What Would Love Do? (WWLD)

Tweet

I was recently asked if trying to live as a loving person means "taking the high road always." And this person commented that this is difficult to do. 

Hey, I hear ya. We can easily get triggered by people who don't place as much attention on aligning their own responses with a loving attitude... okay, I mean they're rude, mean, angry, negative, etc. and it can seem quite unfair to us, who would prefer to be treated with love. We might want to snap back, put them in their place, prove that we're "right," or something like that. Maybe it doesn't feel comfortable to resist that urge.

I have to say that the words "take the high road" don't really do it for me. They sound self-righteous, and invite judgement. They invite "right" and "wrong" to be lines drawn in the sand. With "high" and "low" roads, in this case being the same thing as "right" and "wrong." They also imply that somehow accepting harsh treatment is the "right" thing to do. It isn't. But, we can communicate this when the issue comes up - and we can choose to do so in a compassionate way.

I'd prefer to just stop a sec and ask myself, "If I am Love," (and I believe we all are at our truest essence), "What would Love do?" Then I'm simply being asked to align myself with the most compassionate response possible, and I can choose that. 

I am only responsible for being as loving as I am able. The best thing about this, I think, is that my choosing to respond as love will also have the possibility of influencing those around me. Remember: our energy affects other people's energy. My dissertation experiment showed this. Research into the mind and Autonomic Nervous System shows this. Check out books such as: Mind to Matter by Dawson Church,  The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart, and Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispensa.

Choosing to live as Love isn't about being right or wrong. It's about being as compassionate as possible. When I know I've done this, I don't regret my words, or response. I feel good about myself. I feel true to myself. 

Love is a powerful healing force. May the force be with you!

Love,
Alice

Tiny and Huge

Tweet

I've been thinking lately about the paradox of being. Doesn't that sound philosophical?

What I mean is that on the one hand, I've learned a lot about Reiki in the past five years or so. I've taught lots of people around the world, and aim to teach many, many more how to access this powerful, yet simple connection to healing, growth, and balance. I've written two books, and published a set of cards (and an app!). I started a school. 

Yet, every day, I am acutely aware of how much more there is that I don't know yet. There are levels of intuitive sensitivity that I have not reached. There is a vast sea of knowledge that I have barely absorbed a drop of in all this time. 

I feel as if I've followed a spark, and it led me into a sky full of stars. Yet this one spark has given me so much that it can't be measured and I haven't reached the fullness of it yet. It's overwhelming to consider sometimes. 

Here's what I mean...

• I'm a "big voice" for Reiki. Yet what I know is so very tiny compared to what there is to learn. 
• Here we are on this planet, each of us unique, and yet even our planet (which seems huge to our perspective), is a tiny droplet in a sea of universal vastness. 
• Our bodies are complex, powerful interactive machines, yet inside us, between the tiny bits of atomic matter, is mostly space. 

Big, and yet so very small. I know lots of people have pondered this. I'm not presenting a new idea here. 

Lately, I've felt the need to grow more, and I've decided that 2013 is a year for self-development and growth. Opportunities are presenting themselves to me, and I'm saying yes. It's pretty cool.

I have no idea what will come next in my growth, but I'm trying to prepare myself to house new knowledge and intuitive abilities. I want to make my energy a "fertile" place. 

So I've been meditating more. That's new, as my readers know, and also challenging for me. To assist me in finding the "most effective" meditation technique for me, I have some cool tools. Among them is a Neurosky Mindwave Mobile headset, which can measure and track my different brainwaves, and an app called Transcend that keeps track of how often I manage to access those theta and delta (meditation level) brainwaves, and how long I sustain them in my meditation period. Having these tools gives me the chance to try different things and learn about myself. For instance, I am testing whether staring at a candle is better than closing my eyes. And whether listening to music is better than silence, humming OM, or listening to a binaural mp3. I'm using this to test whether visualizing myself floating, counting breaths, or keeping my mind as quiet as possible helps to create the most effective meditation method for me. It's a learning process. 

I've noticed that since I started meditating more often, I'm more frequently calm in the face of drama. My kids, for instance, get angry or upset about something, and instead of getting swept away in it myself, I'm staying calmer without effort. I also noticed that my energy work feels stronger to me - meaning that the tingles in my hand feel stronger. I know that's a signal of intuitive growth, and I'm telling the Universe to keep it coming. 

Drop by drop, the new knowledge will come. And I'll share it with my students (and blog about it here of course too) as it does. 

