Sometimes our bodies simply say NO! Enough is enough. If we don’t listen to what our higher self is trying to tell us then it will act and ensure we have to listen! So we’ve two choices. We can bemoan the fact that we are laid up incapable and worry and beat ourselves up for what we may see as our own inadequacies. We can gnash our teeth and wail about the things we are not getting done. We can wallow in self pity and become angry and frustrated but what would all these emotions achieve exactly? Would they make ourselves feel better, or simply produce a further dip in our spirits?
We could, on the other hand, surmise that whilst there may not be an apparent reason for our circumstances, nonetheless there is a reason and we can choose to go with the flow instead of fighting against it.
I’d like to share this little story with you, though not I hasten to add for a sympathy vote! Two days ago I was lamenting how little time I had to accomplish everything that needed doing. My work is at its busiest (not that I’m complaining), the kids need running around here, there and everywhere, paperwork is piling up, household chores have had to be put on a back burner, my studies aren’t getting the attention I feel they need and my weekends are filled with ‘duties’ when surely my time I felt, could be better spent elsewhere. I did start to wonder who was actually in control here, if it’s not me, then who is?
Yesterday, we travelled twenty miles in one direction for an appointment, turned around and travelled sixty miles in the opposite direction for another commitment and inbetween all this had various stops to make to fit in other tasks. That morning my lower back started to niggle away at me but guess what? There’s simply no time for that nonsense, I thought, so I ignored it and carried on. Gradually the pain worsened, yet still I smiled and shrugged it off. I laughed at the way I was beginning to walk, cracked ‘old age’ jokes and ignored what my body was trying to tell me. That was until 4.30am Sunday morning when my back went into spasm and seized up completely! I couldn’t even writhe around in agony. I wish I could end my tale by saying I channelled Reiki and lo and behold my back was cured. The pain, however, was all encompassing and even though I made a squeak for help, I knew deep down there was a lesson here I needed to learn. Would that lesson be learned if I instantaneously got the pain relief I needed? Sadly, I think not.
So yesterday I was literally helpless but I still had a choice. I could watch the dross on the television or I could connect with my higher self, pin back my ears and listen. I could give my mind and body the attention it has been demanding. I could work with the beautiful healing energies of Reiki, I could meditate on self healing, I could practise mindfulness and I could use the five Reiki Precepts as they should be used. And so I did. Whatever life throws at you, the precepts are a comforting guideline that we can adapt to our present circumstances. For me, in the here and now, just for today…
I will not anger… I will accept that I need to rest and recuperate.
I will not worry…. about all the things that were planned for today, the places I needed to be, the things that simply had to be done because that will not alter my position.
I will be humble… I will accept that there are things I cannot do for myself today; that I have to rely on my family to do things for me. So just for today I release the control freak as she cannot do anything better than anyone else 😉
Today I will be honest in my work. I will admit my current capabilities and not take on too much, or actually anything at all, I will accept I can do no other.
Today I will be compassionate to myself, as well as others. I will listen to my body and I will allow it to heal. I will not beat myself up that I chose to ignore the warning signs, I have learned by my mistake!
In future I will not ignore my own needs and understand that if I do, I do so at my own peril. Can you say the same? It may be said that hindsight is a wonderful thing, I think a little foresight would serve us better ! 🙂
Reiki Blessings to you all,
Ann xx
Ann Halstead is one of the Reiki Evolution team of teachers offering Reiki training near the beautiful Summer Wine country in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Ann and her husband Jonathan also offer psychic development workshops and spiritual counselling.
Ann’s website can be found here: www.holistic-wellbeing.co.uk
I can relate so much to what you are saying Ann.
It always starts with ourselves, does it not?
We cannot take on the whole lot.
There are plenty of us, and we are all doing our *little bit*, which in the non-physical counts as a lot!
We just don’t see the bigger picture.
If there is something I cannot change today, in this moment, then accept that’s how things are for *NOW*…………………
There may just be a good reason for it?
Good reminder Ann, thank you. Blessings Margaret xxx
I can also relate to this.
I’ve been a migraine sufferer from childhood.
