 60 stop me from taking on board everything you share. So inspiring, so chin up, heart open, drop shoulders and walk into my day with all of me. Ooooh that feels so yummy.
I love it. 13 or 80, it is never too late to open up to the wisdom of our bodies and the inspiring impact of taking responsibility for ourselves and the quality with which we approach life.
I love reading your blog Rebecca, and reading it for the second time has taken me to new depths of understanding. ‘Change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment’… this is so true, how often do we see people walking in the street all hunched up, carrying their burdens around when it is so simple to make the choice to change. I do it all the time, change my walk, claim more of myself and woah, it really makes a difference. Our body loves to feel light and open and above all, listened too Thank you for sharing your letter, it would be great it if was part of the curriculum wouldn’t it!
I see so many behaviours repeating generation after generation, often escalating as they go, because each generation is allowed to repeat and intensify what was laid down by the ones before – the way we live sets a standard for those coming behind, growing up with us as role models – do we continue with our faces forward down the seemingly linear path of life, leaving the younger generation to fend and learn for themselves, or do we realise that the choices and mistakes we made do not need replicating again, and turn back to support everyone to grow and learn and reach their potential from the very start
‘Change your posture and you will change the world.’ How simple and true is that
Yes such a simple truth that when put into practice never fails to deliver. If we allow our full height it changes our whole outlook on life, the way we communicate, and the way we relate. It seems like total magic, but it makes total sense. Cower and you will get attacked. Stand tall and any attack has less of an impact.
This would have been profoundly healing to write and bear all to yourself and then to us – and from there, what a healing for everyone else also.
The inspiration of knowing that we can ‘re-write the future’, as in not be trapped by our past, is super awesome… choices made now that re-imprint everything… loving the work.
No we do not have to do it the hard way but what we have chosen is a reflection for us to choose again and again when we can accept that it feels vulnerable and raw without needing it to be different but choosing again what we know is from our essence rather than from everywhere but never touching our core.
What a beautiful letter, you speak to all of our bodies. This inspires me to deepen my own awareness of the relationship with my body and much more I shall value it by living in a way that is truly loving.
The hook of rebellion is strong. I remember taking that hook, with the line and the sinker. I also remember my strong critique of those who chose not to take it. Rebellion these days would be to stay who you are and stay connected to that – it sure isn’t the norm.
I love reading this – you can feel the gorgeous care and holding in the wisdom expressing back to yourself and in fact many other young people to whom this is all so relevant.
I love coming back to this blog and what is written here. You flip what we consider teenage rebellion to be on its head and far from it being the drug, alcohol, sexed infused haze that has become the norm, true rebellion is to go against this and take super self-care and not be afraid to show it.
Great to ask ourselves what rebellion is, we think it is going crazy, but in truth when we counter the disharmony, disregard and craziness
and live from love as a teenager or adult wow that is something that not many of us are doing consistently. That is true counter culture…countering what many call ‘normal’ to bring another way of living, which may now feel like a rebellion but in truth it is our true way.
“In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.” – Beautifully said! It may not be so glamourous or fashionable to truly care for yourself and honour who you are in your expression but it certainly lights up the world and offers a reflection for others too to know that there is another way to be…
” The greatest teacher in the world is your own body.” This line got my attention today as in our nowaday’s world we are not taught this fact but instead, we are distracted by the wandering mind that is elusive and absolutely not honest as it tries continuously to make us believe that it is it.
Rebecca I absolutely love this reminder to yourself and to me – ‘P.S. “Doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger or wiser, doing it hard just makes you harder, and that hardness stays with you unless you heal it.” – I know that hardness so well and unless I got to experience connecting and feeling the sweet delicate person that I am through the support of Universal Medicine I wouldn’t have even clocked that I was being hard. Today it sticks out like a sore thumb if that behaviour trys to slip back in and today I just love feeling super delicious.
Thank you Rebecca for writing this timeless reminder for all. A unified truth that needs to be shared.
Your letter brings me back to my past in these years when I was completely lost in drugs and needing to fit in. There was no any piece of joy in my life, just buried sadness from my old past hurts. Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon have deeply supported me to realize that I’m much more than I thought and that I can come back to feel joy, harmony, stillness and love in my life by returning to the simplicity of my heart. We always have a choice to deeply honour our body and how it feels like. Such a blessing.
Breaking our habits and behaviours can at times seem tricky to do and certainly we have become very attached by them and find security and comfort in them. This is the core issue is that we are not willing to let go fully and surrender to what we know is true because everything around is tells us we can’t do this. Making choices against the tide is starting to prove to me and those around me that there is another way we can be living.
I love this. So many things in the world are deliberately engineered to keep us from knowing ourselves, from living in our full power and beauty. All the things we think we’re doing to be ourselves, are actually only designed to make us fit in, because that’s what we think we want. But when we fit in with everyone else, we erode who we are, by dismissing it, and there’s no inspiration in that, for us or anyone else.
The way you write here to yourself Rebecca is so brilliant and touching. It helps me realise that this approach is not as unusual as it seems. For in reality we are having an ongoing conversation with ourselves everyday – but what is the quality of what we say? Are we supportive, loving, honest and kind? Or cutting, cruel and a bit harsh? Something to consider no matter our age.
So right Joseph, no matter our age, there is always more to learn. I am learning to never lose me, never compromise myself for others, no matter whatever is thrown my way, that is what I would write to my 13 year old self now.
I think my message to my younger self, or even just to any young person, would be not to get to caught in an idea or picture of what looks sucsessful – we can become very driven to fulfil this idea we have, but really true sucess starts in ourselves can cannot be measured by anything outside of us.
It is fascinating to look back over life and feel the pivotal moments , good and bad, that we didn’t realise were pivotal at all, like studying for an exam, or not, to get us into further education or not, making an acquaintance or good friend or not, supporting someone else, or not. By looking back, it helps us to realise how our integrity and responsibility are paramount in any event.
“By looking back, it helps us to realise how our integrity and responsibility are paramount in any event.” Absolutley Gill. When we trace our movements back, and are willing to be honest about the choices we made prior to events happening it becomes clear when we have chosen integrity and responsibility or lack of care and disregard.
What a deeply beautiful and inspiring sharing. One which asks where we’re been and shows clearly that we did not have to go there … we choose to, and the amazing thing about this, we can choose differently, recognising and taking responsibility for the choice allows us to truly see where we’ve been and where we are, and hence where we’re going.
It’s a gift when we realize that we can choose differently if we stop, listen and feel what our body communicates to us. We have so much to appreciate when we see how far away we come from, the new loving choices that we are making and all the beauty and joy that this is bringing in to our lifes.
“Beware of apparent ‘opposites’ and knee-jerk redirection.” Sound advice for anyone at any age, it can be so easy to react to what we want and dive into to something that is equally as harming.
Rebellion is another form of compliance; it is at the opposite end of the spectrum and seemingly far removed from fitting in but in reality, only another flavour of having given up on oneself and others.
This is what I was feeling, who or what are we being compliant to when we think we are being rebellious there is a compliance it is just that it is at the other end of the spectrum. We don’t see this when we are young. but as you say Gabriele the truth is being rebellious is just another form of giving up on ourselves and life in general.
Yes ‘the giving up” is such a prevalent movement in your young that is now masked as bigger behaviours in our older generations.
When I first read this letter I was inspired by the wisdom of retrospect. The more I explore life (supported by working with young people) the more I realise that we have this wisdom from the get go; we know what supports us, just as we know what harms us. This realisation leaves me in no doubt that we make our choices very deliberately and therefore always have the power to change.
“The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it.”
I love this quote and the more and more I start tuning into my body and the wisdom it shares, I completely agree that it is the greatest teacher in the world.
Last year I wrote myself a letter at a time when a lot was changing and I felt uncertain, and earlier this year I started to keep a diary – when I read back over these pieces that are for no one but myself, I learn so much – sometimes when things get tough or difficult, we can forget just how wise we are and these little pieces where I have recorded what is going on for me at the time are a great reminder
A gorgeous open letter to all Rebecca and one that shows that our true companion is forever found in our bodies. When we listen to what they share we see how truly amazing we are and that relationship we then have with ourselves just continues to develop and grow as we listen and learn from within. Thank you.
“Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.” – I love this, how many of us carry as an identity, the same and guilt and self-condemnation from past hurts, mistakes or choices and we see that as who we are – and yet in truth we are none of those things, and only when we can give ourselves the grace to let them go can we see that who we are is so much grander
Indeed and I would go so far as to say that our past hurts, if not healed, actively take us away from the truth of who we are.
How beautiful to re-visit this letter to your 13 year old self, there is always more to be aware of with every read. I love wisdom shared in the P.S regarding hardness.
“P.S. Doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger or wiser, doing it hard just makes you harder, and that hardness stays with you unless you heal it”.
A letter not just for your 13 year old self but every man, women and child in the world. What we invest our time and effort in is so often leaving us short changed. The illusion of rebellion the desire to fit in, and yet as you state so beautifully, the fire always burns within calling us to just be ourselves and see how easy it can be when we stop trying to be someone.
So powerful, if only we could go back and say such things to our younger selves, life could be very very different. Although I do know that because of my lived choices now, next time around I wont have to experience what I did in my teenage years, but something so much more honouring.
‘Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.’ this is very empowering to not be held by the patterns of life to this point and to simply connect to the full, unchanged potential we hold in our very being.
There is a quality to discipline that confirms and strengthens our natural qualities as we get to see them in activity more consistently.
I watched so many of my friends at school so called ‘break’ the rules smoke and drink alcohol because they thought it was cool and that they felt they were kicking against the traces of their parents, but its a huge game It’s not rebelling at all its fitting in. Only they are doing it sooner than most other kids. But eventually we all play the same game because it seems to be the only game to play.
Too be honest, I feel that it wasn’t until Serge Benhayon came along and showed humanity a different way to live that we were at last reminded that we do actually have a choice in life.
I love the simple fact and statement of doing it harder just makes you harder. So often there can be an identification in enduring hard situations when in reality it is damaging ourselves even more.
To write a letter with this calibre of care is beautiful. It is not about regretting mistakes we have done, because our lives will never be perfect, but with the mistakes we make if we can learn from them and hence grow and evolve then the mistakes are no longer mistakes – they are learnings that support not only ourselves but all those around us.
Rebecca, it’s great to come back to this blog, I can feel how I gave up on myself in order to fit in and what a huge effect this had on me, meaning I lived growing up as a young woman with a lack of confidence and a lack of care and respect for myslf; ‘What courage did you let slip and what love would you have walked with, had you not become a paper-cut out of all the other lost girls?’ I am now coming back to who I truly am and no longer trying to fit into a way of being that doesn’t feel true, I have certainly learnt the hard way.
I have read this blog many, many times and each time I love it more then the last. This is one of those blogs that will not out date. It has been written with so much, insight into, love and understanding of young girls. Thank you Rebecca.
I have to ditto that. This blog holds the love and understanding young girls are longing for. When we live in a society where social rape is acceptable in one’s teens, where refusing to consent to sex is social outcast material, we have a massive problem. And it is not going away – it is tragic to see what environment we have all en masse set up for our young today.
What is missing is love, for every child – every human being for that matter – to feel met, which is what this blog offers and inspires.
“A Letter to my 13 year old Self” – would simply be to explore deeply and fully self-love, to then truly love and find the true love being searched for.
Ahh what a blessing it was to actually hear these things when I was 11/12/13… I was given the opportunity to shape many more lives to come.
“If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom.” – freedom from the huge intensity I have been walking around, freedom from a discontent, its difficult to explain but once we get in connection with our rhythms, that constant anxiousness begins to decrease I simply feels beautiful to be in my own skin.
This is a really interesting case study Rebecca, of how young people and all of us are so heavily ‘swayed’ by our environments and social circles. With many people’s lives, you could write them out on a timeline and annotate all the behaviours they had aged 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 50 etc. and without a doubt there would be certain people, groups or environments that influenced these alterations. We’re so quick to follow what we think is ‘cool’ or makes someone have a successful life – even being heavily into drugs is a form of success because that person has their comforts and recreational life totally ‘sussed out’ – but what if from a young age we learnt to make choices based on a FEELING of what supports us… Not anyone else, but US and our body, regardless of what others say?
To make choices based on what would truly support us would be revolutionary for women’s health and well being.
I actually remember in how much pain I was at the age of 13, already dieting, already hating my body, wanting to fit in and I thought it was normal. 9 years later a lot has changed, but many of the same hurts are still here, very often I still don’t feel good enough but today I know that the only thing between having joy in my life and me is all the things that aren’t true, regardless of what I do, where I go, who I am with, I know that underneath it all I am beautiful, I am pure, and untouched by all the ill in the world.
Viktoria, this is beautiful what you have shared – to realise that we can be hurting and we can have a life that seems at times upside down but that this is not what stops us from connecting to an inner beauty that is always there. I too can recall my teens being a difficult time (though not as difficult as some of my teen friends around me!) – I felt so frustrated and un-heard and felt so many emotions bubbling up that I could not understand, essentially I misunderstood myself! But somewhere amongst all that was still the inner beauty and a sense of being which never went away, only I did not stop to access that till many many years later when I was reminded of it by Serge Benahayon and Universal Medicine. As women (and men) we have access to such a depth of richness within, the real learning is to allow ourselves first to feel it and then develop and keep developing a relationship with it. No different to a plant that does not get watered and will whither and wane, so too is it with the relationship with our own beauty and preciousness within. It is for us to nourish and keep nourishing on a daily basis this relationship as a woman so that we may flourish and bring this out for all to be inspired by, and for ourselves to deeply appreciate and feel in every cell of our body.
As human beings we like to think we are trying new experiences and rebelling against the norm and yet there is nothing original about making choices that are not in line or aligned to who we truly are in essence. We are in fact in reaction and separation from a very normal and yet unfamiliar way of being.
It is like every choice we make to be all of who we are, lovingly adore this and appreciate this then we are writing this letter for ourselves for many years and lives to come.
Stunning, powerful and poignant. Something I can imagine we all wish we had read as a child to support us in what is true and not get lost in what is not.
This blog blows me away every time I read it. Life is so simple when we allow it to be.. thanks for the reminder that we make our own difficulties and complications and that it all comes down to free will and choice: we are not bound to our future or our past. Life is amazing when we let go of our pictures and just allow ourselves to be ourselves and embrace all of life that is right before us.
It is about normalifying normal – our true normal has been hidden by so many other practices that have become so common that they are now deemed as normal, but in reality they are not normal, hence why being truly normal today is akin to being rebellious!
Interesting that we do know what our bodies want and dont want at such a young age, but even then we will override the messages. “I know that your bravado is just that and I know that you miss yourself. You miss the easy way you were with yourself when you were a kid, before the onset of all this intensity.” What a gift a letter like this would be to all teenagers, or anyone of any age for that matter. Such wisdom to be shared with the world.
Absolutely brilliant Rebecca. The fact you could write this letter to yourself proves the love and choices you now make. They do work. A wisdom that is SO worth sharing with the world. A wisdom all 13 years old can have to reduce the tyranny of self-harm that comes under many guises that young people choose to do. It is a choice that is made. The difference between loving your body or not.
While our education system is currently lacking the depth of this level of education about who we are, every single person that makes the loving steps back to living with such a love and respect for our body allows others to also re-connect with this. The ripple effect of what we live is huge.
‘And there is a freedom in discipline, but this discipline is not harsh. It is the discipline to consistently and honestly love and honour yourself’… a true definition and understanding of discipline that leads me to see the beauty of responsibility.
Wow I wished I had received a letter like this when I was 13 years. All children need to have access to these wise words. The beauty is that this letter applies to us now and can be implemented when ever we so choose to do so.
Such a refreshing perspective on the world from a very wise woman, Thank you Rebecca
Such a wise thing to do Rebecca a letter to your 13 year old self. When we share what we have learnt and then stop and reflect the fact that this is exactly what we are hear to do, learn to be in life. Connecting to who we are within and expressing this. So many things that we can learn from that doesn’t honour this connection.
“…there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing.” What a beautiul reminder this is Rebecca, and how wonderful would it be if this were part of every childs education, whether at school or at home.
“The greatest teacher in the world is your own body.” A lesson that is sadly so often ignored in education today.
Being love in this world is not what the world welcomes and yet is everything the world wants, but being love is the simplicity and naturalness of who we are, and so be gentle, deeply appreciate and never stop loving you who has made this choice to be, no matter how the world chooses now, for we will also get there one day.
“And you will find there is a freedom to be had. It is not really a freedom born of rebellion, it is a simple act of return. A re-turn to yourself and to the body you have long ignored.” – True freedom does not come from having lots of money or not being behind bars, or perhaps from having a picture perfect life….As said in this wonderful sentence – true freedom is about re-turning to yourself and your life long body which is essentially our connection to our Soul. Freedom is about the realisation that we are far more than what our eye can see, and that it is about living this love that we are every day in a practical and real way.
Rebellion as well as being nice and complying is such an illusion, and it gets most of us – or at least I can speak for myself here. So many of us are indeed very sensitive and can feel something is not right in the way that life is being lived, however, when we cannot see true role models or perhaps are not ready to see them, then we keep chasing one of the those two ways of living and existing. But as you have said Shirley-Ann, true role models do exist, and as such we have been blessed with Serge and Natalie Benhayon amongst more too who do not shy away from truly living and reminding us all that we too can choose this at any time. There is much for us to appreciate in this – thank you Shirley-Ann for the timely reminder!
A very powerful letter to yourself and all of us Rebecca – and I love it when you talk about thinking we are breaking the ‘rules’ but in fact we are playing right into them!
Essentially it is it is like we have 2 choices presented to us as growing up – either be nice and do everything that you are told and do it well, or rebel and and be different or difficult or belligerent etc. However, both of these are essentially the same energy just simply opposite ends of the spectrum…It is still playing the game that keeps us stuck in the fish bowl. We are ‘stuck’ in the fish bowl so to speak, but if we know this and hold this in our awareness then we don’t get to be anyone’s fool – we don’t play into the games – we are more knowing of what we do and how it will pan out, and so we can begin to live in a way that guarantees our awareness of the fish bowl. Nothing, no choice is a coincidence, and so long as we are kept entertained and thinking we are smart and thinking we are thinking, then we are caught in the fish bowl and oblivious to being in it. Your awesome letter to yourself and to us all has reminded me of all our choices and how much we can learn in life when we allow ourselves to look back, reflect and say yes to more awareness now.
And there is a freedom in calling off the search outside of ourselves and surrendering, simply letting go and being ourselves.
“Learn what you need to know but don’t abandon yourself in the process. Never forget that the greatest teacher in the world will not be found in any lecture hall or University. The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it.” Pure gold Rebecca for the billions of young kids going through school and uni at this very second, for the parents of tots yet to embark on this road, and for the older generation who with their lived life experiences will likely agree with all that you say.
I was really lucky that at age 12 I took one puff from a cigarette, found it quite disgusting and never had the urge to try it again!
I love the fact that you nominated drug taking as compliant Rebecca. That is exactly what it is, and what it should be described to be. Otherwise why would one be bullied and singled out for standing firm and refusing to poison ones lungs or blood vessels.
Rebecca this is so beautiful and full of love and understanding for ourselves as who we really are . The sharing of the simplicity of living our preciousness as the true disipline and our loving choices with our body as our teacher all the way really does change everything for us to see and feel our way as the love and sacredness we are .
“The greatest teacher in the world is your own body”, what a stunning line amongst many. A pertinent reminder to us all.
Yesterday I looked back over the photographs on my computer spanning the last 7-10 years of my life, seeing not only how I have physically changed by how the essance of the life I was living that got captured in those photos has changed – and in that time I have gone from a child, through the teen years and looking back I can see how much things changed, how I was very unsure of myself and didnt know what it meant to be my own person, something I am very much still learning, but have found to be the most powerful thing to learn and to live
‘– it’s just compliant’. Rebecca, this is a great statement about teenage behaviour and I enjoy how you’ve turned it around to point out that perhaps the ‘straight’ girl is in fact the one who is rebelling because she is not caving in ‘to the pressure of popularity and notoriety’ As you say, ‘Perhaps rebellion would have been to speak what you truly felt’. So let’s encourage more ‘true rebels to step up’.
“Is the next choice inevitable? Does it have to come with the loading of the past? Well no, that’s why it is called a choice.” It is great to reflect and know that all the ills of our past were neither necessary nor inevitable. They were simply the consequence of a choice. And we always have the ability to re-imprint the future right now with a different choice.
“It is these small moments of illumination that strung together make the light in your days.“
Beautifully expressed Rebecca and a gorgeous reminder that big changes come from taking small steps. We do not need to be consumed by darkness if we choose instead to illuminate the shadows in which we would otherwise walk.
…with the quality of our love lived.
Rebellion gives a false sense of freedom, a perverted kind of so-called freedom that is just as controlled and tight as that which it is rebelling against. Seeing one thing and doing the opposite is not freedom, it is only rebellion and another prefabricated mould.
It says everything about present society when to be a rebel is to be self-loving.
I love this blog, I can relate to so much of it, and you’re so right about the dusty books – we have this belief that people who read books are smarter and better off, and people who take drugs are failures. When in fact, like you said, the dusty books can cause more harm…
Today I was thinking back to my teenage years at school, and if there is one thing I would tell myself now, is to be unashamed to be all that you are – laugh st what you find funny, explore what interests you – be your own person and develop a relationship with them because you will spend your whole life with yourself and only a few years with the people around you at school.
You describe that fleeting moment of fullness, congestion and constriction really, that we get when we smoke so well – and then comes the exhalation and the old emptiness is back again. If we only knew how hard it can be to give up smoking and more importantly, that our problems don’t go away. All that happens is that the intensity gets momentarily alleviated, only to come back more desperately than before. Once you do this for a while, let’s say for a few years, there is then quite a backup of stuff to deal with.
I love this article – i have been looking back over the last 10 years as I approach my 20th birthday – everything I have learnt and how I have grown. The teenage years are some pretty intense times, and I am very thankful for the steady support I had through out that decade, because it has set me up to be ready for my twenties, rather than a bit lost and unsure.
Following on from my last comment . . . this is great advice for anyone at any age . . . “The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it.”. . . . When we do listen to our body we really do understand this piece of gold that you have delivered in this beautiful letter Rebecca . . . .“Your body is always asking to be loved”
“The greatest teacher in the world is your own body” . . . so true and such a great thing to know from an early age as our choices today effect our future and this is what kids don’t seem to realise. When we go against what the body is calling out for whether that be sleep when sleep is needed or feeling one’s feelings instead of numbing them with distraction, TV/screens, and /or drugs and alcohol we are asking for trouble in and with our bodies. This is the beginning of illness and disease which may not even manifest until we are older but we pay for everything in the long run.
I never tire of coming back to read this. It is so inspirational, so deeply moving and truly amazing. I only wish that there was someone there to have provided that type of guidance, love and insight to me when I was 13. At that age I was far from loving, tender and caring with myself. I was very critical and judgemental. So just love reading this and claiming inside of me now, to that 13 year old that deeply wanted to feel loved and cherished, yet didn’t know how to at that time.
Choosing the discipline to ‘consistently and honestly love and honour yourself’ is the gift I would wish for my 13 year old self and all others rather than going down the compliance route with all its different flavours and losing yourself in a variety of self abusive behaviour. Reflecting on my choices allows for understanding and letting go and an openness that I could never have imagined at 13 but is a gift to myself that I appreciate every day.
Just gorgeous, a gift of love to all who read it. And to know that our past hurts are not badges of honour but roads we have chosen to take is huge, when we can see and feel that we free and empower ourselves to see and know that we always have a choice. This gives me a new perspective to see and feel the choices I’ve made, thank you Rebecca.
There is so much wisdom in this blog. A beautiful letter that is relevant to us all, but especially so for our teenagers. Life is getting so much more intense for them than it ever was for our generation and so the messages here need to be deeply registered and shared.
Some people rebel, some people comply, fit in and do the ‘right’ thing, but in the end these two seemingly opposite approaches to life are exactly the same when it comes to living life with true love.
“there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing” – beautiful!
Rebecca I love the letter you wrote and very much would have loved to give it to my 13 year old self. I knew there was far more to life than what I was being shown at school etc.. yet caved in and went along with the system. I tried to fight it and beat it, it exhausted me, I rebelled, nothing worked or brought any sort of contentment until I came across Universal Medicine. What has then been revealing is how I have had to work through all the layers I put on to get through life, out of choice. To have been truly honoured like you have shown in your letter is a gift and blessing everyone should be bestowed and then wow the world would be a different place!
I love this Rebecca, “It is these small moments of illumination that strung together make the light in your days.” Our acts of rebellion can be ones that stay with love as opposed to abuse our bodies. We have a choice – always.
It is so lovely to re-read this, and when I asked myself what would be the first thing I would write, it would be to not want to be anyone else, just be yourself.
Beautifully and powerfully expressed Rebecca. ‘To know that fragility is a strength’ empowers us to be who we are without taking on the hardness that we think we need to protect ourselves. As you say, ‘there is a freedom in discipline, but this discipline is not harsh. It is the discipline to consistently and honestly love and honour yourself.’
Rebecca, it’s lovely how you have written to yourself as that 13yr old from the wisdom of the experience of the 31yr old. We are all role models for each other and you will be informing 13yr olds everywhere of how they can live. Recently, I attended the Girl-to-Woman Festival in Northern NSW and it was a gorgeous day where girls were given a reflection from people of many ages and many walks of life confirming their natural joy and beauty and inner wisdom. It spoke deeply to my inner girl and I felt a reimprinting occurring and a deep confirmation of myself.
I haven’t come back to read this in a while and it always blows me away, because I can always feel another level of hardness that i still hold within myself, about myself. But when I read this, it just melts away!! Magical.
To love oneself deeply, from day one and especially as a 13 year old, to keep building that love… how desperately do teens today need that love, ‘In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.’
“Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.” I love this comment- totally agree, the essence is everything, and its a crying shame, a huge travesty that we grow up devoid of understanding anything about our essence. Its time we all got very well reacquainted with the natural beauty that lives within us, and truly defines who we are.
‘Your body is always asking to be loved’. – how wise are we when we stop and choose to give our body what it is asking for, when we listen and choose love above all else – the cravings disappear and the ‘rebellious’ starts to shine.
If every teenager got to read the wisdom that Rebecca has shared they would truly empowered to see through the lies and falseness of life and make choices that are truly in their best interests.
I love re reading this and the power and wisdom it holds. I am going to share this with my daughter as she grows. A strong reminder that the body is our companion and with it we can feel so much and make choices from the body and not from the expectations of society
What an amazing blog, thank you for writing that Rebecca, it is very much needed!
