The Place of Beginnings

"Faith is an island in the setting sun.  

But, proof, 

proof is the bottom line 

for everyone".

Paul Simon

I am an energy aficionado and I have a question.  Why have we given over our faith energy to the pharmaceutical industry whose ads confound us with their endless side effects and not Spirit and its endless and infinite possibilities?  I have never heard feathered into any one of these mainstream media medical ads at the beginning, the middle or the end, that this that or the other drug will actually cure us.  On the contrary, taking drugs approved by the FDA in this country comes with a plethora of possible side effects that will only lead us to additional drugs with an even longer laundry list of side effects.  If proof is the bottom line for every one the jury is in, the decision is final, just say no to drugs.  Perhaps there is another agenda?  Well, of course there is, I'm being silly.  You know it.  I know it.  The entire world knows it.  So, how can we get around it?  Are there any real healing and wellness alternatives out there for our maladies or are we doomed to pharmaceuticals for all eternity? How did we actually arrive at this state of being?  Are we all really this ill that we need all of these toxins?  Penicillin is less than one hundred years old and just look at how many drugs are on the market today with their corresponding illnesses that probably didn't even exist back then.  

Okay that was way too many questions and that all just lends itself to my passion and how taking back our health is of optimum importance.  I don't want you to just feel a little better, I want you to feel amazingly better.  My goal is to teach as many people as possible that they are making themselves sick in a lot of cases with the substances they consume and absorb, the thoughts they think and project and ultimately the energy that either sustains or depletes them,   I work with energy but what does this mean?  This means that the subtle energies that exist around us and are emitted from us are scientifically and humanly detectable and if you work towards that ability you not only can detect these energies in yourselves, but you can transmute the negative ones and help to heal them where necessary, through the grace of God, of course.  You can do this just as easily as I can and it starts with intention, prayer and meditation and once you begin your practice there is no limit to what you will learn and experience about energy and how much of it you actually are so changing it becomes easy and effortless especially as it pertains to personal wellness and healing.

By now, most of us know that everything in existence is made up of pretty much the same star dust energy as everything else.  At the center of even the most dense matter, when you get down to the atomic level nothing is static or stagnant.  When you get down to the sub atomic level even those atoms are moving with a pulsating life force energy that is changed only by your observation.

Imagine.  You become aware of your thoughts and your frequency, the vibration you are putting out into the universe and you decide to change it and it changes.  The potential for world peace lies therein I would think.

That's a rabbit hole of a different depth and I digress, but not really.  Getting back to everything and everyone is emitting a frequency that is scientifically detectable.  Plants, animals, people, sound, light, scent, inanimate objects all emit a frequency and these frequencies vibrate at different levels.  The best way for me to describe the difference and how you may have already been able to feel these frequencies, when you walk into a room that’s open and inviting and filled with flowers or plants and children and loved ones you may notice the energy is very loving and inviting, comfortable and healing.  On the other hand, if you walk into an environment where an argument has just taken place or is taking place and you see and hear the argument escalating, you may notice that your heart rate increases along with your blood pressure and you may think this is a natural response for most of us and you’d be right.   A person just walking into either of those environments can blindly absorb all the energy around them and carry it around for days.  A high vibration can linger just as long as a lower vibration only the lower vibration has an uncanny ability to destroy and cause disease while the higher vibration has an uncanny ability to calm and cause healing.  What energy workers try to teach is that firstly there is a detectable vibration and that we are either raising it or lowering it depending on our state of awareness.  The second is that you are emitting a vibration and you are responsible for where you point that thing!  Don’t be pointing your vibration in my direction unless you know what you’re emitting.  We are always emitting and absorbing but the goal and ultimate objective is to become so aware that we emit only unconditional love, one of the highest possible compassionately healing vibrations.  We then detect and shield ourselves from the lowest ones transmuting them into the positive and to take this notion to its highest possible fruition, to heal the human body and then for that healed human to heal other humans.  J 

Proof?  Yes, yes.  There is proof in Spirituality but how do you package an experience?  In our Western capitalist culture we are manufacturers of product so where is the Spiritual product that proves that Spirit exists and healing exists?  I personally use incense and healing crystals and anointed essential oils and all of them become useless without my intention.  However, with my intention and the grace of God all things are possible and I've EXPERIENCED phenomena that Science would argue is not provable but what does Science have to do with God?  Well, it has everything to do with God but people tend to get in the way.  God reveals Him/Herself to each open heart as the open heart seeks, shows up, listens, taps into, reaches up, prays and meditates.  You have to be in attendance and Spirit will touch you and provide you with all the proof you need.  It becomes irrefutable.  This proof is the kind of energy Healers, Yogi's, Priests, Monks, Sisters and devoted followers have been speaking about for eons.

Everyone emits their own personal frequency.  Some people just make you feel better and some just don't.  I leave it up to you to decide but try not to judge just try to become more aware.  Personally speaking I’ve had my own experiences with energy, which have lead me here today and my purpose is not to convince you but you to teach you that energy is detectable, we all emit frequencies and some of us work really hard to tap into higher levels of consciousness so as to be able to detect and transmute the lower energies.  Imagine a room full of negative ions and a very high vibrating positive ion enters into the equation, well that positive ion especially if it has the grace of God and intention to do so, has the potential to transmute all of those negative ions into positive ones.  In translation, energy workers have the potential to turn negative energy into positive energy through teaching, anointing, laying on of hands, through prayer, primarily though the driving force in all of it; God, intention and the desire and love to help people heal themselves from stress, heartache, suffering and ultimately illness.  There are many like me who walk about spreading the great news that there is real healing in the world.  There is also a tremendous need for more healers.  Perhaps you're being called to take yourself to the next level in your own spiritual development.  I say 'perhaps' but I know you are being called to the next level, we all are.  The question becomes will you answer?

Meditation is one way to answer the call.  It is a very powerful way to connect to source.  Prayer and meditation go hand in hand like inhaling and exhaling.  They work in tandem to bring life force energy into the breather.  Meditation is a spiritual relaxation technique that helps you to hear closely what the body needs, what the spirit needs, and what the soul needs because it settles you into the core of your true being, your true nature, your true essence.  You think you’re just human and let’s be clear, just human is a brilliant, amazing, incredible mind blowing trip.  But what’s going on inside of this human and how it connects to everything else that’s alive and everything else that exists is mind blowing on a level that you can only reach through meditation and that is anything but 'just' spiritual. 

The sublime ultimate is pure spirituality existing in the consciousness and intention filled, light saturated human being.  The human that yields its outward fading shine and inward miraculous mechanics to an infinite and omniscient spark presence is surely a being that time would surely charm, per Axel Rose in November Rain “If you could heal a broken heart, wouldn't time be out to charm you”?

Meditation takes you into the quiet, peaceful, tranquil, vast space of your heart center.  It is the place where silence and stillness exists in the midst of your never still body.  Your body is in constant motion, even when you’re sleeping.  You are a ‘life force being’ who radiates energy vibrations, just like electricity.  Some of us operate at full capacity easily and effortlessly.  Some of us are barely operating.  Some of us are somewhere in between.  Some of us are sick and some of us on this planet are so out of touch.  So how can we get to the place of beginnings?

Meditation is a vacation within that teaches us over time where our center is, what balance feels like and where our jumping off and landing back point is, our place of beginnings.

 

What do I mean by that?

 

Life has a way of pushing us around, literally and figuratively.  Sometimes we overextend ourselves, we stop taking care of ourselves and allow ourselves to get away from optimum health, we over eat, or over drink or over work too much, we lose sleep, we get into arguments, we get disappointed, we get stressed out, frustrated, we act out and we can eventually get sick from all of this pushing. 

