Category: The Reiki Rocker

For many years I thought something was wrong with me. Slowly, over time I read more and talked to others about being an Empath. At first I didn’t believe it and thought of it as a poor excuse for the way I felt. But being an empath is a real thing. From feeling others emotions to just ‘knowing’ stuff to not watching TV or reading newspapers because all of that information made me depressed… it can seem like an isolated world. A lot of empaths are depressed and don’t know why. When I learned this it was like a lightbulb going on in my head because I ALWAYS felt this way and could never put my finger on it. Being around negative people has always been very difficult. Why? Because I just ‘know’ why they are negative. Generally speaking, I ‘know’ that if they focus on themselves instead of others and really do the dirty work of getting to the root of the problem then they wouldn’t be that way. How do I ‘know’ this? I wouldn’t be able to explain. I just know. It’s not that being around negative people bums me out… not at all. I don’t take it personally. What bums me out is ‘knowing’ how to fix the problem and them not willing to do it. And I NEVER tell people how to ‘fix’ themselves unless they ask. I’ve learned the hard way with this. Does it mean that I’m smarter than everybody else? No. Does it mean that I’m better? No. I still have a lot of work to do on myself and sometimes ‘knowing’ this and not doing the work myself is worse.

I do my best to ground myself before Reiki sessions so I don’t take on the other persons emotions and pain… in the past it took me a couple of days to process and filter it out of my system. I still forget to ground myself though, so its a daily practice. It has to be or I will get so bummed out that I just can’t be around people and need to be alone. Believe me, its tough. I can’t just turn it off like other people can. Jobs can be this way for me… like my last one. The negative ‘vibes’ around me on a daily basis were unbearable and it would effect every aspect of my being. As much as I would focus on the positive and try to get others around me to do the same it just didn’t work. Like Ying and Yang, the more negative they were the more positive I had to be until I would just come home completely wiped out.

So…. how does this work with being a front man in a Rock band? Again, grounding myself, meditation and being aware of the negative ‘vibes’ that I might encounter during a gig. Reminding myself that its not about me and to just let it go. I have to do this because I feel the audience. The positive side of this is that people who come to shows get 100% interaction and they always walk out with a sense that something was different. And that is something that I am proud of. 🙂

Anyway, enough about me…. lets focus on you. Are you an empath?

Take a look at 30 of the most common traits that I found on one of my favorite blogs;  The Spirit Science.

30 of the most common traits of an Empath:

1. Knowing: Empaths just know stuff, without being told. It’s a knowing that goes way beyond intuition or gut feelings, even though that is how many would describe the knowing. The more attuned they are the stronger this gift becomes.
2. Being in public places can be overwhelming: Places like shopping malls, supermarkets or stadiums where there are lots of people around can fill the empath with turbulently vexed emotions that are coming from others.
3. Feeling others emotions and taking them on as your own: This is a huge one for empaths. To some they will feel emotions off those near by and with others they will feel emotions from those a vast distance away, or both. The more adept empath will know if someone is having bad thoughts about them, even from great distance.
4. Watching violence, cruelty or tragedy on the TV is unbearable: The more attuned an empath becomes the worse it is and may make it so they eventually have to stop watching TV and reading newspapers altogether.
5. You know when someone is not being honest: If a friend or a loved one is telling you lies you know it (although many empaths try not to focus on this because knowing a loved one is lying can be painful). Or if someone is saying one thing but feeling/thinking another, you know.

6. Picking up physical symptoms off another: An empath will almost always develop the ailments off another (colds, eye infections, body aches and pains) especially those they’re closest to, somewhat like sympathy pains.

7. Digestive disorders and lower back problems: The solar plexus chakra is based in the centre of the abdomen and it’s known as the seat of emotions. This is where empaths feel the incoming emotion of another, which can weaken the area and eventually lead to anything from stomach ulcers to IBS (too many other conditions to list here). Lower back problems can develop from being ungrounded (amongst other things) and one, who has no knowledge of them being an empath, will almost always be ungrounded.

