so grumpy

today. What's up with that? Um, nothing.

Started with an email last night. "Ice storm. We may have a 2 hour delay in am." Awesome! Sleep in!

Ok. Had the ice storm, no delay. Instead: usual 0520 alarm and resulting continual checking of storm line, storm notifications, and texts. When would delay be posted? Hit snooze x 3 and kept checking. urgh. Evidently no delay. Get up, attempt to transform self to beauty or at least social acceptability, drink water, ease over ice to car: don't fall & break a hip!, get  breakfast at D & D, get self to work.

Instruct. Hope students will be open to instruction.

Drive home, miss dog, talk to plants, do laundry, answer work emails, combat grumpiness. Oh- brilliant student posts in online class, super! Oh, peace and safety in my home= peace. Oh, emails from friends, letters from family.... a bit of contentment. 

another one...

and do we really "send" it, or do we locate and activate the energy where it is?

I sure love to think about Reiki. 

distance Reiki

does it go right round the world, or through it?

I wonder because I sent Reiki to Australia last night. I thought, from the client's name, I'd be sending to Ireland. Partly correct, Irish, living in Australia. Then today Julia, living in India, offered to send Reiki back home to Maine. Got me thinking.

Up, over, around, or through?

national nursing conference

Got the news today. Will present my Reiki research at a conference, a poster presentation. So excited! Have the plane tickets and hotel reservation. A trip, Reiki, holistic nurses.

UK

Thanks for buying my book... hope you enjoy it.

wind like a train

It's been cold. It's winter, it's Maine, we don't have a lot of snow, but it's cold. SubZero temps and windy, so it feels like 20 or 30 below or something.

I remember skiing down a mountain in Washington with a wind chill of 80 below. That was too cold. I took just one run. Sat by the fire in the lodge the rest of the day.

So it's cold. Can't believe how much home heating oil I burned last week. A lot.  Here's a math problem for you. The tank holds 275 gallons and I burned 1/8 tank, at what, $3.50/gallon. How much is that?

I worked from 6 am til 7 pm today. I walked to work from the parking lot; it was dark and cold. I clutched my cup of hot coffee and walked purposefully, head down, scapulae scrunched. Walked back to my car at 1 pm and it was windy - my sinuses ached, I thought, "oh my goodness!" and scurried as fast as I could.

I taught a class tonight on the fifth floor, top floor: there were sunlights. The wind blasting across the sunlights sounded like rain or pellets. I left the class at 7 pm. The wind was abrasive. "It's so windy," I thought. "The wind sounds like a train." Then I saw the train. Yeah, a real one, going across the tracks."Oh, it sounds like a train because it is a train."

But it was windy. Really windy. And cold. Expecting several more days of this arctic cold. I put my car in the garage and hope it will start in the morning. I'm afraid if I leave it in the driveway it won't; the wind will suck the life out of it.

No need to lock your car right now, no robbers are about. Too cold

Too cold for anything but stay inside, stay warm, read books. 

subzero

outside, dark and windy.

It's 70 degrees in my living room. Over in the office, the next room over, it's 46 degrees. The office is a converted porch: windows all around and crawl space below. Worked in the office for a little while, rewriting my research article for the 50th time or so, it feels like. Kept jumping up to check the thermometer, put on more clothes, and crank the thermostat up another degree. Got a little work done.

Now feels like the right time to go read in bed. 

cold enough to make your teeth shiver

Minus 30 to minus 15 F, that's minus 34.4 to minus 26C. Cold. Makes my teeth hurt, nostrils freeze shut, and fingertips ache. I have to look down to make sure I'm wearing my winter jacket, to see if I'm wearing anything at all. I am. I'm still cold.

No mosquitoes, black flies, or copper beetles. No slugs. Don't have to run the air conditioners. No sunburn. Plenty of room at the beach. Put your towel anywhere.

Better yet, toss another log on the fire and curl up on the couch with a good book. I'm reading Discovery of Witches for the 4th time. Maybe should try another book, I tell myself, as I cycle continually through it and it's sequel. Why switch, I answer. I like being in this world.

So it's cold outside, snowy. Warm and peaceful inside. Winter in Maine. 

crumbs

on the floor.

Haven't had dried food crumbs on the floor for many years. How many? Oh, 13 or so. For this and many other reasons I miss Fluffernutter.

I talk to the plants now. I don't go outside at night to gaze at the stars and marvel at the temperature. When I look up from my work, no one returns my gaze. I walk alone. For these, and many other reasons, I miss you, Fluff. 

Hawayo Takata's address to the US Congress

Reading a wonderful piece: Hawayo Takata's address to the US Congress in 1961.

Here's the link

She says some marvelous things. Talks about Reiki as a vital life force that radiates from the sun.
Says our hands are electrodes, Reiki is similar to radio waves.
It's a remarkable statement. Please read.