Unfortunately, the humans I've experienced around the Northern New Jersey area in particular are quite interested in pushing.  They push on the highway, in the hallway, in the grocery store, at the mall.  You do not want a confrontation but if the majority of the people are walking around with dense energies, you are susceptible to that energy.  You can absorb that density and take on its traits and become short tempered, get really stressed out and start to push back.  We’re watching all over the world people being pushed by low vibrating humans and then other low vibrating humans are pushing back, harder and more often.

Meditation is the opposite of pushing.  Meditation is the acceptance, release, detachment and freedom from every day stresses that once you begin to practice, seem to, over time, have less meaning.  Your frequency gets higher.  The denser energies of sadness, disappointment, anger, and stress, etc. resonate less.  When we operate from a low capacity these denser energies resonate strongly since we are closer to that vibration but optimally our goal is to raise our vibration, increase our capacity to accept and release thereby creating freedom which I can associate with the feeling of a really amazing vacation where you breathe deeply without a care in the world.  The secret is that the ‘vacation’ lies within perception.

Sounds easy right?  Well it is.  Meditation is the easiest thing in the world to do.  You do not need any equipment (although Young Living Essential Oils definitely help), you do not need any special clothing.  All you need is the desire to reach a state of being that is peaceful, joyful, expansive, healing, Holy, and delightful.

Eat, drink, use the restroom, shut off all electronic equipment and be prepared to sit comfortably, uninterrupted for at least 5 minutes the first time.  Notice I did not say there should be silence in the world.  There is no such thing.  As I am typing I can hear the orchestra of crickets outside my window.  There will ALWAYS be distractions.  These will be effortlessly and easily overcome with practice.  Do not concern yourself with noise.  Just go within.

 

Sit or lie down or hang from a tree if that makes you comfortable, the key is to come to meditation with no physical desires EXCEPT stillness, peacefulness and grounding.  I use Highest Potential or Peace and Calming Essential Oil and inhale it deeply to further prepare myself for this quiet time.

After you've read all the way through, begin by closing your eyes.  Take a few deep breaths, inhaling deeply and holding it in at the top of the breath for a moment or two, and then releasing slowly and fully.  Repeat this two, or three times to bring your focus to your breath and away from the many thoughts of the mind. 

At this point the mind may resist and ask you to do a million things, and it may even chastise you for not ‘doing’ something, but trust your highest self.

“You are a human being not a human doing”.

as Deepak Chopra said, and meditation is indeed ‘something’.

 

Relax into your breathing, and begin to WATCH as your many endless, contrary, opinionated, passion filled thoughts come to your mind to distract you, to tell you of their urgency.  Relax and just let them float by, returning to your deep inhale, holding it at the top for a moment or two, and then releasing slowly.

Every time you find yourself ‘thinking’, bring your focus back to your breath and away from the mind.  The goal is to create space in between your thoughts.  The goal is to quiet the mind and connect you to your warm and loving heart center so that you can connect with your highest self, your life force energy, your Chi, Ki or Qi.  With practice, you can learn to connect, tap into, turn onto, lean into, and radiate from your heart center all the peace necessary to navigate this world which is by far the most powerful way to go.

There is more positive energy emanating from a meditative heart than anger from a bitter one.  Bliss, joy, love and peace are derived, cultivated, shared, taught and learned from this energy center.  They are the highest vibrating emotions and intentions one can have.  Meditation helps us to release anything that holds us back from these and unconditionally loving ourselves first and then one another.

Now, with a deep inhalation bring your attention from the breath in your chest to your heart center where all the love in the world is stored.  Place your hand on your heart with the intention to love, honor, embrace and comfort yourself for all that you do, have done or will do as a spirit being having a human experience.  If you know you've done the best you can do, love yourself.  If you know you can do better, love yourself.  If you know you've not done enough, love yourself.  Try and create a deep love for yourself and if possible, love deeper. Connect your deep breathing with the slow, steady, rhythmic beat of your heart.  This is the source and pulse of energy and frequency that you are emitting.  Others coming into your presence can feel this emission before they speak with you.  Emit the highest possible frequency and just like sound waves bounce and return, the highest possible frequency will emit back.