8. Always looking out for the underdog: Anyone whose suffering, in emotional pain or being bullied draws an empath’s attention and compassion.

9. Others will want to offload their problems on you, even strangers: An empath can become a dumping ground for everyone else’s issues and problems, which, if they’re not careful can end up as their own.

10. Constant fatigue: Empaths often get drained of energy, either from energy vampires or just taking on too much from others, which even sleep will not cure. Many get diagnosed with ME.

11. Addictive personality: Alcohol, drugs, sex, are to name but a few addictions that empaths turn to, to block out the emotions of others. It is a form of self protection in order to hide from someone or something.

12. Drawn to healing, holistic therapies and all things metaphysical: Although many empaths would love to heal others they can end up turning away from being healers (even though they have a natural ability for it), after they’ve studied and qualified, because they take on too much from the one they are trying to heal. Especially if they are unaware of their empathy. Anything of a supernatural nature is of interest to empaths and they don’t surprise or get shocked easily. Even at the revelation of what many others would consider unthinkable, for example, empaths would have known the world was round when others believed it was flat.

13. Creative: From singing, dancing, acting, drawing or writing an empath will have a strong creative streak and a vivid imagination.

14. Love of nature and animals: Being outdoors in nature is a must for empaths and pets are an essential part of their life.

15. Need for solitude: An empath will go stir-crazy if they don’t get quiet time. This is even obvious in empathic children.

16. Gets bored or distracted easily if not stimulated: Work, school and home life has to be kept interesting for an empath or they switch off from it and end up daydreaming or doodling.

17. Finds it impossible to do things they don’t enjoy: As above. Feels like they are living a lie by doing so. To force an empath to do something they dislike through guilt or labelling them as idle will only serve in making them unhappy. It’s for this reason many empaths get labelled as being lazy.

18. Strives for the truth: This becomes more prevalent when an empath discovers his/her gifts and birthright. Anything untruthful feels plain wrong.

19. Always looking for the answers and knowledge: To have unanswered questions can be frustrating for an empath and they will endeavour to find an explanation. If they have a knowing about something they will look for confirmation. The downside to this is an information overload.

20. Likes adventure, freedom and travel: Empaths are free spirits.

21. Abhors clutter: It makes an empath feel weighed down and blocks the flow of energy.

22. Loves to daydream: An empath can stare into space for hours, in a world of their own and blissfully happy.

23. Finds routine, rules or control, imprisoning: Anything that takes away their freedom is debilitating to an empath even poisoning.

24. Prone to carry weight without necessarily overeating: The excess weight is a form of protection to stop the negative incoming energies having as much impact.

25. Excellent listener: An empath won’t talk about themselves much unless it’s to someone they really trust. They love to learn and know about others and genuinely care.

26. Intolerance to narcissism: Although kind and often very tolerant of others, empaths do not like to be around overly egotistical people, who put themselves first and refuse to consider another’s feelings or points of view other than their own.

27. The ability to feel the days of the week: An empath will get the ‘Friday Feeling’ if they work Fridays or not. They pick up on how the collective are feeling. The first couple of days of a long, bank holiday weekend (Easter for example) can feel, to them, like the world is smiling, calm and relaxed. Sunday evenings, Mondays and Tuesdays, of a working week, have a very heavy feeling.

28. Will not choose to buy antiques, vintage or second-hand: Anything that’s been pre-owned carries the energy of the previous owner. An empath will even prefer to have a brand new car or house (if they are in the financial situation to do so) with no residual energy.

29. Sense the energy of food: Many empaths don’t like to eat meat or poultry because they can feel the vibrations of the animal (especially if the animal suffered), even if they like the taste.

30. Can appear moody, shy, aloof, disconnected: Depending on how an empath is feeling will depend on what face they show to the world. They can be prone to mood swings and if they’ve taken on too much negative will appear quiet and unsociable, even miserable. An empath detests having to pretend to be happy when they’re sad, this only adds to their load (makes working in the service industry, when it’s service with a smile, very challenging) and can make them feel like scuttling under a stone.

