Thursday 16 February 2012

Reiki: What’s Happening Now?

If you read my other blog, My Pregnancy-Mummy Diary, then you may already be aware that I am 14 weeks pregnant with my second child. So if you have been wondering what is happening with the Reiki, then I can tell you not a lot, unfortunately.
After my attunement and halfway through my self-cleansing period, I found out I was pregnant. I remember Lorraine (Reiki Master) advising us with regards to being asked to treat pregnant ladies that, even though she had absolute belief that there was no risk to the baby, it was best to avoid it as should something unfortunately go wrong with the pregnancy, it was human nature to look for something or someone to blame. We do not want to put ourselves at risk of that blame. Because of this, I sought Lorraine’s advice as to my own situation and self-healing while pregnant. Confirming her earlier advice she suggested it was best to put the Reiki on hold and to wait until I had had the baby before picking it up again.
I was gutted. I finally felt I was following down a path I had been destined to take since I was a child and already I was having to put it back on the shelf for a bit. But, I could see the reasoning for it and Lorraine assured me that I could pick it straight back up again after and could even go straight into my Level 2.
It has been hard because during that time, my cat became sick and we had to put her to sleep (see previous posts) and I felt helpless unable to do anything that may relieve her pain and make her final couple of days more comfortable. Both my sister and mum could have benefited from some Reiki healing. But also me – I could have done with that self-healing. I’ve been finding this winter particularly hard going with the winter blues,  what with being out of work/SAHM and pregnant too – it doesn’t make for a happy combination for me and I probably could have benefited myself from Reiki.
Also, I feel the ‘side effects’  to the Reiki have also taken a back seat. I was becoming more aware and intuitive again but I feel they have faded away again. In fairness, I think the spiritual help I was getting before is still there but they are finding it harder to reach me. Instead, I think they are taking desperate measures and are hiding things from me but that could also just be my pregnancy brain setting in again.
However, on the positive side, there are things Lorraine said would change that I think had already started to. My outlook on things have already started to change. I have become a lot more relaxed about some things, preferring not to worry as what will that achieve. What will be, will be! Everything happens for a reason (which is also the approach I have taken with the Reiki – it is meant to be this way for whatever reason) and if we let things take their course naturally, it will all turn out right in the end. This has been the case for our house purchase, for my husband’s work, pregnancy even. It feels good to not get stressed over these things. I have also felt this way about work up until now but wonder if I have been too relaxed there and have had to give a little push to get things moving. Nothing has come along and landed in my lap so perhaps now its time to be more proactive!
The other thing is how I can better see other sides of the story. I’ve always known not everything is black and white and all my life I have tried to put myself in other peoples shoes to understand how they feel. I have then adjusted my behaviour accordingly. Sometimes I worry that I do this too much and that some people don’t think I am genuine and others take advantage but I’m not going to change. I would rather be the person I am than someone who never thought of others or put them first. Unfortunately, it does mean I have a high expectation of others and get frustrated when others don’t do the same but I have to remind myself, we are all different and not everyone thinks like me. I do still have selfish moments – more than I’d be happy to admit. I still make mistakes, I’m not perfect, but my heart is always in the right place and I try to do things for the right reason.
But, I’m starting to digress. Back to seeing different sides of the story. An example of how this is different now is when everyone is against a certain person or body of people and what they are doing, I can see a different point of view. Often people just see what is right in front of them or see the catalyst and think that’s the problem but they don’t see it as perhaps a symptom to a greater problem or where the person’s journey started.
These are both things that Lorraine said would happen and I do believe it is down to the Reiki.
It will be interesting to see how these behaviours will grow (if at all) and what other changes will occur during the next year. It is my intention to keep up with my Angels and to keep my mind open as much as I can while pregnant so hopefully it wont be like starting from scratch again when I can pick up the Reiki after the birth  of my child.

Friday 3 February 2012

What’s on your MP3?

When I first see I’m tagged in one of these MeMe things, my first reaction is to groan but I sometimes play along because I do think it is a nice opportunity for the blogger to give the reader a bit more of an incite into the writer in a different way to the usual rants and moans (though that may just be me!).
However, this one does make me a little nervous! Our music taste is very personal but can also tell a lot about us! Especially when your taste is as eclectic as mine. I find it hard to pigeon hole myself into one particular genre of music when someone asks “what do you like to listen to?”. It ranges from music I grew up with like Neil Diamond, to Indie Bands, to Guitar bands, to girlie music, cheesey pop, to dancier music with a whole new variety of genres – chill out, funky, trance, hard trance, hard house, techno.

So this MeMe could be interesting and I have the lovely, and very funny (with her not at her) Aimee author of The Perfect Bad Mummy to thank for tagging me in this one.

Before I hit the shuffle (currently enjoying listening to Kings of Leon and so delaying it for a minute) – I explain what my MP3 is. Its a cerise pink 8gb iPod Nano and it is full to bursting. I have more music on my iTunes account than I can fit on my iPod (not to mention the hundreds of CDs that I’m yet to upload). My lovely husband bought it for me to upgrade my previous knackered iPod Nano for my 30th Birthday.