Inhale deeply.  Think calm.  Hold for a moment or two, exhale deeply and smile. Congratulations.  You have just taken your first meditation trip to the place of beginnings.  This place is your source of all calm, peace, bliss and joy, even in the midst of hardships and trials.  This center place is the place you want to become intimately familiar with.  The more you visit the calmer and more peaceful your state of being will become and the more your ability to cope with adversity increases.  Naturally this will spill over into every cell in your body making them calmer and more peaceful and that increases health and wellness.  Meditation is the first step to become aware of and taking control of your state of being and making sure you are on the right track.  You can visit this place as often as you like, you just need to close your eyes, take a deep breath and begin your journey within.

Namaste,

Maria

Bishops vs. Reiki

There has been a lot of discussion in the Reiki community with regard to the Catholic bishops statement recently. Please make sure you have all the facts before you decide. And please, pray about this and make up your own mind.

A Response to the Bishops' Statement on Reiki
by William Lee Rand

On March 25, 2009, U.S. Catholic bishops issued a statement advising Catholic hospitals, health care facilities, and Catholic chaplains not to support the use of Reiki sessions. The statement was issued by The Committee on Doctrine, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and titled: “Guidelines for Evaluating Reiki as Alternative Therapy.”

http://www.usccb.org/dpp/Evaluation_Guidelines_finaltext_2009-03.pdf

The statement was based on research the committee had done over a period of several months involving information found on the Internet and in Reiki books. Based on these sources, they concluded that Reiki came from Buddhist texts and has a religious basis; that Reiki healing energy is directed by human thought and will; that Reiki is not validated by scientific studies and has no scientific explanation, and that Reiki is not accepted by the medical community.

When considering the value of the bishops’ statement, it’s important to note the sources they accessed. Much of their research came from information published on Internet Web sites. Overall, the Internet isn’t a good source of factual information because there is no requirement that information published there be checked or approved for accuracy. Anyone can set up a Web site and publish anything they wish. What often happens is that authors of sites copy from each other, so if inaccurate information is published on one site, it can easily spread to many sites across the Internet. If one makes use of the Internet for research, one must use a developed set of selection criteria that limits one to only the most respected and reputable Web sites. Otherwise, one runs the risk of accepting rumor and misinformation as fact.

This is especially true for Reiki Web sites. Reiki information has been riddled with inaccurate ideas from the beginning of its practice in the West. Many Reiki practitioners, teachers and authors fail to check the accuracy of the information they base their teaching and writing on, and this has had a detrimental effect on the quality of information published both on the Internet and in Reiki books.

The best information on Reiki comes from those who have researched the history and practice of Reiki professionally by conducting research in Japan, reading original documents, and interviewing members of the founding Reiki organization in Japan. If the bishops who wrote the statement on Reiki had interviewed several of these experts, they would have realized that much of the published information on Reiki is inaccurate, and they would have had accurate, verifiable information on which to base their conclusions.

Origin of Reiki
One of the stories told by Mrs. Takata about the origin of Reiki indicates that the founder, Mikao Usui discovered the secret of Reiki n Buddhist texts.1 This story has been repeated over and over in Reiki classes, on Internet Web sites and in many Reiki books. Yet we know this isn’t true. For many years, Mrs. Takata was the only source of information about Reiki for those in the West, and most practitioners accepted her statements without question. Language, cultural, and organizational barriers in Japan made research difficult for those who wanted to learn more about the origins and practice of Reiki. It wasn’t until the end of the 90’s that a few researchers were able to make breakthroughs.