When I was 13 I didn’t take drugs, drink alcohol, get into mischief or have boyfriends. Come to think of it I didn’t have ANY friends apart from the girl next door, my teddy bear and my pets. I kept myself to myself, shutting myself away in the bedroom, checking out in front of the television, endlessly drawing pictures of ladies in pretty dresses and daydreaming about being Miss World. Actually, looking back that was probably just as bad as drugs, alcohol and boyfriends because what I did was disconnect, not only from myself but from everyone around me and this disconnection remained with me for a very long time into adulthood… so if I was to write a letter to my 13 year old self I would say ‘get out of the bedroom and connect with people, express your vulnerability and let the love in and begin to trust people, they are not the scary beings you think they are, they are dealing with their stuff just like you’.
This is such a tender, beautiful blog and such a joy to read. This line jumped out at me today –”The greatest teacher in the world is your own body.” This is so true and not only is our body our greatest teacher but our greatest friend as well. It is with us all the time and all the time sending us messages about whether what we are doing is good for us or not. In this way we are blessed.
Just this morning I was thinking about how different life is to the reality of life at school – I finished my school education over a year ago, and when I look back I can remember the intensity of school, the pressures and friendship groups and cliques and desire to fit in – but also the way that everything was 100 times more intense because of the close confines of the environment, creating a pressure cooker for personalities, disagreements, drama, crushes etc, to be blown out of proportion and at the time, feel like the most important thing in the world. Now there are still playground dramas in ‘real’ or ‘adult’ life – people who still act like kids only seemingly more mature and able to get away with it under the guise of work hard play hard. And yet there isn’t that pressure cooker feeling – in real life you have the choice of how you want to be, perhaps you have moved out and have your own place, your own money and the power to choose your course in life, who you hang out with, when and where, what you like and want to eat or wear – in school, it can feel hard to escape the world that constantly asks you to be something that deep down your not – louder, funny, out-going, fitting in, following the trends or even standing out and rebelling which is its own form of trend. What I reminded myself of during my time at school, and what I would tell my younger self and all other young people, is that the friends and the group that seems so important to fit in with right now, the trend you need to follow, the behaviour you need to adopt, the drinking/smoking/drugs you need to do – none of it will matter the moment you finish at school and step out into real life, but your choices to fit in now will determine the person who steps away from school. Either they will be a product of all the choices you made to fit in, probably unrecognisable to your young, care free 5-year-old self, or you can walk away with who you are still intact and find how to live that person, out in the world.
If I could share one thing with my 13 year old self it would be to love deeply. Everything changes when I let the love out!
Rebecca, this is pure gold, and one for all of us, no matter what our age to read, again and again. We can so easily get trapped in pictures of what we think we should be, and their opposite (the rebellion), and yet both are just pictures and not us, we do not need to comply in any way we can honour us, and the body we walk in that forever alerts us to how we live and what is and isn’t supportive for us, if we choose to listen, And your point on past choices is so important, we never needed to do it hard, we choose that, and once we acknowledge that choice we then free ourselves up to see and feel there are other choices. And it’s also vital to understand that without a willingness to be aware, to feel we will fall into our old choices, and reading this today is hugely healing for me as I can feel that those moments where I do fall into those choices can be a stop for me, asking me to go deeper and feel what a true choice for me might be in those moments, and it removes any of the nostalgia, the if only which is a trap. Literally how I sit up, how I move offers the space to see another way, another choice. And I cannot write this without acknowledging with gratitude all I’ve learned from Universal Medicine, Serge Benhayon, his family and the wider student body – I am writing this today having been inspired by all of you.
I love this letter. I love the wisdom it speaks of and to. I love the fact that I know I know this, that I always have and that to embrace this as a way of living is a homecoming.
Gorgeous. Reading this brought up a lot of sadness when I connected to my 13 year old and 20 year old self. I was so lost and sad and all I craved was for someone to speak to me like this.
One part that stood out for me was the following : “No employer is ever going to ask you what grade you got on your 2nd year Media Studies mid-year assessment. Learn what you need to know but don’t abandon yourself in the process.” I got duped big time by that and even reading it I could still feel a level of protest in me to fight for why those grades were so important.
“The greatest teacher in the world is your own body…” yet we trash it, abuse it, ignore and disregard it until the point comes when we become sick, exhausted, depressed… and then wonder why me? There are many pearls of wisdom in you writing Rebecca and it is very timely for me to read it having been feeling a bit low myself lately (my choice I know), so thank you for reminding me that changing my posture can change the world, so I am going to stand up tall and go for a morning walk and begin to claim my fullness back!
I particularly like that today we can rewrite the future, that is fast becoming our past, and the way to do that is in how we are living right now… the power of the Way of the Livingness.
Awesome, and true simonwilliams8, if we only woke up and realised the power that we hold in our body, then there would be no more harming or disregard in the world, and the Way of the Livingness would bring us back to harmony and love and a true way of being that is long forgotten.
That first decision to go down the path of thinking you want to try something outside of yourself to see what it’s like, despite the warning signs, becomes a hole where you allow the outside influences to enter and then you are no longer the keeper of your own body, another energy is controlling the show. It can take a breath to reconnect you to you or it can take a lifetime with no awareness of the inner self wanting to be heard and felt. I have been down that path only to realise I didn’t need to, searching then for life to have meaning and connection, when all the time it was literally within. The sad thing is I can recall the pivotal moments where I chose to go against my instincts, and it took 40years to clear the ill choices… A note to my 13 year old self ….You are amazing just as you are, accept and appreciate the magic you are here to share.
Indeed Rebecca there is no grace or positive in doing it harder, or enduring what is abusive to the body and ourselves. There is no medal or reward for punishing ourselves or being self-destructive and yet we can sometimes feel that we are getting back at the world that has no met us for who we truly are.
This is so powerful Rebecca . . . .”And remember your body is your companion. Change your posture and you will change the world”. . . every child needs to hear this. This is true education.
Education that simply encouraged children to stay in touch with their natural body wisdom. It would be world changing for sure.
‘And there is a freedom in discipline, but this discipline is not harsh. It is the discipline to consistently and honestly love and honour yourself.’ This is a quote of the day for me and makes sense of both my past resistance to discipline and my new understanding of the power of it. I know that discipline applied, and the foundation it builds, is the very thing that supports me back as I go about my daily life.
There is so so much I would love to say to my 13year old self. There is a mountain of wisdom I would love to impart. So much focused around the fact that ‘you are enough’, ‘you do not have to prove yourself to anyone, least of all yourself’. Go within, you have all the knowing, wisdom and love inside, you just have to feel and trust yourself.
The sad part is that our 13 year old selves knew all of that and we still chose a different way.
If I was to write to my 13 year old self today I would let her know how important it is to say what you are feeling at the time. To hold this back is poison in your body and holds everyone back.
‘you will find there is a freedom to be had. It is not really a freedom born of rebellion, it is a simple act of return. A re-turn to yourself and to the body you have long ignored.’ Thank you Rebecca, re-awakening our relationship with ourselves and our amazing body.
There is understanding and a deep wisdom shared in this letter to yourself through various ages from emptiness and being compliant to the fullness of the beautiful woman you are todayRebecca.
“So choose to be aware and to feel, deeply, everything that is there to feel, both the pain and the triumphs. And remember your body is your companion. Change your posture and you will change the world”.
I have enjoyed re-visiting this blog. It is a beautiful caring letter to yourself which is an inspiring read. How often as a teenager I thought my parents had no idea of what it felt to rebel against the accepted norm of the day. It is clear to see now, they offered much wisdom from their own lived experience. It was my own arrogance, that thought they could not have done anything similar.
“You are not a rebel. You are walking a well-trodden path paved by all the other bright kids and teens who thought they were breaking the rules, only to play right into them”.
The realisation here that however ‘cutting edge’ we think we are being, there are patterns and pathways we follow, is a bit of a shocker for a wannabe wayward teenager (well actually for any of us at any age). It is only in our relationship with ourselves, building honesty and a real dialogue with how we feel, that we can access true and clear choices.
Very true Matilda, we can think we are being rebellious at any age. Even the 70 year old grandmother who smokes may be under the illusion that she’s breaking the mould while she’s playing right into it.
This letter is deeply beautiful, in the deep understanding it brings to the fases of life and the choices we make along the way. We definitely don’t need to find it the hard way, but it is so often what is chosen, as we ar far away from the love that is within our hearts, protecting it with all our strength.. But as you share so beautifully to life can be totally different when we choose to let this love out and live it to the best of our ability.
You put it brilliantly – how easily we can fall into the trap of thinking we are rebelling against society, only to in a different way adhere to its rules and expectations. The only true rebellion in this world is to truly claim and live the truth of who you are, for that is really going against the norms of society
Thank you Rebecca. What an incredible letter to receive. I really love what you present about choices and the way we can romanticise the ‘hard’ times that didn’t need to be so hard after all. I could feel my resistance to accepting this, even the arrogance of regularly proclaiming I need to learn things the hard way…. Really this is just chosen abuse.
So very true it is very conforming to be a rebel and not rebellious at all. These days when it seems to be more “normal” or common to be self-abusive, it you want to truly rebel then be deeply self-loving and see how people react to that!
I absolutely agree Nicola and Rebecca. One need only look at the current obsession in our society with tattoos to see this force in action. Rebellion is simply a reaction to the status quo until such a time that it also becomes the norm, thus exposing the fact that both of these modes of thinking are fed by the same ill pool of consciousness that influences us to not express the true beauty we in-truth are.
Great post script about hardness, often seen somehow as desirable, strong and cool, indipendance and capable but as you say, all it makes us is harder, tougher and more protected, something that then gets in the way of feeling and loving in full.
I see a pattern with people saying similar things to their teenage selves, mainly to trust themselves and not follow the crowd. The pull to be with your peers at this time is often overwhelming and all consuming. It shows us more and more that it is important that we bring up our children in connection to themselves.
Yes Vanessa, it’s so important that parents help children understand the importance of staying true to themselves, without the need for recognition and acceptance. If more children were brought up this way, the world would look a lot different.
coming to the end of the decade as a teenager, I was this evening looking back over my teenage years, and appreciating what I have learnt and how I have grown in these years – that even the ‘bad’ or ‘difficult’ times have taught me things and been a park of my growth. Looking back, there is much I would tell my younger self, and most of all it would be to trust myself, rather than fighting against what I know to be true in favour of doing what I think I should to fit in
“At the top of the drag there will be a split second, a fleeting moment where you feel there is an end to the empty feelings; the vague but persistent anxiousness; and you will feel at peace. Of course, and you already know this, it is then that you have to breathe the smoke out again, and your predicament will be the same as it was before.” – wow, this could be presented to every teenage girl or boy who has taken the step to smoke or take drugs. Yes, it takes the edge off – momentarily, but it changes nothing and in fact just buries whatever is causing the angst. There is a whole presentation or workshop right here in this paragraph.
‘Your body is always asking to be loved’. How true and deeply beautiful this is.
This blog, the amazing love letter is so powerful to read every single time. It is written in so much tenderness and every young girl ought to read this, the healing is immense.
It’s an interesting turn around Rebecca to consider that taking drugs, drinking alcohol is not rebellious, it’s actually compliant. Through all of my behaviour in my teens and twenties it was all about what I thought was rebelliousness – or so I thought. But when I really consider this more, I actually wanted to fit in and I did so by doing what my friends were doing. Now that was some time ago now but I have only begun to turn this behaviour around for myself and it does feel quite rebellious in a way to do things that my body appreciates i.e. early nights, exercise, abstain from alcohol. But it’s not rebellious really, it is listening and honouring my body.
I find this blog very touching and re-awakening of something we all know inside. If I were to write to myself as a child I would say to myself to appreciate all the immense love, joy and gorgeousness that is already there within and never feel ashamed or try to hide it. To know that others may have given up on that love within them or fallen for the false icons of life, but to stay steady and true to this love and thereby shine a light for others to remember.
“Learn what you need to know but don’t abandon yourself in the process. The greatest teacher in the world is your own body.” This is the best advice to anyone who is studying. It can become all-consuming, especially at high school where there is so much focus on grades to get into university. Having worked at a uni for many years now, I always say to people there are many pathways to uni and flogging yourself to the point of burn out in Year 12 is simply not worth it. As I get older I can also see that life is one of the greatest teachers, and locking yourself away in a study can remove you from that.
“Your body is always asking to be loved” So simple, so true.
‘Never forget that the greatest teacher in the world will not be found in any lecture hall or University.’ Although he might be found in a healing clinic in Goonellabah 🙂 And yes definietly our own bodies 💕 If I wrote a letter now for me when I was 13 it would be to include all the self-love and self-care I have learnt from Serge Benhayon and the Benhayon family including Universal Medicine practitioners which is complete Gold ✨ as well as to tell myself to trust me and listen and respond to what I know feels true within my body. To love me to the max and not look for recognition, love or acceptance outside of myself but to love others equally as I love and care for myself. With this I have managed (and always learning) to completely turn my life around which then leaves me with well don’t I now have a responsibility to be this and teach all other young people what I have learnt. To which the answer is yes.
So much harm is done to our self-worth during our childhood. Universal Medicine and Esoteric Health are certainly doing an incredible job at helping people heal their childhood hurts and develop self love and self worth. This makes an enormous different to the quality of life for many, myself included.
I was just explaining this blog to someone I know yesterday, we were talking about our past and what would it be like to be able to have a conversation with ourselves at a much younger age. What would we say…..I mentioned this blog and said I would say very similar things that you have shared here Rebecca. Love coming back to read this, very enriching.
Rebellion is in my blood, but the question is, what am I rebelling against? So many years later I find that in rebellion there is no fighting but a lot of acceptance, firstly of myself. That I deserve to occupy this space and that my voice has a reason and that I simply can be myself. Coming to this place is already the rebellion, and living this in deeper commitment everyday is true change.
The way choice is presented here, breaking down the intent and justification of harming choices and building choices based on our loving inner nature, is masterful. We always have the call within us to make new choices and build a foundation that will serve the bigger picture. We do always have a choice and the way this is presented here is a great testimony to the work of Serge and Natalie Benhayon and how they have empowered people to choose true change in their lives.
I love coming back to this Rebecca, it is with such wisdom and love that you write to your 13year old self. How wonderful to be able to speak to our younger selves, to say all that you have shared, the comment that stood out for me is….”Consider that perhaps ‘rebellious’ is the girl in year 9 who you called ‘straight and boring’, who said no to drugs and sex-without-love without questioning that it was her right to be honoured and truly cared for” indeed!!! That rebelliousness was ‘not’ fitting in, but honouring oneself. Very powerful.
Today I met a young man in a lift, as I stood there I took him in and admired his beauty. Then I realised he was showing me what was also there in me. I started to see that we are all unique but also uniquely the same. We are constantly sending each other beautiful ‘love letters to me’ like this one here, just in the way we move and stand. It’s because we show each other the truth. So let us never stop appreciating each other, for this is the very essence of being a Lover. If we open up and receive all the messages we get from others, wow we will no longer be able to hide from all our beauty that lives inside. Thank you Rebecca, for all the love letters like this you send all day.
“In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.” With the greatest thanks possible to Serge Benhayon for being the rebel arouser.
Last night I wrote myself a love letter, putting down on paper the things I appreciate about myself and putting to one side the voice in my head that doesn’t want to believe it or tries to undermine me – and now I have a letter to look back at – a letter to myself now at the age of 19 that I can use as a reference for my growth as a person. I cannot send a letter back in time to my younger self to tell her she is worth far more than she gives herself credit for, but I can certainly tell myself now.
Rebecca, I love coming back to this blog, what you have shared feels so absolutely true, after years of thinking I was a rebel – drinking, smoking and taking drugs I now love that I no longer need any of these vices and that I feel so much more vital and confident in myself and that I enjoy living a healthy, simple life where I take care of myself and it is definitely not boring.
Required reading and re reading for all teens and Parents alike! So many will live to thank you for this amazing contribution to their lives. The honesty and tenderness that your sharing holds is beautiful. Thank you Rebecca!
“P.S. Doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger or wiser, doing it hard just makes you harder, and that hardness stays with you unless you heal it.” How deeply true this feels to me in my hardened body. Time to feel my sacredness.
What I am really feeling lately and this blog confirms is that nothing outside of our bodies feelings can bring us the love that is within. If we want this love then we have to be willing to follow how we feel – our own roadmap on how to release what is already within us. Over and above any picture, word or situation in life. We want love in our lives but it doesn’t come from human life, it comes from somewhere within that is greater but not incompatible with human life.
I love your insight Rebecca that doing it hard just makes you harder. There is indeed no medals but a whole lot of identification in making life a struggle and the impact on the body is deeply felt.
beautiful – the gift of lived wisdom that can be passed on to others, so that mistakes need not be repeated.
This is a signpost which would serve our young people well as they make their own choices in growing up. I know that I certainly would have appreciated this when I was making these choices myself.
“But you can only make a choice if you know it is there to be made, otherwise you will default to the choice predetermined by the culmination of your life’s habits.” – Serge Benhayon has shown 100s of people that there is another way to live and different choices to be made through his lived way. A true leader.
“Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are…” – how many times is this said as an excuse for taking the long road to where we are today. I would not have taken the long and winding road I did had I been connected to my essence…thank God for Serge Benhayon and Natalie Benhayon for leading the way home.
“In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion.” Loving and honouring oneself should be as naturally a part of us as breathing rather than not the norm. Young women, rebel! Time to bring love and honouring back and this wonderful letter is a great start.
I agree Rebecca true rebellion is staying true to ourselves no matter what pressure there is around us to do other wise.
I remember when I quit pot all my so called friends no longer visited which I totally understood, even back then, as we never had anything in common in the first place except the bong. And after we smoked we were all so out of it we did not even talk to each other, just spun out in our corners until the dope was finished, some crashed out on the floor for the evening and others managed somehow to find there way home. We called this a fun night!!! And did it all over again the next and the next night….dear me.
‘And say hi to Serge Benhayon and thank him from me; it is his perspective that will inspire you to see that the past was not inevitable, and neither is your future’. This is a powerful statement as it deems us responsible for our past and our future. Most of us do not like to know this, as we want to blame our parents, or such and such, or what ever and who ever we can.
‘The body holds the marks of every choice we make’ We do not really want to know this truth as it deems us fully responsible for how our bodies are and any illness and disease we get.
True rebellion – not the act of fitting in, but of truly choosing to stand out and show another way of being, of being willing to be the one to say no to the abuse so others have a reflection that there is more than just the choice to go with it.
“Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman. What most of us are reluctant to admit is that we never needed to ‘”find out the hard way”. Had we honored our essence in the first place we never would have walked the roads we knew would hurt us. When we stop saying, “I guess it was meant to be”; when we stop romanticising our hardships and conveniently wrapping them in a fog of nostalgia, only then will we have the clarity to take full stock and full responsibility for our past choices” If I was to pass on any advice this sums up what there is to say as so often we justify the choices made and life we have lived in this way by championing the hard way and all we have learnt from it. Love is the only way and it is time to see this does not involve hurting ourselves as we return to who we are.
This is so beautiful to read, it makes me appreciate the choices I made to live my life the way you describe, knowing that there is more to me than just a good student, a good son, a good brother and all those roles we can take on to feel enough. While it all comes from a choice to live truly, in connection with our heart.
‘Certainly don’t discount any act of love towards yourself.’ What a lovely line. This is great advice to every single one of us. Acts of love towards myself had been missing for a long time. I was not even on my priority list, but over recent years I have slowly been taking more care of me and it has brought a deeper sense of contentment and ease within that has transformed my attitude and how I relate to life. A priceless investment that benefits everyone.
What a touching letter Rebecca, packed full of so much wisdom and practical advice. I loved this line, ‘But you can only make a choice if you know it is there to be made…’ I know I lived much of my life thinking things were just the way they were and that was it. Discovering I had choices was both scary and empowering. Scary because with it comes responsibility. Empowering, because you get to be in charge.
This is such a fantastic contribution – every 13-year-old should have a copy of this letter and refer to it often. What a gross misunderstanding to think that all those instances of so-called ‘rebellion’ set us free or make us be different from the people we don’t want to be like; it is just more of the same under a different guise, same same and no different.
Great advice to pay attention to the details, the little acts, for in these we find it can change our whole day. Something as simple as changing my body to a more open posture or stance, I have found how this has such amazing effects on the mood I am carrying and the thoughts that come in.
In my past I liked the idea of me, being a Rebel – it was even the nickname of my youth….
But I have come to see that ‘Rebellion’ is in fact just part of the game what holds it all ongoing. To ‘fight’ or to ‘give up’ – both are part of the system. If we truly want to liberate we do not have to go ‘against’ anything, but embrace and surrender to the glory we are and live it.
The answer to all addiction lies in what has been shared in this blog. Cherishing our physical body and the sensitivity we innately have — which when not honoured brings up the ugliness we see and feel around us in neon bright lights which is just too much, and then we try to escape. When we embrace our sensitivity we realise that this radar is something not to abhor and run away from, but to deeply cherish.
This blog needs to be shared with every 13 year old, every 20 year old and every other woman and child in between…. for what is expressed here is universal and everyone can relate. In meeting yourself so deeply Rebecca, you meet everybody else, and this blog holds us all in the deep understanding of why we do what we do, what it is we deeply miss, and how so simply we can turn it all around, no longer be dominated by the emptiness and pain, and instead live with the warmth and fullness that comes from a body that is honoured and deeply cherished. The greatest medicine.
So real and beautiful to feel what you have shared Rebecca, thank you from all the ages of myself I can feel I have glossed over a little accepting an “oh well” approach to past choices. What you share are all the blessings and freedom that we have already inside as we honour and choose us first and foremost. Your quote on what Serge Benhayon offers everyone equally is the ultimate understanding of our true essence . . . “And it is also him that will help you realise that there is more to you than just a brain on legs – there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.”
This is such an empowering love letter and for every teenager a must read. Reading this I can feel how the edge of life is lifted of me being at that age and how it does not matter that I did not receive this letter when I was young, but that still today I can heal the hurts of not having been met as a young woman and that all my bad choices are wiped away by the loving choices I make today.
How many of us would love to travel back in time to when we where younger – maybe to impart some wisdom or stop ourselves making a mistake. I know I have many times remembered something my younger self said it did and cringing at the memory, or wishing I could go back and tell myself j was worth more than those choices. And although I can’t literally do that, I can make sure I know right here and now that just as I was worth more than those silly decisions then, I am also worth more today. The way I live can then also inspire younger people around me in my life to see it is possible – that all does not need to be lost during the teenage years.
This blog also makes me cry every time I come back to it. It reminds me of how to not be as a mother as well as how to not be as a teenager next time around. In fact I am inspired to share this letter with my 16 year old granddaughter.
This one makes me cry every time. I know that it is impossible to write to yourself at thirteen but in a way I feel like it is possible. As I am not convinced that we live one life and then its all over, I feel like this letter is preparing me to know that the next time I am 13 I don’t have to choose all that bravado or try so hard or loose myself and all for the sake of fitting into a way wood world. This writing truly hits a point deep inside and supports me next round, I just know it in my bones.
Thank you Rebecca! What is so amazing and deeply touching about the advice you are giving to yourself and all of us in this letter to yourself, is the deep love and care it is written in! It is greatly uplifting and truly shows that there is another way and that this is not another stupid advice from an adult who lives a messy life and has not made a different choice yet themselves, but someone who has turned the tides and is living every word that is shared here.
I love how you describe our bodies as being our companions. ‘Change your posture and you will change the world.’ So true. As a thirteen year old I was very tall for my age, gawky and shy with it, and wanted to hide my body. Learning to stand tall and not slouch has been an ongoing process. Teaching young ones to claim their authority and power in themselves would be a revelation for many girls.
How do we make choices as we grow up, I had an awesome talk with someone recently, talking about where we react in life, where we feel hurt, is it the system, the schooling, the family groups we live in…There is every chance that if we do not get meet as a child, a baby for the amazing soul that we already, we can begin to choose ‘the what is not us’ rather than ‘the what is’….This article looks at where choices are made and how they impact on us, and where they come from and ultimately that in Any moment we get to choose another way.
When I contemplate who I was at 13 years old I see a young woman in perpetual contraction, making myself as small as I could, invisible if possible. And the others times fighting, lashing out and in fury at how I thought the world was and how my life was not as I thought it could be. Fundamentally I did not feel seen, meet or known for who I truly was by myself or anyone else and under all this hiding and fighting was feeling hurt by this fact. So as an adult and now mother, I know through healing myself, being meet for who I truly am by gorgeous EPA accredited practitioners has supported me to heal to feel my true worth and get on with living and loving more fully. I now share this experience with my children, there is always work and life to learn but it is generally feeling great.
Rebecca- such a beautiful, powerful, loving letter to our hurt inner child.
It was so healing just reading it- would love to see this in schools as part of personal development.
This letter says a lot about the choices we make in our life and what lies underneath it all – that we see ourselves as a solo unit fighting our own battle called life to achieve a certain goal whatever that is and how lonely we feel in this. And this can only be written by someone who has come to a place of full understanding and acceptance of all that have been chosen before, taken responsibility and now is embracing herself, past and present, and others all as the absolute equal parts of the whole that is beyond individual life. There is something very special about this letter.
What strikes me is the timelessness of what is being said under “What would I say to myself today?” and how it applies to every single one of us no matter what gender, age, nationality, religion etc. This is a deeply intimate personal letter, yet from what I get from all the comments here, it resonates with and touches readers so deeply.
I just love this letter. Today, as a 47 year old woman, the words spoken here are still very healing to me, and “There is a freedom to be had. It is not really a freedom born of rebellion, it is a simple act of return. A re-turn to yourself and to the body you have long ignored” – this nudges me to shift the way I view the world and life from a point of making it better, but to a simple surrender. This piece is an absolute gem of writing. Thank you, Rebecca.
Such golden advice to not only yourself, but everyone, Rebecca. It can take a long time to move aside our stubbornness and allow ourselves to see just what is actually going on when we try to ‘go it alone’ because we want to prove how tough we are. Let’s all show through what we role model that ‘surrendering’ is not just a buzzword but also something to be cherished as it allows us to see all that is there to be known about ourselves (and others).
‘Drug taking is not rebellious; it is not just ‘experimentation’; it’s not really even defiance – it’s just compliant.’
This 1 sentences offers so much. It is offering a much bigger picture than we are commonly prepared to see. Drug taking, harming yourself and other ‘rebellious’ behaviours, illuminate the fact that another person has known what it is to know and live who they truly are in the world and have eventually been warn down by all the influences in life telling them they can’t be that. The ‘rebelliousness’ is another way of saying ‘ok, you got me i won’t be my true self.’ The self harming behaviours and the drug taking can be part of this as well as being used to mask the deep sadness and ongoing feelings of emptiness that are left in the wake of the decision to not be you. Rebecca described this part beautifully with her detailed examination of why people inhale cigarette smoke.
