Being Open to Results

By Karen Harrison, Senior Licensed Reiki Master Teacher with the ICRT

Do you love to help people feel better? Reiki is the perfect vehicle for you to assist others with their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. Healers want to help others and feel happy when things go well and are often disappointed when a Reiki session doesn’t produce the desired results. In Reiki practice, it is important to look out for being attached to the results of your Reiki session. In “Reiki the Healing Touch” by William Lee Rand, he writes, “Being open to results rather than attached to them” as part of The Center Philosophy of the International Center for Reiki Training. Because I have thought that concept was important, I have taught that idea in every Reiki I and II class for years. Ultimately that concept helped me through a difficult time. Read on.

Over my years of teaching, I have seen people get discouraged when they didn’t receive the results they were hoping for. People would even tell me their Reiki wasn’t working or they weren’t as good of a Reiki practitioner as someone else. When the practitioner obtained the results she was hoping for, she would give the glory to God and when she didn’t obtain the outcome she wanted, she would blame herself. Does this sound familiar to you?

If practitioners think their Reiki isn’t working, it is more likely for them to give up and quit using Reiki. Students have told me they didn’t think their Reiki was working when someone wasn’t healed. We can’t know the perfect outcome for someone. Perhaps rather than healing someone, our work is to help them live their final time in less pain and greater peace.

Here is my most powerful story. My son had epilepsy. I gave him Reiki frequently and whenever I would hear about his latest seizure, I would immediately send him Reiki, which helped me immensely because it gave me something productive I could do, rather than worry. Ultimately, he died of a seizure at age 22. I had no idea someone could die of a seizure. I was shocked. I might have thought my Reiki wasn’t working and given up on providing sessions and teaching, missing the opportunity to help many people for years to come. I remembered the idea of not being attached to results and was open to a greater purpose for his passing.   

Fortunately, I had taken an animal communication class at a Reiki Retreat given by Carolyn Musial. With practice, I had learned to communicate with my cat. After my son passed, I found it very easy to communicate with him in Spirit. Soon after I learned of his transition, he came to me in spirit and told me that he was a cocky soul and it was the most humbling experience to be unconscious, on the ground, drooling and urinating on himself. He said he had received the lessons he needed from this lifetime and was ready to move on to his next grand adventure. He also shared that he chose me as his mother because he wanted to learn about energy in the physical realm since everything is energy in the Spirit realm. Thus, he shared, I don’t need to feel sad or guilty because it was his time to go and there wasn’t anything I could have done to keep him here. I share my story so you might know that there may be a greater purpose behind sessions that don’t seem to achieve the results that you hope to get.

Remember, in every session to intend to set your personality and ego aside to be a clear and open channel for only the highest and holiest Reiki. This includes reminding yourself to be open to results rather than attached to them. All results are God’s results. To God be the Glory regardless of the outcome.