Lessons from the Elderly

Article by Deborah Lloyd, Reiki Master

When I was a child growing up in the rural heartland of America, it seemed older people had an easy life. The farm mortgage was paid, the children were grown, and grandchildren were frequent visitors. Visiting grandparents always meant yummy cookies, seeing the animals and playing in the barnyard. Everything seemed idyllic and peaceful.

As my fulltime work involves visiting terminally ill patients, mostly elderly people, I see firsthand the many challenges and problems many of them face. They share their worries about unresolved personal, family and relationship issues. While it can be sad to witness these hurts, it can also be inspiring to see relationships healed, in the last days of someone’s life.

These events make me wonder: How can these hurts be healed, long before the end of life? What can we do now to assure a peaceful existence in our elder years?

Reiki provides us with many solutions:

• Attempt to resolve relationship issues now; do not wait for a last-days’ reconciliation. Take the first step to heal old wounds between you and a loved one. If an estranged sibling, or son or daughter, does not respond with forgiveness and love, you will know that you did everything possible to repair the relationship. Reiki teaches us to send love and light to them – maybe, some day they will accept these healing energies.
  

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• Appreciate the gift of time. Every older person talks about how fast time has flown by, and some talk about how they had their priorities backwards – ie, too much time spent at work and too little time spent with family, or relaxing. Reiki gives us the opportunity to relax, and to simply “be.” Spend more time being and less time doing!
• Practice forgiveness, for others and yourself. Holding onto grudges, past hurts and anger is a self-defeating way of being. When we give energy to these painful events, the negativity expands and can overtake our entire energetic system. Releasing these energies provide space to bring light and loving energies into our being. Reiki helps us to remove these damaging emotional blocks.
• Be grateful for every day of life. As patients with terminal illnesses face their final days on earth, many voice appreciation for each remaining day. Do we say thank you enough, for the great gift of breath, heartbeats and everything else that gives us life? Many patients talk about all the ways they took good health for granted, and in many cases, the “bad decisions” they made, harming this gift of life. Reiki teaches us to express gratitude.
• Living in harmony and peacefulness is a possibility in our lives! Remaining calm and centered, even when it seems everything is falling apart is difficult. However, it is possible when practicing Reiki on a daily, or frequent, basis. When we strive to live a balanced life, we can deal with anything that comes our way – even becoming elderly or facing a terminal illness. Reiki gives us a way to achieve a truly peaceful existence.

Let us not wait until we are retired, ill or elderly to live in peace. Let each of us find the motivation to rearrange our lives, to live out our priorities. If we believe our families should be our first priority, take actions to live this way. If we believe our spiritual connection is essential, let us take the time to be spiritual. Time goes by fast – use it intentionally. Reiki can help us to create the balanced, harmonious lives we desire.

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Deborah Lloyd is a Usui and Karuna Reiki® Master and certified holistic therapy practitioner, providing Distant Reiki sessions and training in Asheville, NC. Deborah is the author of two books, 22 Messages from the Archangels; and, Believe and it is True: A Story of Healing and Life Lessons. She is also one of the co-authors of Reiki 101: 101 Answers for Your Reiki Questions. Reach Deborah at deb@deblloydhealing.com and on Facebook at Deb Lloyd Healing.