For some time now I have been practicing the Art of Gratitude & watching for ways in which the Divine practices synchronicity in my life.
Today, I had to go to our local Post Office. Every time I have been to this Post Office, behind the counter, there is usually a very grumpy counter service worker who, as I continue to wear a face covering in crowded spaces, complains that he cannot hear me even when I speak clearly.
To resolve this problem, I write post-it notes and stick them on my letters so that we can pretend that I don’t understand English and he can follow my written directions instead. This has worked well for us for over a year. Once, when he had a dreadful cold and was coughing and sneezing all over the place, and really should have been at home looking after himself, I thanked him for his help, and wished him a speedy recovery. Since then he hasn't engaged with me.
Why am I still wearing a face covering? Surely by now there’s no need? Well there’s lots of Covid and ‘Flu around and I care for someone who is highly susceptible to Covid who if infected, would probably die. To be responsible and to reduce our risk, I continue to choose to wear a face covering when I am in shops or the GP Surgery etc. I long for summer days when the virus has its lowest viral load, & doesn’t appear to spread so far & wide, as then I don’t feel the need to wear a face covering, but while there is so much viral load around I choose to be responsible. In society’s race to return to 'normal' and have all its Rights honoured, our Responsibilities appear forgotten, and yet Rights and Responsibilities go hand-in-hand.
Before we left to go to the Post Office today, I prayed my Gratitude prayers that I would be blessed with a helpful counter person who could help me to easily conduct my postal affairs (I know that this is ‘get’ gratitude, which is not what we really want to practice but I’ll speak to that in a later blog).
So off we went.
We had a good journey to the Post Office. It was patchy fog, but visibility was good in all the essential places on the windy roads. Blessing #1.
We parked easily on the hill, and I remembered to turn my tyres into the pavement. Blessing #2.
I put my face covering on outside the Post Office, and a gentleman who was in the process of coming out, opened the door for me and insisted that I went in first. Blessing #3.
Mr. Grumpy was behind the counter as usual and no one else. My heart sank & I thought ‘Thank goodness for my post-in notes’. There was a long queue for Post office services, and a queue for the food counter too. Mr. Grumpy was having a hard time juggling both queues, & I felt sorry for him & silently sent him my good wishes. Blessing #4.
Then, a younger man appeared from nowhere and started serving the Post Office queue which shrank quickly and efficiently, allowing Mr. Grumpy to concentrate on the food counter, which he cleared easily. Blessing #5.
As there was no one now at the food counter, Mr. Grumpy started to move towards the second Post Office counter window, which would have meant that he’d be serving me next. Then an elderly lady, laden with food shopping appeared [stage cue Right] and walked up to the food counter. For a second, Mr. Grumpy didn’t know who to serve. Silently, I willed him to serve the lady, and at the same time the young man called me forward to be served at the Post Office counter. Blessing #6.
Mr. Grumpy smiled at the elderly lady, and served her. Blessings #7 & #8.
The Divine choreography literally happened in the space of 10 minutes and right under my nose. I stood witnessing it.
How does this help you? Set an intention that for a month ‘notice what you are noticing’ which is something that the spiritual teacher, Mary Morrissey, taught me to do. It means that we become aware of and are looking for the blessings that the Divine sends to us all the time. Whilst we are alive, those signs or signals are coming to us in every second. All we have to do is notice them and then be sincerely thankful for them. If this isn’t your usual practice, but something you’d like to include, be gentle with yourself because it takes time for this practice to become automatic. Trying the practice for a month allows you to create a new spiritual muscle and start a new, positive habit that may help you to enhance your life in unexpected ways.
I thanked the Divine for everything that I noticed, the outcome of what I noticed, and a good few more things that happen during the drive home. Tonight, I’ll be thanking the Divine again for the Divine synchronicity that happened during the course of my day.
When you are noticing 'what you are noticing', don’t expect anything in return. Don’t permit yourself to think ‘what’s in this for me?’ Just notice what is happening, and be grateful (or thankful) for it.
Bless each and everyone of the people, pets and places you came into contact with today. Be thankful for the blessings that are all around you, if you are able to notice them. If nothing much seems to have happened for you today, just say “Thank you” for what you can remember happening & try again noticing what you are noticing, tomorrow.
Sending you many blessings.