self-help
The Spiritual Aspect Of Physical Ailments
As a medical Reiki master and teacher, I have come to understand that there is often a spiritual aspect to almost every illness, pain or symptom that comes up in the physical body. When we are not in alignment with our spiritual self, it can create imbalances in many aspects of our health and wellness.
Note that I always recommend seeking and following professional medical advice. Despite the possible underlying metaphysical and spiritual aspects of any illness or disease, you must never assume that the intervention of a registered medical practitioner is not needed. Always seek medical advice if you are not feeling well, and do not stop using whatever medication and treatments have been prescribed for you without consulting your doctor. It could save your life.
What I can however recommend is to supplement your conventional medical treatment with energy work and other spiritual healing practices. The Eastern practice of Reiki is something you can use effectively to compliment your western medicine treatment.
Reiki is an energy healing modality that brings our chi into alignment. Chi is the energy of life itself. It is an electromagnetic energy which flows through everything in creation. Reiki brings the chi of the body, mind, and spirit back into alignment and can reveal which areas need to be worked on, or released, or simply acknowledged.
Here are a few examples of common spiritual meanings behind some of our ailments. Headaches are often associated with self-criticism and fear. They are also a source of feeling invalidated in some way and often aimed at the self. The solution is to start affirming how amazing you are, how divinely perfect you are, how much you love yourself. The best affirmation you can say is:
I love myself unconditionally. I am perfectly perfect as I am.
A Smile Is Contagious Too!
As we continue to find our way through the seemingly never-ending twists and turns of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is understandable that many of us are anxious, frustrated, and worried. Our lives and health are still at risk, our jobs and businesses remain in jeopardy, and parents are unsure about sending their children back to school.
Even so, there is a light at the end of the tunnel as many inroads have been made. There seems to be a feeling of increasing lightness and hope as the restrictions are gradually being lifted. In some places, people are nearly back to pre-pandemic norms, but for many of us many challenges and restrictions remain for the time being.
If you are feeling stifled and frustrated by the circumstances, remind yourself that it is the little things that we will come to appreciate after having gone without them for so long.
For example, with masks no longer required in some outdoor settings, we can now see each other’s faces again! And is it not wonderful to be able to make even the tiniest connection again with a smile?
Whether it is a neighbor you have known for years, or a stranger on the street, why not take the opportunity to smile at them as you pass by? Grin at the cute kids playing outside, or the adorable dogs owners are walking. Appreciate the little things. Gratitude and appreciation is empowering. Kindness and compassion is healing. And a smile is powerful. It can transform someone’s day in an instant.
Smiling is universal. In every country and culture, people smile. A smile represents kindness, joy and happiness. A smile can break through worries for a brief moment and make someone’s day. A smile can be reassuring or comforting when support is needed most.
Have you been asking Spirit, God, the Universe for the same thing for years? Has true love been on your manifesting to-do list for as long as you can remember? Are you constantly struggling with your finances? Are you still looking for that dream job?
It is not as if you have done nothing to make miracles happen for you. You have been working faithfully with your guides and the angels. You have studied the Universal Law of Attraction and the art of manifesting. You have consulted psychics, mediums, healers, diviners and astrologers, and all of them have been telling you ‘it’s coming.’
But still, nothing.
So, what gives? Why has your heart’s desire not arrived yet? I hear this question time and again from clients and I have even dealt with it myself in my own life. So, if this is happening to you, you are certainly not alone.
And no, your intuition is not ‘broken’ and your guides are not ignoring you! The Universe is not too busy making other people’s dreams come true. There are many factors involved in successful manifestation and various possible reasons for the lack of results in your life. Often all you need is a few simple adjustments to create the perfect climate for receiving divine guidance and many blessings.
Firstly, there is the aspect of divine timing. It is often true that we must first work through some very important life lessons and do some personal work, before you can receive what it is we truly desire.
If you truly feel you’ve done all your work, but your desires still are not manifesting, then ask your guides if there is something you are missing, or have possibly been unwilling to see, that is still holding you back. This is also a great time to get a second set of eyes on the situation.
It may also be that those involved in the fulfillment of your desire have not completed their work. In that case, either resign yourself to be patient while setting an intention for them to make rapid progress, or ask your guides if a suitable replacement can be found that is willing to step up now and step into the role.
Ask Spirit To Guide Your Every Step
As babies we learned to walk on our own. We may have had some guidance and support from our parents or caregivers, to protect us from falling, but in the end we mastered it on our own. And once we learned to walk, we could in time advance to running, skipping, jumping, and so on.
Similarly, we must learn to make major life decisions for ourselves. We may receive guidance and support along the way from others, including Spirit, but in the end, we must master our life choices on our own.
One of the major challenges we all face in life is how we choose to manage stress and hardship in our life. Stress is a given. Setbacks happen. Overcoming adversity is part and parcel of our journey in this lifetime. No one can live an entirely peaceful and easy life of serene bliss, without dealing with some drama and chaos from time to time.
But we choose different ways to cope with the daily challenges of life. Some people choose to lead a healthy, uplifting lifestyle, as well as practice spirituality, while others sadly opt for destructive ways to ‘cope,’ such as substance abuse, various forms of addiction, and self-sabotaging behaviors, which only serves to make their troubles worse.
