Choosing to Bless

"The practice of blessing is a simple way to develop a constantly centered awareness. It is also a tool for growing in universal love and avoiding judgement."

Pierre Pradervand
The Gentle Art of Blessing

"If not you, who? If not now, when?" Attributed to Rabbi Hillel

It seems to me that what the world needs now is our blessing - and not just the parts that we find easy to bless. From the smallest incident, with 'that person in your street', to the biggest - where governments/corporations act in our names and we feel we have no control - we quickly jump in to judge and criticize.

I was recently reminded - when re-reading Pierre Pradervand’s words in ‘The Gentle Art of Blessing’ - that to bless is important not only for those we bless but also for ourselves. At the same time I was feeling frustrated by my apparent inability to ‘do’ anything about the worsening situations on the planet. Then it dawned on me that to send blessings would be the most powerful thing I could do from a distance and the words contained in ‘Choosing to Bless’ were born.

“Nothing is more debilitating than to care about something you can’t do anything about…. In the long run, you cannot do anything about someone else’s vibration other than hold them in the best light you can, mentally, and then project that to them. And sometimes distance makes that much more possible than being up close to them.”Abraham-Hicks

I invite you to send light and blessings using the words in ‘Choosing to Bless’ – or create your own blessing. Send the blessing regularly, hourly or several times during your day. Share the words and the idea with others. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know that the regular habit of blessing those you don’t know and, perhaps, wouldn’t normally bless, has made a difference to their lives and to the world?

“To bless all without discrimination of any sort is the ultimate form of giving, because those you bless will never know from whence came the sudden ray of sun that burst through the clouds of their skies, and you will rarely be a witness to the sunlight in their lives.” Pierre Pradervand

The key is the Intention to bless.

It is most important to bless from the bottom of your heart, in total sincerity. This is the transforming power that heals and restores.

To begin the habit of blessing, every hour, or as often as you are able during your day, pause for a few seconds - breathe - and send these words of blessing out into the universe .....

I am at peace with the process of life.

From my heart, with unconditional love, I choose to bless rather than judge.

I bless all governments and their agencies, corporations,
all individuals, races and religions.
I bless all who find themselves victimized and oppressed.
I bless all in their peace, their courage,
their joy, their goodness,
their abundance, their compassion,
their understanding.

May all be blessed with peace in their hearts.

I am grateful for the blessings of the Universe.

And so it is.

I would love to hear from you and to know how the habit of blessing on a regular basis is making a difference.

May you be blessed with all things good
Always
In all ways
With love, joy, peace and abundant blessings
Jane :)

The Gentle Art of Blessing

The Gentle Art of Blessing

On awakening, bless this day, for it is already full of unseen good which your blessings will call forth; for to bless is to acknowledge the unlimited good that is embedded in the very texture of the universe and awaiting each and all.

On passing people in the street, on the bus, in places of work and play, bless them. The peace of your blessing will accompany them on their way and the aura of its gentle fragrance will be a light to their path.

On meeting and talking to people, bless them in their health, their work, their joy, their relationships to God, themselves, and others. Bless them in their abundance, their finances...bless them in every conceivable way, for such blessings not only sow seeds of healing but one day will spring forth as flowers of joy in the waste places of your own life.

As you walk, bless the city in which you live, its government and teachers, its nurses and street sweepers, its children and bankers, its priests and prostitutes. The minute anyone expresses the least aggression or unkindness to you, respond with a blessing: bless themtotally, sincerely, joyfully, for such blessings are a shield which protects them from the ignorance of their misdeed, and deflects the arrow that was aimed at you.

To bless means to wish, unconditionally, total, unrestricted good for others and events from the deepest wellspring in the innermost chamber of your heart: it means to hallow, to hold in reverence, to behold with utter awe that which is always a gift from the Creator. He who is hallowed by your blessing is set aside, consecrated, holy, whole. To bless is to invoke divine care upon, to think or speak gratefully for, to confer happiness upon - although we ourselves are never the bestower, but simply the joyful witnesses of Life's abundance.

To bless all without discrimination of any sort is the ultimate form of giving, because those you bless will never know from whence came the sudden ray of sun that burst through the clouds of their skies, and you will rarely be a witness to the sunlight in their lives.

When something goes completely askew in your day, some unexpected event knocks down your plans and you too also, burst into blessing: for life is teaching you a lesson, and the very event you believe to be unwanted, you yourself called forth, so as to learn the lesson you might balk against were you not to bless it. Trials are blessings in disguise, and hosts of angels follow in their path.

To bless is to acknowledge the omnipresent, universal beauty hidden to material eyes; it is to activate that law of attraction which, from the furthest reaches of the universe, will bring into your life exactly what you need to experience and enjoy.

When you pass a prison, mentally bless its inmates in their innocence and freedom, their gentleness, pure essence and unconditional forgiveness; for one can only be prisoner of one's self-image, and a free man can walk unshackled in the courtyard of a jail, just as citizens of countries where freedom reigns can be prisoners when fear lurks in their thoughts.

When you pass a hospital, bless its patients in their present wholeness, for even in their suffering, this wholeness awaits in them to be discovered. When your eyes behold a man in tears, or seemingly broken by life, bless him in his vitality and joy: for the material senses present but the inverted image of the ultimate splendor and perfection which only the inner eye beholds.

It is impossible to bless and to judge at the same time. So hold constantly as a deep, hallowed, intoned thought that desire to bless, for truly then shall you become a peacemaker, and one day you shall, everywhere, behold the very face of God.

And of course, above all, don’t forget to bless the utterly beautiful person YOU are!

Pierre Pradervand