The Good Times Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Monday, March 28, 2011

I can't recall the last time I spent quality time with my siblings.  It has been so many years ago.  Perhaps, when we were little when our parents were still around; where holidays were created to bring our relationship and family bonding closer.  As we grew up, each becoming an adult and having a family of our own, rarely we get to spend quality time together.  Rarely that we make the time to sit down and talk about ourselves to each other.  We may meet for our weekly family dinner, catching up briefly on telephone calls but we never relive the actual sibling togetherness. 

Fact is, sibling relationship plays a strong dynamic and atypical the longest that we will experience in our lives.  Relationships between siblings have often been termed "life's most influential" and longest lasting relationship lasting longer than ties to parents, spouse or children.  Brothers and sisters typically spend large amounts of time together, serving as one another's first playmates and companions.  It is, therefore, not surprising that sibling relationships influence social and cognitive learning.

Perhaps, because we place so much emphasis on the parent-child relationship that there is a relative lack of understanding among our brothers and sisters.  Yet, sibling relationships play essential roles in our development as individuals and often bring just as much, if not more, joy, rage, pain, frustration and pleasure.  The dynamics among siblings are so complex and so diverse that they almost defy any attempt at scientific observation.

I am glad that I come from a traditional and conservative family where we were taught to respect for each other, regardless of our age differences.  Regardless of our educational abilities.  Regardless of our lack-offs.  The good thing that came out of my family poor economic life made us to accept each of our existence and to be supportive for each other.

Two weeks back, I had the opportunity to renew my bond with my siblings.  To spend a good eight days to know each other all over again.  To acknowledge our presence for each other.  To bridge our understanding for each other.  To remember that we are interconnected; that we are family, no matter the outcome of who we have each become today.   To accept our differences.  To recognize our roots.  Importantly, it was a time off away from our busy schedules to bring back our love for each other.

True to our intention, our holidays were blessed throughout.  It made me to think how much we actually missed each other.  We missed our younger days whether we were then bickering or just playing games together.  We missed the time where we held each other for granted for our well being.  We missed the good old days.  We missed our parents dearly too.

On our arrival in Penang, we were able to check-in into our hotel even when it was only about ten in the morning.  Our reservation was not to take effect only at two in the afternoon.  And, what a delight, we were given three inter-connecting rooms.  It was, as though, the Universe wanted us to be under one roof to replay our life.  Back to our childhood days living in the small house.

Night View of Hotel Royal Penang

Two of the Connecting Rooms

Aerial View from Hotel Room

The second blessing came, as a big surprise, when we had our first meal in Penang in the hotel coffee house.  We wanted to have a quick meal and not wanting to explore the island on arrival but to rest for the evening outing.  All of us had such an early rise that day.  To our delight, the waitress offered us a 50 percent discount on our meals.  She said it was a welcome treat!

There were more blessings throughout our four days' stay in Penang.  From the kind gesture of a bellboy in another hotel that offered us with four big golf umbrellas during the heavy downpour, the taxi driver that voluntarily became the tour guide to the bus driver who transferred us to another bus that would drop us right at our hotel.

G Hotel along Gurney Drive

But, the biggest joy was how we spent the time together.  How, with all our rooms inter-connected, we just had to spend our time talking to each other.  Just like our childhood days where we had no way around in the small house but to spend time together.  To catch up on our lives.  To catch up on all those lost times where we were busy chasing after our careers and life elsewhere.

Penang brought the beauty in our relationship.  It revealed how much we had changed yet still that dear brother and sister to each other.  How much we had forgotten to be thankful, and taken each other for granted, and how much we had missed to say 'I love you'.  The day we departed Penang for Kuala Lumpur, we knew we had each other all over again.  We knew we could still find support and strength from each other.  We were never separated in spirit.  It was a superb sibling relationship - just as good as Penang's chendol!  Ever so yummy and delicious yet subtly supreme and gentle.

