Reiki & Self Worth

Reiki & Self Worth

We often struggle to love ourselves. We put others' needs before our own because we are taught that this is a graceful, elegant way to live and be. Yet when we get on airplanes and we are told "Place your oxygen mask over yourself first before assisting others." We laugh and think "Of Course!"

In everyday life, I see a lot of people forgetting to "put their oxygen mask on first." They have overly-busy schedules yet can not say no because a good friend needs their help. They will scrape together the last of their energy to do something non-essential rather than resting and restoring their core being. It is natural to go above and beyond on occassion, but if we always do this without first caring for ourselves, we will eventually crash and burn. To me these boundary issues tie directly into our sense of self worth. 

Somehow we may have convinced ourselves that we are not worth anything if we can not help our friends, take care of things 'on time,' or 'be there' for others.  This faulty belief is sinuous and slips into the cracks of our being. 

If you commonly overpromise your time and find yourself breaking committments, if you are exhausted and can't seem to get ahead of yourself, if you are filled with guilt everytime you take care of yourself before handling other things, then you may be struggling with core issues of self worth.

One thing I love about Reiki is that it is unconditionally loving in nature. Have you ever had a Reiki session? So often, when I am receiving Reiki, I feel warmth, acceptance, and peace.  These are exactly the feelings I believe we should always be offering ourselves, rather than guilt, stress, and pressures to conform to some egoic standard we have created on the faulty foundation of old emotional wounds.

There are many ways to heal Self Worth issues, including the use of affirmations, flower essences, psychotherapy, EFT, and meditation, but one of my favorite ways is with Reiki. 

HEALING SELF WORTH REIKI MEDITATION

Sit comfortably with spine straight so as to allow a smooth flow of energy through the chakras. Place hands in prayer position to open your meditation, calling in Reiki Life Force or loving light. Sit quietly for 5 minutes, noticing the thoughts that arise, the feelings your body is holding, and the physical experience of simply sitting and being with yourself as your follow the rhythm of your natural breath.  Do you itch to check your cell phone? Are there certain nervous habits that come to the fore? Just notice.

Now bring to mind a belief that you have held about yourself, that you know to be inhibiting your inner flow of abundance. Sometimes we don't even realize these are beliefs we can change. We may view them as truths. 

Some common beliefs I have heard, seen, or experienced include:  I am not worthy of receiving the love I am seeking. I am not smart enough to create what I would like to create. I never even had a chance at (fill in the blank). If I don't do this for him/her, they won't have a use for me and I will lose their friendship because I am only as good as what I do; I have no inherent value. 

Many of these beliefs are laced with negatives; I can't, I don't, I never, they won't, etc. When you find yourself using these negative contractions, look at the belief system that follows.

Choose just one belief that resonates for you and the current challenges in your life. Say it out loud. Allow the feelings that are associated with that belief to flood your body. Notice those feelings. Breathe into them and through them so that you can own them rather than pretending these feelings do not exist. 

Where are these feelings being held in your body? ...Once you are aware of where these feelings are being held in your body, place your hands wherever on your body you feel that root source of energy. If you aren't certain where that source is, run your hands over your body until you come to a stopping place that feels good. Channel Reiki into that location. 

Let go of the language of the old belief. See warm Reiki light transforming that belief at its root. If there are old stories or life experiences attached to that belief, reframe them in your mind to be of positive benefit. Tell a new story. You can even do so out loud. Use your breath to release the old stories and welcome in healing light.

Allow Reiki to expand throughout your body until the old feeling connected with that belief is gone. 

In your spirit, see light emanating through your torso and all of your limbs. 

In your mind, affirm the positive truth, whatever that may be; I am smart enough. I am worthy. I have inherent value.  

If it feels too difficult or untrue to affirm such things, then simply practice self-acceptance. Just for now, I accept myself as I am. Leave space for the positive and joyful journey of continued growth and transformation.

When you are filled with a sense of positivity, end the meditation by placing both hands against the earth, offering this gift of loving energy into the ground. Allow any excess energy that does not serve your highest good to release into the earth. 

