Reiki Flow

The Daily Draw: Eight of Cups, Reversed

Eight of Cups

Do you feel stuck? Is there a situation in your life that is dragging you down? Is there an aspect of your lifestyle that is either unhealthy or not serving you the way it once did? Maybe you just feel like you’re in a rut and you want something more meaningful than just the daily grind. In your head you know you want to make a change, you might even know what that change should be. But emotionally you find it hard to let go of what you have to venture into unknown territory.

Tom Magliozzi, the recently deceased and much loved Click (or was it Clack?) fron NPR’s “Car Talk” Once recalled how in 1971, long before it was fashionable, the MIT graduate intentionally packed in being an international marketing and strategy executive for an industrial company to just see what happened next.

“I was driving down Route 128 and thought to myself how ticked off I would be if I were hit by a semi and all I had to show for my life was working for [the company].I pulled into the parking lot, walked into my boss’s office, and quit. Nobody could believe I didn’t have another job lined up, but I didn’t have the faintest idea what I was going to do. I have a theory that says: Something will happen. And when you don’t care, everything happens.”

I realize that is pretty dramatic advice, and many of us have obligations and responsibilities that prevent us from chucking in our lives completely and hitting the road, as appealing as that can sometimes be. But even in the busiest of lives there are opportunities for change and growth. Trust me, I know.

It’s relatively easy to look at someone else and know what changes they could make for their own good. It’s a little harder to be quite that objective with yourself. If you’re stuck in dissatisfaction mode and can’t seem to find a way out, here’s something you can try:

Make two lists. In the first list write things you’d like to try. What has meaning for you, what appeals to you, what have you always wondered about trying but never got around to for whatever reason? In the second list write down the things taking up time in your life that are no longer fulfilling or give you a sense of well-being – they’re just part of the routine. When you have both lists, try to find something in the second list you can replace with something from the first list. Play with it, experiment.

You don’t have to make a lifetime commitment. You can go back to whatever you were doing if it doesn’t work out. The change doesn’t have to be drastic – subtle changes can be easier to implement and be more successful than big changes. Try one thing – you’ll know what’s right for you. It might be just enough to free you of that “stuck” feeling and get your life flowing again.

The Daily Draw: The World

TheWorld

Déjà vu. Last Friday’s card is also today’s card. I believe we left off with me telling you about the day job, about how we are getting to the end of a project and everything seems to be falling into place easily and naturally. I’m happy to report that is still the case and we are experiencing an above average, calm and upbeat atmosphere for the private sector.

So that sense of fulfilment, accomplishment, and completion still applies along with a sense of a fluid interconnectivity with others, with the world, and perhaps beyond.

Also, This card might come to you as a reminder that we are already perfect in ourselves. “Yeay, yeah”, I hear you say, “I do have a mirror. Don’t be blowing smoke up my…”

Let me stop you there. My own belief is that we all come from the same source. Everything does. Once we create any distance between ourselves and that source, we take on aspects of that source and leave others behind. Perhaps you could say we splinter from it. Being born in corporeal form is an example of such distancing. Are we all from one source? Yes. Are we all in the same image? Seriously? We’re not even all the same sex. But the energy, the light of that single source is within all of us. It is part of us, and we are part of it.

I believe we are here to experience this world. If we just wanted to look at it, we could have stayed home and played a cosmic version of The Sims. Then we wouldn’t have to deal with all the physical and emotional mess and stress of this life. In human form, it can be quite easy to forget that anything exists other than what is right in your face at any given moment. Even if you are aware of more, it can be difficult to see what it is, what it means, how you fit into it all, or even whether you fit in.

The World reminds us that we do fit, that we already have a perfect connection to source, even if we can’t easily see it, and that we are all perfect as a part of that source.

Last week I said there is no finish line in life. However, I do believe things go in spirals, which are 3D circles progressing up or down along an axis, more or less. So when you get to the end of one cycle, you are likely starting another one. And your perspective on that new cycle is probably going to be affected by whether the spiral on the last cycle was travelling north or south.