Some years ago I was particularly busy trying to juggle a stressful job with being a trade unionist, doing an Open University degree etc. etc. all at the same time and then adding Tai Chi “TO RELAX”. The migraines worsened and needless to say I found them an inconvenience!!!! Several years on, and having followed the Reiki path, it dawned on me that actually the migraines were “beneficial”. My body knows me so well, i.e. it knows I can work through most things but not migraine! It was my body’s way of saying “Well if you don’t stop I AM going to stop you!!”
I took early retirement last year and am now able to inhabit a much better spiritual space. Now migraines are virtually a thing of the past and if I do have one, generally I can pinpoint the cause. Plus my Tai Chi has improved – it’s not helpful to be doing it on fast-forward.
I do think that working intuitively with our own body is so important and Reiki certainly assists in this.
Thank you Ann xx
Thanks Ann! A salutary reminder that we are NOT indestructible or indispensable!
Reiki blessings
Hannah
Very well put, Ann. A timely reminder! Glad you are now able to get the rest and recuperation you need and believe you will come out of this “lesson” a stronger and happier person. It’s all about Balance isn’t it.
Love,D
Blimey, that was a timely message Ann, thank you! I’m getting over a serious illness which leaves you exhausted for some months – most frustrating, especially as this is the busiest time of year for me at work (report writing and exam marking as well as actually teaching a class of 9 year olds full time) and I’ve had to pull out of so may activities to allow myself time to sleep, rest and gradually heal. I know I need to do this, and have dealt with things really well until recently; but the guilty feeling that I am letting everyone at work down for not yet being back full time is getting to me… you’re dead right about the precepts though! I need to stop beating myself up (even when others have to take my classes because I am at home asleep on the sofa) and live in the now, etc.
Thanks for a great reminder, 🙂
Louise. xx
Hello
Ann sent me a link to join the facbook HEALERS and I was a little bothered by it but it is proveing to be a good link to other Reiki people. Lovely to read the messages and share our thoughts. Well done that girl
Hello Margaret,
It was the Facebook security issues you were bothered about wasn’t it?
The link Margaret is referring to is a new page I’ve set up on Facebook that you’re all more than welcome to come and have a look at. If you click on the LIKE button you will automatically get updates on new posts. The page is called Holistic Wellbeing:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Holistic-Wellbeing/225790994106559
I post inspirational quotes, the Reiki Evolution Blogs, anything spiritual I think will be of help on there and there’s also a link to Louise’s fabulous page Silver Moon Reiki. So please drop by and have a look 🙂
Lots of love,
Ann xxx
Oooh, thank you Ann –
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Silver-Moon-Reiki/151401474882228 is the Silver Moon Reiki page (my page!) for anyone who’d like to link up to what’s going on in my Reiki bubble!
Louise. xxx
Thank you for your lovely replies Ladies. I’m still laid up, occasionally eyeing my diary nervously but what will be will be, the mind is willing but the body’s not! We should find it easier to take our own advice especially when we know we are talking sense.
Louise, you aren’t letting your colleagues down, you know you’d do the same for them. Adaptation is something we do all the time, we may not like it at first but when we see the bigger picture, as Margaret mentions, we can put things into perspective can’t we 🙂 Our bodies will heal when they are good and ready and not a moment before, perhaps our lesson is on patience, who knows? The more impatient we are, the longer we have to wait?
Thank you for sharing your story Lesley, it will be a great comfort to many. I’ve accepted I’ll have to miss my Tai Chi lesson tomorrow, I can see it now ‘snake creeps down, Ann can’t get back up’ hee hee, better left until next week I think 😀
Thank you Margaret, Hannah and Dorothy for your kind words and wisdom too.
Reiki Blessings and good health to you all.
With lots of love,
Ann xxx
Thanks Ann, that is a very timely message…I have Lupus and the reiki is helping me keep on top of it, well until recently anyway. I realise I have been feeling so much better I have stopped working on myself , listening to my body and taking on too much and consequently had a flare up. I have printed the precepts and stuck them on my notice board!
thanks
x Jacky
Hello Jacky,
I hope you’re feeling much better by now. We all need a gentle reminder from time to time as it’s so easy to forget about our own wellbeing. I’m pleased the message was able to give you a nudge to get back on track. Thank you for sharing your story, it just goes to show how important it is to take time out when things are progressing well. I know I certainly need a daily reminder 🙂
Wishing you well on your Reiki journey and much good health in the future!
Lots of love,
Ann xx