Guided Meditation and Reiki: January 2020

Thursday, January 30, 2020

A BOOK CANNOT BE JUDGED BY IT'S COVER

Good morning everyone and happy Thursday to you. If were able to share the holidays with both your parents then you are among the lucky ones. I am blessed to have both my mom and dad on this earth. My dad is an incredible human being. I often refer to him as the Original Buddha. He is the most mellow person I know. He never worries about anything and sees the beauty in all. I remember when my son was about two years old and wanted to kill a spider. My dad looked at him and said, "don't do that, we are all God's creatures." He then picked up the spider, tossed it outside and began a wonderful tradition in our home.

I never ever remember my father gossiping about anyone either. It used to drive my mom crazy. She is the complete opposite and isn't beneath sending out a jab or two to someone she is not fond of. My father lacks the judgement gene. The gene that allows us to know EXACTLY what someone else is like just by looking at them.

You know how genetics works right? The dominant one wins out. In my case I received the gene from my mom and have not been beyond a comment or two myself. No one is perfect, right? Here's the best part. Sometimes the judgement I've made is completely wrong.

Here's another Amy story. I went to a spa for a facial and while I was waiting to be called a woman walked past me. According to my preconceived notion, she didn't look like what an esthetician should look like. I was hoping she would keep walking but my appointment was with her. Lucky me! She gave me the best facial I had ever had. Not only was she an excellent esthetician but she infused Reiki and sound healing into her facial. Holy wow!

Today's quote is, "The best part of being judgmental is finding out you were wrong." It really is. It is the ultimate "Ah ha" moment. We all talk the talk but do we really walk the walk? Don't judge, we say. Be kind, we say but do we act out those words? We can judge anything and everything but in the process, we could be missing out. Reserve judgement until you've seen it, tasted it, experienced it and done it. As the line from a poem by Mary T. Lathrap says, Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes!

Have a wonderful Thursday everyone! ~Love, Amy

To learn more about what I do, visit my website:https://amykaufman.co
To schedule an in-person or remote Reiki session with me, visit my website:https://amykaufman.co/private sessions OR email me at amy@amykaufman.co

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

MORE THAN ONE LOOK

Good morning everyone. Happy Tuesday. My hope is that everyone has a good day but there is a possibility that someone reading this has an important meeting and is feeling stressed while someone else is home sick, someone else is on vacation and someone else just got a promotion.

The same day for different people will bring different challenges creating varied emotions. The famous illusion of the young woman, old woman known as My Wife and My Mother lets us see two very distinct profiles. There is no wrong or right, it is merely our perception. A eight ounce glass with four ounces of liquid is either half full or half empty depending on how you see it.

Today's quote is, "Yours is not the only perspective - it is but one." Are you willing to take off your blinders? Are you willing to see a way other than yours? A whole world can open up once you allow yourself to see it. Understanding and compassion is another benefit of being open to a way other than your own.

The passion we feel for our own opinions is strong and dare I say sometimes stubborn. We have so much to gain when we listen to a voice other than our own and view the world through another's eyes. Living alone on a beautiful island may be peaceful but having a partner to play with in the sand is a lot more fun!

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone! ~Love, Amy

To learn more about what I do, visit my website:https://amykaufman.co
To schedule an in-person or remote Reiki session with me, visit my website:https://amykaufman.co/private sessions OR email me at amy@amykaufman.co

Thursday, January 23, 2020

DESERVING IT ALL

Good morning everyone and happy Thursday. Are you all back to your pre-holiday weight? Its funny how we watch everything that goes into our mouths before the holidays begin so we could eat as much as we want during them only to go back to step one a few weeks later. What an odd ritual. Why is food perceived as the enemy? Why do we feel that we can't enjoy something delicious all the time?

Intentional deprivation can inadvertently lead to excess as we reach for the apple but really want that chocolate chip cookie. Certainly nutritional balance is important. Balance is important in all aspects of life. If we gave it some real thought, why is it that we deprive ourselves of anything. I think that someone along our path told us we weren't deserving and we were dumb enough to believe them.

