May You Be Blessed!

It is traditional for us to have New Year's resolutions every time the year ends. Mine for 2010 is just one - I WILL TRY TO BE A BLESSING TO EVERYONE.

As Eric Harvey (www.walkthetalk.com) said in his introductory email about Kate Nowak's book, May You Be Blessed, it is not about religious beliefs but about JOY, APPRECIATION, KINDNESS and LOVE.

Everyday, we meet people who seem to have lost their light. It may be because they have lost a loved one, suffered an illness, experienced a failure or simply just lost sight of their purpose in life. I believe these people crossed our paths for one reason - to help them rekindle their inner light. In the process of doing this, we rekindle our own inner light because being a blessing naturally makes that happen. Goodness begets goodness. Ever heard of that famous line, "Smile and the world smiles with you"? It is true. Try entering a room and greeting everyone happily with a big bright smile on your face and you will see how a simple gesture of joy change and touch lives. Try throwing a word of appreciation to someone who did great. Try getting more emphathetic about someone who's being criticized and tell him what positive you see in what he's doing. Try telling someone who feels alone and unloved that there is someone who loves him.

I think being a blessing is aptly described in the prayer of St Francis. This is my most favourite song and prayer of inspiration:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

A MOST BLESSED NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

Kindness

Zig Ziglar wrote, “You never know when one kind act, or one word of encouragement, can change a life forever.”

When I was young, I always heard my aunt talking about "Killing with kindness". In my young mind, I couldn't figure out how you can do that. Then as I grew older, I witnessed awesome people who offered bread after being stoned - and my father was one of them. I began to understand the poignancy of acts of kindness. How selfless giving, the pure, sincere kind that doesn't expect anything in return, can melt even the hardest hearts. So "Killing with kindness" actually means that you kill the negative and turn it into positive... acts of kindness despite lack of appreciation or even aggressive behaviour can turn that person to the good... Kindness can resurrect a dead soul, can make a hopeless person see light, can encourage a person who failed to continue striving for success... Kindness is the true manifestation of God's presence in our hearts...

A few years ago, I attended a retreat that strongly impacted and changed my spiritual core value. Our retreat master posed one question that stuck with me until this very day - "If you cannot do what is good and right, how can you say that you love God?"

So everyday, before I start my day, I tell myself, "I am going to do at least one act of kindness today.".... and at the end of the day, I reflect on what I have done and asked myself if indeed I did at least one act of kindness that day... and then I pray and thank God for granting me the wisdom and the faithfulness to fulfill His will by allowing those acts of kindness to happen... and I can feel that this has become my soul's daily bread that if I missed it, I will feel hungry and empty until I have had my fill again...

WHAT HAVE I DONE THAT I ACTED WITH LOVE AND KINDNESS, THAT I DID ALL I CAN TO HELP?