Hey Beacon, it’s Michal Spiegelman, happy to be here with this week’s Upshift Vlog. Let me tell you the story of Molla Nasreddin.

In his garden, Molla had an apple tree that was so beautiful and so fruitful that children sneaked into the garden to steal a delicious treat. Every time Molla saw a child near the tree, he would charge out of his house yelling and screaming. One day a neighbor who watched the daily drama said to Molla, “Molla, the tree in your garden gives so much more than you could possibly eat. Why do you chase the poor children away?” “Children,” said Molla, “are like thoughts. The more you chase them away, the more you can be assured that they will return.”

Does it ever happen to you that you try to meditate, hoping to make your mind still, only to achieve the opposite result? Does it ever to happen to you that you sit quietly hoping to relax, and your monkey mind gets crazier than ever? It’s absolutely normal to have thoughts come up when you quiet down your mind. Yet spending quiet time giving your mind a break from thinking all the time is necessary for our well-being. So what do we do?

Here is the objective I want to share with you today: When sitting to meditate, to give Reiki to yourself, or simply to spend quiet time alone, don’t try to quiet your mind. Instead welcome each thought with love, accept the thought as a healthy part of the process, but don’t go too far with that thought train.

Notice the thought, let it move through gently like a cloud that is drifting away, and bring your attention back to the present moment. Get off the speeding train of thoughts without being disappointed that thoughts came up and shift back to the now.

And, by the way, one of the most beautiful and most effective ways to manage your monkey mind is giving Reiki to yourself.

It has been my practice since 1996, to sit quietly every day and give Reiki to myself. There are thousands of people in our community who report that giving Reiki to themselves is actually much easier than meditation, and yet it leads to similar results!

A few minutes of practicing Reiki on yourself every day makes you feel centered, grounded, and calm, and I really encourage you to consider joining us for one of our next classes. We teach Reiki classes in Atlanta and New York, but I also teach a live online class—you and I with a small group of people through video screen and the same official Reiki training that we do in a face to face class. So consider learning to quiet your monkey mind with Reiki, and at the same time, acquire a wonderful spiritual and healing tool that will bring harmony and balance to your life

So, if you are interested to know more about this, click here to read more about our Reiki training and to register for a class.

And if you want to do some more inner child work, deeper inner child work, you’re always invited to reach out to me and I’ll be happy to talk to you.

Thank you, Beacon, for being here today, and I hope to see you in one of my next Reiki classes. Be well.