Today's quote is, "To the one who told you you deserve less - let them know they were sorely mistaken." To the ones who said you are reaching too high. To the ones who said, "you can't wear that!" "you can't go there," "you shouldn't eat this," "don't even think about it."

To all of them I say, how high is too high? Wear what makes you feel good! Go where your heart desires. Eat WHATEVER! And don't just dream about it....DO IT! Sometimes all it takes is that one naysayer whose words get stuck in your brain while you ignore the other 100 who said, "go for it."

Only you know what is real for you and what is out of reach. Negativity from others come from many places. Unless you are in someone's head you will never know how their furniture is arranged. Listen to yourself. Go with what feels right. When you do, you will never be wrong!

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

SAILING THROUGH A STORM

Good morning everyone! Happy Tuesday. We humans go through a rush of emotions on any given day. We experience joy and sadness. Frustration and anger. Misery and melancholy. A smile is preferable to a scowl but sometimes the scowl wins out. Like our emotions our facial expressions are temporary. A grin can easily change to a frown and back again to a grin.

When you experience this wide range of feeling and emotion is it internal or are you the whirling dervish type that needs to let everyone in on your mood? Corny as it sounds, a smile spreads sunshine. It creates a desire for others to want to be around you and share in your joy but when you see someone walking with folded arms and a furrowed brow we tend to move out of the way.

Today's quote is, "Carry yourself with dignity intensity and grace not only when the storm approaches but when the waves recede." We can't be happy all the time. We can't be miserable all the time either, although I'm sure we all know people who are. Obstacles will find us. It is a part of life. That smooth silky road will have an occasional bump or two. How will you handle that flat tire?

Obstacles like our moods are also temporary. When they come knocking on your door, take a deep breath, survey the situation in your mind and walk through them with grace and dignity. Hard times don't last forever and when you have forged through them you can continue walking with dignity and grace and that beautiful smile on your beautiful face!

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone! ~Love, Amy

To learn more about what I do, visit my website:https://amykaufman.co
To schedule an in-person or remote Reiki session with me, visit my website:https://amykaufman.co/private sessions OR email me at amy@amykaufman.co

Thursday, January 16, 2020

SO MUCH LIES AHEAD

Good morning everyone and happy Thursday. I don't know who said getting up in the dark is for the birds. I'm quite sure I haven't heard nary a chirp since early October nor have I seen one at 6:30 in the morning when I walk Mia. Getting out of bed in the dark is no fun either. There are numerous things I can stub my toe on forcing me to contort my face like The Silent Scream in the painting by Edvard Munch.

While it is preferable to turn the lights on I don't want to wake up my husband or Mia who is usually on our bed. Can you imagine the incredible moment when Thomas Edison turned on his light for the very first time? The light bulb was and remains to this day one of the most incredible inventions ever.

The light bulb enabled us to come out of the dark and into the light! Can you imagine dropping something on the floor? Hard enough to find something in the light let alone the dark. Light shines so that we may find what we dropped but also to help us find out way.

Today's quote is, "Turn on the light to see all that lies before you." A raccoon can make its way in the dark but we don't share their nocturnal gift of seeing in blackness. The light I am speaking of is both real and metaphorical. Light from a bulb will illuminate your path while light from your mind will illuminate your creative side and take you down a road you may never have tried before.

Let that light ignite those creative visions and shine brightly so you may be witness to the wonders before your eyes, before all that lies before you!

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

REACH FOR THE STARS

Good morning everyone. Happy Tuesday. I hope you're not already getting the winter doldrums. It is way too soon. In fact you should still be on that holiday buzz. Just a few weeks ago I was sitting on a beautiful warm beach with my toes in the sand. I can easily close my eyes and go right back there. Even if you were home, wherever home is, you can still close your eyes and be with family and friends, savor that delicious dessert and relax in your favorite chair. We have a lot of winter left, embrace it in whatever way works for you.

The cold, the wind, the snow and the dark will be our companions for the next few months but so will our thoughts. Winter is a time for deep thinking, reflecting, planning and dreaming. As we try to recall the scent of a summer day there is no time like the present to revisit those dreams we may have pushed aside.