Affirm that you will return gently to a clear and functional waking state, in this new vibration of self-worth and love.

May you find many blessings in this work!

Dailey Little

Laws of Maat: A Brief Introduction

In Ancient Egypt there are a few particular spells from the Book of Coming Forth By Day (also known as the Book of the Dead) known as The Declaration of Innocence. In them, the speaker visits a great tribunal of Gods and spirits in order to promise, in a poetic series, to be in complete alignment with the law. Similar to the Christian Bible's Ten Commandments, these 42 declarations that are listed express ways of behaving in society. The are called the 42 Laws of Maat.

Maat is a goddess of balance and truth. She is an early forerunner of the Roman Goddess of Justice

who holds the scales of justice. Maat's process works by placing the truths in your own heart on one scale, and her feather of truth on the other. The heart should be just as light, or lighter than the feather.

So often we go through life experiences in which we may feel regret, guilt, or other emotions that destroy our sense of personal freedom. When we feel that oppression, we are "not in Maat." This is a way of saying that our heart is so heavy it is out of balance with the natural laws of the universe.

When we are out of balance, we must find ways to clear our hearts, taking the actions that will bring us back into good standing in our communities, with our loved ones, and most importantly, with our ourselves.

The Laws of Maat function like guidelines. Though the laws are fairly concrete, we can look beyond the dogma of what they express and ponder what they trigger within us. For example, while one law may say, "I am not stealing," the law itself begs us to ask on a much deeper level, "What is theft?"

If we become caught up in the jargon or language and think only of this law in terms of our day, we may not think that breaking the law means walking into the corner store and taking a wad of cash.  When we look deeper within, we may find that a part of us is unsettled by the statement, or even overly vehement. We may find that although we have not broken the law in letter, perhaps there are other ways we have taken unfairly. Maybe we ate a piece of cake in the fridge that belonged to our roommate, or we pirated a song from the internet. If the declaration as we speak it sits heavily in our hearts, we know that maybe we have work to do. The work may be simply making the declaration and absolving ourselves from that moment forward. But it may also include promising ourselves to find healthier, lighter ways of moving in the world, or taking corrective actions (buying more cake? apologizing?). 

"Weighing of the Soul" by Christine Knopp

For many years I have recited the Declaration of Innocence & Laws of Maat in a variety of formats and translations. Each time, I am struck by the wisdom of simply naming the many parts of our own internal justice system. Like an automobile diagnostic, the recitation allows me to check in with myself to see where I feel compromised, and where I can come more deeply to personal wholeness.

There is a Neter, or Force of energy (or God) who oversees each law. They are there to enforce it. In the greater picture, if someone deceased makes their declarations but their heart is too heavy, then they are declared unfit for the afterlife and they are eaten by a composite creature, Ammit. She is a soul eater! In movies and Egyptian documentaries the narrator always makes this sound like a horrible thing. In fact, I think it's great. Have you ever tried living with a heavy heart for long periods of time? It is a relief to have those energies washed away, to have the old paradigm of your thinking and being stripped or destroyed. It is a relief to be returned to pure light.

In some esoteric traditions, the Laws of Maat are recited as a way of creating balance and cleansing the energy field. They are also a powerful invocation of the guardians of order and the neteru (forces) who open the way to our own inner world of shadows, fears, and other powerful inner growth mechanisms that we humans tend to work with.

Soon I will post the laws of Maat for you to enjoy. Blessings!

~Dailey
_____________________

© 2014 Dailey Little. Art: Winged Maat from KV11. "The Weighing of the Soul" ©2005 Christine Knopp. The art is for sale at Deviant Art.  You are welcome to reproduce this article provided you do so in its entirety. Dailey Little is a Reiki Master and active practitioner. She teaches Reiki & other fun stuff through her private practice in Santa Rosa, CA. Join her joyful community for ReikiShares, Free Clinics, and eco-activism by signing up at her website: www.SantaRosaReiki.com

Inundation

I am thinking about a lot this morning. In my dreams from the night, Egyptian priestesses

dance on the earth outside of an unfamiliar temple. There are scorpions on my shoulders who tell me this is "the night of the first drop." They tell me to look to "the drop" for wisdom at this time. 