Researchers, including Toshitaka Mochizuki, Hiroshi Doi and Frank Arjava Petter, made contact with the original Reiki organization, discovered Mikao Usui’s grave, translated the story of Reiki inscribed on his memorial stone, and uncovered an original document written by Mikao Usui about the nature of Reiki. These sources indicate that Mikao Usui wasn’t seeking to discover a method of healing, but that the ability to heal came to him spontaneously during a spiritual experience on a sacred mountain. Furthermore, in his Reiki Ryoho Hikkei (Reiki Healing Art Handbook), Mikao Usui states: “My Usui Reiki Ryoho (healing art) is original, never before explored, and incomparable in the world.” These facts indicate that Reiki couldn’t have come from Buddhist texts, nor could it be connected to any religion or belief system. In addition, Japanese Reiki Masters who have knowledge of Buddhism have indicated that they can find nothing from Buddhism in the practice of Reiki and that Reiki is religiously neutral.2

The Nature of Reiki Healing
One of the first things I noticed after I took my first Reiki class and began to practice Reiki is that Reiki healing energy directs itself. I was unable to direct it with my mind or will and realized this wasn’t necessary as Reiki had its own form of guidance that was superior to my own. This experience has been verified by other professional Reiki practitioners and forms the basis of one of the important keys to using Reiki: If you want Reiki to provide the best healing experience, it’s necessary for the practitioner to set their own desire, will and ego aside, and allow the Reiki energy to guide itself.

Scientific Explanation for Reiki
There is a scientific explanation for Reiki that is based on scientific studies and factual information. This explanation has been presented as a testable hypothesis by James Oschman, Ph.D.

Dr. Oschman is a scientist with a conventional background who became interested in the practice of energy medicine. Through research, he discovered a number of important scientific studies that point to a scientific basis for energy medicine based on the laws of physics and biology. These findings are discussed in an interview, “Science and the Human Energy Field,” published in the Winter 2002 issue of Reiki News Magazine.

The electrical currents that run through every part of the human body provide the basis for Dr. Oschman’s hypothesis. These currents are present in the nervous system, organs, and cells of the body. For instance, the electrical signals that trigger the heartbeat travel throughout all the tissues of the body and can be detected anywhere on the body.

Ampere’s law indicates that when an electrical current flows through a conductor, an electromagnetic field is produced that reflects the nature of the current that created it. Tests with scientific instruments indicate that electromagnetic fields exist around the body and around each of the organs of the body, including the brain, heart, kidneys, liver, stomach, etc. The heart has the strongest field, which has been measured at a distance of 15 feet from the body.

The fields around each of the organs pulse at different frequencies and stay within a specific frequency range when they are healthy, but move out of this range when they are unhealthy. The hands of healers produce pulsing electromagnetic fields when they are in the process of healing, whereas the hands of non-healer do not produce these fields. When a healer places his or her hands on or near a person in need of healing, the electromagnetic field of the healer’s hands sweeps through a range of frequencies based on the needs of the part of the body being treated. Faraday’s law indicates that one electromagnetic field can induce currents into a nearby conductor and through this process, induce a similar field around it. In this way, a healer induces a healthy electromagnetic field around an unhealthy organ, thus inducing a healthy state in the organ. A detailed explanation of this hypothesis, including descriptions of the scientific studies, diagrams, and references is presented in the interview mentioned above.

Acceptance by the Medical Community
Although Reiki is not universally accepted within the medical community, many medical professionals, hospitals, and healthcare facilities recognize its benefits and accept it as an adjunct therapy. In Holistic Nursing, A Handbook for Practice, Chapter 2 “Scope and Standards of Practice,” the American Holistic Nursing Association (AHNA) lists Reiki as an accepted form of treatment.3 In addition, according to the American Hospital Association, in 2007 Reiki was offered as a standard part of patient care in 15% or over 800 hospitals across the US.4 Doctors have recommended Reiki to their patients for amelioration of various health-related conditions. Surgeons make use of Reiki practitioners prior to, during, and following surgery. As an example, Dr. Mehmet Oz, one of the most respected cardiovascular surgeons in the US, uses Reiki during open-heart surgeries and heart transplants. According to Dr. Oz, “Reiki has become a sought-after healing art among patients and mainstream medical professionals.”5

Ethical Implications
To refuse Reiki treatment to patients that request it creates an ethical issue. According to the AHNA statement in response to the bishops’ statement, the practice of holistic nursing is not subject to regulation by the Catholic church and it would be an ethical violation for a member of the AHNA to withhold Reiki treatment from a patient who requests it; this includes those working in Catholic hospitals.