Yummy Penang Chendol

The stay in Genting, for two nights, and another two nights at Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur was just an expansion for our renewed understanding.  By this time, we understood each other better.  We saw, through our separate life journeys into our adulthood, the desire to be one again.  To be partners as we continue to create separate goals.  To live the dreams and hopes of our departed parents.

Genting Highland

What a big corridor!

and a tiny room!

First World Hotel, Genting Highland

And in contrast, the Le Meridien Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.  We had pretty good rates when we booked this so-called 5 stars deluxe hotel.  Smacked in Sentral Kuala Lumpur, it can be a little bit far for shopping.

Le Meridien, Kuala Lumpur

In Kuala Lumpur, we relived our childhood days.  My youngest sister insisted that we should try the crispy fried Kampung chicken and Malaysian malay dishes.  Indeed, the chicken - though skinny and small like a spring chicken, tasted really delicious.

The delicious meal

The Restaurant

Looking back, I am filled with warmth and affection.  Sibling relationship is something that we should not take for granted.  Our brothers and sisters are people whom we often forget when we move on further in our lives.  Their love is irreplaceable.  Only when we take the time to relive the relationship that, sooner, we will realize the sibling bond that is more precious than gold.

To all my sisters, Thank You for such a wonderful trip.  I just want to say to each of you that I Love You with my whole heart, that I will continue to love beyond this lifetime.  May such a wonderful time be repeated again.

"Partnership" - a beautiful vase display in Le Meridien

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Somewhere Out There Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Sunday, March 20, 2011

Dearest Ruby,

Today, as we shall spend the day to remember you, we feel a sense when time appears to stand still.  It seems as if time has not changed since the day you walked into the light, the Rainbow Bridge where the beautiful garden of heaven shall keep you safe.

May You Rest In Peace, Dearest Ruby

It was hard for us, who love you dearly, to just let you go.  On this date - 20 March 2009, you found a spot in God's garden.  It  was your time to rest.  It was your moment to rejoice in God's bigger plan.  Importantly, it was the beginning for a new lease of life.

It has never been a goodbye, Ruby.  We can't never say that to you.  Your unconditional love stays with us.  Your soul lingers in loving memory in our hearts.  Your name ever so soft and dear.  You are just a perfect creation molded right out of God's love.

You taught us how important it is to stay gentle in all we do.  Your departure makes us stronger.  It teaches us to be grateful.  It teaches us to pray.  It teaches us to appreciate the tiniest things in life.  It teaches us the beauty of love even when it seems to hurt.

We know that you are always here watching on us.  We feel your presence, constantly.  We feel the shining lights that brighten our souls.  We feel the warmth of your love to keep us safe.  To keep us in the spirit of life.

You are our soul mate, Ruby.  You are our daughter.  You are our dearest friend.  You are the best that life can offer to us.  We will, forever, be remembering you.



May you be ever in peace.

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Light Up The Light Of Life Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Monday, March 07, 2011

Energy comes here and now!

This is dedicated to all the friends that crossed my path last week.  That, with all your barest souls and in the battle with each of their life, it provides us all with new meaning.  It places in our heart the responsibility towards life.  It is the acceptance for our own wrong-doings, in reflection.  It is the acceptance to be accepted for the highest good.  It should resolve our bitterness, even if it is the slightest, not to be consumed further and internally.

This is my prayer for (all names are being protected) Jan, Had, Su, An, Nn, Sid and Roh.  May the light of God lights bright in each one of you.

Many sad events sadden me.  Many sad news bring tears in my heart.  Many sad happenings make my mind wonders at the works of God.  I am drenched with sorrowful life stories.  Of how we have to face with life downhills.  How, even when one struggles to stay positive, the misery can be quite unbearable.  Yet, in all catastrophe, we are reminded that life is said to be a beautiful thing.  We are to have faith and ever to be hopeful.

The whole week, the process of listening to each of these dear friends, has been consumed by different thoughts, whispers, revelations, convictions.  Somehow, it all centered on God.  His light and His love.  His mysterious ways which we could be blind-sighted.  His omnipresence that we under estimated.

