And there are so, so many such opportunities. For those who may be wondering what kind of service they may render because they have not yet made service a 24/24 attitude, there is one readers of this website know well: blessing.
Apart from the habit of blessing people in the street, on public transport, when shopping, in the waiting room of your dentist, MD or beauty salon …( I haven’t yet come up with a place or situation where one could not bless! ) you could make blessing for world problems on a daily basis one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2020.
And here, to say that you have a superabundance of issues to choose from is the understatement of the year. Worldwide, there are 420 million children living in conflict areas in addition to millions of street children (in the US alone it is estimated there are over two million such children); prisoners in solitary confinement (some stay decades absolutely alone 24/24); the 72 million refugees in the world (latest UN estimate); the environment… If you have any difficulties finding problems to handle, you will find umpteen examples in my latest book, 365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World.
An important reminder: when you bless, be careful not to take on the suffering of those you bless (which is a very unhelpful form of empathy), but on the contrary just let your heart overflow with this clear sense that right where the material senses claim there is a terrible drama happening, the omnipotence of divine Love’s Presence is the only thing really going on.
Pierre Pradervand
January 2020
P.S. The last blessing in my above-mentioned book is by contemporary mystic and creator of the concept of spiritual activism, Andrew Harvey. Often blessing inspires us to turn our spirituality into the real power behind our lives rather than icing on the cake.
“May I not pray for the poor without working tirelessly to end the systems that thrive on poverty.
May I not pray for the animals without working hard to end the systems that are slaughtering them.
May I not pray for justice and compassion and the coming of your kingdom without being willing to give my life to make them real.
May I be saved from the subtle and lethal hypocrisy that would make me believe I love you when I risk nothing to make this love real in your world.”
For a related article by Pierre, please click
https://gentleartofblessing.org/blessing-as-a-form-of-service/