When it comes to spirituality, everyone must choose their own path. It is usually what works best for you personally that is ultimately the best way to go. But some choose to not have any belief system. One thing I have learned in this life is that spirituality is essential.
You don’t have to go it alone. There is a great force, a powerful presence known as God, Source, Universe, Spirit, the Divine that guides and protects us. All we must do is ask.
Another important life lesson I have learned is that no one can truly know what you are personally going through, except yourself. Others will have their ideas and opinions of who you are, and what you may be going through, but none of that really matters.
Lucid Dreaming
When we experience a lucid dream we are aware that we are dreaming. Dreamers also report that when they are having a lucid dream, they seem to be able to control the dream to some extent and they also tend to remember them better. In my experience it is like being half asleep and half awake. One time, I actually got up for a drink of water in the middle of a lucid dream, went back to bed, and continued my dream right where I left off!
For me lucid dreaming feels like being in the state of hypnosis – a ‘light’ state of hypnosis in which you have some control over how the session goes. You are in the dream state, but still aware of things around you. You are in a have heightened state of awareness.
Everyone I have discussed the subject of lucid dreaming with usually say they enjoy the experience. Some even say they wish they could stay is that frame of mind longer. When you lucid dream, write down your experience. Enjoy the movie of your mind.
The term ‘lucid dream’ was coined in 1913 by Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in his article A Study of Dreams. It usually happens during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. When we sleep cycle through phases of non-REM and REM. REM sleep happens about an hour to 90 minutes after we fall asleep and this is when we tend to have vivid dreams.
It is estimated that at last 50 percent of adults have experienced at least one lucid dream in their lifetime. I have them all the time. The first lucid dream I can remember was when I was about thirteen years old. I was having a lucid dream of talking to my dad. But unlike our normal waking interactions, this conversation went exactly as I wanted it to go. I asked if he would let me go to New York for three weeks, and he said yes!
Since that time, it became increasingly common for me to slip into the lucid dream state. For me it usually happens in the morning, as I am waking up, but then going halfway back to sleep.
The Self-Healing Miracle Of Letting Go
In the mid-90s, I had the opportunity to attend The Sedona Method Technique Teacher Training course in Arizona. The experience pierced the core of my being and changed my life forever.
Initially, I was reluctant to go, because I was living in Michigan at the time with my husband and two young daughters. My youngest was around a year old and our older daughter was only five. We had not been living in Michigan very long as we had only recently moved there, and I was terribly worried about leaving them for two weeks!
Nevertheless, I convinced myself to go, because my husband had gone to a previous workshop and raved about how it transformed his life. I sensed it would be good tool to incorporate into my psychic readings and metaphysical work.
When I arrived at the workshop there were attendees from all over the world, including psychiatrists, psychologists, and even scientists. To be honest, I felt a little awkward being thrown in with a bunch of ‘genius nerds’ with various fancy post-graduate degrees. It was a bit intimidating to feel that many of them probably had a much better understanding and formal education on human behavior than I did. However, that did not prevent me from also learning this wonderful technique.
The Sedona Method is based on the concept of Emotional Intelligence (EQ). It is different from intellectual intelligence, because it refers to our ability to recognize and regulate our own emotions, and how skilled we are at using social awareness to find solutions to daily challenges and life problems.
The Sedona Method therefore teaches one how to improve your EQ. In the same way we can go to the gym to strengthen a muscle, or do brain training puzzles to improve our memory, we can also train and develop our emotional intelligence.
Our natural impulse when something makes us sad, angry, or fearful, is to resist and fight back, or shut down emotionally to it. Emotional intelligence requires that we take a step back, take a breath, and release the urge to go with a kneejerk reaction of firing back or shutting down.
Finding The Courage To Heal
All of us will experience some heartache, adversity and grief in our life. It may be a serious health scare, the ending of a relationship or marriage, the tragic loss of a loved one, retrenchment from a ‘secure’ job, sudden bankruptcy, becoming homeless due to a foreclosure, or becoming the victim of abuse and violence.
These major setbacks in life can be truly devastating, and the pain and trauma extremely difficult to rise up from again. In such times of loss or trauma, it is vital to allow yourself to feel your true emotions. To effectively process and heal from traumatic events. hardship and bereavement, we must acknowledge our raw feelings. Grief and trauma are deeply private and personal journeys with no rules and no deadlines.
However, do not allow the ego to keep you trapped indefinitely in a place of anger, bitterness, hopelessness, or self-pity. If left unattended for too long, our initial emotional responses to the negative event can become toxic in a way that simply keeps us away from our truly divine self and our future happiness.
Yes, it is always hard work to release intense loss or trauma and move forward. It takes courage, self-awareness, and inner strength. However, if you proceed with faith, trusting and believing that this too shall pass, and that there is a reason for everything, even if you don’t understand it right now, you will ultimately be able to move forward in a healthy and productive way.
No matter what happens to you in life, you will grow stronger and wiser by working through it. Regardless how intense the dark night of your soul may be, move forward step by step, day by day, trusting that you can heal and will become stronger. Focus on self-care and loving yourself and hold the faith that better days are coming into your life. We all deserve to be happy and have inner peace.