| (Sheri is not a real person - she is a cumulative | | | | led. |
| character of many people who experience | | | | That Sunday evening after the course she sat on |
| difficulty with illness and try Reiki to create | | | | the steps of her house. She knew the kids and |
| healthier, happier lives). | | | | her husband were inside eagerly awaiting her - it |
| Sheri went to the doctor and found out that she | | | | wasn't often that she took time away from |
| had something in her body causing a problem. It | | | | them. The moon was bright and Sheri felt life |
| was a lump. The doctor called it a name, | | | | coursing through her. |
| something long and Latin. | | | | Over the weekend she had a taste of what it |
| At home, she pondered the doctor's words: | | | | meant to experience life - now. Not with the |
| 'possibly malignant', 'operate', and 'chemotherapy'. | | | | future hanging dimly in the air or with the past |
| These words did not seem to relate to her life. | | | | jumping out at her - but right now. She let go, |
| She didn't tell anyone - she didn't want a fuss. At | | | | just for a moment and realized in that instant her |
| first she totally ignored it, but deep within, Sheri | | | | body was not physically 'perfect' and that was |
| was racking her brain for ways to get herself out | | | | okay. She let go of the need to create the |
| of this mess. Her life felt as if it was hanging | | | | perfect situation, instead acknowledging a |
| together by a thread. One evening on the news, | | | | connection inside herself that was, and always will |
| as she sat with her family, she heard that stress | | | | be, perfect. |
| might be the cause of many cancer related | | | | To remember being at One with everything that |
| diseases. This triggered something in her and she | | | | pulsed with energy in this world, to flow in the |
| began to think more clearly about her situation. | | | | rhythm of the universe - perfect. |
| She'd certainly experienced a great deal of stress | | | | She didn't need to ask the teacher if Reiki would |
| last year when she'd been retrenched and they'd | | | | cure her as that was no longer the point. She |
| had to take the kids out of their private school, | | | | knew the place where she needed to be in her |
| away from their friends. Well, it was that or sell | | | | life as she had touched it. Not physically touched it: |
| the house... | | | | that wasn't possible. |
| Sheri started to think - if what was happening to | | | | This place was in her spiritual heart. |
| her body was a result of something she'd | | | | This was the beginning of her self-healing journey. |
| experienced then perhaps there was something | | | | She knew she had yet to develop a routine of |
| she could do to help herself. | | | | daily practice to continue this work. She also knew |
| Reiki attracted Sheri immediately. It was | | | | that by self-healing it didn't mean that she would |
| something she could learn to do for herself and | | | | cure herself of whatever was wrong with her but |
| was said to be good for stress. Still unable to | | | | that she could approach life from a different |
| discuss it, she told her family she was visiting her | | | | perspective. |
| mother for the weekend. She did sleep at her | | | | Sheri stood up, took a deep breath and gracefully |
| mothers but during the day she attended a Reiki | | | | entered her home. Tonight she would talk to her |
| course. She felt she couldn't reveal her reason for | | | | family and tomorrow she'd make an appointment |
| coming to the course to the other participants or | | | | to see if she could get a better grip on what that |
| even the teacher. | | | | doctor had been telling her. |
| During the two days many things began to fall | | | | The answer is inside but the question is different. |
| into place for Sheri. It was great that she gained | | | | Reiki is not a cure but a way of life. It can be |
| a better understanding of her own energy and | | | | used in conjunction with any form of allopathic or |
| ways to strengthen it. This was sure to benefit | | | | conventional western medicine. It is not an |
| her in any situation that she found herself in in the | | | | alternative to allopathic or conventional western |
| future - either physically or mentally. Her reward, | | | | medicine. |
| though, was the new perception of the life she | | | | |