The Reiki Cafe 

Dear Friends,

Since the war began, and for a few weeks before, I resumed my CNN habit. I do know, however, that watching the news on good days, let alone now during bad days, can sap my energy and depress me. More than once I have gone on a "news fast" so that I do not become surrounded with such negative feelings.

I do not want to dwell on the negative, but feel that I have to stay informed on what is going on in the world.
My question is this...how do you all maintain your spiritual focus during such trying times while also remaining connected to the events of the world?

I'm looking forward to any responses,
Peace and Light,
Lesley

Namaste Lesley..

I must say that I find myself in the same place. I watched total coverage until Saturday, when I decided that it was draining me, and affecting my day to day. I continue to pray and send Reiki to all concerned, but I have taken an active stand to limit the continual exposure to the news. My husband has it on in the house the entire time he is home, but I have been moving to another room to read and reflect and listen to other things.

I think Reiki and prayers are key here, and hope to keep it going in a positive mindset, but decreasing my exposure. I choose to get one update each day now, at the time of my choosing, mostly on line coverage, or one main news show. I turn tv off and put on some nice music to take up the space where war coverage has been. Its a fine balance, but one I feel more in control with.

Look forward to others ideas as well....thanks for the question!

((HUGS)) & Blessings......z

Oh my. Good morning.

I do love this connectedness. I just posted on World Healing board then I pull up your post. Gotta love it!!

Love and light to you
Be

Lesley,

I do not own a TV and generally get the news on NPR while driving to work. The other day I turned on the TV at work. Pictures of the tents at 101st were being shown.....news flash....grenades tossed into tents....soldiers injured. My heart stopped. Youngest child...101st....great relief when they said first brigade. Harold is 2nd brigade. No more CNN for me.

I recovered by doing accupressure tapping ( there is now a book out. INSTANT EMOTIONAL HEALING, contains the sequence and points to tap) to clear my physical body of the emotional reaction. Have used this method for 5 years and have found it very effective. Have used it for greif when my uncle died, use it every time someone hurts my feelings or tries to push my buttons. The tapping removes the baggage from my system and allows me to react from a more centered place.

We store all of our experiences in the cells of our body. A great protective device. When we experience a hurtful event it is remembered. This memory automatically sets off a reaction the next time a simalar experience occurs. In animals, the body shakes and the physical energy is released. People hold on to the physical. It affects their reactions. You step on my toe and I hold back and say nothing. Next person does it and I yell at them. We are always reacting to our past. Clearing the body cells allows us to react in the now. This is very important. Our thoughts are things and create the world around us. Research has shown that when groups of people meditate and feel peace crime rates in that area drop. If we choose to create a peaceful world, we must learn to clear our bodies and react from a more current place. We must also let go of hate and anger.....no matter how justified. It is the emotions that recreate. So if we choose peace we must feel peace.....while working toward change. Otherwise we just keep the hate and anger going.

blackearth

I pray alot - a whole lot. Plus, I never really watch the news - I hear enough of it to keep informed. Besides being informed really doesn't help. I feel comfort in prayer and meditation - I also find comfort in doing Reiki.

Bev

Namaste Nancy~,
I can relate to your post. My husband has the war coverage on constantly too when he is in the house. I don't know if it is because he is a veteran or what. All I know is after about 3 days of seeing nothing but war coverage I was depressed,negative and in one nasty mood.
I am doing like your doing, I choose when, where and how much war coverage I see. I listen to the radio, I play my favorite cds and I read what ever looks fun, interesting and positive. An organization in my area is also putting together health kits to send to anyone and everyone who needs them in Irag. I am planning to get stuff together to send. We also have an adopt a soldier program in our area that I am looking into. Basically it would require sending letters to our men and women involved in the war. I did something similar during the Vietnam War.Do any of you remember the POW bracelets they had back then? (God I am so old,LOL).
Love and Light~
Teri

Good work Teri.
Keep up with high spirit which is in you.
Good luck and you have my support and best wishes.
Take care.

