I hope you are enjoying the sunny weather as much as I am. It reminds me of the summers of my childhood,
when the days seemed long and contented.
In my adult life the days usually seem too short, with too much to get
done and not enough time to do it all! I
know that this is one of the common challenges of being self-employed.
Thanks to my Reiki practice, however, I have found a way
back to long days. After my diagnosis of
type 2 diabetes I learned of the role stress plays in tipping a body into
insulin resistance and eventually diabetes if it’s ignored. So I began to look at how to become less stressful
in life. One of the things I noticed was
the importance of being able to relax – really
relax, not just sit on the sofa watching TV.
I learned that the mind needs to relax as well as the body. Watching TV might be relaxing for my body. Reiki treatment, however, helps my mind to
relax. When I first received Reiki
treatments it was the mental peace I experienced, at a time when my head was in
overdrive, that most impressed me. Somehow
Reiki seemed capable of interrupting the stream of worried thoughts and allowing
my mind to rest and my heart to be at peace.
Being self-employed, it’s easy to keep thinking all the time
about what needs to be done and how to achieve the next step. I’ve had to learn how to ‘switch off’ and it’s
not easy. I used to find this only
happened when I went away on holiday – and it would usually take me about a
week to stop thinking about work. I was
often ready to really relax just as the holiday ended!
To improve my relaxation, and help myself stop work mentally
as well physically, I made more time for receiving Reiki – from my own hands or
someone else’s. I don’t always find stopping
easy: because I am passionate about my work, when there is a long list of Things
to Do it can take discipline to not
do any of them.
Then a very strange thing happened: as my mind became relaxed
I found that days lasted longer! I was
amazed to look back on the day and have the feeling of disbelief that what
happened in the morning was actually the same day. It was just like those long, contented days
as a child. What I’ve discovered is that
when I return to work the next day my mind is rested and I often have a clearer
perspective about what really needs
to be done.
What was even more surprising was that I found that if I
allowed myself space during the working day to relax – with a little self-treatment
for example – these days could also become longer and more efficient. It reminds me of the Taoist saying “Do
nothing and nothing is left undone”.