OK, not so keen on this song so time to hit that shuffle button. Not really sure how this is ‘supposed’ to work so I’m going to follow Aimée’s lead with how she wrote her Meme post. Aimée hit the shuffle button 5 times then explained a little bit behind why the particular song appeared on her iPod, so here I go:

Ceelo Green – Bright Lights Bigger City, from the album Lady Killer



I discovered Ceelo Green about 18 months to 2 years ago firstly when he was part of Gnarls Barclay and they bought out the fantastic Crazy which I still love and sing at the top of my voice when I hear it! Its a song I can relate to Winking smile. Then I saw him, singing as Ceelo Green, on Jonathan Ross or similar show when he released Forget You (the politer of the two versions of this song!). I must say, this isn’t my favourite from the album but I do like it as it quite an uplifting song and I think the album as a whole is fab (good for cleaning to as I discovered today!!).

OK, on to shuffle number 2!

REM – E-Bow the Letter, from the album In Time: The Best of REM



OK, so I never listen to this album and do not ever remember hearing this song. I like the odd REM song but its not an album I would listen to all of in one go unless I was feeling particularly suicidal – certainly not one to listen to when near any cliffs or high bridges! Listening to this song now as if for the first time, I definitely don’t think it is one I want to listen to again – its messy (I don’t like messy music) and thoroughly depressing. *Makes note to replace on iPod with something new*

Quickly moving on…

Lorretta Holloway – Love Sensation from the album The Pacha Experience



Love this song! Reminds me of my teen years! And what’s not to love, you can’t help but bounce and groove to it. Its a feel good song! Its from a compilation album of clubby/dancy tooones. As all these clubbing albums tend to be, some good some bad. Its not an album I listen to often but when I do I wonder why I don’t listen to it more. A good one to run to! *starts singing at the top of my voice* “Cos you’re right on time, right on time….”


Adele – One & Only from the album 21





I’m so pleased an Adele song came up. I’m new to  Adele, having only discovered her about  8 months ago but I fell in love with her voice and music instantly. Such an amazingly beautiful voice and I could listen to this album and float away in a world of my own thoughts. Its one of those albums you want to find a beautiful spot in the country miles away from anyone on a hot sunny day, lie down in the grass with the smells of  summer all around you, stare at the sky with your headphones in, listening to Adele. This is my current favourite album, knocking the previous favourite Snow Patrol off the top slot. I don’t think there is a song on the album I don’t like which surprised me as there are lots of songs on there that don’t meet my usual ‘type’ and would normally put firmly under a ‘dislike’ genre but there’s just something in each of the songs that grabs me and gets me singing along! Perhaps its the emotion she portrays in each song. Captivating!

Example – Hooligans (VIP mix) from the album Wont Go Quietly



Again, another new discovery for me and another one that doesn’t fully fit my usual tastes. I’m not a fan of the whole album as some of it is a bit rappy or drum n base-y for me but to counteract those there are some songs I just love. My favourite being “Love Kick Starts Again” which was the first song I heard of Examples on the radio. I loved that song and tried to remember the name of the artist, then a while later I heard another song of his I liked. Then he was in an interview that Stuart and I both listened to and the interview endeared him more to the pair of us so I sought out his album to add to my collection. This particular song is not a favourite but its OK and I’m happy to listen to it – its not one I’d hit the >>FF button on!

OK, how many is that so far? Well that’s 5 but the next song has already come on and I’m going to include it as its probably another example of how varied my tastes can be.

Pendulum – Tarantula from the album Hold Your Colour


I love this album. Its a real go mad and dance your socks off album. I’m not very good at dancing to breaks and drum n base so I tend to just bounce around like a loon. When listening to it it transports me back in my memory to two occasions. Firstly to a trip to Alton Towers with a bunch of friends. A group of friends used to go to Staffordshire each year to stay in this fantastic bed & breakfast pub for a couple of nights drinking, dancing and karaoke with a trip to Alton Towers in the middle. This was the second time I had been and the first time for Stuart. Stuart had gone to bed early (missing my first ever solo karaoke) while we continued to drink and party downstairs (we were on very good friend terms with the owner who used to let us have a lock in and join us in our partying until the early hours). I’m not sure how much sleep Stuart managed to get in the room upstairs with the volume of music downstairs but when this album came on it was enough to persuade him from his bed and rejoin the party joining us as we jumped around the pub – not recommended if you are over 6ft like our friend Dan with the low beams above – ouch!

The second memory is of a joint 30th birthday party for a few of my friends 4 years ago almost to the day (about a month out but relatively speaking!) where I was secretly pregnant with Callum (about 9-10 weeks) and we listened to this album towards the end of the night (well for me – for many of the others the night didn’t end!). I danced full of energy, obviously sober and no one guessed a thing about me being pregnant! This actual song I hunted out recently following two dreams I had had about tarantulas and then a programme came on tv about them – I felt it was a sign telling me I needed to bounce around my living room once more! Callum wasn’t impressed! So, as you can see, this album, this song included, is all about my friends for me!

For info, the next song to be played was Amy MacDonald – Mr Rock n Roll from the Album This is the Life but that’s enough for now. On with the tagging…

@rantybeast and her blog Deskmonkeymummy’s Brain Fart
@pieandbear and her blog Pie and Bear
@cooda and her blog coodababy Bits of Stuffs