I am sure many of us often wonder whether God is right here with us.  If we are His image, why do we often feel that we have been abandoned.  Why do we not get most of the things that we desire?  Why dreams seem so far fetched?  Why does love hurt?  Why are there brothers killing brothers?  Why life can be filled with uncertainties and misery to be experienced?

Many of us know that a person can learn about life without God or a religion.  Someone who has experienced God may be looking on the entire world with wonder and joy.  But, if this experience real?  Is it useful and meaningful or just a subjective event?  It may be full of meaning to that person having it but otherwise no more practical than a dream?

Like all my friends, we shall not disown that great outsider, God.  We admit it is not His wrongdoings for our struggles.  We accepted His presence and His light.  Often that I have mentioned, life IS beautiful.  It is just our ways of doing things, the mechanics of the mind and our reactions, that complicate matters.

Our mind is rather trickery.  We know it is there yet it seems to be inaccessible.  Our whole energy remains blocked, either to our past or in the unknown future.  We forget that to every thing, there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.  We often forget to confine ourselves to the present.

God will not know how to react to our choice if we are not clear with our intentions.  All life choices are about experiences.  These experiences are a divine aid to enrich our wisdom.  God loves us if only we can love ourselves.  He provides the light to all our thoughts in every life situations.

We need to question ourselves how much longer will we go on letting our energy to sleep?  To dwell for the answers when we are not fully ready to accept our own doings?  When we perpetually blame on anything else but us.  How much longer are we going to stay oblivous of the immensity of ourselves?  Of the image of God within us?

To all these friends, I have the faith in your loving souls.  It will be good, for all of us collectively, to know that a person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires can alone achieve peace.  We have to take heart, truth and happiness will get us in the end.  The pains that we are experiencing is the breaking of the shell that encloses our understanding.  We just have to begin with the possible, begin with one step.  There is a always a limit we cannot do more than we can.  If we try to do too much, we will do nothing.

We have to forgive ourselves to have thought about life differently.  We have to forgive ourselves for stocking in our anger, our fears and our disappointments.  We have to forgive ourselves for not knowing our soul, our mind.

In his book 'How To Succeed', Byran Adams said "Your subconscious mind has the answer.  If you are confronted with a problem and you cannot see an immediate answer, assume that your subconscious has the solution and is waiting to reveal it to you.   If an answer does not come, turn the problem over to your deeper mind prior to sleep.  Keep on turning your request over to your subconscious mind until the answer comes.  The response will be a certain 'feeling', an inner awareness, whereby you 'know' what to do.  Guidance in all things comes as the still small voice within: It reveals all."

When we can do that, when this happens, our horizons open to new realities.  We will have the experience of God.

Let me revive my previous writing, "Conversation With God" to end this dedication to these dear friends.  With love and with all my prayers to one and each of you.

Reflection:  in Solitude, in Abundance .. Magnificent Life

Conversation With God
- A Beautiful Insight

God:  Hello. Did you call me? 
 
Me:  Called you? No, who is this?

God:  This is GOD.  I heard your prayers, so I thought I will chat.

Me:  I do pray.  It just makes me feel good.  I am actually busy now.  I am in the midst of something.

God:  What are you busy at?  Ants are busy too.

Me:  Don't know.  But I can't find free time.  Life has become hectic.  It's rush hour all the time.

God:  Sure.  Activity gets you busy but productivity gets you results.  Activity consumes time.  Productivity frees it.

Me:  I understand but I still can't figure out.  By the way, I was not expecting YOU to buzz me on instant messaging chat.

God:  Well I wanted to resolve your fight for time, by giving you some.  In this net era, I wanted to reach you through the medium you are comfortable with.

Me:  Tell me, why has life become complicated now?

God:  Stop analyzing life.  Just live it.  Analysis is what makes it complicated.

Me:  Why are we then constantly unhappy?

God:  Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday.  You are worrying because you are analyzing.  Worrying has become your habit.  That's why you are not happy.

Me:  But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty?

God:  Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional. 

Me:  But then, there is so much pain due to uncertainty.

