Balancing Acts between Activism & Pacifism with Karen Caig

LRMTs Karen Caig and Pam Allen-LeBlanc delve into balancing activism and pacifism with Reiki, offering insights on using Reiki for discernment and harmony in facing social issues.
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Silver Bay, NY - NE Reiki Retreat:  https://northeastreikiretreat.org/ 

Rhinebeck, NY - Omega events: 
Open to Peace June 16-21:  https://bit.ly/3NXJzmy
Wisdom of Reiki Conference: June 21-23: 
https://www.eomega.org/workshops/the-wisdom-of-reiki-conference 

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Karen Caig is an LRMT with the International Center for Reiki Training since 2020. With a passion for helping others find relief from stress and pain, she continues to be guided on her own healing path by Reiki. Karen's mission is to train at least one Reiki Master for every family, to promote deep healing and make the world a better place.

Get in Touch with Karen:
Email: karen@arkansasreiki.com
Website:  www.Reiki-Institute.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArkansasReikiInstitute     


Pam Allen-LeBlanc is a scientist, businesswoman, and Licensed Reiki Master Teacher (LRMT) with the International Center for Reiki Training.  She is the author of "The Reiki Business Book" and a co-author of ICRT Animal Reiki training.  Pam teaches Reiki, Animal Reiki, and Animal Communication online and in person in Canada, the US, and Australia.

Get in Touch with Pam:
Email: pam@reikifromthefarm.com

Pam's ICRT Classes:
https://www.reiki.org/users/pamela-allen-leblanc#classes

Book a Reiki, Animal Reiki, or Animal Communication session:
https://squareup.com/appointments/book/7dvtqlfp939e8g/LPSC51C92BN20/services

A special thanks goes out to Music from Pixabay for the intro music and to Nate Miller for the meditation music. 

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pam@reikifromthefarm.com

Transcript

Pamela: 0:07

Hi and welcome to the Reiki from the Farm podcast brought to you by me, Pam Allen Leblanc from Hidden Brook Farm. I am a scientist, a businesswoman, and a licensed Reiki master teacher with the International Center for Reiki Training. Each On this week's week in this podcast you'll be entertained as you learn about a wide variety of relevant Reiki topics, helping you become a more knowledgeable and effective Reiki practitioner. We caution you though, this podcast may also dramatically improve your life, and we are so happy that you're here. On this week's podcast, we are talking with my friend Karen Kegg. I know you've all told me how much you love it when she's on the podcast. And lately our schedules haven't matched up, so she hasn't been as much of a regular guest. So we'll, we're going to do a few podcasts for you while I have her. And we're talking today about that balancing act between passivism and activism. as well as the discernment to know, what is the best choice there. Welcome, Karen. Thank you for having

Karen: 1:32

me again, Pam. I think especially starting off a new year, that this is a really important topic. So I'm happy to be here and talk about. Talk about that discernment, because I've been struggling with that a little lately. I know that our listeners probably do

Pamela: 1:47

too. Yeah, I think so. And and I think that activism makes me think of politics and the way Reiki has asked me to step into political activism and the fact that we both have elections coming up. But we are going to talk about more than just politics. There's a lot of places. In our lives where, it might be best to step forward and step out into the limelight. Or wherever you need to in order

Karen: 2:14

to understand that. It's not just politics. Your life is political. Yeah,

Pamela: 2:20

your life is political. Before we begin, I just want to let you know that I've got some great animal Reiki classes going on right now. In February, I've got Animal communication class and a Kaurna Reiki masterclass, and in March, I have another animal communication class, but it's followed by my first ever level three professional practitioner class, where I'm going to be teaching people who already have studied animal communication. how to do sessions and how to become a professional animal Reiki practitioner. It's something that I've been doing for, I think, 13 years now. And not intentionally, but once people find

Karen: 3:06

out that you can communicate with animals,

Pamela: 3:07

They invite that. And so I received the message a year ago, more than a year ago now a year ago last fall to expand that class and the expansion is finally. Here, so I do have that coming up and I just wanted to let you all know that in May I will be teaching animal communication again level one and two at the Northeast Reiki Retreat in Silver Bay, New York That's a fantastic retreat whether you want to take my class or not. There's wonderful presenters and teachers there Carolyn Museo will be teaching a licensed ICRT licensed Reiki masterclass, I believe Tracy Sullivan will be teaching a level one and two class. And William Rand will be there teaching a Kaurna Reiki masterclass. And the retreat itself is fantastic. So really encourage you to have a look at that. I'll put a link in the podcast notes. And I also wanted to let you know that I am. Going to be speaking at a peace conference at Omega Institute, which I'm really excited about in June. And I'll be following that up the following weekend presenting at a Reiki conference there as well. So I'll put the link to both of those events in the the podcast notes. I'd love to have you join us. And then in April, I will be, doing some more teaching in the Atlantic time zone, so that's great for Europe and Eastern North America. It's just early in the morning. If you're on the West Coast of North America or South America And I'll be doing a full lineup of classes here at the farm, and they'll be both online and in person. So we'd love to have you join us. And finally, actually coming right up, January 30th is a course on deepening connections. So if you've ever wondered how to use Reiki, animal Reiki, and even possibly animal communication, In order to deepen the relationships with those animals in your life, I'll be walking you through some things that are outside of my classes that there aren't time to cover in my classes, but just things that I've found that can be really helpful in creating relationships. So I'll put a link to that as well in the podcast notes. And one last thing I just thought of in June, in July. I will be teaching animal communication in the. Asian in an Asian time zone and the class is going to be offered online in English as well as Korean, Mandarin, and Cantonese. So if you'd like to join us in any of those languages, we'd love to have you join us. for that animal communication class. So I think that's all I've got for now, Karen. What have you got?

Karen: 6:08

That's exciting. That's a lot.

Pamela: 6:09

That's a lot. That's exciting. That just came together last week, the Asian class, and I'm really super excited about it. Also the fact that we're just on the edge of publishing the Reiki business book in Mandarin. So just a lot going on. Yeah. How about you? What have you got coming up? I just

Karen: 6:28

have in February, I have Animal Reiki, because I had a really wonderful teacher, I had Animal Reiki 1 and 2 and Animal Reiki Master, and then in March, I have Regular Reiki 1 and 2, and the Usui Holy Fire World Peace Reiki that both the Level 1 and 2 and Master, and and then in April, I have a Karuna class coming up early part of April 2nd through the 4th, and then back to Animal Reiki 1 Animal Reiki Master and it all, just go to reiki institute. com and you can find my whole schedule for the rest of the year. So you're called Reiki Institute? Reiki Institute.

