Speak soul to soul. Or if that's too hard, just be kind.
Most of us think that blessings can only come from God.
Â
But after reading Benedictus: A Book of Blessings, by the Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue, I’ve changed my mind.
Â
This book gives me the impression that the Irish seldom open their mouths without issuing a blessing to the person they’re with.
Â
What a way to live! Blessings every way we turn!
Â
It has been a revelation to me, a shock to my system. This is because I’m Australian and Australians don’t go around blessing each other.
Â
In parting, we may whack someone on the shoulder and say gruffly, ‘All the best, mate!’ but we’d never say, as the Irish do:
Â
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; The rains fall soft upon your fields; And, until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Â
If someone said that here, the recipient of this blessing would more than likely call an ambulance for a suspected case of delirium in the speaker.
Â
But I’d love someone to say something like that to me every now and then.
Â
This sort of unexpected blessing would warm my heart and brighten my eye. Make me feel not so alone while I trudge the bumpy road of life. As O’Donohue so eloquently phrases it (2007, p. 14):
Â
The word blessing evokes a sense of warmth and protection; it suggests that no life is alone or unreachable.
Â
It would be comforting to be reminded that I’m not alone.
Â
Who Can Give a Blessing?
Â
According to O’Donohue, anyone can give a blessing.
Â
I can bless people and people can bless me.
Anyone has the power to bless when they speak from their soul (p.216):
Â
When you bless another, you first gather yourself; you reach below your surface mind and personality down to the deeper source within you, namely, the soul. Blessing is from soul to soul.
Â
To bless someone, I don’t need to be ordained, wear an ornate robe, sprinkle holy water around, or put my usually cold hands on their bowed head.
Â
All I must do is speak from my soul.
Â
How to Speak from Our Soul
Â
How do I speak from my soul?
Â
Usually, thoughts pop up in my surface mind based on what I’m seeing or hearing, and then these thoughts somehow find their way down to my throat and I say them. I doubt my soul has anything to do with this process. It’s all mental.
Â
When I talk to someone, my head talks to their head.
Â
Most of what I say is automatic, reactive, and habitual. I know what I’m going to say – because I’ve said it all before.
Â
But giving a blessing is a different matter.
Â
A blessing comes from deep space, a place inside me that I seldom access. It’s a sincere and heartfelt place. The words that emerge from this place fit the moment. They meet the need. They come from my soul and touch their soul.
Â
Wherever one person takes another into the care of their heart, they have the power to bless.
To bless someone is to offer a beautiful gift. When we love someone, we turn towards them with our souls. And the soul itself is the source of the blessing. (p. 217 – 218)
Â
A blessing emerges when I am present and silent long enough for me to take another person into the care of my heart.
Â
Too often I’m too quick to assess a situation or judge a person based on what I already know.
Â
To give a blessing, I need to stop knowing and start sensing.
Â
I need to sink into my soul so I can meet theirs.
Â
A blessing doesn’t override or ignore a difficult situation. It steps right into the middle of it and speaks words that can help.
Â
The blessing speaks to the soul of the receiver and enables them to find what O’Donohue calls the hidden fruit of the negative (p. 216).
Â
For the one who believes in it, a blessing can signal a start of a journey of transformation. (p. 218).
When you bless someone, you literally call the force of their infinite self into action. (p. 217).
Â
After reading these evocative words several times, I sense that I have rarely blessed anyone, if at all.
Â
It seems a hard thing to do.
Â
I am seldom in my soul.
Â
Not All Blessings Are Spoken
Â
But then O’Donohue wrote:
Â
Perhaps we bless each other all the time, without even realizing it. When we show compassion or kindness to another, we are setting blessing in train.
Â
Ah, kindness.
Â
Kindness, now, that is something I’ve tried to touch others with, and they’ve touched me with it countless times.
Â
A blessing doesn’t have to be invoked in words.
Â
When I don’t trust my words to come from my soul, I will be kind instead.
Â
A blessing need not be spoken.
Â
I will keep O’Donohue’s words by me, so that one day, hopefully soon, I will be present, and still, and silent enough to sink into my soul and speak- perhaps my first - blessing.
Â
In the meantime, I’ll find countless ways to be kind.
Â
Bless you.
Â
Marlane
 Â
Â
Reference
O’Donohue, John. Benedictus: A Book of Blessings. (2007). London: Random House.
Â
Comments