At a crossroads

RE: At a crossroads

Hello Janice

Forgive me if I approach my answer to your question by a circuitous route!

It sounds to me as though you're quite a sensitive empath. This can be really useful when you want to understand what someone else is experiencing in therapeutic work, for me it's particularly in massage and in teaching that I find empathy a helpful gift, and I'm sure it makes you an excellent psychotherapist even if you're not always aware of why you choose to ask this question or to make that comment...

I learned the hard way how important it is to manage empathy properly, and became quite unwell and depressed with other peoples' 'stuff'. It's wonderful to be able to align ourselves so closely with someone else's experience, and sometimes having done so, we may even be able to bring them along with us to a happier state. I will pick up on muscular/energetic patterns during a massage and send sensate or visualisedsuggestions of the desired new pattern into the body, using a sort of empathy-the-other-way-around.

From your post I would guess that you're already acquainted with the pitfalls of empaths, and know that to use this gift well you mustbe able to discern and distinguish your own feelings and sensations from those impressing in upon you,to protect yourselfand the clearness of your own space when you're not making deliberate use of empathy, and to keepother peoples' feelingsat a small distance of objectivity from your own.

I would put empathy and all kinds of listening and observation in a category of 'reading' or accessing another person.I would put spiritual healing,broadly speaking, into the categoryof things that move in theother direction, replenishing the client's resources and influencing transformation and empowerment for them. Replenishing them of course with energy that is never your own, but for which you serve as a clear conduit.

In the NFSH we give healing "for the highest good" of the client, which is to say that we do not presume to knowexactly theoutcome that will be best for them overall. I see this as a valuable principle, partly because it demands humility and simplicity (which will always make for a clearer healing connection); and partly because it eliminates the danger of meddling with a circumstance, illnessor condition whichis at that time stilldesirousfor the client's higher (spiritual) good.

If you spend time developing as a healer and demonstrating to spirit that you are willing to commit to healing, your voice will acquire morehealing qualities, you can become more sensitive to the mostappropriate action in many situations, you find yourself far less prone to worry or to wonder what response you should make. Healing energies tend to remain close to your aura.

I think spiritual healing is something that happens not only at the moment the client is with you, or at the moment when you're sending healing, but which brings you closer to your healing guides and which can often happen throughout the day, in small intentions and gestures or even just by virtue of your presence near a person or situation in need. Remember, much spiritual healing comes through medical carers who have no conscious awareness that they're working in this way! Their care and compassionate attitude are enough to makea spiritual conduit. It doesn't do for us 'trained' healers to get snooty or jealous!

My only qualification about recommending Spiritual Healing to you would be that you already do Reiki. For reasons I don't need to understand, in my casethe two are not really compatibleand I keep at something of a distance from Reiki, but I know there are spiritual healers who use both and are very comfortable with that. I would suggest therefore that you speak to someone who uses both and see what adaptations in their work they might have made, if any, for the co-habitation of the two.

Here's j