Full link: http://aetw.org/reiki_takata_special_committee.html

kirtan

Went to kirtan this evening.

There was a fire in the fireplace: chunks of dry wood produced radiant coals. I longed to poke the coals, rein in stray ends, and artfully stack the pyre. Alas, was too far from the scene, too shy.

There was a most delicious birthday cake. Vanilla, surprisingly not airy and not sickeningly sweet. Oh it was dense moist deliciousness, like a pound cake. Topped with cream cheese frosting. Wow, so good. I rarely eat store cake. This was a worthy exception. "From a European bakery," the host said. It was his birthday.

There were friendly, smiling people. Maybe 70? Maybe 100? We sought companionship, spiritual satisfaction, or maybe just cake.

There was a keg of scalding hot chai. It was milky, sweet, and filling. Thank you, Jewel of India.

There was one beautiful child. She said she was 6 years old. She had wavy, almost kinky, white-blond hair down her back. She wore an embroidered red velvet dress and red tights. She scampered, cavorted, and crawled: drawing our eyes and smiles.

There was sound. Sound healing from the inside and out. Our own sounds and our community sound. Sound and music led us to spirit, love, and connection.

It was loud: I felt free to bellow. I could feel my own sound in my sternum. I was surrounded and enveloped in sound.

There were strings of colored lights. A conch, bells, and clapping. The fire flamed and glowed in the stone fireplace.

There was sacred music. The host sat down to his harmonium. We started with gentle chanting: sing and repeat. We Are All One. Then the drums started. There were startling, barely contained, explosions of sound and energy. Kirtan. 

walk

Took myself for a walk yesterday. Realized it was my first walk since Fluff passed 6 weeks ago.

She took just short walks the last year of her life. We used to drive off for explorations, but she mostly stayed in the car. She would get out for short rambles, but not long walks or hikes in the woods.

So I went, just me. It was warm and foggy. I hiked up a small hill. It's a funny hill. Right in the middle of the city, at the edge of a college campus. Only 500 feet up: you can just about run up, but here's the funny thing- it feels quite alpine at the top. It's bald rock with stunted plants and 360 degree views.  It's surrounded by big old pines, woods, forest. It feels far away. I'm usually the only person up there.

Stayed up there awhile. Found rabbit tracks in the snow. Too wet to sit, I wandered around the top. Fog gathered and dripped from pinecones. There was moss and lichen.

I slid down in the slush, didn't want to fall and get all wet. Slid, didn't fall.

Took a long walk around campus. It's so beautiful there: architecture, landscaping, and wide spaces. Lots of people walking dogs. I walked quickly, enjoying my own pace, and hardly cried at all. 

Reiki Stories

Walt Disney and spaghetti

When I was a kid every Sunday night was about Walt Disney and spaghetti.

We spread newspapers over the living room rug, my brother, 2 sisters, and I. We each had a table and chair, our own. We set those out over the newspapers. My dad made spaghetti and sauce with meatballs. There was parmesan cheese, Kraft, in the green can.

We were allowed to eat in the living room, and watch TV while we ate. It was the biggest treat of the week. 

laughing Reiki

We tried a new format at our Reiki share tonight. Less talking, more laughing, and more Reiki.

We talked for 20 minutes, down from our usual 60, shared Reiki for about an hour, then gathered again to process and close. There were 14 practitioners and a couple of guest clients. While sharing Reiki we had 3 rooms going. I could hear raucous bellows of laughter from the room next door. Reiki party room! We were too relaxed to speak at the end, we flopped and melted into soft chairs. We laughed at our inability to speak, we laughed at ourselves; we laughed for no good reason.

L led us in reciting the Reiki principles in Japanese. M brought peppery crackers and mellow cheese. B provided the deepest belly laughs, C told us about upcoming Reiki retreats, and N managed to speak wisely despite our collective merriment and languor. I could tell you how happy I was to see each person, but this post is long enough. Revel in the light & love; laugh :)

Reiki article

was rejected. Again.

The reviewers did not like the study design.

This is 3 years of research, hundreds of Reiki sessions. What a disappointment. So I guess I toss the data. Right? Redesign the study, start over?

Or try one more journal. And redesign study anyway. The reviewers want an experimental group, but how do you separate out what is Reiki and what isn't? What if every human has inherent healing abilities, whether he or she has been educated on Reiki or not? How do you figure out what Reiki is?

Reiki has a flat organizational chart

Something I love about Reiki: no hierarchy.

Lineage, Level, ability to access Reiki, effectiveness: all flat.

It's you and the energy.

Ok, there are differences in things you can learn: therapeutic communication, Reiki history, and ethics. These aspects are important. Study and experience make you a more effective facilitator. Yes.

But overall.... flat. Anyone can do it. Just learn. Practice self-Reiki every day. That's it.