Every Day is a Blessing – Alan

While having my treatments today I started to think about going back to work. I have been on vacation for a month this coming Friday and I have had relatively few moments that I had to put on my “work” hat. I feel blessed to have this time away from the office, and I also feel blessed to have my work, home, and family to go back to.

When in the middle of everyday life, it is easy for me to forget that…… every day is a blessing. While I know that now, how can I be sure to remember that a month from now when life is back into full swing with kids, their school, stress around our work, etc.?

While here I did get a glimpse of how the Indians of the Hindu faith keep it fresh in their minds. I went to Hyderabad’s Hanuman Temple with a group of four other people. Hanuman is a deity known as a boundary guardian and one of great strength. The temple itself is over 850 years old and there are a number of other smaller buildings that are more recently built that house other deities of their faith. One of the buildings contained the Navagraha, the nine influencers . Each influencer or planet is said to hold sway over different aspects of our lives and during our visit to the temple we performed the Navagraha pooja with the help of a Pundit(monk).

During the pooja we made offerings to each of the nine planets so that they would in turn bless us with good fortune. We cracked and offered coconuts, gave grains, oils, flowers, coins, turmeric, fire, and incense. It is interesting that in this faith, the oldest faith still practiced, they still give physical offerings. In most faiths the offerings are only verbal in the form of prayers. Of course, some faiths have over time, consciously made the choice to move away from physical offerings but I find something appealing about that combination of the physical and spiritual, giving in order to receive blessings.

The act of giving is something that I need to practice more in my life. Perhaps that will make it easier to remember all the blessings I currently enjoy during those moments of stress!