i have to admit that i love tv, but this constant war coverage has gotten the better of me. last weds. evening i fell asleep watching the usual talk shows only to wake up a couple of hours later, first thing i see is saddam on tv giving some kind of speech. i'm still half-asleep not knowing whether what i was seeing was real or not. then the next two nights, constant coverage of bombs going off, news coverage non-stop, i literally felt physically ill after it all and have tried to avoid it since.
as for spiritual focus? well, i'm working on it, lol.
although it can be challenging in times like this. during a workshop on meditation we were constantly distracted by the ever-present helicopters flying overhead. i am thankful for their presence, particularly living in a city that has already suffered a horrible attack from the skies, but it makes putting this war and all the stress it brings aside, even if only for a 90 minute class.
namaste,
skywatcher.

Hi Teri
I am from Canada and would like to know how some of us here could get in touch with the Adopt a Soldier program.

Love and light
Copper

Remembering that the biggest impact we make is with our thoughts - therefore, focusing on thoughts of love and forgiveness, and remembering that it all begins with us. If we focus on that in our day to day lives, and within our own sphere of influence we will do more for the world than if we allow our energy to be depleted by our focus on the negative. This, of course, does not mean that we should ignore, or fail to do what we can relative to peace in the world. But, peace first begins in our minds and hearts. It's easy to get sucked into watching CNN - but, then, if we do that to excess, are we not adding energy (and depleting our own) to the negativity in the world?
Janessa

Dear Lesley ,

I hear you about the CNN thing. For me, I am not going to get sucked into the sensationalist vortex that they are so good at creating. It is draining and consuming and after a given hour of it one gets maybe five minutes of news.

I too rely on NPR (as well as BBC, PRI ect.) for 90% of the world news I take in. Their reporting style, motivations and ethics are much more honorable.

Namaste,
Michael

Thank you for all the insight, dear friends!

It's so comforting to know that I'm not alone in how I feel. I have, during the last 2 or so days, tried to take my news in smaller doses to try to head off any overload. I do still find myself more agitated throughout the day lately, though...just can't seem to get this off my mind. My mission for the coming few days...try to take in more beauty, more solitude, more peace. As so many of you have said...we need to keep our positive energy up so we can contribute to the sense of peace in our own lives. I certainly don't want to create any more negativity by my own thoughts and energies.

Wishing you all peace and peace of mind,
Lesley

Dear Lesley,
I have not yet read the numerous posts in response to your post, so I bet I am repeating. But, I have noticed the same thing in myself....I can physically feel the energy draining from me. I allow myself to quickly glance at the paper a few times a week, and I listen to Public Radio (I feel they have the most balanced, honest coverage of the news) about 2 to 3 times a day as I run my errands in the car. I rarely watch television. I do see the headlines on the internet when my home page opens. I try to be aware of how my body is responding, and I turn it all off as soon as I start to get angry (anger not)or despondent. I pray every evening for all in Iraq , then I let it go. I do send Reiki when I hear of any victims. Just as when I have a Reiki session....I let go of my intention, and let the situation be in the Light. I will not allow myself to get caught up in the drama. But I also try to pay attention to what lessons I am learning in all of this, and be gentle with myself.

Today, I received an email from James Twyman regarding the Psychic Children. The message he relayed from them makes sense to me. If we send angry thoughts to Bush, the negativity grows. He is a frightened child in need of love and healing....Twyman is organizing a prayer time for Bush on April 1st at 8 am California time....the psychic children feel this is what is needed for peace.

Peace,
Feather

This sounds like the Emotional Freedom Technique I have read about.....it works great!
Feather

A very old technique....also goes by the name Thought Field Therapy......also now in book form: Instant Emotional Healing. One of those ancient things presented as something newly discovered.

