My Mother-in-law told me this morning… “Have a blessed day.”
I noticed something right after she said this… and I gave it some real thought.
I’m not certain if I have been appreciating all the blessings that I have in my life… or all the people offering me blessings.
Sometimes, the most obvious things can seem hidden when you aren’t specifically paying attention…
When you aren’t actively looking for them!
How can we recognize more blessings in our life?
How do we truly appreciate them?
The two questions are linked.
Appreciation of blessings will begin to transform your perception so you actively recognize more and more of the blessings and miracles that surround you in daily life.
This morning, my Mother-in-law and I had been talking about raising children, being our best selves, and demonstrating what we want to bring forth in the world (and ourselves) as opposed to just talking or thinking about it.
As she said the words “Have a blessed day”, it occurred to me that I was not completely accepting the blessing she was offering me.
My own mom likes to say “God Bless You”, or “God Bless You Both”, or “God Bless You All” when she comes to the end of a conversation.
For a while, it made me uncomfortable when she would do this.
Recently, I haven’t really noticed… I just offered “Love you, Mom” or something similar in response.
I still wasn’t deeply accepting, though.
Is there a connection between our ability to accept verbal blessings, and the occurrence of events that we would describe as ‘blessings’ in the external world?
Maybe.
Is there a connection between our ability to accept verbal blessings and feeling great about ourselves and life in general?
Definitely!
Now my own beliefs/suspicions/attitudes about Christianity aren’t the point here.
The point is, these people are offering me kindness, which up until now, I have not been completely accepting toward.
I don’t think I would have noticed it without the practice with A Course in Miracles. Examining my beliefs and using Christian terminology seems to have made me more open and accepting to what people from that background have to offer.
Then I asked myself: “So what can you do to change this?”
“How do you become even more accepting of all the blessings in your life?”
Just noticing and saying “thank you” is a good first step, but I want this to become a part of me at a deep level… I want this to resonate with the energy of who I am…
So I went through a round of EFT tapping while saying “I choose to let go of all limitations from the past, and appreciate every blessing that comes my way”
I will be consciously paying more attention to this in the future, and I will let you know how it goes.
The goal is to be able to see past my own illusions… and simply accept a blessing as a blessing… no matter how it looks.
Because a blessing is a beautiful thing… 
keep smiling,
Ben
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I think this is a very interesting post. Yes at times we take verbal blessings for granted, almost don’t notice them. But is it because we feel the other is just saying it and not meaning it? Perhaps the discomfort is because we don’t really believe that the other is sincere? But even if the other is sincere, we get so caught up with our life that we do not take cognizance of the verbal blessings. Its something to think about.
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Ben reply on November 24th, 2009 12:09 PM:
Thanks again, Nita.
I think you’re correct. There are quite a few people who dole out “God bless you”, “Have a blessed day”, “I love you” or even “Keep smiling”… and they might not always be putting full conscious emphasis on it.
But if a multi millionaire throws a few thousand dollars at a charity, not really caring about the charity, just so he can seem like a philanthropist… that doesn’t mean the charity can’t still make good use of that few thousand dollars!
I agree that the ‘throw away’ nature of many blessings and other day-to-day speech makes it more challenging to appreciate it fully… but that is exactly what I aim to do.
I want to prosper from even half-hearted blessings!
Keep Smiling (offered with my full measure of love and intent)
Ben
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