The energy of The World card might come and go in your life, but while you have it you can create or experience something in your life that conveys to you what it’s like to feel blessed, to believe in yourself and your abilities, to feel unconditional love of a kind no one can take away from you, and to be grateful for these things. Let yourself truly appreciate days like these, and try to hold on to that feeling to help you stay positive and connected on those days when life is more of a struggle.

The Daily Draw: Nine of Cups

I’m writing this from my mobile while looking after my four smaller children. So no graphic today. It’s raining buckets but nice and cozy inside. We’ve just had french toast with maple syrup. It’s all good.

Nine of Cups: This card popped into my head this morning well before i ever pulled out the virtual deck. It may well be a Saturday where you get to indulge your senses – a second double fudge brownie, the new and last Pink Floyd album, breakfast in bed, even of you have to make it yourself. Why not? Maybe it will be other sensual pleasures ( raises eyebrows a la Groucho Marx). Or maybe it’s just hanging out with your kids warm and cozy on a rainy day.

Hey, i’m just throwing sruff out there. You know what you’re craving better than i do. Ah, but maybe this card should come with a warning label – management is not responsible for granted wishes that perhaps should not have been made. In other words, be careful what you want…you know the rest. Also, try not to let your good fortune go to your head. It’s not necessarily a good look.

Having said that, i hope you all enjoy this day immensely. Of course, i hope you enjoy every day, but some are better than others.

The Daily Draw: The World

When I see The World come up, I have to admit my initial knee-jerk reaction is something like “Hooray! I win. Cash me out. Game over.”

LOL. Yeah, anyway, as we know there’s no finish line in life. Or maybe there is, depending on what you do or don’t believe. But let’s not go off on a tangent. Besides, you not believing in something more than this world does not negate something more believing in you. Ha! Get your head around that for a minute.

The World, for me, signifies that everything is in sync. You’re in the flow of life and it’s all going on through you and around you. You are where you’re meant to be doing what you’re meant to be doing. Sometimes there are whistles and bells with that – success, love, recognition, prosperity, etc. Quite often it can be more subtle feeling of just knowing you’re integrated into your life in the best possible way, for you. To quote Mayor Deebs from the film “Roxanne”, “I would rather be with the people of this town than with the finest people in the world.”

Now if you’ll excuse me I have to integrate completely into my day job. We’re nearing the end of the project and it’s quite busy. There’s a great convergence – all the pieces are coming together into a unified whole, and it’s happening with an easy, natural flow. Oh, hey, see what just happened there?

The Daily Draw: Two of Wands, Reversed

Another day another wand card. In this card’s reversed state, I see a situation where a beautifully unique person is reluctant to show their individuality. This person has a creative spirit and a sense of what they want to achieve, but they are reluctant to stand in their own power to do so. Maybe it’s not good enough syndrome, maybe its fear of standing out in the crowd, maybe you think, “If I thought of this, somebody else did and has already done something about it.” Tish tosh.

Most of us seem to have an inexhaustible source of excuses for why we don’t put plans into action. A few people seem to thrive on it, but It can be a little scary to step out of your comfort zone and do something different outside of the daily routine, to take a chance of showing the world who you are inside. What if you’re rejected? What if you’re not? What if some of your old “friends” think you’re crazy? What if you make some new friends?

The Eleanor Roosevelt quote, “Do one thing every day that scares you”, is sound advice. At the very least, it will certainly wake you up, at least for the moment. Make it an outward manifestation of the person you know you are inside. It doesn’t have to be anything life threatening. It could be as simple as sharing what you really think or feel with someone, or taking one action that is a small step towards achieving your dream. Then again it could be lion taming. It depends on what scares you. That gut feeling you get while you’re doing these things, you’re being effective and it’s all going well? That’s you standing in your power. You might find you like it and it’s worth the effort.

The Daily Draw: Knight of Wands

WandsKnight

I seem to be drawing a lot of wands lately. For me, the wands represent such energies as creativity, ambition, self-esteem, boldness, and charisma. Knights are all about rushing into things with a supercharged initial outpouring of whatever energies their suit represents. So this guy can really get things moving. He can provide an initial push of adrenalin and excitement to get a project off the ground. He can also be full of himself, and rush into situations where angels fear to tread.

