Par Pierre Pradervand

Upon waking up, bless your day, for it is already overflowing with an abundance of blessings that your blessings make manifest. For to bless means to recognize the infinite goodness that is an integral part of the very fabric of the universe. It only awaits a sign from us to manifest itself.

One of the greatest secrets of life is to constantly marvel at existence and the world. And one of the greatest avatars in history told us 2,000 years ago that unless we become like little children, we cannot enter the kingdom of inner fullness or know happiness.

One of the countless wonders of life is that it is constantly filled with opportunities to marvel at every moment, and one of the tragedies of our consumer society is that it devalues these opportunities through relentless advertising bombardment.

I have an 85-year-old friend who is a Vesuvius of enthusiasm. The smallest flower on a cliff, a particular bird song, a special sunset, an act of kindness that goes beyond the ordinary… Absolutely everything is an occasion for him to be enthusiastic. I am aware that I am writing these lines for the privileged, and it was not my language when I met the women of the village of Sémari in the Sahel who walked 40 kilometers a day in temperatures of 50°C in the sun to fetch water. But that is not our case. So let us dare to assume our privileges. In all areas, you will find opportunities to marvel, whether it is in sports like the elderly marathon runner from New York who, at 105, completed yet another marathon, countless unforgettable works of art, the slow magic of the arrival of spring, the smile of a child on the bus, the incredible functioning of the human body (35 to 40,000,000,000,000,000 coordinated cells in a magical way). And let’s not even talk about nature: those nearly 100-meter-tall sequoias that have stood for almost 3,000 years in California… The old Tjjkko, that nearly 10,000-year-old Swedish pine, or Pando, that tree in Utah that has been cloning itself for 80,000 years from its root system without seeds (I have a special love for trees). The list of natural wonders is endless.

And remember that enthusiasm is a precious system for boosting your health and morale… for free.

Pierre Pradervand

The Gentle Art of Blessing