May you be well today! Next week, I’ll be engaging in the spiritual practice of rest and will not publish a blog post. However, I’ll be back in two weeks with a brand new post. Have a wonderful two weeks! This post is about the spiritual practice of Calling Forth The Blessings In Others.
Anyone who has known me for more than 3 minutes will tell you I absolutely LOVE to travel! My most recent trip was a cruise with my family a few months before the pandemic began. One of the best parts of cruising is going on shore excursions. A shore excursion occurs when the cruise ship docks at a port in a city and anyone on the ship can get off the ship and explore the city surrounding the port.
On the first day of this cruise, my family and I had gone on an awesome shore excursion that involved 3 of my favorite activities: shopping, spending time in nature and trying a new, very adventurous activity. After all of this fun in the sun, my family and I made our way back to the port where our ship was docked and got into the very long line to board the ship. While waiting in line, I began to look around.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, something purple caught my attention. I honed in on this purply item and soon realized that it was a purple and black leg brace. I have worn leg braces off and on since I was about two years old, but NEVER in my life had I seen purple leg braces. This was one of the coolest things I had seen that day.
I felt compelled, yes compelled, to tell the owner of the leg braces how cool they were. I looked up to see that the leg braces were on the legs of a woman who walked with a cane and who was ahead of my family and I in the line to get on the ship.
There were so many people between the woman and I that I knew, short of gaining the powers of levitation and flying over to the woman, I wouldn’t be able to tell her how much I liked her braces while we were in line. So, I resolved that if I saw her on the ship, I’d tell her how cool her braces are. With that resolution in hand, I made my way through the line with my family.
By the time it was our turn to get on the ship, the woman with the purple braces had been on the ship for quite a while. My family and I went up the very steep ramp to the ship’s door, scanned our i.d. cards and went to the side room where people waited for the elevator to whisk them to the deck of their choice.
To my surprise, and utter delight, the woman with the purple braces and her family were in the room waiting for the elevator too! I was never so thankful for a slow elevator! The woman smiled at my family and I as we entered the room.
In my usual bubbly way, I said, “Hi! I just have to tell you those are the coolest braces I’ve ever seen! I absolutely love purple and I didn’t know that purple braces existed!”
The woman smiled and said, “Oh thank you! I can tell you like purple from your purple coat and your purple wheelchair.”
To which, my entire family nodded their heads ‘yes’ in unison.
My mom said, “You should see her apartment! Purple is everywhere.”
Everyone laughed. The woman with the awesome braces said, “You’re the first person to notice that my braces are purple. The only time people mention my braces is to tell me how sorry they are that I have to wear them.”
“Yeah. Sometimes people don’t realize that our braces or wheelchair or any mobility device is our ticket to get out here and explore the world. They think it’s something sad, but in reality it’s something to celebrate,” I said.
“You get it!” the woman said. She turned to her family and said, “She gets it!!”
As we waited for the elevator, we continued chatting about disability and people’s perceptions when she shared that she had recently acquired her disability.
“Sometimes, I feel like a burden to my family because I can’t walk as fast or as far as I used to,” she said as tears filled her eyes.
My mom took a step towards her and said, “You are not a burden. You are a blessing to your family. You are a gift. They’ve learned so much about life that they never would have known without you or your disability.”
“It’s true, Mom,” the woman’s daughter-in-law said as she put her hand on the woman’s shoulder.
The woman took a deep breath and almost magically, the elevator door finally opened. We all got on the elevator together. We exchanged information and for the rest of the cruise, we hung out together once a day.
When I resolved to compliment the woman on her braces, I was calling forth one of the ways she blessed me. However, I didn’t know that the opportunity to help the woman reframe her perspective of herself would blossom from the compliment. I just knew that I wanted her to know how much joy her braces brought me. But, when we call forth the blessings in others by complimenting someone, we are allowing our spirit, which is love, beauty, compassion and kindness to flow from us to another individual. In doing so, we are fulfilling our divine mission.
Love, blessings and purple,
Allison
You can do this exercise as often as you like this week. If you need modifications to the practice, scroll down to the section titled Access Notes.
Complimenting Others
When you wake up each morning this week, say out loud or think to yourself, “Universe, please give me an opportunity to give someone a compliment that will brighten their day.” You have just set an intention for your day. Remain open to one opportunity to give someone a compliment as you go about your day.
The following modifications are intended to create equal access to the spiritual practice above. These modifications are somewhat general to be as useful as possible to as many people as possible. Please feel free to further tweak the exercise as needed so that you can participate as fully as possible while honoring your body’s needs.
1. If you are unable to leave your home, after you have set your intention, you can do one of the following
a. Give someone a compliment who comes into your home, or who you communicate with on the phone, text, social media or email. Or,
b. Look out your window and find someone to compliment. Once you see someone you would like to compliment, give them a compliment as you look at them. Act as if the person is right in front of you. It’s okay if the person doesn’t hear your compliment. You have still put the energy of love into circulation.
2. If verbal communication is difficult or not possible or you find social situations challenging, when you see someone you want to compliment, you can smile at the person (if you are able to smile). Or, you can also say a compliment to the person in your head. It is okay if the person doesn’t hear your compliment. You have put the energy of love into circulation with your thoughts.
3. If you don’t interact with anyone on a daily basis, you can choose someone in your life (a family member, a friend etc.) who you want to compliment. Once you decide who to compliment, you can send your compliment to the person via text, email, a phone call or any other method that works for you.
