One of the great gifts of my life is my relationship with gratitude. As I move through New York City, and most especially in Central Park each morning, I find myself full of gratitude much of the time. Each morning, I fill up with it as I encounter the beautiful trees, birds, and other animals, rock outcroppings, and plants I pass by on the way to my office. Also, when I’m out and about on the busy streets of New York, I find myself feeling gratitude for the fact that such a diverse array of people manages to move through this city with relative grace and I’m always moved to hear so many languages spoken as I walk from here to there.
One of the companions of gratitude has become, for me, another of the great gifts to my life—the ability to offer blessings as I move through the world…
Blessing has become a major practice for me, a way to feel even more connected and in relationship to a larger interrelated circle of life.
Here is a quote from Arjun Walla on the subject of the power of blessing:
“I want to make it clear that my intention of presenting this information is to demonstrate that thoughts, intentions, prayer and other units of consciousness can directly influence our physical material world. Consciousness can be a big factor in creating change on the planet. Sending thoughts of love, healing intent, prayer, good intention, and more can have a powerful influence on what you are directing those feelings towards.”
This quote appeared in an article about scientific studies that prove consciousness can alter our physical material world. Here’s the URL to that article:
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/03/08/10-scientific-studies-that-prove-consciousness-can-alter-our-physical-material-world/
Another website I found recently that specifically focuses on blessing and the power of doing so is www.gentleartofblessing.org. I recommend visiting it for its many offerings.
For this week’s practice in conscious living, I invite you to explore your relationship with blessing and gratitude. If you already have a practice of gratitude, notice what happens when you add the extra step of actively offering blessings to whatever elicits your gratitude. If you already have a practice of blessing, increase it and notice what happens. Be sure to include yourself in your blessings and expressions of gratitude, as we often overlook ourselves.
If you find that you have mixed feelings about this practice, check in and see what might be getting stirred up by it. The article found on the above URL to Collective Evolution offers many examples of scientific studies that support the measurable influence of our thoughts, feelings, prayers, and other good intentions on the physical world around us. As always, be gentle with mixed feelings and judgments that arise. They are an inevitable part of the process of being human. The key is how we manage them, what we do in response to them, and how we move through them to new discoveries when we’re able to do so.
Last week’s practice invited us to engage preventive self-care by accessing an inner smile when connecting with our bodies. For this week, if you found that practice useful, please add blessing your body, if you haven’t already.
Also, notice what happens to the quality of your internal awareness and experience as you engage a more active practice of offering blessings to what you encounter in the course of your daily life. I find that there is also an enhanced sense of relatedness or connection to my world when I do this practice. Notice what happens for you.