Namaste
blackearth

Dear Lesley,

I grew up on TV..it was always on at home. Also read the paper every day for years. Went to movies as often as I could. Somewhere along the line I began to realize that I was conditioned to think & respond based on all that input. Now, I only get the paper when I want to read it ( this means I do not have to start my day focused on rape, murder, war, kidnapping, etc). I gave up my cable TV about a year ago. I get the main headlines daily via email so Im not oblivious to what is taking place in the world. The books I used to read have been replaced by spiritually focused ones. Now I decide where my energy will go. The more I surround myself with spiritually centered art, music, books, nature, etc...the more I progress into a peaceful heart. I still live in the world but my focus is not on popular culture anymore.

peace & joy,
holobon

Aha! It is always good to learn WHERE things come from, as best we can "know". Thanks!
Feather

I have to agree after seeing people blaming the government main party.

We need to go beyond hatred towards others due to disagreement.

If we fight back by storming the office of the govt, would we be just like the rebels?
I don't think the officials would response to street protest that are violent in a nice manner.
They only put more in jail.
Take care.

I'm working towards a similiar direction. I don't have real interest in computer games anymore than I did.
I played because I like the graphics and some of the characters.
These days I rather find myself reading on herbs, gardening, photography, and last but not least energy fields and chakras.

Ps: I was going to read on:

I welcome any comments on topics like the above reading.
I am quite new on them.
Good to have some feedbacks etc.
Thanks in advance.

Why is there an assumption that one cannot be aware to what is going on and yet be separate? I don't know about the rest of you, but I was sensing the psychic pressure for a week before the war actually started - the begining of the war was like a psychic pressure release because I no longer had to wonder what would happen.

Perhaps instead of fretting and shutting ourselves away from the woes of the worls, we should keep our perspectice - we cannot heal unless we have some idea what needs healing - if you shut yourself away in an effort to not let the problems of the world depress you, you may eventually lose touch with what is wrong. If you need a role model for remaining spiritual while remaining politically informed look to the Dalai Lama.

Hi Lesley

Is it really 'News' that we watch on TV or read in the daily papers? Or is it what the Media feels that which will attract the most attention ie. Violence, sex, corruption. There is so much good being done in the world which 'they' appear not to classify as News. There is a theory that one of the reasons for so much Stress in the Western World is the constant negative viewpont the News media keep forcing at us. Please dont be fooled into thinking that you have to watch TV or read newspapers to know what is going on in the World. Please indulge in a personal experiment; go a week without watching 'The News' on TV or reading Newspapers. I would love to hear from you afterwards.

Light and Wisdom

Geoff (tree)

Dear Wilyboudiccea,
I agree that the Dalai Lama is a fine role model. He had the fortune of being supported by a community that supplied him with tremendous educational & spiritual resources.
It is a philosophy & a skill to be aware & remain seperate & not all of us have it. Guess that is an under statement!! :)
It is the wise person who realizes that they are not keeping their perspective & does something about it. We do not all have the same personality nor do we have the same lessons to learn. Hopefully, we are all headed in the same direction. :)
Does staying glued to the TV screen make us aware of what needs healing in the world? Sometimes it just accentuates negative emotions. I see an awfull lot of enraged people watching the news these days. To be honest with you, what I see on the TV today is not much different from 10, 20 or 30 years ago...killing, political slogans, power struggles, atrocities, etc. However, turn to a station these days & what do you get? Talk shows & sitcoms & reality TV that perpetuate trash. TV is one of the most trance inducing states available to the masses. Trance plus aggression & negative symbolism is not a good thing in my book. Most of us are sheep & the shepherd is not gentle!!
I continue to applaud those who turn off the TV.

peace & joy,
holobon

And this is different from the pre-television days how? There is no more or less violence than there was a millenia ago - only the weapons have changed. The mode of "trance" was cast by churches and the opulence of leaders rather than celebrities or television studios(as one of my teachers liked to say - the poor and oppressed take solace in basking in the reflected glory of those who are better off.

It's like Sopapillas and Navajo Fry Bread - they're the same but different.

My point is, people have always had to balance the spiritual with the mundane. The problem is most people don't even try to balance - they go to one extreme or the other - glued to the TV or completely shut off from the news of the world. They're sheep all right - but both shephards are doing their flocks a disservice.

Watch the news once a day. Be selective about ytour daytime TV. If something bothers you turnt he channel or use the off switch. Don't assume you have to give up modernity to grow spiritually.