Have those New Year Good Intentions Started to Waver?

If you have learned Reiki, you are encouraged to treat yourself every day.  Some students are very good at this and soon see the benefits.  Some, like me, find it a struggle to make it as much of a daily habit as brushing my teeth.  Why is this?

One of my students said she thought it was when she was feeling less good that she didn’t practice her Reiki self-treatments.  However what she also noticed was that when she didn’t do her practice, she felt less good!

Last month I encouraged you to keep a daily gratitude journal.  Have you tried it?  Have you managed to keep going with it?  If you have, well done!  If not: don’t despair!  There may be other New Year Resolutions you are now struggling to keep going too.  Getting into a new habit can be challenging.  For some reason this seems to be especially true if it’s something good for us!
 
So why is it so hard to do something regularly, whether it is Reiki or some other healthy habit we wish to develop?  Why is it so hard to do something that actually makes us feel good and helps to make us happier and healthier?!

Perhaps the answer is that good habits often take us out of our comfort zone at the beginning.  Bad habits, which are usually about giving ourselves comfort in a less healthy way, are all too easy to develop.   To develop a healthy habit we may need to make some effort, face up to some fear or experience some actual discomfort.  We also have to remember to do it, which in a busy life is hard enough!

So what can we do to encourage ourselves to develop a new good habit?  Well, try keeping a record of when you do achieve your practice – maybe give yourself a gold star!  Be kind to yourself: don’t worry about the days you don’t manage to do it – the odd day you miss won’t make a huge difference.  If you can keep going daily for 36 days your subconscious will be convinced and you are laying the foundation for a good habit!  After that it will be easier and soon you will forget it was ever a struggle at all!

Good luck!

From an article originally shared in my February 2007 Newsletter

Going for a Walk

Going for a walk

In addition to giving people Reiki treatments we are told that Hawayo Takata, the woman who brought Reiki from Japan to the West, would also give health advice to help people in their healing.  One of the suggestions she made was that people should walk for 30 minutes each day.

This is of course now also advice we are given by doctors and other health professionals.  It’s also something a lot of people struggle to do. 

A few months ago we took on a new dog.  After the death of my old dog last summer I didn’t enjoy going for a walk on my own and even before she died it was a struggle as she wanted to go out less and I was very busy.  When I decided to have another dog I made a commitment to taking her for daily walks and this has been wonderful.  I have really enjoyed getting away from my desk for a while to re-connect with Nature and have some exercise.

One of the things I like about Takata’s advice is that, like Reiki, it’s simple.  All you have to do is go out, put one foot in front of the other and keep doing that for a while.  I find that this simple practice helps my mind as well as my body.  It helps increase my fitness but also allows me to unwind mentally.

I enjoy looking at the plants, birds and animals around me, the scents of the changing seasons and feel of different weather on my skin.  Recently there’s been lots of sunshine of course which has been wonderful – and great for topping up the vitamin D in preparation for the winter!

I enjoy watching the fun my dog has running around too and this lifts my heart if I’m having a troublesome day.  I also find that walking is a good way to solve a problem.  I read recently that the word ‘problem’ comes from the Greek meaning “the rocks put in our way by the gods”.  Sitting at my desk doesn’t help get round those rocks, but going for a walk often does!  As I walk and my mind relaxes, a solution often appears in a most unexpected way.  I also find Reiki treatments have a similar effect in that they also relax my mind and allow creative solutions to come forth.

Like Reiki, and as Mrs Takata suggested, it’s also good as a daily practice.  I’ve noticed that the more I practice daily the things that help me keep healthy, the less out of balance I get, so it’s easier and quicker for equilibrium to be restored.  Like Reiki, walking encourages flow both physically and mentally, enhances living in the present moment and enlivens the senses. 

So I’m grateful for the gift brought by my dog who encourages me to go walking each day and the joy that brings.  Yesterday I discovered harebells growing in a lane where I never would have expected them.  Bliss!