God:  Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.

Me:  If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer?

God:  Diamond cannot be polished without friction.  Gold cannot be purified without fire.  Good people go through trials, but don't suffer. With that experience their life become better not bitter.

Me:  You mean to say such experience is useful?

God:  Yes, in every term.  Experience is a hard teacher.  She gives the test first and the lessons after wards.

Me:  But still, why should we go through such tests?  Why can't we be free from problems?

God:  Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons (to) Enhance Mental Strength.  Inner strength comes from struggle and endurance and not when you are free from problems.

Me:  Frankly, in the midst of so many problems, we don't know where we are heading..

God:  If you look outside you will not know where you are heading.  Look inside.  Looking outside, you dream.  Looking inside, you awaken.  Eyes provide sight.  Heart provides insight.

Me:  Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving in the right direction. What should I do?

God:  Success is a measure as decided by others.  Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you.  Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing your road ahead.  You work with the compass.  Let others work with the clock.

Me:  In tough times, how do you stay motivated?

God:  Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go.  Always count your blessing, not what you are missing.

Me:  What surprises you about people?

God:  When they suffer they ask, 'why me?'.  When they prosper, they never ask 'Why me'.  Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few want to be on the side of the truth.

Me:  Sometimes I ask, 'who am I, why am I here?.  I can't get the answer.

God:  Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be.  Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here.  Create it.  Life is not merely a process of discovery but a process of co-creation. You are my co-creator.

Me:  How can I get the best out of life?

God:  Face your past without regret.  Handle your present with confidence.  Prepare for the future without fear.

Me:  One last question - Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.

God:  There are no unanswered prayers.  At times the answer is NO. 

Me:  Thank You for this wonderful chat.

God:  Well, keep the faith and drop the fear.  Don't believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs.  Life is a mystery to solve, not a problem to resolve.  Trust me, life is wonderful if you know how to live.  Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that took our breath away! So start creating miracles, no matter how small they are!

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Soul Shifts Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Wednesday, March 02, 2011

The God in me greets the God in you.


The beautiful thing about The Serenity Prayer written by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, it is to remind us how fragile we can be as an individual.  We are not that perfect beings who, to some, may think we are.  Having said that, Yes!, we are given the gifts of God to create our reality according to our beliefs.  When we know we want it, we have it.  There are no limitations to the self except those we believe in.

I like it best if only I can keep reminding myself on this beautiful Serenity Prayer everyday.  With greater awareness.  With profound consciousness.  That, I shall pass through the day, everyday, with open eyes.  That, I shall pass through the day, everyday, with an acceptance that I make mistakes in life.  That, I will keep to make mistakes.  That, I am not perfect.  That, I am not as smart as I would like to think.

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, 

the courage to change the things I can, 

and the wisdom to know the difference."

The Spiral of Life

Mistakes are inevitable and they are, supposedly, be our learning lessons towards wisdom.  We tend to learn wisdom from failure much more than from success.   They are discovered through our sorrows, our fears, our anger, our disappointments.  We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do.  If only we learn to embrace these negative energies as the shining light, as the lamp posts, they shall be the door to open towards our wellness for our higher self.  If only we keep on reminding ourselves that we are capable of failures for something good in return.

Every issue, every belief, every attitude or assumption is precisely the issue that stands between us and our relationship to another human being.  And between us and ourselves.  When we depend on someone for our happiness, we are becoming a slave.  We are becoming dependent.  We are creating a bondage.

The thing is, it is how we want to view ourselves.  Are we a giver, the taker or just another intimidator?  We must constantly be aware with the wheels of life.  We go through the ups and downs so that we can understand the process of life energy.  There is a place for reflection and there is another for breeding our ego.  We must be conscious of our control dramas in life.  Ultimately, we must learn to gain energy from the Universal Source.

We should learn not to force anything; let life be a deep let go.  It is just how we learn to see the beauty with the nature - millions of flowers are opened without forcing the buds every day.