Pamela: 7:11

com. And we're going to have, and Karen's links are also in the podcast notes, you guys, so you'll be able to find her no problem. And

Karen: 7:20

I'm working on some retreats here in Ecuador. But Christine Renee is coming down in April. from Reiki Cafe University. She said, were you serious with your invitation? I said, absolutely. So she's coming down. And I'm with more and more people coming to visit me. I'm starting to put together some, the more planned retreats. I think that Pam, I think we're going to do a Galapagos and the Amazon rainforest in November. And

Pamela: 7:45

I'm considering joining you for that. Yeah.

Karen: 7:47

So I'm getting some quotes and getting that put together right now. So I'll let everybody know about that soon.

Pamela: 7:52

That's wonderful. I did hear about that and I. I've always wanted to go to the Galapagos.

Karen: 7:57

So it's amazing, especially if you get these animal Reiki people there. And I'm sorry, I also have a, I forgot about this. I have a retreat that I'm doing with Kathy Malinowski in June, the end of June 27th, I think through the 30th. Yeah, it's a wellness retreat in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. So it's going to be It's not a Reiki retreat. We have some time to do Reiki, but it's just a wellness retreat with a kirtan, and we're going to do forest bathing, and it's not classes. It's just relaxing and getting some self care. So people can find information about that at wisconsinreiki.

Pamela: 8:35

com. I love it, Karen. If you could send me that link I'll send me all of your links and I'll just make sure they're included in the podcast notes. So yeah. Guys, before we start, you know that we love to start with an invocation. So I'm just going to invite you to bring your hands together in Gassho, close your eyes and take a deep breath. Just taking a moment to center yourself and ground, just inviting your own personal energy to move in close to you now. Sometimes our energy can be stretched right out there and we pick up ideas and even opinions and beliefs and injuries and energies that are not ours. And so as you're Personal energy moves in close to your skin so that it just skims your skin. Just imagine that anything you're carrying on behalf of others just lets go. So often we are influenced by other people's beliefs or ideas or opinions. And they're really none of our business. It can be very difficult to understand what you feel or believe on something when those energies are mixed in. And so with your personal energy close to the skin, you just reclaim your sovereignty. You invite any energies that are not yours, you release them with love. Allowing them to move back to source so they can be recycled and return to the state of love they began in. I invite you to open your heart and to become open to developing discernment so that you can better understand where we do need to draw a line in the sand and hold firm and where it's best not to. I think every one of us has grappled with that at some point in our lives. And so we invite Reiki energy to guide us and we say guide us and heal us. so that we may be of greater service to ourselves and to others. And we invite the Reiki energy to bring in discernment, discernment to know how we can best make a difference in the world on this planet. That we call home. Thank you for being here today with us. Aho. Namaste. Well, Karen, this was a great idea for a podcast. I have to give credit where credit's due. Karen, you said you get your best ideas in the shower, and this is where you got the idea for this podcast. And it's You know, it was around, it wasn't just, it wasn't just around the fact that I've been asked to stand up politically. It was around, you're living in a different culture and you had to wrap your head around, when is it appropriate to say something and when isn't it? And so how would you define activism and pacifism?

Karen: 12:25

Yeah, generally the word activism has the connotation of. A bit of radicalism, like the radical activists doing this or that, but to me, activism is just, it means taking action and take action to, to effect change usually. And did you ask me what pacifism

Pamela: 12:49

is? Yeah I'll just weigh in on activism. I had actually been thinking about writing an article. I haven't written it yet for the Reiki News Magazine, just around political activism and the fact that It can be really easy to stand on the sidelines and complain about the government or conditions or things like that. But Reiki very clearly told me in 2020 you need to run for political office. And there are other forms of political activism, but that was very clear direction. And and it was. It wasn't easy to step into that role of activism. You, I really had to agree to being seen possibly criticized and so on. But I think sometimes there are things that are so important to you, like the environment. And one of the books I read had said, at the end of the day, however this turns out, can you say you've done everything You can. Everything you could do. And I said, no, I haven't done everything I could do unless I'm, I really have to be willing to stand up here and say, we've got to do something to help with what's happening environmentally for our children's future. But I think activism can have so many forms. What are some of the forms that you think activism can have? Sometimes it's just a

Karen: 14:14

small act, taking small action of. sInce I live in a third world country, sometimes it's actively giving money to somebody on the street, and sometimes it's not giving money to somebody on the street, It's a decision and, but then, of course, they're living in Ecuador before I moved last year, they had a couple of Paros, Paro means stop strikes. The indigenous people have figured out that. for years they've been oppressed and all that, but they figured out that, hey, there actually are more of us. And so they came down out of the mountains, they came up from the rainforest, and they blocked the roads until they got what they want. Do you know, we voted last year that we, I didn't get to vote, but the indigenous people I know were, principally involved in this activism and getting people to vote. And they voted to kick the oil companies out of the Amazon. That's huge. It made international news. That was huge. That is huge. And so what did that mean for these people? Activism sometimes can be really uncomfortable. That means they had to leave. They went to Quito, the capital of the country. They had to leave, their homes. They had to be uncomfortable. They had to have police. Throwing tear gas at them. And, sometimes, so when I think of activism, that's what I usually think of, but it doesn't have to be so dramatic. It can be just, sometimes it's picking up trash on the side of the road. You can walk past it. Adopting a puppy. Adopting a puppy. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it comes, then that's where Reiki helps. What can I do? What can I do within my limits? I have, I still struggle with boundaries. I don't have limitless funds. I don't have limitless energy, and then sometimes when you look around at all the things that are, that need attention, that need action, it becomes overwhelming. You're just like, I can't do it. I've talked with my son and his girlfriend about this. They've talked about, we don't think we want to have kids. Like, why would we bring a child into this terrible world? Because you look at it and you go, my gosh, this is a lot. And. Because it can be overwhelming, all the stuff that needs to be done, but I love how you opened this, pulling your energy back. That was beautiful, and I needed that today. Thank you. But that, you have to do that first. To say, okay, but what can I do? I've got, here's my energy, and then I've got Reiki energy, and I've, so what can I do? There's