I know the Night of the Teardrop is still celebrated, in revised form, in some countries, and I know the words of the scorpions are gifts. They are keys to deeper wisdom in the mysteries of the Egyptian Goddess Isis. But for this morning, I'm not interested in following the research with my left brain.

I look outside at the silvery morning rain and I think of the deep cleansing that water provides.

An old Roman Era papayrus celebrates the rains and the flooding of the Ancient Egyptian Nile with these words: The water has come. Hail to the streams at the rising of the freshet of Isis." A freshet is a flood that comes from either heavy rains, or the natural thawing of ice in spring. Where the water flows, old poisons are washed away and the land is made fertile for new life.

In Ancient Egypt, the Inundation was one of the hallmarks of the New Year, bringing a new season of planting, harvest, and possibility.  'We are in an Inundation,' I think to myself. Astrologically we're moving through a series of solar flares, planetary retrogrades and squares that all support an energetic flooding, revisiting and clearing of our inner landscapes.

Just minutes ago, outside, I ran into someone I haven't seen in a while. Another healing practitioner, he speaks the way a reverend or other deeply spiritual person often does: "How are things unfolding for you?  . . . Ah, yes, this is indeed a time where what we do not need is being shown to us so that we can make peace, let go, or transform. . . What blessings are you noticing?" 

"I am noticing that everything I have ever asked for, I have received," I confess. "I am noticing that I'm fortunate, but also impatient. I like things now. I like things yesterday. Tomorrow feels like it can't come fast enough, but when it does I'm not ready because I have been too busy clamouring rather than creating and taking care of business in the now. I am learning to just be in the present, and to welcome the gifts of the moment, and to remember that my future is lovingly cared for."

Behind him garbage cans overflow with trash waiting to be swept away. The morning is quiet, waiting too.  I turn to go and notice that a commercial water pump has broken and is flooding the street with water. Business inhabitants seemed unconcerned. 

Inundation. Flooding. I love being inundated with fortune. I love being flooded with the deep awareness of the beauty of my life, but sometimes that flood loosens old poisons and fears. Sometimes the flood clears strains of old anguish, grief, or madness, leeching these songs from my blood like floodwaters clearing veins of mercury in verdant sleeping mountains. I am sensitive this morning, aware of old stories that no longer have power over me, and noticing new ones that do.

I sit before my altar. I spend a few hours in prayer. Chanting, breathing, reading lines from buddhist sutras, I notice parts of my body that are tight. They resist change. Twice I cry as the relentless rhythm of the mantras open up my heart. Small epiphanies precede my tears, and I feel renewed once I've wiped the water away and moved deeper into the center of my being. This is why I love meditation.

For me this is the first day of the year. Again. Haha. Not only is this the Chinese New Year, but like a true Ancient Egyptian, I see the New Year in every moment, as each moment transforms potential in new realities (called Zep Tepi). 

My mind wants all things at once, and I breathe, learning to lovingly hold my center so I can move forward with clarity. 

Questions to meditate/journal on: How do we welcome an Inundation without judging it as good or bad? How do we celebrate 'now?'

blessings,

Dailey

__

© 2014 Dailey Little. Art: Scorpions and Magic by Fleurine CC license.  Be Present © Dailey Little. You are welcome to reproduce this article provided you do so in its entirety. Dailey Little is a Reiki Master and active practitioner. She teaches Reiki & other fun stuff through her private practice in Santa Rosa, CA. Join her joyful community for ReikiShares, Free Clinics, and eco-activism by signing up at her website, www.SantaRosaReiki.com

Healing Droughts

This is what I woke up thinking after a nap...

The earth right now has been so dry this winter, the sky spacious blue when it should be pouring. I think of the myth of Demeter(earth mother), who cries for her lost daughter Persephone, thus creating the seasons as she mourns her daughter's loss and rejoices her return. It is her tears that nourish the land even in the darkening season. It is her frozen emotion, melting upon Persephone’s return, that feeds the cycle of life.

