If you are anything like me, you have about 10 new year’s resolutions! However, they might all have one common thread. You have probably chosen goals to improve your spiritual, mental and/or physical wellbeing.
These are the three things us reiki healers ask for ourselves, friends, family and clients at the start of every session, so it makes sense to base our resolutions around these.
In this blog post, I want to look at how we can harness Reiki to guide your goals this year. So whether you are an energy worker or want to find ways to grow spiritually this year, here are my top five pieces of advice to create Reiki inspired resolutions…
1. Find your soul tribe
If you are spiritually curious and don’t have many like-minded friends, it’s time to find your tribe! I have friends and clients who ask me where to find such groups as they haven’t been able to find any. But I can guarantee that if you do a little digging, even the most seemingly mundane city will have at least one good group! At the very least, you’ll be able to find a meditation or yoga group that meets at a community hall, or a spiritualist church.
Not found a group in your area that fits your particular vibe? Look for online communities or dare to create your own tribe! About five years ago, a reiki master friend of mine noticed there weren’t any reiki development groups in Sheffield, so she created one! I now co-organise them with her, and we host monthly online sessions, plus quarterly in-person reiki shares. If you are a reiki healer at any level or are just interested in giving manifesting a go in a supportive group, get in touch!
2. Work with the cycles
If you have one big resolution to fulfil by the end of the year, it helps to chop them up into smaller goals and spread them out. For example, you want to be healthier. So you break that up into quitting chocolate, joining a trampolining class and running a 5k. However, it’s probably a bad idea to book your 5k for February. You might literally be run before you can walk! That’s not to say you can’t, but you’re setting yourself a big challenge when it’s dark and cold and energy isn’t on your side.
Secondly, consider the dates of events and classes you want to join. If it’s day one of your period when you go to a new trampolining class, you’re probably not honouring your body’s need to rest. Similarly think about what stage of the cycle the moon is in. When it’s waxing, you are likely to feel more energetic. But when it’s waning you are likely to be feeling tired and anti-social.
I booked a tarot workshop in for February, then before I knew it, it was January and I hadn’t clarified the details with the venue or started advertising it so I moved it to April – the start of the astrological year. It will be warmer, sunnier and I’ll have more energy. My advice? Make your goal deadlines March at the very earliest!
3. Meditate regularly
I am such a hypocrite for saying this because I have fallen out of the practice myself, but pick up any book about crystals, chakras, psychic abilities, and so on, and it will tell you meditation is the key to spiritual and mental transformation. I went to a 12-week psychic development group last year, and there it was again. The advice was to meditate or as they called it “sitting in the power” every day.
“When will we find the time?” we groaned. But the tutors reinforced that it wasn’t about the length of time, but the regularity that mattered. It’s better to meditate for five minutes a day than one hour a week. That’s not to say you shouldn’t. Once a week is better than nothing. When my mum struggled to meditate at home, she went to a weekly class.
You might even be meditating without realising it. Giving Reiki to yourself or a friend is an act of meditation. Setting an intention and focussing on it is an act of meditation. Taking a walk and concentrating on nothing but your breath is an act of meditation. When I can’t sleep, I listen to a guided meditation - I recommend Jason Stevenson. All these examples count. It’s just about finding the type that’s right for you.
4. Get back to basics
Not sure what your resolution should be? Is your resolution to practice mantras to improve your mental health? Need some words to repeat while you meditate? The Reiki Principles are great to practice saying, whether you want to develop your Reiki skills or not. Some Reiki practitioners even frame and hang them on their walls as a daily reminder.
Why are they so great? Because saying we will do our best just for one day seems like a small and achievable goal. Maybe before you know it, you will have done some or all of them just for a week, just for a month, then maybe even a whole year!
Just for today, I will not worry
Just for today, I will not be angry
Just for today, I will be grateful
Just for today, I will do my work honestly
Just for today, I will be kind to every living thing
5. Make yourself accountable
Really want to stick to your new year’s resolutions? Get a friend to make you stick to them! By telling your friend your resolutions and deadlines, it makes them feel more concrete and as though you can’t keep moving the goal posts. Writing this blog regularly is one of mine, so my friend and I got our notebooks out and agreed some publication dates I need to stick to. Speaking of which, I better get this posted, before she tells me off!