Good Things Come to Those Who Are Afraid
Can you remember back to when you did level one? Funny thing
happened, right? You'd paid in advance to come to the course, you were
excited to be coming, you knew you were going to get a lot out of it and
yet...
You were afraid.
Yes, if you were like a lot of people, you may even have considered postponing the course, ringing in sick or just not coming - full stop.
Now, some people are anxious because they are afraid they are not ready, that they're not going to get the hang of Reiki. They are afraid that they'll be sitting in class, the rest of the group will be zapping each other with Reiki energy and they won't feel a thing.
More often than not, however, people aren't sure why they are afraid. It's just an uneasy feeling that takes hold of them and makes them want to stay at home for the weekend.
To begin with I couldn't understand this fear. Why not want a gift as incredible as Reiki in your life? Why hesitate?
It took time, but having observed hundreds and hundreds of students over many years, I now understand that the root cause of this anxiety or fear - in most cases - is simply the fear of change.
Students may not consciously know what Reiki can do for them before they try it, but in the lead-up to a course they intuitively sense that it's going to create change in their life and, although they may want change, the idea of it (or premonition or gut feeling that change is about to happen) makes them uncomfortable.
If you think that this is odd, ask yourself how you felt last time change was on your horizon - even change you knew you wanted to happen. Were you nervous? Did the idea make you uncomfortable?
Most likely.
That is why so many people continue to stay in relationships that don't fulfil them, in places that don't resonate with them, in habits that bore them.
That's why there is the saying, 'Better the devil you know'?
Funnily enough, I've recently had a taste of this myself. Having made my way over to the United States to attend a Jack Canfield training program (starting tomorrow), I've just gone through a pre-course exercise to help me - amongst other things - get clear on why I've come.
And what do you think I felt as I worked my way through it?
Yes, a mild degree of anxiety! I wanted the information in the course, sure, but the idea of doing things differently made me uncomfortable!
Fortunately, I realized two things:
1) What I was experiencing was the fear of change.
2) To get better results than the ones I currently get, I'm going to need to do different things.
This is a bit of a bummer, but there is no way around it. As the old cliché goes, 'If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.'
Interestingly, once I recognized that I was afraid of change, much of the fear vanished right away and, while I'm still a little nervous about the changes I may need to make, it doesn't really bother me. I simply accept myself and my fear, knowing that is the price everyone - except perhaps the most advanced souls - pay when confronted by change.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself that all this doesn't really concern you, that, to be honest, you're not that fussy about change because you are content with things as they are.
You're happy with life.
You're happy to live in the moment.
And you don't need change!
This, of course, may be true. But odds are definitely against it.
The German philosopher Nietzsche once came up with the idea of the 'eternal return' which, simplified, imagines a scenario where you are forced to repeat your life up to this point over and over again for eternity.
Imagine that: every day and detail of your life up to this point relived over and over again forever. How would that strike you? Would you be happy to do that? Or does it sound more like a nightmare?
I've talked to a lot of people about this idea, and I'm yet to meet a single person who would genuinely be happy to continue reliving their life.
No, truth is, they want things to get better. They don't want to relive their life up until now, they want to live a better version of it.
Well how about reliving your current day then? Forget your entire life - your childhood, high school etc. How about just reliving yesterday over and over again for the rest of your life? Today?
To this question, I'm sure a few people wouldn't be so unhappy. But not the majority. The majority of people want something better - better even than today. In fact, they cope with today (or yesterday) precisely because of the dream of a better tomorrow.
This might all sound a bit depressing, but recognising that we need to change is a large part of the battle. That is what the Buddhist 1st Noble Truth (generally translated as 'Life is suffering') is all about. It's not about getting depressed. It's not about giving up. It's about recognizing that some things aren't as they could be, working out what they are, and then changing them. Because without this first step, without recognizing that some things just aren't right, we will continue to spin in the same circles.
Yes, the only way out is to become aware of what we are doing and then change direction. Change direction even when we know change can be uncomfortable, when we know that a part of us would prefer 'the devil we know.'
So let's face up to a few things:
1) Most of us fear change.
2) A lot of the time we try to hide this fear - even from ourselves.
3) We need to make changes if we want to live a life better than the one we are currently living.
There is a saying that 'everything we want is just outside our comfort zone' - and that's true. Disregarding extreme scenarios and rare exceptions, we don't have the things we want because we are not doing the things we need to get them.
But as rabbits wisely say: 'If you want fresh grass, you have to climb out of the rabbit hole'.
So let's follow those rabbits and be bold. Let's face our fear, climb out of our rabbit hole, and enjoy the results that fresh actions give us.
