I became aware of what I call the “last thanksgiving.” I saw the last thanksgiving as a first Thanksgiving blessing in the Spirit before the incarnation of each Soul into the world. From that view, we could see how every experience in the psychic-material existence always contributes. It was like seeing the original cornucopia as an unlimited source of the harvest coming from the Divine. There was complete understanding that all works toward good, ever greater good, becoming complete good. The view was like seeing across a magnificent lush landscape full of natural diversity as though every living thing was in full bloom and beautifully vibrant. This is our true home.

The simple meaning of this view was to realize that even though the world would appear as lacking and disturbed, including our own reflection, in truth, an eternal living truth, we are always welcome in our original home. And just because we forget, no matter how long we forget, we can always remember our home whenever we choose. Part of the way to remember our home is to give thanks—even in the simple words “thank you,” which is a prayer that takes us home again. So every time we notice something good, our thanks become a prayer that takes us home again. The more we give thanks, the more we connect to the outpouring of greater good coming from our home and “God shedding His grace upon thee.”

I also realized that when others notice something good and share that with me, I often respond with, “Thank you,” which may sound as though I’m taking credit as the creator. God wants us to acknowledge ourselves as co-creators, and so we are encouraged to be thankful and acknowledge the grace present whenever we notice something is good. Once we give thanks for all, then we are in the first and last thanksgiving, the one that includes all and is everlasting.

Baruch Bashan

In our humanness, we may function in judgment, disillusionment, and disturbance. Knowing that about ourselves, we can raise our consciousness by treating it like a wayward child. Rather than punishing or being harsh with yourself, do those things that are loving towards yourself. Do them for the glory of the Spirit within you. Love yourself as a testimony to the Lord, as the beloved child of God that you are.

Baruch Bashan

We may not necessarily like all our circumstances. We’re tested in our personalities, our minds, and our egos. So it’s important to engage your trust and faith that each situation and experience is of the Light and love. Everything that comes forward in your day is from God and therefore inherently good and loved unconditionally. Even when you don’t like something, remember “This too is loved.” Remember, you too are loved.

You might ask yourself, “Am I loving this? Am I loving myself?” Take a moment to pause and listen. Maybe you’ll realize you need to get yourself engaged inwardly because outwardly you’re already reacting negatively. If you are, then move inwardly into the Spirit and re-instill that love is your foundation. Love is who you are and what you are, regardless of what is done or said or anything that happened.

Move into full commitment to love and care for yourself as you are. Could you have a relapse? Well, of course. But with good awareness about yourself, you can say, “I’ve already done that. I don’t need to do that again.” Through your courage and patience, and by remembering who you are spiritually, you can stop the pattern that puts you down and finds fault with yourself.

Baruch Bashan

       As you start the day, first surround and fill yourself with Light and love. You can do this as a prayer to God, an invocation of the Light, or through your creative imagination. Then, extend the Light into your day as you see yourself moving forward in the world. During the day, remember that the Light goes before you and prepares the way. All the things that come forward in your day, expected or unexpected, wanted or unwanted, are part of that Light action which is always present within you.

Baruch Bashan

     People often ask me how they can love themselves unconditionally, regardless of what they have done or how they think or feel.  When we realize our spiritual nature, we have a better way of looking at what we do as human beings.  By remembering who we are spiritually, we can more easily be loving and accepting towards ourselves and all that comes forward in our lives.  So, I suggest that as we start out and complete with each day, we take the opportunity to engage ourselves inwardly in the Spirit first. 
     When we choose to realize ourselves spiritually, we find ourselves functioning according to the laws of Spirit — acceptance, cooperation, understanding, enthusiasm and empathy.  There is an aligning of how we are intending ourselves spiritually, as souls who are one with God.  A key is to appreciate with gratitude whatever comes your way.  Everything has value. Nothing needs to be different from what it is, including you.  Yet, in this world, change is constant.  While living in the world and coping with change may be challenging, you can learn to align with and practice how to apply the laws of Spirit and love it all.

Have you ever had a moment when you realized that everything in your life is a blessing? Even the most challenging situations are blessings too?   Have you ever considered that you are the blessings in your challenges?  
 
Everything in our lives is presented to us in some way as a blessing, including the nature of ourselves. When we choose to love, accept, and cooperate with whatever is presented to us, then we are relating to everything as blessings.  

What is a blessing? For me, blessings mean greater good.  Goodness already exists within you and me, in everyone, and in the world around us.  Goodness is a given.  It is who we are.  
 
Along with the goodness present now is greater good yet to become.  So we always have an opportunity to realize the greater good, to realize the blessings that already are. It can be a turning point in your life when you decide, “My life is going to be about the greater good, about finding the blessings.” It’s simply a matter of how you choose to look at each situation and yourself.
 
I refer to ten blessings identified by John-Roger, D.S.S. — loving, caring, sharing, health, wealth, happiness, prosperity, abundance, riches and touching.  All these blessings, every single one and many more that relate to them, are present all the time. As we become more aware of the blessings, we then allow the blessings to manifest.  That’s because the source of the blessings is always present.  
 
