New year Choices

When Joy Drake, the co-creator of the Transformation Game was staying with us in November last year she mentioned a concept she had come across concerning the choices we make in life.  At this time of year people are often reflecting on the year that has just passed and making plans for the year to come, so I thought I’d start this year’s newletters by sharing this idea with you in case you find it find it useful too.

 

What she described is the way that when making decisions that affect how to move forwards in life, we always have a choice described as going through door A or door B.  Door A is doing what we have always done, behaving in a habitual way and making what often appears to be the safest choice.  Choosing door B is to decide to do something different from what we normally do, to try another way, take a different path.

Choosing to go through door B is often scary, or at least challenging, but in my experience can also be exciting and enriching.  Learning Reiki at a time when it was little known in the UK was a door B decision all those years ago and I feel that Reiki has been a catalyst for choosing door B ever since. 

One example of this was daily self treatments.  Door A was to just go on with life as normal, forgetting most of the time to give myself a Reiki treatment during the day.  Door A was maintaining the old habits of paying more attention to what other people wanted than to the needs of my own body and soul.  I often looked at door B, saying to myself that it would be good to have a regular self treatment practice, but something always kept me from going through.  I now understand that my sub-conscious was telling me that it would be far too risky to go through door B and self treat every day.  It seems crazy, but there really was a part of me that felt that self treatment would lead to difficulty and painful situations that I would prefer to avoid.  However by taking little steps towards door B –just self treating occasionally, then a couple of times a week, then just for 21 days – I finally managed to go through door B into daily self treatment.  Of course I discovered that not only was it less difficult than I had imagined, it also helped to heal the pain I was afraid of and led to me living a better life.

Choosing door A can feel more comfortable and safe, but as a Reiki master I am committed to continuing to learn and grow, to taking the next step on my spiritual path, to serve those around me and the wider world.  The next step on this path does not usually go through door A.  So as I think about a resolution for the New Year, I think I only really need one: to go through door B as often as possible.  To ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’, knowing that challenges don’t have to be problems, but are opportunities.   I know that Reiki will support me as I cross the threshold into the unknown and I’m looking forward to the adventure!