This blog wows me every time I come back to it.
It is so important to approach ourselves with love and care for every choice that we make, all the mistakes and the great steps, everything needs to be given all the love we have present in our hearts, otherwise we cannot evolve and will just continue to make the same choices again and again, either not recognising or not appreciating the astounding people that we are regardless of what life lessons may come our way.
This is such an amazing sharing I feel every place of education/workplace – home – should have a copy and when life gets ‘tough’ or a time of reflection in appreciation, reading this will certainly bring back a moment (through choice) of stillness to connect to the body’s we have been blessed with as they never lie of how we truly live out our every day/night.
‘The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it. If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom. Cut the excuses and the overriding. Your body is always asking to be loved. “- so true and well claimed Rebecca. An awesome bridging blog that so many people could relate to – I would love to see it in schools in relation to wellbeing classes.
Time and time again you meet this bravado Rebecca describes in young people, particularly noticeable in young women as it exhibits a hardness that goes against the obvious natural inner delicateness, fragility and beauty that can so easily be seen and expressed if allowed to. This bravado is a cry from with saying you push me, I’ll push back and is a tragic indictment on how women and youth are treated and their tendency to reflect that the best form of defence is attack. It has become the normal way for many young women to deal with life and it is only through seeing many young women learning another way to be and how to honour their natural beauty and sacredness at Universal Medicine events that I have seen there is totally another way for them to be in life and for us all to be, without carrying all the defences around and instead living joyfully. How powerful it is to see someone exuding strength and confidence as well as that natural beauty.
This blog is a beautiful wake up call for humanity not to continue to accept the way we ‘learn our lessons’ as the only way when there is such an amazing second option that we have learnt to push aside for so many years.
This is an amazing reading Rebecca and very touching and true and so supportive of the changes and choices we can make and i love it so much and am really touched by it. I love how you share “And remember your body is your companion. Change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment. And it is these small moments that add up. It is these small moments of illumination that strung together make the light in your days. Don’t discount the simplicity of the smallest act or intention to love. Certainly don’t discount any act of love towards yourself.” and everything else you share so beautifully thank you.
Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman” This is so beautiful Rebecca. Having been told that sending me to boarding school was ‘the making of me’ – considering the unhappiness I felt I didn’t agree. I agree with your sentence – our essence is so precious and it lies within every one of us – if allow it to unfold by just being ourselves.
Loved going back and reading this and the wisdom that is shared in it and reflecting on my own life and the picture I had that we need to learn the hard way. I really believed this but loved the line about how if we had honoured ourselves we don’t need those lessons.
I loved revisiting this blog also- I appreciated the fact that i was indeed the rebel in year 9 not conforming to what other girls did- experiment with cigarettes, sex, porn books etc. However in my 20’s I buried myself in books to achieve high grades and receive recognition at my body’s expense. I suffered from ‘burn out’- mentally and physically exhausted, and was quite antisocial.
Deep appreciation to the Ageless Wisdom that Serge Benhayon has brought through; and with the help of Universal Medicine practitioners I now know that there is another way to live that is self honouring and self nurturing, which has transformed my life.
This is so true Kristy ‘if we had honoured ourselves we don’t need those lessons’… how many of us believe that we have to struggle in life and think that at some point in the future everything will be okay, when the reality is we can come back to who we truly are right now and live our lives full of love and connection to each other.
Rebecca, this is such a great article to come back to, this really stands out for me this time, ‘Consider that perhaps ‘rebellious’ is the girl in year 9 who you called ‘straight and boring’, who said no to drugs and sex-without-love’, I notice in schools that there are a minority of children that do not join with the rough, boisterous play; that care for their bodies and say no to what does not feel right, I can see how they are often seen as ‘something wrong with them’, but in fact they are the true rebels, they are courageous and standing firm in who they truly are by not joining in with what does not feel true.
Yes they can even by judged by adults because they reflect a way of honouring yourself that some have let go of.
Its impossible to grow tired of reading this blog. Returning to read again, wise gems and beauty continue to glow in what you wrote Rebecca. Just appreciating the honest, clear and understanding way you speak and treat yourself with this letter is a healing in itself, for all who come to read.
‘But is the next choice inevitable?’ It often feels like it is but in truth, we also have a choice and can say no to what appears to be the next step and choose a different path. How we live and love impacts our ability to make this choice.
I love every bit of wisdom expressed in these words that to me show that teenage years can be fantastic years if lived with love by honouring ourselves.
I love to reread your letter Rebecca, worthy to be read by any female of any age. There is always a gem to be found.
This is a stunning letter that applies to everyone, no matter our age or gender. It’s an absolute treasure-trove of wisdom, thank you Rebecca.
It sure is Fiona and what a way of appreciating ourselves. That here we have Rebecca writing a letter for all of us and we can all so very deeply connect to what she is saying and know that this is how we need to be with ourselves. Seriously inspiring.
Rebecca, it is great to read your blog again, this really stands out for me this time, ‘In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.’ Working in a school I observe how self-harm and harming others is commonplace, it is the children who do not join in with the rough, violent behaviour that are the minority, they are the strong, brave rebels who stand firm in the knowing of who they are and will not be pushed about – they are the true role models.
This would have to be the best advice ever: “The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it.”, and don’t keep it to yourself; pass it on, the whole world needs to hear this simple, life changing wisdom.
“there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared. “-
So true Rebecca. I too was lost in academia chasing so called success, only to find myself burnt out, empty, and frurstrated with life. However today, with the loving inspiration from Serge and Natalie Benhayon my life has changed dramatically. I have returned to the true me. It feels awesome!
Rebecca, its great to come back to your article, reading it i can feel how i have done this with so many things, ‘your body was speaking to you loudly and you silenced it with more of the same. And you could pretend that you were a rebel but in fact it was the opposite’, I got into extreme sports – off road cycling, parachuting, bungee jumping, all of the time my body was either not wanting to do these things or was in pain and I overrode it, I can feel how sad it is that we do this, i now know myself to be a beautiful, delicate, gentle woman and the thought of doing any of these things is awful, i can feel how far from who we truly are we can go just to fit in, be noticed and be liked.
I didn’t silence my body with extreme sports, but I did silence it with chocolate and alcohol, hiding behind relationships and just generally closing myself off to the world. Abuse is abuse in whatever form it takes, and when we realise the extent of how we abuse ourselves in one way or another then we can put a stop to it and come back to the delicate beings that we are in our essence and put firmly behind us our past behaviours and ill momentums and begin again to love ourselves.
Well said Mary and Rebecca I too felt there was very little if no support at all in those early impressionable teenage years. I wondered off course for the next 40 years until Serge Benhayon came into my life – so many peoples lives. To present and show that there is a clearer route to take if we so choose,and there is so much support now just waiting to be connected too.
“Together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history. We are always the sum total of all our choices” This is a profound and simple statement. No matter what our choices have been we can make new ones in the present and change our future.
‘And what did you have to forego in order for you to cut yourself down to comply? ‘ Great question and one to deeply ponder.
Rebecca this is an oh so powerful message for all. I love this “Change your posture and you will change the world.” This is something I felt greatly in the last few weeks that from simple movements of my posture. The truth shines bright and the simplicity of that flows through our lives revealing the essence of who we are.
Ah – how amazing would it be to send my 13 year old self a letter, to tell her not to worry so much and to love herself. We have so much wisdom in us simply from living, wisdom we can impart to others if not to our younger selves. It shows to me the amazing support we can be to those younger than us, to show them that we have done it, so they don’t have to do it like that, or that we have lived another way, one that is very worth living. To me, thinking about what I would say to my younger self gives me realisation that I can say that to myself now as well.
To write with such love and preciousness is something that melts me, Rebecca. To leave such a writing for the world to see, for other 13 year old teens to read, a true blessing.
My goodness, there is so much I would say to my 13 year old self. Stand tall, be who you are, don’t listen to the voices in your head when it says you aren’t good enough, pretty enough, skinny enough. Learn to understand who you are from the inside out, not the outside in, laugh lots and don’t take things so seriously. The list could go on and on, but ultimately I would say…..love who you are, there is no one else like you, you are divine and part of a grander whole that is beyond your wildest imagination. Stay connected to that….always.
This letter to self, captures everything and more… and the piece of gold in the statement…” The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it….” is a stand-out… in other words, back yourself up, stay with that gorgeous essence that you feel and know you are. Awesome Rebecca, thank you
When you consider Rebeccas amazing paragraph about change your posture and you will change the world, it makes a lot of sense, if you move things around in your house and configure it differently, doesn’t that then change your house? So of course if we line our spine and chest and shoulders up differently it will support us to see and be different. Beautiful, thank you Rebecca, you are a huge inspiration in my life.
So true Sarah, and if we move with awareness and connection that too will empower not only ourselves but those around us. As the recent scientific ‘discovery’ of gravitational pull also shows – we are all interconnected.
Yes, this is a key point, as we discover more that is known energetically but needs to be proven scientifically we realise that we are all indeed inter connected.
This article is an absolute gem! I reread it today and it was as powerful as it was when I first read it 4 years ago. I cried most of way through. I cried for the young girl I was, as the mother I was, I cried for the grandmother I am watching another generation struggling with all the same issues. And I cried for the joy of having this piece of writing out there for me to share with the world. Thank you Rebecca for sharing yourself so generously and for allowing us to heal through your sharing. A timeless read for every woman.
I also reread this article and was deeply touched. I might add Kathleen that this article is not just a timeless read for every woman but for every person. Rebecca is speaking from being a woman but I feel that men would relate deeply to what has been shared. I was imagining a father reading it and reflecting on his girls life or a father to be wondering how to cherish a daughter that he has not even had yet. I also think teenage boys would relate as the experience of trying to fit in is universal and not gender specific.
The line “there is more to you than just a brain on legs – there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing” adds up so beautiful what you have shared in this Blog Rebecca. We are so worth to be honoured by ourselves in all aspects of our being as that self appreciation will guide us back to who we really are, back from the lost tracks we turned into in our search for recognition and reward.
Yes Nico it is a great line, one that is one that ALL women would love men to know and feel about women. But my feeling also is that women need to also feel this about themselves. We as women can be ultra critical of ourselves and each other. This serves no one.
I can feel a truth in what you say Reagan and to me it feels that surrendering to the fact that we are like that is the only way to truly connect with who we are. Being critical on oneself only serves if we use this in a supportive way, in appreciation with who we are and where we come from and in no way we should ever diminish ourselves with any critical view we may hold on ourselves.
Your PS “Doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger or wiser, doing it hard just makes you harder, and that hardness stays with you unless you heal it.” really resonated with me today as I re-read your letter. Thanks to Serge Benhayon I have found there is another way and have reduced my hardness and ‘doing it the hard way’. Then finding more energy, more vitality and more love – what’s not to like!
Rebecca- I just loved what you shared:- “there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.” When we can feel the awesomeness of who we truly are we would not be drawn to abusing our body for compliance or relief.
“Change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment. And it is these small moments that add up. It is these small moments of illumination that strung together make the light in your days. ” I love what is shared here, there is truth in this. Our posture, our body can make such a difference in our every moment. It’s these moments together create the illuminating light.
“Doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger” I love this line in this blog Rebecca. The age old belief that so many of us have carried or still carry has been debunked in such a much needed read for every girl and woman.
I so agree natasa, it is such a misconception that the ‘harder’ we strive or make like the stronger we become. It just doesn’t work like that, we are not made to go into hardness and the need/drive to be strong. There strength is within, it doesn’t have to be from the outside in.
There is nothing more beautiful than letting this go and realising life doesn’t have to be a battle.
This line reminds me of the saying, ‘if it doesn’t kill you it’ll make you stronger.’ They both allude to life like being at the mercy of a stormy sea. That life happens indiscriminately – our choices make no difference so toughening up is the only option because if you brought your sensitivity to the world you’ll be crushed and no-one will notice. It’s saying don’t be responsible just do what it takes to survive, whatever the cost.
It is ignorant of the power in fragility, the way of living that honours the truth of who we are, and how this brings stillness and harmony, however rough the seas appear.
Yes this is what needs to be on our billboards, not the pictures and images we currently have.
This is a masterpiece. An absolute pearl. A letter for us all; we who reflect on those years and those who are yet to be teens and experience the onslaught and intensity of trying to ‘discover’ who they are – as we seem to search for and ‘figure out’ during those years (and then beyond). Forgetting that we never questioned this knowing as children and that the discovery doesn’t take place beyond ourselves, but from within. My 13, 16 year old and current self thanks you deeply.
For a young person to grow up knowing this, that everything they always wanted and deeply yearned for is already within them, is absolute gold. A masterpiece indeed Madeleine.
Reading this I am really feeling the stories I can let go of that justify how I have been and the humbleness is recognising that I had it wrong, life never had to be fought, it could be love.
Rebecca,
Thank you for writing this letter to yourself and equally for us all.
I love the comment that we are more than just a ‘brain on legs’ and to open up to all that we are.
Thank you for being a woman who inspires, as Natalie Benhayon and the other women you speak of are too.
“Change your posture and you will change the world”. As I was reading this, after a Esoteric Yoga session, I smiled as it is so true. The way we sit,move, hold ourselves either provides a stable steady foundation form which to live your life, or it creates anxiousness, instability and a myriad of other conditions. Learning to always be with your body and to honour and move in a way that supports it, will indeed change the world.
Reading your comment Sarah reminds me of those teenage years at school for ever hearing the teacher shout ‘Sit up’, ‘Straighten up’ very regimented yes but underneath there was an element of truth, our posture/movements changes much about us – infact life changing. So is it a wonder that ‘bored’ teens (I played my part in this non-communicative behaviour at times) had rounded shoulders and would switch off to the world at every opportunity and find the many numbing alternatives to stimulate and inspire. Amazing sharing Rebecca as I too reflect on my 13 year old self and appreciate the journey travelled.
And this fact also reminds me Sarah, that we are all interconnected with each other and the universe and that all what we are, think or do does have its influence on the all.
And it would seem that the recent scientific proof of gravitational pull now supports the fact that we are all interconnected and everything we do affects everyone else.
Ok thank you Nico, I needed that reminder as I sit in my stuff realising that is permeating out to the world – good reminder of the responsibility that is there for us all to live our lives by if we so choose.
Absolutely Sarah, changing our posture is a key consideration in how we live and choices we make. I didn’t have an understanding of this until I was introduced to it by Serge Benhayon, what does our movements really contribute to, how is it going to impact our daily choices. It was shared that we have energy that flows constantly in our bodies, this energy can lay stagnant and contribute to what thoughts we have, which can be negative and unloving, or we can move and be conscious of posture, how we stand, sit, walk, talk and this brings in a lighter, flexible way of being and then thoughts often flow from that openness and flexibility.
‘Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.’ This consciousness of being someone because of what we have lived is huge and I love your words here Rebecca that our essence is who we are and never what we have done.
I agree Annelies, this is a very important point you make here as there are many saying that hold us back from getting to this truth. Even things like I am too old to change, what’s the point etc..
I am only just beginning to understand this. I was identified by the challenges I had overcome but in truth can see this is not my strength, the fact that I went through them and how I went through them was actually the opposite of my strength- I battled my way instead of learning to be vulnerable, express myself, ask for support and be loving.
It’s so true, we can only make a choice if we know it’s there to be made. It’s incredible how freeing this is, even if it’s initally hard to make supportive choices we want to make for ourselves, each time we even register that we had an opportunity to chose, it makes it easier to actually turn around an entrenched pattern from not making choices that reflect our love, to claiming what is right for us that does reflect our self love and self worth.
All the behaviours you have described Rebecca from when you were are a teen are so very common – self harm is rife amongst the young people of today. Other behaviours that you have highlighted such as perfectionism are also there and reflect something similar. When we grow up in a world and we are not supported to be who we truly are, it makes it much easier to go into behaviours that harm us. If we were to grow up in a world with more solid reflections of people that do not stray from their innateness and therefore reflect another set of choices, we may be more likely to make those instead. By more stepping up to make honouring choices, others are pulled to do so also – as this is our natural state of being.
It’s amazing how powerful it is to say ” no, I am not going to do that.” Others can’t help but feel the impact of our choices, especially when we say No to the accepted norms or being polite and start to live what is supportive for us.
Even as an adult today this can be a challenge, when we see a situation where something needs to be addressed or when someone is out of line or when everyone is doing something and we don’t want to be different- we just refine it as adults but its all still the same- often we don’t want to stand out.
too true Kristy and I have certainly experienced this as an adult
Amelia you have described very clearly what is going on amongst young people today. Getting caught up in perfectionism, not living from who we truly are, not having the right kinds of role models and those who reflect to teenages to honour and care for themselves. These things are not readily accessible in today’s society. There are those who are living and reflecting another way, Natalie Benhayon is one of those people. Showing us how to live as a women, in our sacredness, very inspiring.
Love what you have shared here Amelia. Its true that many young people don’t have a really solid foundation within themselves and how important it is for them to have role models who do have this.
I love this Rebecca – an amazing sharing which would be of such great benefit to many teenagers in society.
The teenagers of today are the mothers of tomorrow (if that is their choice), so super important to reflect to them how beautiful and awesome they are, and nurture and cherish them into adulthood to show them that being a woman in the world can rise to a whole new level of awesomeness, and need not be a struggle or exhausting.
That’s a profound point Sandra – not only would the effect of such a reflection be for those receiving it but for future generations also. It is amazing that we are constantly given the opportunities to make such changes through the cycles we are in – if we reflect truth and a true way of being to our children, so will our parent to us.
Yes Sandra, all girls and teens need to feel their beauty and awesomeness without it we develop patterns and behaviours that can be destructive. Growing up with a sense of self-worth, a foundation for who we are it becomes easy to make self-loving choices. The teens of today are the mothers of tomorrow and how they raise their children will very much depend on how cherished and nurtured they were.
Great point you make Sandra, our teenagers of today are the future mothers of tomorrow.. If we reflect truth to them, then this reflection will be available to future generations to come.
It also super important how we are as woman with ourselves now as this sets an example for how girls will view and think about themselves. I heard a girl describe watching her mum in a changeroom and being harsh on herself and you could feel the impact this had on the girl observing this and then start to judge her own body.
Me too Michael, I can read it over and over again. It is a timeless message for women of all ages.
It is and it is a message I feel every 13 year old girl and boy should receive as many times as needed to make sure that they have every opportunity to make true choices that are loving and very supportive to themselves and those around them.
Agreed Michael. A very powerful read by any one of any age.
Yes, I often think of this article when I hear of teenagers ‘rebelling’ and would love that they could read such loving, insightful understanding that is so relate-able. How they are caught up in repeating patterns they believe are inevitable. How, in their attempts to escape, they delve further into self-destructive behaviours and younger.
But this letter I can heed myself. I can return to love and with everyone I meet they can read this letter in how I move, in how I talk and what I say. It is an incredibly inspiring letter asking us all to live the loves it espouses. Yes I’ve patterns to address but I’m not hiding from the truth in what’s presented. ‘Had we honored our essence in the first place we never would have walked the roads we knew would hurt us.’
‘…then will we have the clarity to take full stock and full responsibility for our past choices.”Only then will we realise they were indeed choices; and with that knowing we have the freedom to make new ones – true ones – for and from the love we are.’
An awesome sharing for any woman, for many we can be ingrained in the patterns and behaviours we adopt in our teenage years well into our adult years.
Every year, I feel so grown up and mature and like I know what I am doing – and it isn’t until I look back on those years i realise how I was still so young. Sometimes as we grow up it can be easy to feel like we need to make certain mistakes, and often don’t like taking our elders advise, but I have found that if we can listen to those older than us, we can learn from their mistakes and not have to make them myself, bringing a stop to the generational cycle of behaviour. If I could send my younger self a letter, it would be to listen to my mum, and to myself – for there is a little voice inside me that knows what is true for me and just needs to be listened to.
What I find amazing is that, when looking back, I was a mixture of the very sophisticated, making clear and strong (though not necessary intelligent or helpful) decisions and at the same time not understanding major parts of life. However, I had and acted on the ability to make decisions like reading enormous amounts or doing a martial art very intensely and many other decisions. What I needed to learn was the consequences of my decisions – the true, long range consequences. On some level I knew about them but chose not to deal with the long term consequences as the short term ‘benefits’ like being pleasantly numb or distracted were more important.
I agree. The consequences of our decisions are so often not considered, and I feel like that is a major aspect of maturity – not age, but responsibility and awareness of the consequences of your actions
“A re-turn to yourself and to the body you have long ignored” This would be at the top of my letter to me today. My ‘constant companion’ always there always baring the truth of how I have been living. Your letter Rebecca is such a gift to all who read it. Thank you.
My letter to me would be “Never ever hold back your love because expressing it is the greatest gift you can give yourself and everyone else”.
I love this line Rebecca ” Carrying with us all the imprints of moments past – imprints there waiting to make the next moment what it is.” I so often feel that all I am dealing with is past choices but I’ve never really looked at the fact that every present choice is my future. It sounds obvious but today I felt in my body what those moments carry, and how they bring the future to us.
How unusual is it to see such a loving heartfelt letter written to ones own self? It’s actually very beautiful and reading this has been very healing. I can also feel the letter I would write to my own younger self, and how healing that love feels reaching back and into the deepest parts of me. It’s another confirmation of how healing and powerful our own love is expressed in self love.
Simply Beautiful – brought tears to my eyes.
My letter: Find out what love is and then discern. If it is love, go for it. If it is not love, know that and feel what to do next.
Rebecca it’s been a while since I last read this most amazing letter – thank you. What a gift we have all been given ‘the freedom of choice’.
Wow, I wish I had found that letter in a bottle on the shores of my distant past. It would have been one i would have treasured forever.
“Your body is always asking to be loved.” This simple truth stood out for me. We are all searching for love and yet in so many ways as we were growing up and experimenting with life we abused the one person who was our constant companion – ourselves. Universal Medicine has inspired me to rebel against the drug of fitting in and complying what I think is expected and to listen to the call of my body to be love.
Rebecca, this is such a great blog to read again…’In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion.’ This is such a statement of truth, teenagers do see self-harm as a badge of honour, but the real rebellion are those that say no to this…’the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.’ This is indeed needed!
How many people on reflection would tell their younger self to not e so harsh and critical, or to not be so caught up in fitting in, or to pull back from all the partying and alcohol/drugs ect, as they now live with the physical consequences. Unfortunately due to lack of time machines, we can’t actually travel back in time to give our lived wisdom to our younger selves, but what we can to is offer it to the younger generations. They do not need to make the same mistakes, take the same road and end up in the same place. The statement ‘been there, done that and got the t-shirt’ comes to mind. We can educate our younger generation from our lived experiences, tell them how going out every night partying was really not worth it in the end, how actually fitting it at school meant nothing once you left, and that above all, the most important thing to focus on is looking after themselves, and taking the time to find who they really are, as in life this will be the most supportive knowing they can have.
I remember as a youth looking for relief above everything. Reading a book was great relief as I didn’t have to feel anything bar the tension from reading the book. When the book was finished, I felt worse than before but at the time I thought it was a price worth paying as I had the intervening hours of not feeling.
This makes sense Christoph as I also read copious amounts of books whilst growing up and it did increase during my teenage years, but I never associated it with switching off to what I was feeling. And you are right there is a feeling of being bereft when a book has come to an end and what I would then do is be on the lookout for a replacement.
This would be the best letter ever to receive when you were turning 13 years old. I remember when I was 13 and I totally thought I knew it all, and yes I knew a lot but when I look at my life that I have lived and how I know things to be true is when I am completely connected to myself and in-line with the Universe. Hear I have been able to see that I do know is a lot and that there is much I can learn also. Being humble to allow myself to be honest to where I am at and to learn what needs to be learnt. This in itself is a huge learning process and no matter how many times I have done things when I allow myself to be open I always see another aspect of what ever it is and I get to learn and appreciate even further.
What a pleasure to re-read your letter Rebecca. True rebellion is ‘a simple act of return”. To feel that there is absolutely no need for harshness in the world and within ourselves to help us evolve was a great revelation to me. Simplicity, love and gentleness in every choice we make are the key to a life well lived.
What a beautiful letter, a letter that everybody should get who is born into this world.
‘What most of us are reluctant to admit is that we never needed to ‘”find out the hard way”. Had we honored our essence in the first place we never would have walked the roads we knew would hurt us. When we stop saying, “I guess it was meant to be”; when we stop romanticising our hardships and conveniently wrapping them in a fog of nostalgia, only then will we have the clarity to take full stock and full responsibility for our past choices.’ Rebecca I had to share this in my comment as I felt the power in this statement you make in full. When we stop to comfort ourselves with saying I needed to experience all this to come to where I am now, we step in our true footsteps knowing what we lived before was only taking us further away from our essence which was there from our first day on earth.
‘And remember your body is your companion. Change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment.’ It not only sounds simple it just is simple, let us never underestimate the power of how we choose to move.
Gosh this letter is an amazing sharing and roadmap for many ‘off road’ lives. I was well and truly lost in my teens and alcohol and drugs soon featured heavily. I can relate so well to that feeling of being ‘crumpled in on oneself’. And the choosing to be in the pack rather than honouring and loving myself.
This is great Rebecca – ‘Consider that perhaps ‘rebellious’ is the girl in year 9 who you called ‘straight and boring’, who said no to drugs and sex-without-love without questioning that it was her right to be honoured and truly cared for; who refused to cave to the pressure of popularity and notoriety. Perhaps rebellion would have been to speak what you truly felt and allow those to fall away who inevitably would.’
“What most of us are reluctant to admit is that we never needed to ‘”find out the hard way”. Had we honored our essence in the first place we never would have walked the roads we knew would hurt us.” This is such a powerful line. I am often a little surprised how some struggles that would be everyday for me in the past have simply disappeared. For instance before I would feel like never having enough time in my lunch breaks and always having to rush between classes. Now I feel like I have lots of time. Life has become so much more simple since connecting with my true self inspired by the presentation by Serge Benhayon. It is true that life does not need to be hard and that we always have a choice even if seemingly not so.
Rebecca I love what you have shared here : “The discipline to consistently honour and love yourself”. Though difficult at times, a true sharing of the deep love and respect we as women can connect to each day.
This is such a powerful piece of writing Rebecca, it must have been truly healing for you to write it because it was healing for me to read it and is relatable to many I am sure. Who’s mould didn’t we fit indeed – as we are seeing harming behaviours starting earlier and earlier with our children as they try to find somewhere to fit in. Your letter is a blessing and I want every teenager to read it.
