Living your life through love

Do you ever speak to a person who is a total inspiration? This week I did and I can't stop thinking of our conversation. I spoke on the telephone to a lady who was 84 years of age and she had a heart of gold. She had been previously treated for cancer and still keeps in touch with the doctor who treated her. She even wrote to the doctors mother to thank her for bring up her wonderful daughter so that she could help others including herself!

She also checks people that seem alone and sad and sits down with them until they change how they are thinking. She told me of one person she was walking past who had just had a family loss and was feeling angry. She sat with her at a beach and helped her to see her situation in a different light and advised her that the person was still around her and she could still talk to her. By the end of her conversation the load on the ladies shoulders was lightened.

She also advised me that she had been writing for years about all the wonderful things that had happened to her. I suggested putting it into a book and she took this onboard. It reminded me of all my jotting down about synchronicity since reiki came into my life.

Throughout this conversation she was telling me how fantastic both myself and the previous person she had spoken to were. She was full of praise for the help and patience we had both given her. I advised that I wanted  to thank her as I believe the way she lives her life is what we should all aspire to- helping others when we can and building them up. One of the things she mentioned was helping in a group and said it hurt to see people in their 60's who acted like 90 year old's. Maybe if people thought of what they could do for others instead of looking inwardly the world would be a better place.What do you think?

Healthy Lifestyle equals Happy families

A couple of weeks ago I had been planting vegetable seeds ( a bit late I know). I've now been bitten by the bug again and have ordered more. There is nothing like growing your own food, especially knowing that no chemicals have been added to it. It made me think of the health issues so many people have that would not have been around as much 20 years ago.  Why do you think that is?

I think it is made up in many parts. A big part is what we eat and breathe. People also do not seem as able to cope with stress. A little stress is good for us but life seems so much more stressful for many people. Lack of exercise is another problem as we have children spending time on games machines and adults who are couch potatoes. What would you do to change things?

I would start with making sure that what we and our children eat is in fact good for them. Research where your food comes from, what additives and chemicals may have been added to them and if they have been genetically modified in any way. Stop giving sugary drinks or low calorie drinks with Aspartame.  Make sure fruit and vegetables are eaten. You can hide these if required in juices. Get yourself a blender. Bananas and milk (preferably plant based such as almond milk) make a great milkshake. Compare that to shop bought with sugar, stabilisers and preservatives added. Check this out. Getting children to eat vegetables

Get the family outside to enjoy a walk or a cycle ride. Get into the country, if possible, away from all the vehicle pollutants. Take the family fishing or swimming. There is something outdoors to suit everyone. Often families nowadays have both parents working or you may be part of a single parent family. It's so easy to tell the children to go and play a game while you have to do another chore in the house. A much better idea is to get the children to help with the chores then all head out for some fresh air at least a couple of times a week. There is of course the gym and swimming pools for the days when the weather is bad.

 Stress comes from many different areas of our our  lives. It could be caused by work, finances, health or the way we think. I remember years ago my team at work were getting stressed learning a new software programme. As we were training in groups I had not yet started learning. At the time I had been listening to Wayne Dyers The Secrets of the Power of Intention CD. I would highly recommend it. I advised them to try and think of it as lasting just a few hours and that they would then move on when they went home. This was instead of continually saying how much they hated it. After a few days a couple of them told me it really worked and they were no longer stressed. It just took a different way of looking at a situation. I had to remember this when it was my time to go through the training!

If you are on your own even taking a stroll in a local park would be good. Just taking time to sit in nature hearing the sounds of the birds is a great stress reliever. Another way to de-stress is to meditate. You tube has loads of videos. One of my favourite ways apart from cuddling my dogs is to put on  a few hours of meditation / reiki music in the background of whatever I'm doing. Of course I can't leave out the wonderful world of reiki itself. It is fantastic for relaxation and taking worries away. You can either go for a session with someone or take it to the next level and learn for yourselves.

Can I suggest you take a look at your life and see if changes need to happen? It may be to review what you are eating or if you are exercising enough. Remember too that what we teach our children is with them for life. Why not teach them to grow their own vegetables? That way they can see the cycle of the vegetables being grown to eat rather than thinking they just come from a shop. Starting them with a healthy lifestyle is one of the best gifts we can give them.

