I think of myself as very fortunate, because I have found a profession that is a purpose and does not feel like work at all. I discovered my purpose 32 years ago when I started my Special Education studies. Serving humanity is very fulfilling and it is great to help people find their own purpose in life.
On my bookshelf, there is a beautiful blackboard that says, “To teach is to touch a life forever”. I have given cards with this quote to many of my students over the years. Touching people, helping them open their eyes to the endless possibilities and empowering them to take charge is a great joy and has become my mission.
About 10 years ago, I started this blog and wrote many blog posts (1,445 published so far) in hope of allowing my readers to shift their life in any direction they see fit. My writing was never about “the right way” to live life. It was about ways of finding our own personal, even private, ways to define ourselves. It was my blessings to my readers to find love and happiness and make the world a better place.
In my life coaching practice, I keep personal contact with all my clients, so once they succeed, I know all about it. With my readers, I know what my writing has done for them only when they write comments on the blog (it is hard to keep personal contact with 60,000 readers each month), so when they write me a personal letter, it is very exciting.
Recently, I received a request on the blog from Ali, a woman who wanted to know where she could purchase one of my post series that she could not see in full. I have not created a book about that series (yet), so I referred her to where she could read the posts for free. After all, I have written them so that people would read them and I get excited when I know that they do.
Not long afterwards, I received a letter from Ali:
Wednesday, February1, 2017
Dear Ronit,
I just had to follow my heart and sent you a set of handmade – cut and paste and saw – paper and fabric collage card as a token of my gratitude for sharing your pithy insights and compassionate understanding of human nature.
I assume that “business is booming”, so your worldwide pro-bono coaching does not deplete your coffers!
I loved your “letting go” series and your complaint-free life was so exquisitely on target with me that all my self-serving excuses crumbled and left me with a sobering awareness that I am polluting the metaphysical environment – covertly and overtly!
You are probably inundated with “thank you” letters, but I needed to settle a debt of gratitude with the same depth in which I received your soul nourishment.
Enclosed are two blessings by john O’Donohue, which I hope remind you of the sacred gift you share with the rest of us.
With love and prayer,
Ali Welsh,
New York
It was very exciting to read Ali’s letter and to know how much she had been touched.
The poems she sent me, the blessings from John O’Donohue, are so beautiful that I have them now hanging above my desk. They have a very similar format to the affirmations I wrote on my desktop, which pop up every time I turn on my computer.
I am adding it here so you can enjoy them too.
May the light of your soul guide you
May the light of your soul guide you.
May the light of your soul bless the work you do with the secret love and warmth of your heart.
May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul.
May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light and renewal to those who work with you and to those who see and receive your work.
May your work never weary you.
May it release within you wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration and excitement.
May you be present in what you do.
May you never become lost in the bland absences.
May the day never burden you.
May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities and promises.
May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.
May you go into the night blessed, sheltered and protected.
May your soul calm, console and renew you.
A Blessing for Beauty
From Beauty – The Invisible Embrace by John O’Donohue
May the beauty of your life become more visible to you, that you may glimpse your wild divinity.
May the wonders of the earth call you forth from all your small, secret prisons and set your feet free in the pastures of possibilities.
May the light of dawn anoint your eyes that you may behold what a miracle a day is.
May the liturgy of twilight shelter all your fears and darkness within the circle of ease.
May the angel of memory surprise you in bleak times with new gifts from the harvest of your vanished days.
May you allow no dark hand to quench the candle of hope in your heart.
May you discover a new generosity towards yourself, and encourage yourself to engage your life as a great adventure.
May the outside voices of fear and despair find no echo in you.
May you always trust the urgency and wisdom of your own spirit.
May the shelter and nourishment of all the good you have done, the love you have shown, the suffering you have carried, awaken around you to bless your life a thousand times.
And when love finds the path to your door may you open like the earth to the dawn, and trust your every hidden color towards its nourishment of light.
May you find enough stillness and silence to savor the kiss of God on your soul and delight in the eternity that shaped you, that holds you and calls you.
And may you know that despite confusion, anxiety and emptiness, your name is written in Heaven.
And may you come to see your life as a quiet sacrament of service, which awakens around you a rhythm where doubt gives way to the grace of wonder, where what is awkward and strained can find elegance, and where crippled hope can find wings, and torment enter at last unto the grace of serenity.
May Divine Beauty bless you.
I found John O’Donohue’s blessing site. It is called “Blessing files” (love the name) and includes a list of many blessings from different cultures and traditions. Sadly, it was a one-year project, so there is no addition to the blessings, but there are plenty of them to make you feel blessed for the rest of your life.
Thank you Ali for sending me John’s poems. I love them!
And this is my blessings to you:
May the force be with you,
Ronit
