Reiki Principles 2 Worry

How did your exploration of the first Reiki Principle Just for Today, I will not Be Angry, go for you?

With anger out of the way, we can now move onto worry. As I write this I actually have a smile on my face and I almost laughed out loud. The thought of being ready to move onto worry is funny. In reality though this is what often happens. We stop being angry about something and worry about someone judging us for our anger. In the last post I said anger takes us all over the place, our past, our present and our future. Worry, I find mostly takes the majority of us into the future but can also reach back to the past. When we leave the present to travel to this unknown realm of worry, we use up needed present day energy.

Some say worry is not always a negative occurrence. I'm not sure about that idea. What do you think, can worry be a positive occurrence?

By definition worry as a noun is " a state of anxiety or uncertainty over actual or potential problems" or as a verb is " giving way to anxiety or unease; allowing one's mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles". From the dictionary.com

If we have anxiety or unease for a short period of time and then come up with a solution for the problem, difficulty or trouble we move worry quickly through our body with little prolonged effects. However, if we repeated visit the realm of worry or stay there for an extended period, we create blockages in our energy field and eventually our physical body.

Let's explore the second Reiki Principle:

Just for Today, I will NOT WORRY

Thai massage teaches that Worry is held in the Spleen. The spleen is said to be connected to thinking, studying and memory. This is where I believe people find the positive in the emotion of worry. Many people value those you study hard, are big thinkers and have great memories. We move into problems when we take thinking and studying into over time and get nothing accomplished because we get hyper-focused on one thing to the point of exhaustion.

An imbalanced spleen trapped by worry can be expressed with problems of digestion, mucous, loose stool, bleeding disorders, weak muscles, cold feet and hands and bruising easily .

What can we do to help the spleen? Have you ever wondered why I try my best to give you room temperature or warm water to drink after your massage? One reason is because cold water will cause your muscles to contract in an attempt to warm the water up. When this happens too rapidly then we can get muscle cramping or spasms and we have defeated our massage. I also do it because most people have some kind of spleen deficiency (remember I'm using the Thai/Chinese medicine term not the western organ idea of spleen) and cold water further taxes it. If you tend to be a worrier or have the signs of worry mentioned above try drinking warmer water in general and at least one hour before meals.

In Thailand multitasking was not big. They were all about being intentional. The family would have meals where everyone joins to eat. There is no eating and watching TV or study. Every task has its own time. When you think about it (hahaha but don't over think this) performing or placing your attention on one task at a time allows you to be intentional and the mind to work at ease. This in turn takes pressure off the spleen.

Chi Nei Tsang which is the form of Thai abdominal massage I perform teaches us the 6 healing sounds to care for the internal organs. The sound for the spleen is " Who". We take a breath in and on the exhale we release the sound Who and repeat it two more times. When you get more connected to this sound and the spleen you will notice the sound originating on your left side at the base of your ribs over the spleen area. Go ahead put your hands on either side of your ribs and sound out Who and see which side vibrates more.

Maybe now before you sit down to tackle a large work project or a study session you'll try sounding out Who and support your spleen to ward off worry.

If you are already dealing with spleen issues from over worry try looking at your diet. Are you eating too many raw foods (this is know as cold foods), cold drinks, gluten, carbs, sugar, dairy, coffee or alcohol? Think about reducing or eliminating some of these for a while.

What have I been working on from my exploration of Worry? I've been asking myself: is there anything I can do right now to address this issue, if my answer is no, I look for something I can work on that has a positive outcome. Later I'll revisit the other issue and ask where can I search to find an answer or solution and try something new. If it works then I'm set; if it doesn't, I try to move one. For me if I try to just think about a problem I get stuck and become stagnate. Then I find myself getting discouraged and depressed and the issue goes on much longer. With my new attempts, though the issue may take a while to find a solution, at least I'm no longer dealing with it day end and day out. This seems to help give me mental breaks and decrease worry.

I invite you to explore :
Just for Today, l will Not Worry

I would love to hear any sights this exploration brings. Specially if it helps you develop new habits.