Pamela: 16:48

so many things coming at us, isn't there? There's so many, there's so many things, the environment we actually, there's something called eco anxiety, for instance, because there, there's a, there's the flight, freeze, and Fight. Those are usually our typical responses to a stressor and so many times there's so much coming at us that needs attention, like you said, that we become overwhelmed and we go into freeze. I was in that, I was so tired after the after, being ready for six, for eight weeks for an election that didn't happen. And, we all burnt out and I just, I went into, I got overwhelmed with, You know, where do I go now? There's now I have a little bit more time. I'm not on the adrenaline rush of panic. What do I do first? And I had such a long to do list and so many things coming at me that needed attention. And it's I got overwhelmed and I just froze for a few weeks until. I realized, oh yeah, I have Reiki.

Karen: 17:51

Now

Pamela: 17:56

that I'm a little bit rested, can you please help me weed through this and see what's mine? What's for me to do? I don't have to do it all. aNd what's the most important, like what are the priorities? And it was really helpful, Reiki really, over the Christmas holidays, Reiki helped me break down that I really have three main priorities. This year, I want to teach my Reiki and Animal Communication classes, and develop my Animal Communication class, and my Animal Communi and write my Animal Communication book. And I guess write my animal communication book and I, and to get elected. Those are teaching writing, getting elected and writing. Those are the three priorities that I need to focus on this year. So Reiki can really help us get out of the weeds with that, can't it? Yeah,

Karen: 18:48

it really can. And you know what, Pam, I'm sitting here in South America going, it's getting dark in Canada. It's getting dark in Canada. I'm going to turn the

Pamela: 18:55

light on for those. We've got a, we started with a pretty small YouTube following and we've got a a really nice big YouTube following now. And I will just give a shout out. I've never mentioned this yet on the podcast, but our podcast was number 25 in the top 25 percent of all podcasts. That's all that. I love that. Isn't that amazing?

Karen: 19:19

Our little podcast. No, I'm not surprised. podcast. That's all podcasts. You're not surprised? No, I think that's amazing. But no, I'm not surprised. I'm thrilled. So yeah,

Pamela: 19:30

it is getting a little dark here, Karen.

Karen: 19:33

I just noticed I'm up. I think I started setting in Canada. That's weird, you're up at the top and I'm like down toward the bottom. You're down toward, yeah. No, I'm in the middle.

Pamela: 19:43

I'm on the equator, you've got, you've probably got 12 hour

Karen: 19:46

days and 12 hour nights, right? Sun comes up around 6. 30, goes down around 6. 30. Every day. Yeah. Speaking of equilibrium and balance. Yeah.

Pamela: 19:55

And that's what we're looking for is balance. So on the other side of this equation is passivism. And, there have been times when Reiki guided me to not do anything. That wasn't for me to do. How would you define passivism, Karen? And do you have, what are some examples you can think of?

Karen: 20:13

To be passivistic means to be peaceful and meaning that You're not taking action. But of course, I thought when I took this farther, I thought, what's the opposite of being active? But then I thought, but sometimes like with Dr. King and like the nonviolent resistance, sometimes pacifism. Passive activism. Yeah, passive activism. That doing nothing sometimes is the best thing to do. And it's not just doing nothing. Sometimes doing nothing is just standing. Sometimes it's just. Reiki has helped me with this. Sometimes it's like I can't necessarily do anything. I can just be and just radiate that Reiki into the environment. And sometimes doing nothing is the best thing to do. Because I'm an active kind of a person. I'll be like, all right, you want me to beat somebody up? What can I do? What can I do? But sometimes just doing nothing is the best thing.

Pamela: 21:09

Just the best thing to do. I agree. Go

Karen: 21:14

ahead. Yeah. You can always radiate that piece.

Pamela: 21:17

Radiate the piece. That's exactly what I was thinking about, Karen. We were on the same wavelength there that with Dr. King, he just stood in his power, didn't he? Or Gandhi. Or Gandhi. They didn't do anything. They used passive activism and just stood in their power. And yeah it's really beautiful and

Karen: 21:42

difficult. It's difficult to not do anything too sometimes. So I live in Ecuador with a lot of we have so many street dogs and sometimes, I see one on the street and it's skinny, it doesn't belong it's very strange. They actually register them, but they don't belong to anybody. They belong to everybody and nobody. And sometimes they don't have food. Sometimes they'll have an injury. Sometimes they, they're dirty, their hair is yucky or, and. And what am I going to do? Bring home 20 dogs? No, I can't do that. I can, but that's going back to the activism. I can donate money to the veterinary hospital here that does treat them. If there's somebody that's, really sick or hit by a car. That happened to Jay yesterday. Oh, really? He sent me a picture. That's why I was crying. I never finished the story. He, I said, what is that on the dog? He said, it's blood. He had been hit by a car. He was, On the side of the road he said he was just, you could tell he had a spinal injury. He was bleeding and he said, what made me cry was he sent me 2 pictures. 1 was of the dog and 1 was of these 2 horses that had come. He said, I walked past these horses all the time. He said, I know they know me, but he said they were. Oh, okay. Oh, now I'm gonna cry. The horses just stood there, radiating that energy and that's all he did. Yeah. He did call. He called the veterinary hospital. They came and they had to put the dog to sleep. But but the horses, I think that's, what could they do? They could just, he said, but I knew that they were sending energy. He said there was like a communication between him, the horses, the dog. And he said it was just. It was horrible and it was beautiful at the same time and I think pacifism a lot of times it's There's that duality, activism or pacifism, but it's more of a Yin Yang, sometimes it's a, yeah sorry, I always cry on your podcast.

Pamela: 23:54

I'm crying over here too, because I have seen horses do things like that, and yeah.

Karen: 24:00

But, they didn't do anything, per se, and to an untrained eye, or someone who was not sensitive to animals or energy, you Be like, Oh, they're just looking. But they weren't. They were sometimes the passivism is just like sharing in the experience, just like with a friend or just like with a client, a Reiki client. Sometimes you're just holding the space, holding a peaceful space. And sometimes that's the best thing to do.