Note: I say “he”, but hopefully I don’t have to tell you that it could just as easily be “she”. What’s important here are the inner characteristics, not the physical, outer ones.

Anyway, the thing about knights is that the energy can be a bit unruly – it can be a help or it can be a hindrance depending on the context. The same energy that can rally the troops to raise a barn or protest Irish water (by way of random example J) might be too overwhelming in other contexts. You wouldn’t start a yoga class with “ON THE FLOOR AND GIVE ME TWENTY SUNS!” even if you were smiling when you said it.

Knights, especially this one, are kind of like puppies. Everybody loves puppies and they have great energy, but most people would agree that they are immature and need to be trained in the appropriate uses of that energy.

So I guess what I’m saying is, if you are feeling this knight’s energy, get in touch with your inner puppy but be aware that you are a human among other humans. Ask yourself if this energy is right for a given situation. If you feel it might not be, maybe take it down a notch. Sometimes less is more. If it does feel right, go for it.

The Daily Draw: Page of Wands, Reversed

page of wands (Did I tell you I don’t do weekends? At the moment it’s hard to find the time with family considerations.)

Page of Wands, reversed: There is a perfect opportunity here to be bold and creative, to move in the direction your spirit wants to take you, whether that be in the theatre, the studio, the kitchen, the garden shed, or just a few steps beyond the margins of the daily routine.

There is also a perfect opportunity to have your inner sense of direction derailed by the raised eyebrows and unanswerable questions of others – how can you possibly explain satisfactorily to your neighbours why you are suddenly doing naked yoga in your bedroom when it is so outside of their perception of your character. Lucky for you, an explanation is not required. Not from you anyway. I might wonder how the neighbours know what you’re up to in your bedroom. It might be time to ring the Gards, or at least close the blinds.

Worrying about what the neighbours think, which gives them permission to define who you are, at least in part, is a great way to block yourself from being yourself and expressing who you really are. Alternatively, you might be lacking in self-confidence or suffering from not-good-enough syndrome. Been there, done that, worn the T-shirt, hid in the broom closet.

The best way to find out whether you’re going in the right direction is to actually go in that direction for a while and see how it feels. If it doesn’t feel right, pick another direction. It’s a lot more fulfilling than standing on the threshold for eternity wondering if that’s the right way to go. And don’t worry too much about what people think. If you’ve been hiding aspects of yourself from people, they already don’t know you as well as they think they do, and they certainly are’’t close friends. Try not to be concerned. Move in the direction that’s right for you and you will likely meet fellow travelers.

The Daily Draw: The Sun, Reversed

The Sun_Rx The sun, reversed: You might feel like you’re running out of steam more easily, or are generally low on energy. It’s possible this relates to the energy drain one feels when the nights are getting longer, the days end too soon and it starts to really get cold, what with the clocks going back and autumn heading for winter. It will be March before I can leave work in daylight again. This is the time of year I often catch a cold.

The sun has a strong connection to our solar plexus chakra – they are both energy sources, one external, one internal. You can’t do much about the external source (unless you migrate between hemispheres every six months) but you can work with the internal one to increase your own energy flow. The solar plexus is the home of self-esteem and control issues, as well as the fear, anger, depression and resentment that can arise when your self-esteem is low and you feel at the mercy of others.

Letting yourself experience a given feeling, without judging it, and sitting with that feeling for a period of time, can be an effective way of shifting it. Your feelings are often trying to convey a message to you. That can be easy to see with the positive ones, but not so easy with the negative ones. We have a tendency to want to block them out, hoping that if we ignore them they will go away. Ha! You have as much chance of mending a broken arm by ignoring it.

In my own case, for example, my solar plexus was complicit with my throat in building a wall around my heart for protection. There was a time in the past when it was probably useful. The problem was that it outlived its usefulness, but I was busy trying not to notice it so it just sat there waiting for me in a “This is reality. This is the way it is”, kind of way. It felt like there was an actual mortar-and-brick actual between my heart and solar plexus. I resented that wall, I knew it was getting in my way.

