As I journey along in this life, I find myself wanting to live more and more spiritually in the everyday monotony of routine, yet I often find that I reenter a rut—that well-worn groove is difficult to step out of. This day I decided to go on a walk/run for six miles. I take my pen and folded index card and slip into my pocket and start down the street I have traversed so many times before. About a mile into the walk/run, I thought of something I read that a friend of mine posted on Facebook a short time ago: Bless all people you meet today. After a while you can’t help feeling better yourself (paraphrased). So I decided to do just that.
Suddenly my attention shifted away from trudging uphill to concentrating on a blessing for the upcoming car. With the first few cars, I issued a simple “Bless you.” Then as the cars kept coming and I felt myself become lighter, I began phrases like, “May the lightness of all that is, bless you with love.” And I smiled as I said this, searching for eye contact with the passers by.
The more I walked and blessed my neighbors, the more I thought about my own belief of the oneness of all of humanity. Here I was blessing people I didn’t know and yet I was feeling lighter with each blessing. They had no idea what I was doing. I thought of how this simple act could quickly spread with a bit of intention, and how with focus we could all change the world, making it a much better place.
I thought of the specific places within my own life that need extra blessings, and I began to wish these upon the peopled vehicles both approaching me head-on and from behind. I wished for them such things as clarity, compassion, kindness, and abundance, but then I focused on wishing them financial freedom and hope for a job where they could expand spiritually as they grow professionally. I smiled at this. What a gift it would be for people to wish for others what they wish for themselves. And in the issuing of the blessings, they too are blessed.
I thought of how little we express gratitude when things are not going the way we think they should go. My blessings took a different slant: I began asking for people to express gratitude more freely. I then thought of how the belief of being thankful for things before receiving them will help bring abundance our way, and I chanted a spiritual mantra for gratitude. I wished for those approaching me to be thankful and content with the people and things in their lives.
I recalled a lovingkindness meditation mantra and began repeating it: May you be filled with lovingkindness, peaceful in your heart. May you be safe, protected from harms inner and outer. May you be healthy in mind and body. May you be free. Sometimes I split up the sentences because of the succession of cars coming toward me for their blessings, and I wondered if the right cars got the right blessings for their situation.
I continued to walk, and to say whatever blessings came to mind as I walked. I smiled a lot.
The whole walk reminded me that it is possible to incorporate spiritual practice into the many activities that inundate us each day. Granted, when we have the time to actually be outside and the weather is nice, the practice comes more readily than if we are over-scheduled at work, and have many demands upon us at home. I implore you to find your time each day to practice blessings upon others, even if it’s in your car commuting to or from work, or in the car line dropping off or picking up the children, or even in the grocery store. As my friend said, I guarantee that your whole mood and outlook on life is bound to lift as you experience the act of wishing blessings of abundance on perfect strangers.
May the greatest and most abundant blessings be yours, this day and every day.
Laurie M. Knight, author of Journal to the Center of the Soul, can be reached through her freelance writing site www.WritingbyKnight.com. She is available to facilitate workshops on journaling as a spiritual practice.
