19^th & 20^th Century mystic, Emma Curtis Hopkins wrote, “If I were to be asked directly as to the quickest way for a Scientist to get his healing power going, I would probably say ‘Praise, everything and everyone in your mind, and as far as your mental convictions will demonstrate promptly, speak these praises aloud.’”

You might ask, how can I praise those things that annoy me? How can I praise my illness or my good friend’s passing? This is not what Emma Curtis is talking about. She is not telling us to praise the events of life. She is telling us to praise God or Source at all times. She is telling us to praise our lives, our health, our abundance. She is telling us to praise our enemies by looking beyond what they are doing to who they truly are. I liken this to the story of the little child who made a mess. Her teacher scolded her saying, “You are a mess!” The child retorted, “I may have made a mess, but I AM NOT A MESS.”

We are not a mess even when our lives feel messy. Praising everything shifts our attention to the Good we are experiencing, instead of focusing on what is out of sorts. Have you ever been to eat with someone who complains about every little thing, but overlooks the good things around them and in their plate? Emma writes further about praising and complaining, “Complaining and whining are only exhibitions of great desert spots in your character. You must fill up deserts with rain and fertilizer. So, you must transform your moments of complaining by praise and descriptions of the Good in the Universe. …If things in your past have made you feel sad and hard, you must say the good they have done you makes you thankful. Give Great thanks.”

Wow! This all seems like a steep order, but the act of praising and blessing does work to bring our mind and our lives to a greater sense of peace and faith. I love the Navajo tradition of “The Blessing” as proposed in Gregg Braden’s book “Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer.” It calls us to practice the ritual of blessing the victim, blessing the perpetrator and blessing the witness. I recently did this exercise in regards to an issue of betrayal that has plagued me for a long time. I can say it works. It is healing. The way of the blessing that the Navajo culture speaks of is the same as Emma’s challenge to praise everything. It shifts our frame of mind and allows us to draw wisdom from difficult events in our lives and heal deeply.

I recently had a little experience that needed praising and blessing. This week we took our car in to have the shocks and back tires replaced. I left the repair shop with a smile on my face. I was grateful to have a repair person I could trust. The next day I opened the trunk of my car at Kealia to find two old dirty tires sitting on top of my grocery bags and sweatshirts and the fanny pack I needed for my run. I was triggered. I literally lost it. I saw red. I started complaining loudly to Patrick and casting thoughts of anger toward the car repair shop that I had trusted so much up to this point. I finally quieted down enough to say, “I’m just going to go on my run and find out why this triggered me so much.” I went walking off briskly, literally using my hands to shake off the negativity I was feeling.

As I walked, thought, and treated for about ½ hour (yes, it took me that long to calm down), I finally was filled with peace. I discovered it was all about my feelings of staying in integrity and being disrespected. My trigger wasn’t about the car repair shop. How did I know that this wasn’t some big mistake? Everything is conspiring for my highest good, right? It either is or it isn’t and I believe it always is.

I started my ho-oponopono (another form of blessing) and there was my answer. I would call the car place to find out what happened, but I had another idea. A quiet voice within me just said two words, “tire planter.” I would make a tire planter out of those tires. I’d never heard of a tire planter before, but I was sure that was what I would do. I googled it to find a jolly British woman’s YouTube video on how to make a tire planter.

Later I spoke to the car place to find out that it was all a mistake and they had even charged me for the disposal of the tires. “Bring them back or get a refund if you want to dispose of them yourself.” All I said was “I’ll take the refund. I already took care of it.” Soon, I will have two new planters and I’ll have added to the blessing of our planet by not putting those tires in the landfill.

So, what’s my point? Because of my calming treatments and my blessings, my mind got quiet enough to receive Divine inspiration. Emma Curtis wrote, “We must woo and woo the Majesty and Responsive Beneficence ever facing us. Our wooing will be astonishingly rewarded.”

I invite us to praise everyone and everything, ever looking for the good in every experience. Please don’t confuse this with masking our feelings. No, no, we must respect our feelings; but, look beneath them for their cause and praise that too. Be gentle and forgiving to ourselves for everything. We are a work in progress, constantly revealing the greater self in every part of our eternal journey.

Who owns my mind? I often ask myself that following times like the one I described to you. I own my mind, even though sometimes I forget this. I am in charge of those thoughts that go marching across through my head. When I remember who and what I am, who everyone is – the Divine, Love, God – all else will follow.

During these challenging times, when we have so many things we could fear or complain about, I have decided to choose faith and love. I am diligently working with myself to trust that everything is unfolding for my highest good, that people are here to help, that life is good and that everyone is doing the best they can. I choose love above all else to move me through all the experiences I am having, from the death of people close to me to that irritating experience that can be part of my day.

I will follow the heart of this great healer, Emma Curtis, and “Give glad, joyous praises every night, before going to sleep, to the Most High Good, that the Holy Spirit fills my thoughts with ardor, and fires my affairs to splendid achievements.”

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren