Namaste 🙏🏼

I have a dream, like a lot of people, for peace across the world. No more hatred, no more terrorism, no more racism, no more inequality of minority groups, no more mistreatment of children or animals….the list is as long as my arm.

It’s an age old question, what would happen if souls united and chose love instead of chaos, hate and fear? We’re all guilty of negative emotion toward our fellow man, even the most saintly of us have at one time or another at least judged someone else. But how can we stop it? How can we fix it?

It’s often the most simple things that work the best. The most subtle and inconspicuous acts we can each do daily that help to bring about love and harmony and eventually…hopefully…world peace.

As the clock struck midnight and we entered into 2022 I made a deal with myself. This year, I decided I needed to do something that would enable me to really connect in a positive way with other human beings.

I was sick and tired of having fleeting moments with people that only scratched the surface. Maybe these feelings kickstarted due to all the Covid lockdowns and isolations over the last two years, or maybe it was just time for me to reach out, but I was longing for more connection on a deeper level with my fellow human beings. I wanted to make a difference in some small way.

I had tried things before, I consider myself a helpful, kind and caring member of society. I smile and say hello to people as I pass them on my morning walks. I take out and bring in my neighbours bins as I’m doing mine anyway. If someone drops something at the shops I’m the first to jump up and help them pick it up. I’ve walked my friends dogs when she was sick and I’ve paid for someone’s coffee in the line behind me. Overall I feel like I would describe myself as a giver and I am happy being so.

Although I got some “thank you’s” and smiles from these actions, I wanted to do something more, something meaningful.

This didn’t come from a selfish or narcissistic place, it was coming from deep inside. My soul was calling out. Soul connections, I believe, are what drive us as humans. We are interconnected in a way we rarely truly remember and our souls need to ‘speak’ with each other without societal or political issues getting in the way.

So I decided to do some research. I googled how to connect soul to soul and lots of things came up. Shared yoga practices, meditation, energy healings, all the usual things, but the one thing that caught my eye was the simple act of saying ‘Namaste’. Now I was never a huge lover of using this word, number one I felt like I was a bit of a fraud saying it as I’m not a Hindu, plus the fact I had never really connected with the word in a truly meaningful way. So I then googled ‘Namaste’ to see what it actually meant. It is a salutation to divinity and in rough terms it means ‘the divine in me bows to the divine in you’.

I really liked this simple concept. Being a somewhat spiritual person I do believe we have a soul and that soul is an eternal divine light source that connects us to each other and to our creator. I believe that our souls are inherently good and loving and that the personality, through lifestyle and life situation, makes us good or bad.

So I decided to challenge myself and start to use this term in my everyday life. I say challenge because some days it is a challenge! Sometimes it’s hard to put differences aside. Feelings and emotions are powerful and drive us. Being able to separate your ‘true’ self from your emotional self and come at a situation with love instead of fear, hatred or anger is sometimes hard, but if you can do it, it really can change the outcome of a situation or conversation and even if it doesn’t, it changes you and how you feel in that moment. It gives us the ability to rise above the feelings and come from a place of calm and love and I believe, in time, that can change the world.

I’m a beauty therapist and also a retail store manager and so I deal with the public every single day and interact with a lot of different characters and personalities. To be honest, most people are lovely but some people can be pretty nasty and not that great to interact with. I have to always be nice and welcoming and of course ‘the customer is always right’ in the eyes of the company. So since January 1st, before any vocal interaction, I have been saying, in my head, to each and every customer, ‘Namaste’ and picturing myself in my minds eye bowing to the other person. I have actually, this week, started to change it in my head so instead of saying ‘Namaste’ I will actually say ‘The divine within me honours the divine within you’, and do you know what, I must admit it has actually changed the way I interact with people. People respond to me differently, it’s like they know or can feel the love and respect I’m sending them. I smile more deeply, I laugh more intently, I’m connecting and I’m really starting to love people - strangers - and it feels so good! Its uplifting and enlivening and I am going to keep doing it!

I can give an example from just the other day actually. A man in his 60’s came into the shop looking for a Valentine’s gift for his wife. We are a shop that sells gorgeous face and body products and the man was coming in hoping to pick something. What he didn’t know was that due to Covid regulations within our company, at the moment we do not have testers of the products on the shelves. He wasn’t happy about this. In fact he was mad and he sure let me know about it. Now I could very easily have become defensive and got just as angry back stating ‘company policies’ to him etc… and making the situation worse, but I didn’t. I took a moment as he was yelling at me and I said in my head ‘The divine within me honours the divine within you’. It didn’t change his attitude or actions, he left the shop in a huff without buying anything but I had remained calm and was able to send him love rather than match his anger. Half an hour past by and I saw him approach the shop door. He came up to me and said that he was sorry for his behaviour, he had needed his morning coffee, and now that he’d had it he would like my help picking a gift for his wife! I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t have happened if I’d gotten angry and attacking back.

As humans we can be mutable and changeable, altering the way we feel or act in relation to our surroundings and the people we are around. If someone shows anger to us, don’t most of us get our back up and show anger back? Or what about fear, blame or jealousy? Don’t most of us mirror those feelings back to the other person? That’s what I find so amazing about this practice, I feel like I don’t respond from that same level anymore.

My thoughts so far over the last few months have been so positive! I really have seen a difference in my interactions and conversations. Of course I don’t just do it at work with customers, but I do it before talking with friends, family members and my partner. In fact, whenever I feel like I want to react negitivly toward someone or get in an argument, I pause and I say ‘The divine within me honours the divine within you’ and it’s like it refocuses me and I check myself and remember that deep down on the inside that other person is made of exactly the same as me and we are both unconditional love. I feel like it allows me to start the interaction on a clean and level slate without judgement and I am really shocked at how well it works.

If you have been feeling you lack that sort of deeper level connection with others or you feel you are just too different or you can’t get through to someone because of their anger or unrest, I urge you to try this modest practice of saluting the divine in each other and basing your interactions on that level and watch how it can transform you, them and the situation.

There is a reason our ancestors used to greet each other in this way and what a loving way it is!

Here are some suggestions of the types of things you can say if you don’t like to use certain words or phrases. And remember, this is said in your mind, not out loud - soul to soul 🙏🏼

- [ ] The divine within me acknowledges the divine within you.

- [ ] The good within me perceives the good within you.

- [ ] The love within me appreciates the love within you.

- [ ] The sacred within me respects the sacred within you.

- [ ] Or simply Namaste.

So this is the step I’m taking to foster kindness and inclusivity in 2022. As I said at the beginning, I know it sounds simple, but the simple things sometimes are the most powerful.

Show your family love, your friends love and most importantly, show your enemy love. Personality makes them good or bad but the soul is pure love.

Let’s change the world one ‘Namaste’ at a time! xxx