I love this letter. It is amazing and so apt. Often I see teenage girls who are now ‘rebelling’ but doing so in such extreme ways that I clearly see the truth of this letter, that being rebellious is actually doing what so few do and that is love and honour themselves.
I often hear people around them say, ‘oh they’re just being teenagers’ but this is not offering any other reflection and goes to condone the self-harm that cannot be discounted as some kind of growing stage. It’s beautiful and powerful to present, ‘there is (and always has been) another way.’
“What most of us are reluctant to admit is that we never needed to ‘”find out the hard way”. ” Indeed a bitter pill to swallow. When one is used to doing it the hard way it can take a while to let yourself have ease and simplicity, but what a gift it is. A loving choice.
I love this blog, It so beautifully represents what life and being the true you in it is. It is a rebellious act to not cohere to the trend, it is that what we choose for ourselves that will bring us to our inner hart.
Rebellion is indeed the person who doesn’t follow others into what they know, without a doubt, isn’t what they really want to be doing. Anytime I hear my own daughter, when playing with her friends say, ‘I don’t want to do that’ and ‘I’m doing it my way’, I quietly shout for joy. I encourage her in this, as she is trusting in herself to know for herself what is right for her. “And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.” Yes Rebecca, it does. Thank you.
How important is this line? “… It wasn’t rebellion so much as a wanting to fit in. But fit in to what? Whose mould didn’t you fit? …” A question we can start asking kids and themselves asking themselves from a much younger age. Kids are trying to ‘fit in’, not want ting to stand out as early as 6 or 7. As soon as they are seen to do this, we all need to ask this question so the child (often even the adult) can ask themselves the question and see if there is an answer.
A sharing that is worth reading many times over – such an inspiration. Now to write a letter to myself and it will certainly include the word ‘appreciation’ many times over. Thank you Rebecca.
Amazing Rebecca. This is something every single person should read and feel from young, a reflection that is rare amongst our youth yet one that is of truth and so evidently needed in every corner of the world. Your words are strong and very inspiring
Although I never received a letter like this when I was 13, or 20 or even 30 or 40, it’s a blessing to be reading this now… and to reconnect to our true self worth which has nothing to do with what we do, or about trying to fit in or perform, but simply about being and honouring our inner essence and who we really are. Of the many stand out lines, one was “The greatest teacher in the world is your own body.” Although I realise now that I’ve always had this teacher available, I am only now discovering and learning to respect, appreciate and celebrate the wisdom and blessing this teacher – our bodies – really are.
I so enjoyed your comment Angela. “Although I realise now that I’ve always had this teacher available”. Its taken for me to be in my 50’s before I actually started to really listen/feel and take notice of this wise inner knowing and to truly appreciate this gift.
“The greatest teacher in the world is your own body.” Yes Angela, this line stood out for me too. And when we listen to this wonderful teacher, it will speak up more and more and becomes the love of our life.
” Learn what you need to know but don’t abandon yourself in the process.” This needs to be on every wall in every school.
I felt like I was held in a pink fluffy cloud when I read this blog – like it is was one of the most loving conversations and pieces of true advice told in a great story. Thank you.
I am deeply touched by this sharing. How you are able to look at your younger self with acute honesty and truth, yet with not an ounce of criticism is so healing to ready. ‘Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman’ – I feel deeply held in these words. What if I had been told this when I was 13, 20…? What if every young woman and man were brought up knowing this? This is something I definitely would like to share with the world.
“Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.” i agree Fumiyo Egashira this line is so key, and for me this is at the core of the game changing work that Universal Medicine has delivered. For true love is the beingness, the knowing that we are everything already.
And written with such power and claiming – no regret to dampen the edges . So beautiful Rebecca
Hello You, thank you for speaking to the heart of me and every other man and woman I know and don’t know, this entire gem is worth more than all the gold in the world, I thank you again for the Wisdom held within.
This letter is so truly beautiful Rebecca, it is beautiful because of the love I feel you hold your self in, the understanding and the firmness of truth of what you chose. Seeing our past for what it truly was will support us to never again make the same choices that led to a way of living that did not work.
I love returning to this blog as there are so many words of wisdom it needs to shared with every teenager growing up! If I’d felt, accepted and lived this in my self “Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.” there is no way I would have made some of the crazy choices I have through life, particularly as a teenager. Thank you Rebecca.
“But rewind a few months. Your body was always telling you this would not work – when you fought your burning throat and constricted lungs to teach yourself how to ‘properly inhale’.” Recently i was clearing out some boxes and found a diary I wrote during my teens years, i found the excerpts i wrote about smoking my first cigarettes whilst on holiday, my body was shouting loud, I felt terrible and was sick. Interesting to observe how abundantly i was swearing through my diary, it feels like this is what i had to call in to gather the momentum of abuse that i could feel approaching.
“…..remember your body is your companion. Change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment. And it is these small moments that add up” I love this Rebecca. Changing how I sit or walk makes a big difference too how I’m feeling. Just going out for a walk – with grace – in nature inspires and confirms that I am part of the bigger picture. How lovely it would have been to read your letter as I grew up.
Yes Sue, it would have been lovely and very supportive when we would have read this letter as we were growing up but nevertheless it feels great to know this message to be true for every generation. When I became aware that my body needs to be honoured and cherished it has definitely changed my life and it has turned everything upside down. Everything counts and it is never too late to start loving ourselves by listening to our body.
An absolute knock out piece Rebecca!
You dig below the surface of life that people accept as being all there is, to the depth below and bring them into the light for all to see. You don’t back away from rocking deeply held perceptions but purely delivering the deeper level of truth that you have discovered for yourself.
Here you describe the people who make choices that honour themselves as the true rebels, well you are the true hero. People mantled as ‘heroes’ today are just as caught up in the wash of life as the rest of us. They offer inspiration through their status as a ‘hero’ but what they are offering is a formula for staying in the back and forth of life seeing only that surface view. You, however, are offering a deeper level of truth that brings with it the opportunity for true change. To me, this is the truer service.
This article, is showing the world, how it is done.
Hear hear katemoroney1 – the Wisdom that speaks to the heart of us all. An Absolute treasure.
This is so great to read again Rebecca, so touching. There is so much in here that I would have also loved to have said to my 13 year old self. It would honestly be the greatest gift one could give oneself. But can always do and say those things today, as there is that 13 year old self somewhere in all of us. Who has potential hurts that have not yet healed, so saying all those things, can still be a very loving and healing thing to say and feel.
I feel exactly the same way Raegan. This blog is for us all and can be read and re-read by ourselves and in generations to come.
Absolutely Abby, a great reference and inspiration.
Beautiful letter!!
I was not too much of a rebel (although a bit) when I was a teen. My way of dealing with the world did not go there too much. I did not do drugs, alcohol. Yet I fell for tobacco.
The first time I inhaled cigarette smoke my body rejected it from every single angle. Yet, I chose to ignore it. I ignored what the body revealed to me. I did not rebelled against the world. I did it against myself. I said to my body: who cares about you? Luckily the whole smoking affair did not last long. I had two cycles of it, only the second was intense, but at age 26 I had a very strong impulse to stop hurting myself through tobacco. That was it. When people talk about their past and mention what they used to do against themselves there is often times an element of glamour. This letter helps to cut that glamour and puts it right in its place.
Beautifully said Eduardo and I can very much relate. I also took up smoking in my 20’s thinking how cool it was and also as an act of expressing “I can do what I want” – hardly rebellion falling into the hands of a seedy corporate who peddle death for profit with tobacco. I was also filling something inside me that felt very empty, but I was inhaling absolute poison when I could have been breathing me, as shared by Serge Benhayon with the Gentle Breath Meditation.
‘If there was one thing I could tell you when you were 13 years old it would be this – drug taking is not rebellious; it is not just ‘experimentation’; it’s not really even defiance – it’s just compliant.’ By saying that drug taking is compliant is going against the grain of what society believes, but I am with you, I do feel it to be true as it is like just going along with the game and acting out how we are supposed to be.
I love the way you turn the teenage rebellion 180 degrees around, as it is all about fitting in – so not really rebelling at all. I shall give this letter to my granddaughter when she is old enough – so many golden nuggets. I shall probably write one of my own for her too too.
It is often funny to see a group of people all wearing the same rebellious clothes, be they torn jeans or camouflage gear or even similar tattoos, though the latter isn’t funny anymore as it lasts a lifetime. On the other hand, not accepting the rules given to us at face value is actually useful.
Rebecca, I love this blog, I can tell it is straight from the soul because it is full on. I love how you have turned teenage rebellion on its head with this: “In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.” These words of wisdom stand out and are lovingly calling us to snap out of it: “P.S. Doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger or wiser, doing it hard just makes you harder, and that hardness stays with you unless you heal it.” such wisdom can only come from one who lives it. Thank you Rebecca this is a mighty blessing for us all.
A superbly written letter I’m sure many wish they had received from their future selves. I love ‘In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion’. Other than being an awesome bumper sticker ☺ it reminds me that it is absolutely worth rebelling in order to get to know the heart, body and soul that emanates the precious beauty we innately are.
‘‘In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion’. I agree, let’s all rebel and peel off the shackles of compliance.
Growing up this was so not on my radar as a choice or way to be with myself. I am inspired seeing young people growing up today not living these reckless years but really making something of their lives and ensuring that there is a real quality to their connections with others and the way they live.
“Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. ” This is so often something which is championed and we can use to justify the choices that were made and then to feel proud about the hardened version of ourselves we have become. It can be challenging to admit that life could have been another way and that actually it is “Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.”. How beautiful and freeing it is, when we come to undertand this and to see those who are living in this way – an inspiration.
This is a power-full blog Rebecca turning the belief upside down that taking drugs is rebellious when in fact it is simply to ‘fit in’ to ‘belong’ to something anything and to numb the emptiness. Turning life around finding that true connection to you and choosing it is quite amazing.
Many teenage activities were seen by our parents as rebellious but for us at the time it was a way of fitting in, being recognised and accepted but really it took the pressure off other kids at the time, because by us dishonouring themselves, they then felt ok by dishonouring themselves too.
Indeed Michelle, by fitting in we are all confirming each other in the abuse, overriding what we absolutely know, literally waving ourselves goodbye.
And also that this rebellious behaviour is normal when you are a teenager that it is designed that way. There is research that confirms this; the brains of a teenager are not capable of taking any responsibility until they are in their twenties. Having examples of teenagers who are living true responsibility and who have said no to the peer pressure, I feel this is a very healing experience for everyone to experience their presence. This is due to the fact these teenagers are choosing to live from their essence and value themselves from the inside out, instead of the usual fitting in etc.
I didn’t take drugs or drink alcohol when I was younger, but I did use food to numb and distract myself, and consequently put on weight. My act of rebellion was to then go on strict diets (yes this happened more than once or twice) because the only thing I could control was what went into my mouth, and I thought that the thinner I was the more I would not only love myself more, but others would love me more too. Any love I had for myself was only transitory of course, and it wasn’t until I came across Universal Medicine that I realised that it does not matter what you look like, true love comes from within. I have began to make choices to love me and my body, and I no longer feel the need to ‘fit in’, I can just be me, because I am enough. It’s a shame that I had to wait 40 years (from age 13) to find out!
I’ve read this once, twice, three times and most possibly many more. It’s a marker I will indeed come back to… Whether it’s to assist with not being drawn into the pull of the “party lifestyle” as friend after friend joins in, or the comfort of the academic re-assureance, that is delivered with every stressfully obtained perfect mark… This is a brilliant snippet, that I relate to so very much! You have a certain way of stringing words together that are not only healing but supportive and empowering.
Well said Jaya, and I totally agree this is not only a healing to read and reread over and over again it is also very supportive and inspiringly empowering for all to read.
Utter brilliance Rebecca , so honouring, so encouraging and so self empowering.. A true support for all young woman.
Today, on re-reading your fabulous blog these words stood out. – ‘You miss the easy way you were with yourself when you were a kid, before the onset of all this intensity’. This sentence brought up a lot of feelings for me, remembering back to the time of innocence and trust. And back to now – choosing to reconnect back to the essence of me, knowing that that has never really been lost, just buried deep inside and is now revealing itself once again, as I make new choices.
I loved re-reading your blog with so much Golden Wisdom. While reading lifting your chin, I actually could feel my heart opening up and feeling the strength of who I am entering me. I’ve never been aware of this before, consciously that is. The body has so much Wisdom to reveal. And everytime we do listen, it reveals another layer of Wisdom. Thank you Rebecca, what you’ve written could be written to me as a 13 year old boy, feeling very lost in the world and completely shutting down himself. I still find it quite hard to Truly feel how much I’ve hardened back than. There’s a tendency of wanting to forget it, bury it. I know it doesn’t work, but it really hurts. Even writing these few words make me cry. Thank you Rebecca.
Each time I read this I get something different from it. I love the point you make that Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today” and that you “didn’t need to find out the hard way”. This is a real learning, I have still worn these as a bit of a badge of honour and thought they were necessary or proud that I got through them but what you share is very true, we never needed to do it this way. There was always a way to do it that was honouring and loving. We may still have had challenges but we didn’t need to go into battle mode with them.
To then look at these moments with nostalgia is a way to avoid feeling the choices that we did make, its a bravado to avoid the irresponsibility- thank you for this sharing.
This is such a powerful blog that says it all to humanity – man, woman and child. There is much to appreciate in discovering the truth and taking responsibility for our choices – there is so much love and freedom in letting go and not reliving our hurts. There is an amazing being within us all and as impossibility as it may seem, it can be lived right here, right now without any doubt; it’s simply a matter of surrendering to what we already have and hold and fall deeply in love with the all that we are.
An awesome letter Rebecca Baldwin from the very wise and beautiful woman that you are. It is an amazing revelation to realise that we DO have the freedom to make different choices along the way and that we don’t have to live at the whim of forces outside of ourselves, it is just a choice to love and honour who we truly are and stand up for what we know to be true. Thank you for sharing your letter, which in reality is a letter that all humanity should hear.
So gorgeous to read the understanding and tenderness you hold yourself in, very lovely. This quote is so true concerning how the body responds and communicates with us “The body holds the marks of every choice we ever made, it was with us for every one of them and here it is still here with us today – at once a record and a crystal ball.” All we have to do is begin to observe…there is so much to learn from observing our own bodies and the choices we make.
I love re-reading your blog Rebecca. Much for older women – and men – to digest here. ” You are not a rebel. You are walking a well-trodden path paved by all the other bright kids and teens who thought they were breaking the rules, only to play right into them.” Brilliant information for any ‘rebel’ – just playing a different variety of the game. How about not playing that particular game at all?
I absolutely love your expression here Rebecca, so full of gold and wisdom. “Together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history. We are always the sum total of all our choices. And while the memory might become foggy, the body never forgets. The body holds the marks of every choice we ever made, it was with us for every one of them and here it is still here with us today – at once a record and a crystal ball.” This is true poetry – beauty and Universal Wisdom combined. Our future can be read in our bodies that hold the present, past and future in how we live every moment of our lives. Awesome!!!
This letter is pure gold. I love re-reading it. I had to laugh at, ‘Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”.’ because I’d carried this around like a trophy and every time I do what I’m doing is justifying the choices I made to abandon myself so I wouldn’t stand tall as who I truly am. Rather to lovingly observe them and see how to make loving ones now.
Or I pick up the trophy when I feel threatened and vulnerable so as to say to myself I’ve been through worse, I’m tough enough to get through what’s presenting itself to me. Perhaps here is an opportunity to feel my delicateness and fragility, to not hide it but appreciate it.
“Certainly don’t discount any act of love towards yourself.” These words are a beautiful reminder, deepening the level of love for myself and inspire me to act upon a loving gesture towards myself no matter how small or simple I may think it is. I know and can feel that every act towards myself makes a difference to my well being and that every loving act contributes towards another one.
“Never forget that the greatest teacher in the world will not be found in any lecture hall or University. The greatest teacher in the world is your own body” – I love this truth. It is so empowering to know this wisdom and so incredibly powerful to live it; something I am developing every day, learning to feel my body and learning to trust it.
Drug taking is just compliance not rebellion, I love that and so true, and academia doesn’t matter really in the grand scheme of things, certainly not worth selling ourselves to. I know the latter myself having been one of those who flogged himself for the highest grades and the recognition of being the best, and 12 years on I really needn’t have bothered, just get the pass on paper and get on with your life, that would be my letter to my 23year old self!
This was the perfect blog for me to read today. I have returned to my studies, back at University after a 24 year long vow to never set foot back in such an institution again. This time it is very different. It is as though I am sitting with my 20 year old self when I sit to study – she is so anxious and overwhelmed, how will she get through this massive volume of material? How will she get the good marks? The 47 year old is solid, knowing that true education comes from understanding, not regurgitation and that we learn to serve people. We do not learn to please a teacher, and fill up the empty space when we place no value on ourselves.
Rather than writing my 20 year old a letter, I am inviting her to discover a new way to learn, based on the body that is doing the study before anything else, and supported by the wisdom slowly gathered from knowledge lived, not just read and thought about.
I am currently working with teenagers and as much as we would love to tell ourselves something different when you are off track and separating from your soul and choosing paths that are ‘experimenting’ there is little that can be done. It brings home for me how important it is we spend time with our children and connect with them, and really inspire in them through the way we live, with purpose, dedication, love that life is joyful when inspired by the soul.
It so is Vanessa McHardy, it so is! It is how we are raised as babies and toddlers and children that will determine how well we are able to hold true to our inner-hearts and joy and soulful connection. True parenting is key to each individual’s expression in the world as much as it is to the future evolution of humanity.
A magnificent piece Rebecca, it captures the situation exactly., thank you – ‘When we stop saying, “I guess it was meant to be”; when we stop romanticising our hardships and conveniently wrapping them in a fog of nostalgia, only then will we have the clarity to take full stock and full responsibility for our past choices.’
Rebecca, each time I read this I love it more and more if that is possible. It is not just a ‘letter’ to your 13 year old self, but a ‘love letter’. An absolute gift to each and every person who reads this.
Rebecca, you have become a wonderful roel model for young girls and an inspiration to many, thank you for this beautiful blog. It is something I can read over and over and still learn so much.
Absolutely Susan. What Rebecca shares is a powerful and important message for young people – and older people as well, with words that have been lived, and tried and tested life.
Yes, Yes, Yes! This blog is off to my daughter’s FB page (and her 1,000 odd besties) right now!
Rebecca thank you, this letter is timeless and profound in it’s wisdom. So beautifully written and deeply touching, I cannot even pull out favourite lines, because one just follows another after another. I will continue to pass it on to every young woman who crosses my path to be inspired to take a gentler and more honouring way through.
The P.S. says it all for me, the illusion that all the struggle, misery, hard times, solitude, etc. make me the man I am today!! NOT! They just made me the man I was and that’s it. The choice to be the man I am today, is an ongoing, minute by minute proposition, until it becomes a momentum that burns off the momentum of the past. Thanks Rebecca.
I love that Mark Payne…” until it becomes a momentum that burns off the momentum of the past”, so true and very succinctly stated.
“But is the next choice inevitable? Does it have to come with the loading of the past? Well no, that’s why it is called a choice.”
Serge Benhayon has shared this game changing gift, for we are not owned by the past, not shaped by our past unless we choose it so, we can self lovingly observe our patterns and simply step into the next choice with free-est of wills.
Absolutely beautiful. It has become an accepted norm that we continue on the rolling hamster wheel, without stopping to realise that each moment presents us with something new. A perpetual choice to stay on the wheel, or to jump off. In realising this, often I have jumped off one wheel only to jump on another, but gradually bit by bit I am becoming more aware that there is plenty of space around me with open ground and with no need to find a wheel either.
Very powerful what you share with us Rebecca – so many things I can ponder on. One point you make very clear: There is no coincidence in life. As you say: “Together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history. We are always the sum total of all our choices.” Thank you for your great sharing.
As you mention Rebecca Baldwin we never needed to do it ‘the hard way’. It always have been my own choice to do so as it is not who I am in essence. I am now re-discovering the true essence of me and find that there is no ounce of striving or working hard in there, only a deep tenderness and a deepening connection with the delicateness of the love I am part of. Starting living that is dissolving all the hardness I have build in my body over the years in doing it ‘the hard way’, and with every part of hardness that I let go off, I am more able to live the gentleman I originally am.
Nico that life struggle we are so attached to, the hard way, is simply not true. It is sad to think that when it is easy we think we don’t deserve it or something so we push against ourselves which ever way we can find.
This is really revealing Gail – that we are so used to struggling that when its easy its so unfamiliar we can actually reject it. As you say, its pretty sad to see just how far we’ve gone that this is the case – that struggle can seem more normal than ease – and so we actually sabotage the ease to stay in the comfort of the known familiar struggling ways – Ouch!
I love where Nico says: “Starting living that is dissolving all the hardness I have build in my body over the years in doing it ‘the hard way’, and with every part of hardness that I let go off, I am more able to live the gentleman I originally am.”
I loved reading this again, Rebecca. It is so deeply moving and even if we did not all do drugs at young age we did lots of other things to hide ourselves and our vulnerability away such as eating excess, dieting to be thin, being “good”, shopping. Such a poignant sharing.
Yes Anne, it is all the same in the end as Rebecca so clearly pointed out… drugs, cigarettes, striving for top marks, dieting, excessive exercise, shopping… all to avoid the pain and misery of missing our essence. I can so relate!
Thank you Rebecca for your letter to yourself and all the other women and to me. It is wise, warmhearted and deeply revealing. Telling about the true rebellion way of self-loving choices, living it and being a living example of it.
In a world that moves quickly and has lots of whistles blowing and lights flashing, the truly rebellious person can easily be ignored, go unnoticed in the stillness, that cannot be recognised by the brashness and harshness. True rebellion – it’s not loud, but it is powerful, it’s not forceful.
Rebecca when you write “But fit in to what? Whose mould didn’t you fit? And what did you have to forego in order for you to cut yourself down to comply?” I loved that line at what point to we stop being the free child who is not concerned with what anyone thinks to the person who is desperate to fit in to others moulds. It is a self imposed shackle and the consequences are dire – just recently in the UK 40% of young women said they had suffered mental health issues. That is a horrendous statistic and one that reflects all this trying to fit into and be what we are not, instead of remaining the gorgeous free expressing young child we were born.
I love this powerfully revealing line too Vanessa: “But fit in to what? Whose mould didn’t you fit? And what did you have to forego in order for you to cut yourself down to comply?” – and your summary of what happens between being the free child “not concerned with what anyone thinks to the person who is desperate to fit in to others moulds”. Having raised a few children now, I can see how clealry this change over plays out – and the immense pressures to conform, not stand out, and not rock the boat by living lovingly in a sea of people all crying out for love, but at the same time avoiding it due to the pain we all carry for what we too had to “forego in order for you to cut ourself down to comply”.
“By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment.” How completely divine is this sentence. This is one for the fridge, the bathroom mirror, to remind yourself that we have choices, that we can choose to walk differently, impacting directly and positively how you are within yourself, very empowering.
This is absolutely life changing Rebecca; it’s like encouraging your 13-year-old self (and all children) to become philosophers, and reflect on their choices. “But you can only make a choice if you know it is there to be made, otherwise you will default to the choice predetermined by the culmination of your life’s habits.” We have all done this and found a way to change our circumstances without changing the energy, only to cement ourselves in. I also loved:“There is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.”
Totally with you Bernard – these lines are priceless.
What an amazing way to travel through teenage years if this was realised at the time. Maybe at some point in time this will happen as more is written and called out in this way for everyone “…there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.” Awesome words -thank you Rebecca
Rebecca your article is a real point of beauty, of true wisdom and cuts away the delusion of being a rebel through harming oneself, of taking pride in ones hurts, of trying to justify putting oneself in dangerous situations as the means that makes one who one is – tough and able to live in a world that really one knows isn’t as it could be, numbing of ones knowing that by being hard and ‘rebellious’ in this way is actually, like you so poignantly say, is playing into the rules and adds to the world that is unloving that one reacted to in the first place.
The love I felt whilst reading this letter was so heartfelt and deeply healing.
Thank you Rebecca for reminding us no matter are past choices we can always return to the preciousness and sacredness of our true essence deep within us.
Yes beautiful Loretta, it is never too late to heal!
Every moment is a choice to return to that which has never left.
Rebecca, this blog is truly amazing. This is so in the fact that I can feel my body feels a little unwell today, and is calling for me to surrender more. I can feel this un-wellness is actually allowing me to feel my past choices that have been to dishonour and push through in order to get things done. I did not know any better at the time – with my awareness, but now can feel how damaging so much of that behaviour was. No wonder my body needs a bit of time to re-adjust! We all can feel this re-adjustment from time to time, which is why we need to allow our bodies to do what they need to do, and clear our past choices, and make way for the new ones.
Yes Amelia our bodies do need re-adjusting from time to time as it is through the ignoring and the over-riding of the body that we learn and grow. I have got to a point that when I’m rushing I know in that moment there will be consequences. What I am learning most at this time is every moment that I ‘check out’, an opportunity has been missed to commit and this then has a knock on effect on the days/weeks ahead.
Oh Rebecca what a great thing to do, to write a letter to your 13 year old self. In a way you are writing to a whole generation just like you. There is so much that I love about this very human wise letter such as this mythbusting of rebellion “In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.” For me that says if the world is upside-down compared to what you know is true, don’t live upside down against your truth, stand firm in your truth and the upside-down world will come around to meet you.
Yes I love how she has redefined what a true rebel is. It’s gorgeous to read this. Looking after yourself deeply is truely rebellious, and a far cry from the smoking and other destructive behaviours that occurs in teenagers.
Me too Felicity. I love this quote “In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up” it takes the common interpretation of being rebellious from self-centred, separative and often destructive actions to ones that lovingly serve ones self and all others equally. Indeed, as Miss Baldwin suggests – we need a worldwide self-love-rebellion.
Every where I look in society are traps that tell us that this will make us special or different, yet they are an imprisoning form of conformity. We are so driven by the need to fit in, to be part of something that we are blind to all the things we do against our true nature. We are especially lost when we look to our peers for answers, when they are most times as lost as we are, even if they appear to have it all together. Listening to my body which always knows the most appropriate and loving way for me to be is the only conformity I have found that actually brings me anything real and lasting.
Beautiful – I sometimes wonder what it would be like to meet my younger self, and how much I would love to tell her to love herself more. But the great thing is I have a life ahead of me to learn, and i have amazing support around me.
This is a great blog Rebecca. What I love is the line “Learn what you need to know but don’t abandon yourself in the process.” This is great advice for myself still today as well as for my teenage daughters.
… and feeling and accepting this preciousness is what will let you make choices that honour you and change your life.
I am floored by the beauty and wisdom written here on this page. Rebecca this letter is nothing short of divine. Each word felt like it healed a hurt, the child, the teenager, the twenty and thirty something, each one was tenderly listened to and honoured. I cannot thank you enough for reminding me of the preciousness waiting to be lived and shared in each and every one.