Joy Fraser
Reiki Master /Teacher in Edinburgh Scotland
www.peaceharmonyandjoy.co.uk

Looking back over 2015

It's amazing how fast this year has gone past. I can't believe we are almost at the end of December 2015.

One of my highlights this year was in August. I was asked to take part in an interview with Faith Canter who is the author of Living a Life  Less Toxic. It was fun, although a little scary to do as I had no idea what she was going to ask me. The link is  here if you want to see it. Another highlight was all the vegetables I was growing in both my garden and greenhouse, although I was a little late in starting the planting this year. Once again I gave quite a few of the plants away. For 2016 I will be starting earlier so hopefully will be able to share even more next year. Vegetables that are home grown taste so much better!

One of the sad things that happened was the death of Dr Wayne Dyer on August 29th 2015. Since then many more people have been talking about him and watching his films and reading his books. It feels as if he is still with us, although in a different way. I was first introduced to him when I listened to The Secrets of The Power Of Intention which woke me up big time.

For some people life moves slowly but for me the year has been racing along. I have loved all the reiki workshops I have facilitated during this time and the feedback I get when people's lives change. I always think it's important to have a chat at 4 weeks with my students as things can change very quickly when you are attuned to reiki. Of course I am there for people anytime they need me but that is the time to see how they have all been getting on.

This year has had some major changes for me but I find that I always have people around me that I can talk things over with. This is important rather than leaving your feelings all bottled up. Sometimes all people need is a listening ear. A few weeks ago I watched a series called The Truth About Cancer. If you want to know how you can help yourself, even if you are undergoing treatment at this time I would highly recommend it.  For some reason I am finding many people are posting about alternative ways to help themselves at this time. The world is waking up to the fact that Pharmaceutical company products are not always the best for us. I have had conversations with a few people recently who are using the spice Turmeric to reduce pain.

My hope is that as we go towards 2016 more people look out for ways to help themselves.  You tube has loads of Meditations on it which are great for people to reduce their stress levels. Watch what you eat and take note of anything that does not sit well with you. I made a major change six months ago to become vegetarian. I have to say I am not missing eating meat at all. This is just the start of my journey. I have also started making Almond milk to replace cows milk but that is a slower journey for me. Of course reiki is fantastic for reducing stress and putting you in a much more positive place too.

More people are also using Sun Ancon Chi machines this year to help with pain and stress. If you want to know more about these you can contact me through my website. This is the original and only medically patented Chi machine so don't get taken in by copies.

To all my Family, Friends and Clients I wish you all a great New Year as we move towards the end of 2015. Even if you did not follow through on last years Resolutions, all you need is 1 day to decide to make a change. It does not matter what that day is.

www.peaceharmonyandjoy.co.uk

Benefits Into Work. Change Is Needed!

 Todays blog is unusual for me but I needed to get it off my chest. Thank you for reading.

It is just over a year ago that the song Caledonia was recorded by The Libations. The aim was to raise money for local Food banks. With all the changes that the UK government is making I believe more people will be in need of help. Yesterday I spoke to someone who had struggled from an illness and was proud to have started a job. She had to work 2 weeks in hand then would get paid 4 weeks later. That meant she would have to wait 6 weeks till she got her salary. She thought she would continue to get help through her benefits until this, happy to pay any of it back when she got paid.

She was totally shocked that she was told her benefits were now stopped. After working 3 weeks she now had no money to pay for her gas, electric, food and housing! How can that be right? Surely the government should be supporting people back into work? I know in certain circumstances the housing can be paid for an extra 4 weeks but this does not help with the other costs. How is she supposed to eat, or cook without energy, even if she did have any food? This is where food banks come in although most can only allow 3 days worth of food a couple of times a year. Although this is a great help it is only temporary. Surely it would be in everyone's interest to keep people supported until they get paid?

