one sole human figure standing on top of planet earth
Image by Leandro De Carvalho 


Narrated by Marie T. Russell.

Watch the video version at InnerSelf.com or on YouTube

In this period of growing world distress and challenges, it is good to remember that maybe Someone/Something else is pulling the strings.

My dear friend, Sandy Wilder of the Educare Unlearning Institute, sends out daily the most profound and enlightening free messages anyone can receive. He recently sent out this poem: 

The Source of Angst

There is an intelligent,
harmonious, Self-sustaining order
to the unfoldment of the entire Universe.

When we are afraid
we are believing a fabrication
that makes us lose awareness
of the way Universal Law
is unfolding in the present moment.

The source of angst is either
the Universe making her first mistake,
or your mind.
                              -- February 15,2022

Believing in a Bright Future

Personally, I find it difficult to believe that the infinitely loving intelligence running this incredible show called « the universe » would suddenly make mistakes. Though I know that my mind has often made such mistakes – and many others.

So, I dare declare myself an ontological optimist who believes in a bright future for humanity – although there may be some very difficult challenges to overcome on the way. And it seems I am in good company. One of the great personalities of American history who had a world impact in the last century once wrote:

“Today, in the night of the world and in hope, I affirm my faith in the future of humanity. I refuse to believe that the present circumstances make men incapable of making a better world. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. Life, even if temporarily defeated, is always stronger than death. I believe that even amid today’s mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a bright morning, I believe that peaceful kindness will one day become the law. Every man will be able to sit under his fig tree, in his vineyard, and no one will have any reason to be afraid.” -- Martin Luther King


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How Do You View the World?

The way each one of us views the world is entirely subjective. There is absolutely no justification for this choice, and to claim the contrary is either ignorance or arrogance. As a result, each one of us lives in the world of her or his choosing. If anyone ever had his share of stark challenges and temporary hells, it is Martin Luther Kind, and yet he chose to have this amazingly positive vision.

It has been my privilege in life to visit, live, study, or work in around 40 countries of the five continents. I have seen poverty in its most extreme forms.

For five years, on Hann-Plage in Dakar, in the seventies, I literally lived sandwiched in between two shantytowns where the children regularly explored my garbage can. And yet, how many of the “poor” (according to our very questionable definitions of poverty) have I known who literally radiated joy!  And how many multimillionaires in my home country, Switzerland, spend endless hours on the couches of psychiatrists searching for a peace and contentment that elude them!

Excuse-me, what is the color of your glasses?

A Blessing for Political Leaders

(excerpted from the book 365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World)

Hatsat Abiola, a Nigerian activist, says to us:

“Guard your light and protect it. Move it forward into the world and be fully confident that if we connect light to light to light, and join the lights together of the one billion young people in our world today, we will be enough to set our whole planet aglow.”

Blessing is a way of joining our lights together. I personally believe that the number needed to move the world is much smaller – maybe a few million really committed spiritual thinkers. So today, our blessings will be for those who still believe themselves to be the world movers, the political leaders of the world.

We bless our leaders that wisdom rather than narrow interests or fear may guide their decisions.

We bless them in their ability to move beyond the narrow confines of nation, class, creed, race or narrow financial or economic concerns.

We bless them in their desire to put the service of mankind and their nations before their thirst for prestige or power. We bless them in their ability to put the care of Mother Earth and the environment before short-term planning and purely economic motives.

We bless them in their authentic compassion that they may be sensitive to the needs of the downtrodden and the marginalized.

We bless them that, despite all the judgments, the prejudices concerning them with which we too often hold them captives, they may be sensitive to the winds of grace which blow freely for all those who hoist their sails.

And finally, we bless ourselves in our ability to hold on to their divine image that too often remains cloistered in their hearts that it may find expression in political courage, deep caring for the outcasts of society and decisive action for the reconciliation of man and nature.

PS: To help you make this blessing more real, may I suggest that you think of three politicians who are your favorite scapegoats and that you visualize and bless them in three qualities they express. And even if you can only think of a single quality, congratulations, that is a good start.

©2018, 2022 by Pierre Pradervand. All Rights Reserved.

Book by this Author

365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World

365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World: Really Living One’s Spirituality in Everyday Life
by Pierre Pradervand.

book cover: 365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World: Really Living One’s Spirituality in Everyday Life by Pierre Pradervand.Can you imagine what it would feel like to never feel any resentment for any wrong done to you, gossip or lie disseminated about you? To respond with full awareness to all situations and people rather than react from your gut? What freedom that would entail! Well, this is just one of the gifts the practice of blessing from the heart, i.e. sending out focused love energy, will do for you. This book, from the bestselling author of The Gentle Art of Blessing, will help you learn to bless all situations and people as you go through the day and add overwhelming joy and presence to your existence.

For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition.

More books by this Author

About The Author

Photo of: Pierre Pradervand, the author of  the book, The Gentle Art of Blessing.Pierre Pradervand is the author of The Gentle Art of Blessing. He has worked, travelled and lived in over 40 countries on five continents, and has been leading workshops and teaching the art of blessing for many years, with remarkable responses and transformational results.

For over 20 years Pierre has been practising blessing and collecting testimonies of blessing as a tool for healing the heart, mind, body and soul.

Visit his website at https://gentleartofblessing.org