Category: Reiki

Dedicate yourself to the good you deserve and desire for yourself.  Give yourself peace of mind.  You deserve to be happy. You deserve delight.

May all who enter as guests leave as friends.

When you interact with the next person who crosses your path, practice expanding the welcoming space you provide for the other to truly be himself or herself in your presence.

Find the refuge within …

As a Healer, I’ve often been asked, “Hey, you heal for free??” … Wow, folks. No; nothing of value is ever “for free”. Everything is energy, therefore, ho’okupu … the energy exchange that sparks positive results to sprout and grow … is always required. However, what I am able to give, I give freely. What’s the difference, you say? HUGE. Read on.

“Freely vs. Free,” by Thuy Nguyen

Get into a heartspace of extreme compassion.  Think of someone with whom you have a conflict.  Put yourself in their shoes.  How does it transform your awareness of their needs? How can you be of service to those needs?

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.

Slow down.  This moment is full of wonder, why not take the time to cherish it?

Grace has the capacity to transcend even our darkest of spaces.  It is a sudden miracle, basked in the light of loving-kindness.  And, grace has the capacity to heal.  These moments of grace teach us that there is always more to life than we can imagine.  In those wondrous moments, we realize there is more to life than we can possibly imagine.

It is a whisper of feeling, almost intangible.  Yet, it is powerful.  Suddenly, you are in a different space.  You feel almost weightless.  The air is still, your breathing is slow, but what you are experiencing is clean and clear.

But, how do we open our hearts to grace?

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief… For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. — Wendell Berry

Ask a child what is beautiful to them. Tell them what is beautiful to you, too.

We’ve let ourselves get caught up in the pace of our lives and we’ve become distracted from the important issues that we all need to work on together. This is not an excuse for our actions. It is what it is.

Think about and create a balance between Life and Work …

Often times we can feel overwhelmed by what we see as competing values: how can I be a good family member, a loving spouse, a supportive friend, pursue my hobbies and interests and maintain my career? For many of us, integrating all of these elements into a fulfilling and rewarding personal life and career is difficult.

What does life mean to you?  Bring a taste of life to a hospice-bound and/or elderly friend or acquaintance this week by accompanying them in some way for a short time.  Counteract their boredom, loneliness and helplessness by infusing in life to bring back a level of quality to Life.  Cats, dogs, birds and green plants in every room, and visiting children after school, triggers  unexpected transformations.

“Where there’s life, there’s hope.”  ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Each and every master, regardless of the era or the place, heard the call and attained harmony with heaven and earth. There are many paths leading to the top of Mount Fuji, but there is only one summit — love.“ ~ Morihei Ueshiba

Challenge the conventional, romantic notion of love today by feeling love towards a stranger.  How does this connection expand your sense of self?

Love is an emotion, a momentary state that arises to infuse your mind and body alike. Yet this transient state holds much promise beyond feeling good; love can be poignant in shaping perceptions of who we are, how we relate to the world, and even our health. Far from being a private event, love is an experience shared between people when they connect in the spirit of goodness. And that connection is at the heart of love’s most telling effects: stretching us beyond our boundaries, inspiring awareness, and inviting us into a state of oneness.

“Contemplate the workings of this world, listen to the words of the wise, take all that is good as your own. With this as your base, open your own door to truth. Do not overlook the truth that is right before you. Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks. Also learn from holy books and wise people. Everything—even mountains, rivers, plants, and trees—should be your teacher.“  ~ Morihei Ueshiba

Take a moment to ask yourself: what is keeping you from a leap in your own life? There are any number of reasons one can think of to not do something. In this beguiling illustrated strip Grant Snider playfully reminds us that, for all our potential excuses, there’s nothing quite the like the feeling of leaping.   Consider what it might feel like to take the plunge!

“Leap, and the net will appear.”  ~ John Burroughs

Think back to when someone did something kind for you. How did it make you feel? See if these feelings can guide you in any way today.

Kindness has gracious eyes; it is not small-minded or competitive; it wants nothing back for itself … Kindness casts a different light, an evening light that has the depth of color and patience to illuminate what is complex and rich in difference.

This Thanksgiving, as you give gratitude for blessings in your life, think of someone with whom you have a conflict. How might you transform your interactions with this person.

How easy is it to “love your neighbor” when your intoxicated neighbor wakes you up in the middle of the night and insults you? For people dedicated to the path of nonviolence, like Arun Dada and his wife Mira Ba, it’s not only the right thing to do, it’s the only thing you can do. Instead of getting angry, they chose to try and transform the relationship through compassion. And in doing so they inspired their neighbor to replace his steady stream of obscenities with three words embodying their shared highest ideals.

