Blessing from Oneness (and an Update)

"Our longing for the eternal kindles our imagination to bless. Regardless of how we configure the eternal, the human heart continues to dream of a state of wholeness, that place where everything comes together, where loss will be made good, where blindness will transform into vision, where damage will be made whole, where the clenched question will open in the house of surprise, where the travails of life's journey will enjoy a homecoming. To invoke a blessing is to call some of that wholeness upon a person now." - John O'Donohue, *To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings*

I love this quote that serendipitously made its way into my email inbox today. I say serendipitously because I have been undergoing a major spiritual awakening the last few weeks and residing in the place of wholeness, Oneness more and more. I like the idea that I can call some of this Oneness/Wholeness upon other people through my blessings.

I know I haven't be a very active blogger here lately, life got very overwhelming with illnesses and winter hibernation, as well as commitments I have in my community. I'm preparing to stage manage a production of The Laramie Project in my town next month! I'm very excited. Then there's this intense evolving process that I'm going through right now that seems to take up all the space I have left within. Maybe I'll try to share some about it in the coming weeks. It's definitely applicable to this project. I will do my best to bring more regular posts about generosity, kindness, blessing and gift economy, and should be able to fill any blessing requests that come in. There haven't been many the last few months, which makes me a little sad but also kept me from being more overwhelmed, so I accept the blessing of the project being in hibernation as well. But I hope to see it flower again as Spring awakens the world.

Anyway, thanks for listening and participating in The Conspiracy in any way that you do, even if it's little acts of kindness towards yourself.

A Blessing

May the light of your soul guide you.
May the light of your soul bless the work that you do
with the secret love and warmth of your heart.
May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul.
May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light
and renewal to those who work with you
and to those who see and receive your work.
May your work never weary you.
May it release within you wellsprings of
refreshment, inspiration and excitement.
May you be present in what you do.
May you never become lost in bland absences.
May the day never burden.
May dawn find you awake and alert,
approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities and promises.
May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.
May you go into the night blessed, sheltered and protected.
May your soul calm, console and renew you.

John O'Donoghue

Lovely Blessing

I stumbled across this in an unexpected source recently...

Deep peace on the running wave to you
Deep peace on the flowing air to you
Deep peace on the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace on the gentle night to you
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you
Deep peace to you

--Traditional Gaelic Blessing

You Have the Power to Bless Life

"Few people know that they have the power to bless life. We bless the life in each other far more than we realize. Many simple, ordinary things that we do can affect those around us in profound ways...the unexpected phone call, the brief touch, the willingness to listen generously, the warm smile or wink. We can even bless total strangers and be blessed by them."--Rachel Naomi Remen

Tomorrow's Blessings

I am sending out two blessing packages with art dolls tomorrow: one to New Mexico on behalf of a friend to a woman having a rough time in her life and one to Miami, Florida for a Zaadzster who needs a "bushel of blessings".

I also used some birthday money to get some beautiful new fabrics and glass beads for the transformation dolls, so make more requests and give these beauties homes!

The Rose Man (A Generosity Hero)

This is just awesome…

The fragrance always remains on the hand that gives the rose. –Mahatma Gandhi

“In Lake Placid, Florida, the local superhero is an 85-year-old retiree known simply as “The Rose Man.” The Rose Man – a.k.a. Willard Campbell – started using his petal power 20 years ago: “The idea hit me – Well, if I've got excess roses, why don't I take 'em and give 'em to the patients in the hospital?” Today, he not only brings free, weekly roses to just about every business in town, he brings them to just about every person in every business in town. Spending 10 hours a day driving around town, The Rose Man guesstimates giving about 25,000 roses every year.

Why does Willard do it?

“Because, first, I want to keep busy. And I enjoy it. And I enjoy giving them away. And I like to see the smiles on the people's faces that gets 'em,” he says.

“A lot of women say, 'I want to hug your neck.' Well, I don't do it for the hug on my neck. I get all the hugs I want here,” Willard says, referring to Opal, his grade-school sweetheart and wife of 65 years.

“I feel like if there was only one rose bouquet, that I would be the one to get it,” says Opal.

They lived in Kentucky, where Willard worked as a homebuilder before retiring to Lake Placid - if you can call it retiring. Willard spends up to 10 hours a day preparing and delivering roses to the delight of appreciative office workers.”

More here.

A Blessing Box

I haven't worked on blessing boxes in awhile, but I have this one left for the next person who requests one. (Blessing boxes come with 50 or more inspiring quote cards inside.)

Blessing Dolls

I've been quite busy making blessing dolls (as I'm currently calling them). I'm not sure where their homes are yet since I haven't received any requests in the last two weeks , but I'm very happy keeping myself busy creatively. From now on I'm going to focus on the butterfly and bird goddess patterns (I'll add more photos tomorrow) because I'm thinking about calling them Transformation Dolls with the intent of encouraging/inspiring women in times of change and growth. Future dolls will also include various herbs and stones that have healing or other positive properties and possibly an accompanying note with a description of the kinds of energy I've invested in the doll.

What Blessing Means

"To bless means to wish, unconditionally and from the deepest chamber of your heart, unrestricted good for others and events; it means to hallow, to hold in reverence [...] To bless is to invoke divine care upon, to speak or think gratefully for, to confer happiness upon, although we ourselves are never the bestower, but simply the joyful witnesses of life's abundance.

To bless all without distinction is the ultimate form of giving, because those you bless will never know from whence came the sudden ray that burst through the clouds of their skies, and you will rarely be a witness to the sunlight in their lives." Pierre Pradervand, from "The Gentle Art of Blessing"

Update

I need to get better at recording the actual activities of the Conspiracy here.

Today I am sending out five packages, three were requested for friends and two are in response to blog posts I recently read at the Create a Connection blog. When I read stories about people who are having a tough time in life, I'll send an email inquiring as to whether they'll let me send them an art blessing. So far the responses have all been positive.

Packages are going out to Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Texas.

A Serendipitous Blessing For Me

Today is my birthday and serendipitously I received a reciprocal package in gratitude for a blessing package I sent out a few weeks ago. Included was a beautiful handmade card and lavendar wand that smells divine. Although I never think about my gifting being reciprocated, this a spectacular blessing to receive.

She also donated some postage for future packages. What a lovely way to pay it forward!