Today's quote is, "Do you accept the fact that the stars are out of reach or do you keep reaching." It is said that Spring is the time for rejuvenation and growth. While I wholeheartedly agree, it is now during these cold winter months we can begin to plant the seeds in our minds for what we want and not focus on what isn't there.

Remember when you were a child and the stars looked so close you thought you could grab one right out of the sky? Remember how you tried and tried and never gave up? That child is still inside you just waiting for the right moment to snatch one and hold it in your hands. Inhale deeply and on your exhale release the word impossible from your mind.

Don't let the dark days of winter darken your spirits, your desires or your will. Keep reaching for those stars. You might not reach it today but there is always tomorrow!

Thursday, January 9, 2020

A MISTAKE OR A CHOICE

Good morning everyone! Happy Thursday. I am terrible with directions. I used to think I was the only person who got lost but I discovered I was not alone. When the GPS came out I echoed everyone's sentiments. "They made that just for me!" Anyone out there remember the days of those enormous atlases that lay on the floor by the back seat? Those giant maps of the United States that dads used to use to find the way to Maine or Pennsylvania or New Hampshire or wherever that summer destination was.

No one has them anymore. Everyone has a GPS on their phones or in their cars making maps obsolete. I'm sure that somewhere there is a huge pile of atlases with numerous pages bent at the edges and water stains on the covers. Truly there is no reason to get lost and if you do "recalculating" will be heard in a nano second! If we do get lost it is because our minds are elsewhere. While you are imagining plates of shrimp or pasta for dinner there is a possibility of making a right turn instead of a left. A simple mistake and easy to fix. If you do that everyday you may be hungrier than you thought or might just not want to go to your destination.

Little mistakes that don't impact us much are easy to ignore. The big ones are the ones we need to pay attention to so we don't repeat them. But repeat them we do and more times than we would like to admit. At one point are you consciously or subconsciously recreating a disaster?

Today's quote is, "Mistake followed by mistake followed by mistake is no longer a mistake but a choice." For years I worked as an office temp hoping that one of the companies would hire me permanently. It took several office chairs for me to sit in before realizing that an office is an office no matter how beautiful it might be. My mistake was thinking that the next company would be different but when that light bulb finally got brighter I recognized that and changed careers.

Repetitive behaviors and actions producing the same crummy outcome need recognition and acknowledgement until that light bulb goes off . No one wants unhappiness and misery to blanket their lives. Mistakes happen but when they happen again and again you have made a choice to live unhappily ever after. Recognition plus acknowledgement minus repetition equals happiness!

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

HELP IS THERE TO HELP

Good morning everyone! Happy Tuesday and a Happy New Year to you as well. Its good to be back. I hope you welcomed in the New Year exactly as you wanted to and didn't think about all the things you were going to do the very next day, like become vegan, give up chocolate, and spend three hours at the gym from Monday to Sunday. Way to dampen an evening.

I'm not partial to the word "resolution." You know, those things we say we are going to do and then abandon after a week if not less. What I prefer is to hear how you are going to modify something about yourself and how your approach will change.

In doing this we resolve to be kinder to ourselves. The best way to do that is to let someone come to your aid. Today's quote is, "Accept help - it is there to put you back on your path." This is not something that should be looked upon as a weakness. It is actually a strength and I KNOW you have heard that before. It takes a lot to recognize and acknowledge your shortcomings. It takes even more strength to seek out the ones who can help.

Too proud? Aren't we all? What purpose does it serve other than keeping us stuck and not able to move forward. Why do you want to do that? Once again I will offer my lack of technological acumen as an example. If I had never sought out help I probably still wouldn't know how to text. Yes my friends. I am that bad.

The last paragraph of my blog where I tell everyone to visit my website would not exist because there would be no website. There would be no book, no blog, no quotes, NOTHING. Accepting the help I needed opened up a whole new world for me.

If you are the stubborn type think long and hard as to where that is getting you. Be open and accepting of any help that is offered. It is there so you can progress, move forward and be back on that track to success!