Kansha shite (I am grateful)

I recently had the amazing experience of being part of the training team for a class of new Hospice volunteers. Hospice volunteer training is an intense process which includes a lot of painful soul searching exercises designed to make new volunteers comfortable with their own mortality, a necessary pre-requisite to being able to help others deal with these issues.

One such exercise which we facilitated for the class dealt with visualization of the student’s own last moments, including what was important for them to say to their loved ones gathered at their bedside.

The response of one of the student volunteers struck me with such power that I continue to be amazed by the totality of life affirmation that could be expressed in such few words. This volunteer’s final words to his loved ones would simply be: “Thank you!”

With those two syllables, he effectively expressed volumes about how his life’s journey had gone. He was so purely and honestly grateful that they were part of his life and had allowed him to be part of theirs. Their presence in his life had made it whole, and their presence at his death had been powerfully healing.

While he could have said: “I love you”, or “It’s OK now…don’t worry”, or any number of other last words that come readily to mind from the infinite choices, his thoughts immediately went to gratitude for the life he had and for those who comprised it.

What stronger evidence could there be of a successful, well-lived life?

To me, having the good fortune to witness this moment gave a wonderful affirmation to why Dr. Usui included the phrase “Kansha shite”, commonly translated as “I will show gratitude” or "I am grateful", in his five Reiki precepts as guiding ideals for a healthy and balanced life.

Taking the time to notice and give presence to all of the gifts, large and small, that are part of our lives, is powerfully healing. Too often, human nature appears to push us to recognize the negative energies that impact us rather than the positive forces that are all around us. By recognizing the negative, we enable and empower it.

It shows advanced progress on the path to enlightenment to be able to find a true sense of gratitude in the face of adverse conditions such as facing death, but with some concentrated self-development work, it becomes possible. This actually ties in with another of Dr. Usui’s precepts. ”I will do my work honestly” is generally considered to be a reference to this type of work towards personal enlightenment.

Drawing on personal experiences with loss of loved ones, with reflection, even the deepest losses have elements for which we can be grateful. While I lost my wife to cancer several years ago, I was blessed with many advantages through the process…things like health insurance, life insurance, Hospice care, a very understanding employer who allowed me to remain fully present through the process, support of loving friends and family…many things which eased the process for me. In my work with Hospice, I realize that these advantages are significant and that many people facing the same situation have not had the same blessings. This realization fills me with gratitude for all of the opportunities, gifts and energies during my life which made this situation materialize as it did.

While I could be angry and filled with negativity over the loss of my loved one, I find that replacing that anger with gratitude lightens the burden and speeds the healing. There we go with another precept…”I will handle anger appropriately”.

The more life experiences I compile since Reiki has come into my world, the more I become fully aware that the Reiki Ideals form a wonderful foundation for a life well-lived. Usui Sensei referred to the precepts as: “The secret art of inviting happiness…the miraculous medicine for all diseases” and I am thoroughly convinced that he knew what he was talking about.

In closing for this month, I would just like to say “Thank You” to each one of you…the readers, students, friends, family, practitioners, counselors, volunteers, teachers, co-workers, pets and others who have chosen to be a part of my life and welcomed me as a part of yours. Your presence in my life is a joyful treasure to me.

Today I am grateful.

Bob