Pamela: 24:27

One of the things that I say with my clients and I really go back to this and my students is that you are never helpless when you have Reiki. And so I let them know you've got Reiki now. And so because you have Reiki, there's always something you can do. You can always do something. And yeah, I think that, and Colleen Benally says, Reiki is my form of activism she used to actually be a political lobbyist and she realized that just really wasn't working for her life and so on, and she

Karen: 25:08

also didn't find she was affecting very

Pamela: 25:11

much change. And she found that, she felt that she can make a bigger difference in the world just spreading Reiki and doing Reiki and that can also be a form of

Karen: 25:23

activism. Yeah, that's true. That's, that is

Pamela: 25:27

absolutely true. That's probably passive activism, but there is something happening. And so whenever I find out about, something that I have no control over in the world, that is happening, that is. Where people are being harmed and such as the wars and the and crime and different things like that, or 20 dogs when, maybe I could help one or two, but what do I do about 20? You can always, we can always send Reiki, right?

Karen: 26:01

Tell

Pamela: 26:03

me about a time when you had to choose between activism and passivism or letting go. How did Reiki help you? And yeah, what's an example?

Karen: 26:14

pRobably a recent example is the puppy that I have in my bathroom right now. Or so for Christmas, I came back home to Ecuador. Christmas Eve and for Christmas, because I know well, I didn't even have a tree or anything. We went and we gave out like Christmas bags to the children up. We go, if you go way up in the mountains, it's just indigenous people. And then. A little farther up in the mountains in those communities, you have elderly people and we took them like flour and rice and sugar. And so we were back in those indigenous communities and dang it, somebody came, Oh, there's a kitten. Don't show me the kitten. And they brought this little kitten up. And it was just bones. And so I asked my indigenous friend, I said, can I steal it? He said, no he said, let me find out who it belongs to. Okay, so that I wanted my first instinct was to actively take this cat and, get it some food and take care of it. But we ended up going back to that community, talked with the family. They just were really poor. And so I'm buying. Cat food. I made the decision. Okay. I can't take the cat home. I can't do I can't save all the cats I can't save all the dogs, but I've got this one in my bathroom But there are so many I haven't. I've had to just say, send it Reiki and move on. Yeah, I don't know. What was the question? What is the time? That's an

Pamela: 27:44

excellent example. The question is can you describe a time when you had to walk away and when you had to choose and or when you had to choose?

Karen: 27:54

I had to leave that cat there. Yeah, I had to leave. Yeah, I had to, but I did. So that was a balance. That's what I'm talking about. I had to put a boundary. Okay, I can do this. I can buy some food and take it to this family. And then my friend Luis said, but we have to go back. He said, sometimes you can't just give them food. He said, sometimes they'll take it and sell it because they're poor. I Guess you have to find out like, what am I capable of doing to help? Am I willing to do that? Is it going to do any good? Is it going to do any good? So that I'm grateful. I'm grateful for that help from my indigenous friend that to understand the culture, or we were talking before the podcast started about. Sterilizing. I'm learning that this is a, it's a different culture and they, the reason there's so many street dogs is because they don't sterilize, because they don't, not just because they can't afford it, because we do have this veterinary hospital. But, by the way, which I'll send a link to, you can donate if you want. It's based in Colorado, but it's a But it helps these animals here and they will spay and neuter for free and do vaccines for free for these poor families. But the families are like, they think it's going to maybe change the behavior of the animal or I'm really, honestly, I have to say, I'm not educated enough about their culture to understand why. And so a big part of the activism or passivism is you're having to check your own judgment, at least me, I'm having to check my own judgment. And, Pam. We talked about this in the animal Reiki class and I remember saying in your class when you were teaching me, I said, I have trouble when people are not treating their animals the way I think they should be treating their animals. Or there's the example in the animal Reiki book you wrote about the horse out in the, not in the barn where some people would say oh, that poor horse, look, he's out there in the snow all by himself, and it's cold, and oh my goodness, and whereas if you put him in the barn, other people are like my goodness, that poor horse is just trapped in the barn. They won't even let, they're made to go outside and run, and it's really hard when you're struggling between, should I take action or should I not take action? Would you tell the story about the horse? Because I share this in, in, in my classes also where you were walking through the barn, I think it was a horse show or something. And there was a lady that

Pamela: 30:06

was just, Oh, yeah, there was somebody just really beating on a horse and I, it was very uncomfortable and not uncommon, unfortunately, but uncomfortable. And I. And with my animal communication skills, and I didn't know that you should at that time, I teach not to communicate unless you have the caregiver's permission and the horse's permission, but I was a brand new self taught animal communicator who hadn't really developed a code of ethics or a standard of practice yet at that time. And I knew I could communicate with the horse and I immediately connected with the horse and said, can I help you? I knew the person that was upset and that was railing on the horse and I figured I could diffuse the situation. And it was such a surprise because I thought the horse was going to say, yes, please. Get me out of this situation. It was a great big old draft horse, 2000 pounds or more than 2000 pounds probably. And the horse really surprised me. He said, did I ask for your help? And I said no. And the horse said, can't you see we're working something out here? And I said, no. And he said, do you really think this is hurting my 2000 pound body? We're working something out. I used to be a butt out lady and, really told me to butt out and I was trying to think of an example, Karen, I put you on the spot and I was thinking when did I choose passivism or activism? And it's a funny story just before Christmas we had a good friend. A very good friend who was trying to rehome a little dog and this little dog was a stray, then she had three different homes and if she, and the next home was going to be her fourth home. And I just figured she was a sweet little dog, my friend wouldn't have any trouble. She started trying to, it just and it just wasn't working with their family situation. So there's a couple of things here. She started trying to rehome the dog and just, she didn't get any takers. The dog was two years old, wasn't spayed, it was going to be an expensive operation, little mixed breed and, and even though she's sweet as can be nobody really took her up on it. My friend's mother passed away and they were just overwhelmed. And my husband. We actually took something we asked, called to see if we could help and they needed actually food for their ducks. So we took them some duck food and as he was there delivering the duck food the little dog climbed into his arms and he fell in love with the dog. Karen, we have four dogs. We're those crazy people and they're all either rescues or re homes, but I, the thing is when somebody, I've had to give up judgment. And around animals, because I realize every animal on a soul level chose the contract of, with the people or person that they're going to be with and so on. My husband came home and he said, I'm just wondering if we should bring that little dog home. Now, Reiki Pam would have had that dog home in about two and a half minutes after. He said that,

