Welcome to the 2008 Reiki Alphabet Challenge!!! Its great to have you here!!! This challenge is designed to give you something new to Reiki every day by giving you a new letter to focus on each day. Hopefully, by the end of the challenge you will have Reikied things you hadn’t considered before and thereby increased the boundaries of your Reiki world. So let’s get started…

Today’s letter is “O” and our focus is on Obstacles. As I may have said once or twice, dis-ease is the result of blocks in the various energy systems that regulate the flow of vital energy into and out of our lives. Physical problems are often the result of blockages preventing life force energy from circulating, replacing old energy with new energy. The same holds true for mental, emotional and spiritual dis-ease.

If you consider the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual blocks to be on a microcosmic level, that is, occurring in a semi-parallel dimension that most people are not consciously aware of, than today’s challenge is on more of a macrocosmic level, that is, occurring in our ordinary day to day reality. A rather overly simplified example is… just as an energy block can prevents the flow of ki through our energetic systems, a car on the road in front of us can prevent our flow through life. For today’s challenge, this is what I am referring to as an obstacle.

If you consider all the different obstacles that we encounter on a daily basis (or perhaps hourly for some) there are quite a few things interfering with our flow. A few more examples are:

• waiting for elevators (or waiting for other things… like waiters or the Internet)
• the supermarket being out of your favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry’s
• dialing wrong numbers
• unexpected happenings (like non-delivery of your morning newspaper or your car not starting)
• the book you are looking for already being checked out of the library
• your cell phone being out of range
• misplacing the TV remote control
• other people’s emergencies (including your children or employees)

These are just a few of the types of obstacles that I”m talking about which can prevent us from having a smooth day. Today’s challenge is to think of the types of obstacles that can effect us, and be aware of them. Sending Reiki to them ahead of time is one way to take some of the sting out, but being prepared for them, and immediately giving Reiki to them as they occur not only lessens the negativity that usually accompanies them but also helps us to be more like a river… and when obstacles do interfere with our flow, we naturally just change course and keep on keeping on without giving it a thought… other than the sending of Reiki to whatever it is that caused us to alter directions. And in the long run, who’s to say which of these were not actually blessings in disguise.

During the Reiki Alphabet Challenge, please do not feel you must limit yourself to the suggested letter of the day. Use the comment option below to send your own suggested ideas beginning with the letter of the day so that we might all get some new ideas, motivations and understandings of this wonderful world of Reiki. And as always, extra points will be given for originality and awesomeness!!

For further explanation or discussion, your thoughts are most welcome and highly encouraged, please feel free to comment below!!!