Just for today, I will be grateful.
I can’t commit to being happy all the time, but I can commit to being grateful, one day at a time. In fact, it is my daily commitment to gratitude that keeps me going. Giving thanks has been part of my life for as long as I can remember; prayers at meals and bedtime, and going around the table at Thanksgiving to say out loud, in front of everyone, what I am grateful for have become rituals that I enjoy. Every time I sit down to write a birthday card I end up expressing gratitude for the qualities in that person that touch my life. Another gratitude practice of mine is when I’m feeling frazzled or anxious, I get out my journal and write out pages of things I’m grateful for, to bring me back to a place of calm and appreciation. At the end of the day, I am most grateful for my family and my health, and all my other worries seem small.
About a year ago I took a huge leap. I left a sure-thing, solid, well-paying job as an environmental risk assessor to pursue my Reiki business full time.
So, you may be wondering, why on earth would a person with a Masters degree in science even be interested in something like Reiki? Even more, why would you leave a career that you invested so much time and energy into (and were also pretty damn good at!)?
This week Dr. Wayne W. Dyer left his body. While he had his health issues over the years, he was so active and vibrant that his death still comes as a shock.
I never had the opportunity to meet Wayne in person, but I felt, as you may too, that I really did know him. He was so personable and open about his struggles and triumphs that listening to his HayHouse Radio show always felt like chatting over coffee with a great friend and mentor.
Check it out! A quiz and meditation experiment! Yay! 😀
Try this out and see how meditation can boost your mood.
You will complete a short quiz before and after a 15 minute guided meditation. You get to test how meditation could work for you to increase your overall happiness and contentment.
This is a brand new doodad for me, so let me know how it works for you in the comments below.
Thanks!
[WpProQuiz 1]
This morning, as I was enjoying my coffee, the fire alarm started blaring in the hallway in my condo. I looked in the hallway expecting the usual false alarm, but instead saw a haze of smoke and neighbours trying to figure out the source.
The fire department had been called and I could already hear the sirens from the nearby station (Can I just give a heartfelt shout out to the Calgary Fire Department! So grateful!). I launched into emergency mode and gathered the items that were important in that instant. My pet parrot, Mango, our laptops and cables, the baby pictures, purse, keys, jacket, Reiki class bag. Called my husband to pick me up. Son, safely at school.
I was operating on adrenaline and yet oddly clear headed. The whole time I kept hearing, “That is replaceable. You are not.” Even those things that we think we cannot live without are really nothing compared to our own wellbeing. I took relatively few things with me and I would have taken even fewer if the smoke was any worse.
In the end, it was mostly just smoke, with no damage at all to my unit. But in the middle of it all, and, thankfully, no real world fire experience, it prompted a genuine fear response. The kind of boost of adrenaline that allows you to get away from danger.
After we were allowed to return, after the carbon monoxide levels had returned to low levels, I acknowledged that I was still reeling from the rush. Knowing what I do about the nature of stress, I wanted to return to my normal state as soon as I could.
I put on some essential oil blends that I made for each of the Reiki symbols and I texted and few of my practitioner peeps to ask for some distance Reiki. I told them my intention, “All is well. I am irreplaceable. I am loved.”, and I settled myself in to receive a session. Several people immediately responded and I felt the energy flowing and releasing. After about an hour of resting and receiving Reiki I felt back to normal.
More than that, I felt the energy healing old injuries and moments in the past where I also had a flood of adrenaline in my system.
So, as always I have a new appreciation for Reiki. Every session and every experience has something new to teach me.
I am so much more than my possessions. I am rich in the relationships I have with amazing people. I am grateful for the kind and capable firefighters that are just a few blocks away. I am immensely grateful for my family and all of my many, many blessings.
The clearest lessons are often unplanned.
I see it in the sparkle returning to their eyes.
I see it in the ease in their voices.
I see it in the softness in how they hold their shoulders.
Tiny and grand, I see people returning to the essence of themselves.
Such is the power of Reiki.
Affirmations are powerful. They are palpable vibrations that immediately begin shifting matter.
Speak them aloud and you actually create form. Sound waves compressing and decompressing the air in front of your lips. The vibrations of vocal cords, nasal cavities, and even bone and brain. This is profound sound healing.
Hey! Hi There!
Did you know that you are awesome?
You are.
No really. I do this for a living.
I get the great gift of hanging out with amazing people and teaching Reiki and meditation. So, you know I have some background in noticing the amazing in people, and trust me when I say – you rule!
