reiki response

I just took a Reiki I class yesterday, and I think it may have thrown me off a bit.

I liked the class; it attuned us to the first level of reiki practice. Some parts of it I thought were neat, other parts seemed a little hokey to me, perhaps. But the main message of Reiki I really like, because it contains lots of similarities to the values I have about life, loving kindness, and releasing of "ego":

"For today only, anger not, worry not,
Have humility and gratitude.
Do your work with appreciation;
Be kind to all."

During the class, we each received an attunement to activate our ability to channel Reiki energy, which is basically the same concept of chi, or prana, in other meditative practices in other cultures. We were warned that after our attunement, for the next several days we might have a reaction to it. Some people get sick, others may feel pleasant or unpleasant emotions, some people may notice nothing; it depends on the individual.

As for me, I think I may be in the "unpleasant emotions" camp. I've been in really good spirits the past month or so, having finally adjusted to my new job and lifestyle change. All of a sudden, after the class, though, I've been feeling super irritable, which hasn't happened to me in a while. I feel off, a little spacey, and restless, and I notice myself taking things personally and reacting strongly to what I know doesn't really have to be a big deal. I hope it's the Reiki, and not just me being crappy! I guess the best I can do is follow the advice about what to do for the few weeks after the class (do self-Reiki, drink lots of water, meditate, eat healthily) and try to keep the basic principles in mind. Even if it doesn't do anything (although doing those things should have positive effects, Reiki or no Reiki), it can't hurt, right?

stop and send the flowers!

I had a kind of silly epiphany last week concerning Mother's Day, that I credit to my girlfriend's good influence on me. The epiphany was entitled, "Flowers: To Send or Not To Send?" The first section obviously cited previous research on the subject, namely all the previous years I had considered sending flowers, but didn't, because I felt they were too trite, and weren't special enough to show real appreciation to my mom. So instead, I waffled until Mother's Day came around, and then I guiltily picked up the phone and told her Happy Mother's Day, feeling like the most worthless daughter ever.

Following the acknowledgement of past works came the new breakthrough formula:

no flowers = no sign of appreciation = 0
flowers = a sign of appreciation = 1
1 > 0
a sign of appreciation > no sign of appreciation
therefore, flowers > no flowers

...or in other words, in conclusion, "'Tis greater to give flowers than to give no flowers." Duh! I spent all that time fretting over doing something great, and all that time I was just sending the message to my mom that I wasn't even thinking of her at all.

Yeah, it's pretty silly, but it took me a few years to figure it out. ; P

the biking thing

I recently started bicycling to work; since my knee's got problems and I'm not in the best shape of my life, I've been alternating car and bike. I'm definitely jazzed about the biking thing--it's good for so many reasons:

• It's good for my health.
• I never feel like I get enough chances to enjoy the daylight hours now that I have a day job, and let's be honest, the last thing I want to do once I've driven home in my car is motivate myself to leave again.
• It beats riding the stationary bike in the gym. Besides, exercise tends to be easier for me when it comes with a higher purpose, like getting to work and home.
  
• I save gas, which is especially meaningful now that California gas prices are climbing.
• I don't pollute.
• The exercise helps stress.
• Best of all, NO ROTTEN ROAD RAGE!

I did have a disturbing thought as I biked over a bridge crossing a 10 lane freeway, like, what if eventually freeways and cars get upgraded to the way they are in Minority Report, with the capsules going vertically and in all directions? How the heck am I going to continue biking to work?? The transition will creep up on us slowly; it's already started with the traffic light sensors that don't recognize bicycles. How embarrassing for me the newbie to hang out by myself at an intersection for 17 years with my office really only 2 blocks away, only to eventually have to sling my remaining dignity over to the corner to push the pedestrian cross button.

Anyway, I think everyone could benefit from biking to work, as long as they're not prohibitively far away from it. My 2c.

One score and three years ago...

...I began an endeavour which I now manifest here--to find that thing called love. Not romantic love, to be specific, but the all encompassing love that is the stem of everything good, everything positive, that I've encountered in life. Call it karma, call it mojo (mojo? did I really just say that?), call it whatever, I am converging towards that sweet stuff and I gotta do what I can to keep going there. Hah...didn't mean for it to sound so...ahem. But since my current career doesn't seem to give me the fulfillment I need in this respect, I hereby pronounce this blog to be the record and sometimes vehicle to my ongoinglife mission.

Anyway, enough with the declaration of moi. I seriously don't always take myself so seriously...but I had to start the blog somehow. Keep it real, people. Love ya!