"Bless Your Heart!"
January 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
All my life I have heard people use the phrase, “Bless your heart!” Not so much recently, but when I was younger, it seemed like all the older people said it; so much so, in fact, that it lost any real meaning to me. “Bless your heart” was a little like saying, “Hello,” or “Goodbye,” when using the telephone; it was just one of those phrases “old people” used frequently — and automatically, in certain situations.
What is a blessing? And can you really “bless” someone’s heart? And, if you did bless someone’s heart, what did it do; what did it feel like? And why would you do such a thing, anyway? What kid knows the answers to these questions? Most of us are taught that the heart is simply a muscle inside your chest that pumps blood; and a blessing is something you have to say before you eat, or when someone sneezes.
The funny thing about people saying, “Bless your heart,” is that they said it when you did something really nice, or when you got hurt, or when something bad happened to you – and even sometimes when you did something really dumb. All of the different uses only served to further obscure any practical meaning. But, I now know that, whether I am feeling good, or feeling bad, I’d always rather receive a blessing than a curse. It’s always Better to Bless.
A commonly accepted definition of, “Blessing,” is: “to infuse with Divinity, or with one’s hopes.” Blessing seems to be our way of sending love, energy, gratitude, or healing from our heart into something, or someone, that seems to be in need, or somehow worthy or deserving of a gift or demonstration of appreciation or love.
Philosophers and prophets throughout time have focused their greatest wisdom teachings on the faculties and power of the human heart – not as a mere muscle, but as the center of our being. Though unfathomable to most people, our greatest minds have always agreed that the heart, in addition to distributing the “spark of life” throughout our bodies, is very much a living magnet that draws us together with our desires and offers supreme guidance – if only we listen to the “still, quiet voice within.”
According to ancient wisdom teachings, and the latest advances in medical and scientific research, the heart is much more than a muscle. The heart is a “thinking organ,” just like the brain; except the heart doesn’t seem to make the same mistakes in judgment the brain makes. Ancient teachings from every religion and culture on Earth talk about the role of the heart in thinking and believing — in creating your physiology and your experience of life.
“As you believe in your heart, so it is done unto you,” is not simply poetry or scripture; it is advice for creating your own experience. The Institute of HeartMath is a global leader in research on the heart. Researchers at HeartMath have found that, “when you learn how to intentionally shift to a positive emotion, heart rhythms immediately change.” According to HeartMath, “A shift in heart rhythms may not seem important but in fact it creates a favorable cascade of neural, hormonal and biochemical events that benefit the entire body. The stress-reducing effects are both immediate and long lasting.”
It is an established fact that a person on the receiving end of a kind act benefits to a certain degree – emotionally and physically. But it is also a medical fact that the person performing the kind act also benefits from the release of healing, good-mood producing hormones that benefit both health and mood. Even more interesting is the fact that anyone witnessing a kind act experiences the same positive health benefits as the giver and receiver of the kindness.
In addition to the immediate benefits experienced a result of the positive effects of giving, receiving, or witnessing a blessing, there is evidence that harnessing and focusing the power of prayer, as a group, can create even bigger positive changes in the world. Kate Nowak’s Blessing Experiment (www.BetterToBless.com), according to ancient wisdom, and cutting edge medical and scientific research, has the power to change the world by bringing a tremendous number of people together with the common goal of focusing on blessing rather than stressing. Prayer studies have shown that the collective mental energy of a group of people with a common desire had a measurable affect on outcomes – hence the practice of “mass,” and other group prayer practices and rituals. “The family that prays together stays together,” they say; and, “what any two agree on in prayer will surely come to pass.”
Besides the potential effects that can be generated by a group of people praying for the same thing at the same time, a single person praying for the same thing over a period of time will generate measurable results in that person’s life and health. Supporting Kate Nowak’s Blessing Challenge is HeartMath research that reveals the power of sustained positive thinking – and the health benefits it generates.
When you bless someone, there is every reason to believe that something “magical” can happen; prayers are answered and dreams come true – “All things are possible.” But there is no question that, when you bless someone, everyone benefits in a very real and immediate sense. Being in a environment of people experiencing the physiological effects of receiving, giving, or witnessing “Blessings” is a clinically-proven benefit to body, mind, and spirit, and the ideal situation for “creating your reality” “according to your beliefs.”
Whether this positive energy of love and creation is given from one heart to another, or inspired from within in response to the sharing of a blessing, or an act of kindness, there is no doubt that it is always Better to Bless. Bless your Heart!
*To learn more about the power of the heart, and its role in your health, prayers, and experience, visit: HeartMath
*To take the Blessing Challenge, or join the Blessing Experiment, check out Kate Nowak’s site: www.BetterToBless.com
Love, and Differences, in Common… "Judge not."
January 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
From the beginning, we have been growing apart. This isn’t bad; it’s nature. Look at a tree, and you will notice that 
what begins as one trunk branches into many; and each branch also starts as one and divides into many – with each split sending smaller versions on diverging paths. Each path, however, ends the same – with a leaf, in the case of a tree.
The pattern of the branches is not unlike the branching of roots underneath the surface — invisible to the eye. That which is seen comes from that we cannot see; “As above, so below, as below, so above.” Nature is a series of repeating patterns. When you look at little pieces of the pattern, you may see differences; but when you look at the big picture you see only similarities — or Unity, depending on how far you are able to “zoom out.”
Even the leaf has the pattern of the tree and its branches represented in the stem and “veins” of the leaf. Even the shape of the leaf corresponds to the overall shape of the tree in many cases. The whole is made up of many small parts; and the whole is reflected in each of those parts. But all of those paths started with a single seed, within which the entire tree was waiting – including roots, branches, leaves, and countless other seeds.
No two branches, leaves, or trees are exactly the same; but all trees of the same type are very similar – perhaps identical to the untrained eye. And an entire forest could have originated with one seed. One seed, many roots; one tree, many branches; one forest, many trees — all from One.
In the context of humanity, we too start from a single source and emerge into the outer world of diversity. It is puzzling why the vast majority spend the bulk of their time trying to impose conformity on a system designed by God to produce diversity. This is the nature of judgment. An ancient Native American wisdom teaching on judgment reminds us that, “No tree has branches foolish enough to fight amongst themselves.” In our efforts to make things like “us,” we create judgment, war, suffering, etc…
Of course, the plan to create conformity works, but not the way we think it should. By fighting amongst ourselves to make others believe as we do, or act as we do, we create a world in which everyone is unhappy and unhealthy (mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, or some combination of these…). Everyone, it seems is living less of a life than they could be living, simply because they are too worried about what they aren’t, or what they aren’t doing, or what they don’t have.
You aren’t supposed to look like everyone else, and you aren’t supposed to think the same things as everyone else. We are supposed to be as different as we are; and our pain is caused by resisting that natural tendency and by trying to conform with others. True, there are some things we should do alike (breathing, not killing, etc…); but those are our essential nature – not adopted behaviors.
Wisdom teachings were set down to help us identify those behaviors that benefit us the most. “Judge not,” for example, is not a rule that you should be ostracized for breaking; it is advice that will bear you good fruit in body, mind, and spirit, should you choose to follow it. But if you don’t, I still pray that your way be made as easy as you want it to be. I wouldn’t judge another just because they judge me. If there’s already that one person thinking bad thoughts about me, why would I want to make my situation any worse by allowing my mental state to degrade to one of judgment?
The act of judgment is based on a conflict of beliefs and perceptions: The conflict between how you BELIEVE things should be and how you PERCEIVE them to be. The important thing is that beliefs are fluid and different for everyone – so are perceptions. And judgment, along with anything else that stimulates thoughts of conflict, activates your stress response. There is no way to be in a conflict and not be stressed. And, in case you’re thinking, “Big deal! It’s not like I haven’t been stressed out before…,” you may want to do some research on stress – it causes every medical problem known to man! Judgments cause stress; and stress kills. You do the math for yourself and let me know if you think the great healer, Jesus, was handing out good advice, or not, when He expounded on the teaching, “Judge not.”
The teaching to, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” is often misinterpreted as: “Do unto others what they did to me,” or, “Do unto others before they do unto me…” The “others” we speak of are US. There is only the ONE, expressing itself as ALL THINGS. There is no “other.” When we judge others, we are comparing them to a memory of how we have seen or heard things should be.
If we are judging others, we were taught to judge at the same time we were taught the standards by which to judge others. And we were all taught these things by different people with different histories, beliefs, attitudes, agendas, and intentions. Who taught you what’s right and wrong, good and bad, pretty or ugly, healthy or unhealthy, moral or immoral? And how are their beliefs working for them? How about for YOU? The one thing you, me, and every living thing should do – always – is LOVE.
Being yourself means thinking your own thoughts. You can’t do that if you are worrying about what other people will think of you, or worrying about what someone else might be “getting away with.” Being yourself means being different while understanding that you are exactly the same as everyone else — at your Source.
Flowers do not mourn the fact they aren’t trees; they smile at the Sun all day — admiring the Sun above which gives the flower life below. Be happy you are different; different is unique – and God only does “unique.” When you are happy with yourself, and love yourself for all of the unique gifts you were given access to, then you can truly love others for who they are. When you love unconditionally, you are free of judgment; when you have freed yourself from judgment, you are free to love unconditionally.