Scientific Studies
There are a number of reputable scientific studies that provide evidence that Reiki is therapeutic. These studies can be found by using one of the professional medical databases such as PubMed or Cochrane Collection.6 Studies meeting medical and scientific standards are usually published in peer-reviewed journals. There are over 20 such studies on the therapeutic value of Reiki. A review of some of these studies, “An Integrative Review of Reiki Touch Therapy Research” by Anne Vitale, Ph. D., can be found at http://www.nursingcenter.com/pdf.asp?AID=732068. While the Reiki studies conducted to date are preliminary in nature, they do provide support for additional studies.

One well-designed Reiki study is “Autonomic Nervous-System-Changes During Reiki Treatment: A Preliminary Study.”7 Forty-five subjects were assigned randomly to three groups. One group received no treatment, another received Reiki treatment by experienced Reiki practitioners, and the third group received sham treatment by a person with no Reiki training who used the same hand positions as those receiving real Reiki.

Measurements were made of heart rate, cardiac vagal tone, blood pressure, cardiac sensitivity to baroreflex, and breathing. Heart rate and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly for those receiving Reiki, but not for those receiving sham Reiki, or no treatment. This study indicates that the body does respond to Reiki energy and that this response isn’t purely psychological. It also indicates a potential therapeutic effect for Reiki.

“Reiki Improves Heart Rate Homeostasis in Laboratory Rats”8 is another valuable study. The value of using animals in this type of study is that they are not affected by belief or skepticism regarding Reiki. In addition, highly accurate telemetric implants were used to transmit the biometric data. White noise was used to increase the heart rate of three implanted laboratory rats. The rats were treated by a Reiki practitioner and by a sham Reiki practitioner prior to being exposed to white noise and after exposure. The procedure involved the practitioner directing their hands toward the caged rat at a distance of four feet. The rats that received Reiki experienced a significant reduction in heart rate, both before having their heart rates elevated by white noise and after, whereas those treated with sham Reiki did not. This is one of the most rigorous Reiki studies to date and demonstrates that Reiki reduces the heart rate in both stressed and unstressed animals and promotes homeostasis, both of which promote healthy heart function.

Reiki is practiced by followers of many religious traditions. Although some practitioners integrate Reiki into their existing religious beliefs, Reiki is not a religion, doctrine, or dogma. Reiki is grounded in the principle of compassionate action, which is common to all religious traditions. While each religion has the right to create its own rules, it’s within the nature of human dignity and free will for each person to decide which path to follow and what activities are appropriate for them.

1 Paul David Mitchell, The Blue Book, revised edition for The Reiki Alliance (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho: 1985), page 13.

2 Personal communication with Japanese Reiki practitioners Hiroshi Doi and Hyakuten Inamoto.

3 page 56.

4 http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-09-14-alternative-therapies_N.htm and www.reikiinhospitals.org

5 http://healthcare-research.suite101.com/article.cfm/reiki_in_hospitals

6 http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/ PubMed is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. http://www.lib.umb.edu/node/1353 The Cochrane Collection provides access to a collection of databases, which focus on the effects of health care and evidence based medical practice.

7 Nicola Makay, M.Sc., Stig Hansen, Ph.D., and Oona McFarlane, M.A., The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Volume 10, Number 6, 2004, pp. 1077–1081. This study is also discussed in “The Science of Reiki” by Nicole Mackay, Reiki News Magazine (Summer 2005).

8 Ann Linda Baldwin, Ph.D, Christina Wagers, and Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D., The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Volume 14, Number 4, 2008, pp. 417–422.

William Lee Rand is president of the International Center for Reiki Training and executive editor of the Reiki News Magazine. He has studied with five Reiki teachers, including two from Japan, and has made three trips to Japan to research the history and nature of Reiki. Rand has practiced Reiki since 1981 and has taught full time for 20 years.

