Comfort and Joy

If you are like me, November and December are busy months.  My community choir is in demand to sing carols and we put on a fundraising concert.  This year I was blessed with two Reiki classes and there have many demands on my time for voluntary work.  Thankfully the weather has been less challenging this December, with no snow and little frost, although today we have freezing rain, so I'm grateful to be inside with the comfort of a roaring fire!

What I love about this time of year, in spite of the pressures, is how many people seem to go by different rules to the rest of the year.  There is more generosity of spirit, reflected in the giving of gifts and cards.  Many people are kinder to each other 'because it's Christmas'.  Conflicts that rage through-out the rest of the year are put aside at least for a while, like when the British and German soldiers in the 1st World War called an informal truce to play a game of football between the trenches.  I imagine that game of football must have been a great comfort to them - a little bit of normality and fun in the midst of terrible suffering.

As Caroline Myss has pointed out, one of the messages of the Christmas story is that, like the birth of Jesus in a humble stable, miracles are not accompanied by a lot of fuss, but happen quietly and simply.  In a similar way, Reiki practice can be quiet and simple: all that is needed is a pair of Reiki hands and a willingness to give.  This simple gift can bring comfort and joy to both giver and recipient.

At the Community Reiki Clinic I am running in Ludlow we give short treatments in a very ordinary room in the community centre.  We don't have any candles or incense, the lighting is not soft, there is no music. In many ways it is not a particularly relaxing environment, but people who receive treatment - many of them experiencing Reiki for the first time - do find themselves becoming calmer, more relaxed and benefiting from Reiki's grace.  This month we treated the caretaker of the centre, who had just cooked Christmas lunch for 100 locals.  I found him doing the washing up and invited him to come for a treatment.  He was glad to lie down, but was also really surprised by how quickly the Reiki treatment calmed his feelings of stress and helped him relax (he nearly fell asleep!).

As Reiki practitioners this simple gift is a comfort available to us any time, through self treatment.  My Reiki self treatment practice has helped me to become calmer and more resilient, both mentally and physically, so that I am able to offer Reiki to more people. My life has become more joyful through giving my time and energy in this way. 

May you enjoy comfort and joy over the holiday season and I look forward to sharing more Reiki with you in the New Year.