When We Recognize Each Other’s Importance

Post by Alli Woods Frederick for the Kind Kindred series.



Healing hands by mooyo neimar

When We Recognize Each Other’s Importance

Working with people’s energy isn’t something I ever set out to do. I had never even considered it as a remote possibility but one encouraging teacher, many, many classes and 9 years later here I am – an honest to goodness freakin’ reiki master. Who woulda thunk it? (Certainly not me!) Working with someone’s energy is such a blessing and honor. I never could have imagined when I started this journey just how much I would learn about myself and others. It never ceases to blow my mind.

When a client comes to me they are placing a huge amount of trust in me…in my ability, in my honesty & in my intentions. They are saying…

“I want to feel better. I want to feel balanced. I want to feel more connected. I want you to help me. I trust you.”
That might not seem like much – after all doctors, yogis, massage therapists and even hair stylists do it every day - but the responsibility is huge. Massive. They trust me with the intangible aspects of their nature. They trust me for guidance. They trust me to provide insight. They trust me to help them. This is why reiki & the space it creates are sacred. It’s special, unique & completely private. It’s a place of safety and security where trust can flourish as we discover habits, injuries, strengths and weaknesses. We trust and we respect and we laugh and we learn.

What reiki and, more precisely, my clients teach me is invaluable. Their lessons are simple and profound – things we know in our day to day life but which are, more often than not, forgotten or ignored as we go about the hustle and bustle, the ins and outs, the highs and lows of living each day. In doing this work I am constantly reminded:

We all carry our own burdens and struggles. We all have our own joys and triumphs. We have unique journeys and fascinating stories but at the heart of them all, at their very center are the same exact things. As beautifully different, as absolutely and gloriously unique as we all are we are, in essence, exactly the same. We all have the same needs and desires…

to be loved, to be accepted, to be safe, to be happy, to be wanted, to be understood.
We are all on a journey and no one’s is more or less important than anyone else’s. We all have dreams. We all have hopes. We all have fears. We all have bitter disappointments. We all have joyous triumphs. These common threads weave us all together. They connect us in ways that, if we never dive any deeper than “Hello,” we will never truly understand. It is when we recognize each other’s importance, listen to each other’s stories and acknowledge we aren’t all that different that we honestly become connected. It is in those moments that we open ourselves up to giving and receiving love. We experience what life and being human are truly about – love, connection, trust and respect. What a blessing it is to remember that.

Alli Woods Frederick is an artist, photographer, author, reiki master, intuitive & zombie survival strategist™. Her feline companion, Mischa the Wonder Cat, is currently being considered for sainthood and her husband is the bees knees. She has a deep and abiding love of fancy dress, Bruce Campbell, Bob Hope, big shoes, the 1930′s & tea parties...all of which she writes about at KissesAndChaos.com where she invites you to come for the weirdness and stay for the love.