Episode Transcript
What is a blessing? Have you ever wondered what a blessing actually is and how it works? That's what we're going to talk about today on the Spiritual American. We Americans enjoy a wonderful and powerful way of life, but internally and in relationships we may wish for better. Join me as we look beneath the surface and gain insights to transform every aspect of your life. My name is Dr. Anne O'Hare, and this is the Spiritual American. Welcome back everyone. Thank you for joining us. Today it's a kind of an interesting topic. We're going to be discussing blessings and again, I often talk about how the way I grew up in my background. I grew up on the northeast side of the United States. I grew up in the seventies and eighties, and that's kind of the background, cultural background. Blessings was kind of something that you heard of when you went to church or if somebody would say, oh, I just had a baby. It's such a blessing. So you would hear people say it, but I know that in the East now. In my spiritual study, I've come more in contact with the eastern side of things in the world, and especially India and blessings are much more part of their everyday understanding of how life works. As a matter of fact, the idea of blessings is very important because it's seen as a, a sustenance. Like you're sustained by blessings. But I really didn't understand that. I thought, okay, you know you have a baby, it feels good. So you feel, oh, it's a blessing 'cause it's bringing something good into your life. And so in this inquiry for myself, I was thinking about what a blessing is. And I had an experience recently, which I will share about how I came to understand the deeper functioning of blessings, but I'm gonna break it down into three levels of blessing. From my experience and from what I've observed, these are the three levels of blessings. So one level of blessing is when you feel like you're getting something that you don't deserve. So it kind of feels like, by some grace, you got it, but you know, you feel like you don't deserve it. So it feels like you've been blessed, like something greater than you is giving you something, even though you know you didn't do anything or you don't feel any ownership of that. That's the first level, and that could turn into like a dependency. So again, in the West, we don't have this much with this, but I know in the east there's a thing, oh, let's just get the blessing. Let's get the blessing. There's a big emphasis on being able to be in the presence of someone who is maybe wholly or scholarly or has some kind of status, and then you get their blessing and then that would be good for you or sustaining for you. And in the West we don't have that. It's more like go out and make money and you know, make something happen. But blessings do matter and this is why we're having this conversation. So that's one level. The second level is where somebody that you respect says something about you. And even though you don't fully believe it or see that it's true right now because you respect and love and honor that person, you feel like it's a blessing for you. Like, okay, I will take it on. Yes, this is my potential. So the first one is you get it, but you don't feel like you deserve it. The second one, you get it and you feel like, okay, uh, I can see that this is my potential because I believe in them. And this is the one I've heard in my spiritual journey. I've heard this one a lot. Like I got a blessing that, you know, we, in Brahma Kumaris, we give out blessings, you know, a Blessing cards as part of our gatherings. Sometimes we give a little blessing card, and in the blessing card it says, you are, you know what? You are a loving, spiritual being with. Generosity to encompass and support the whole world, something like that. And that would be the blessing. So in that case, we would take it as, okay, this is my potential because the blessing is supposed to be coming from God or like a godly blessing. It's something that's going from the Supreme Soul to the soul. So you take it, okay, maybe I'm not believing that now, or maybe I haven't fully, um, you know, encompassed that maybe I haven't fully achieved that, but. With this blessing, I feel like I can. So that's the second level. The third level, and this is the level that I feel that I experienced not too long ago, and I'll share, I think is deeper and it has to do with service and it has to do with the laws of karma. I feel that if any of us and any of us can do this, it doesn't have to be. Somebody doing a podcast or somebody who's like world famous or something like that. It doesn't have to be that anyone who has a heart to serve, a heart, to give a heart that wishes to help everybody or support everybody. At some point, I feel that you will feel the return of that, meaning you will feel that support coming back. And I'm gonna share my experience with this. I have been doing this podcast for a little over a year, and I've also been doing a lot of service giving classes and so forth. And not too long ago I started feeling that there was remembering of me good, nice remembering of me out there. It's not certain it wasn't specific, but I just got the feeling like, wow, maybe people are remembering me. Good. And in that remembering I'm getting a blessing. So what is the blessing and how can I use this idea? So it isn't like always have to be world service. It can be in relationships. It can be if you are giving and you are generous, you are creating a positive memory in the minds and hearts of others. Their positive memory of you. Energetically becomes a blessing and sustenance for you. That's the third level and a little bit deeper in that also, we were taught, you know, be nice, be generous in relationships. You know, it's always like you have to be a good person. Just be a good person. Maybe sometimes you'll say, you'll think or hear, oh, maybe it'll come back to you, or whatever. And I was thinking about the relationship between parents and children in particular, but