“Whatever you do, make it an offering to me.”  ~ Bhagavad Gita

Most people buy their first bonsai tree because they think it is attractive or will suit their decor. But this is not a good basis on which to make a choice. If you are a beginner, you should select a species that is easy to keep and that is appropriate for the conditions you are able to offer.

The best place to buy a bonsai and bonsai accessories is a specialist bonsai nursery.  Finding sources should not be difficult if you have access to the internet, but take care before you purchase, as many so-called ‘specialists’ are not experts at all. They are middle men who have little or no experience or knowledge of bonsai. If you are serious about making your first purchase, then seek a second opinion about potential sources from a local bonsai club or horticultural society.  Some large garden centers stock bonsai and may even have a resident expert to give you advice.

If you want to buy on the internet, make sure the firm is a reputable one.  Download details of the address and telephone number, so that you can get in touch with the supplier if there are any problems.  A specialist nursery, which gives personal advice, is always best, especially if you need an aftercare service such as repotting, care and advice.  Department stores, shopping malls and hardware stores do not offer bonsai an ideal living environment, and trees sold from such outlets are rarely in good condition. The staff are also unlikely to know anything about growing and caring for bonsai or will not be able to offer any bonsai accessories; pots, tools, and will not be able to give you any aftercare regarding re-potting etc.  If you are a beginner, avoid attempting to grow a tree from seeds or cuttings. It is perfectly possible to grow bonsai this way, but it can be a long and sometimes tedious process for a beginner.

Practice tuning into your true wealth so that you can more clearly see the abundance all around you. Today, take some time to write about three things you are grateful for. If you’re up for the challenge, make this a daily practice!

The world is filled with abundance, but because we stay tuned into what we do not have, we can spend our lives grasping for more, never really arriving. Awaken to the true and profound wealth we have all been blessed with. To awaken to this very moment is truth wealth. This moment is in truth all we really have and own. Everything else is just on loan; we must give it all back in the end.

Think about how you define anger and how you might be able to channel that energy more constructively.

Anger can cause us a great deal of hurt, but it can also be a positive force that propels us to act and can spur creativity and fuel success. It is all about how we manage our anger in those instances when we feel overwhelmed by it. There is a “right way” to get angry and how you can harness your anger for good.

In what way can you use what you do for a living to help others in a small but meaningful way? How can you make this part of your daily or weekly practice, so it becomes a part of your life?

A Vancouver-based advertising company teamed up with a grassroots advocacy group to extend kindness to the city’s homeless population in a beautifully creative way. During the day, the [bus] benches serve as seating for those waiting for the bus to arrive. At night, the front lifts up and out to create an overhang. Acts of kindness like these stand out against the backdrop of many cities making it harder for the homeless population to survive. THANK YOU, VANCOUVER!

As I began to love myself I quit stealing my own time, and I stopped designing huge projects for the future. Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness, things I love to do and that make my heart cheer, and I do them in my own way and in my own rhythm. Today I call it “SIMPLICITY”.  ~ Charles Chaplin

Practice Silence.  Make a commitment to set aside some time everyday to reconnect to the silence inside of you, whether it be through meditation, gardening, or any other activity that brings you back to yourself.

Deep within each of us is a great well of health, abundance, knowledge, guidance. When we enter the silence and stay in the silence, we come into direct contact with that sacred well. In that place dwells our True and Higher Self: It is that part of us that exists and operates in a place where there is no time– no past, no future, only the present moment … One of the most powerful spiritual practices you can adopt is also one of the easiest to do.

Be a better leader in your community.  As the world rapidly transforms around us each day, there is a growing need for us to create sustainable human communities. And in that vision, great leadership is paramount –leadership that not only calls for clarity of vision, but also a healthy dose of empathy that allows us to identify with, and understand, one another’s situations, feelings, and motives.

“If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.”  ~ Chinese Proverb

Work to deepen your social interactions; find opportunities to remind others of their importance in your life.

Social media has transformed our daily lives — adding a brand new, and often much more complex, dimension to our interactions.  And though it has facilitated the ease of our connections, there is a flip side.  For example, studies have shown an inverse relationship between an individual’s Facebook usage and their sense of self-worth. And, we are only just beginning to understand its true impact on our lives.

“I fear the day technology will surpass our human interaction.”  ~ Albert Einstein

 

Next time you need to get somewhere, see if you can rely on a map and the guidance of others to help make your way. You never know who you’ll meet or what you may see!

When’s the last time you pulled out a map to find where you were, or how to get where you were going? Do you even remember the last time you unfolded a map? When we gaze at our devices and scurry through the world in thoroughly efficient ways, we are forgetting the most important part of our sojourn on this watery planet. To connect with the other people who are here with us. You just might like to dig up some maps or peek into an atlas today …