And drop by drop, I may grow a little bit. But I still know how small I am at the same time. 

Being as small as we all are, though, the coolest thing is this - we are all connected to the absolute HUGENESS of EVERYTHING. Oops, I think I shouted that.  All of our knowledge, experiences, thoughts, emotions, and molecules of our body, are part of the giant, flowing, interacting and changing sea of all that is. The energy that I share, and help others share, can bring that light into this vastness, and make a difference. Thinking about this is reassuring, and also helps me feel that I can be significant for all of my tininess. We all can.

Ready? Let's make some waves.

Transitions and Connections

Tweet

I'd like to begin by thanking all of you for reading, and especially those who posted supportive and sympathetic comments regarding my mother-in-law's battle with cancer. Your words were comforting and I appreciate all of you for taking the time to offer love and caring.

My mother-in-law, Lillian Langholt, passed last Saturday, August 21. She died at home, with family nearby. My mom, dad, husband, and children were at her side constantly for her last three days while she struggled with the process. We gave her love, soothing words, and Reiki as much as we could. Hospice was brought in to offer additional support. It was very hard to tell the kids that Nana was going to die. We held each other and cried after we told them. When she passed, it was somewhat of a relief because she was not actively struggling anymore. The funeral and the rest of the week happened quickly, but felt like time was moving slowly also. I guess that is the nature of such things.

My kids are doing well. They are grieving in their own ways. My oldest has been a little short-tempered lately. My son had been chewing the inside of his lip and it got swollen and infected. I took him to the dentist. He also cried in his sleep one night and I held him in my bed, giving Reiki to help him. He didn't remember it in the morning. My youngest daughter had some potty issues - some accidents that were uncharacteristic of her. We understand. We know it's a process that will take time to heal.

One thing that I know has been most powerful from the experience is that my kids will always know the value of what you do for family. No matter how little or much my mother-in-law needed us, we were there for her. There were no questions. We were there. Every day, as long as she needed, until it was round-the-clock and even then. We were there. My kids didn't want to leave her side, even when she couldn't acknowledge their presence for more than a few seconds at a time. They saw, lived, and understood that this is how a family cares for each other. I am moved and grateful for the opportunity to instill this value through our actions.

There is yet much to do in terms of logistical follow-up that will take probably close to a year. The house, all the stuff in it, leftover bills and accounts, paperwork. Many projects await, and we are dedicating a portion of each day to starting to work on it.

We are also grateful that Evan had this time to be able to devote to caring for his mom, as I mentioned in previous posts. Perhaps now he will be in the right alignment for the perfect job and him to connect. Divine timing. He will never have the guilt that would have come from needing to work, not having vacation time, while his mom needed him. He was there. It's a blessing.

Interesting was that the night before her funeral, I was online and a friend who I hadn't talked to in a while suddenly intiated a chat with me to tell me that she was in labor. I wished her blessings on her birth experience (she had a healthy and beautiful baby boy later that evening), and was truly thankful that the perfect timing of her chat was there to remind me that life begins anew, even as one life is over.

And due to the series of events this past week, I've had the opportunity to do some thinking about life, death and transition. I've come to some conclusions that I would like to share. As always, it's a work in progress, as life is a journey of learning. This is where my thoughts have landed me:

The soul is a part of Source - we are ONE - our soul is our God aspect. It is housed in the body so we can experience life, but not separate - ever -from Source.

The feeling of being separate is an illusion so we can experience life in physical form. It's a gift.

Meditative practices tune us into the awareness of ourselves as One, but we have to be grounded also, so we can experience life in this body we are gifted with as long as we can.

Physical sensations are not available to the spiritual aspect of ourselves. This is the gift of life:
to feel
to experience
to sense,taste, touch, love,
relate to others.

Embrace this gift and you show appreciation for it.
live, learn, love
this is the meaning of life (in my humble opinion.)

So LIVE. Embrace the gift of life in this physical form. Death is a separation from the physical form. It is not the end, but it is a separation from the chance to live in this physical world. One can live a balanced life by experiencing and appreciating the beauty of life we feel through our earth-bound five senses, and also sensing and appreciating our Source-selves through meditative practices that help us renew our awareness of this connection. For me, Reiki does this and is even more profoundly meaningful for me because it allows me to help others feel it too, and I can facilitate their opportunity to receive healing energy when they are receptive.

Life ends, life begins, God bless life. Amen.