Destiny Knocked AND I SAID NO

Many of my positive traits have come from walking a very long road filled with obstacles, boulders and pit falls. We develop empathy, compassion and love by experiencing pain at some level. When I was first introduced to Reiki my life was seemingly chaotic and tragic. I was in so much pain I honestly didn't know if I had the strength or the will to go on. It was a major turning point for me. Without the pain I probably wouldn't have been open enough to take the class, and that would have been a great mistake. When Polly, a teacher friend of mine asked me to attend a Reiki class at her house taught by a visiting Reiki Master in 1985 I though 'that's nice but I don't do weird stuff and I can't afford it anyway."

Luckily for me Polly was persistent and determined to introduce me to one of the most significant experiences in my life. To this day I consider her Destiny's angel. As I look back I realize that often when I was confronted with something new or frightening I said "No." Either because it was hard or too expensive or too something at the time. People tell me that I have the patience of Job, but I've come to believe that my angels and spirit guides have the patience of Job putting up with my constant resistance to my destiny or true path. I had my first misconception shattered when the Reiki Master walked in the door in a brown business suit (this did not fit with my perception of a strange person doing energy work) then she changed into more comfortable clothes and Birkenstocks to start the class. As I sat in the room listening to her explain the class and what we would be experiencing I was such a skeptic. I had convinced myself I would be her first failure. By the end of the class I truly felt like I had been waiting my whole life to take that course.

It was so wonderful for me I went out and reikied anyone who would let me. My children loved it and my husband thought I was crazy. Six months later I took my Reiki II class and realized how much Reiki had become a part of my daily life. As a side effect I became aware of how much Reiki helped me in the classroom as a teacher of learning disabled students. Wise teachers throughout time have told us that we are not human beings having a spiritual experience; rather we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Reiki changed my life, and helped me to realize that anything I really need to learn I end up teaching. So as the clock of destiny ticked away I was given the opportunity to become a Reiki Master. I took this opportunity because I wanted to get other teachers involved in Reiki. I knew that Reiki as a tool for teachers was invaluable and would help children of all ages deal with their lives and the school system. Being a Reiki Master is developing a delicate balance between the healer and teacher archetype and that takes years to develop. I will always be PIP (Patricia or Pat in Progress). Around the same time that I became involved with Reiki I discovered A COURSE OF MIRACLES. I love this book and it will take me a lifetime to incorporate it and understand it. For me the principles of Reiki and the theme of the Course go hand in hand. When people ask me what I wanted to do with Reiki I always say I want to Reiki the world. The principles in Reiki if followed can heal this planet faster than anything I can imagine.

When I had time, I traveled to a variety of states to teach classes and share this healing power I had been blessed with. I had also written a grieving process book for families with the Creel family, a local family who had lost a son, called STEVE. Over the years I developed a Reiki book for my Reiki classes in my head, but I always told myself I was too busy to do that. One day one of my Reiki students called and asked if he could set up a class and bring his boss to my home. His boss was Tami Simon, another one of destiny's angels. She asked me if I had ever considered making a tape about Reiki from my Reiki book? I said (of course) "No", I haven't written a Reiki book yet. She said simply and directly "Well write it and maybe we can put together a tape from your ideas." So 2 weeks later on a plane flying back from South America in 1995 I started writing REIKI: A WAY OF LIFE. Of course then life really threw up all kinds of obstacles and the book wasn't actually finished or published until January 1999.

When I was a child my Irish grandmother used to tell me a wonderful story. Coincidentally, I have read or hear three or four versions of this story over the last ten years. Because I believe the Universe gives us messages daily, I realized that this story belongs in this article. There once was an Irish potato farmer whose pride and joy was his beautiful, strong farm horse. Every day the farmer and the horse plowed the fields, pulled out stumps, or dug fences. Every day the farmer stopped work at noon, unbuckled the horse's harness, and let the horse graze while he ate his meal under a tree. One day a thunderstorm rumbled across the green Irish hills and startled the horse. He ran off across the hills, and the farmer could not catch him. Well, his neighbors gathered together in the local pub trying to console the farmer. They were very concerned and said, "Oh, poor ol' Sean! This is such bad luck. He will never be able to get his fields ready now for planting." As they started to tell him how terrible things looked for him, he just smiled quietly and said, "We will just have to wait and see. We don't have the full story yet." But his friends and neighbors were very worried. They knew this was definitely bad luck.

A month later the potato farmer's horse came back with fifteen beautiful mares. The farmer corralled them all, and his neighbors crowded around saying, "Oh, what good luck! This is wonderful!" The local pub was filled with tales of what a great thing this was to have happened to good ol' Sean. But the wise old farmer just smiled and said, "We will just have to wait and see. We don't have the full story yet." But his neighbors went away talking about how great his luck was. A few weeks later the old farmers' son was breaking these new high-strung horses. One particularly wild mare threw him off so badly that he broke both of his legs. The farmer's neighbors were back shaking their heads at the farmer's terrible luck. Now they were really worried! The farmer just smiled and said, "We will just have to wait and see. We don't have the full story yet." Of course all of his neighbors knew that poor ol' Sean was cracking up from all the stress he had been under. They couldn't imagine what the old farmer was thinking. Nothing good could ever come from his son having two broken legs.

Then the government declared war and sent out a proclamation to all the towns and villages across the countryside. "All able bodied men in the villages and on the farms are called to fight for their country!" Many knew the country was not really in a position to win this war, so they feared that their sons would not return home safely. All the young men, except the farmer's son because of his broken legs, had to go off to fight and leave their families. Now the neighbors knew this was amazing luck, but the old Irish potato farmer just smiled and said, "Good luck, bad luck...we will just have to wait and see. We don't have the full story yet."

I love this story and it always reminds me to remain non-judgmental of not only people, but of all the different circumstances or happenings in my life because we never really have the full story yet. As my curvy path of life would have it another concept has crept its way into my consciousness. That concept is one of meaningful coincidences or as Carl Jung called it "synchronicity." I believe our lives are like tapestries and each experience, thought and action is woven into our fabric. So now my fabric has incorporated the Course of Miracles, Reiki and Synchronicity. I know that the combination of these three powerful systems of thought have helped to create who I am and my path of destiny.