“Blessings …serve not only those who emit them, and not only those to whom they are addressed, but all people in the human community.” From Dr. Laszlo’s Foreword to 365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World.
After a professional career spanning well over 50 years that took me to over 40 countries of the five continents, and like many working in the field of personal development, I have reached the conclusion that a clearly held intention with a clearly defined goal packs great power.
We all use intention all day long and couldn’t exist without constantly forming intentions. But between “I plan to go to see this movie tonight” and Gandhi’s intention to free his country from colonial rule using the power of non-violence, there is a slight difference!
In the first English edition of my book The Gentle Art of Blessing, I tell the story of this Scandinavian man, Tord, who had been interned many times in a mental hospital for serious psychiatric disorders and who in addition was very obese and had declining eyesight. A healer told him to be kind to everyone, so he made this a firm intention and just started blessing people all day long. After three months of this practice he suddenly had an instantaneous improvement of his eyesight. « I went on blessing people still more than before and started to help ladies cross the street, whether they wanted it or not » (!) He goes on to narrate that, two weeks later, he was reading a book on spiritual issues when suddenly a very strong light filled his mind.… It lasted for ten minutes then disappeared. Two months later, this light began to fill him more and more. He explains that all these developments transformed his existence « from a big hell to a very big heaven… I became a very harmonious person and my obesity disappeared. My eyesight has been restored and the mental illness has disappeared. Sometimes, I feel I am the happiest person in the world… Jesus said, ‘heaven is near.’ Actually, it really is within us. »
What is important in this experience is not only that it shows the power of a focused intention but stresses the motive behind the intention. It was the simple desire to be « kind to all » as the healer had enjoined Tord. His practice was totally disinterested. He didn’t think, « If I bless enough this will help me heal. » He did it out of the unselfed motive to simply do good to others.
So, dear friend, why not pick a spiritual goal you would really like to reach, hone your intention and go for it. If your motive is right, honest, pure and your intention as firmly rooted as a bi-centennial oak tree that has weathered countless storms, nothing can prevent you from reaching your goal if you learn how to depend on Her strength rather than what you believe to be yours.
Pierre Pradervand. November 2019