Let's set about creating a life we would be happy relive time and time again.
You were afraid.
Yes, if you were like a lot of people, you may even have considered postponing the course, ringing in sick or just not coming - full stop.
Now, some people are anxious because they are afraid they are not ready, that they're not going to get the hang of Reiki. They are afraid that they'll be sitting in class, the rest of the group will be zapping each other with Reiki energy and they won't feel a thing.
More often than not, however, people aren't sure why they are afraid. It's just an uneasy feeling that takes hold of them and makes them want to stay at home for the weekend.
To begin with I couldn't understand this fear. Why not want a gift as incredible as Reiki in your life? Why hesitate?
It took time, but having observed hundreds and hundreds of students over many years, I now understand that the root cause of this anxiety or fear - in most cases - is simply the fear of change.
Students may not consciously know what Reiki can do for them before they try it, but in the lead-up to a course they intuitively sense that it's going to create change in their life and, although they may want change, the idea of it (or premonition or gut feeling that change is about to happen) makes them uncomfortable.
If you think that this is odd, ask yourself how you felt last time change was on your horizon - even change you knew you wanted to happen. Were you nervous? Did the idea make you uncomfortable?
Most likely.
That is why so many people continue to stay in relationships that don't fulfil them, in places that don't resonate with them, in habits that bore them.
That's why there is the saying, 'Better the devil you know'?
Funnily enough, I've recently had a taste of this myself. Having made my way over to the United States to attend a Jack Canfield training program (starting tomorrow), I've just gone through a pre-course exercise to help me - amongst other things - get clear on why I've come.
And what do you think I felt as I worked my way through it?
Yes, a mild degree of anxiety! I wanted the information in the course, sure, but the idea of doing things differently made me uncomfortable!
Fortunately, I realized two things:
1) What I was experiencing was the fear of change.
2) To get better results than the ones I currently get, I'm going to need to do different things.
This is a bit of a bummer, but there is no way around it. As the old cliché goes, 'If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.'
Interestingly, once I recognized that I was afraid of change, much of the fear vanished right away and, while I'm still a little nervous about the changes I may need to make, it doesn't really bother me. I simply accept myself and my fear, knowing that is the price everyone - except perhaps the most advanced souls - pay when confronted by change.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself that all this doesn't really concern you, that, to be honest, you're not that fussy about change because you are content with things as they are.
You're happy with life.
You're happy to live in the moment.
And you don't need change!
This, of course, may be true. But odds are definitely against it.
The German philosopher Nietzsche once came up with the idea of the 'eternal return' which, simplified, imagines a scenario where you are forced to repeat your life up to this point over and over again for eternity.
Imagine that: every day and detail of your life up to this point relived over and over again forever. How would that strike you? Would you be happy to do that? Or does it sound more like a nightmare?
I've talked to a lot of people about this idea, and I'm yet to meet a single person who would genuinely be happy to continue reliving their life.
No, truth is, they want things to get better. They don't want to relive their life up until now, they want to live a better version of it.
Well how about reliving your current day then? Forget your entire life - your childhood, high school etc. How about just reliving yesterday over and over again for the rest of your life? Today?
To this question, I'm sure a few people wouldn't be so unhappy. But not the majority. The majority of people want something better - better even than today. In fact, they cope with today (or yesterday) precisely because of the dream of a better tomorrow.
This might all sound a bit depressing, but recognising that we need to change is a large part of the battle. That is what the Buddhist 1st Noble Truth (generally translated as 'Life is suffering') is all about. It's not about getting depressed. It's not about giving up. It's about recognizing that some things aren't as they could be, working out what they are, and then changing them. Because without this first step, without recognizing that some things just aren't right, we will continue to spin in the same circles.
Yes, the only way out is to become aware of what we are doing and then change direction. Change direction even when we know change can be uncomfortable, when we know that a part of us would prefer 'the devil we know.'
So let's face up to a few things:
1) Most of us fear change.
2) A lot of the time we try to hide this fear - even from ourselves.
3) We need to make changes if we want to live a life better than the one we are currently living.
There is a saying that 'everything we want is just outside our comfort zone' - and that's true. Disregarding extreme scenarios and rare exceptions, we don't have the things we want because we are not doing the things we need to get them.
But as rabbits wisely say: 'If you want fresh grass, you have to climb out of the rabbit hole'.
So let's follow those rabbits and be bold. Let's face our fear, climb out of our rabbit hole, and enjoy the results that fresh actions give us.
Let's set about creating a life we would be happy relive time and time again.
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