I so agree Leonne !
Me too Amelia and Leonne. Every reading offers another layer of understanding – divine is spot on.
I agree Leonne, Amelia & Kate. It is such a powerful, well written piece of writing with so much in it; a blog I will most certainly be coming back to.
Loved this Rebecca. In high school I was the rebellious one, said no to alcohol, drugs and sex. But then somewhere around my late teens a fear of being alone kicked in and I began to say yes to alcohol and other things that took me a long way away from myself. Thanks to Serge Benhayon and his family and letters like yours above, I am re-turning to to glorious person I am.
This is a blog that just ‘keeps on giving’ – pearl after pearl of lifes changing wisdom. Today this shone like a beacon:
“What would I say to myself today?
Together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history. We are always the sum total of all our choices. And while the memory might become foggy, the body never forgets. The body holds the marks of every choice we ever made, it was with us for every one of them and here it is still here with us today – at once a record and a crystal ball.” “So choose to be aware and to feel, deeply, everything that is there to feel, … And remember your body is your companion. CHANGE YOUR POSTURE AND YOU WILL CHANGE THE WORLD.”
We so often think changing the world involves tackling the largest scale – corruption, policies, etc – the moment we understand we change the world by something as simple and apparently ‘small’ as changing our posture – the true power and nature of change will be unleashed – to the incalculable benefit of all.
Pearls of life changing wisdom from you as well Kate. I loved how you say the body never forgets all your choices are within. Get to know the wisdom of the body and the past and future will be revealed. “Change your posture and you will change the world.” I really do believe that through self-love (bringing love to the physical body through posture, sleep rhythm, diet, etc) we come to a love for life, and a love for humanity. “The true power and nature of change will be unleashed – to the incalculable benefit of all.” This is no exaggeration, it is happening right now on this site and with all those involved.
So true Bernard – no exaggeration – it really is happening right now, and available to us all in every moment.
This was also a stand out section for me Kate, among many many others and I love what you say about it. It is true that when we think of changing the world we generally think of changing the whole of humanity in some form of revolutionary way, when really changing the world is as simple as changing ourselves within the world and so causes a ripple effect outwards
So true Oliver – and the change in ourselves we choose is not one of betterment or good, or attaining any ideal outside of us, not crusading, not eco warrioring, but the simplest changes to support us in just being with ourselves, like our posture, opening our hearts and dropping the guards – this and its ripples are the powerful game changing stuff…amazing.
Such a beautiful letter Rebecca! I can’t imagine how well received your wisdom and truth would be to your precious young self in the face of all that was there egging you on to be ‘experimental’, but just having someone sit you (or anyone) down and express this would be huge enough that it couldn’t be ignored, despite the choices that follow. It would be a point of light they could return to whenever they needed to be reminded that in fact there is another way.
I agree Elodie,
This letter needs to be part of our Education Curriculum. Imagine this point of light being freely given to all of the teenagers today.
This blog is a stunning expression of self-love, thank you Rebecca. Cutting that belief that all we have been through was ‘meant to be’ is a big one for me, as I was attached to struggle and ‘making the most’ of the situation I found myself in.. Thing is it was always about me finding myself in situations, or life happening to me – there was no understanding and responsibility that I was making choices every moment which were creating the quality of my health, well-being and life. As I learn to deeply honour my own body I am aware that I have a choice in each moment to live from that connection – which is as you say, the true rebellion.
Every reading of this rich blog reveals another gem – it is so chock full of golden offerings.
Today again the power of this section sings out with great practical potency:
“Change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment. And it is these small moments that add up. It is these small moments of illumination that strung together make the light in your days. Don’t discount the simplicity of the smallest act or intention to love. ”
So very beautiful. Open our heart and change our posture and we literally do change the world – not a banner or protest in sight, but the every day reclaiming of the power of simple loving ways.
Completely agree Kate – how gorgeous would that be, as a 13 year old girl, to receive permission and confirmation that she is so powerful, even lifting her chin or walking with grace has the potential to light up all other people around her. What Rebecca has written is totally inspirational; a stunning reminder to all ages of women that in their fragility is huge amounts of strength and power. Thank you both for sharing!
So touchingly powerfully true Susie. If every 13 year old girl “receive(d) permission and confirmation that she is so powerful, even lifting her chin or walking with grace has the potential to light up all other people around her” – the world would change overnight.
We can never underestimate the power of choosing to move through our days, and all our activities, in our own steady natural connected flow. “a stunning reminder to all ages of women that in their fragility is huge amounts of strength and power.”
Gorgeous Susie!
Indeed Kate, not a banner or protest in sight, no blaming of another to further cement our ways, no emotionally fuelled rallying, just simple self loving responsibility for all the choices that bring us to our feet and magnify through our walk. As you and Suzie so beautifully expressed it is game changing to embody love on this smallest level.
Love your expression Kate Burns, I totally love this blog and have also read it many times. Its so simple to change your posture that its almost like we avoid doing these things, we as human want a big drama or a big deal to change the world but when its this simple we can’t believe that its enough but we will soon see that it is the only thing that will bring real change.
So true Sarahraynebaldwin – so many of us have this picture of world change or perhaps of enlightenment as being a big bang, maybe heralded by the fanfare of angels, or the overthrow of whole systems, or a big massive ah ha epiphany type moment – that really comprehending the power and responsibility for the smallest change, like opening our posture as being the way to bring light into our days and space to our bodies and lives is almost impossible to accept until its experienced. The pictures we hold can get in the way of seeing just how simple and powerful transforming our lives, and so societies actually is – it is in all the little daily ways – “Open our heart and change our posture and we literally do change the world”. The power and the choice is very simply ours.
So true true Kate, all we need to do is surrender!
I have to Agree Kate, Rebecca’s, blog is chock full of golden offerings. This one on posture brings love to the physical body so it can be felt tangibly.
“Learn what you need to know but don’t abandon yourself in the process” this is incredible wisdom, as you say Rebecca no employer actually cares how we do in exams beyond the piece of paper. We need to find a way to learn that doesn’t compromise our health and wellbeing as the current system of cramming and knowledge through extreme revision serves no-one. It is really worth reflection how our current School and University systems actually lack the intelligence we really need to flourish, I look back on University and the knowledge I gained and most of what i retained was not from the need to pass an exam but from a genuine interest in the topic. The actual exams themselves were a memory test. A new approach is very much needed that puts people first and does not push people into a miserable system of learning information to tick a box.
Well said Stephen. I absolutely agree. This sentence “Learn what you need to know but don’t abandon yourself in the process” is indeed wisdom that is so desperately needed in our schools and universities today. I totally dis-regarded myself when I was in school placing my exam results above every thing. I ended up giving up on myself because I was extremely unhappy and found it hard work to study simply because I was not supported to take of myself.
Such a beautiful letter – so good to re-read – thankyou Rebecca. ” Perhaps rebellion would have been to speak what you truly felt and allow those to fall away who inevitably would.” I feel these words also apply to me today.
This letter is a treasure for us all, i will cherish its wisdom and return to it often.
It is a treasure. I could feel the beauty in which it was written and so much wisdom.
Rebecca – it is gorgeous to return to your article, i find it is so inspiring and confirming to read, it brings tears to my eyes, it is beautiful to read this, ‘Don’t discount the simplicity of the smallest act or intention to love.Certainly don’t discount any act of love towards yourself.’ Thank you for the reminder.
Re-reading this blog this morning, ‘choice’ is stand out and accounting for the many small supportive choices without too much focus or getting bogged down in the occasional poor choice. Perhaps a part of not getting bogged down involves accepting the poor choices are just that – choices- and not a true reflection of who I am. This feels important because in an underhanded way I am also always on the look out for reasons, excuses and something to ‘understand’ (aka blame) for my poor choices rather than take responsibility and acceptance of what I allow through choice. It is rather mind blowing to consider the science of free will and that we have always had and always will have choice.
An awesome reread Rebecca. I was stuck this time by how easily we give ourselves away without any understanding of how precious we already are. It is a monumental tragedy brought about by simple choices when we are so disconnected to this truth. Thank God for Natalie Benhayon and others like yourself are leading the charge in reclaiming and holding strong to the truth of our being – powerful and precious. Your return to the truth of you is an absolute inspiration Rebecca.
Rebecca what a powerful read that touches all women through different phases of their life. What resonated so strongly was the fact that I was the “boring girl” who saw herself as less when I chose not to smoke and drink and didn’t excel at school. The harm of self worth is just as strong and leaves it mark when we choose to not deal with our hurts. A great letter for every women to read.
The two words at the end Rebecca fit so well with everything you have written about- ‘discipline’ and ‘consistency’ to choose love -and it is not even a raw deal, every loving choice I make comes back to me two-fold. So the question is when resisting discipline and consistency is ‘is it really easier?’ Holding a bigger picture- however relative this ‘bigger’ may be is very supportive to consistency- it can be as simple as if the kids eat dinner late, they go to bed late, are tired the next day and getting out the door in the morning becomes stressed and rushed. The bigger picture helps dissolve the resistance to what we can sometimes burden ourselves with as ‘shoulds’ i.e. ‘I should get dinner ready early’. The bigger picture also has no limits. So discipline and consistency – what amazing words they are.
I am 14, not quite 13 but pretty close. The information you have written to your 13 year old self would be priceless for me to know and understand, as I am sure it would be increbilt useful for any other 13 year old. Although I have and never will do drugs or alcohol, it is still interesting how you say that it is not rebellious. When I see a “druggie” I always will say that they are a rebel but have never thought about how they are just following a trend, therefore just doing the norm.
Awesome Ben! Wouldn’t it be great for this blog to find it’s way into schools to be discussed in class with Rebecca there to talk about her experiences in person?
‘Together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history.’ Rebecca the resounding truth in this sentence for a moment took my breathe away as I felt the truth that choices make our history and the falsity I employ to delay and justify these choices as if it is okay, that they can be erased ‘later’ without feeling that when this becomes our history then re-writing the future is harder than it need be.
Thank you Rebecca, the 13 yr old girl in me, the 20 yr old woman in me and the woman in me now feels honoured. Beautiful
I just wrote a love letter to my current self, at 60 years of age. What was amazing is that, once I got going, I could have kept going for weeks – Encyclopaedia Me! It is indeed wonderful and very necessary to appreciate ourselves, how far we have come, where we are at truthfully, and what we offer the world. It is nothing to do with pride or arrogance; it is accepting the truth and not shying away from our own greatness, so that we can express that greatness as we are meant to do, without holding back. I did not need to write the whole encyclopaedia; as Rebecca has done here, the essence says it all.
That’s lovely Dianne I am feeling to do this for myself.
‘there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing.There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.’ This is a great truth to align to and keep with me today.
Who would have thought? I never needed to do that, to be so incredibly hard on myself. The chapters in my life were in opposite order to yours Rebecca but yes, the same nonetheless: A reaction to the intensity and lack of love I felt. And then, a giving up and feeling victim to it all.
It feels like taking full stock and responsibility for my choices is happening in layers as I connect more deeply to myself. Like first I had to deal with the years (8 years ago now) just preceding my moment of stopping to be aware. And now I am dealing with my choices in the chapter before that, 18 years ago. Perhaps once I really let myself feel and heal my 18 year old self, my 8 year old self will emerge for healing. And then I will see the choices I made before I entered this life.
I feel blessed and privileged to receive such a consistency of support and inspiration to be able to do this and begin living a true life from my essence.
An extra-ordinary, extraordinary blog Rebecca, ordinary in the fact that what you are writing should be normal and natural to us to choose self love, care and honour who we are. And extraordinary that we have as a society come so far from this natural way of being the tender glorious beings we all are.
Absolute GOLD. I love this so much Rebecca. It needs to be given to every teenager everywhere.
It was inspiring and beautiful to read your letter Rebecca – it has a simple, powerful and strong message that would resonate with so many young women – and older ones alike. Thank you.
“Change your posture and you will change the world.” I love this line because i know the awareness, the connection to your body that this simple act would bring is rich beyond words.
Your letter really helps me determine who I want to be Rebecca. I do not want to be the girl that sells her self out for attention or for recognition as we are worth so much more than that. I do not want to hang on to my lack of self worth because that does not define me. The amazing strength in your article is inspiring and brings truth to who we are as women and the absolute power we have as women when we say no to being pulled away from living just naturally who we are.
The sensitivity that we know ourselves to be is not what meets us out in the world as young women. To hold our beauty and grace amongst all that is not true takes great strength. I listen to what it is like to go to school every evening when my daughter shares about her day and the things she sees and hears can be very brutal. I see her struggle to be herself as she navigates life for herself.
This is very beautiful Rebecca, what we have done in the past does not need to affect the way we are today, and with knowing we have a choice I feel an enormous freedom.
I currently know a young girl who is struggling with her sensitivity, her awareness and all that she is seeing going on in the world. I see myself as a young girl in her, having made the same choices and also having known where they lead us to. This letter is a reminder for all women, young and old, of how precious we are and how we are all supporting each other to return to walking and living our truth again.
Wow Rebecca, thank you for sharing a letter of such wisdom and beauty – each line so very real and deeply inspiring. Re-reading it today the following really struck a chord – ‘And remember your body is your companion. Change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment.’
This is a very beautiful love letter full of wisdom from lived experience. i hope that when I come around again to those difficult adolescent years that this letter is still around to firmly remind me that I am worth nothing less than the love that I am no matter what is going on around me.
Agreed Helen this should be in every girls back pocket. A note to self that is ageless and timeless.
Yes Helen me too! I will and have reread this powerful, wisdom packed, love letter many times so that I feel it in every cell in my body before I pass over as I feel this writing speaks directly to every part of me. This letter is an absolute gem that I recommend everybody read.
I love this, Rebecca you are an inspiration, a woman who inspires me deeply. Amazing that you have learnt this, made the choices to love yourself and now live this.
Your perspective on things is truly groundbreaking, and it opens up new possibilities for all of us.
Thankyou.
Your description of the inhalation and exhalation of a cigarette is so exacting – as i see my teenage self, young kids sharing a rebellious cigarette, i see the angst in their eyes, the knowing that this goes against every grain in their beautiful bodies and the sad acceptance that this is par for the course. Thank-you for returning to yourself, pulling the curtain on this empty course and showing another way.
The wisdom and love in this letter is gigantic! My 13 year old me had not been read to like that before, deeply appreciated Rebecca thank you.
The way you present ‘true rebellion’ Rebecca is gold! I read this blog for the first time 2 years ago and it has stayed with me. It has to be the most profound letter I have ever read, written by a woman who now lives with her heart and can therefore share great wisdom with us all. You are one very amazing role model Rebecca Baldwin.
This is an amazing piece of writing Rebecca, and what is so powerful is that it is not preaching anything, just sharing with your younger self which makes it even more authoritative as it is a lived experience learned and shared. I loved the simple advice about posture and holding oneself, so obvious and transformative. There are many gems in this article and I can’t think of anyone who couldn’t benefit from reading this letter.
Rebecca, what you have written here is something that could be read by anybody at any age, for we are always mere choices away from getting out of the misery or hardship we find ourselves in. Some of these will be much more difficult than others, and it is by constant reflection of one to the other, in the living way with their choices, that we get to see how it is indeed possible to live a life that is free of this suffering. This way of life is where we are all destined to be, and so we shall all continue to inspire each other until that is the way it is.
“For we are always mere choices away from getting out of the misery or hardship we find ourselves in” So true Amelia. I was explaining this to my Mental Health Lecturer the other day at Uni. I showed him how when I walk, my body clears itself and re-energises, he clearly felt the shift in energy, as did I. And so its apparent that at any moment we are making choices. Sometimes it feels like we don’t have a choice, but my body is showing there is always a choice.
I bathe in the quality of your words and what you offer Rebecca in being the beauty-filled women that you are today. Thank you
I could re-read this blog every day – today what jumped out was: “P.S. Doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger or wiser, doing it hard just makes you harder, and that hardness stays with you unless you heal it.” – It is such a thing to romanticise ‘doing it tough’ and your sharing here, amongst so many other gems in this blog is really a pearl of wisdom that turns yet another myth on its head.
Wow Rebecca what an amazing read, I can only imagine how different my life might have been if I had read something like this when I was 13. If we had the inner confidence to stay true to ourselves how much heartache that would save. My drug was sport, I was always playing somthing in order not to have to stand still long enough to feel that empty feeling.
This is one letter that needs to be read over and over. There is so much to glean and feel and digest here. So much love to receive from ourselves. It pours out of this letter in an endless, relentless abundant flow and l love the feeling of it emanating out and around me, over my shoulders and back into my own heart.
Ceaseless love flowing.
I just followed the link from Facebook today to read this blog; what a beautiful read, thank you Rebecca for writing it, and thank you Kate for sharing it! Yes, the rebellious thing is so huge. I have noticed that many of us are attached to being rebellious, while in truth we’re being exactly the opposite, as you so aptly say Rebecca, playing right into the conformity, abandoning our true selves, to fit into the norm. Taking drugs and harming ourselves, being unloving to ourselves and striving for acceptance and recognition through pushing ourselves hard, it’s all the same disregard, no rebellion in this.
So so many pearls packed into one blog – lifts the lids on so many myths and brings it all home to what really matters. I love it too Esther!
Um . . . Wow!
That was beyond awesome, Rebecca. In 1 blog, you have encapsulated the seeking that drives every human being (in one form or another). You’ve called out the illusion we wrap our past in to deal with the fact that it didn’t need to be as hard as we made it. You laid out a path to truth for those looking to take it.
Wow, wow, wow – thank you for putting this gift into form.
One of the revelations in this article is that it does not have to be hard. Growing up as a woman can be simple.
This is beautiful Rebecca, it has touch that place of truth that resides within me and within all others. Your comments – ‘Together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history’ and ‘Change your posture and you will change the world’ are amongst many clear and spot on comments written in this blog. Thank you for saying the words my 13yr old has longed to hear and for the reminder that i, too, can hold that love for her every moment of every day.
What a great letter to share with all young women. I didn’t do drugs, but what I would add to this for my girl and all young women is to remind me/ the young girl that despite what the world may be reflecting to us that we are actually very delicate and precious, and this included our body. And that our delicate and graceful body doesn’t want to be pushed hard with sport, it doesn’t want to compete with other girls and instead it wants to be nurtured and moved in a very fragile and honoring way with gentle daily walking, stretching and light weights. The sport is only ever used to try and feel tough and protected and capable of being in such a harsh and intense world. But the true strength is in our delicateness and the power in our sacredness and stillness! So instead live in a way that honors and develops these things.
Good point Danielle, the way you are teaching us now how to exercise is truly something else. It leaves me feeling more of myself, not less, or hard and tough; because that is not who we are. And once we all start to be more ourselves, we won’t think that we need this false sense and illusion of protection and hardness. We can just be ourselves and simply enjoy each other and what we all innately bring.
Agree Esther, the way Danielle now teaches exercise “is truly something else” as there is a continuing focus on feeling into the body and exercising at the pace and intensity that feels what is needed in that moment. It is all about listening to the body and honouring what the body feels to do in every movement and consequently leaves us feeling more of ourselves and what we innately bring.
Drug taking: As young children we feel everything but because a lot of it is unpleasant we shut down. Once we shut down we are left with emotions and a pervasive sense that something is wrong.
Many emotions hurt so we numb ourselves with various activities. If we need to use something to numb us quickly and strongly because our emotions are out of control we are tempted to use drugs. Drugs wear off, so we need stronger ones.
Or we can connect to our inner heart, a part that has never been damaged. Once we can feel that, we can start feeling other things as well. The more we feel, the more we feel the painful impact of drugs and the less we feel a need for them and their usage just goes away without drama.
Thank Rebecca for sharing your heart felt words , your last line says it all for me -There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.
‘ To know that fragility is a strength that is indeed rare in this world, but need not be. ‘ Powerful and wise words and a timely reminder as we begin a new day.
Thank you Rebecca, this is a wonderful blog that I know all young people could do well to read. The reassurance that life can be a wonderful journey if we listen to our bodies and trust that Life really is about the choices we make . Following the inner knowing that we all have and knowing that Love resides in all of us.
Be gentle on yourself and most of all Love yourself, You are perfect as you are!
Yes absolutely true Roslyn, I also have reading this blog a few times now and I find it so inspiering everytime I do.
If we as young woman just listen to our innermost we know exactly what to say and what to do in every situation. And we can re-learn to honour it and let it unfold.
Great to re-read and go deeper with this soulful message to yourself and all of us. Thank you Rebecca.
Dear Rebecca, such an inspiring read, thank you. I love this sentence, “Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman”.
Recently I took the time to look back at myself as a young woman without judgement for the choices that I made. It was a liberating experience to really understand the motivations I had and the struggles I was facing, and to see actually how well I did handle everything that was placed in my path, even with those ginormous mistakes.
I like this Shami, I would like to reflect on this for myself and definitely leave the judgment behind when i do it.
Yes, judgement is such a killer. It serves no purpose other than to keep ourselves small – when in self-judgement. Judging others could then be seen as a reflection of where we are at ourselves – ie judging ourselves first. Neither supports humanity. Appreciation, in contrast, encourages and does support.
What a loving letter to re-read! There is so much of its contents that are still relevant to me as a woman in my 50’s, let alone my teenage self. I have especially taken heed of your words around connecting with my essence and allowing the past to be healed and the present and the future to unfold with harmony and joy. Beautiful!
Yes, this blog is brimming with wisdom for all ages. To me this sentence is a treasure ‘And while the memory might become foggy, the body never forgets.’ The power held in our bodies is there if we but listen. It also reassuring that in an ageing mind the truth can live in and from the body if it is indeed what has been chosen, lived and known in our bodies.
“. . . loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up”. This is so true Rebecca and something all 13-year old girls need to not only know, but feel the truth of what is here offered. As you say from experience “The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it. If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom”. I trust that the message in your blog reaches as many young teens as possible. This is a message that sorely needs to be shared.
I totally agree Anne that the message in this blog does reach as many young teens as possible. I know I am going to file if safely so that when my granddaughter reaches her teenage years, I will give it to her to read, and of course talk to her about the author. I will tell her the beautiful story of how I observed the way Rebecca turned her life around to become a young woman who is powerful in her tenderness, her gentleness, her sacredness and her glory. Thank you Rebecca for writing this blog – it will live on to be advice that our young teenagers will need to, and hopefully, want to hear.
Good point Linda, this blog is definitely not limiting to age at all.
Dear Rebecca! This was a deeply inspiring blog. There are so many things I want to say to my past self. I loved what you wrote that our body has been with us all the way and each choice is imprinted into it. In this is joy because it means that there is no ‘past self’ it is entirely with us today. The way I live today re-imprints every past choice I made.
I agree Harry, how beautiful and empowering! “There is no ‘past self’, it is entirely with us today. The way I live today re-imprints every past choice I made.
I like that Harry, to clearly state that ‘The way I live today re-imprints every past choice I made’ how true this is and how important it is to keep the focus on continuing to make these loving choices and letting our bodies know that we will no longer treat them in the same way.
Rebecca I will never get tired of reading your letter… so beautifully expressed and so well captured thank you.
I agree Jenny, as i revisit the letter again, there is something else that touches me and i simply gain a greater appreciation of Rebecca’s expression that is a letter on behalf of us all.
Hi Rebecca, I have read this letter quite a few times now and there is always something new to take from it, it is very powerful. The part that resonated with me this time was .. ‘there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing.” This is beautiful and reminds me how precious it is when we choose to truly begin to know ourselves.
Well said SusanG, I also take away something new each time. There is so much beautiful detail in this article and the line you have pulled out Susan is absolutely gorgeous.
So true susanG and arieljoymuntelwit – there is always something new that stands out in this multi pearled beauty of a blog – and yes that line is a timeless favorite.
I love coming back to this blog as it reveals something each time to me. “there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing.” A body worth cherishing stands out above all else at this time.
You are an exquisite writer Rebecca, so delicate and lucid and you inspire the reader to reflect deeply on their 13 and 20 year old selves – no light bit of throw-away entertainment.
So how I now ask would I address the 13 year old girl I was? So paralysed with shyness and struggling with such a burden of perfectionism that she could never live up to it? I would ask her to adjust her eyes, to take the cruelty and judgement out of the gaze she turned upon herself. I would ask her to learn to look again, from love, and not from an assumed brutality of forever fault finding.
To the shy twenty year old, the round peg trying to fit the square hole, I would say embrace your awkwardness. You are uncomfortable with people because they do not yet want to speak truth, or hear truth. By dulling yourself down to “fit in” you offer them nothing. By the way, you still won’t fit in Rachel. Be your gloriously eccentric self and have the love of yourself as the central point upon which your life turns.
You want the antidote to lonely? That is it. Then you shall be amazed by the love that comes your way, from many an unexpected direction.
Inspired by you Rebecca. With love for the beautiful woman you are, Rachel.
Rachel, this is an exquisite and powerful addition. An absolute healing to read. I was also painfully shy and brutally harsh with myself. This is a gem! I am so blessed to have found this rereading all the comments. Thank you Rachel for being the beautiful woman you are!
Likewise to you kathleenbaldwin. You are a beautiful woman, as graceful and gracious a woman as ever I could wish to know, and so steady and holding in your love.
Recently there was a programme on Channel 4 in the UK about cancer and young woman having it she was terminal and died from it. In the programme about her life there is a moment when she says she felt so confident about her body and how she looked that had not existed before, and she wished she could go back to her 13 year old self and say don’t get caught up in all the self conscious nonsense! It is such a pivotal time and to be guided by your soul instead of the need to fit in and be liked would lay the foundation for a life to be lived in service! Instead of constantly feeding self worth issues and self loathing!
WOW this is such a gorgeous letter… I ABSOLUTELY LOVE and have been very INSPIRED by the way you speak to yourself, about yourself. Thank you Rebecca!
Reading this blog has reminded me of those moments when I started smoking and hated the taste but did it anyway – I can’t say that I did it to fit in with friends because I started to smoke when I was on my own whilst babysitting.
If I was to talk to my 13 year old self I would say very gently, don’t be too hard on yourself, let people in and don’t be too serious.
If only i could speak to my 13 year old self, wow what i would say to her! So very much of what you have shared here Rebecca! That you are so very amazing, special and grander than you could ever know. That light up a room when you enter, that you hold a joy and light in your eyes that anyone you look at is blessed by your grace and beauty. I would hold her and let her know that she is loved, but that she holds all that love within her and there is never any need to look outside of her for acceptance, recognition or love. that boy would be so lucky to have you on his arm, that she is to self honour and trust in herself….always! These are just a few things i would say, boy oh boy would it be amazing to feel all that.
