A Hug From a Stranger

It was at 5:45 am in the streets of NY.  I was watering the plants in front of my building when a taxi pulled at the curb. A young man came out, and without hesitation approached me and looked at me straight in the eyes with opened arms as he got closer.

I felt a little uncomfortable with the situation, so with a kind voice he asked,  "You're not going to give me a hug?"  I smiled and I gave have him the  biggest hug I could, given the circumstances. So I asked him: Are you alright? and he said, "Yes."

He walked away from me, as I stood frozen with the hose in my hands.  I looked around like I was just being pranked. Scratching my head in disbelief, I meditated on what just took place before my eyes.  Looking straight into the sky, I whispered to myself: These kind of things don't happen in Manhattan! But what I couldn't understand at the moment was that the person was not in need of a hug but it was me.

It took a lot of courage for that person to walk up to a total stranger and offer a hug.  I sighed as I thought that it was not just him alone showing his compassion but the entire universe and my ancestors. A few tears fell from my eyes as I finally admitted it was me that was in need of a hug.

So many times I found myself in a situation where I had the opportunity to show my compassion, but I turned around and walked away.  I am not saying we should all hug total strangers, but at least a smile or a hello, a good morning or simply a "hi." You have no idea how much one gesture of kindness will affect another person. It did not cost a thing for that young man to hug me and share with me a great lesson, to in turn, share with everyone of you today.

Let's not only preach in the name of love, but practice it every chance you get.

Making Room for Your Blessings

Do you know what a blessing is? Do you know what a miracle is? We get more then one blessing every day and we witness at least one miracle each day.  Can you identify them? In order for you to know these facts, you need to make room in your life for them to take place. Close your eyes and empty your mind of the things that distract you from the truth, we constantly blind ourselves with the problems and forget to find a solution. Are you stuck in your mind and don't let your heart feel for you?

Maintaining fears is one of the reasons why we are not sensing the blessings on a regular basis. Fear is what makes us all doubt and hold back in our comfort zones. Imagine if instead of saying "no" to every opportunity that presents itself in your life you actually take a chance. Life is actually not about winning or losing, but about experiencing and living to the maximum, and in every waking moment of your life. Your ego is another obstacle that can get in the way of a new blessing coming your way. I am the perfect example of this and here is why: Last winter I was invited to give a lecture at a spiritual center, but a few months before the invitation took place, a good friend of mine warned me that I was going to be taken advantage of and that someone was going to use my name for profit. When the invitation was given to me I already saw in a dream what was going to take place, so I consulted with the spirits. They actually told me to do it and not to ask more questions. Still I asked, "why should I go to a place where I am going to be exploited?" A gentle voice whispered, "Grandson your presence and message is needed at this time and place, you will also meet a very important person in your life, so you must do this one for the love you have for the people." So the day of the lecture arrived, I remember getting in my car and making funny faces in the rear view mirror as it was warming up. So I left the parking lot and I thought I was out of my mind for doing this to myself. It was a Friday night, so I decided to take the back roads and to my surprise they were deserted. I purposely stopped at a red light and watched it change 4 times -- I was hoping the light would never turn green, but then a car came up from behind me and I had to keep going. It was getting late.

As I arrived at the spiritual center and saw all the people waiting for me, I realized I had made the right choice. No one recognized me so I sat in the back and waited to be announced. That's when I saw her for the very first time. One look into the eyes was all I needed to understand the reason I was supposed to be there that night. So the question is, what if I didn't listen to the spirits? I would have cheated myself of the very blessing that they had chosen for me. 

 

Where are you now? Where are you going to be tomorrow? Know that it all depends on your choices, so make room for the possibilities and take a chance.