Ahhhhh, facts. Gotta love 'em.

Sleep Like A Baby

My back has been acting very cranky lately. It could be because I've been doing too much Spring cleaning but it's definitely not because I've been working out too much.

I went to the chiropractor for several adjustments only to be told to 'stop working out for now' and 'if it doesn't improve, we'll send you for x-rays'.

Well, that got my attention.

So after a couple of weeks of being in agony and trying the chiropractic way, I pushed myself into real action.

I've taken several hot Reiki baths with salt. I've changed my pillow. I meditated stretched, did yoga and some weight training.

And you know what?

BIG improvement.

I realized I was solidifying the Dr.'s report and undermining my own recovery. I could feel a nerve pinching in my arm - well over the shoulder and down my arm. It was making me very upper-body weak mentally and physically. His report only made it worse.

The first push up I tried to do was excruciating...but after a few minor adjustments (no chiropractic pun intended) I can now do 3 sets of 10 without wincing.

Yoga, meditation and Reiki today were amazing. I could feel energy blockages releasing. I could hear vertebrae taking their rightful positions. In my minds eye I could see health and my body started to respond.

The more I did, the better I felt.

I REFUSE to go for an x-ray for my spine. It's just not necessary.

What is necessary is a change in attitude.

Every night I'm doing self Reiki. Every day I'm working out. Every day I'm expecting positive results.

So far, so good.

No x-ray for me today. Nope.

Just yoga, Reiki and positive expectations.

I will not go quietly into the night. But I will sleep like a baby.

Soothe Your Soul

This is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made.

I will rejoice. I will rejoice and be glad in it.

There is so much turmoil all around us from the failing economy. Corporate America's karma has caught up with her. We are all stewards of this earth and everything in it. Corporate America is no different. They are stubborn and greedy and now the whole system is in jeopardy of collapsing.

My concern is that our Spiritual health is also failing. We've taken Almighty God out of our daily lives, our daily conversations, heck, we can't even put Christlike images in places like City Hall anymore. Are we any better for it? Or has our spiritual karma caught up with us?

Where do you go when the cards come tumbling down?

Do you go to the bank?

Do you go to the mall?

Do you go to your psychiatrist?

All these places are good, but not for spiritual health, healing, wellness or insight.

I'm afraid the avenue to true spirituality has been detoured, blocked up, damned up and we're reaping now what we've sown.

It's time to get back to basics.

Go to church. Go to the synagogue. Go to the temple. Go to the mosque.

Meditate. Read the Word.

Help your neighbor.

In Reiki, we place our hands above the body in an effort to exchange energy. When was the last time you placed your hands on someone with the intention of exchanging energy?

Are your intentions "me" based or do you think of and help others?

One telltale sign that your universe is in jeopardy of collapsing is the "me" factor. If your life is in turmoil. Go help someone.

If you need anything, go and meet the needs of someone else.

Like attracts like. Love attracts love. Selflessness attracts selflessness.

The equation is and has always been "do unto others as you would have done unto you".

If you are lost and confused and you need to find your way, look to the Heavens. Look to your divine nature.

Your mind and your body and your Spirit are tools. Use them. Try them. See what works for you. Be active in participating in this life. Do not sit back and wait for things to happen. See what soothes your soul.

True manifestation works this way...think it...believe it....DO IT!

If you are ill, think about wellness, believe in wellness and be active in getting well. Seek other ways of wellness - ones you've not searched out before. Take your meds - but believe that perhaps one day, you'll not need them.

Change your diet.

Change your focus.

Change your mind.

God is, and has always been ready, willing and able to help us in our journey. We tend to forget or heaven forbid, deny His existence and even our own at times.

This is a recipe for disaster in the form of depression, sickness, dysfunction, dis-ease in general.

Jesus said "I have come so that they may have life, and have it more abundantly". What are you choosing today?

He also said "Choose life". That's a commandment.

What are you seeking?

Might I suggest..."Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you."