I loved reading this again – and a truth that comes out that is so true in these years. Its amazing how we really crush ourselves to experiment and be different when we are actually confirming to how everyone else is behaving.
“our past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.”- Such loving wisdom shared in this blog, Rebecca.
To know that no matter what ill choices you chose in life, you can always return to the love that you are within. This is so liberating and beautiful.
I love this Rebecca, we never did need to find out the hard way, what is cool is so damaging. Knowing everything we need to be is already in us is so real, but I never knew that as I grew up. So much pressure comes in to be more than that and it is great to be talking about it, changing it – for us and our kids.
Gosh I love this blog.
Bravo Rebecca .. An awesome delivery of the truth we can all relate to. Thank you. The stand out line for me today was “In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion.”
I love re-reading this blog. Each time something particular stands out. Right now it is one small line – it is the small things that add up. We often make it about the bigger things, but this is so true. All the in between moments are determining all that comes our way.
Smoking, drugs and alcohol certainly do ‘keep you from your power and your beauty.’ It is great to write a letter to yourself when you were younger .. only we can’t change our past only the choices we make thereafter. What I felt reading this though is there are thousands of teenage girls (and boys) out there that do not yet currently know another way and it is our responsibility to share what we know, have learnt and to help them be all who they are.
Wow Rebecca – what an inspirational blog! I especially noticed your words about our essence being within and the the anchor for us all to connect to. I can certainly relate to measuring myself by achievements and seeing the resulting hardness as something to be endured in a stoic way, almost like a badge of honour. Your blog reminds me it is time for me to get on with connecting to and living from my essence, looking forward joyfully.
This is so Absolutley beautiful and true Rebecca, I spent many years abusing my body thinking I was cool and rebellious for drinking and smoking, spending years in anxiousness and self-doubt. It would be really supportive for young woman to read this article and then know there is a different way.
Such a beautiful blog, Rebecca. If only we listened closely to our bodies when we first encountered such things as alcohol and cigarettes, we would never continue with such habits. Learning about the reason why we go for such substances should be paramount in schools today, and then addressing those deeper issues. However teachers themselves aren’t aware of this either, as I wasn’t until discovering UniversalMedicine.
Each time I read this blog something new stands out and challenges another small thing I have held onto. It’s so challenging and loving at the same time. I can feel the support emanating from the page. Thanks Rebecca. So beautiful.
Thank you Rebecca for sharing your beautiful letter. This is pure gold: “there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing.” This is worth remembering every second of the day.
We all have a letter that we could write to our 13-year-old self. But what if we actually did share with kids and young adults what we have learned from life. How different would the world be then?
These letters could be hugely inspirational to many. Some may quaff at them, but at least it opens up the topics of conversations….many of which are shied away from in today’s society, when in fact they are the most relevant and the issues more prevalent than ever.
We certainly do Elizabeth. My letter would be the longest what not to do letter you could image as I am 60 this year!
In a world where we just do not have enough true support for growing teenage girls your blog is a blessing. When we look at eating disorders statistics, sexually transmitted diseases and the general sadness and heartache found in most young women who are selling themselves out we know as a society we have a huge a problem. Your blog offers us all something different and would be a fantastic feature article in all teenage magazines.
Thank you Rebecca for this precious blog. Every sentence enters in me with the power of the light and love you find within yourself. Thank you to share with all of us in this simple and wise way. the only thing I feel to do when finish writing is sharing it, its pure medicine.
Rebecca, I love your blog each time I read it, there is so much in it. Today this simple line stood out for me “The greatest teacher in the world is your own body.” – so, so true. Nobody else in the world can teach us more about life than our own body, and when we listen to its wisdom, it has much to teach us.
“Our past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.” This is a HUGE revelation…..we are taught, told, or society dictates, that your pain and suffering is what makes you ie. it is your hurts that mold who you are, makes you stronger, toughens you up etc. But as you state, it is just ‘not true’.
I love reading this blog Rebecca, I can feel the absolute truth in what you write, I thought I was such a rebel, so cool for all the drinking, smoking and drugs I did as a kid, but I wasn’t. Life now is truly beautiful because I really care for myself and look after myself and this feels so much more lovely and cool.
Rebecca, Thank you again for such a beautiful blog. Every time I read this I feel like I am getting a whole new package of healing and gorgeous reflection. This is such a powerful letter and one that I feel every girl should read.
Its interesting as in my line of work (outdoor education) many facilitators love to share quotes and readings, and yet I have never really been able to connect with the process. As I read this though, I really felt how beautiful it would be to share this with my girls on camp. I am about to spend 7.5 weeks with 12-17yr old girls in America. Sleeping, eating, living and guiding them over this duration. Pretty special, yet I am sure much will be shown to me.
Your powerful sharing here, along with the many others on this site is so inspiring for me and a constant reminder and reflection of the beauty I too come from and can connect to.
This blog is Gem Rebecca. As you say the next moment is not inevitable, it does not have to come with the loading of the past – we have a choice in that, however “you can only make a choice if you know it is there to be made, otherwise you will default to the choice predetermined by the culmination of your life’s habits”. Thank you for so gracefully covering the major past choices that most of us have made through our teens and 20s so that we can gain a deeper understanding of this process.
This line stood out for me rereading this again Rebecca “Don’t discount the simplicity of the smallest act or intention to love” infact it is this intention that creates the next moment and that all we really have is right now. To be love right now is very powerful.
I love this also Vanessa, i have found that when i am not feeling quite myself, the intention to love, be love and to ensure even if i am in that moment not quite there, my intent to come back to me, come back to love helps to bring myself back to me.
I love rereading this and having different sections popping out for me to appreciate each time.
My favorite this time: “Never forget that the greatest teacher in the world will not be found in any lecture hall or University. The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it. If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom.” Agree wholeheartedly.
Wow, Rebecca, every time I read this I go deeper, into the universal wisdom you share and the loving call to us all to simply be the beautiful, fragile women that we are, to be ourselves and not to comply in any way. This is a call to all of humanity to return to the beauty that we all are. Thank you from my own fragility, activated hugely reading this post.
Yes Elaine, It is that powerful isn’t it! When we make the choice to feel our preciousness, live it and share it we are changing the world. Much inspiration comes from it, and like a torch each person can ignite the next to light up and live from their truth.
‘There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.’ The world doesn’t encourage us to feel this preciousness let alone live it or find the joy in sharing it. When we make that choice we are changing the world.
The deep wisdom the body has to share “If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom.” A true freedom to express and not be controlled or dominated by societal pressures.
In showing yourself such love and understanding Rebecca you show everyone here that there is another way. The line that stood out on my read through today was “doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger or wiser, doing it hard just makes you harder” yet every line contains something for us all. Truly you, me and we all, are like this love letter, deeply precious.
I agree Joseph, every line contains something for us all. It’s a power-filled, jam packed gold mine of wisdom and sharing.
What a Love letter, It is full of accessible truth that a teen in high school would definitely understand. The power of these words is huge, I am going to share this letter and it;s many powerful insights with my children, thanks Rebecca.
That’s awesome Toni.. it’s great you are sharing it with your children… it surely is a powerful blog!
What a joy it is to come back and read this blog! It contains such pearls of wisdom, I loved the line, “In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.” This turns the tables around completely!
This is a blog that I will definitely be sharing with my students, at school, for PSHE discussion.
I have read this blog many, many times and it always inspires me I love when you say”The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it. If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom.” This is GOLD. Thank you Rebecca for sharing your wisdom with us all.
wow! A beautiful heart felt letter. My 13 year old self would of loved to have heard these words, She knew there was a better way but couldn’t see it, and went with the flow that she didn’t feel comfortable in but numbed herself anyway. I’m glad to be out of the fog and into clarity. Thank you Rebecca
How different would my life have been had I heard these words when I was thirteen and I am sure that this applies to many other women. Most of us as you say Natalie, ‘knew there was a better way but couldn’t see it”.
Beautiful Rebecca. Our 13 year old self did know. Our 20 year old self pretended to not know. And now we have the choice to return to the knowing that was there all along.
Vicky this is so true. Yes we have always know haven’t we …so now what choices do we make? A powerful blog Rebecca thank you.
Rebecca’s blog is amazing and your comment here Vicky sums it up beautifully, it is a quote I want to share and have up on my wall or by my mirror.
Vicky what you say here is a quote to be put up on my wall and reflected upon often.I love it’s succinctness.
Gorgeous Vicky. And our 30 year old self also knew, she just pretended she forgot. As for forty…well she is starting to embrace the power of what it is to be a woman.
Very wise words Vicky. In truth we have always known. Yet we have becomes masters at ‘not knowing’ how powerful we are. The choice is always there…
Thank you Rebecca, the ending gave me goosebumps. I have just completed an exam today. Your article was the perfect antidote and shake back to put it all into perspective- that hurting the body to get a good grade has no true success- for when the high is gone – all we are left with is a crumpled, pained body that we do not enjoy. I loved your blog ~ it covered everything, and applies to everyone. The wisdom we may all learn if we all took the time to write a letter to ourselves would write the future.
Well said Arianne… your are a perfect example of how this blog really supported you to realise yourself you were hurting your body and to come back to honouring yourself. This blog does have such an impact.. imagine one day everyone writes a letter like this to their younger self.. it’s very sweet to think about what I would say to my younger self so I look forward to doing this one day.
Where do I begin after reading and feeling into what you have shared with us all Rebecca. Amazing – thank you. Yes “our greatest teacher in the world is your own body” and the stories it could tell me how I’ve lived my life so far. Gently changes are being made and the results are starting to reveal the beauty that was there all the time.
‘We are always the sum total of all our choices.’ A powerful blog Rebecca. Thank you.
Rebecca, your words of wisdom in this letter come with such beauty and power. It is amazing how we can find so many ways of distracting ourselves from really feeling the amazingness and power of who we really are. Whether that be through drugs, alcohol or study as you have described here in this letter. They are all distractions that we get caught up in, so that we don’t have to feel what is really going on. Thank you for your gorgeous sharing, every young woman should read this.
Very true Donna.. there is an endless list of options these days of how we can distract ourselves, it’s shocking… These kinds of articles should be out there for young women to read so they know they don’t have to go through it all.. learn from someone else experience.
‘Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.’ So inspiring, thank you Rebecca. How beautiful the world would be if each of us started our day knowing that.
Hi Rebecca, if I gave you my address of where I lived when I was 13, do you think you could send a copy to my 13 year old self as well?! So many gems in this piece, and I love how you write “You miss the easy way you were with yourself when you were a kid, before the onset of all this intensity” – I can relate to this a lot and can feel how much hurt I carried from missing this, and that nothing I did could ever replace that feeling no matter how much I tried with smoking, alcohol, drugs etc.
great point the trying to fit in with the crowd which ever the party drug of choice never came close to the ease and feeling of freedom we have as young children and indeed when connected to our souls!
Rebecca I thank you so much for this letter. I especially love the part where you write about the horribleness of what it was and is to bury ourselves in study and how this may also be just as damaging as smoking that cigarette. It is presented that smoking is so much more damaging than to over study but the intensity that is felt within the body, I know to be just as hurtful and damaging as I have done both.
Yes Natasha it is interesting how we champion one act over another somehow thinking that one is better because it is obvious ‘unhealthy’
But in truth ANYthing that doesn’t honour the body first is damaging. This may include even certain sports, certain foods even the way we move.
Beautiful Rebecca thank you. I have to share this, there is a preciousness that is so easily felt.
Hmmm, inspiration for a letter to my 13 year old self men’s edition… I think so
What a great idea Luke – get typing 😉
I would love to read that Luke… absolutely would be a hit like this one from Rebecca!
Thank you Rebecca for such wisdom. This should be prescribed reading in all high schools. My life would have been so different had I understood to learn what I needed to know and not to abandon myself in the process, which is what I did! All children need to be taught that ‘the greatest teacher in the world is our own body’ and to ‘listen intently to it’.
I agree Anne. This should be a fundamental teaching in all schools.
I agree Anne, that would change everything. Even if that teaching is rejected, its constant obvious truth and reinforcement will, over time, give us very clear and conscious choices unlike the situation today where we make many unconscious choices.
Anne if we taught that teaching in schools life would change all around the world in one generation. It would appear we want the opposite to love as we teach the opposite to listening to the body and rather listen to the mind, a empty self destructive path, a path that has been the making of generations for 1000s and 1000s of years. When will we want to change?
Well put Anne.. imagine how many young girls lives would be different if they got to read this in school. Abandoning yourself in school happens so quickly and can make us very lost… this needs to be in education.
The rebellious in teenage years, we all remember and went through, is the choice to react to what we feel in adults, then, those reactions build up and become the next generation of adults whose children will rebel against. It is such a horrible cycle and one which will be broken as the simple, beautiful and precious understanding that there is another way, continues to be offered by Serge Benhayon and many others associated with Universal Medicine. Great appreciation to all involved in this generational shift.
Such a confirming blog Rebecca, I’ve read it about 5 times now and I know il read it at least another 5 I hope this year as it an amazing Beautifull reminder to stay with me and express from me and that absolutely nothing is better for me or anyone than me staying with and true to me.
This is awesome Rebecca – you have such a wealth of experience and wisdom that I hadn’t realised or appreciated fully until this point. Wow – what a woman! This is such an inspiration for young people, but really people of any age as we can look at our choices and see whether they have been indeed honouring of our inner essence or not. This is such an important reflection and one that will remain so for many aeons to come.
Hi Rebecca, the sentence ‘in a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion’ jumped out at me from your blog. The truth of this is enormous. Just one small example is the tattoo trend, particularly amongst young people. To allow a stranger to cut a foreign substance (ink) into their bodies for the sake of fashion, or making a statement (apparently), or fitting in seems very strange to me now as a 40 something observer. But I remember vividly the voracity of peer group pressure in my teens and 20s, and so the rebellion of making choices that love and honour ones body and resist the fashion trends of the day which are just a form of glorified self harm, deserves to be celebrated and encouraged in our young people, and generally.
Very true Stevie, so spot on, well said
It has been a long time since I have read this blog so reading it again it was like reading it for the first time and what a beautiful treat. Could you cc my 13year old self and 20 year old self in on this letter it would be much appreciated.
haha Kevin that is priceless, consider yourself cce’d
Such a beautiful blog Rebecca…it is music to my body reading it again. It is so true that we are not our hurts and they don’t define who we are, and they definitely do not determine our future.
I love the way you describe loving and honouring ourselves is the rebellion. I too can remember girls who I thought were so boring because they wouldn’t join in with the fashions of the day, or the drinking in the evening. They were actually the clever ones.
I love this article Rebecca and yes more rebels standing up for self-love and honouring is exactly what is required in this world of despair and loveless ways. I’m a rebel all the way.
Go the rebels…
Wow! Rebecca you have offered us all so much here – For me today reading your words “It is the discipline to consistently and honestly love and honour yourself” that I am reflecting on – It is only in the past few years since attending presentations with Serge Benhayon/Universal Medicine that I fully understood what to love and honour myself actually felt like. Then in the following sentence “There is a freedom to be had in simplicity” – that too I now realise I always made ‘things’ SO complicated – amazing sharing thank you.
Every single moment I need to discipline myself to choose a way of being with myself that will support me to deepen my connection, otherwise I revert back to shutting down. Love your blog Rebecca….you are so inspirational
The simplicity in this blog is profound and the love is deeply felt. It inspires me to honour myself in this world, knowing that even the slightest loving gesture I make towards myself is huge and world changing. That by changing my posture I can change my mood. Thank you Rebecca.
and it will change the world 🙂 Thank you Lieke
Rebecca I love it when you wrote ‘Change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment’. It’s something I’m working with right now.
I love what you have written Rebecca because it exposes long held myths and beliefs. It takes me back to my 13 year old self desperately wanting to fit in. I was one of those that rebelled not knowing that I was treading a well known path of conforming. A teenager of the Sixties, we called those that didn’t join the group ‘straight’ because they said No to cigarettes, alcohol and drug taking. We thought we were the ‘in crowd’, the cool ones. Whereas now I see how we were the duped ones. Those we called ‘straight’ knew themselves, said No if something didn’t feel right, were individuals not followers. They had an inner strength, we were weak and impressionable.
The ‘rebel’ in popular culture is glamourised and sold as ‘the way’ to be cool and different now we see it for what it truly is.
Great to appreciate this for yourself Shirley-Ann, and you would have been an inspiration to others around you at that time. I, like many others, followed a well-trodden path of smoking and drinking alcohol at a young age (14) but said no to drugs (they scared me). I thought I was so cool, in with the in crowd, cool guys, etc only to feel more and more empty, sad and depressed well into my adult life.
Dear me, a reminder and in appreciation of how incredibly inspiring and real it is to read articles like this one and all other blogs on this Women in Livingness site. As well as the appreciation for Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon for continually presenting Love all of the time. Now I know that there is no other way. Thank you for the truth.
Thank you so much Rebecca…I want to share this with so many beautiful people around me. I felt every word you wrote.
Rebecca I love this blog, every word of it. The closing words to your younger self stays with me: ‘there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.’ Just lovely and so very tender.
It is so very true that all those acts of apparent rebellion were and are nothing but acts of total and utter compliance.
Beautifully written, Rebecca. So great to expose how we ‘glorify self-harm as a badge of defiance’ but how we are actually complying to peer pressure. I remember how much my body reacted to smoking my first cigarette and that was my last, as I could not bring myself to do it in spite of the fact that it was the ‘cool’ thing to do. But I did comply by pushing myself to study hard for exams to get that ‘false high’ of success and approval from my dad.
Now I see that when I am in harmony with the natural rhythms of my body I can do a lot and my body does not suffer but if I am driven to work hard by my choice to get some form of recognition I can more easily overlook these messages from my body and I steel myself to achieve a result. I then stop feeling what’s really going on and the tension makes me hard and less able to read the body. How futile it is for us to keep ‘doing it hard’, and how great to realize that in any moment we can make a true choice ‘for and from the love we are’.
I felt deeply cared for reading your letter, you said so much! What stood out for me at this moment is to “Never forget that the greatest teacher in the world will not be found in any lecture hall or University. The greatest teacher in the world is your own body.” I am studying in University at the moment and I can say this is absolutely true. Thank you for writing this letter Rebecca I will revisit this for sure.
“If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom. Cut the excuses and the overriding. Your body is always asking to be loved.” So true Rebecca, If I let go of all the complications, and choose the simple rythum of my love.
I loved reading this blog, and have re-read it again! I agree that it is actually the kids who don’t just follow the crowd who are the cool kids. The ones who are able to retain a connection to self throughout these intense years.
This is so deeply beautiful Rebecca. Your comment – “there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared. ” I have written this down and put on my fridge : ) it is so glorious, i want to read this everyday.
Thanks dearly Rebecca, Reading that released my tension, and made me feel so essential to what I truly feel I want.
Ben reading your comment made me appreciate the power of expression. Thank YOU.
Rebecca what you wrote has a very powerful deconstructing effect. It serves to dismantle much of what is not true in society. It is these untruths that coil around the people of the world, keeping them from themselves. It is these untruths that we are all shining our light on and exposing them for the frauds that they are. It is the light that will cause them to wither and fade so let’s turn up the light !
hear hear 🙂
Hi Rebecca, I am speechless after reading this. I can feel your Love and as the reader it felt like it was written just for me. That’s the power of writing straight from the heart. I feel so at ease now.
Sometimes I wish my future self would write this kind of letter to me, telling me all that I need to know,to listen to my body and not live for others. But when I actually stop and realise that I know all of this already yet still chose to ignore it. Knowing what the future will be if I continue in this way should be enough to make the changes, but fueled by the momentum of the past it is harder than I thought. It takes constant commitment, concious choice to change the past momentum. I’ve been told it gets easier from then on.. Let’s se how I go.
Rebecca, this is a great idea. I would probably say only one thing: The truth is in the body, not in the mind. The mind is just a tool and it can’t discern truth – as you well know – it can only detect inconsistencies.
Thank you for your beautiful blog, Rebecca. Thank you for the clarity and awareness of what you have done to yourself and how you are now being and, that it is for all of us to remember and return.
‘Remember when at 16 years old you decided to quit pot, and all your smoking buddies stopped knowing how to be around you?’ Knowing when it’s time to stop engaging in a harmful behaviour will always challenge those who are still locked in it. Any one who has stopped drinking alcohol, for example, has probably lost friends – and worse, been attacked for their choice. It takes strength to be OK with that. To those who chose never to drink, smoke, overwork, etc – congratulations for being true to you in a world that wants us to be anything but.
I feel that every single woman in the world, irrespective of age needs to have a copy of this letter. I call this true education.
I agree Elizabeth. Let’s add men to the reading list too.
So great to come back and read this again – I love the way it is so real when it comes to teenager so called rebellion. And if every teenager could read this I wonder what they would feel about it. I have a feeling many would heave a sign of relief to hear something that makes complete sense… finally, there is a choice to be themselves and not what the world is telling them to be.
Yes, rebellion is a strange mixture of wanting to be accepted and wanting to be yourself.
It would be really interesting to get teenagers to read Rebecca’s blog because it doesn’t say ‘don’t smoke, do drugs or drink alcohol’. There is no telling, just an offering to see so-called rebellion in another way, and for them to consider that it isn’t a necessary path into adulthood or a way to cope with what they are feeling.
Good Point Sandra, using drink, drugs etc as an accepted way to cope during teenage life but what is it setting up for our adult life?
How beautifully well expressed, it reads like a dance and impacts like a gentle melting. It is full of realism and realisations, wisdom and understanding. And that every person always has the choice to be the love they truly are.
Rebecca, I love the way you have so gently addressed yourself at these various ages, and I love the amazing woman that you have become. What a beautiful letter to your younger self. What a font of wisdom you have become, through learning to listen to your own body. I love you dearly for all you do and inspire in others, and of course for yourself. I wish I had this knowledge when I was growing up and then throughout my marriage. What a different marriage that could have been.
I too, am so grateful to Serge Benhayon and his family, including Natalie.
I love the way you explain that it’s not the hard lessons that make us who we are, it’s our essence, and that is never lost or negated. I used to think it was the tough experiences that made me who I am, but no more. The beautiful part of me that is who I really am, and its what makes me special, gorgeous and lovely.
I love how you describe that we have a choice to re-turn to who we truly are, a simple act of return to honour ourselves with love. Beautiful, thank you Rebecca.
Where could I start on this blog, it speaks to me very deeply, it’s great how it reminds young women who the true rebels are- the young women who don’t allow abuse in the first place.
Beautiful Rebecca, you saying my body never forgets my choices brings up a lot of sadness for me with the choices I have made but I felt the inspiration also to know I can re imprint my choices to heal my sadness. Thank you for expressing so beautifully.
Such an inspiring and beautiful blog Rebecca. Thank you for the amazingly powerful and loving woman you are and the great role model for us all – young and old.
Absolutely Kristy, and he has inspired many teenagers too (including myself) to know themselves and feel confident expressing that, even with the growing pressures from school, the media etc.
So true Susie. And you have taken that inspiration and now live its truth and also inspire many young girls and women. The ripple effect and power of living from integrity, truth and tenderness reaches out to so many.
Rebecca- so many beautiful and revealing reminders about how we are living, have lived and the impact of societies ideals and beliefs. So simple to listen to our body and what it says but we are never taught that and what we felt as being true was often discounted by society at such an early age. Thank you for reminding me that it is never too late to listen and feel.
Thank you for this beautiful letter Rebecca, it is so lovely to feel the love and understanding in it, opposed to the ‘hard way’ we where so used to live. I love the part where you wrote: “And there is the freedom of discipline. The discipline to consistency and honestly love and honour yourself”. And I can feel that discipline on its own is also an act of love and has to be appreciated as such since we must be aware that there is also a ‘hard way’ of disciplining ourselves and that our experiences with that makes it sometimes challenging to accept the loving counterpart.
Self-love and eventually true love itself is true rebellion.
I just love the simplicity of your statement expressing truth, Joshua, thank you.
Me too, great insight.
So true Joshua. The simplicity of truth clearly expressed.
Brilliant to re read this blog Rebecca and the loving way in which your understanding is beautifully shared. ‘Together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history’. This is a superb example of self love. I loved this.
There is such a freedom in choices and knowing that it all is a choice to love or not. To make those choices by first being in your heart and with your body just feels amazing. I will let go of the sadness of the past choices and seize the joy of the choices now.
Thank you Rebecca for your beautiful, heart-felt words, they serve as a reminder to always come back to the body and our own inner heart. In deep appreciation of the amazing, beautiful, inspiring woman that you are, that inspires me to be the amazing, beautiful woman I am.
I agree Jade, Rebecca is such an inspiration to us all to come back to our body and inner heart. She has certainly inspired me.
Dear Rebecca,
My whole self is grateful and thankful you have written this letter to me, for me, for us. I get to share this with my own daughter and her friends as she grows up, some of them possibly toying with the idea of playing the rebellion or the academia game. They need not go down those paths now, as you have done that for them and they can learn, if they choose to. Your wisdom is so very appreciated and is felt more deeply than my words can express.
Hi Rebecca,
What a Beautiful blog. What you write is Universal. Both Men and Women I feel. To keep it simple, it definitely is for me. I bursted into tears when reading “And say hi to Serge Benhayon and thank him from me; it is his perspective that will inspire you to see that the past was not inevitable, and neither is your future. And it is also him that will help you realise that there is more to you than just a brain on legs – there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.”. Very confirming how precious it is to be confirmed in who you are, truly are. Not judged by what you’re doing or not doing, but simply who you are. To admit to myself how much I miss myself is quite a thing for me. While reading your blog I found myself opening up more to the fact that I in fact really miss me and always have missed me.
“Doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger or wiser, doing it hard just makes you harder, and that hardness stays with you unless you heal it.
Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman. What most of us are reluctant to admit is that we never needed to ‘”find out the hard way”. Had we honored our essence in the first place we never would have walked the roads we knew would hurt us. When we stop saying, “I guess it was meant to be”; when we stop romanticising our hardships and conveniently wrapping them in a fog of nostalgia, only then will we have the clarity to take full stock and full responsibility for our past choices.”
The greatest gift I’ve given myself over the years is to re-connect to myself and my inner-voice. And yes, indeed there’s absolutely nothing outside of me that will bring me, me. The challenge is be-ing with me while living my life. Instead of living my life searching for me… And accepting the fact that the ‘me’ is not a final destination, a certain pictured end point in my head, but a forever deepening relationship with myself and others.
Floris, I agree with you and I love your words “While reading your blog I found myself opening up more to the fact that I in fact really miss me and always have missed me”.
I too have found that the big thing is that I have missed “me”. That is what brings tears to my eyes. I lost me for so many years, but I am finding my way back to me, much development to go, but I am coming to realise just how amazing I am. A wonderful change from how I thought before that I was.
