REIKI FOR MINDSET: THE BEST-CASE SCENARIO

The voice in our head wants us to worry. “What voice?” you ask. It’s the voice you hear when you’re taking a shower or when you’re driving to work.  It’s the voice you hear late at night as you stare at the ceiling while trying to fall asleep. It’s the voice that wants you to think that worrying is important. 

“What if this happens?”  “What if that happens?”

“This could happen”. “That might happen.”

It’s the voice that wants you to replay events, decisions and interactions you had in the past.

“How did you let that happen?” it scolds.  “Why did you say that?” it exclaims in horror.

Our life can be filled with worry.  Worry is like a rocking chair going back and forth and back and forth replaying “what ifs”.  But worry doesn’t move us forward toward a solution.  We can become so over-wrought that we get stuck and become incapacitated with worry.

We absolutely need to make plans about upcoming events and possibilities, but worry is not a plan.

The original Reiki Ideals as presented by Usui Mikao, the founder of the Usui Reiki method offered the secret to inviting happiness into one’s life.

The secret art of inviting happiness

The miraculous medicine of all diseases

Just for today do not be angry

Do not worry and be filled with gratitude

Devote yourself to your work and be kind to people

Every morning and evening join your hands in prayer

Pray these words to your heart

And chant these words with your mouth

Usui Reiki Treatment for the improvement of body and mind

I live in south Florida.  Every year we experience hurricane season and therefore we need to make a plan about how we will respond in the event of a hurricane.  We check our hurricane shutters making sure they are in order.  We buy canned food and batteries.  We have a plan of where we will go in the event we need to evacuate. When a storm is approaching, I send the Karuna symbol, Iava to the storm and ask it to turn east to go back into the Atlantic Ocean where no one will be impacted.  This is our plan.  But sitting in front of the television, becoming consumed with worry, as the weatherman gets worked up about the impending storm is not part of the plan.

That’s the way we need to approach life.  We need a plan, but excessive worry is not a helpful part of any plan. Holy Fire® Reiki can help guide us out of the wilderness of worry.  Instead of envisioning the “worst-case scenario”, we need to focus on the “best-case scenario”. What would the best-case scenario look like?  I think it would be based in kindness.  Imagine a world where everyone treated each other with kindness.   Respect is good but kindness is an even higher vibration.  Respect can be polite but cold.  Kindness is warm and supportive. Kindness looks at the situation through the lense of the heart and allows us to see ourselves in the other person.

When your mind is filling with worry, use the Mental-Emotional or Harmony symbol to help calm your fears.  Draw SHK on both palms and place them on the sides of your head as you rest your elbows on your desk at work.  Become mindful of your breathing. Inhale through your nose and feel your ribs slightly expand.  Notice how your ribs contract as you exhale.  Continue inhaling and exhaling at a comfortable pace as you give yourself Reiki.

How do we focus on the best-case scenario when the news is filled with depressing and fear-based stories?  Should we stick our head in the sand and be one of the uninformed?  No.  We have a duty as citizens to care about our country and our world.  Just as a parent should not look the other way and ignore unhealthy behavior of their children, we need to be informed and take responsibility for the type of society in which we live.  We need to care.  We need to be the change that we want to see.  Send distance Reiki and any other symbol you wish to the situation, to the problems in our cities, the concerns of our country and to the relationships between our citizens.  We are a family and as a family we need to know what is happening and do our part to raise the vibration of the interactions of our neighbors.

Remember the saying, “Think globally but act locally”? I think that applies even more today.  Our sphere of influence is world-wide because of the internet but our strongest impact begins with our immediate surroundings.  Imagine the best-case scenario in your daily life.  As you drive to the grocery store, send distance Reiki.  With your hands on the steering wheel send HSZSN and CKR to the energy of the store.  Before you walk in, take a moment and envision the best-case scenario.  Imagine that everyone is treating each other with kindness.  Its amazing! When you walk in the door, that will be the energy you find.  Everyone is friendly and polite.

Imagine the best-case scenario as you drive in rush hour. Send the light of Reiki to the traffic with HSZSN.  Add CKR and if you are a Karuna Reiki practitioner add Shanti. People will politely use their blinkers and allow others to merge into their lane. Traffic will flow smoothly.  We’re all just hard-working people trying to get home to our families.  When you send out Reiki energy and imagine the best-case scenario, that is what is delivered to you.

Sometimes this idea may seem too simplistic.  Sometimes life can be daunting. Some days we may wake up and wonder when things will turn around?  As Reiki practitioners we may not encounter that feeling often, but our family members and friends may not have Reiki to support them.  How can we help them change their mindset?

A great idea was presented in the book, The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor.*

Every day at dinner, ask everyone at the table to share three things that made them happy that day.  Things that make you happy are not the same as things for which you are grateful.  There is a distinction.  I am grateful that I can walk unassisted.  What makes me happy is taking a walk in the park.  I am grateful I can hear, but I am happy when I listen to my favorite music.  I am grateful I can see.  Happiness is sitting on the balcony admiring the colors of the sunset as the day comes to an end.

The first day when you present this idea to your family it might be difficult for them to think of three things that made them happy.  “Happy?” they say. “My day was ok, but I’m not sure there were three things that made me happy.”

The second day they will be ready.  Since they know that they will need to list three things that made them happy over the last 24 hours, they will begin scanning their day for something to report. 

Maybe you made all the green lights on your drive to work.

Maybe you found a parking space close to the grocery store entrance.

Maybe you heard a bird singing or saw a flowering tree in bloom.

Maybe you had a delicious sandwich for lunch or wore a favorite color that lifted your spirits.

When you are watching for things that make you happy, you begin to overlook the little irritations.  You become more forgiving. You begin seeing people as neighbors who become friends not as obstacles that you need to tolerate.

We live in a world where there are many opportunities for us to use our Reiki energy to bring light, love and peace into our daily life.  As Reiki practitioners we have the gift of Holy Fire® to help raise the vibration of our Collective Consciousness to create a best-case scenario world filled with kindness and love.

*Achor, Shawn. The Happiness Advantage. Crown Business, Random House, Inc. 2010