Then someone suggested that I thank it for protecting me, which was a bit of an epiphany. I was so focused on the block that I wasn’t really looking at the reason for it, the message it was trying to relate to me. With that in mind, I sat down and listened to the wall .(No, not the Pink Floyd album.) Once I got the message, it became easier to release that block.

I sure do ramble don’t I, but blogging is about quick, raw output. I’ll do several revisions for the book. (Maybe someday).

The Daily Draw: Five of Wands, Reversed

Wands5_Rx My apologies. I warned you I’d be inconsistent, but not even I thought I’d go missing for the better part of a week. Put it down to being over extended and emotionally exhausted.

Five of Wands, Reversed: You know that BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ energy when the TV is on in one room, the radio is on in the next, three people are trying to talk across each other, the kids are bouncing off the walls and you’re climbing them? Here it is in this card. You could get caught up in some he-said,, she-said sibling rivalry where either side could be the victim, the pretender, or both. The baby could pick today to discover the joys of emptying a jar of sudocream over himself. Maybe someone dings your car in the parking lot and drive’s off, leaving you fuming and frustrated. You’re friend says “it could have been worse”. The two of you don’t speak for fifteen minutes.

You meet someone on the street who you don’t particularly like and definitely don’t trust – they’re always trying to one-up you, attempting to steal your business accounts, coveting your partner, whatever. However, you might feel like you need to keep the peace with them for the sake of your family or social circle. Perhaps they feel the same way about you. So there you stand, having a conversation where you try to lean as much as you can about each other’s business while giving away as little as possible, all the while putting on a forced smile.

I recently experienced another example of this card’s energy when I attempted to buy coffee at an unfamiliar shop. The first conflict came when I moved out of the queue to inspect what was on offer at the other end of the counter. This resulted in people behind me being served AND in me being accused of skipping the queue, two mutually exclusive concepts one might think. Next, one might expect two white coffees to appear practically identical, but in this instance one looked as expected and the other had about an inch less liquid and no white froth. “I ordered two white coffees”, I said. “These are two white coffees”, came the insistent reply. A little incredulous, I pointed out how unlikely it was that these were both the same type of coffee since one of them could be “none more black” (as David St. Hubbins would say). The server grunted something I did not take as an apology and removed herself to the back of the room. Not long after, a second server appeared with an actual white coffee and an explanation that there was a fault with the machine, which was now corrected. Sure, it was a frustrating hassle for a few minutes, but it’s only coffee. No one died.

This could be a good day for disentangling yourself from the outside world, putting on some relaxing music, meditating, or just having a glass of wine if the universe lets you away with it. If not, don’t forget to breathe and stay grounded. Tomorrow is another day.

The Daily Draw: Queen of Pentacles

What I am inspired to write on a given day about the tarot card I’ve drawn today.

(yes, I know I changed the name. This series is a work of progress, much like myself.)

Queen of Pentacles: This is someone who is very nurturing and strong willed. Mammy knows best. If she has a good feeling about you she will hear you out and try to help, even if you’ve never met before. She’ll be kind, but also as honest as the situation demands. She likes to tell it like it is. In return you had better be straight with her – she really, really doesn’t like being lied to, even if you think it’s with good intentions. She can be a great, loving ally but you really, really don’t want to piss her off.

If there are children in the house, they’re not all hers. Sometimes it seems hers is the neighbourhood open house. If the door is closed it won’t be for long. She seems to be constantly doing something for someone else. She’ll do the school run car pool, make the best cupcakes for the bake sale, repair the puncture on her son’s bike tyre, mind her neighbour’s kids for a couple of hours, and have her friends over for coffee or a glass of wine by 4 PM as serene as someone who’s been relaxing in the back garden all day.

It’s not about having the most money or the best of everything; it’s about getting the most out of what she’s got. She won’t buy it if she can make it at least as well, if not better. She won’t visit the doctor or the pharmacist for something she can heal at home, although she might be more inclined to go for a second opinion about her loved ones than she would be for herself.