Finding Peace in a Disturbing World

And what does Reiki have to do with it?

This morning a friend told me about a disturbing incident that took place in her local community, one that both took my breath away and had me questioning how we got so far away from who we really are. But of course this is not an isolated incident, one glance at current headlines can bring a nervous system into instant disarray. Scrolling will have your warmest heart-strings pulled one moment and twist cords of fear the next. We are invited to be angry along with one group, to hate in order to belong to another and given 3 magic steps to awakening in the next little square. There is true horror taking place all around us, so much so that we can easily scroll past the love that still exists to find the next reason to feel frustrated and helpless.

How on earth do we find peace in the midst of all of this? And is it okay to find peace when so many are hurting and being hurt?

Of course I don’t know the absolute answer, but I do know that peace cannot be found by pretending things don’t exist. It may feel better for a short time, but the disturbance remains in your nervous system whether your brain is trying to believe all is well or not.

For me connection is the antidote to the madness we have created in the world. Connection with ourselves - our authentic self, connection with others and connection with the energy of all of life.

Connection with ourselves

To sit with how we are really feeling in the moment is simple, yet not easy, which is why we spend so much time avoiding stillness, plus the world is set up to help us do this. Noticing and allowing ourselves to feel our emotional state is the first step. There are many ways to begin this and receiving Reiki is one of them. On a physical level, it helps our nervous systems manage such chaos, it quietens busy minds, we get to feel our emotions in a place of safety while the energy of Reiki calms them. Over time, it brings us into a place where we begin to connect to our heart and our authentic self - a place of greater stillness and a space that will guide our actions in the world in a way that is more effective than an emotionally charged response.

To be honest with ourselves about what we are going through, how we are feeling and managing (or not) is much easier and safer when we are witnessed by others who are willing to do the same. To sit together in a space of inner inquiry brings even greater connection.

Connection with others

Being with each other from a heart-centred space of willingness to listen is one of the most powerful ways to connect. I took part in a prison project in California some years ago called Freedom to Choose. We sat together in trios and, each time, my trios consisted of me and two members of rival gangs. We took turns to have some minutes to speak about whatever difficulties and emotions were in our minds and hearts without the other two saying a word. We were to listen to the speaker without any attempt to fix or try to make something better, argue or defend. We simply listened with a focus on them as a fellow divine being having a human experience. What happened was nothing short of miraculous. Except it wasn’t. It was what happens when people truly listen from the heart. In every trio I experienced, the rivals I was with began to find, to their utter surprise, that they had similar challenging life experiences, that they could relate to each other and, against their initial expectations, they found connection. That connection meant that as rivals, it would be much harder to hurt each other, they no longer wanted to. It also meant they felt seen that little bit more. Witnessed in pain and laughter, in hope and helplessness, life felt that little bit lighter, simply because they had spoken, others had listened with love and no one had tried to have their answer.

We can’t fix what is happening to us and around us right now, but we can come together and witness each other as we inquire into what we are feeling and thinking, and what the moment is calling us to. Bear in mind, I’m not talking about marching into an unsafe space and announcing what you feel, but finding like-minded, heart-based people who want to connect. (Here is an amazing inexpensive experience of courageous inquiry you can join if you feel called to.)

If you have given or received a Reiki treatment from a place of allowing, not fixing or trying to make anything happen, you know the feeling of this space of connection two friends and even strangers can experience.

One thing I find myself often talking about with people who are learning Reiki is how you can’t underestimate the positive effects that giving Reiki to someone has on the giver. As this wonderful energy pours through your system and is pulled into the receiver, the vibrational frequency of the person giving is also raised. To give is truly also to receive. The more time we spend basking in the flow of Reiki, the easier and more natural it becomes to find connection with ourselves and others. And each time events around us wrench us into angst, we are able to find our centre more quickly and play our part in life from there rather than letting anger or fear impulses run the show.

Connection with something bigger

Reiki, when flowing without agenda, is connection with the energy of life, thus it brings us into connection with something bigger than us. We begin to ‘see’ the bigger picture, to feel life as magical and to connect with our authentic self, our spiritual self. Today, humans are either destroying nature, or trying to protect it, but both of these things often see us as separate from it. The shift must come to realise we are part of this web and, if we were to wipe ourselves out, rather than the earth being well rid of us, what if it would then be missing a part of the whole? We have a part to play, not as destroyers or as saviours, but as glistening threads in an ineffable web.

Finding peace together

What we are to contribute and our response to ‘what is’ is not found with the mind, but emerges as we realise our connection with our inner experience, bathe in our connections with people and the natural world around us then expand our awareness and begin to create the ability to feel ourselves one with it all. We become the glistening thread in the web of life and follow life’s lead in the moments as our heart shows us the way.

Usui sensei created Reiki from the epitome of this place, a state of An jin ryu mei (compete peace, enlightenment).

That was his thread, imagine what could be if each of us were to find out more about who we really are and what we are being called to do in this messy, wonderful, horror-filled, beautiful, frustrating, exquisite world filled with so many beings who want to contribute to a better place together.

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Links:

If you'd like to learn Reiki with Amanda Jayne you can find her training dates here

If you would like to find other Jikiden Reiki teachers in the UK you can do so here

If you are in another country, you can find teachers across the world here

To learn more about courageous inquiry click here

To learn more about the ongoing Freedom to Choose projects and events click here

Eden Project, Cornwall, UK