Dear friends,
Welcome to this loving-kindness blessing just for you.
I'd like you first to make sure you're sitting comfortably.
Then I invite you to close your eyes and bring yourself to a place of stillness.
Know where to go.
Nothing to do for these few moments except to rest and receive this blessing.
In your mind's eye,
I'd like you to imagine a perfectly still lake.
Mountains in the distance.
The mountains reflected in the lake.
The water like glass.
And hold that image in your mind to bring you to a state of complete stillness.
Breathing in,
I notice that I'm breathing in.
Breathing out,
I notice that I'm breathing out.
A short pause to allow you to breathe in and out naturally but in a sense of awareness.
Today,
This is a personal blessing for you as you listen to this.
It's not for our wonderful community as a group.
It's not a joint blessing.
This is a wish for you as an individual.
As if you were the only one ever to hear these words.
So let us begin.
This is my wish for you today and always.
May you be well.
May you be happy and find many reasons for happiness in your life.
May you be content,
Aware of all the blessings life has bestowed on you.
May you have the happiness that comes from being grateful.
If we woke up today with only the things for which we expressed gratitude yesterday,
Where would we be?
May you be free from fear and suffering.
As it is said to us in the poem Desiderata,
Do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
And as Mark Twain said,
I've had a lot of worries in my life,
Most of which never happened.
May you look to the past with gratitude,
Forgiving yourself and excusing others for any mistakes.
May you be free from anxiety about the future and allow yourself to look forward with hope.
May you take time to stop,
To pause and allow yourself to find many moments of peace.
In a world which is said to be suffering from an epidemic of loneliness,
May you find friendship.
And companionship by being a friend and a companion to others.
May you be loved and know that you are loved.
May you be told you are loved.
We don't say this often enough.
May each night bring you to a place of restful sleep.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson advises us,
Finish each day and be done with it.
Tomorrow is a new day.
You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
May each morning see you wake refreshed,
Ready to meet the new day.
May you have the strength and the courage to begin again,
And to begin again and again,
As often as needed.
May you be successful in your projects.
May you be safe in your travels.
May you be blessed by never knowing hunger,
But may your blessing remind you to work to ease the hunger of others.
May you enjoy good health,
Giving thanks for all the working parts of your amazing body.
May you be a support to those in need,
A place of refuge for people in the storms of life.
May you be blessed with the gift of imagination.
May you spread the contagious infection of enthusiasm.
May you always see your glass as half full.
Optimistic people are more likely to view challenges as temporary setbacks,
Rather than as insurmountable obstacles.
This mindset fosters resilience,
Enabling them to bounce back more quickly from adversity.
May you be thankful for what you have,
Not only for the novelty of your passing possessions,
But for the people,
The supports that give meaning to your life.
May you be thankful for your existence in this time and place.
This is a benefit we cannot even begin to understand.
The odds against you and I being here are beyond calculation,
And yet,
Here we are.
May you find and re-find your purpose in life,
Your reason for living,
Giving you a motive to enter enthusiastically into each new day.
May you never fall into despair.
When we despair,
We lose motivation and energy,
Essential for taking steps to solve our problems or improve our circumstances.
Hope,
Even in small amounts,
Keeps us moving forward.
In times of trouble,
Remember,
This too shall pass.
It has done before,
As you know,
And it will do again.
May you be blessed with good friends,
And your friends be blessed to have you as a friend.
People need people.
May your word be your bond.
If you promise,
You do,
So that even in the midst of uncertainty and chaos,
People can always rely on you.
May the world be a better place because you have lived in it.
You are unique.
No one can bring your love to the world except you.
All of us can do things differently.
Many can do things better.
Only you can deal with the challenges and the opportunities of your life.
May you never fail to pause in awe and wonder at the majesty and the phenomenal beauty of this world.
May you never fail to notice and give thanks for the sunrise,
The sunset,
The mountains and valleys,
The seas and rivers and lakes,
The bewildering array of creatures with whom you share this amazing existence.
May you be in awe at the sight of the stars of night,
The vastness of space,
And here below,
The microscopic world that the unaided human eye cannot see.
May you never cease to be amazed at the discoveries of science,
The wonders that we have uncovered and all that we can still achieve through human cooperation,
The thought of all that still remains unknown and undiscovered,
And the fact that our children will learn things that we cannot even begin to imagine.
May you never lose a childlike ability to look at our world with eyes of wonder.
These are my special wishes for you today.
May you be blessed.
May your days be bright.
May your heart be light.
May you be happy.
Above all,
May you be happy.