Karen: 33:28

but

Pamela: 33:30

then he would have complained about it and, Oh, we have five dogs and, and I would have questioned my wisdom as well. And so I just asked Reiki, what do I do? Because I was just in the middle of teaching a bunch of classes, so I wasn't going to be able to take care of her. If we did bring her home right then, I was going to be occupied. And you want to spend a little extra time when you do bring a new dog into the pack, into the dynamics. And so I did something very uncharacteristic for me because I'm a doer. I chose pacifism. I did nothing. And, it took my husband the weekend. And when he came home, and in meanwhile, I'm like, I hope he makes up his mind. I hope he goes and gets that dog because I knew my friend was really struggling. The dog is sweet, but she has two young children. The children would never leave the dog alone. She was constantly having to police it. They also have other animals. She just didn't have time. The dog was messing on the floors. They didn't. have the time to train it or to be consistent and our life revolves around our four dogs. So we have, we don't have young children. We're able to do that. And so anyway, the dog did come home. But it was really interesting. I guess that's that yin and yang that you mentioned because that's where passivism turned into activism. We wound up with five dogs. It wasn't my decision. And I, once she got here, obviously I got involved and we were so pleased. We were able to potty train her within a day and a half. And she's really, we've, we have had her taken her to the vet and got her shots and got her spayed. And it was expensive, but fortunately I had some large classes in December to help pay for that. And so yeah it's.

Karen: 35:18

Yeah, activism

Pamela: 35:19

is the balancing act.

Karen: 35:20

And, oh, another thing. So I was active in bringing this puppy home. It was a different family that I'm buying food for. And we went to check to make sure that they were getting the food that I was buying. And this one puppy, I thought it was going to die Saturday. And the indigenous woman did not want me to take him. And I said, this dog is sick. He was the kind of he has Corona virus.

Pamela: 35:44

Dogs can get it.

Karen: 35:45

And, but he tested negative for parvo and he tested negative for distemper and I only have cats, so I'm keeping him, but I promised her in order for her to let me take the dog, I promised her I would bring him back.

Pamela: 36:00

And but he was,

Karen: 36:00

Pam, he's like the worst dog, the worst shape I've ever seen. He was so sick. He was covered in fleas and just. I Thought he would die, and I told my indigenous friends, I said, what's going to happen if he dies? And he goes, that's going to be sticky. But he didn't. He's a little fighter. But I have to take him back. Now that's, that feels, I'll just have to go back and check. But I have to let go. I have to let go.

Pamela: 36:24

It's not mine. He's not yours. And even, when this little dog did come here and it really helped my friend. Some people move into judgment, like, how can you rehome a dog? We, we rehomed a dog who people had for 10 years. How do you rehome a dog? I did say a few times, gosh, how do you rehome a dog you've had for 10 years? But you know what? It's, I don't judge my friend. She made the most responsible decision she could make because she, it just wasn't a good, It wasn't good for the dog. It wasn't good for them. And that little dog is ruling the roost here. She's 12 pounds of trouble and she's ruling the roost at my house. Yeah, I think that can be a difficult decision, but, stepping out of judgment, understanding that animal had a contract, a sole contract, has a sole contract with that

Karen: 37:14

woman. And I think she does care about him. But then I thought, good grief, Karen, they live in the house with no bathroom and dirt floors. And they're 80s. They're in their

Pamela: 37:24

80s. You're gonna have fleas.

Karen: 37:26

They probably have fleas. And I'm thinking like, they don't need all those dogs. She agreed to let the hospital come in and at least sterilize and give them vaccines. And then I can help with the food. And that's my limit. That's what I can do. And

Pamela: 37:41

they've got. I'd heard about your Christmas journey where you took candy to the children and and supplies to the older people. Jay was telling me about it. It sounds amazing.

Karen: 37:51

That was a, it's eye opening. And I'm trying, speaking of pacifism sometimes you have to be peaceful and just withdrawn, which is not my nature, but, and observe. To be an observer in this world, and the Reiki helps you with

Pamela: 38:09

that. Reiki helps with that. But especially if you're in another culture, Karen, I recently came from Hawaii and some of the people there were scandalized that the dogs were just running loose on the roads. And I said, guys, this is a different culture. Look at those dogs. They're not thin. They're in great shape. Most of them have collars. They have people. They do have a place to go. They're not strays. This is just a different way of doing things. The cars where we were in Hana, the speed limit is 15. Dogs, dogs don't get hit. You don't see anyone hit on the road, it's it's one of those things too where you have to really. Observe the culture that you're in and the differences of the culture, like I don't know why dogs are a big topic right in this, but I think it's because, for example, I think of cultures that eat dogs and a lot of North Americans are just absolutely scandalized, but It's odd to me in a way because we eat cows and chickens and pigs and They're sentient beings just as

Karen: 39:14

much, personalities, yeah, just the same.

Pamela: 39:18

And so again, it's just these cultural differences. And so I think if we can be brought up a really good point, Karen, is I think setting aside judgment helps with discernment. It does. And

Karen: 39:32

Listening to the Reiki. And then, oh, go ahead. I was going to say, moving into politics, I was just thinking, yeah, we're talking about dogs a lot, but. Because these are things that people are passionate about, and I think that activism, things that you get up and you go walk, you go march the streets for, or you do something it's because you're passionate about it, and then you're moving into politics, and I'm thinking, so maybe, I think that this background of working with animals, and the different views, because people have strong feelings about animals, yes, but then you move into politics, and you're going to get, people have very strong feelings about, Things as well. And I'm wondering how, as a politician and I do believe all our lives are political. I think everything's political, family structures are political. Everything's political. So where do if you've got the drunk uncle causing the scene at the table, do you take him outside or, do you just sit there and grin and bear it? Politics how are you going to use Reiki to help you with those things?

