Wednesday 12 December 2012

Be Humble - Unlocking the Power of the 3rd Reiki Precept


In my courses I often translate the Third Reiki Precept as 'show gratitude'.

Cultivation of gratitude keeps us positive and helps connect us better to those around us.

The more traditional translation ('Be humble'), however, also has its power.

And here I am not talking about false humility or feeling bad about yourself.

And I'm not talking about lowering your head when you should let yourself shine.

Instead, it's actually about being open to learn and receive.

When we are humble we recognize that there is much we can learn - and we recognize that there are many who can teach us.

This keeps us in a state of 'open-minded freshness'.

We foster an inner state of 'freshness' because our openness to external stimuli (teachings, examples to follow etc.) helps us to continually grow and evolve.

We are 'open-minded' because we no longer feel we have mastered any area of our life and, as such, are always on the lookout to learn more and develop.

Another attractive feature that learning to 'be humble' has to offer is that it protects us from being judgmental.

Being judgmental is a habit that is easy to acquire but poisonous it its ramifications.

It is a foolproof method for creating discord in our environment, for building mental / emotional barriers between us and others.

This is harmful for our Reiki and harmful for our wellbeing.

It is harmful for our Reiki because it prevents us sharing a deep connection with the people we heal.

It is harmful for our wellbeing because the more we judge others the more we will disconnect from them and, as a result, the more isolated and lonely we will become.

So remember to be humble.

Don't be small. Don't be insignificant. Don't devalue your inner beauty.

Rather, let your light shine while staying open to the possibility that there is always much to learn.

If you can do that, you will not only start to feel really good about the world around you, you will also evolve at a rapid rate.

Each day you will connect to others and each day you will learn.

So how about it?

'For today only, be humble.'

Wednesday 15 August 2012

3 Reasons Why Healers Fail to Become Reiki Professionals - Part 1

A lot of people would like to make a living as professional Reiki therapists, but few actually succeed.

That doesn't mean that it's impossible or that you can't do it - quite the contrary - but if you are to succeed you will most likely need to avoid three key mistakes:

1) Becoming a professional Reiki healer for the wrong reasons.
2) Giving up too soon.
3) Not diversifying.

This article looks at the first of these three reasons and, well, may offend some!

Becoming a Professional Reiki Healer for the Wrong Reasons

If you are going to succeed where most people fail, then your heart needs to be fully engaged in what you are doing. If you think working with Reiki would help you to be a 'good', 'noble', 'spiritual' person but aren't genuinely motivated by passion, then you are not going to succeed as a professional.

Perhaps you might succeed in other fields, but not Reiki.

Reiki requires passion for your clients and passion for your overall work.

You need passion for your clients' wellbeing because that is the best way to create a strong energetic connection to them. (If they feel you care about them, they are much more likely to open up energetically.)

You need passion for your overall work because that is the most potent engine for overcoming obstacles that block your path.

You see, if you are passionate about what you do then obstacles are just temporary inconveniences - things you're happy to work your way around or through. You'll be like water streaming down a mountainside: if a rock gets in your way, you'll simply find an alternative route down.

If you are not truly passionate, however, then you're either going to stop in front of that rock, through a tantrum and refuse to go on, or make your way around it but spend half of your energy cursing it.

The difference between working in alignment with your passion and working against it can be likened to the difference between being pulled on by a locomotive and pulling the locomotive on.

When you are doing something you're not passionate about, it can be like trying to move a locomotive with your own force: you tug, you pull - but to make even the tiniest progress feels like lot of work.

When you're filled with passion, however, it's the exact reverse: it's like the locomotive is pulling you - and your job is simply to hold on! Here you may encounter obstacles that temporarily slow down your speed, but it's going to take a lot to stop you altogether.

To give you an example from my own life, I have a second business in literacy that I set up before becoming a Reiki professional. The business is a noble one and I truly believe the system I help market is the best method in the world for children who need to learn to read and write English. The thing is, it's not my passion so, even though it only takes up about 2% of my total working hours (but rewards me nicely), inconveniences still feel like a triple dose of gravity and, when they pop up, it takes self-control not to give in to the negativity my mind would so love to spin.