 

Often people who have been unemployed for a while have low self esteem and need support. Surely making them worry about the roof over their head or where the next meal is coming from does not help their mental state? I would think that many people get themselves into a cycle of debt by borrowing from others and not paying bills and ultimately find they are more protected back on benefits which is so wrong.

 

It's not often I have a rant but felt I needed to say this today. I am sure that most people reading this are in employment and may not have ever been in this situation. Can I ask you to try putting yourself in their place? If you want to help make a contribution to the Food banks. You can download Caledonia from here.  The person I spoke to yesterday was currently staying with a friend as she had no electricity or gas. When she gets her salary she will be paying back all the debt that has built up on her meters as well as her friend for supplying her with food. This will immediately start her in a debit situation. Would it not be better to have a fresh start with wages going forwards and have everyday costs until the first wage met by the benefit system to make sure people stay in work? Of course it would cost more initially but long term would be much better for both the country and the individuals concerned.

While I'm on the subject, the government also needs to turn around decisions faster too. Many people who have a change in their benefits can be left waiting for weeks without an income! This can be as simple a change as a partner leaving and having to change from a joint to single claim.

My thanks go out to all the volunteers who work in the Food banks all over the country and to The Libations who recorded Caledonia. You can help make this positive by becoming aware of the struggles people go through in changing their situations and help in any way that you can. If you have a local Food bank you can donate goods that they can hand out. I am sure both they and their clients will be most grateful. It is such a pity that in 2015 we have to make use of things like this but people CAN be a voice of change.

Change Your Mindset, Enjoy Your Life

In my daytime job I speak to people with all sorts of vulnerabilities. This could be an elderly person that has not spoken to anyone for a few days or someone terminally ill. Often those that are in a really bad place health wise are those with the light shining from them. One phrase I often hear is " There is always someone worse than me". People can be so resilient even when in chronic pain. The opposite are those that believe everyone is against them and only think of what they cannot do. It shows time and again that mindset has a big part to play in how we live our lives.



I remember many years ago reading the Celestine prophecy thanks to my friend Lorraine who advised me she was bringing this book when she visited me in the summer. A couple of weeks later a parcel dropped through my letter box with the words to read it as it couldn't wait till summer! I could not put it down and have now read all the sequels. The main thing that comes out of the book is we are all one of 4 groups of people.They are intimidator, poor me, aloof and aggressor. At that time I found I was a poor me. Everything was going wrong and I felt like a victum. This book was a wake up call for me. Once I saw how my mind was working I took notice and tried to correct my thinking to be more positive. This became easier to do as time went by and reiki helped me immensly too.

It is all about Mindset. If you live in the darkness you will only see this. If you start by having a chink of light in your life then you will find this expands. Every day I look for something I am grateful for in my life. When you think this way more things throughout the day come into your mind that you are happy about.  Many of the people I talk to will have a laugh when we chat  as they know they cannot change the situation but it does not stop them enjoying life.

There will always be others such as a deceased relation of mine that for the last few years of her life, everytime we visited, the words from her were always "Why am I still here? I don't want to be  here." This was such a shame as she could have had so much to enjoy with what was in her life at that time. It also made it depressing for anyone visiting her. You can't change everybody but you can at least try by giving them things to look forward to.

Recently I saw a video of elderly people being taught how to use computers. (Video)They each had a young person that helped them set everything up and who eventually connected all the elderly to each other in a chat room. These were people who had met at a daycare centre and now could connect from their own homes. I thought the video was awesome and the people involved thought so too. To see their faces as they chatted to their friends was so good. This was brought home to me by chatting to a 95 year old man who used his computer daily yet I can speak to people from 50 years onwards who think they are too stupid to learn. One 84 year old was bought a laptop by her daughter who also paid for a training course with Apple to make sure she knew how to use it.  Already she was able to look up information on line and was proud to have an email address! I have also seen on the web that AgeUK  run computer courses as well. You are never too old to learn or change your mindset! Be positive and look for the good in each day.