Pamela: 40:34

You're right, Karen, and that's such a good question. I think that. Put you on

Karen: 40:39

the spot,

Pamela: 40:40

I know. It's good. It's good. Yeah. I need to be put on

Karen: 40:42

the spot. I was just asking,

Pamela: 40:45

you know what, like initially when Reiki said I had to get into politics, I was really resistant because I thought I finally who I am and. Holy Fire has helped us become our authentic selves and accept our authentic selves and accept every part of ourselves. And I really had the opinion that if I'm a politician, I have to remake myself into What people expect a politician to be, so I had to go out and get new clothes because I used to wear business suits, but I gave them all away when I, back in 2009, 15 years ago when I went into my own business and it was a horse, I didn't need my business suits for my horse business and eventually my Reiki business and and then, I've really had a little bit, now that we didn't have to go to a snap election, I've had a little bit of time to reflect and I thought, no, it's, I am going to be authentic. I'm going to be my authentic self going into this. I'm not going to be a typical politician. I'm just going to be a typical me. And that way, whether people want me to represent them or not, it'll be honest. It'll be an honest. And I'm, I'd prefer if they did want me to represent them, but if they don't, I also am. Fully, I've said all along, I'm, I fully accept that result as well. I'm not attached to the result. I just know Reiki asked me to run. I don't know, did Reiki ask me to run to win or did it just ask me to run to learn something? I don't know. You hope it's to win, but you don't know for sure. So I think I'm just gonna ask Reiki to continue guiding me in how to be authentic and how to handle the different things. I'll tell you what my fundraising Committee. sO far, I'm absolutely stunned at how much I enjoy so many of the things I've been doing with politics, like getting out and meeting people. I went out and played bingo with a bunch of people in my community and got to know a whole bunch of people that I just didn't know and going out to the tree lighting ceremony and stuff. And buying reefs at the auction to support the food bank. When I found out the food bank was in trouble, my husband and I fortunately were in a position to be able to help them with a few things. And I just, I'm loving all of these things. And then, My team told me, and now you have to go fundraising, and I said, you're kidding me. I have to There's some activism for you. There's some activism for you, and I have to say, it's the only thing I've been really extremely uncomfortable with so far, that I have to ask people to send money to my campaign. And it's a, it's an odd system here in New Brunswick, that people from anywhere in the world can donate to your campaign. And but a maximum of 3, 000, and it can't come from a corporation, it can only come from a human somewhere on the planet, and they can, and it can't be anonymous, and they, so I've had to really, and my team said, you have to call people and as I say this, it's 555 at night. Now really you have to call people. And I just said, that's not my style. I am not, I would. And they're like, no, it's going to be way more effective. If you call people, you have to call people. And I was like, I am not calling friends that I haven't talked to in ages. So instead I, I sent personal messages out to people. It was still hard. It was still really hard, but it was more. in my character and they were vehement. You have to call people. I asked some people in person. I did. I don't, I called a couple of people. That's it. That's it. Otherwise I was like, no, that's not me. And so I did it my way and we raised the money. And we still have another, what is it? We still have another. 30 to 40, 000 to go, but we got our first target. Wow. I guess that is activism, but But

Karen: 44:52

sometimes you have to do that. You have to actively ask, you have to actively do. And Reiki, so back to the discernment. Reiki, if, I think when you get quiet with it and you go is it this? Do I need to do something or do I wait?

Pamela: 45:07

Yeah and that's, I think we're going to do a meditation about asking for that discernment because here's a question. How do you balance your personal convictions with the universal principles of Reiki? And how do you incorporate Reiki to discern the right course of action in conflicts?

Karen: 45:31

That's a really good question because a lot of when you look at the Reiki principles they're pretty calm. That's just, that's Eastern philosophy, isn't it? Very calm, peaceful, it's not it's more of a Western thing to go and conquer a Jew and be active, that's, it's not, that's not, Although Japan did attack us once, the Japanese people attacked the government, but I've struggled. I, I love the Reiki principles, some, the being kind to every living creature. I have no problem with being honest and diligent in my work. I have no problem with the ones I struggle with the most are the first two. The well just for today. That's, bringing yourself into that present moment. But then the do not angry. Do not be angry and do not worry. Those are, I'm slow to anger. But man, if I'm angry it's on, man. aNd that's really hard to rein back in. And then worry. I still struggle with that. Just don't worry about those dogs. Don't worry about those kids. Don't worry about whether you're going to have enough money to survive in a third world country, teaching online. There are a bazillion things I could worry about if I allow myself. So the I think. How do I balance those? I come back to, I always come back to Reiki, always come back to Reiki because you're gonna, you're going to swing out of balance. You're going to worry. You're going to get angry. You're going to, might even not be nice some days. it's not

Pamela: 47:01

being gratitude. Oh,

Karen: 47:03

exactly. It's I will. Yeah, exactly.

Pamela: 47:06

I will. William Rand talks about the fact that worrying is like praying for what you don't want.

Karen: 47:13

It really is. And we have choice, we have control over that. That's, I think, what I didn't, you have to get out of your head, if you're a person who's in your head because that's paralyzing as well, how can you, maybe you are supposed to take action, but if you're worrying over here, oh, I don't know, maybe, that's what freezes people sometimes and keeps them from taking action when they should be taking action, not should, but they could be taking action, but they're frozen up in but what if this happens or, just should I move to another country? Should I run for office? Should I do, if you get up in your head worrying about all the things that could go wrong, you're not going to, you're not going to be holding peaceful space or taking action. You're just like cluttering up the air.

