Are we Blocking our Blessings? The Art of Receiving.

She entered our life in my mid-teens, and I wouldn’t know it at the time, but she would later become a vital part of my healing journey. Growing up, we had massive gatherings with families from various cultures. She’s from Ethiopia, and honestly, my mouth still waters at the thought of her food. It was incredible.

We lost touch, but life works in mysterious ways and we would re-unite in a miraculous way.

In my twenties, I was starting out in Real Estate, and I was door-knocking throughout a neighbourhood, asking people if they wanted to sell their home. It was daunting, sometimes scary and deep down — I wouldn’t say I liked it. But in this world, especially if you’re starting, if you want the business, you get it — and you do so aggressively.

To my amazement, I knocked on her door — and her smile lit up my heart instantly. She was in a rush to go somewhere and asked me to come back to visit her.

It had been over a decade since I saw her, and I felt so excited to talk to her as a young adult woman. I’d always admired her.

We delved into a conversation, and she quickly confronted me about a belief I had and didn’t even realise was a problem.

As a spiritual, wise and intuitive person with a heart of gold, it was one of those “need to hear, even though it’s hard to hear” messages.

She said, “You need to let people — and God — bless you. You need to learn to receive. You don’t have to do everything in your own power.” She shared a story about her journey in life and the people who assisted her along the way. She finally wrapped it up and said, “When we allow people to bless us or help us, we also end up helping and blessing others too.”

And that hit me hard.

At the time, I knew nothing about pride, burnout or the act of receiving. So I felt I had to do everything myself and found it difficult to ask for support. I thought it was a sign of weakness or inability. But I also feel this “do it all myself” mentality was also a way to prove my worth.

Furthermore, we’re in a world where we are taught if we want something we need to get it—even at the cost of our wellbeing. While there is nothing inherently wrong with going after what we want, it becomes imbalanced when we block out the energy of rest, allowing and welcoming.

This energy or space where we allow also helps us to address unhealthy habits or beliefs that we are living by.

For example:

Why do you really push yourself so hard? Are you truly honest about your drive?

Why do you feel you need to do everything in your own power? Why does it make you uncomfortable if you are supported or assisted in some way?

What beliefs does it challenge?

It may be confronting or uncomfortable to ask ourselves these questions but they can uncover beleifs we have that are not our own. They have been adopted from people around us and the environment we grew up in. And, in my case, they were comprising my path and keeping me from being myself and feeling balanced.

As I embarked on my journey, I started recognising how I was blocking blessing by not learning to receive and why this was hindering my health, my passions and my successes.

As a giver — and an over-giver at that — I felt vulnerable and uncomfortable with the idea of receiving. But unfortunately, this mentality also led me to burn out, fizzle out, and feel like the world was on my shoulders.

It’s been a long lesson for me and a lot of undoing, healing and introspective to identify where I block blessings — and how that also impacts my ability to give from a place of overflow.

When I used to give to people, I gave too much of myself and would leave myself last. I came to understand a healthier way to serve others, and it doesn’t require us to desert ourselves.

More importantly, when we open ourselves up to the blessings of life, and we let them flow through us, it’s incredible what we can do.

We feel energised from a place of love, not guilt. We approach our lives more creatively rather than feeling stressed out. We accept love and support from others without feeling guilt or unworthy.

When we reject blessing, love and being given to — we need to ask ourselves why? What are we trying to prove? Why don’t we feel worthy of receiving goodness? Why do we block what is intended for us?

We can then ask ourselves what might our lives look like if we receive and allow blessings to flow to us. What things could we do? Who can we bless? How will we feel?

For me, I feel lighter. I celebrate with others. I welcome goodness and blessing, and then I give it out. And I recognise my worth does not lie in trying to prove myself by doing more than I need to (perfectionism, over-giving).

I felt inspired to write this today as I recently shared the launching of Her True Nature. I’m so appreciative and thankful to everyone who has shared this new venture and celebrated this new journey with me.

Thank you to Mahein Kazi for the shoutout in Are you really listening?

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