Call me a stickler for language. Meaning is important. It’s how we communicate.
And yeah, despite being a meditation teacher, I’m anti-New Age.
That’s why I bristle when I hear “Have a blessed day.”
I suppose it’s meant to be some sort of progressive twist on, “Have a good day.”
After all, in the equation of life, blessed > good, right?
It sure seems that should be the case.
But it’s not. The problem, of course, is twofold:
1. Every day is “blessed” — you’re having a day, are you not? That means you’re in a body. Alive. Even if you’re on your deathbed in the hospital, you have a chance to nurture awareness today. The clock is still ticking. There’s opportunity for something on the inside of you, some sort of awakening, or if nothing else, just gratitude.
2. You’re not the one who determines the blessings. “Have a good day” is an instruction, an exhortation. It implies a directive: “Go out and make something of yourself today!” Or “If today hasn’t been good, make it better!” Or “Be productive! Be happy!” Or some other such thing. Whatever your definition of “good” is.
I can’t find any definition of “blessed” that makes this thing come from the individual.
“Blessed” is about the divine. It’s about what is bestowed upon us, not because we deserve it, or worked for it, or are somehow better than someone else. When a blessing happens, it’s due to the nature of the Eternal, not our own. We can’t take credit for it. We don’t have control over it.
So the problem with “Have a blessed day” is that it’s wrong in two ways: It’s an instruction to do something that is impossible for the individual to do, and at the same time, it’s reinforcing an idea that today isn’t already blessed. A double-whammy of inaccuracy, coming at you from both sides.
(Plus, OK, my own bias coming out, I can’t stand the vacant-eyed smile that so often accompanies this phrase.)
A quote from George Patton recently crossed my path:
"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking." George Patton
— LightenUp Meditation (@LightenUpMed) February 7, 2014
An examined life leads to a happy life. Even the little things deserve to be examined. Don’t just pick up the latest buzzword or phrase or feel-good saying without checking out its meaning. Try it on to see if it fits before carrying it away and making it a part of your life. The more we say things that are off from Truth, even if just a smidge, the more we go further off from Truth ourselves. Illusion piles up and gets harder to dig out from under.
What I would exhort you to do, is be grateful. Have a grateful day. That will serve you much better than a “good” one or even a “blessed” one ever will, because it comes from within you, and it leads to all kinds of beauty, humility, and light.