With Reiki, however, when problems arise, I just find a solution. I may feel momentarily frustrated, but next instant I'm on the lookout for a fix to the issue - and one always comes along. After that, it's full steam ahead again.

Once we recognise the importance of passion in working with Reiki (or whatever we do!), another issue often arises: we are not 100% sure what we are truly passionate about it!

Do what you love, they say.

I have no idea what I love, we say.

A scratch of the head. Confusion. And back to a job we hate because we can't think of what else to do. We can't decide whether Reiki is a big enough passion to make things work.

My experience, however, is that almost everyone does know what they love doing, it's just that they are afraid of admitting it to themselves because they don't think it is possible and, as a result, don't want to be disappointed or laughed at.

If you don't believe me, imagine having a chat to God one day and getting His / Her assurance that whatever profession you decide to do, you're guaranteed to be a massive success. You'll be brilliant at it. You'll be fabulously rich. Just take your pick and voila, it's all yours!
Spend a moment now and imagine the above scenario. Then notice how clear you've suddenly become!

(Note: if the exercise doesn't work then almost certainly you've let fear get in your way. So try again and remember that whatever you choose is guaranteed!)

Apart from fear of failure, another thing that can get in your way to choosing the job that's right for you - something I touched on at the start of this article - is a sense of MORAL obligation. You feel you need to make a difference in the world. You feel you need to help people. And that could very well lead you to inappropriately choosing Reiki.

But if you look into your heart, isn't it clear that the best thing you can do is simply be YOU?

You have been created uniquely. You have a unique set of inner drives and passions. So isn't just possible that your job is to live in alignment with those passions and drives?

That, I believe, is when you live in the FLOW.

That is when you have the biggest impact on others, when you inspire them to live true to who they are, when you are the brightest light you can be.

Because when you are true to yourself you have a radiance that brightens everyone's day. You have an energy that enthuses the world. And that is when you'll truly make a difference. It's not when you're trying to be good. It's not when you're doing what you think is the 'right thing to do'. It's when the Spirit picks you up, lets you fly, and connects you to God.

So forget about trying to be good!

God doesn't want 'good' people. God wants honest people. God wants people to do the job He / She put them on this planet to do.
Can you imagine how frustrating it must be for Him to give someone, say, the gift of music, to know how much happiness and inspiration this person's music could give the world, only to find this person bugging passersby on the street with Reiki or Bibles or whatever - all without any real passion or joy?

No, if that has been your show up until now, I recommend tossing morality out the window. Just give it a boot, take a deep breath and smile. For then you will be free to be true to who you really are. Free to illuminate the world with your unique light. Free from agonizing over what is right and wrong.

Yes, once you've gotten rid of the dogma of moral law, you'll be ready to live in the Flow, to live intuitively, to live in harmony with the whispering of the Spirit.

This may mean working with Reiki. It may mean something else. But whatever it is, the Heavens will cheer, the world will rejoice, your heart will sing - and no obstacle will ever be big enough to stop your triumphant march.

********
Jeremy O'Carroll

 

Friday 2 March 2012

Becoming a Beacon


"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. "
Christ (Matthew 5: 28)

One of the great points of emphasis in Christ's teachings is that if we wish to live a truly happy life (and, in the process, make a positive impact on the world around us), we need to go beyond mere external actions.

Yes, they are hugely important; but important too are our thoughts and feelings.

If our external actions are 'good' but the accompanying thoughts and feelings are 'bad', then negative results will inevitably follow.

To return to - and expand - Christ's quote above, we read the following (modern translation by Eugene H. Peterson):
"You know the next commandment pretty well, too: 'Don't go to bed with another's spouse.' But don't think you've preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices - they also corrupt."

This highlights the problem with simply 'doing your duty', with simply doing 'the right thing', with simply performing the 'correct rituals'.