We react to situations in life based on our experiences.  Based on our perception.  When something strikes us as beautiful, it displays more presence and sharpness.  It stands out.  It shines.  In contrast, when something not so good strikes us, we become disconnected.  There is judgement and disappointment.  We cannot seem to disentangle our negative perception towards the larger source of purpose.  Much often, we have cut ourselves off and so have felt weak, insecure and lacking.

When a person engages another in a conversation, one of two things can happen - That person can come away feeling stronger or weaker.  The subconscious mind prepares ourselves to say whatever we must in order to prevail in the conversation.  Then, there is a subtle feeling where each of us will seek to find some way to control and thus remain on top in the encounter.  If we are successful, if our viewpoint prevails, we receive a psychological boost.

Often, little that we realize that we are in a constant hunt for someone else's energy.  We move along in life where we keep telling ourselves that the fittest survives.  We fill up at the other's expense and the filling up is what motivates us.  Our particular style of controlling, as we have to realize it, is one we learned from our childhood to get attention.  To get for our personality to be accepted.

We must learn to gain insight from another.  When we decide on a choice to interact with the social mass, we must learn to sit back and listen.  We must learn to accept all the good and not-so-good.  When a finger is pointing out, there are four remaining fingers seeking for our soul shifts towards reflection.  A change can only be felt when we change within.

When we want to see change, we need to shift the paradigm and to open our consciousness.  Change will not happen when we are not going to shift that paradigm nor change our perception.  When we are not going to shift our consciousness, and awareness, we lose the sense of appreciation.  Only when we learn to appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of things, to accept and receive the energy as it comes, we open the path to our real identity.

Finding our true self, our real identity, we need to review on our life patterns.  We need to observe for the repetitive experiences that have kept us from our energy conflicts.  There is a problem should we keep falling into the pits for self pity.  Where negative event keeps going in circle.

There is a bigger problem should we are unable to accept the beauty in life.  When we look closely at all the things that have happened to us since birth, if we view our life as one story, we will be able to see how we have been working on this pattern all along.

Our daily thoughts, the daily happenings and experiences, carry important messages.  We just need to recognize them.  To do so, we need to take an observer position.  Only when we are ready to accept, when we pay a little bit more attention and taking it from the observer position and from an untroubled spirit, the story of these messages become the story of purpose to our life.

Self knowledge and self improvement are very difficult for most people.  It usually needs great courage and long struggle before we could chance on the realization.  The truth about our spiritual mission is as important as the evolution of the Universe itself.  Once we learn what life is about, there is no way to erase the knowledge.  When we try to do something else with our life, we will always sense that we are missing something.

Do we feel love everyday?  We are souls that contain the potential for everything within us.  Until we can understand that nothing can happen to us, nothing can ever come to us or be kept away, love alone can unite living beings .  It embraces the totality of men and of the earth.  We just have to stay conscious of this process in order for it to work.  This is especially important when we interact with another.  We just have to stay full, stay in a state of love.

It is not a surprise that all the answers to our life questions come to us from other people.  However, the first rule is to keep our heart away from judgement.  Have an open mind, have an open heart.  We must, in order for the answers to be received, keep projecting positive energy into that person to help us to see about the truth.  We must honour this interpersonal ethic and treat others with love and respect.  How we approach other people determines how we evolve.  Subsequently, how quickly our life questions can be answered.

When we appreciate the shape and demeanor of another person, the more we appreciate their wholeness and their inner beauty, we are taking in the positive.  When we attack apparent negativity with negativity, we merely feed and inflame the source.  We should focus to live life with love, or at least to send kind thoughts to everything.  Doing so, it will change our life events before our very eyes.

Our being changes as our vibrations change.  There is little sense in attempting to change external conditions.  We must first change inner beliefs then outer conditions will change accordingly.

The best thing that can ever happen to us is to love life, to love it even while we think we suffer.  Because life is ALL.  We may not know what our destiny will be but the one thing that I do believe is, the only ones among us who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.

In the words of David Jansen, 'People with high self esteem have it because they have overcome their failures.  They have been put to the test of life, overcome the problems and grown'.

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