“The greatest gift I’ve given myself over the years is to re-connect to myself and my inner-voice. And yes, indeed there’s absolutely nothing outside of me that will bring me, me. The challenge is be-ing with me while living my life. Instead of living my life searching for me… And accepting the fact that the ‘me’ is not a final destination, a certain pictured end point in my head, but a forever deepening relationship with myself and others.” absolutely Floris, thank you.
Floris, you have nailed it for me here ~
“While reading your blog I found myself opening up more to the fact that I in fact really miss me and always have missed me”
Maybe this explains our underlying pain and sadness, the fact that we really miss ourselves, this certainly rings true for me, and what makes it worse is that in the past I have chosen to step away from the true me, but it’s never too late to return, every moment is an opportunity to come back to me.
Rebecca,
The way that you speak about the choices you made, but that does not define you,
No judgment of yoursel, just a gentle knowing that there was more to you, there was another way.
Thank-you Rebecca, every sentence of this letter and the wonderful insights it offers are suitable for anyone of any age to read. There are a few comments that really stood out for me which were “and remember your body is your companion” and “when we stop romanticising our hardships and conveniently wrapping them in a fog of nostalgia only then will we have the clarity to take full stock and full responsibility for our past choices”.
So true Deidre that this beautiful letter to self is suitable for any age, and also of note, of any gender. A beautiful reminder that we are all innately precious and that our choices can either support us in connecting to this preciousness or take us further away from it…
This piece of writing is beautiful Rebecca. It serves as a reminder and as The Way; may many children and adults a like be privy to such inspiring words. Well done.
Rebecca OMG this is breathtaking beautiful raw and honest. I have forwarded it to my 13 year old daughter as every young woman (young man for that matter) needs to be blessed by the wisdom of your words.
Rebecca your letter left me with tears in my eyes but Love in my heart! So beautiful and something I feel every person should read especially the tender young teens that need to know how precious they are already without having to prove anything to anyone. Maybe compulsory reading for all 13 year olds in High School! Thank you.
I just love this line Rebecca…..There is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.
“Learn what you need to know but don’t abandon yourself in the process.” ….. Imagine kids hearing this at school, such as amazing confirmation of what we already know.
Brilliant and beautiful Rebecca.
Reading this blog reconnects me back to the love in my body and my relationship with me, in a world that constantly asks you not to honour yourself and tricks you that the love is out there somewhere .. I need to read this blog everyday!
This piece of remarkable writing so resonates with me. I love the part where you tell the young woman choosing to smoke etc that she is not a rebel, and that the girl choosing to honour herself is the rebel and we need more young rebels!
I also love the way the strong message is right throughout is to listen to the body and that we did not have to ‘learn the hard way’….. THANKYOU Rebecca! Awesome!
Thank you Rebecca, I felt the wonderful understanding and support that your letter to yourself had. I addressed some of my hurts and choices in this manner. This allowed me to have compassion and grace towards myself It felt soothing and tender.
It felt bridging towards my teenage daughters too. Blessings Rebecca.
Your insight is remarkable Rebecca and thank you for sharing it with us all. This blogs flows and exposes the Truth behind the ideals and beliefs most of us carry as young adults and soon to be ‘grown ups’. I loved how you confirm that a true rebel is actually one who honours themselves away from the pack; they don’t drink at parties, sleep around or TRY to be anyone they are not just to ‘fit in’. I envied these people in school as deep down I knew they were really living for themselves and no one else. Yet I too was caught up in the social scene of self-abuse and popularity. There is much to ponder, feel and heal here.
Oh Rebecca, this is great! And what would I at 60 years old say to all the 13 and 20 year olds? I’d say “LISTEN to Rebecca, and act now. Because I can testify that those “marks of every choice we ever made” – the abuses, injuries and illnesses in the body, are a real painful, persistent drag to live with and they stop you doing a lot of things you really want to do. If when I was way younger I’d met and heeded the example set by Serge Benhayon or any of the crew like Rebecca Baldwin and Natalie Benhayon, my body would be much more joy to live with today!
Beautifully written. Easy to read and simply highlighting the truth that we all couldn’t see as teens and young adults. An article for all teens to read and consider for themselves. Magnificent.
Thanks Rebecca , I really loved the ps and the Pps, super great. You are absolutely right, the rebellious one now days is the one with self love and respect who goes against the grains of drinking, partying and sex.
And you are also absolutely right in saying that burying yourself in books and grade is no different to alcohol and drugs, they both leave you strung out and withdrawn from life and everyone.
Ouch, that one hurt to read and makes me cry. It’s almost too much to revisit my younger self. I combined the drugs and academic achievement and thought that was rebellion because I could do both. And I was so proud of it. Only now can I feel the emptiness and the pain I felt.
I loved reading this again, so much so I shared it with my 15 year old daughter and all her friends on Facebook so that they know that they too are ‘the sum of all their choices’ and they do have a choice.
Me too Sally with my 16 year old son and his friends – there is a choice – true rebellion – the rebellion of not shrinking to fit a mould – but standing steady in our care with self and letting it all (the teen self abuse stuff) spin around us, but not in us – and in doing – we offer a beacon to others that they too have a choice – and there we have the ripples of change that will turn the tide – ‘change your posture and you will change the world’.
Third time I’ve read this blog, makes me cry every time. It reconnects me back to the precious relationship I have had with myself and my body but that I keep forgetting about. I so needed to be reminded that I don’t need to do it hard. And that the unloving things I did in the past haven’t made me stronger or wiser! How absurd! 🙂 You have brought back to my awareness that it is all the small moments of my day, how I feel in those moments, and the choices I make that are important, they all count towards how I will feel at the end of each and every day. And that I am not just a brain on legs, I have a heart that eminates, a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing.
I really love this blog Rebecca – though my 13 year old self was a tad far away to really remember what the pressures were at the time – not drugs or alcohol I know that for sure – it was more about ‘measuring up’, ‘being good’, and ‘seen to be doing the expected thing’. If I had had an opportunity of talking to my 13 year old self then as so lovingly suggested in your blog I may have seen how untrue and illusional the whole scenario and teen years were for me even at that time. How truly beauty-full it is that we now are becoming more aware that the opportunity is there to see we do have a choice to listen to our body and respond to that in every moment.
Rebecca this blog is so powerful. We can all feel the sum total of our choices in life and if they are not aligned to our essence then they are simply not true to who we are. How can we tell? You nailed it with this line ‘The greatest teacher in the world is your own body’.
Its so true, I agree Kathryn…the greatest teacher in the world IS OUR OWN BODY…Amen to that! The body is saying a big YES to that.
Dear Rebecca, thank you for this awesome letter, it is so absolutely precious with so many many great tips for life. I love how you say, ‘learn what you need to know but don’t abandon yourself in the process’ and that ‘there is a preciousness in all of us that can be felt and lived and shared’.
Rebecca this is such a powerful piece and so valuable to read. The section describing the smoking was so powerful it took me straight back to being 13 years old and learning how to take a drag in a vacant block, feeling sick and like we were choking to death. We so wanted to look “cool” mainly to impress the boys but the irony was that the boys who were mainly into sport thought we were idiots for smoking. How loudly my body did speak to me yet it was a language that I chose not to understand.
I was so deeply moved reading this incredible letter. It inspires me to write one to myself. The PS was absolute gold. I realised I have still championed ‘doing it hard’ and all the traumatic things I put myself through. It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you begin to accept the fact that all that hardness and trauma was simply not necessary. Very beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing this Rebecca.
Another point about your letter that I love is that you have busted the myth of the torturous, character building journey.
No journey was ever required.
All that we need has always been with us, the rest is just distraction, busyness, drama and stories to tell.
Your writing is so exquisite Rebecca. I am struggling to type this comment through the tears of recognition. It is as though you have reached into the banks of memory stored in my body and written a letter to my 13 year old. She did not do drugs, but certainly “did” intellect, and lost herself in the need for the mark and the approval.
Note to my 22 year old self: no patient is ever going to ask what mark you got in third year restorative dentistry. They come to see you because you look deep into their eyes, and they feel truly met and enjoyed just for who they are. They come to you for the touch of your hands, and the warmth of your presence. And they come because in your surgery they surrender into a deep state of repose and they heal, even though they might not know that this is so.
What a different approach I might have taken in knowing the truth of this back then.
Beautiful Rachel – Thank you.
Lovely, true, silly and fun. Love the blog.
Wouldn’t it be cool to have a time machine post box to send it back.
However, no, that isn’t needed because what is had today outshines, knowing there is a different way to live that loveliness.
I agree Aimee this is PURE GOLD. Every man and woman of all ages need to read this blog, it is so practical, supportive, real and so,so very inspiring.
This is pure GOLD Rebecca, something that would be so inspiring for every teenager or anyone to read. I read this when it was first published and think of the wisdom you shared often…especially – “Never forget that the greatest teacher in the world will not be found in any lecture hall or University. The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it.”
I agree Aimee, this blog is of the greatest benefit for all teenagers and anyone who knows one, so pretty much everyone!
SO many myths and beliefs are lovingly busted here and another is offered if they so choose it. When are we reminded to listen to our bodies in education? NEVER. Our greatest ally is our own body and it speaks to us always, we just need to stop and listen.
This is just so beautiful. How amazing would it be for honouring self to be part of the school curriculum, allowing teens to honour what they already innately know?
Such a beautiful blog Rebecca and if rebellion truly means someone who speaks what they truly feel and accept nothing less then love. Then I am very rebellious.
I loved re-reading this Rebecca, such a classic that I would like to give every 13 year old, so many chunks of gold! I especially love”Change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment” By reading this I just became aware of how much I was slouching!
So true that throwing yourself into studies is no different to taking drugs – and I love how you have said that you can be rebellious by being the ‘boring’ one that does not drink and do drugs…Awesome letter, inspiration and reminder of the choices that we have…
Awesome blog Rebecca..I agree with Tania…this blog should be a part of the school curriculum for all boys and girls. What true support that would be.
It definitely should part of school curriculum.
Thank you Rebecca for this beautiful love letter. It just feels to be a reconciliation bridge that I would definitely want to do for me and my former selves. Thank you.
Wow, what a terrific idea to write a letter to your younger self. Thankyou for your honesty and wisdom in this blog. I really felt like you took your responsibility for your actions to new depths by lovingly scolding yourself back to your truth.
There is a timelessness, deep wisdom and wealth of insight within this article Bec. Every time I read this gorgeous piece I feel the universality of what you share. Claiming our preciousness unapologetically is today real rebellion… that revelation in itself speaks volumes about the world’s current climate of rejection of true self and pervasive self neglect.
This article should be part of the school curriculum for all 13 year old (well any age really) girls, boys and parents to read – what a true support that would be. Thank you Rebecca Baldwin
I totally agree Tanya. That’s exactly what I was feeling as I was reading through Rebecca’s amazing letter. What a difference it would have made to my life, if at 13 I had been presented with this incredible wisdom from someone who was not telling me what not to do, but simply sharing from her life experience that there is another way.
Hear Hear Rebecca, I love it, I wish I had the chance to read it when I was 13.
So Beauty-Full 💖
I loved your comment on how the world glorifies self harm. It sure does at every age, race, colour and nationality. Only yesterday some said to the response of not drinking alcohol. Your boring. No we are not boring at all, we are actually feeling true joy in life and not chasing a bit of fun for a single night that cannot be sustained the next day.
Why don’t we look further afield and see the truth of our endless pursuit of happiness through harm. Maybe just maybe we have been using the wrong vices to find the happiness…….
Beautifully said. For me I’m not sure it was rebellion but just plain old if you can’t beat them join them. If only I had of known then instead of joining them I could have been a light in the darkness.
So gorgeous Rebecca, I feel like I could have written this myself to myself. It’s amazing how your words, with out judgement or regret, are so very loving, understand and powerful.
I loved reading your blog Rebecca. Beautiful way to reflect on our past choices with love, gentleness and understanding, any harnesses or judgment just melts away.
I totally agree Chan, so beautifully said.
Yes, Chan & Amina, I am loving this new found practice of tenderness and understanding towards myself, it allows the true love that is within to be felt and celebrated. When we are hard on ourselves that love feels more distant and hence more difficult to live.
We can look on our past choices with regret and stay stuck in that or we can look back and see just how much we have learned. We can get so lost in our teens when all we see around us are our peers who are lost, or seeing how alienated those who choose to be true to themselves can appear. This highlights how important it is for us to have role models to show us that choosing to stay true to ourselves is worth it and the only way to be.
It’s really beautiful Rebecca, an insightful perspective on true rebellion, which is when we deny what our body teaches us.
So true, all these apparent acts of rebellion, whether it be smoking, taking drugs or dressing provocatively in the many ways that this is possible, are in truth utterly and totally compliant with the herd mentality of fitting into the precast mould of lovelessness, disregard and emptiness.
Yep, that was me also, in the end I learnt that the behaviour did not give me what I thought it was or what I was looking for.
I agree Gabriele and Rebecca to be truly rebellious is to not comply and run with the crowd but to stay true to myself, to chose to stand by me and not to give myself up to be accepted and recognized. To eat, sleep, walk and talk according to what I feel is true for me not to what is expected of me from society – that is liberating and truly breaking the mould.
At age 13 I did not choose drugs, alcohol or sex as an escape or to fit in, but instead chose to numb, hide and harden my hurts through developing my physical abilities in sport. A much harder addiction to give up because of the way that physical prowess and achievements are championed as success. Both harming as either choice inevitably taking you away from your true self…
I just loved re-reading this blog Rebecca, this tender letter that is written for every young girl and every woman to help them realise that they need not comply with all the expectations and pressures of their peers and the outside world, that they have everything they will ever need within their own bodies. This is such a gorgeous piece of writing and should be shared with young girls everywhere to inspire in them the choice they can make to cherish themselves above all else.
Wow Rebecca there were so many pearls of wisdom in this blog I didn’t know which one to chose until I read: “Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.” Yes! The unbreakable love always patiently waiting for us to come home again the day we choose to do so. I have to say it’s not easy being a true rebel with the whole world asking us to be otherwise. But the more of us who have the courage to do so will change the world and the pull to come home again will be stronger than all else. This was an amazing blog, thank you!
Awesome. I’m going to read this to my secondary school students. Thank you for sharing.
I just love this blog.
As I was reading it, it spoke to the younger me, the one that was pushed to become hard and not feel, the one that was never treated like a beautiful tender little boy, the one that had already given up on being love at 5 years old.
The awesome thing is that I don’t feel sadness about the past, for a magical thing happened one day when I was 42 years old. I went to a Heart Chakra workshop presented by Serge Benhayon, and within 30 minutes, had re-connected with that beautiful, aware, connected and loving little boy once again.
Since then, I have been committed to letting go and healing all of the hurt that I have done to myself and others, so that I can be and live that amazing me 24/7, and Universal Medicine has been the classroom where I study a true way of living, a way to be me.
What a deeply wise blog, it is even clearer to me from reading this how much of the world is a trick we play on ourselves, an illusion that being rebellious is somehow actually that, when in fact it is purely compliance, where we are being shoehorned, squashed and pigeonholed into a tiny little box by the actions we believe are setting us free. A clever trick that deconstructs the grandness that we naturally are, and how powerful we can choose to be. Because choose we do, whether we conform with ways of living that harm our bodies and make us feel less than this power.
So true Stephen – one silly charade and trick. I love how Rebeccas blog shows the topsy turvyness of it all – ‘Claiming our preciousness unapologetically is today real rebellion…’ This Blog is on my home screen of my phone and ipad – and we re-read it as a family very often – Absolute pure Gold!
Yes I agree Stephen. That we think rebelling is just that, when in fact it is complying. The only true freedom I have found in this world is when I drop everything that I think hurts me and everything that I think is me. Then, I am free to be me – and I perhaps would never have known this without Universal Medicine
I could read this blog every day for a year and there would be a deeper unfolding within myself. This morning the 20’s. I did all of this, going between the cigarettes/alcohol to the intense study – all overriding the love (and sweetness) that is/was always naturally there in me. I am now learning to listen to and honour my body and my feelings and to not look for anything outside to give me a false sense of love or personal satisfaction. In this what I have found is a deeply caring and loving woman whom I would never want to hurt or abuse again.
This is so beautiful, playfully expressed- I always called myself boring and do it now sometimes- even though it is said with humour, I won t express it like that anymore…. Being inspired by looking at it differently by your blog .
Thank you Rebecca. Your article is one of my favorite pieces of writing ever. It is so clear and powerful and loving. I love everything you have written and was particularly struck at the clarity of your revelatory statement at the beginning of how taking drugs is not rebellious. Here’s to a gentle ‘teetotaler rebellion’ for all of us abstaining from harmful choices.
There is so much wisdom coming from you in this blog Rebecca.
‘Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.’ So many of us do this, think we get stronger from the past hurts in our lives, but as you say here, there is no need for us to take the hard road. Choosing the hard road is pointless and painful and ironically I can say that I know this because I chose the hard road time over and am only now choosing me. Thank you for you and your beautiful words.
This is so true Rebecca, and i was just the same. The concept of caring for yourself is so left behind, I’m seeing it creep in now with my 9 year old daughters friendships. To stand out, look after yourself and be uncool is a hard thing to do in this society. My daughter and i are incredibly fortunate to have the support of Esoteric Women’s Health to do just that.
What a beautiful blog. Full of wisdom and truth. It was not meant to be, we chose it, and that is why we can choose something different now. “loving and honouring yourself is rebellion”, it certainly is, nowadays more than ever.
Wow, Rebecca, I just had a huge revalation because of what you have written to your 13 year old self. Till today I was convinced that I was a pretty boring teenager… no drugs, no sleeping around, no alcohol, … I was always doubting myself, because I was just not able to fit in – and I really tried :). Later in my twenties it worked, gladly I met the teachings of Universal Medicine, that reminded me of my old self. Four months ago I remember quoting in front of the supermarket to a woman „I was pretty boring when I was a teenager“, when she asked me how I was in my younger times to make pre-guessings about the character of our (at this time) unborn daughter. I was not boring at all – No, I was very rebellion 🙂 THANK YOU!
Thank you Rebecca for sharing your true beauty and wisdom with the world. Your blog was just plain awesome. I just loved it!
Such wisdom, such grace, delivered here in every line. I hear my voice in yours Rebecca, connecting to the little Gem of the past and sharing this ageless wisdom backwards and in doing so moving forwards. Our greatest teacher is indeed our body, and we always have a choice, so knowing that the body-beautiful can be the reference point for the next loving choice is so simple and so healing. We then light our own paths regardless of the past – thank-you for this eloquent reminder.
Julie
Thank-you Rebecca for your absolute pearl of an article. True truths so lovingly and powerfully shared.
Thank you Rebecca for such a deeply touching blog.
A very powerful blog. I was going to say deeply moving but in truth it makes me feel more still and connects me to a strength and tenderness in side. Thank you Rebecca.
Wow, this letter is truly beautiful. I remember reading it when you first published it on here, and now reading it again, brings a whole new level of appreciation, awareness and inspiration. It is so simple to read, relate and connect to. Thank you Rebecca.
Simply beautiful Rebecca; I’m left with so much wisdom and inspiration to sit with …
Beautiful Rebecca. Walking ‘with grace in my step’ beside you, and also the younger me – who also lost the true care and love for herself in so many of her choices, but whom I cherish now more than ever.
The love was always within my heart, I just hadn’t realised that it could be honoured and lived in full. What a momentous blessing…
I have read this blog many times and every time I read it I am deeply touched by it. I love the tenderness that you write to yourself in and I am learning to be that tender with myself these days.
I love this Rebecca and return to it often. An awesome sharing, thank you.
hi Rebecca, it is so true what you say.. ‘You are walking a well-trodden path paved by all the other bright kids and teens who thought they were breaking the rules, only to play right into them.’ I did the same but as I grew older I started to realise that it wasn’t so clever after all.
wow read this again and still makes me tearful because it is so true and beautiful.. I lover your ps Rebecca – P.S. Doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger or wiser, doing it hard just makes you harder, and that hardness stays with you unless you heal it. Awesome reminder, thank you
Yes I know this one all too well having spent most of my life in hardness and protection…the seemingly confident veneer and the pushing through to make life better. None of it works in truth and eventually the veneer has to crack. I’m so glad mine has so that the precious sweet woman I am can be shared more and more with the world.
Rebecca, I love coming back an re-reading this blog, even just seeing the title – there is so much love and preciousness to be felt in this. Thank you
‘There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared’ So true and it is there waiting till we choose to connect. And I agree Vanessa it would be awesome if all 13 years olds could read this, boys and girls.
This is awesome, and wouldn’t it be great if actual 13 year olds could read this! What wonderful clarity to share.
An inspiring article that speaks to every 13 year old. A line that has me saying “So true” is “Your body is always asking to be loved.” I can remember very clearly wanting to be loved by others but never giving any thought to loving myself.
This is such a powerful article full of wisdom, that will inspire many what ever their age…. thank you Rebecca, it has been inspiring revealing and a joy to read your blog.
I’ve just come back to re-read this as found it so touching the first time. It would be amazing if this was something all 13 year olds got to read in school.
At 13 I was still a little girl with deep dark eyes playing with dolls and teddy bears, at 17 I would pretend to be following the crowd but in fact I was on the outside and didn’t drink coffee or alcohol or take drugs or have sex or listen to music but I was full of anxiety and I felt lost because I didn’t fit in wherever I looked. At 20 and 30 I would loose myself in my studies and in new age books and other books looking for myself and looking for answers to my questions. Now, thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I understand so much more about myself and the world and I know that there is a Way where I fit in completely. This is my Way. Thanks Rebecca for your beautiful letter to you and to us all.
I love this blog to remind ourselves where we were at 13 years of age. I remember feeling left out, wanting to be in with the ‘in’ group, but was always on the periphery. I would love to have told myself how great it was to be on the outside and not follow the crowd. Instead I sold out, for quite a long time, but now I have made different choices and no longer bother about any crowd now.
I was the same Gill. At thirteen, “I would love to have told myself how great it was to be on the outside and not follow the crowd.” Part of me didn’t want to follow the crowd but I didn’t have the self assurance that went with this claiming. I still felt insecure and lost. Now it is all very different and I can honour the choices I now make and it doesn’t matter what others do.
I love this blog. Just re-read it again today as I recommended it to a male friend to read, and could feel as I read through it that even though it was written by a woman to herself as a teenager, it is the same for men and I’m sure many can relate to this.
That rebellion is so strong in men and women, the fight against what we know is not right, only to become part of all of that we originally saw for what it was and didn’t want to join. That hardness creates a divide between us and ourselves and then of course ourselves and everyone else. Awesome blog.
Wow Rebecca, what an inspiring blog, so many gems in it. A blog to be shared with youngsters – it would really get them thinking and seeing life in a different way. I know if I had read it when I was 13 I would have made some very different choices.
A very beautiful and inspiring article
I love this blog. Thank you Rebecca for writing the letter that is written to us all and for us all to write. On reading it this time the piece that stands out for me is, “it is also him [Serge Benhayon] that will help you realise that there is more to you than just a brain on legs – there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared.” Firstly for the huge thank you to Serge for showing us the Way and secondly for expressing so beautifully and simple what he has shown us.
Thank you for writing this blog Rebecca, I can recognise a lot of my own choices in what you have written. The conversation I would have with myself these days would be a million miles away from where I was back then.
“But is the next choice inevitable? Does it have to come with the loading of the past? Well no, that’s why it is called a choice.”
These are great questions that I will carry into the day with me. Thank you for this timely reminder.
Dear 13, 20 and Current Day Rebecca…awesome blog yo! “We are the sum of our choices”…erm hello, could you be any more right. We better start taking some of those responsibility pills and dealing with that fast before our bodies really give in. i love your words Rebecca and your creative style. It is a reminder you don’t have to live in the drudgery of hindsight always realising stuff too late and putting old you down, while future you looks on in cynical anticipation of the inevitable. It’s about letting go of time and living the absolute right now.
This is soooo beautiful Rebecca, Thank you for sharing the truth of it, lovingly so.
I enjoy coming back to this blog to read the real depth of understanding it contains, it always gives me something more to discover.
‘Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman’ – I love this quote from your blog Rebecca.
Now THAT is what I would write to my 13 year old self!
It’s so gorgeous and deeply inspiring to re-read your article Rebecca, I love the simplicity and authority with which you write, there is an absolute knowing that is beautiful to read, I loved your simple, practical examples, ‘Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment. And it is these small moments that add up.’
Dear Rebecca
Wow what an amazing read. “Rebellion is just compliance” And
“In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion”. Rebecca very few of us are honest enough to call cigarette smoking, drug taking, dis-honoring sex or alcohol drinking as self – harm. For most self-harm is something someone with a mental health issue does, such as self-harm by cutting oneself. How you have beautifully exposed that anything done against our body is self-harming.
Here is to true Rebellion; loving and honouring yourself regardless of the current trend of self harm and abuse.
Thank you again for having the courage to tell it as it is. Very supportive and inspiring for all that read it!
Yes Caroline I feel the same about the phrase: Rebellion is just complaince’. The lie that tricked me continues to dupe miillions of young people to smoke, drink alcohol, take drugs and engage in sexual acitivity, belieiving themselves to be cool, courageous, rebellious. When in reallity they have fallen into a well laid trap, like lambs to the slaughter. Rebecca your reflection and sharing of your own life took me back to my desperately confused 13 year old self and all the choices I made that took me further and further away from myself. How different things would have been had I been able to chose the path of true rebel, stood away from the crowd and stayed true to myself.
Rebecca thank you so much for this blog. There are so many inspiring lines in this blog. Today what stood out were three lines that are greater than all the gold in the world, ‘The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it. If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom.’ Thank you.
“drug taking is not rebellious; it is not just ‘experimentation’; it’s not really even defiance – it’s just compliant.”
I had never seen it quite like this but feel it is quite true what you have said. It is compliant. A way of numbing ourselves so we don’t feel to act on and call out what is not true in this world.
Totally agree, an observation that cuts straight to the truth.
I can feel there are many levels within this blog to read and re-read. What stood out for me in my first read was that we can only make choices to change if we are aware of that fact that we have the ability to make that choice in the first place. And by living in a way that keeps me open to knowing that I have this ability is very possible should I choose to. Living in the dark of my power has only led me down disastrous roads. Thank you.
Loved your comment Leigh, and I love all the different facets of the blog. At 13, I felt less, didn’t fit, and so avoided situations where I felt exposed by being a clown. Its taken me a long time to work that one out!
Rebecca this is a beautiful and deeply inspiring blog. It has brought tears to my eyes reading it and all the comments. Every single line is resonating deeply with me, it is pure gold! Heartfelt appreciation for your clarity and wisdom.
