Honouring 70 Years of Service

As we celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, I have been touched by hearing how she saw her role as one of sacred service from the start.  My understanding of what it means to serve has grown over my years of Reiki practice, so I honour the Queen’s 70-year commitment.

Service, doing work that is for the benefit of others rather than for personal gain, is a core principle in many spiritual practices.  It is a way to surrender our ego to something greater than ourselves.  According to the Dalai Lama it is essential in finding our joy.  It has certainly been my experience that there is joy in serving others, in doing something that helps people to connect, eases pain, brings comfort and lifts the heart.  

Just over 12 years ago I visited Phyllis Furumoto, the late Lineage Bearer of Usui Shiki Ryoho Reiki, shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer.  This had expedited her exploration of how to choose a successor for the lineage she represented.  As part of this exploration, she interviewed me for one of the radio shows she was doing at the time, as someone who had a perspective on lineage through living in a culture with a monarchy.

I could see the similarities in Phyllis’ role to that of our queen: like Queen Elizabeth, she became her grandmother’s successor at a young age, in her early 30s.  She also felt that she did not have a choice in taking on this responsibility.  I know that Phyllis also saw this role as being in service to something greater than herself: Reiki, the Usui Shiki Ryoho System and the Reiki community.

I was also quite young when I began my Reiki service at just 30, serving the Reiki community through the newly founded Reiki Association.  This led to many other opportunities to explore service over the years, including service to Phyllis.   As my Reiki master Martha Sylvester said when she left her day job to work full time as a Reiki master: it was like working for the ‘cosmic civil service’ instead of the civil service!  As a Reiki master I have often found myself doing things in service to the Reiki community that I never imagined I would and, like Martha (and perhaps the Queen), was called on to travel to many places in carrying out my Reiki work.

The recent events in my life have reminded me that it's also important that our service is not at the cost of our own health.  Queen Elizabeth’s long life and reign would suggest that she is able to balance her commitment to serve the public time with family and self-care.  Those who do not get this balance right often end up burnt out and unwell, making further service impossible.

Phyllis’ successor, Johannes Reindl, was chosen by her partly because he is young.  He too has recognised that he has been asked to serve the Reiki community and the Usui Shiki Ryoho system in a particular way that means his role is not a job he can simply give up.  He has given his commitment, as Elizabeth Windsor did, to serve for his lifetime and in doing so to support the practice of Reiki people all over the world.

I offer a bow of gratitude for the commitment of those who serve in this way, surrendering their own life plans to serve for the benefit of the world and I wish them the wisdom to balance their work with time for family and self-care.