Namaste,
David

Welcome to June 1st and what an exciting June it is going to be. Why? Because we’ve said so. It’s that simple!

Have you ever heard the expression, Rabbit Rabbit? It’s an old expression that was started, we think, in England. You of course know about the lucky Rabbit’s foot. Well, Rabbit, Rabbit is pretty much the same. It is said every 1st of the month and it’s intent is to ‘Leap us into the future’. That’s what we are doing, leaping into the future with zest and zeal (If you are not then you might want to start looking at that).  And I know what you’re saying already….. “Dave… you don’t get it… my life is hard. I’m sick, my work sucks, I’m in a bad marriage, blah blah blah….” Now, I’m not belittling you. Everybody has problems and issues in life that sometimes seem impossible to deal with. Believe me, I know. Been there, done that. What can you do to change that?

Pretend.

I’ve said it a million times and I’ll probably say it a million more. Pretend. Pretend. Pretend. Or a more grown up way to say it, if you prefer….

Fake it until you make it.

It’s only hard because you said so. From mystics to financial moguls, from preachers to self help guru’s… they’ve all said it. See it first in your mind then you’ll believe it. Now this might be a bunch of hippy guru nonsense to some but the reality of it all is this… When you focus on something and you can see it in your mind then your attitude changes. When your attitude changes then you’ll muster up the motivation to move towards that goal. There is a science behind all of this. Like when you run… how do you feel? You feel great, right? Why do you feel great? Because certain chemicals react in your body. You’ve heard people tell you to visualize before, haven’t you? For myself, before a gig, I visualize the whole show in my head. I see me hitting perfect notes and see the crowd cheering and enjoying the show. When I don’t do this, 9 times out of 10 I’ll have a bad gig. That’s no joke.

We have to see it to be it. If you don’t see yourself as that person you will never be that person.

It’s really that simple.

If you would like some coaching on this, I can help. Set up a Reiki session or a coaching session with me… I’ll come to you or you can come to me, whatever is most comfortable for you.

I’m leaving you today with another song by my friend and mentor, Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith called ‘In This Love Together’.

https://soultone.bandcamp.com/track/in-this-love-together

Namaste,
David

This morning while talking to my buddy Michael, who runs The Stillness Guide, we were talking about stereotyping and how that line is being blurred in this ever changing consciousness. We deal with it every day. If you’re a Yoga instructor you don’t drink, if you’re a Rock n Roller you don’t meditate, etc. What we’ve come to realize that in every community there are a number of people that we just can’t put into a box.

Why do we put people in a box?

If there were no boxes then everything would be ok. Nothing would be bad. We, as a society, can’t cope with this. We need to validate what we do. War, for example. We have to label a ‘bad guy’ to validate war when the reality of it all is that there is no ‘black and white’. We can’t wrap out heads around the fact that the ‘bad guy’ has a family, probably a good neighbor, has given to charities, etc.. We want to see him as an evil person who probably walks out his front door and kills kittens for fun and flips off the neighbors when he see’s them. Other examples could be; I don’t want to smoke pot because it’s ‘bad’ for you, makes you lazy, and you’re probably homeless to boot. But the reality of it is, in this example of ‘pot’ that its actually a medicinal substance that has helped a lot of people. I could go on and on about hemp as well. I’ll let you research that yourself. Yet another example which has kept a lot of people where they are financially is; Money makes you a bad person. Believe me… I grew up with this mentality and I know now how this thought pattern has kept me financially in the dumps. Did you know that the actual translation in the bible that we’ve been taught is ‘wrong’? We’ve grown up believing that ‘Money is the root of all evil’ when in fact the actual translation is ‘The Love of money is the root of all evil’. Doh! What else out there has been misinterpreted that we believe today? Now THAT is something to look into.

Who do you put in a box?

Do you put yourself in a box? Your family? Your friends?