Pamela: 47:53

Oh my God, that's such a good way to put it. I think Reiki can just show you the way. And I think that like you, whenever I am faced with a dilemma, I just ask Reiki what if? What is the best course of action here? What is the best thing to do? And just try to go with that. So yeah,

Karen: 48:13

and new Reiki practitioners, I can't emphasize enough, just the self Reiki every day. Every day, you've got to do self Reiki every day. That's

Pamela: 48:21

where you keep yourself, yeah, balanced. But that's where I find clarity. If I'm not sure about something, I do Reiki, and it all becomes clear to me. It just clarifies itself, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. Yeah, step action or inaction

Karen: 48:38

and you may have to apply that to your clients as well. If you're a Reiki practitioner there have been times where it's not just should I help this animal? Should I do this? What personal decision should I make in my life? Sometimes as a Reiki practitioner, you have to make decisions on whether you should take action with your client. There are sometimes, because they open up and they share things with you sometimes, you've done the Reiki session and there, there are times I'm wondering should I just tell this woman you need to leave this man. You just need to leave. What are you thinking? Or. Or not that necessarily, but maybe listen, I've got a card of a very good therapist. I think you need some talk therapy. Do I take do more than just the Reiki and you have to because sometimes my students will ask me, I felt something weird. Do I need to do you think I need to. to ask her more questions or do you know and I'm like that's a tough choice sometimes like to what extent like where does the Reiki session end you know is it just am I just the peaceful in my passive pacifistic am I just I am the Reiki channel I'm channeling the Reiki. Because a lot of times it is the Reiki is intelligent. It knows where to go. It knows what to do, and you're just channeling it and that's all you need to do. That's the best thing. And then other times, maybe you do need to suggest a therapist or suggest a chiropractor, or, it may not be emotional. Where do you take more action with your client or with the student?

Pamela: 50:07

No, I agree. And that's and that's where Reiki guidance and discernment can really come in. Yeah.

Karen: 50:14

I ask Reiki to help me ground. Because, and what you did at the beginning of this podcast, Pam, that, that quick prayer to bring your energy back, I love that, like just above the skin because sometimes I'm not listening to, I can't hear the Reiki because I'm so in the energy of this suffering animal or in the energy of this chaotic client or this, you have to pull back into the Reiki. So in case someone's wondering what do you mean you ask Reiki for discernment? You have to pull back and clear that from your own energy and just you and the Reiki and then you get those clear answers. In case you're wondering that sounds easy for you, Pam, but I don't know how to do that.

Pamela: 50:59

wE're going to go into a meditation to help with that. So what advice do you have for people who are grappling with choices like these? Should I do something? Shouldn't I do something? And, and how can Reiki help us understand different viewpoints and let go of judgment? That's a couple of questions in one, Karen, but. What I have been

Karen: 51:23

doing the most the last few months is just, is asking, doing the William Rands prayer, heal me and guide me so that I may be of greater service to others because I need that guidance and I have to ask what's going to help, and be honest with myself if I give this one legged man 20 to buy some sort of dermatitis cream for his granddaughter that may or may not exist, is that really going to help or is it not? I pull back and ask. To be grounded, to be connected, to hear, and I'll just ask like a yes or a no and if I get a yes, take action, I do it, and then I don't question it. Yes. Later, I don't go, man, I wish I had that 20. If I take action, I'm not going to beat myself up over it or second guess or anything when I get that, that clear, you. That has been the biggest thing, I think can I help this dog? No, I give it Reiki. And then I go on down the road, and that has been huge for me, because that is not, I used to worry and worry and worry and worry. So as for the guidance, listen, get it, do or don't do, and then move on. Stay in the flow, stay in the flow of your life. Stay in the flow, keep listening to the Reiki, and the more you do that, the faster you hear. And sometimes I don't even have to like, really ground and listen, sometimes I'm just No, not you. And it's just made my life a lot easier here because I'm stuck with a lot of different or some contentious issues like, like with the animals or different culture, different. That's not how we do it. How? I was telling Pam about being invited to dinner last night and we had snails, little tiny snails that you were supposed to suck out of the thing and out of the shell and eat. And and I was like, I really don't want to do this. I really don't want to eat that. That's their culture. That's what and so that was a little bit of a conflict for me. So I got and you know what? I was the only person at the table who did not eat the snail and I just didn't feel bad about it. And they didn't seem to hate me out loud. They just looked at her and looked at me and said, yeah, she's a green guy and she's not enjoying these delicious snails. And we had a nice dinner example. It's not really contentious, but it was, And I haven't eaten the beetles yet either. They eat beetles here, the big, Escarabajos, big scarab beetles. They come out in droves in late October, November, they're everywhere. It makes sense to eat them. I think they're high in protein, but I'm like, I haven't, I can't get past those little prickly legs just yet. That's good. Those are dumb examples, but sometimes it's a real, it's a real difference in maybe how people are treated or. I just ask Reiki, listen, get the answer. Do it. Move on. I agree.

Pamela: 54:28

KAren, is there any last pieces of advice before we move into our meditation today?

Karen: 54:35

Thinking, don't eat the Beatles, man. Yeah, I'm with you on, I just, yeah no. I might, I ate an, the

Pamela: 54:42

Amazon. My, my kids have eaten crickets, and they, I did try the crickets. They were in like a bag. Are they good? Potato chips? No, they weren't good in a lot of cultures.

Karen: 54:51

They were not good A lot of cultures eat, but crda are pretty icky. I had, they suck their heads. Oh gosh. I had barbecue. It's nasty. Barbecue beetles and no actually the barbecues, isn't that different from eating chips? But it was different enough Yeah. Just gonna say that's your culture. You eat that. And yeah, of course. It politically, it can get really. Troubling when you're having to make a decision as an entire country or an entire, I think that for me,

Pamela: 55:19

Reiki is just gonna help me stay in my integrity. I think that as long as I can stay in my integrity and that's really important to me, really important and so far with all the meetings that I've had with. The we have three members of the legislative assembly in, from my party, Megan Mitten, Kevin R. Snow, and then our leader, David Kuhn, and the other two are deputy leaders. And yeah, I think I'm just, as I step forward into the activism, I'm just going to ask Reiki to help me stay in integrity. And. And as long as I can do that, as long as I can always look myself in the mirror and ask the question, Did you do your best? Yes. Okay, if other people didn't like it, or if it didn't, if it wasn't successful, you didn't accomplish what you hoped for, if you did your best, and you followed your guidance, then it's good.

Karen: 56:23

And if other people are doing that, I ask you also for, if they're standing in their integrity and standing for what they think I think, especially in the United States, I think we've forgotten how to agree to disagree and try to come to a compromise. sO I'm really asking Reiki to respect other people's standing in their integrity.