Unless they are also done with the proper spirit, then they can easily do more harm than good.

The reason for this is simple: thoughts and feelings also carry energetic vibrations. So if our mouth says one thing and our thoughts and feelings another, then we can be blasting someone with negative energy even as we praise them.

Similarly, if we help someone out of obligation but resent doing so, we are showering them - and the world - with negativity even as we do this apparently noble deed.

This problem becomes apparent when we make 'fake' apologies.

You know those times when we're pissed off with someone but feel that, in the circumstances, we'd better try to smooth things over even though we are still furious.

So we approach the person we're mad with, we apologize through clenched teeth and, lo and behold, find that the best result we ever get is a frosty reconciliation.

But we've also experienced the opposite: times when we are genuinely sorry, apologize and find that, in many cases, even when it would be fair enough for the person we are apologizing to to still hold a grudge, we are forgiven.

This person feels the regret beneath our words and is moved by this energy.

Beyond External Actions

Of course, sometimes - as Christ's quote suggests - the problem doesn't so much arise from the dissonance between thoughts, feelings and actions, but simply the thoughts and feelings alone. In other words:

You don't have sex with your friend's wife.

You don't whack someone over the head with a bar.

You don't verbally abuse someone.

You don't provoke someone with a wicked stare.

But you do imagine, think and feel doing some of these things and, as such, send negative shockwaves out into the universe.

You may object that holding ourselves accountable to this 'inner morality' seems rather tough and, possibly, even unfair ('Hey, we didn't do anything after all, did we?'); but you only need to turn to your past experience to see that positive and negative energy emanating from a person can easily make a huge impact on those around him or her.

Recall situations, for instance, where you're enjoying time with friends, the mood is positive and then...someone enters the room full of hurt and anger. Haven't you noticed that, even if he or she doesn't say anything, the mood of the entire group often shifts?

Naturally, the reverse can be true: the group is feeling down, someone full of life and positivity enters and voila - everyone starts to feel better.

So we're talking about a phenomenon that we have all experienced. Something we can verify as true if we look within.

And that is why we would do well consider this higher form of morality, because otherwise we might be doing all of the 'right things' but still end up miserable.

The Rainmaker

There is a well-known - apparently true - story about a rainmaker (made famous by Jung), who was called into a village in China that was suffering from a terrible drought.

The villagers had tried everything to make the rains come. The Catholics had made their processions. The Protestants had said their prayers. The Chinese had burned incense and fired guns to frighten away the 'drought demons', but all to no avail.

In the end, desperate, they called in a little, old rainmaker from a far away province.

When he arrived they asked him what he needed and he said only a quiet room, some food and water. Once he received these, he disappeared into his room and didn't come out.

Four days went by and then, from out of a clear blue sky, a massive snowfall came - something totally out of character for the season - and, with that, the drought was broken.

When asked how he made the snow and rain come, the rainmaker at first said he did nothing.

Then, pressed further, he explained that when he first arrived, the village was in a state of disharmony.

He therefore retreated to his room so that he could bring himself into a state of inner harmony and, as a result of that, draw the village into harmony with him. After that it was only natural for the rains to come.

Becoming a Beacon

From the above story and from your personal experience, it should be clear that your inner state of being matters both to you and the world.

I therefore invite you to embrace this higher form of morality. A form of morality that includes both the inner and outer world.

In so doing, I invite you to become a Beacon.

Beacons know that every thought and feeling they have makes a difference to the world and, as such, do everything they can to create as much inner harmony as possible.

Yes, there will be moments - sometimes short, sometimes long - when inner balance crumbles and they feel grumpy, irritable and dark; but each time this happens they do their best to rebalance themselves, because they understand that their inner happiness is no longer only about them.

Afterwards, once their inner balance has been re-established they then do their best to shine as brightly as possible so that the world around them can be bathed in healing energy.

In this way they are 'Warriors of the Light'.

Protectors of the planet.

Guardians of Earth.

Are you willing to join their ranks?

********
Jeremy O'Carroll