I've been watching a lot of The Voice blind auditions lately. People lay all of their hopes and dreams onto the stage—the ultimate vulnerability—just waiting for a coach to turn a chair around and accept them onto their team.
Backs turned, unaccepted. Chair turns to face you, you’re accepted. No matter how supportive the coaches are, it’s like thumbs up or thumbs down in ancient Rome.
What blows me away is that these contestants have exceptional talent—they wouldn’t be chosen to audition if they didn’t. So when I watch, I see someone who far exceeds me in talent, but who also has a primal need to be accepted and approved of, like we all do.
Last week I participated in a health fair at a major corporation’s offices here in Manhattan. Another Reiki Master and I had a table where we talked to people about energy healing and gave free mini sessions. Right next to us was a station with several massage chairs. As soon as the fair started, people came in and walked right past us, straight to the massage station.
I totally had a moment where I thought, how can I compete with a massage chair? I’m working with energy that no one can see and most likely no one knows what Reiki is. Even though I had set the intention for the day that I wanted to meet people I could help and resonate with, in that moment I had a total human moment of feeling unaccepted and rejected.
A few minutes later, people gathered at our table, and we soon had a nonstop line-up waiting for Reiki sessions for the entire rest of the fair. The best part about it was that no matter if someone knew what Reiki was or not, everyone was game to sit in my chair and receive the energy. I’ve never met so many open people in one place. It was amazing.
Of course, the key is to accept yourself, then even if people don’t get you or don’t like you, you still feel ok. I don’t think I fully accepted myself until I studied Reiki and animal communication. That’s when I learned about the power of the universe, unconditional love, and the magic all around us. Being in the energy of that, I’m now meeting awesome people and having amazing adventures.
The human self-doubt and fear of rejection may never entirely go away, but as soon as we let go of those judgment chairs lined up in front of us and just sing for ourselves, the faster we move through that uncomfortable stuff. Then life goes from being an audition to a free concert. 🎵
It’s all about the magic. 🙌