Can a blessing transform you and your world? Pierre Pradervand combines his work in personal development and social justice to reveal a new way to change our thoughts, interactions and outcomes: with a silent blessing. By blessing, Pradervand means wishing from the bottom of the heart, in total sincerity, the very best for other people–their complete fulfillment and complete happiness. Pradervand acknowledges that it is not easy to bless everyone. But what begins as an intention can become a powerful response to life.
In his book, The Gentle Art of Blessing, Pradervand points out that is impossible to bless and judge at the same time. He advises holding constantly as a deep, hallowed, intoned thought, the desire to bless, allowing yourself to become a peacemaker. Blessing holds our negative, judgmental and resentful feelings at bay, allowing us to access our deeper loving feelings.
Pradervand learned early in his career that it is useless to attempt to transform social, political and economic structures if we do not also transform people’s heats. He vividly describes how within an angry exchange, silently blessing someone can turn the situation around.
Try these blessings, from his book, in your own life:
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 texture of the universe and awaiting each and all.
On meeting people and talking to them, bless them in their health, their work, their joy, their relationship to the universe, themselves and others.
The minute anyone expresses the least aggression or unkindness to you, respond with a blessing. Bless them totally, sincerely, joyfully – for such blessings are a shield that protects them from the ignorance of their misdeed and deflects the arrow that was aimed at you.
Spiritual traditions all recognize the gift of blessings. Bless them that curse you, says the Bible.
The Buddhist practice of Metta, or lovingkindness, includes this blessing: Just as a mother loves and protects her only child at the risk of her own life, we should cultivate boundless love to offer to all living beings in the entire cosmos.
Pradervand explains that blessing someone, especially when we have hostile thoughts about them, can be transformative, introducing empathy, generosity and love into a relationship that had been negative. Both the giver and the receiver of the blessing are open to new possibilities, feelings and outcomes.
Against all odds, the power of blessing can introduce radical changes in our lives when we learn to bless and forgive ourselves. Clean your slate!, Pradervand urges. Loving and forgiving others starts by loving and forgiving ourselves. He quotes Edith Stauffer in her book Unconditional Love and Forgiveness, Forgiveness is a willingness to move forward. It is a willingness to be more comfortable and suffer less… It is a decision to re-enter the flow of love and life.
The Gentle Art of Blessing
A Simple Practice That Will Transform You and Your World
by Pierre Pradervand
- Discover the prayers that reside within you
- Forgive the past
- Heal your life
- Generate grace and blessings
- Increase Synchronicity
- Deepen Your Spiritual Connection
- Re-create Your Reality at a Higher Level
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