The Year So Far
What a year its been, cyclones, floods, an earthquake and tsunami that has touched the whole world, and a nuclear event, all bringing to mind the fragility of life on this planet and awareness of the folly of our notions of being in control of our lives and the events in them.
In the midst of this comes heart warming tales of survivors and connections between human beings faced with events almost beyond imagination. Disasters do that, bring us to recognize whats important in our lives, to turn to the next person and offer help to go on.
I have observed as people have asked “What can we do, how can we help?” There have been many imaginative suggestions for “energetic” help, times of collective focus on areas where the need seems greatest. There has been mention of the Tokyo earthquake in Mikao Usuis’s time when he physically went and gave help.
It doesnt sound like much, but one thing we can all do is take care of ourselves, to do our daily practice, address the fears and concerns for the future of people and the planet within our own selves, to just be here now wherever we are. Where ever we go, thats where we are, thats where we have an effect. Peace, love and healing is held in every moment, in every breath we take.
In the midst of this comes heart warming tales of survivors and connections between human beings faced with events almost beyond imagination. Disasters do that, bring us to recognize whats important in our lives, to turn to the next person and offer help to go on.
I have observed as people have asked “What can we do, how can we help?” There have been many imaginative suggestions for “energetic” help, times of collective focus on areas where the need seems greatest. There has been mention of the Tokyo earthquake in Mikao Usuis’s time when he physically went and gave help.
It doesnt sound like much, but one thing we can all do is take care of ourselves, to do our daily practice, address the fears and concerns for the future of people and the planet within our own selves, to just be here now wherever we are. Where ever we go, thats where we are, thats where we have an effect. Peace, love and healing is held in every moment, in every breath we take.
Site Makeover
31/12/10 20:58
The website has a new face for the new year. For the moment its largely cosmetic, but here are quite some content changes to come. Right now its good enough as it is to go live.
New Year
31/12/10 20:31
Well here we are back at the beginning, planet earth begins another orbit of our sun.
If it is your custom to celebrate the new year, I hope that it is a good one for you whatever is happening in your life.
Being mindful of the wonder that is our life, whatever the circumstances, makes a world of difference. I am reminded of this tonight as many of my fellow Australians are planning to celebrate new year in shelters with flood waters in their towns and houses.
My heart goes out to them.
If it is your custom to celebrate the new year, I hope that it is a good one for you whatever is happening in your life.
Being mindful of the wonder that is our life, whatever the circumstances, makes a world of difference. I am reminded of this tonight as many of my fellow Australians are planning to celebrate new year in shelters with flood waters in their towns and houses.
My heart goes out to them.
Japanese Mind
Over the years I have been in gatherings of masters and listened as Phyllis Furumoto encouraged an appreciation of the history, the culture and times in Japan at the time of Mikao Usui.
On one particular occasion it roused a friend to anger. “How Japanese do I need to ***ing be! ...to do Reiki?
Actually what was being highlighted in Phyllis’s talk was not “becoming more Japanese”. My friend missed the point, which was nothing to do with getting a Japanese or any other sort of mind, but everything to do with stepping aside from the habitual viewpoints of our western mind.
That means being open to the experience of the discomfort of “not knowing”, of allowing the experience of uncertainty.
On one particular occasion it roused a friend to anger. “How Japanese do I need to ***ing be! ...to do Reiki?
Actually what was being highlighted in Phyllis’s talk was not “becoming more Japanese”. My friend missed the point, which was nothing to do with getting a Japanese or any other sort of mind, but everything to do with stepping aside from the habitual viewpoints of our western mind.
That means being open to the experience of the discomfort of “not knowing”, of allowing the experience of uncertainty.
Mind Changing
If I believed what you believe, I'd probably be acting exactly the same way you are right now ...Once we realize that it's not a matter of judgment, but a matter of belief, everything changes. ~Seth Godin
Seth was talking marketing, but the idea applies generally.
The flip side is that beliefs are not necessarily rational, some are simply “insane” by any measure we care to use. We are able to believe anything we choose to, and we are encouraged (even coerced) to support certain beliefs when it’s a group or societal belief. The world was once believed to be flat, the sun was believed to revolve around the earth, illness was caused by evil spirits witches and “vapours”.
We draw our beliefs from a wide range of sources, some get discarded with life experience , others are added. One thing we can be sure of is that foundation beliefs, and beliefs that support our personal agendas, are held sacred and are defended even when it literally kills us. Think of habits that we have been unable to drop, each one is attached to a belief system.
A favourite healing quote comes from Rachel Naomi Remen: "Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you --- all of the expectations, all of the beliefs --- and becoming who you are. Not a better you, but a realer you."
Letting go of outdated beliefs about what we think we are is a process. In my experience of the practice called Reiki, the practice brings awareness that creates this possibility. I say possibility because we may cling to our beliefs about who we are out of fear of letting go, fear that we may lose ourselves somehow.
The fear is normal, to be expected. The fear is called change, and the fear of change can be bigger than whatever other fears we might be holding. The curious fact we tend to overlook is that change is inevitable, everything is changing, every moment of our lives.
When we do get to overcoming our fear and letting go, then we suddenly get how simple it all really was, that the healing we needed in our lives was about changing our mind.
Seth was talking marketing, but the idea applies generally.
The flip side is that beliefs are not necessarily rational, some are simply “insane” by any measure we care to use. We are able to believe anything we choose to, and we are encouraged (even coerced) to support certain beliefs when it’s a group or societal belief. The world was once believed to be flat, the sun was believed to revolve around the earth, illness was caused by evil spirits witches and “vapours”.
We draw our beliefs from a wide range of sources, some get discarded with life experience , others are added. One thing we can be sure of is that foundation beliefs, and beliefs that support our personal agendas, are held sacred and are defended even when it literally kills us. Think of habits that we have been unable to drop, each one is attached to a belief system.
A favourite healing quote comes from Rachel Naomi Remen: "Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you --- all of the expectations, all of the beliefs --- and becoming who you are. Not a better you, but a realer you."
Letting go of outdated beliefs about what we think we are is a process. In my experience of the practice called Reiki, the practice brings awareness that creates this possibility. I say possibility because we may cling to our beliefs about who we are out of fear of letting go, fear that we may lose ourselves somehow.
The fear is normal, to be expected. The fear is called change, and the fear of change can be bigger than whatever other fears we might be holding. The curious fact we tend to overlook is that change is inevitable, everything is changing, every moment of our lives.
When we do get to overcoming our fear and letting go, then we suddenly get how simple it all really was, that the healing we needed in our lives was about changing our mind.