You never know how to plan for an everyone’s-invited-no-need-to -RSVP event. Especially if it’s one of John Morton’s Blessings Workshops. So when 7:30 p.m. rolled around and there were a couple of rows of empty chairs in the Grand Ballroom, the crew at the Sheraton Universal Hotel pulled them out. Not a great idea because by 7:45 p.m. they had to bring them all back and then some.
By the time John took the stage, after Tom Boyer’s clean and clear welcome and intro to the evening (Tom is getting pretty good at this) well over 300 people were ready to rock & roll. Of course, with a fairly high percentage of them being new to MSIA or not having experienced an event like this, they didn’t quite know what was going to happen. But they appeared ready for anything. And with John on the stage, and the Spirit in charge, ready for anything is a good thing.
The evening was really simple in its structure: John sharing, with clarity and comedy, to set up the evening, then asking for someone to share a “terrible thing” that was present in their life, and then working with them to find the blessing in it. That was followed by a couple of processes in which people had the opportunity to look at their lives and find the blessings for themselves. Of course, during the evening John also asked for Spirit to place some blessings forward for the group, and then ended with some more sharings with the audience. Simple in structure, but very profound in what it produced.
In addition to a fun-filled drawing for “Mystical Traveler’s Cheques”, MSIA’s form of gift certificates, and John signing books and chatting with participants, those new to MSIA were presented with an incredible new Soul Transcendence brochure and a new version of John-Roger’s book “Journey of a Soul.” Guests schmoozed and ate cake until nearly 11:00 p.m. before they drifted off to other things–including for many, getting ready for the 8:15 a.m. Reps/volunteer meeting the next morning. Stay tuned! This was only the beginning.
And, from eNDH reporter, Brenda Fishbaugh
Conference started off with an open evening with John Morton, free to all. MSIA folks brought family and friends to hear John speak, and there were lots of new people: about a fourth of the room were guests. This event has grown and now several hundred people filled the ballroom for John’s talk.
I enjoyed John’s focus on blessings during this wonderful evening. He inspired me as he talked about how the blessings are always present, that our attitude can stop us from receiving them, and that we need to attune to the blessings to fully receive them.
Gift certificates to the beautiful MSIA Store were raffled off, and new as well as regular MSIA folks won $50, $25, and $10 gifts certificates. John stayed to sign his book, The Blessings Already Are, as people enjoyed tea and luscious treats in a coffee shop-like setting at the back of the room after his talk. It was deep into the night before people began drifting home after a warm, inviting beginning to the Conference of Alignment.
