I’m not Jewish but I love Yom Kippur. Scheduling atonement in your calendar is so very smart.
Yom Kippur is a serious holiday even for Jews who are not observant and don’t fast. Here on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, many stores are closed. This day of atonement brings an unusual quiet to the heart of New York City.
As it should. Atonement is serious, and seriously necessary.
Yet other than Yom Kippur, who makes time to stop and look past the obvious, to review and atone on a regular basis? I’m sorry to say I don’t. Do you?
I haven’t forgotten
This year, I’m atoning for neglecting you. I’ve missed being in touch. And it doesn’t feel good that I didn’t keep my word.
I don’t know why you signed up for my blog posts, but I do know I’ve let you down. My last post was January 29. AARGH.
What happened? Short answer: I really don’t know. 2017 happened.
My goal was to blog here once a month and blog Reiki once a month. Well, that sure didn’t happen. I’ve barely blogged monthly since January, and it’s been all Reiki.
More than Reiki practice
Now I love my Reiki practice and I’m deeply grateful to mentor Reiki home and professional practitioners around the world. But I started practicing yoga and meditation as a kid, and what matters most to me — living with heart — is about more than Reiki practice.
The support I offer my private clients is broader and deeper than Reiki practice (which is why I refer to our time together as comprehensive healing sessions, not Reiki sessions). This was where I planned to offer you that kind of support.
I have managed to live this year with heart — no small triumph — but not to share it with you.
For that, I apologize.
Please know I didn’t forget you. I haven’t expressed it, but you’ve been in my thoughts and my heart, and my determination to do better in the coming year (somehow September seems more like the start of a new year than January does!).
Even secular Jews, non practicing will try and keep the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) when we remember at the end of the service, those we have lost, family and friends and recite a special prayer, firstly for our parents who have gone to their rest. We remember those who died in the Holocaust and it brings a moment of extreme sadness. Some remarkable men and women who were in the camps have, and I admire and respect them, have even shown a degree of forgiveness. I am not sure that I could be so forgiving but one tries in our everyday lives to forgive the hurts that others may have caused.
Dear Pamela,
What a lovely and heartfelt post, thank you.
I too have not posted on my blog for almost a year and have come to my laptop today to finish a post I began drafting a month ago – life and family circumstances are demanding the majority of my time just now. Synchronicity perhaps that I should check my emails first and find your email directing me to this post. I shall share it.
You are certainly not forgotten and there is plenty on your blog to keep us all connected and thoughtful about Reiki. This morning I have been reading your paper “Clinical Perspective – Reiki for Mind, Body and Spirit Support of Cancer Patients”. What a blessing your work is!
With best wishes, Angela
Dear Pamela,
Thank you so much for your message which I am reading today. Yesterday, I was “in services” via the internet at Central Synagogue in New York from my home in Guatemala. Since we are on mountain time, I also visited services in Houston, Saint Louis and Los Angles as the day progressed. It was a profound day for me.
Though you and I have never met, I feel a deep connection with you and your work because of my heart-sister’s introduction to you many years ago. Her name was Deborah Sharifa Buckley from Denver. Perhaps, you remember her. Of course, on Yom Kippur a very important aspect of the day is remembering those who have gone before us. Deborah was deeply in my heart and mind. How good it was to read your post today and your response to the teshuva aspect- the making return to where you want to be. Another way to think of that word-atonement is At-One-Ment- to be in the moment. I like that aspect very much as well.
Whenever your blogs, or comments arrive in my inbox, I read them with interest and deLight.
All the Best for a New Year of Health, Well-being, Love, and Peace for all,
Elisabeth WhiteWater Star Rogolsky
Thank you for your comment, Elisabeth. I visited Guatemala in December 2012 to attend and document ceremonies marking the changing of the calendar. I was fortunate to spend time with Don Thomas there and when he was in NYC to speak to the UN, which I shared in blogs on ReikiInMedicine.org.
I dear friend introduced me to Deborah and I remember her well. How fortunate for you both to have shared friendship.