When we as people choose not to allow our tears to surface because “we are strong enough not to,” we do greater injury to our delicate emotional makeup. When we deny that emotional process of grieving however it is most honestly reflected within us, then we starve our own future.

It is through the cleansing release of our own tears, and through the reflection of those emotional waters (even if frozen) that we gain the equilibrium to keep moving forward. If we never give in to the waters of our emotion, then how will the flowers of spring be fed? If there is no rain, how will new crops grow? Even our messier emotions feed our sunny days. We only make space in our lives for new and beautiful experiences if we allow our own inner terrain to stay permeable, soft, and open to new experiences.

It’s possible that we may need a period of deep winter freeze, of no life, of no activity. Eventually, winter turns to spring. Eventually, we will bloom again. So when it is time to cry, let yourself cry. You are simply honoring the cycles of life, and feeding a future that has yet to unfold.

blessings!

Dailey

You Can Have It

from my Facebook Musings:

Is there a reason why you can't have everything you're asking for from the universe? A good reason?

Really think about this, and Please share! Because I believe that you, as well as I, deserve the very best that the world has to offer, and there's no reason it can't be that way.

Imagine how things might feel if you simply expect to be met in all of your ventures, no matter how scary or unlikely they may be. Imagine if you surrender your specific expectations around what you want, but are able to hold on to faith that your dreams, or something better REALLY ARE ON THEIR WAY.

All of your problems will be resolved, and whatever you need to know, learn, do, or face, you will do with grace and confidence. If you ask the world for support and learn to listen to the signs, you will receive clear answers.

What if you hold, just for this weekend, that this process can be simple and even joyful? What if you begin, from today, to see your path as paved with good fortune?

What if you engrave that feeling of joyful expectation into your very bones, and allow appreciation to flow for every thing that occurs in line with your visions?

Blessings!

Dailey

Why Should I Meditate?

WHY SHOULD I MEDITATE?

This morning I am thinking about the act of meditation as I break from my morning meditations. Sometimes meditation is really just about calming the mind. That’s the surface of what meditation can be. When we crack the outer shell of our ego voices --you know, those voices that stream a running commentary in your mind about everything that’s happening around you and how you should feel about it-- we move very deeply into our bodies.

We begin to hear the stories that we have pushed aside, or pretended not to notice. When our minds get quiet, we may remember traumas that occurred to us: anything from a thoughtless catcall as we were crossing the street, to how the death of a loved one took its toll on our emotional well-being. We don’t have to remember these traumas, but as they come up, we can quite naturally let them go.

We all have masks, ways of moving in the world that allow us to “save face,” to be comfortably protected from emotional ravishment by our vigilant egos. When we meditate, calming our rolling waves of continuous thought, we open to the chance of moving deeply behind our mask, and behind our protective armor.

People often tell me, “But Dailey, I can’t meditate! It’s so hard!”

Yes, it is hard. It is hard to face vulnerable truths, to see things we may not like about ourselves or how we have been moving in the world. It is hard to tell the ego to shut up. But it doesn’t need to be. We can remove the label of toil from it, and simply think of meditation as sitting down with an old beloved friend; that beloved friend is you.

You can be kind and compassionate with yourself. Allow yourself to get quiet enough to slip into your being and see what your body wants to tell you, and listen without judgement. Listen to back aches an allow tears to come up, or desires, without castigating yourself for the experience. Just allow. Just be.

This is the very basic, very first step in what meditation is about. Everyday, sit with yourself. Get to know yourself beyond the projections and protective machinations of your ego. You can sit, stand, circumambulate, dance, run. . . there are many ways to be both mindful of your being, and to settle into the inner quiet that characterizes basic meditation. The more consistent you are, the more rewarding it becomes, just like nurturing any good relationship.

Do you meditate? I would love to hear your thoughts below about why you think it's important, and what challenges you come up against when--or if--you do! Will you share your thoughts with me?

blessings,

Dailey

Crystal Wisdom With Lepidolite

Crystal Wisdom with Lepidolite

The other day I woke up and went to get water when, in the still morning silence, a single word came to mind: Lepidolite.

