United States
"God bless" said with a smile creates both peace and joy
A practice that brings peace and joy into daily life
Those of us who are of an age that qualifies us for membership in AARP recognize that a gift given to another is a gift we give to ourselves. And most of us would also agree that the greatest gift we can give to someone is asking God to bless them. I have found that engaging in a practice of looking at those that come into my line-of-sight and mentally directing the phrase "God bless" at each of them - when done with a smile on my face - creates both peace and joy in my life. And I mean by peace that peace that is of a kind that comes from being engaged in the present rather than focused on my problems. And I mean by joy that joy that wells up from the bottom of my spine and explodes in my head, driving the smile on my face to wider dimension.
So I try to engage in this practice whenever I am sitting in an airport waiting to board an airplane, or when I am in my seat blessing each person as they walk down the aisle during the boarding process, or when I am at a shopping mall watching people go by, or waiting in the checkout line, or anywhere the thought to send the gift of a blessing comes to mind.
Very occasionally, when I send a "God bless" someone’s way, something causes them to look my way, see the smile on my face and return it with one of their own. In that moment, two strangers have connected in a language universally understood around the globe - the language of a smile.
For far too much of my life I have walk around with my head down, looking at the ground 6 feet in front of me, lost in the world of my own problems and with, unbeknownst to me, a blank or frowning expression that was repellent to those who come into my field-of-view. The time has come to change my thinking and outlook on life. The more I engage in this practice of blessing others the more peace and joy it brings into my life. And while it sometimes takes minutes before it pulls me out of the depths of my negative thinking, I always come away with at least some degree of peacefulness that didn’t exist before I began.
I will never know what God has (or has not) done with my requests. That’s between God and the recipient. But I do know that this practice has brought the gift of peace and joy into my life.
What more can I ask, or want, in return?
God bless 
Signed:
A. Blessed Blesser