I was talking to Michael about my Uncle. Lovely guy. Served in the Marine Corp for 42 years. Someone that I deeply respect. The way that he would validate things was pretty simple. It made it alright for him to comprehend. When asked about David (me) and my long hair my Uncle would reply, “David has to have long hair, he’s in the music business”. Now, we all know that isn’t the ‘truth’ but it makes him comfortable believing this. What if I told him that I wear my hair long because each hair on my head is an extension of myself and that by cutting it I would feel lost. I wouldn’t feel whole…. I think this would make his head explode because he can’t understand that philosphy. Now don’t think that I’m saying that people that put others in a box are bad. Not at all. We all do it. We’ve been doing it for thousands of years. Recognizing that we are doing it is a big step in the right direction. Recognizing it and then changing our thought pattern. Getting rid of the neural pathways that we’ve created.

The Road Less Traveled

Have you read this book? It’s a good way to get yourself out of the box, to test the waters. Why would you want to do that? Because the road less traveled doesn’t have any ruts. You’ve heard the expression, ‘stuck in a rut’? Well, the road that has been trodden upon by the masses has a lot of ruts. Neural Pathways are like this. When you think a certain thought and continue thinking it you create a neural pathway with a rut. The rut gets deeper as you travel down this road (pathway) and the deeper the rut, the harder it is to get out of. So taking the road less traveled it’s much easier to move freely but not many people like to take this road because its scary. Like turning out the lights in the bedroom. You don’t know what’s there because you can’t see the monster. What if I told you that the only monster is the one that you create in your head and the only reason you create that monster in your head is to keep you there in your box. Kind of a Catch 22, eh?

Most of us stay in this box because we don’t want to be be outcasts, we want to fit in, or we are just plain scared. Ask yourself this though… What is worse? Fitting in to a society that is going to ‘like’ your page on Facebook? Is that the society that we’ve become? Personally I’d rather have people in my life that can challenge me. People that can move me to a higher level of consciousness. In the pre-internet days I would sit in coffee houses and physically talk to people. Look into their eyes, see their body language, challenge them as they challenged me. Learning from each other for just one goal…

To get out of the box.

Namaste,
David

I’ve taken on a bit more than I can chew right at this moment which isn’t always a bad thing. That is why you haven’t seen my daily blog in a couple of days.

One thing I’ve been doing while running around is noticing what my focus has been on. My focus has been on the task at hand. Not my bills, not my weight, nothing but the task at hand.

You see, when you’re busy, you are focused. And when you’re focused your mind is clear. And when your mind is clear you allow spirit to flow through you, align your Chakras, which gives you new insights about who you are. Meditation comes in all forms. It’s not necessary to sit in the lotus position (which I still can’t do properly) to achieve this Zen state.

Focus is the key.

Listen to this great song done by Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith from his CD ‘Transcendance‘. The song is called ‘U R The Answer‘ and in it he states….

And then there is this thing called focus
This willingness and ability to stay the course
To be so focused on that which is Real
To be so focused on that which is Eternal

What are you focused on that is NOT real? Something to ponder today as you go about your business.

I encourage you to listen to the whole album. It’s quite inspirational and quite an honor to have been part of his community at Agape when I lived in L.A.. Here is the link for you…

https://soultone.bandcamp.com/album/transcendance

I’m heading out once again this morning to align my Chakras 🙂
Namaste,
David

For a number of years I have been fascinated by the Flower of life, so much so that I had it put on my chest this past weekend. I had it put inside of a Dream Catcher which symbolizes to me, that through our dreams we find the answers from our subconscious and that listening to ourselves and not the outside world, we will know everything. Change comes from within. We can’t change what is outside of us, but by changing what is inside of us it will change our focus, and our perception of the outside world. I believe that life is a mirror and we will only see what we are. That’s deep, and at times too deep for even myself. That’s where practicing what I preach becomes very difficult. I know that when I am mad at somebody that there is something within myself that is reflected. Otherwise, why would I even care? We all fall victim to this, we are only human. And so the journey inward continues or we just live with the anger that we subject ourselves too.

Sorry for the tangent. I sometimes seem veer in different directions.

SQUIRREL!.

I wanted to talk about the Flower of Life and its meaning.