I was pretty surprised. I don’t know anything about lepidolite, other than that it is a stone. Pushing myself to remember anything I could about it, I also remembered that I’d seen it at a crystal shop a few weeks back. I was surprised by how sharp and clear the word resounded in my thoughts.

“Well,” I thought to myself, “When stones speak, there is usually a reason.” I looked up lepidolite in my crystal book but nothing about the entry jumped out at me. A few days later I was browsing in Crystal Channels when it occurred to me to ask the owner Kami if she had any lepidolite. Sure enough she did, some very lovely pieces. With incredible kindness, she made a gift of lepidolite to me. The moment I held it in my hand, I didn’t want to let go, and I knew that this stone had work to do with me.

When I receive new stones, I usually cleanse them under clear running water, spend time to sit with them and check in about spiritual messages that may come through. However, there is no right or wrong way to work with stones. For the lepidolite, I felt drawn just to be with it, without doing any advanced shamanic work.

At home, I reread the same entry as before, and this time, it seemed like lepidolite was exactly what I needed. In the passing days between my original intuitive hit to look up lepidolite, my mind and spirit had gone through a number of experiences that had shifted my outlook, and now the gentle energies of the stone felt rejuvenating just when I needed it.

Here is just a tiny bit of what Melody (“Love is In the Earth” has to say about lepidolite (she’s got two pages of info!):

“[This mineral] opens the crown chakra and allows for the flowering of the inner blue lotus, assisting one to become aware of the subtle vibratory energies both within and without of the self. It is used for stress reduction and to alleviate despondency. The energy of lepidolite is refreshing and almost sentimental; it assists in the transformation of the energies of the lesser spiritual ideals to the energies of universal light, hope, and acceptance. It is recognized as a ‘stone of transition,’ helping one through situations of variability in this life and assisting in the restructuring and reorganization of old patterns. It further serves to gently induce change and to allow for smooth passage during change.”

This seems like the perfect stone coming out of a busy holiday season, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t need to release the stresses that come from family gatherings (or lack thereof), shopping, responsibility and social expectation. Likewise, we all have personal beliefs--especially around love, self-care, and familial socialization--that are especially challenged during the holidays. If we can integrate the transformative lessons from our everyday living and allow ourselves to move into deeper alignment with love-based values, we unlock a deep well of joy within our lives.

It doesn’t need to be complicated. It can be very simple. Lepidolite has an energy that supports this vision of simple access to our joyful selves. Child-like is the word that comes to mind.

Stones do so much more than what a book says. There is no way to honor in words the power of their full-spectrum ability to heal. We must spend time with them and get to know how they affect us personally, just as we would a piece of art, or a new friend, or a good book. I met a woman who is helping someone through cancer, and I knew intuitively that lepidolite would be good for the both of them. I know someone else who is struggling with muscle tension and cramps from extreme tension to the point that they have become desensitized. Perhaps a piece of lepidolite would not erase all of that tension, but the stone speak on sublingual levels, sharing frequencies of wisdom with the body that trickle up to our consciousness. We find ourselves more prone to making necessary shifts for our well-being.

Some people simply will not seek or carry stones. I believe that sometimes we carry stones not just for our own incredible internal healing, but for the healing of others. As we heal what is out of balance within ourselves, we shift everything around us. I’m reminded of cars on a race track, and how one can get pulled into the wind pocket of another, being influenced for better or worse just by proximity to other cars. We people are like that, influencing one another. So I believe we are often carrying stone medicine that, while absolutely for us, may also be with us in order to touch other lives the stones might not otherwise reach.

Children play with stones all the time. If that we could all return to our childlike inner wisdom, and enjoy the gifts that nature has provided! (A very lepidolitian statement, haha)

blessings in the New Year,

Dailey

______________

Art: Lepidolite © jarous - Fotolia.com. My lepidolite looks very similar to this in color, but it is polished and smooth. Lepidolite comes in many shapes and colors, all of which affect how the stone may best be used.