One of the tremendous gifts I receive in my classes is getting to witness people recognize their own inner spark of light. The twinkle returns to their eyes, the smiles return to their faces, and their bodies (and their lives) open up and become healthier and more relaxed. It is amazing to witness that change in people. It is truly one of the best things in life to help people access that kind of consistent joy and happiness.
Along that journey I have been asked some great questions that have prompted me to think deeply about the stuff I teach. I get inspired to create more ways of sharing the magic that happens in a Reiki class with more people. One of the biggest questions I get is about the Reiki Ideals and it prompted me to write a whole book!
The Reiki Ideals are five simple principles for leading a happy and fulfilled life.
Just for today:
- do not anger;
- do not worry;
- be grateful for your many blessings;
- do your meditative and self-care work honestly; and
- be kind to every living thing (including yourself!).
Oh sure! That is easy, right!?
Well, no. It is not so easy. That is why I wrote a book about it!
Living by these five principles has formed the core foundation of the work I have been doing over these last few years of teaching. Keeping the Reiki Ideals in my mind throughout the day has allowed me to reach a stable and lasting sense of contentment in life. They allow me to better deal with the ups and downs of life and to release old thoughts and unhelpful behaviours for good.
I have also witnessed other people shift so much, just by including the Reiki Ideals into their daily lives.
The sweet thing is that these are universal principles!
Everyone can use these five ideals to radically change their lives for the better.
I am helping to get the message out about the power of these simple ideas by publishing my book this year (For reals! This is happening!). I have also created an online webinar style meditation course called Secret Art of Happiness Meditation Course to begin teaching this self-development gold to others.
You don’t need to know Reiki to join, just have an open mind and a willingness to change.
The course is 5 weeks long and – you guessed it! – each class will focus on each Reiki Ideal. It runs five consecutive Thursdays from 8 to 9 pm, April 2 to April 30, 2015. The investment in this course is $250 and 5 hours of your time.
If you are interested, I am also hosting a free Meditation Class Sampler on March 19, 2015 from 8 to 9 pm. It is a little amuse bouche of a class to let you experience what the full course class would be like.
I would be so happy to see you there!
Love, Geneva
ps. I am also offering Reiki classes again starting April 14th. Look below for more cool stuff that is happening in GenevaLand. 🙂
Spring begins in the depths of winter. There is always the hidden promise of warmer weather and easier times.
Just like the seasons, our lives are just cycles within cycles. Our wishes begin manifesting not when we receive them, but right in the moment of decision. Right at the moment where we begin to think, “There must be something more”, that is when the seeds are sown.
Gratitude and appreciation are the sun and rain that allow possibility to blossom into reality. Noticing even the tiniest sign that things are getting better creates forward momentum. We received our results earlier because the intensity of our energy is directed towards what we want.
Look for something tiny. Some tiny sign that all you have been asking for all your life is on its way. Open up to the possibility that you are worthy of this because you exist. Notice all the ways the Universe is trying to deliver it to you.
Say thank you.
I say this every time I teach Reiki, “I love this one!” And I really do. Each class offers it’s own source of revelation and inspiration. There is working through the material, sure. But the sharing that happens in every class always has something to teach me. I’m always excited to learn something new. As much as I love teaching, I find these many moments of learning to be a delight.
At the beginning of each class we spend a few minutes in meditation and then we share what we experiences over the week before. It is always enlightening, I am often blown away by the patterns within each share and how our individual lessons often revolve around one larger theme. We are all learning the same lessons,but with our own unique perspectives. Some random comment made by one person, creates a radical shift for another. It often comes down to how we phrase the idea, just a slightly different usage of words makes all the difference.
This is why the world needs you. Your voice, your perspective, your unique experience and sharing. The way you describe these concepts, of health, development, manifestation and energy, is so very different than mine. How you describe things is different, which means that you can reach a different group of people than me. And more than ever before, people need to hear these messages of worthiness, empowerment, and healing.
It can be easy to hide behind our mentors and teachers. Thinking that we cannot possibly say it any better than them, so why is there a need for my words on the subject. Why should I write my book when there are hundreds out there basically saying the same thing, It is easy. So simple. There is no one exactly like me out there. There is no one exactly like you either. It all comes down to the paradox of humanity, we are all the same, with the same basic wishes and desires, and yet we are each our own unique expression in the world.
This is so mind blowingly difficult to grasp, same yet different, that we need many, many, many different versions of the same message for it to get through. So yes! Your voice is needed. Please share it.