It doesn’t matter to me what you call your source.  You can call it God, Holy Spirit, Higher Power, Inner Master or whatever you like.  The source of the blessings is an eternally loving presence within you that goes by all kinds of names.  It breathes with you and walks with you.  It already knows all about you and loves and adores you as you are.  Everyone has this eternally loving source within them, including you.
 
You can realize the blessings when you accept, enjoy, and appreciate all the conditions in your life as somehow part of the great perfection on your path of awareness of who you truly are.  So it’s up to each one of us to choose.  It’s our choice to become more aware of the blessings that come from that loving source.  
 
By accepting that the conditions in my life right now are perfect for me, I am choosing to trust that the blessings already are.  Rather than thinking, “Oh, I made a big mistake,” or “This cannot be on my path,” or “This cannot be a blessing,” I see each experience as adding to me and my learning and growth.  So I choose to accept that everything in my life is presented to me from my source for my greater good.
 
I’m not saying you have to like everything that you experience.  I don’t like everything I experience. However, I’m suggesting that no matter what happens, something in each experience has value and often great value for us, more than we might first consider.  So I encourage you not to draw your first conclusion about a situation or challenge.  Be open as much as you can. The greater blessings are often something that we don’t initially see.
 
When I see challenges in this world that appear to defy the greater good or deny the blessings, I consider they are just ways of testing us to see if we will trust even more than we already have.  At times, choosing the blessings can take tremendous courage, clarity and conviction.  We may be called upon to be patient and endure more than we imagined we could.  When we do, we can then discover our strength more fully and completely.  We can find a greater love than we knew possible.  With confidence and trust, we can then look to every challenge as an opportunity to learn and grow and know our goodness even more.  
 
Whenever a challenge is presented to us so we can choose to learn to be more loving and caring, to be more accepting and compassionate, to forgive more fully and completely. Perhaps we are simply learning to know we are the blessings, the ones already present regardless of conditions and the ones coming forward as we are patient and enduring with looking for the blessings.  
 
How do we find the blessings?  Through our trust in that eternally loving source by staying open to seeing the greater good.  So when we are faced with any challenge, we can ask within to realize and be more aware of the blessings.  In my experience, when I ask my source to help me understand and realize what is for the greater good, I am shown the blessings.
 
I find that the deepest, most meaningful aspects of my life are ones that may first appear to be ordinary and inconsequential. Maybe I realize what a blessing it is to have shoes on my feet and clothes on my back.  Perhaps I’m aware that I have people who I care about and who care about me.   Sometimes it’s as simple and as vital as, “I’m alive. I’m breathing.  I’m here.”
 
The blessings already are, so take this moment to look for the good and seek the greater good yet to become.

It’s very simple. When I would do booksignings for my first book, The Blessings Already Are, I often inscribed the phrase, “You Are the Blessings.” I wrote it for the same reason I wrote this book — as a way of doing God’s work in this world. I want to share God’s message that we are all born as the blessings in the making. We are the blessings as a life potential that is always awaiting our realization and choosing. We are the blessings regardless of past choices and conditions.

In The Blessings Already Are, I spent a chapter talking about the blessings John-Roger identified as loving, caring, sharing, health, wealth, and happiness, abundance, prosperity, riches and touching. All the blessings, every single one, are present all the time. That’s because the source of the blessings, God, is always present.

As we let ourselves be more aware of the blessings, more conscious of God’s presence within us, we allow the blessings to manifest. We allow ourselves to know we are the blessings.

Everything in our life, at its core, is a blessing. So when all is said and done, when the day is done, when our life is done, everything has been serving in some way as a blessing.

Since I have the experience of knowing we are the blessings, I choose to share that knowing with others. As a minister in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, I have a good window on the amazing, constant, practical application that calls upon God as the best way to respond to life’s challenges, especially the unwanted and painful aspects of living in this world.

I travel to many places and situations where I’m aware that our presence is to help partake of the blessings and an opportunity to assist others. Regardless of the personal situations and challenges that each of us experience we can choose to be more conscious that we are the blessings.

When I am faced with a challenge, I find an opportunity to ask within to realize the blessings. I have experienced again and again the wisdom of looking for the blessings present and coming forward with our cooperation. So I encourage people not to draw their first conclusion about a situation or challenge but to be open as much as they can. The greater blessings are often something that we can’t yet see.

When things challenge us, whatever they are and to whatever degree they challenge us, they’re simply demonstrating that we are here to learn and experience for our growth. We are being tested. Perhaps we’re learning to be more loving, to be more accepting and more compassionate. Perhaps we’re simply learning to know we are the blessings present and coming forward.

Choosing the blessings can take tremendous courage, clarity and conviction. Nonetheless, our choices are freely presented.

Others may scoff and turn away, but I know the blessings already are. I am grateful when I choose the blessings. I am grateful to know I am the blessings. And I enjoy sharing with others You Are the Blessings.

- John Morton