Every month my yoga studio has a focus that we learn about. This month's focus is called "The Magical Power of Giving Blessings". All month, I have been thinking about all of my loved ones and sending them blessings. Even harder, I have been thinking of people who have wronged me or whom I have wrong and sending them blessings as well. The latter is more difficult of course, however it is a practice and we must try! We can get caught up in how others act and then we act accordingly. If someone is rude to us, we can tend to be rude back. But the best thing that I have learned is that we don't have to act that way. Everything that happens to us is only as bad or good as we perceive it. Life can get crazy, life can be fun, life can be sad. But if you learn that you are in control of how you handle each obstacle that comes your way, it can be a lot easier.
A great way to purify your life of these obstacles is to practice giving blessings. You should not bother trying to insist that others change; instead you should initiate the change you want to see in them by changing your own behavior towards them now. When you bless someone, they are transformed in their own way. In turn, when you lead a life of truly loving and blessing others, you are transformed. Your life will change before your eyes.
A friend of ours passed away this week. He was an amazing man. He lived every day to the fullest. He loved whole heartily and touched so many lives. Everywhere he went, he sprinkled his love and kindness on people like magic dust. Even if you only knew him briefly as I did, you knew who he was. The common words and phrases used to describe this great man were; thoughtful, selfless, kind, loving, fun, funny, never judged anyone, never spoke unkindly of anyone, smiled at everyone and really lived. In turn, he lived a happy, content life with people who truly loved him and cared for him. He sent blessings out, they helped others and in turn he was blessed himself. He was an enlightened being!
A practice to change your behavior towards others is to not gossip about others or judge others. This can be a very hard practice in today's world. I know I get caught in it a lot. I can pre- judge others without even thinking about it and I find myself gossiping often, even though I try not to. So my life resolution from today on will be to change my perception on others. I want to see others in a new light. I am going to continue to send my blessings to everyone I meet and create a better world that I will live in. I want to live like Ron did. I am so thankful that I knew Ron and am amazed by the person he was. He is still sending his blessings and I hope that this post will spread his joy to everyone who reads it.
Remember that we can change how we deal with life by changing our perception on life. It is in our hands!
Peace, Peace, Peace
I love this Mary. It is sooo hard not to judge people based on what we think of their behavior or actions, but that is not our place. I'm reading a book about that and this is my favorite quote so far. "The way of tenderness avoids blind fanaticism. Instead it seeks to see with penetrating clarity. The compassion of God in our hearts opens our eyes to the unique worth of each person." When we stop seeing people as projects and see them as unique people, we can embrace them in a more pure way!
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