Peace and Blessings Always

Cordially, sincerely, yours, take care, kind regards, be well, thanks, best, and on and on and on. These are but a few of the many many many sign-offs used in emails in a daily basis. When I established my "grown up" email account my senior year of high school. I spent more time than was likely needed thinking about what my signature would be, could be, and should be. 

While I'm confident I spent more time pondering this than the average person I'm glad I did. More than 10 years later multiple jobs and emails and I'm still using the same sign-off in my email signature. Now I'm sure if you've read the last couple of blog posts you are sick and tired of hearing about my damn emails (enjoy a nice video of Bernie Sanders expressing similar sentiments about Hillary Clinton's emails https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOOfwN0iYxM). 

For all these years and what I imagine must be thousands upon thousands of emails, not to mention the old school letter and cards I send using the same sign-off, and some of my past blog posts, you see the same phrase, Peace and Blessings Always. 

For me, it was the right balance of religious but not too religious. Now perhaps that shows my own bias and there are those who I have inadvertently made uncomfortable over the years with the phrase. Yet even so, when I think about the reasoning behind why I settled on that phrase it doesn't have to be religious at all. 

I found myself reflecting (pondering if you will) on why I settled on this phrase twice in the past year, most recently during a conversation with a friend over drinks and before that in a Christmas card I received from a friend. 

Starting with the Christmas card my friend stated her appreciation for our friendship and then referencing herself and her adorable dog she said 'what a blessing I have been to their lives.' Now this perhaps is too high of praise, but in reading her card and in my response to her in the Christmas card I sent I reflected on that being a primary goal of my life and existence. To be a blessing. Now, obviously this is the part of my sign-off phrase that is religious and potentially off-putting. But it isn't meant to be and I don't think it has to be limited to the religious understanding of the term. For me when I say blessings it simply means all good things. May your life and your day be filled with good things. Things that bring you joy and happiness, peace and contentment. It doesn't have to be from God but instead can be from each of us to each other. 

More recently my friend shared with me that she has been reflecting (perhaps even pondering) in her own life on things and if they are bringing her joy or suffering. Worrying about the cleanliness of a house before friends come or even deciding not to have friends over because the house isn't clean... joy or suffering. 

For me, this resulted in recalling another recent situation with this same friend at a meeting we were at when we were asked what is bringing us joy in our lives. When it comes to fun and joy I find myself most often responding dismissively, "Oh I don't do fun" "Joy isn't my thing" "Who even has the time" but as I take the time to think about these things it's not that I don't do fun or that joy isn't my thing. More accurately I think there are times when instead of thinking about joy and fun as what I am longing for instead I am longing for peace, something that does bring me joy and that I do find to be fun (whatever that means). Now perhaps I'm just making distinctions where there is no real difference (be on the lookout for a new blog post talking more about that) but even if that's the case it's how I feel, or at least what I'm currently thinking on the topic. 

All this to say, I hope in your day, your week, your month, and even your year, you find things that are bringing you peace and all things good. As I spend my day reflecting I find myself more and more realizing I want to be a blessing to those around me and I want to find peace. 

So with that, I say... 

Peace and Blessings Always

~Mike