“Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be.” – Alan Cohen

I believe that the biggest cause of stress is when a person is disconnected from herself/himself.

When they don’t know who they really are or live a life against themselves. Reiki has helped me to (re)discover myself and is teaching me to build a life of meaning and value.

It takes courage and willingness, discipline and persistence. The journey is bumpy. But the rewards are peace, clarity and resilience. Peace in knowing yourself, peace in being centered and grounded, even in times of conflict – so you can stand your own ground and make choices that are in alignment with you.

I also believe that we all came here for a reason. That we were all given our individual talents and passions to help one another and to contribute to this world. When we are good at something and it comes with ease, we are meant to do it. To serve a purpose. Everybody is valuable and everything we do is of value.

The sense of self is so tied up with who we think we should be, what our families, societies and cultures expect of us. Our inner GPS, our intuition, gets stifled. Early on in life, we begin to follow the program of schooling, education, how we and life should be, how things have always been done. But we are not meant to do things like others. We are all born unique. Our cells, characters, skills, talents, passions, dreams, desires and ambitions were given to us. Us only. No one else was given the combination that makes you you. We are meant to sing our own songs, write our own stories, to express our uniqueness… in the way we live our lives.

When we are not in alignment with ourselves, we are in trouble. Dis-ease and imbalances occur. The scale / weight shifts, but not in our favor. We spend so much time trying to make things work, fit in, do things right, be perfect. But we deplete ourselves, our resources, our time, our energy, and our lifeforce.

In 2013, I decided to stop working against myself and chose to work with myself instead. I left life as I knew it and thought it should be behind. Things began to change. I began to change. Challenges turned into lessons. Struggles into blessings. I began to understand the bigger picture and my role in it.

We all make mistakes, we all create messes, we all cover shit up… it’s part of being human. But once we become aware, it gets harder to hide, to ignore, to close our eyes to our own truth.

It’s time to clean up, get our shit together, for our own sake and the sake of others. It’s time to right the wrongs, make amends, forgive ourselves and others. What we can learn from this is acceptance and trust. And most of all we learn what and who works for us – and what and who doesn’t. And that life happens. Whatever needs to happen happens, sooner or later. So, I might as well go with the flow, roll with the punches, and ride the waves.

And you? How about you? Are you with me? Let me know in the comments.