Meditation on Sh'asani B'tzalmo

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה 'ה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁעָשַֽׂנִי בְּצַלְמוֹ

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁעָשַֽׂנִי בְּצַלְמו

 

Baruch atah Yah Elohenu melch ha-olam sheh’ah’sa’nee b’tsalmoz

 

Blessed are You Yah our G!d, Eternal One of the universe who made me in your image.

 

Slowly recite the bracha to yourself, and as you say these words, envision millions of molecules of oxygen leaving the leaves of nearby trees and bushes and herbaceous plants coming into your body through your breath and entering your blood stream.

 

Keep on breathing, and envision millions of molecules of carbon dioxide leaving your body through each breath and entering the leaves of nearby trees and bushes and herbaceous plants.

 

Think back through the past night and day, the past weeks, and months, perhaps several years of breathing in and out, exchanging gases with the trees and bushes and herbaceous plants near you and know,

 

that in that time, every single atom, in ever nook and cranny of your body,

 

has been replaced.

 

You are totally new.

 

All the new atoms in your body came in through your breath,

 

and your eating,

 

all of them from the other living creatures around you.

 

You are new. Made from atoms from all the other living things and the non-living things around you.

 

Baruch atah Adonai, sh'asani b'tzalmo.