Grace at the Oyster Bar - Where My Heart Leads

It wasn’t until a chance encounter at City ‘super that I felt the power of grace.

Standing at the long metallic bench table by the oyster bar, I was having a salad – chopsticks in hand, Japanese style. A man who probably works in the office towers above walked over with his food and stood diagonally across me a feet or so away unpacking it.

Out of the blue, I felt a sudden wave of energy emanating from him. I glanced over – I saw him holding quietly still, hands folded in front of the Japanese hamburger patty he had just unpacked. He said Grace. Standing a couple feet away, I felt it the energy of his prayer.

He must have said grace so heart-fully that the energy radiated strongly, and across the bar table, my salad probably got some of the blessings too!

Saying grace and having a thankful heart, it changes the vibration of the person taking the food that naturally the food is in sync with the person.
Karen, Where My Heart Leads

For eight years I had recited prayers with my classmates twice daily as protocol at a Catholic girl’s school. The older we got, the faster we recited – as if we were in a dash to see who got it done with the fastest.

We turned to the cross of Jesus hung by the door and went through the motions and the words – but the words did not come from the heart, they were simply empty – words. We wasted all that time.

People wonder if prayers work

There are plenty scientific studies showing one way or another. I saw it myself one time.

I boarded a junk off some pier, with other people who had also donated money to buy lots of live seafood to release them. Boxes and boxes of seafood had been hauled aboard. There were all sorts of sea creatures, including large robust ancient horseshoe crabs with their thick armour that were almost too scary to hold.

Horseshoe crab on beach. — Horseshoe crab – an Ancient creature

The junk sailed out towards the sea. That day was overcast and a hefty layer of clouds blanketed the sky. We began releasing the live sea creatures, what would have been sea “food” into the oceans. Some people commented on how happy they look as they leaped fervently into freedom.

At some point, we were led to recite prayers and mantras. Walking counter clockwise in a circle around the tubs of sea creatures on deck, we chanted. Lo and behold, when we finished, someone pointed up towards the clouds, not too far from our junk “Look!” Sure enough, a small window opened though the blanketed sky where a ray of light shone through – as if a sign that our prayers were heard, the sea creatures will be free.

Thank you

“Why do you pray or say grace?” Mina, my friend’s daugther asked. “To say thank you for all the blessings.” the adult answered.

He must have said grace so heart-fully that the energy radiated strongly, and across the bar table, my salad probably got some of the blessings too!
Karen, Where My Heart Leads

In Japanese tea ceremony, for every sweet, for every bowl of tea, for every meal prepared and presented to us, we say “thank you” – the way it is said, where we might raise the sweets or bowl of tea up, feels like the thank you is made out to the universe. Like “Thank you All for this sweet/tea/meal.” And with the heart of thankfulness, we receive the sweet/tea/meal with more attuned awareness and appreciation.

Once when I was at a silent meditation camp in Japan, I was pissed off at the food. Obviously I had forgotten about taking the practice in the tea room and applying it to the every day life. Food the first several days was HEAVENLY – this volunteer cook worked magic with the food she made. When she left, another volunteer took over – the food looked sad and soulless. In silence, I was pissed and complaining.

It was wise that the retreat was designed to be a silent one. When the camp ended, I realised that if everyone started airing their complaints, the time for reflection, and the energy to focus on meditation would have been wasted on trivial complaints and arguments. The silence gave us the opportunity to first looking within to see why those complaints and judgements arose in the first place!

Grace and calibration of the heart

Shortly after the camp, I asked my teacher, “Since people transmit their energy into what they make, what if the person cooking the food was in a foul mood or just isn’t of great energy, what then? Is there a way to purify the food?”

To which the teacher said, “Well, there is a reason why people said grace.”

Now that I think of it, it probably isn’t necessarily about the purification of the food – but rather, by saying grace and having a thankful heart, it changes the vibration of the person taking the food that naturally the food is in sync with the person.

It reminds me of the double-slit experiment. Sometimes our perception creates the ‘reality’. As that perception changes, what we see also change.

The Japanese say, “Ita daki masu” (いただきます) before they dig into their meal. I read somewhere it translates to “I receive.” How do you receive?