One of my earliest students called me every few days in the weeks after her First degree class to ask, “Is it ok that I feel so special?”
She felt so good about herself for no apparent reason, and she needed reassurance.
“Are you sure it’s ok?” she asked repeatedly. “Yes,” I said, ”Yes, it’s ok to feel good about yourself. You’re safe.”
Her middle class New York City artiste lifestyle was abundant by most standards, and she was blessed with a loving, patient husband and two truly adorable children, but her childhood had been marked by upheaval.
Her father’s gambling had moved the family to fancy addresses, where they lived until the moving trucks came to cover his debts. The repercussions of being repeatedly unsettled reverberated through her, making her suspicious of the good fortune she had, fearful it was about to crumble, and certain some flaw in her was the reason.
Regardless our background, the need to experience our specialness — to feel loved and safe — is human. Like all human needs, it needs to be addressed.
Without experiencing the sweet fullness of our specialness, we roam amidst the wonders that surround us, preoccupied and unsatisfied. No one and nothing is good enough, starting with ourselves.
Dissatisfied and isolated
When we don’t connect with our specialness, we assert our unacknowledged need in various ways, all of which undermine happiness. Our frustrated desire to be recognized (by ourselves) leads to behaviors that isolate us from others.
We might subtly (or not so subtly) dismiss others’ perspectives, demand our loved ones’ attention without regard to what they are doing, or assert our superiority through relentless criticism. We may be imprisoned by a sense of entitlement that robs us of gratitude and keeps us from applying steady effort to reach our goals.
Reiki practice heals the need to be special by allowing us to experience how special we truly are, our innate worthiness. Experiencing our own specialness enables us to marvel at the specialness that surrounds us in our friends, neighbors, and all that exists.
Discipline uncovers your specialness
There is always more than what we are currently experiencing. The discipline of practice is to be engaged in the wonder that is ever-present rather than wondering how our present might be different. The discipline of practice settles our restless dissatisfaction.
Which is harder, trying to make up for not feeling special enough, or disciplining yourself to be still long enough to let the experience of special emerge from within you?
What’s so special about you? You have a doorway to timelessness within your own heart. Go there and find out.
Dive into your specialness. Get your Reiki hands to your body. Now.
How has your Reiki practice opened your awareness of special? Please scroll down to the comments section and tell us.
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When the student is ready a teacher appears. I felt special that I had reached that point, where a teacher appeared (and taught me Reiki). I feel special that I have this new ability that I can share. At times I have felt “embraced” by Reiki, at times soothed. I wish to share that with others. Much was taken from me by the diagnosis of cancer and the effects of the treatments, Reiki has helped me survive emotionally and has eased my physical self. Sometimes I still question my “specialness” but I do Reiki every day and I am so thankful. I felt that I was on a somewhat spiritual path to begin with, I just didnt suspect that there was a surprise ahead.
As another said there are so many coincidences that one does have to wonder…and feel wonder.
Reiki has opened me up to specialness or light in many ways, but mixing Reiki with Art has been the most life changing!
Daily sessions, creating art for others and Channeling Reiki energy into the image has helped me to process and intergrate a great deal of subconcious hypertension. This block was distorting what I could senes from others, with the daily doses of Reiki via art and touch (my kids!) the blocks I naturaly encounter are gently dissolved allowing for me to recognise the beauty or specialness in me, which in turn allows me to recognize it in others. I am greatfull beyond words for the conincidences that led me to my level one and two attunements!
Like the student in this insightful and grounding article, feeling that who I am is ‘valid’ was something I’d never felt before. Reiki gently urges me to trust being whole and safe and ‘good enough’…it is revolutionary to my ego and cause for celebration to my soul!
This is a wonderful article. Many Reiki practitioners have had difficult childhoods and have sought out spiritual growth and healing for themselves and in turn want to help stop the cycle of suffering for others. In my case, the ‘specialness’ felt by this new student to Reiki was exactly how I felt but in even another way. That is to be able to feel something I had never felt before, ever, yet somehow it was not alien and I was in awe that with no apparent effort on my part, I was ‘good enough’ or was ‘allowed’ to have the experience of Reiki in my life.