I couldn’t agree more Stephanie, pure gold and very inspiring to me too.
How lovely. I am inspired to write a letter to my younger self. It’s great how you highlight that the little things all matter like ‘change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment.’ I am finding that all these simple small choices do add up. Thanks Rebecca.
Thank you Rebecca for so many pearls of wisdom. it is lovely to keep coming back to your blog; each time I can feel another level to your wisdom. Looking back on my life, if at 13 I had been told and understood that my body was the marker of all my choices and my greatest teacher, that the subsequent hardness and pain in my body was a direct result of all my choices, I am sure I would have listened a lot more lovingly to my body.
“The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it. If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom”. This is so true – and beautiful. If only Id known that at 13 too! Still need reminding of it today too. Thankyou Rebecca.
I am today clearing out a box that was in my mother’s attic. It held all my old exercise books from when I was about 10 years old (that’s over 50 years ago). Now and again I might read something that I am drawn to before I take it to the recycle or put it on the fire. What I am finding is that I am gaining a deeper appreciation for myself because although I also did things in compliance and later rebellion I can feel the lovely child/adolescent underneath.
“we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history” I really enjoyed this description of making changes in our lives, getting off the merry go round and truly taking responsibility.
I may not have admitted it at the time, but if I were given this to read as a young teenager, it would certainly have made me think twice about drugs and alcohol. Mary you’ll have to let us know if your friends have any feedback!
Such a beautiful and inspiring blog. I have loved reading it again and all the comments. I am going to write a letter to my 13 year old self as well. It would be a great exercise for anyone of any age to do.
For teenagers to read this would be absolutely amazing as I think they would see they are not truly rebelling, simply fitting in.
Something this blog has really brought up for me is my total lack of purpose over these teenage years. By shifting the focus of our small self-indulged worlds to humanity there is instant empowerment, brotherhood, responsibility but primarily there is a reason to stand by what you feel is true.
I love these lines here too “Change your posture and you will change the world.”
It is so lovely to re-read your article Rebecca, it is so truly beautiful and inspiring.
Thankyou so much Rebecca for this beautiful post. It reached right into my heart.
“Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you “the person you are today”. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman. What most of us are reluctant to admit is that we never needed to ‘”find out the hard way”. Had we honored our essence in the first place we never would have walked the roads we knew would hurt us.” These words are very moving and should be said and discussed with every young person as they venture out into the world today.
These four things say it all “there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing. There is a preciousness in you that can be felt and lived and shared”. As I feel back to myself as a 13 year old, I am touched by these words because I can feel that they were so blatantly missing from childhood then, and from our children’s now. This is most definitely worth sharing with every young person as they grow.
I’ve only just read this for the first time, and it is stunning, thank you Rebecca. It takes me back to when I took very similar decisions when I missed myself in those teenage years too. I can see why lots of people are re-reading this time and again.
Reading this has got me realising how much I had given up on myself and the world by the age of 13 and if there were three things I would tell myself, it would be – to not be so hard on your yourself, be loving towards yourself and don’t worry about everything.
Thank you Rebecca.
Such a joy to read this blog. Choices, every moment is choice, fragility, tenderness, letting go and choosing to return to your/our original quality of being. Thank you Rebecca.
If I was 13 and received a letter in the post, signed by myself – X amount of years in the future – to along the above lines… I wouldn’t know what to say to that!
..A great read even on the second time around.
‘Don’t discount the simplicity of the smallest act or intention to love.’ This is inspiration for my day Rebecca. I just love coming back to re-read this blog again and again.
I too have read this blog many times since it was posted and it still brings tears to my eyes every time. Such loving non-judgemental wisdom, compassion and understanding for yourself. It is like you are being a loving parent for yourself. Every 13 year old should get a copy of this!
Rebecca, this is indeed a call to all true rebels to rise, know, embody, breathe, walk and live another way. Through your words I see steadfast Lighthouses within our classrooms, colleges, universities and workplaces, those who shine true purpose, true responsibility towards humanity. Indeed we are currently blessed by many such beacons, who inspire those around them.
This is gold. I’m coming back again and again. I would like to write myself a number of letters. Different ages. You’ve started something very special here Rebecca. For that, I thank you. Gold.
So Gold Otto, I’m with you coming back again and again…and writing my various aged self letters (if only the postie van was a time machine!).
My 13 year old son, a sweet tender and cuddly chap in his first year of high school is having to write himself a letter to go in a time capsule to open when he is in year 12 – and this letter of Rebecca’s is his inspiration, and is supporting him with a profound foresight as to the choices he would like to be looking back on, and celebrating and appreciating, at that point.
Today the line that really stood out for us re-reading this through in the context of the letter my son is writing as his current 13 year old self to his 18 year old self, was the powerful foresight of:
“you could pretend that you were a rebel but in fact it was the opposite. It wasn’t rebellion so much as a wanting to fit in. But fit in to what? Whose mould didn’t you fit? And what did you have to forego in order for you to cut yourself down to comply? What courage did you let slip and what love would you have walked with, had you not become a paper-cut out of all the other lost girls?”
and for my son in particular this line:
“In a world that glorifies self-harm as a badge of defiance, loving and honouring yourself is rebellion. And the world eagerly awaits more true rebels to step up.”
His letter to himself is around the true rebellion of ‘what’s common is not necessarily normal’ and that to conform to the extreme pressures that he is and will face, is just that, pressure to conform – and that he is planning on looking back aged 18 and celebrating having honoured himself in a world that tells him to do anything but, and so celebrating his true rebellion. And that he will be right to celebrate, because not fitting in does make you stand out, and even makes you a target, but ‘courage’ is there not to ‘let slip’, and there is an amazing ‘love to walk with’ that is worth every ounce of courage.
Perhaps our letters to ourselves can also be the ones I for example write now as a 40 year old woman to my 50 and 60 year old self…what quality would I like to be living in my body then, and how would I like to be looking back on having cared for myself more deeply with every turning season. Hindsight is gorgeous and hugely inspiring and revealing, particularly in this golden gem of Rebecca’s……. maybe foresight also has potential. You are inspiring our next generation!
The words you have written and the tender and powerful quality I feel from it have inspired me today to hold as true for me that I always have a choice.
Amazing blog Rebecca you really expose an issue that really needs to be addressed in our society. I so wish I’d had the opportunity to read it when I was 13 as it would certainly have saved me years of pointless addiction which left me feeling a sense of hopeless despair. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if this could be shared with teenagers the world over so that they too could have the insights you so eloquently express.
Great blog Rebecca, well worth a second, third, fourth read. Thirteen is notorious for being a difficult time for any teenager and it would definitely benefit many a teenager to read your blog and look at things differently.
Absolutely amazing Rebecca – your letter is inspiring… it would be life changing for girls my age to read this, and realise that as you say doing drugs, smoking or drinking alcohol is not a form of ‘rebellion’, to truly rebel against the ugly trend of society, would be to honour how our body is feeling and express exactly what is there to be felt.
Well said, Susie. You are an absolutely inspiring young woman to be around and are a shining example of another way to be for girls your age, and equally so for being an amazing reflection for all ages. Thank you!
This is pure GOLD! I have it on all my home screens and regularly re-read it and share it with friends. I love all the comments too. Its so true what Elizabeth says: ‘If we grew up knowing that the greatest teacher in the world is our own body, what a different place our world would be’.
I LOVE ‘Together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history. We are always the sum total of all our choices. And while the memory might become foggy, the body never forgets.’ and ‘choose to be aware and to feel, deeply, everything that is there to feel, both the pain and the triumphs. And remember your body is your companion. Change your posture and you will change the world.’…… Powerfully inspiring, a life changing blog, a world changing awareness. Thank you Rebecca!
Thank you Rebecca for sharing this wisdom. Beautifully expressed.
If we grew up knowing that the greatest teacher in the world is our own body, what a different place our world would be. Thank you Rebecca for sharing your wisdom through the words of this blog.
Beautifully expressed Elizabeth. Our greatest teacher is ourselves – our body.
I would like to say I’d write to my thirteen year old self or even twenty or thirty and I would listen, but sadly I don’t think I would have. I unfortunately had to learn the hard way. I absolutely loved reading this blog. It did make me teary, all the mistakes I’ve made getting to this point in life and the ones I will make. Maybe if future me could drop me a wee note now, I promise I will take it on board.
So sweet, humble and rich with the willingness to listen and learn. Thank you.
Rebecca I Love this blog, so so so beautiful and I deeply appreciate you sharing it as I can relate to it all in my own way and know that there is a simple choice to make – Be the Love that I Am.
Thank you Rebecca, awesome letter to self, as a teenager. I relate to lots thats been shared and feel the part below justifies and fuels us, as so much of teenage behaviour is accepted as being ‘normal’ and expected to happened. Fortunately there are some who are questioning whether it’s possibly not necessary and there is another way, which is helping to break down this consciousness, as this blog certainly does. “Had we honored our essence in the first place we never would have walked the roads we knew would hurt us. When we stop saying, “I guess it was meant to be”; when we stop romanticising our hardships and conveniently wrapping them in a fog of nostalgia, only then will we have the clarity to take full stock and full responsibility for our past choices.” Amazing!
Awww I love this Rebecca. So loving, delicate, tender and so very wise. Every part I recognised and felt personally cared for as the wisdom unfolded while I read. But the most prescious part I would like to thank you for is for the reflection that I too am able to do this for myself – whatever age, whatever situation I can think of past, present or future, I have that wisdom within me, there is a part within me that has great clarity and access to everything that will support me in understanding, in healing and in evolving.
Yes, wisdom indeed and such a rare commodity in these racy times. It is such a delicious idea to write a letter to one’s 13 year old self and such a great way express such wisdom. I might send my 13 year old self the lyrics one of Michael Benhayon’s songs ‘Jamais Vendu’, as a constant reminder to myself to always be all of who I am and never to sell out.
This letter continues to inspire and guide so many. Thank you, Rebecca. For today what shone out was “remember your body is your companion”. The power of posture and having an open loving dialogue with our bodies is huge.
I so love this letter Rebecca, I have read it before but this time I felt the depth of your words, they are truly powerful and could be a foot print for so many teenagers that know there is something not right with the world we live in. If every school had this pinned to the wall in every classroom children and teenagers (and teachers) could see there is another way and rebelling is not the answer. There was so much in this letter, so many pearls of wisdom but for me this rang out,
“Together we can re-write the future that is fast unfolding to be our history. We are always the sum total of all our choices. And while the memory might become foggy, the body never forgets. The body holds the marks of every choice we ever made, it was with us for every one of them and here it is still here with us today – at once a record and a crystal ball.”
I related to your 13 year old self, I was a bit older at 16 when I went down the path of drinking mainly, but who can’t relate to leaving themselves as a teenager, as your letter to yourself shows it would be amazing to have this type of guidance from your heart to navigate the peer pressure and trying to fit in.
Although this blog started out quite playful, there was much more to it and boy oh boy did you go for it! This blog is an amazing read for anyone who has ever been a 13 year old, male or female. I love how you completely shattered that idea we have as teenagers that we’ve got to “rebel” by harming ourselves.
I was really inspired though by reading about how you describe a “true rebel” – someone contrary to what is believed to be rebellious. The self respecting, no to drugs and actually speaking up for what they know is true – no matter what.
If I were to tell my 13 year old anything, it would be to start a true rebellion.
Thank you for sharing Rebecca, I realise with reading this that my past was not inevitable, and neither is my future.
Cheryl, 23
Completely agree Cheryl, not conforming should be celebrated. I love your closing line,
“my past was not inevitable, and neither is my future.”
True Rebellion – Go for it Cheryl!
Rebecca, what an amazing blog, it touched me in so many ways, super wise, loving and simple. Thank you.
Fabulous! You say it just as it was, no messing! Isn’t it great you come back from being so lost, I love it!
Thank you Rebecca, this exercise of writing to yourself at various points in life creates a powerful opportunity for healing. There is so much wisdom in your words, and for me this part stood out in particular:
“The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it. If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom. Cut the excuses and the overriding. Your body is always asking to be loved.”
My life would have been very different if someone had said those words to me aged 13. I love that the younger generation growing up around us have access to this wisdom, or rather have never lost it.
Thank you Rebecca for such a beautiful letter to yourself and everyone as we can all relate to it for ourselves. Deeply touching and real and reveals the choice in life we all have and it’s never too late if we choose to heal the past and love ourselves truly in every detail of how we live and are with ourselves we create our future and everyone’s as one. Celebration and joy, fun and laughter compassion and honesty and it’s never too late as we are creating our future and lifetimes now. Amazing!
This is just pure gold and I absolutely love it, in fact it inspires me to write to my younger self. Imagine if every teenager in the world read this – it would be revolutionary!
yes absolute Gold and indeed a Revoluntion to be had for the teenagers – boys and girls.
What a gorgeous blog I think everyone should do this for themselves.
I would write to my 13 years of age self:
Trust yourself because you are wise. Follow your heart. Don’t take any form of drug or alcohol it takes you far away from yourself into a mess that is not you and life will become a struggle and hard. It will not be good.
Love yourself, you are gorgeous, know that you are equal to everyone, don’t be intimidated by others or compare yourself to others everyone has their own unique expession. Allow yourself to be all the Love that you are. Have fun dressing up and celebrating you – you have a gorgeous body.
You are never alone and always loved and cherished, trust what you feel. Enjoy friends and family and know you are worth being Loved.
You are truly Amazing and I Love You.
Vicky, I cried from deep within when I read your words and I knew I had to write one for myself…
This is what I would write to my 13 year old self:
Dear Susan, you are wise beyond your years. Deep within your heart you know all that there is to know. So never worry that you don’t know the answer, it’s all there within you in its amazing Glory. Never discount or put yourself down for another or think you are less than anyone. You are equal in your Amazingness for you see your fellow brothers as One Family. You do not need to change for anyone or compare to anyone else. All that you bring from your Heart is Divine. Have Fun with Life, for you are never alone. Hold steady and your Love will shine through, for you bring Light to the world. Shine like the Sun and feel Joy in all that you do. Stay True to yourself Always for you are precious and you belong to God.
I will Love you for Eternity, for you never cease to end, standing alongside your Brothers in Heaven you go forth as One. Your Heart knows The Way.
Vicky and Susan, I love your letters, so tender, loving and an absolute joy to read.
Lovely letters Vicky and Susan.
Beautiful Rebecca, it’s a joy to re-read this and your words are so wise. May it be a letter that reaches many young women who are feeling the same, dis-connected from their true inner beauty and seeking it in the world out there. May it show us as young women we are not alone in feeling dis-connected and therefore rebelling, as you say, it’s all been done before. The true rebellion is in abandoning the search on the outside and seeking our deepest treasures within, through self-care, tenderness and honouring both ourselves and others, to re-gain our precious beauty and become a rebel with a truly inspiring purpose!
.. now that would be worth following!
A letter to your 13 year old self, and also a letter to a 49 year old me today, one that speaks oh so very lovingly and clearly, and says exactly what I need to hear. Thank you Rebecca.
What a poetic piece of writing and a glorious read. Thank you Rebecca.
This is a deeply inspiring blog. There are so many things in this world that don’t support us to be ourselves. Thank you for reminding us that we are in charge of our choices.
Such wise words, Rebecca. A deeply inspiring blog and one that all women would benefit from reading early in their lives. I particularly liked: “Had we honored our essence in the first place we never would have walked the roads we knew would hurt us.”
Yes wise words indeed Cathy. This has been so very deeply inspirational to read and it’s one that I’ll be revisiting…
Truly inspired, a tender expression delivered to each and every one of us. Beautiful, Rebecca.
Very true Naren, I melted while reading this and then some. Rebecca has been able to pin point so much I would have liked to have expressed to myself at 13yrs.
Wow such a beautiful blog to read Rebecca! I especially love how you write that it is “small moments of illumination that strung together make the light in your days”; it shows that keeping things simple is actually what brings us our power.
it was a joy to read and it is deeply inspiring and beautiful
Dear Rebecca. I can’t thank you enough for writing this letter. I’ve read it a couple of times before but today I FELT it and surrendered to the Love you so beautifully express and emanate. I cried, sobbed in fact, but now feel a precious fragility that I know is me. To (almost) quote your own words back to you; You are an amazing young women and you constantly inspire me to see that there is (and always has been) another way.
Wow I loved reading this blog. You write with such beauty, feeling and wisdom. I am inspired to write to my 13 year old self and I would like to say:
“Don’t worry about the woman you will become because you are beautiful and you will take that beauty with you until your last breath. Don’t worry about the work you will end up doing because you will re-find the beauty and magic that is in you and the joy you will feel when connecting to others will be immense, it won’t matter what you choose. Don’t stress that you are not good enough, or unlikeable, or that there is something wrong with you because these are all false lies that you have invested in to keep yourself small. You will find and reconnect to your amazing inner power and you will glow, shine and be an inspiration for others. You have a strength and a deep inner knowing that will guide you through life. You may not always listen, but the voice of truth is always within. Don’t forget to self appreciate and let the self judgement fall away. You are simply awesome, Rachel if you allow yourself to feel it.”
Yes you are, Rachel, a deeply radiant and beautiful women. Wise words to your true self.
Gorgeous you Rachel, so gracefully expressed.
Rachel , you captured yourself to a T in your letter. You are a truly awesome woman, and a joy to know.
So touching and inspiring, this was a powerful read Rachel.
Yes, very wise and loving words.
If you write to your 13 year old again tell her, from me also, that she is gorgeous gold.
Rebecca: WOW WOW WOW. I loved re-reading your beautiful and inspiring blog again. I will take this to my day:
“But is the next choice inevitable? Does it have to come with the loading of the past? Well no, that’s why it is called a choice.
But you can only make a choice if you know it is there to be made, otherwise you will default to the choice predetermined by the culmination of your life’s habits. You will live as you always have. So choose to be aware and to feel, deeply, everything that is there to feel, both the pain and the triumphs. And remember your body is your companion. Change your posture and you will change the world. Turn your shoulders out, it sounds simple, but lift your chin. By walking with grace in your step, you will change your mood in that moment. And it is these small moments that add up. It is these small moments of illumination that strung together make the light in your days. Don’t discount the simplicity of the smallest act or intention to love. Certainly don’t discount any act of love towards yourself.”
So profound. I am deeply inspired. Thank you.
Wow this letter is amazing, so deeply loving, inspiring and powerful …”there is a heart always emanating and a body worth cherishing and a soul worth knowing.” I could read this letter over and over, there is so much here that is being said and deeply felt. Thank you Rebecca…
The truth is so very deeply beautiful. Thank you Rebecca.
Hi Rebecca, I absolutely love this and echo the remarks of others when I say it gave me a stop moment to ponder what I would write to my own 13 year old self. Superb. Thank you for the inspiration.
A hugely inspiring and deeply touching letter for everyone at any stage in their lives, though super important during teenage/growing up times of course. I love how it always simply comes back to our choice and the body will ALWAYS show us the consequence of that choice whether we want to take notice or not. Beautiful, Thank you.
Hi Rebecca, top article. I’m sure everyone can relate to your words at some point in their lives.
Thank you Rebecca – beautiful and inspiring piece of writing.
Great letter, Rebecca, thank you. “The greatest teacher in the world is your own body. Listen intently to it. If you actually listen to the rhythms it is asking you to honour, you will most certainly find freedom. Cut the excuses and the overriding. Your body is always asking to be loved.” – YES
Thank you Rebecca for this heart-felt letter to your younger self which has so many points that I can relate to. I certainly wish I had had the courage to listen intently to my body and not have expended so much energy in breaking the rules which took me so far away from myself.
So true, and so power-full. I can’t imagine anyone who could not relate to the truth shared here.
Thank you Rebecca, reading this was truly beautiful. To feel the lack of judgement you have for the choices you made in the past, how this letter to your younger self is full of love, is amazing to feel.
Thank you Rebecca, I had tears rolling down my cheeks reading this, I feel the absolute truth in this.
From my 13 and 20 year old self…THANK YOU!
Dear Rebecca, thank you so much – such a truly amazing, heartfelt, awesome and inspiring blog. It brought tears to my eyes to read. I can feel every age I have been from the tiniest little girl, to the pretending teenager, to the beautiful, precious and tender woman I am returning to. All I want to do is love myself so deeply, so tenderly and so preciously, to always listen to what I know is true in my heart, and never allow anything less. And I know all those things that happen in the past, how I treated myself and others, can be healed by the love we are.
Thank you Rebecca.
Hi Rebecca, awesome blog: fun, deeply touching and super powerful. I simply loved reading it. Thank you!
Thanks Rebecca, I loved how you brought the true perspective and exposed the false rebelliousness many of us had bought into when we were young, when deep down we were missing ourselves. This wisdom was a healing for my 13 yr old sitting here with a smile on her face… Beautiful expression and such love for yourself and all.
Such an awesome inspiration to choose love.
Wow… thanks Rebecca. So clear and direct and powerful. 🙂
“Don’t discount the simplicity of the smallest act or intention to love. Certainly don’t discount any act of love towards yourself.” Thank you Rebecca, every little single thing.
What a truly heartfelt and inspirational letter to our younger selves; how could we choose to give up on ourselves if we were to hear these words of profound understanding and support. Deeply touching and so very beautiful. Thank you.
Awesome Rebecca. A great and very familiar reflection. Thank you.
Rebecca, I simply love what you have shared with such honesty. I will be printing your article for my children (some who are teenagers) to read and ponder on. Thank you for all you offer!
That was cool Rebecca. The words seemed to dance on the page.
Awesome foundation of self love to build, you inspire me Rebecca. I thoroughly enjoyed feeling this. Thank you.
Absolutely brilliant heart-radiated blog Rebecca. I love the use of the structure of a letter talking to yourself and I love your words: “It is the small moments of illumination that strung together make the light in your days”. The moment to moment loving attention to detail is so worth it. Bring on the magnifying glass to feel the tiny dewdrop on the rose.
It is great that you have so highlighted the falseness of the ‘rebellion’ we all thought we were doing – we were only sliding into another arm of the octopus that was strangling the truth of our own essence. Magnificent to blast away that mad myth that it is the ‘hard’ miserable life that has made you a ‘better’ person. Hear hear! And thank you!
“… when we stop romanticising our hardships and conveniently wrapping them in a fog of nostalgia, only then will we have the clarity to take full stock and full responsibility for our past choices.”
I even remember saying to myself when I was first in business as a 20 year old woman that I wanted there to be hardship because all the great stories and movies were triumph over adversity. OH DEAR! What I have put myself through because of the ‘rags to riches type against the odds type’ mentality I espoused. I would definitely want to tell my 13 year old self that NO PAIN… NO PAIN (not no gain).
I love the way this is expressed Rebecca. What an opportunity I now have to stop and reflect on my 13, 20, 30 and now 40 year old self, on the choices I have made, am still making and will make in the future. I know that I wish I knew back then what Serge Benhayon and Natalie Benhayon are teaching now and that is that my body is worth cherishing and my soul is definitely worth knowing. Thank you.
Rebecca, you’ve outdone yourself! This is so playfully written, but has such a commonsense strength that is profound. I think you need to send it to every school principal for them to include in their school newspaper (or the like). It is an incredibly bridging article, without an ounce of judgement or regret, just truth. Super job.
Thank you Rebecca. Felt like u wrote it to me! Bet it feels like that for all. Big smiles 😃
This is an awesome blog, Rebecca, that so clearly shows ‘the love is already there – in you. Not in any accolade, or in any box you ticked, or in any thing that you did or will do. It’s right there already in you.’ How life-changing for people to discover that what they are searching for outside themselves is there inside patiently waiting for them to remember, re-connect with and enjoy….
Rebecca, this is beautiful, the truth is the below snipit – incredible. A joy to read.
” P.S. Doing it hard doesn’t make you stronger or wiser, doing it hard just makes you harder, and that hardness stays with you unless you heal it.
Your past hurts aren’t an achievement, they don’t make you ‘the person you are today’. Your essence makes you the person you are, the unbreakable love that is at the heart of every man and woman.”
Another ripper of an article Rebecca that gets straight to the heart of things that matter
Awesome Rebecca, so true and so very beautiful.
Thank you
Your expression here Rebecca felt truly universal. You are an inspiring angel, just awesome and such an inspiration. Thank you too from my heart.
Hey Rebecca,
I felt like your letter was for me too. So beautifully written; I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. It’s hard to express the amazing impact of this blog on me and indeed the impact of having you as a friend. What you bring to the world is amazing.
With love, Heidi xx
Rebecca, that truly moved me. I can feel the depth of you and your love for yourself and the world. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I so needed to read that right now…
Thank you Rebecca !
What you say is so true and is a reflection of myself at 13 .
I also always wondered why would anyone have to train themselves to smoke and like the taste of alcohol.
It is truly wonder full to have the support from Universal Medicine that has made everything make sense .
I will share your blog with my 13 year old son.
A very powerful writing from you .
Hi Rebecca, As this is a letter to yourself, I can feel it is a letter to all of us. I loved the bit about studying and I know this but it gets more confirmed with your letter, that it is never about getting the highest grades but about how loving you are with yourself. Thank you for this. With love, Lieke
I am speechless Rebecca (well almost), this is a glorious, master-full piece of writing! A must-read for every teenager, 20-something, 30-something, in fact every age-something. This is one I will forward to everyone I know… truly truly inspiring and beautiful – thank you!
This is so healing to read, my ex 13 yr old self loved it. I could recognise so much of your experiences as parallels in my growing up. I did think I was rebelling, but actually was hiding in fitting in / impressing others. I thought too, I was a “brain on legs” – the supremacy of the mind was never questioned by me, and ignoring the body was standard. How wonderful to be reversing this after eons and eons, and discovering a loveliness within that I had lost connection with.
Thank you Rebecca, I shall enjoy re-reading this over and over and sharing it with my daughters.
Hi Rebecca, in reading this I feel so strongly that it is never too late to give ourselves the love we may feel we never had. Thank you.
Thank you Rebecca for your very inspiring and glorious expression in your letter to your younger self. It feels very self loving and healing.
Rebecca this is gorgeous, thank you. I feel I want to share it with all the young women I know and with my own 13 year old self how precious she is.
Hi Rebecca… ‘Dear Me’… I loved it. I will be writing a letter to me too. “Change your posture and you will change the world”… so simple but so true. I can feel how I open up when I change my posture. I will remember this when I catch myself sitting in a awkward position or standing with my shoulders rounded.
P.S. Say hi to all the Benhayons for their unwavering support and their absolute amazingness.
P.P.S Thank you Rebecca for your inspiring writing.
Thank you Rebecca for sharing your letter to your younger self, it was also a sharing with my younger self as it is and will be for everyone who reads it.