Goodbye, frosty mornings and puffy parkas. Hello, baby animals and blooms! To most of us, spring represents a time of new beginnings and optimism—a time for celebrating fresh, new starts. It’s also a powerful opportunity to recommit to those areas of our life that may have chilled over the bleak days of winter. Here are five ways to do just that:
1. Volunteer Reiki for the baby animals at your local shelter. Baby animals: Need I say more? Who wouldn’t want to spend an afternoon helping (and cuddling) these cuties? The spring season often leaves shelters coping with an overflow of kittens and puppies needing adoption. I have seen Reiki boost adoption rates time and again. Helping these kittens calm and find loving homes then opens much-needed space for older dogs and cats that take a bit longer to adopt out. This actually leads right into my next point …
2. Foster kittens or puppies. Fostering is not a long-term commitment, and if you’ve never tried it, you may find that you love it. Fostering saves lives because it opens up room in a busy shelter. It also helps to socialize the animals for their new home and shows them that they’re loved (though you may fall in love, too!). Most shelters cover all the costs as well.
“With the coming of spring, I am calm again.” —Gustav Mahler
3. Support the wildlife in your yard. I love watching little bird families (and sometimes even squirrels) eat the seeds I’ve provided for them. They have extra mouths to feed this time of year! Planting wildflowers is another calming activity that ultimately helps hummingbirds, endangered bumblebees, butterflies and other creatures this time of year.
4. Take a Reiki class. This is a perfect time of year to revitalize and reinvigorate your daily Reiki practice. You’ll learn new skills, boost your confidence, meet new people and more. I offer Reiki 1-3 on site training at BrightHaven.
5. Declutter your home. Clutter gets in the way of so much. When our living space feels messy and disordered, so does our mind. Take a page from Marie Kondo’s bestseller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. You’ll feel calmer, lighter, more meditative. I took her book to heart two years ago—read about (and see!) my life-changing results here.
How do you plan on celebrating spring?
I’d like to share my experience with you, sorry, it’s a long story! Being rather new to Reiki, I always hesitated to bring it into practice. However, as a very dedicated cat-fosterer I have discovered how well the kittens in my care respond to my treatments. As I often foster feral kittens and sometimes their mom too, it is not always easy to socialise them as they are very stressed and scared. I found that just by sitting in a room with them and meditate, opening my heart and let love flow, they learn to trust me far sooner than any of the other fosterers for the local rspca have ever thought possible. One cat stood out in particular: little Ed, a beautiful ginger kitten, six weeks old when he came to me with his siblings. The other four were doing great, very easy-going kittens, but little Ed was a bit aloof. He didn’t come to me, and didn’t eat very well. One evening he was lying in a basket when I came up to him. He was obviously not feeling well. I gave him Reiki and he seemed to enjoy it, calmed down even more and closed his eyes. At this point I stopped, fearful that he might die. Then something incredible happened: he came towards me and lay on my lap. I told myself I shouldn’t be selfish, obviously this treatment was what he needed. So I put my fear aside and thought “if he is supposed to die, he will do so anyway, this might just make it easier on him”. For the next 20 minutes I gave him Reiki. He was purring the entire time. The other kittens apparently realised this was important, because they did not come up to us and just continued to play together. After the treatment, Ed walked away. During the night I continued to give distant Reiki and the next morning I walked into the cat-room, to be greeted by Ed, who wanted to be picked up and petted. When I gave the kittens their food, he ate just as well as the others! In the three weeks that followed before he went to his forever home with one of his brothers, he was the liveliest and friendliest, not to mention the hungriest of them all! Now 6 months old and completely settled in his forever home, I recently received an update. He has grown taller than his brother and is doing great! Really, I could not be happier!
Wow Hetty, what a wonderful story of the healing power of Reiki! I love that you were able to let go and trust, even in that uncertain moment. That took so much courage. In that moment, you truly embodied the precepts, letting go of anger, worry, being humble, honest and compassionate – and that created a miraculous healing space for that little kitten to connect to. Keep up the wonderful work!