Joy Fraser
Usui Reiki Master / Teacher
Peace Harmony and Joy
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Changing For A Better Life

Following on from my last blog "You are what you eat" I am  pleased to say that I have watched the film Fork over Knives and have bought the book to read. The biggest change so far is I decided to remove all meat from my diet. For over 20 years I have not eaten beef and rarely eaten pork so my diet was made up of mainly Chicken and turkey when I wanted meat. I realised recently that most of my  diet was made from vegetables and pasta and I was not enjoying the meat  most of the time I was eating it so it was time for change.

For all of us there comes a time when we need to make changes in our lives. It may be to do with relationships, work or health. The wrong thing is to sit and wish things were different, instead we have to take action. I have also at the same time joined a club with swimming pool and gym. For now I am starting on the swimming due to the current weakness of my back but hopefully will progress to the gym as well. I have also made a commitment to increase my income by joining with a company that will enable me to do this so I'm tackling a few things together. Check it out here. You only need to do one thing to start changing something in your life. What will it be?


I also this week went to the launch of a book called Living Life Less Toxic written by Faith  Canter and got to taste lots of yummy raw cakes. Check out her book at Amazon. It's full of very useful information to help with your health. Faith had M.E and through changing so much in her life she recently ran 26 Miles! What a change in her health!

I had a lovely call this week from an Acupuncturist who was ordering a Sun Ancon Chi machine from me to help both family and her clients. I know her clients will love it as do mine. This weekend I have a Reiki level one workshop on so will have a part in helping those learning reiki as it usually changes lives in at least one  way. All my charity work is coming to fruition over the next few weeks as I have people coming to learn reiki that were given as gifts to charities. It's great to give back and the more people that learn reiki, the better!

There is so much happening around me at this time that's it's great that I have my 2 young dogs that keep me grounded. Pets are great to be around for all the cuddles you get as well as the exercise too. In between all this I am making time for growing my own vegetables. This will help not only in saving me money but helping me eat organically as well. This year I am more aware of things to make with all the extra vegetables but I will continue to pay if forward by giving some away as well.

If  any of you have done a Pay it Forward  you may want to check out my facebook page for a way to both spread the word that PIF is good and perhaps win a gift from me.

I leave you with this wonderful quote :-

“Sail beyond the horizon; fly higher than you ever thought possible; magnify your existence by helping others; be kind to people and animals of all shapes and sizes; be true to what you value most; shine your light on the world; and be the person you were born to be.” Blake Beattie


Joy Fraser
Usui Reiki Master / Teacher
www.peaceharmonyandjoy.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/peaceharmonyandjoy

You Are What You Eat

I just have to tell you about the last lady I spoke to at work today. She would like more people to know about what she is doing.

She is 71 although sounded under 40 and she has womb cancer. The important thing is it has almost gone instead of spreading and killing her within 3 months which the doctor said always happens. The problem with this  type of cancer is it does not bother you so often goes undiagnosed.

A friend of hers said she was not looking good a  year ago and got her started on juicing. In her words her arthritis and pains went and she started to look more youthful. She also dropped from 13 stone to 10. Her daughter at first thought this was wrong but has now joined her after seeing the difference in her mum.

She then had a touch of sciatica and went to see the doctor and was shocked to find herself diagnosed with the cancer. They told her it was very aggressive and would spread like wildfire and wanted to do chemotherapy. Spurred on by the difference juicing had made to her she decided instead to use food to treat her illness. She cut out all meat and dairy products and increased the juicing as well as eating lots of organic vegetables. She then went vegan and is now about to go into raw food as well. She has also cut out the use of all chemicals in the house and her hair.

We are now a few months down the line and she was sent for a scan. She was told that they could see where the cancer had previously spread to on the scan but it had now shrunk back to where it started and that was shrinking too! The doctor was amazed as he expected to find her riddled with the cancer as that is what usually happens.

We spoke about what type of juices she used and mentioned Jason Vale (The juice master) as well, as she has used his books as a starting point. I told her how wonderful it was to speak to someone fighting back (especially at her age) without using the chemotherapy that everyone expects us to.

So on behalf of this wonderful lady, who advised me she is a fighter, it truly shows that what you eat can make a big difference to your health.She also recommended going to You tube and checking out Fork over Knives which I will do.