Do you know the definition of the word Namaste?

The word is a common greeting in India and Nepal and originates from Hindu and Buddhist philosophy and culture. If you’ve ever taken a yoga class I’m sure you’ve heard this word. It literally means “I bow to you”, and is often said accompanied by a small bow with hands pressed together.

I’ve heard many longer more verbose definitions of the word mainly because it holds so much meaning that the literal definition just doesn’t express it fully.

My favorite definition is “The Divine within me, recognizes and honors the Divine within you.”

Can you imagine how our life experience would change if everyone held this idea (just as a silent thought) as they met people on their way, as they interacted with friends and loved ones, as they related to family members?

Years ago when I was going through my divorce, I had many opportunities to be angry, to be resentful, to be vengeful. I didn’t like feeling any of those things. There were many times when it would have been very easy for me to believe I was getting screwed being victimized, and one belief  kept me from taking up residence in Victimland.

That one belief is this: “Everyone is doing the best they can.” (Even him, even me… everyone.)

This is a belief that I choose, and it will change your life when you choose it too.

“Everyone is doing the best they can at any given time.”

People struggle. People make choices that result in pain for themselves and others…and they’re doing the best they can at that moment.

How would it change your perception of someone if you realized that they really truly are doing the best they can?

How would it change the way you feel about yourself if you recognized that you, too, are doing the best you can?

An exercise that I just presented to a group I’m coaching is to look into your own eyes in the mirror each morning as you get your self ready for your day, and say to yourself “I am beneath no one, I am above no one. Namaste.”

When you meet someone, even incidentally, in the course of your day, look into their eyes and silently greet them with “Namaste”. The Divine within me recognizes and honors the Divine within you.

How could that change the way you interact with others?

How would the world be different if we developed the habit of recognizing that we are above no one, we are beneath no one, that each of us carries a spark of divinity within us, and we are all doing the best we can?

Today, from me to you: “Namaste.”

Love & Magic,