Flunking my Reiki Experiment

I’m running another Reiki experiment these days, and so far I am mostly flunking. It started last year when my neighbor put up a huge Trump flag the day before I started a Reiki Master training at my house. Nearly everyone who drove past the flag, commented on it negatively as they came in the door. That negativity become a huge teaching point for the program. Turns out that Reiki loves everyone, no matter what the political affiliation. That may be hard to hear for some of us with preferences, but it’s true.  So, throughout the training, we included my neighbor in everything we did. It felt hard in some ways, and really good in other ways. I could also feel the part of me (the flunking part) that thought that if she just got enough loving energy she would probably eventually agree with me. Our minds are so tricky aren’t they?

Then she took the flag down for a while, eventually replacing it with a golf flag.  “Ok,” I thought.  “I can live with this.” Then about a month ago she put the Trump flag back up.  Did I mention it was big?  It’s big, and hard to miss unless there is no wind at all. I caught myself tensing up each time I drove out the driveway. This is not a good feeling. What to do, I wondered. 

I decided to put my hand up and send her and me Reiki every time I go by the flag.  I had been doing this practice for a short time when news came of Trump’s near assassination. The political climate feels dangerous in lots of ways and this was one more way. I sent Reiki to the whole situation, wishing us all well.

This afternoon. I met up with Linda and Luann, my two beloved Reiki sisters.  We meet every Monday, catch up a bit, and then name all the people we know who need and want Reiki. Lots of you reading this are on this ongoing list. (And if you want to be, you can be, just let me know.) We start by naming specific people and always end up with big picture issues like war, care for our earth, and political divisiveness. Today, Luann found the words which I don’t do justice to here.  She said, “Let’s send to a lessening of political tensions and a greater positive imagination beyond the danger we see and imagine.  May those of us doing this work feel grounded and connected under the earth, interwoven with inspiration and light for the future.”  It felt so beautiful. We got off Zoom and each went to send Reiki in the way we do, meeting up in the Energy.

I lay down in a restorative pose, my Reiki list with me, and sent away. What I didn’t mention was that right before I connected with Linda and Luann, I had had a contentious meeting that had left me filled with anger.  I did not feel calm at that point and ended up feeling the anger during most of my sending time.  Can you send Reiki when you are angry? Yes you can, but it doesn’t feel nearly as good as sending Reiki when you are feeling love. It felt important not to push the anger away until I understood exactly why I was so angry and what it was that I wanted to happen next. 

At some point I ended the send amazed that so much could be going on inside me all at the same time. I definitely did not feel fully successful in my experience of sending, though it was the best that I could manage today. 

Then, almost immediately a friend sent me this picture of Donald Trump from my hacked Facebook page. 

It’s bad enough that the hackers have people thinking I’m selling crypto currency, and have moved to Texas. But now this.  I was so furious I could hardly stand it. All the frustration of losing my account rolled back up to the surface, along with my disgust of what people are doing with this terrible incident with Trump. As I sat fuming, a friend called me to see if there was anything she could do about the post.  She was as disgusted as I was and her support felt good to my body. 

And as I was raging, it also occurred to me to that the Universe had just upped the ante on my intention to keep sending love to Reiki to all that is happening in the world. Message received.  Sigh.  Sometimes our assignments are hard.

Then, when I went to my computer a few minutes later, I got a beautiful note from another friend/student who said she had just been thinking of me. She was giving me an update on her life that made my heart sing, and reminded me that we are part of a community—she used the term “matriarchal hive body,” which I have never heard before but I could feel the power of it.  Here is part of what she said:

I have grown so much stronger. I am resting and I am still inviting anger to come to dinner with me. But I will tell you that allowing the fullness of my emotional body into my life and my daily living and allowing it all, inviting all of it to journey with me, or rest with me or rage and scream with me…I can ride this flow of life without fear. With confidence of my awareness and my abilities, but also the abilities of our community and the empowerment of connection and asking for help. This is flow state in a matriarchal hive body. A super organism. I have had a taste of that power, the power in ourselves and am now committed to empowering the people in my life.

I felt at this point that the Universe was also giving me the support I needed to take on hard challenges.  Today, I’m not doing so well with all this, but I have always been a great practicer and experimenter. Tomorrow is another day and I’m coming back again and again.

NOTE:  I do understand that these day-to-day challenges are nothing compared to war, famine, racial injustice and so many other much more serious and deadly problems. And. we all have personal issues that weigh us down and make it hard to act on the bigger issues.  Maybe this post can help some of you understand we are all in process, doing the best we can and give yourself a break. Sending you blessings for just that!