The Launch

Gill, Dominic & Me at the Launch of  Como

Well it happened and boy did it happen!

It feels like I have spent the last week on a rollercoaster and now that I am off, I have that giddy adrenaline rush and the feeling of “wow, I want to do it again”.

As most of you know, last week I was whittling about the number of tickets we had sold and whether our guest speaker, Dominic James, would feel a bit let down by the low numbers.  After all, he was a Reiki Master and published author and probably used to speaking to larger audiences.  I suppose in a way I felt a little in awe that we had managed to get a “famous” person – after all he had made TV and radio appearances!

As the week went by, ticket sales slowly crept up and by mid-week we had reached 30.  Well, I thought, that’s pretty good although it didn’t quite reach my expectation, although I hadn’t a clue what my expectation really was!  I felt it only fair to let Dominic know how many people he should expect in the audience.  In a way I was trying to manage his expectations a little, although heaven knows I hadn’t managed my own.

Friday came, and I had one last session of pleading and begging with my guides to make it the perfect evening for us, and oh boy did they come through with the goods.  Even the rain stopped yesterday and we had brief spells of sunshine.

We totalled just over 40 people in the hall last night, and the energy was amazing.  Dominic was just adorable and more nervous, I think, than I was.  But the evening just flowed, Dominic told us of his life, his writing and his Reiki journey, he answered endless questions and stayed until the very end talking to everyone who approached him. 

So we launched the Como Centre for Enlightenment in grand style and, most appropriately, during Reiki Awareness Week.  Our audience was fantastic, they interacted well, asked questions and made suggestions.  Gill and I now have lots of work to do to ensure that Como meets the needs of all.  We already have two events in the diary – a “Fun with Crystals” workshop at the end of September and a “Holistic and Spiritual Fair” at the beginning of December.

I think my main lessons from this have to be, once again, trust and also learning to manage my expectations.  I know this is the right thing for me to do, and I’m sure we can make it successful, but sometimes I do tend to let everyday life and thoughts overshadow what I know deep down to be right.

But then, I am a work-in-progress!

The Next Step

The next stage on my journey has just began and, yup, it’s taking me even further out of my comfort zone.

Once I had decided to allow Reiki to take me where it wants to, things have just gone from better to better.

Around 6-weeks or so ago my friend Gill and I started talking about a possible joint venture whereby we could help support and guide those about to embark on their own spiritual journey.  We were both Reiki Master Teachers and had a wealth of spiritual experience between us – was it now time to start helping others?

Well there’s no time like the present so this week we announced the formation of our own Centre for Enlightenment.

I placed my trust in my “people” and asked for help on how to get the Centre off the ground.  We needed a launch event of some sort and had no idea what we could do – they did!  They put the idea in my head and, oh boy, was it a good one.  But I was unsure whether it would happen and was hesitant about making that first approach.  But they had given me this idea so the very least I could do was to try – I made the first approach.

Dominic C. James is a Reiki Master and author of The Reiki Man.  His second book is due out later this month and he lives in my area.  I needed to contact him and ask if he would be willing to be our Guest Speaker at our launch event.  I sent an e-mail.

As soon as I hit that send button my brain kicked in with “it will never happen”, “he’ll charge too much”, “he’ll say no” and on and on it went.  I checked my e-mails every 5-minutes for a week – no reply.  That’s it, he wouldn’t do it, he didn’t want to know – Gill and I would have to come up with another plan for our launch.  One morning last week I was mulling over what kind of event we could come up with and what a shame that Dominic didn’t want to do it as he would have been so perfect.  So I asked for help to come up with another idea.

An hour later I had an e-mail from Dominic – yes, he would do it!!!!!  I was overjoyed and once again my people had come up trumps.  But I had forgotten that Dominic was a Reiki Master too and a very spiritual person – it’s in our make-up to help when we can.

So on Friday 15 June we will launch the Como Centre for Enlightenment and will have an Evening with Dominic C James, Reiki Master and Author.