As a kid, I was always rushing my food; I was hungry, and I was looking for the quickest way to satisfy my hunger.  I was often told to slow down and eat properly, but at the time, that just seemed boring.

Later I learned the value of eating your food more slowly as an aid to digestion, but I was still what I would call an unconscious eater.  It was only until after I discovered this teaching of blessing my food that I finally gained a true appreciation for my food.  This teaching reverberated so deeply within me that I finally discovered the motivation to become a conscious eater.

And indeed, the more I practiced the teachings contained within this article, the more powerful the blessings became, until these teachings became one of the most powerful I have ever experienced.  I am not trying to say that by following what is written in this article you will radically change your life, but who knows, stranger things have happened. :)

I was first introduced to this concept from the Native American teaching of developing an attitude of gratitude from a dear friend of mine.  I do not know if that was a direct quote from a tribal elder, but little did I realize that just by applying the teaching that anyone could become more sensitive to the subtle energies that everyone interacts with as well as work more closely with the angels.

An attitude of gratitude... why would we want to give thanks?  Well, when you think about it, everything that you have in your life is a direct result of another living being either giving its life or giving of itself so that you can choose to sustain your life in some particular way.  The wood in your house, the clothes that you wear and the food on your table, are all available to you because some conscious thing at some point gave of themselves, so you could sustain your own life.

The most obvious example here is food.  In order to sustain our lives on a daily basis, we need to eat.  And whether we are eating burgers, lamb chops or lentils, each of these things had to give their life so that we could sustain our own.

This article is not necessarily advocating vegetarianism, because in the eyes of many everything has consciousness, and if you have any trouble believing it, go and talk to a big old tree and see if you can tap into the wisdom that is held there.  You may be surprised by how profound your experience can be as energies are exchanged between one conscious being and another.  And if a tree has consciousness, then surely other members of the plant kingdom have consciousness as well; why would a tree be any different from its brothers and sisters?

So how do we give thanks and blessings to our food?  There are words that you can say, but as with any sacred practice, the words are simple and by themselves meaningless.  It is the emotions behind them, the feelings that the words are meant to trigger that is important, that is key in fact, for the blessing.

One can simply say I give thanks and bless all of my brothers and sisters that gave their lives and of themselves so that I could choose to sustain my life in this way.  These words, however, while powerful, become next to useless when muttered under our breath as automatically as we can sometimes say Fine thanks, how are you?

So what is critical is the emotion, the feeling behind the words that form your intent.  For example, as we look down at our breakfast of cereal, lets say, the key is to firstly to see or sense each brother and sister in their natural ideal environment, alive and well, and essentially happy.  So see the wheat and the sugar blowing in the breeze in a sunny meadow, the bees busy at work, the cows grazing on the grass on a sunny day.

The second key is to feel the gratitude that you have for the wheat, the cows that gave the milk, the sugar or bees that gave the sweetening, and the fruit and fruit trees that also gave of themselves.  And really feel the thanks that you have for all of these different beings or brothers and sisters that gave their lives so you could sustain yours.

And as you picture these idealistic settings, realize also that the Sun (Angel of Fire) and the Rain (Angel of Water) and Mother Earth (Angel of Mother Earth) also gave of themselves so that you could choose to sustain your life in this way. 

Also include in your blessing all of the people who have been involved in bringing that food to you; the people who have picked or harvested what you are eating, who have farmed what you are choosing to sustain your life with.  And then as well as the people who grew or bred the food, there are also all of the different people who have been involved in one way or another to ultimately bring that food to your table.  All of these people have given of themselves so that you could choose to sustain your life in this way, the way that you choose.

Phew, it sounds like quite a mouthful, and all this while your food is sitting in front of you waiting to be eaten, and your are feeling famished!  But remember, the key here is the emotion and feeling behind the blessing.  While it would take many long (and hungry) minutes to read or recite the words written above each time you ate a meal, it takes but an instant to conjure up the picture and to feel the feelings of gratitude for each of your brothers and sisters you see before you associated with the picture.

You may find that you can become sensitive to different energies from the food that you eat.  I myself have found that there is a difference in energies, at least for me, between consuming vegetables and meat. It is almost as if fruit and vegetables are here solely to be enjoyed by us as food, whereas perhaps due to the extra intelligence of animals, or perhaps because just there is an consciousness in animals that is similar to our own, there is more of an emotional connection in the blessing and giving thanks for that food.

Again, I am not advocating vegetarianism; I am a strong believer in free will and freedom of choice.  I am however, advocating responsibility for your actions.  Often when we eat we can do it in an unconscious way.  By blessing our food we can become more aware of what it is that we are eating, the processes that our brothers and sisters have gone through to get to our table and to sustain our lives, and then perhaps we can give something back through our blessing.  And from that state of reverence, we can make our own choice. 

While there is much scientific evidence regarding the physical / cellular effects of prayer, the important thing is that you can actually go ahead and try this and experience it for yourself.  Then you will know first hand, and you will have gained both knowledge and experience.

You may even find yourself receiving acknowledgement or a simple message from your blessings.  All of this is another way that we can peel back the layers from the illusion of separateness that we can so easily fall into in this physical reality.  And in doing so, directly experience the unity that is all around us.

So why not give it a go?  More than reading these words and knowing at some level this is true, why not try it out and experience it to be true.  You may feel a little awkward or conspicuous to begin with, but then most things are at the beginning.  And if somebody asks you what you are doing, while you are blessing your food and giving thanks, maybe you will make something up, or maybe you will tell them what you are doing.  And maybe then they can too begin to realize their place in the interconnected universe we live in by beginning to bless their own food.

So how does this blessing work with empowering your life and working with the angels?  To tell the truth, it was by having lunch with my sister when she asked in her own innocent way, "How come you only bless your own food?"  As I thought about this afterwards, I realised she had a point and started to expand my blessing to all of the food on the table, and then to the people present at the table.  I then expanded the blessing to all my brothers and sisters in the town I was in, then the state and then the country.  Then, if the energy level was appropriate, the blessing expanded to the whole world. 

I have found that to do this blessing to a satisfactory level of power and energy requires the assistance of the angels.  So whenever I do a blessing, I call on the angels to assist me in blessing and thanking each of my brothers and sisters.  It was by including the angels in this act of thanks that blessing became one of the most powerful practices I have ever experienced.

I highly recommend including the angels when you are doing a blessing of this magnitude.  So much energy and power is invoked when you sincerely focus your intent on blessing the world, that do just do it with your won energy would be at best exhaustive and at worst ineffective.  Calling on the angels for a blessing that expands to include all those around you until you are blessing Mother Earth herself.  This involves such a rush of energy that it is unmistakable.  And in return, you are then truly blessed as a light worker.

So while I can glibly state that this article may or may not change your life, the very keys that are contained within this article; working more closely with the angels and realizing the interconnectedness of all things through such an intimate experience, do in fact contain within them the seeds for personal transformation.  So if you would like to move through your life with a little more sacred space, try the blessing for yourself and find out where else you can apply it.

You can share your experiences or send your comments to Simon at simon@simonprone.com.