Brighton Reiki - Rifa Bhunnoo

In a management versus technical meeting on Thursday, someone said “I’ll just put my Web Hat on”, and from then on I amused myself by imagining what the Web Hat would look like - settling on a version of one of those big velour jesters hats with bells (and whistles) and a side pocket for widgets. It would be kept in a glass cabinet and when things got hairy they would cry “Bring out the Web Hat!”, and with much ceremony and reverence the Hat would be brought out, and we’d all bow down to the Web Hat Wearer.

This week’s other memorable meeting moments have included a inane discussion about the use of the word “coloured”.

There are 3 young girls waiting for my husband outside the front door. It’s like Bros-mania round here.

I had my check-up, I have exceptional hearing - it’s official. But I also have a slight heart mumour, due to stress. Oh, that’s great publicity for a reiki master.

Things were getting to me and I’ve been forgetting to give myself reiki, do yoga and meditate. So I’ve sorted myself out a bit and already feel a lot calmer and stronger. I don’t comply with any of the disagreeable comments at work, I am just not wasting any more energy on it. the person I was moaning about will still try to wind me up but what can I do when they express their negative thoughts about everyone from Northerners, the Irish, to vegetarians to ‘cafe culture’? I try to keep calm and positive and I challenge but I will not let this suck my energy any more.

“The world is changing at such a rapid rate, that waiting to implement changes will leave you two steps behind. DO IT NOW!”

Someone this week asked me if I could ‘waggle my head’ after I told him I can play the sitar. I laughed as I was trapped in a Mercedes on the M25 with this charming man.

Later he shared with me his views on world poverty - “Let Ethiopians starve as it’s a natural cull”. You’ll be glad to know that I ranted back at him this time, as well as challenging his other bizarre thoughts about the world.

I work in a small town, with small people who think in a small way. I’ve dealt with worse, nastier racism but sometimes I think this kind of comment is more annoying because it will fester away at me and it makes me want to leave a nice comfy job. It’s 2008 not 1978 ffs.

I’m coming into work in a sari next week.

I don’t really need to be reminded what England was like in the 1970’s and 80’s as a child of immigrants in proper working class London. But ‘This is England’ is an incredible film, although the violence really affected me. I got freaked out by the trailer for Shane Meadows’ previous film. Violence of any kind really bothers me at the moment. The chemical reactions to violence on the TV or in films are the same whether it’s real or not. It’s not conducive for a peaceful night’s sleep.

Sometimes it’s good to have a break from the news and have a rest from the negativity in the media. It used to be easier to go on holiday to get away from the news but now we’ve got 24 hour coverage in even the most remote places. It’s so difficult to do, but I avoid the TV news, rarely buy a paper and don’t have the BBC news as my home page. It’s amazing how well informed I am despite all these precautions. The most important stories get through to me somehow. One news story about a couple who look different who got attacked, has been haunting me for weeks now. I had to watch a few episodes of the Mighty Boosh to feel better.

As well as a negativity detox, this Easter weekend has given me a break from all the different ways I can be contacted. So far I have:

2 phones

1 blackberry

4 email addresses

1 contact us form

MSN messenger

a messageboard

Facebook

a Facebook group

Linked in

43 things

3 Myspaces

3 websites

Do I really need a blog?

I really do love my job. this time last year i could barely get out of bed and needed a nap in the afternoon. And since getting more healing, homeopathy and osteopathy I can now enjoy getting to my full-on full time job and give treatments on Saturdays and teach reiki on Sundays. I love it. this sunday was a really wonderful group. I am finding that as my own healing steps up a level, i attract people who are already quite far along the Path. Reiki One people now are so much more open and receptive to receive more energy and understand complex concepts than a few years ago. there’s a reiki revolution going on. get involved!

I’m reading Maverick! about a company in Brazil called Semco that has revolutionized their way of working with profit share, workers making their own decisions, open-salary policy etc. One of my favourite things they do is have a personalised peg, where instead of clocking in, in the morning you put a different coloured ribbon on your peg to let other workers know what sort of mood you are in (green means good, red means you want to be left alone).

I work in an office with 80% women. At the next company meeting I will ask about putting pegs up to indicate where you are in your moon cycle. Just to give everyone a heads up…

I’ve worked in lots of different places and it’s been fun getting back in contact with my “professional network” and seeing what people are up to now in digital media world. Onwards and upwards for most people. Which is great.

And then I get a bunch of emails from old reiki students and clients - again many people are doing well, running their own workshops and giving treatments. I love it. and what is keeping me going is looking forward to seeing my current reiki clients on Saturday and the new workshops I’ve got lined up in the coming Sundays.

But despite all the positive stuff, I’ve heard some bad news and it just reminds me how lucky I am and how grateful and how this life is so precious that even I have to get a grip, enjoy every day and not resent anyone or anything else as it’s just wasted energy. This time last year I was doing something completely different and this time next year, I’ll be used to doing something radically different again.

Embrace change, it’s the only way forward. Jim knows. But even i forget sometimes.

Hey that post from last week just shows how bad my fatigue was, and that I don’t really re-read or edit my rambling, I just write. that’s what I think blogging should be like, not polished.

So by the end of last week, I lost my sense of humour about work, but have now got things into perspective, thanks to a couple of nice long phone-calls with Lucy and Amelia. And my sis came down today. Whenever Chris goes away I go a bit off centre..and you really need to chat to your friends and get out of the house when you’re working full-time. I am just not used to travelling to meetings, getting 4 taxis, 2 planes and 2 trains on Monday for a 1 hour meeting in Dublin. It f*cked me up for the whole week. By Wednesday and another 6am start for a meeting in London, I was NOT HAPPY. Thursday i got thorugh the day by the sheer excitement of V day. but on friday I had lost patience with the ridiculous and unnaturalness of W.O.R.K and just thought fuck it!

i wrote a long blog about my current job and then got paranoid, so deleted it.

Reiki works wonders in the work place. When you are finding people irritating, bullying or just plain lazy, send some loving reiki around the place. i’ve used reiki when I am just stuck on a project and can’t see a way out. After the reiki everything seems to fall into place as if by magic.

Reiki is not just something you do when you’re in a relaxed state and giving yourself a nice treat or when you feel physically drained. Use it in your everyday situations or send reiki using distant healing to events in the future: those troublesome meetings, pay reviews and interviews.

If you’re looking for a new job, try writing a wish list of all the things you want from a job. Set aside your doubts, or negativity…don’t say ‘that salary is unrealistic’ or ‘there are no firms like this near me’ or ‘i’ll have to take a pay cut if i move out of london’. JUST WRITE THE LIST and put it somewhere safe. and if you get all or most of the things you wished for but you’re still not happy - refine the list.

BE SPECIFIC:

1. how much salary and bonuses do you want?

2. where do you want to work: locality, what sort of environment, what sort of office? or home-based?

3. flexible hours? or 9 to 5?

4. socialble or home alone? what sort of people?

5. what do you need to get real job satisfaction?

6. do you want to go self-employed? this list can be as long as you like.

WISH BIG - you will be amazed how opportunities will come to you, if you allow yourself to THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU REALLY WANT AND ASK THE UNIVERSE. Besides, it’s just a list, if you don’t believe me and don’t want to do it, then you haven’t gained anything, and if you DO IT and nothing happens, then you’ve not lost anything. But if you do it and it works, well done you for spending the time to think about your life. No-one else is going to think about it for you.