other relationships too. But this idea that, you give yourself over to care for your children and then hopefully when you need care, the the child will come back and turn around. Nowadays you can't. I mean, this is just my feeling. You shouldn't really depend on that to happen. There should be a free feeling. It should be a blessing. Not by force, not by expectation, but by blessing that the other person feels like that they wanna give back or bless. It doesn't have to be in action. It can just be in memory. I feel like when we put a good memory of ourselves in others' minds. We begin to feel, it's very subtle, but you will begin to feel that you are being supported and also feel better about yourself. Also, this is the law of karma. Very subtle, but still blessings are karma. It's energy coming back to me. So how do I start using this idea in my life? I feel that in relationships, let's say there's an obligation and an understanding in each relationship. We've talked about this with the law of karma, but just in terms of blessing you, you're not, you're not saying, oh, I wanna make this one remember me, so I get their blessing. It's more like I want to give to everyone. I wanna give everyone a positive memory of me. That means my karma itself will support me somehow. I remember hearing one of the senior sisters say, I'm not worried because whatever is mine won't pass me. And I was like, wow. That's kind of an interesting thought. It seemed like it had a lot of faith. To be able to think like that. Me being so concrete, oh yeah, okay, I hope you, you know, did you, do you have insurance? Do you have long-term healthcare? Do you have this, do you, I mean, you know, it's all the, you know did you prep for No, no. Food and water? Did you? I don't know, I just feel like there has to be a balance between what's reasonably makes sense to do in terms of preparation, but I liked, and I was touched by her faith, like whatever is mine won't pass me. Like I'm gonna get what's mine to get. That's a blessing. It's a return of karma. The other thing is there's a story and the Indian, if anybody's Indian listening to this, they'll know the story. I don't remember the names, but there's a king story of a king who has let's say three daughters and the king is asking the daughters. Who is it that's giving you your inheritance? Who's giving you your fortune? And the one daughter says, oh, it's you, father. Or the second daughter says it's you, father. And the youngest one says to the king, I'm getting back my own fortune. I'm getting back my fortune. I'm getting back. What belongs to me? And the father was very upset and threw her out. And you know, it's a, it's a turnaround story. So it's then something happened to the. I think it was the, the king needed money and then the, the daughter was banished and she married another rich king. And then that king ended up helping the father. And then the father said, well, thank you daughter that you helped me. And she said, no, it's not me. It's your karma coming back. It's your fortune. So in addition to this idea of blessings, there's the idea, the idea of fortune. And we don't think about that in the west either. 'cause we think about, oh, it's gotta be what you have to do, what you have to do, what you have to do. Which is not wrong. It's just that maybe there's more, maybe there's more to be aware of. What is my fortune? What do I have coming back to me that I don't even know about yet? So what can I do to help myself to maybe get blessings or get in touch with blessings? Well understand that whatever energy I have, whatever thoughts and feelings and words and actions I do, and however generous I am, that's the energy I'm putting out there and I'm adding world service to that also. So if you're sitting here listening and saying, you know, I really do have a lot of love to give and I would like to give a lot of love to the world. And so sit there and do it with your mind. Hold the world in your mind and send love and send peace and send vibrations. Those vibrations will reach people. will reach souls all over the world. So, and not only world, obviously, home, body, family, everything. So. Every day. Try your best to be a little quiet, a little humble, and try to do your best in every situation. Be sweet, be giving. Be generous if as much as possible. If you are suffering inside from a lot of anger and fear and all these other things, and it's hard for you to relate to what I'm saying, that's okay. We all have to deal with that. In the first 100 episodes of this podcast, I spent a hundred episodes talking about all that stuff. So if you're interested and you like the way I explain things, then go on back and check out those hundred episodes. 'cause it goes through all different things and all different aspects. But once you get past that point where, okay, I am pretty calm now, I'm not that emotional, I feel much better now. I'm ready to give. I'm ready to be happy. I'm ready to be generous. I'm ready to create or plug into my fortune and receive blessings. Receive the return of my own goodness, of my own love of my own care, of my own generosity of spirit. So I will leave it there. There are some words that I've used here that maybe some of you are not used to hearing. Fortune, blessing, return of your own fortune, or creating your fortune, return of blessings. So think about that. If it feels like curious, wow, maybe there is something to this. Maybe there is an energetic flow that I can get in touch with. And I'll also invite you to check out the description below. There are video meditations available, free online classes, and the Brahma Kumaris website where you can check out a local, um. Center near you so that you can get in touch with other people and also have an in-person experience and learn more about this. If you like this vibe, if you like what you're hearing, you can check that out as well, so I will leave it there. Remember, our slogan is Heal, Empower and Serve. And until next time, blessings to you. Take care.