Pamela: 56:43

And there's a lot of games around it. There's a process in games, and I think I am going to ask Reiki to. Just help me see around that. A lot of what we see out there, it isn't, it's It isn't about people standing in their integrity or not standing in their integrity. I think, for instance, that everybody that gets involved in politics, for the most part, there's a few that are crazy, but for the most part, I think people mostly get involved with politics because they want to make a difference. They want to make a change. Let's face it, today's not very good. The responsibilities are huge. And it ages people, there's a lot to it. I kind of respect everybody who got into politics, but there are a lot of people that have, say, financial gain or something like that, and there's a lot of clutter. There's a lot of distractions and those distractions are intentional. They're sometimes put in place to distract us from the real problems. Exactly. like the environment, like the the healthcare system, which in our country is failing people a bit and a lot in my province. And so I think it's just to cut through the clutter, to remain in your own integrity and your own energy, and then just following your guidance. I think those are the. That's what I would leave. I'm so glad, I'm so glad you're going into politics

Karen: 58:03

because I think what would the it's the first, a small step, but it's the first step and how would the world be different if our, if we had Reiki energy helping.

Pamela: 58:15

Yeah, I, When I first, when I asked Reiki, like, why would I need to go in politics? Isn't there another way that I could do this? And I did have some resistance and the energy didn't really answer, but it did tell me that I needed to go into politics to bring the energy of world peace. And I think that as we this can be a dilemma. Do I act? Am I passive? What do I do here? And sometimes when we're passive, we feel bad about ourselves because we think we should have been active. And sometimes if we're active, we hurt somebody's feelings and we, wish we had been more passive or less judgmental or whatever. And so Reiki can really help us stay in the center and just make peace with whatever decisions that we make, knowing that they're guided, yeah,

Karen: 59:02

and sometimes just holding the peace and being a recent example is, I don't know if everything went sideways down here in Ecuador. The Mexican drug cartels that were having trouble with that and as soon as our new president announced that, basically declared war on the drug cartels, that was an action, but what happened that next day was terrible. It was looting and all, it's people panicked and. Things were crazy for an entire day. And that's a point where sometimes if what you said, sometimes people feel like, oh, I didn't do enough. I was too pacifistic, but sometimes being pacifistic and just holding that peace and that just be calm, that is. The best kind of activism. Doing nothing is the best kind of activism sometimes.

Pamela: 59:47

Yeah,

Karen: 59:48

just hold it, not doing nothing, but holding that peaceful space.

Pamela: 59:51

Yeah, but you don't have to. So that

Karen: 59:54

other people like you can go and do some action. It takes both. It takes both.

Pamela: 1:00:00

I asked at a conference, and as I was still struggling with this, and I'm happy to say that I did get out to the other side of it, but when I was still struggling, grappling with, how do I be myself in that environment and I happened to be with the great Rebecca Campbell of Rai's Sister Rai's, and she's written a lot of really great books, Starseed, the Starseed Oracle and different ones. And so I asked her at this conference, I said, here's the situation. As soon as I said I was running for the Green Party, I was at Omega Institute, and 200 people started clapping. And the audience, yeah, the

Karen: 1:00:35

Green Party, we love the Green Party! I said good

Pamela: 1:00:41

audience to mention that in. But Rebecca had this really great advice that she said, you just have to show up as who you are. You don't. even have to do or say anything about your spiritual nature, just

Karen: 1:00:58

be

Pamela: 1:00:59

spiritual and that will impact people. And I thought, my gosh, she's right. We just have to show up. as who we are be unwavering in who we are and what we believe. Like I've never believed I had to pound my beliefs into anybody else, except my parents, but and my kids are now doing that to me which I love. But but yeah, like her advice was so precious because it was just show up being who you are. And if you are that spiritual person, you're just being there is going to make an impact. You don't have to say a word. It's beautiful. Yeah. I love that. I didn't think about that until just now. KAren, what do you say we go into a meditation? All right. Just going to invite everybody once more to bring your hands into Gassho. Just breathing deeply. I'm just imagining the Reiki energy flowing through your hands and into your heart. With every exhale, I invite you to release any tension or stress and to just think about some of the areas in your life where you have had to make difficult decisions or maybe some areas that you still have to make some difficult decisions. With your energy coming in once more to hug your skin. Just let those decisions go. And ask Reiki to guide you, trusting that you may have a knowing, or an interesting coincidence may happen, or the need for you to make the decision may go away. We're never sure how Reiki is going to assist us, but I invite you to let go of any attachment to the outcome now, being open to results, not attached to them. And then place your hands comfortably on your body as the light of Reiki. flows freely through your energy, your body systems, bringing with it tranquility and clarity. I invite you to imagine that there's a scale in front of you, which symbolizes the balance. Between activism and passivism, on one side of the scale, put your passions, those passions that cause you to feel strongly about things and your desire for change. And on the other side of that scale, place your peace, understanding, and acceptance. And as you breathe, just allow the scales to slowly balance, harmonizing your inner activist. and pacifist. And we're going to stay here for a little while today. Now just check in with yourself and notice what does that balance feel like? And just listen for the responses from both your heart and your soul, your mind and your body. Imagine any situations where you've felt torn between action and letting go and ask Reiki to guide you in finding clarity and peace in these moments. And understand that clarity and peace may come today in this moment as we meditate, but more likely it will come later on as the energy continues to work through you, balancing you and finding the channels to communicate with you your best course of action. And so I silently or aloud invite you to affirm to yourself, I trust my inner wisdom to guide me. and choosing when to act and when to embrace peace. I will say this two more times together. I trust my inner wisdom to guide me, and I trust Reiki to guide me, to decide when to act and when to be passive. I trust Reiki and my inner wisdom to guide me in deciding where to use activism and where to use pacifism. And so just take a few more deep breaths, just feeling a sense of balance and harmony within. And when you're ready. Open your eyes, bringing this sense of equilibrium, balance, and guidance into your daily life. To the listener, thank you so much for being here with us today. And thank you for being the bright light that you are in the world. And Karen, thank you. And thanks for all that you're doing for those older people and the puppies and I hope that Reiki will guide you. I know that even though the woman wasn't able to have the puppy in a place that, that we would judge as healthy or happy, it sounds like she does love the animal very much. And is providing the best. I'm learning. I'm learning a lot.

Karen: 1:09:18

I think that's why Reiki brought me here. It's a great. It's not to teach, it's to learn. Thank you

Pamela: 1:09:24

so much for sharing it with us. Thanks for having me again, Pam. I love you. I love you all listening and I love you, Karen. Bye everyone. Have a wonderful week.