Small Blessings

Every day, I bestow small blessings on others and receive them in turn. I might bless or be blessed with “Have a good day” or “Have a good weekend” if the weekend is approaching. Sometimes folks are more parsimonious with their blessings and limit them to parts of the day. “Have a good evening” or “Enjoy the rest of the morning” are examples. Why so sparing in your blessings? They cost nothing. Indeed, they are really of no consequence whatsoever, although a curse instead of an expected blessing might be disturbing. I am expected to thank people for bestowing their blessings on me and to bless them right back.

Suppose that I began to dole out my blessings in smaller increments. “Enjoy the next fifteen minutes.” “Have a nice early afternoon.” At what point would people notice? What if I engaged in beatific one-upmanship and responded to “Have a nice day” with “Have a nice day and a half”? Would this cause people to take notice?

I have already experimented with doling out more generous blessings. “Live long and prosper” amuses because it is so recognizable. “Have a wonderful life”, on the other hand, takes people by surprise and might get you a “What do you mean?” It seems to alarm the recipient of the blessing rather than comfort them.

I am thinking of also of experimenting with blessings that aren’t related to the enjoyment of increments of time. “May jackals slake their thirst on the blood of your enemies” is probably over the top, but I might try “May your adversaries be confounded at every turn” or “May your children be always a joy to you” or some such thing and see where that goes.

If I am going to be giving out and getting blessings all day, I reckon that I ought to do so mindfully.