To Bless and To Be Blessed

◄ by Andrew Shier – Hancock, NH ►

Hovering in the midst and intermingled throughout the act of blessing is the promise of awakening. When we are moved to bless another, the forces of love from the highest heaven show up. To quote John O’Donohue, an Irish poet, author, and priest: “When you bless someone, you literally call the force of their infinite Self into action.” When we receive blessing from another, we find ourselves in an inner sanctuary. Quoting O’Donohue again, “When someone blesses you, the fruits of healing may surprise you and seem to come from afar. In fact, they are your own natural serenity and sureness awakening and arriving around you.”

We live in tumultuous times. The need for the mind of blessing could not be greater. Another quote: “A blessing does not erase the difficult or abolish it. But it does reach deeper to draw out the hidden fruits of the negative. The old patterns do not evaporate but become transformed under the persuasion of the soul’s new affection.” We are in this world but not of it. In the space of Attunement, there is nothing to fight against or indeed seek to fix. Our radiant Presence, whether overtly expressed or simply a tonally quiet space of kindness is a blessing. All that is necessary is to hold this and to watch, listen, and pray. Blessing and sharing Attunement could be seen as the same. The ways in which these sacred forces flow into our individual worlds is varied and unique. There are many faces of this expression.

I have been thinking about blessing and found that something deeply moved in my heart. It surrounded a memory of an experience that I shared with Chris Jorgensen. It was in 1996, Peri and I were driving back to Colorado from a visit in Vermont. We stopped in Kansas City to visit Chris and Donna. Chris had an active Attunement practice. During one of our conversations, I posed a question to Chris. “Chris, do you think I could start an Attunement practice in Loveland?” And he said, “absolutely, yes!”

And in that moment, “boom”, something awakened in me. It was what John O’Donohue said. When you bless someone, you literally call the force of their infinite Self into action. He also said, “It is the person’s own natural serenity and sureness awakening.” That particular reply from Chris reminded me of my own assurance, my own path in the world of Attunement in this instance. As it turned out, when Peri and I returned, I opened a public practice in Loveland and have been sharing Attunement ever since.

As I was richly blessed by Chris, I in turn am offering that blessing to others. I’m grateful to have an Attunement practice, where I have the privilege of sharing in an atmosphere of blessing with those who come; to remind them of their infinite Self and encourage assurance in their Presence and authority; to let the light come on in that regard. It is a reminder of why we are here and a true sense of purpose.

We are living in very interesting times. It seems to me all that is left for us to do is to be our authentic Self. Inherent in Self is the presence of blessing. It brings the ability to let things be as they are without the inclination to try and fix or change what is. What would we fix or change?

If there is an inclination to want to change something, then along with that there must be an idea of what change would look like. Yet in this day, could we not say that we have no idea and thus be willing to release that sense of knowing. To release knowing because in our infinite Selves, we are assured everything is working out. I’m privileged, as we all are, to hold, to wait and to trust. To trust and move with the forces of Love available in the current of Attunement, will bring blessing. And, this blessing is often different than my great ideas of what it should look like, so let go.

We are living in a time of great change. I recently had the image of the human body dealing with boils. As I look out at my world and beautiful planet, I see boils popping out. These boils are things that I feel have been set in motion a long, long time ago. And now the boil is coming to a time of release. Is it pretty? No. Maybe even that view is even a judgment. I am living and rejoicing that the force of Love is pushing these toxic substances to the surface to be cleansed.

I have a very wonderful experience in my Attunement practice. Much of what I’m able to share in the practice is what I see and learn and remember every day on this beautiful piece of land where Peri and I live in New Hampshire. My days are filled with picking raspberries and blueberries and tending to our garden. Every morning at 6:30 am., I’m out shoveling horse manure, part of the care for our horses. All of this activity is revealing of an ecstatic rhythm of life that continually reminds me of my Presence and Self. I am living in this world, a place of sanctuary, a place of peace, and stability. I am content to trust in Self, to really let go and know that “All is Well.” I am so grateful.