The Flower of Life, when viewed is a geometrical shape composed of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles arranged in a flower like pattern with six fold symmetry like a hexagon. We can see this pattern in plants. This symbol has been found on ancient structures around the world. The oldest known symbol was found in The Temple of Osiris at Abydos, Egypt. Within the Flower of Life are 6 different ‘structures’. Metatron’s Cube, The Star Tetrahedron, The Hexahedron, The Octahedron, The Dodecahedron and the Icosahedron. The last four being within every element of the Periodic Table.

So what does it all mean? This is the mystery. We’ve seen this symbol everywhere and it seems to include everything that we know about life. We’ve even seen it in Crop Circles. Now this is all speculation and I’m not here to tell you what to believe. I just ask questions and I hope that you do the same.

How far are you willing to go down the rabbit hole with me?

Namaste,

Alice (David) 🙂

Who are you? I’m serious. Who are you?

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself this question? I don’t mean, what do people think of you, what your job is, what you like to do in your free time, or have you never thought of this before? Have you never sat down alone, nobody around, no TV, no Radio, no Internet, no books.

Just you, with yourself, alone.

Does it sound scary to you? Are you afraid of what you might hear yourself say? Are you afraid that your past failures will arise and make you cry, or how you’ve treated people in your life, your financial situation, weight issues?

What if I told you that your life will never change until the day you die unless you do spend some time alone with yourself, what would you do? Would you be willing to give it a try?

GOOD! Lets get started.

Years ago I had to ask myself this question as well. People would ask me who I am and I would say, “Oh, I’m a Graphic Designer” or “I’m a Mountain Biker”. Once I realized the labels I was putting on myself it occurred to me that I was limiting who I really was. Labeling ourselves is ‘safe’. We will usually refer to who we are by the job that we have, or the family that we are in. When I started labeling myself as, The Singer, it was scary. It mean’t that I had to prove it. It mean’t that I had to be accountable for it. Now I know what you’re saying, “Dave, you just limited yourself by labeling yourself as a singer.” Ah, yes, you are right…. that is why I eventually changed it to ‘Singer / Reiki Master / Human ‘Be’ing’. Still somewhat limiting, in a way, yes, but now I label myself to who I aspire to be. See the difference? I won’t go too far into depth with this but, while in Summit Education years ago we made contracts of who we were. My contract was, “I am an Intimate, Passionate and Powerful Man”. I still have this contract to this day. It’s written on a huge piece of paper in black magic marker. This is my personal contract though… its one I remind myself of daily. My other contract (Singer / Reiki Master / Human ‘Be’ing) is my public contract.

By labeling yourself to who you’ve been, there is no growth. By labeling yourself to who you truly wish to be and what makes your soul smile, you are telling the Universe that you are ready for abundance. You are ready to give of yourself. Your true nature. Don’t say, “Someday I want to be…” or “I want to be…”. What you are doing then is telling the Universe exactly that. Think of the Universe as a Genie in a bottle. You say, “Someday I want to be…” and the Genie pops out of the bottle and says to you, “Your wish is my command! Someday you will want to be…”. You’re saying, “Wait.. no… I want to be NOW.” Well, you didn’t ask that did you? If you want it NOW then you need to say so. So change the ‘I want to be’s’ to ‘I AM’.

What if you don’t know who you really are?

This is a commonly asked question. To find out who you truly are take a piece of paper and try on a few hats. Write down different phrases of who you think you are and then eventually you’ll come to one that makes you smile. One that makes you grin from ear to ear. One that makes you cringe as well. Remember what I said about it being scary? It will be. It will be because that is when you will finally have to be accountable for yourself. Once you find the phrase, meditate on it. Give it a day or two to see how you feel with it. If it just isn’t hitting home, try another one. Once you find the one that makes your soul sing you’ll know that is the one. And then, if you dare…

Tell the world who you really are!

I Am…….

Peace,
David

Who would like to go on a 40 Day Prosperity Plan with me?

I’ve been reading this book called ‘The Abundance Book‘ by John Randolph Price and I’ve decided to do the 40 Day Prosperity Plan that is listed in the book.

What is a 40 Day Prosperity Plan?