Going Public in the Bagel Shop

As with any workplace, theres some chat about each employees personal life. My co-workers were happy to talk about how my kids were doing in school, but any time the spiritual aspect of my life was broached they reacted predictably and disputed or questioned my beliefs.

They knew I was more than good at my job. In fact business had done nothing but improve since I began working there. I took on more and more responsibilities, and my ability to talk personably and articulately had made a huge difference in how the shop was perceived by the public. They all loved me as a person and as a quality worker, but when the discussion changed to the topic of how I really felt, with my wishing them to understand me as a human being, they thought I was too bizarre.

In fact, some of the frustration of any rapid, out-of-the-ordinary growth is the loneliness. A person experiences epiphanies that are life altering. Other people arent there to witness the events and have never had such experiences, so they want to preserve their comfort zones by avoiding or dismissing what they dont understand. Meanwhile, the person with the experiences is left unable to share what is most meaningful in his or her life. The fact that I was good for the bagel business is the only reason they tolerated what they saw as my weirdness.

Some events happened, however, which were in fact witnessed by the others in the shop, making it hard for them to continue denying my emerging gifts. By this time, I had been initiated with the hands-on healing modality known as Reiki.

There was a delivery-man, owner of his own business with his son, who would come once or twice a week to the bagel shop. He would drop off the cream cheese, butter and all the other dairy products that we needed. He was a kind and pleasant man as was his son also. He labored heavily, daily delivering hundreds and hundreds of pounds of supplies to many businesses in the area, and he suffered from chronic back pain.

One day he stood in the shop complaining that his back was killing him. I said to myself that Id really love to help him. Mustering the courage to speak these words aloud, I said, I dont know how youd feel about this, but Ive been doing some healing work. Ive been taking some courses in healing. Would you agree to let me try to help you with this pain?

He said, What are you going to do? I said, Ill just put my hands lightly on you and energetically assist you. He said, Heck, why not? Let me try it.

We went to the room behind the store, and I worked on his back for about fifteen or twenty minutes. The other employees stole in to take a look, and I saw their curious glances and skeptical faces.

A few days later, the man returned on his normal delivery schedule and said that he couldnt believe it, but the pain had totally left his body. He asked, What did you do? I said, Its called Reiki. He started telling the people who owned the shop that my hands were golden.

Their perceptions of me as a kook began to melt. They decided that maybe I was not completely nuts. Every time that man made a delivery, hed ask me for a little more of the energy, as the back pain had not recurred. He was very appreciative.

This first behind-the-scenes healing expanded to others. Soon all the deliverymen were having energy sessions with me. There was one man, a lively Italian, who would drop hundred-pound sacks of flour into our kitchen. He was middle-aged and had worked hard all his life. His body was visibly broken down. He described his many physical maladies, so I offered to work on him. He said hed love to try it.

He asked where my home was and whether he could stop there at the end of his route that day. He didnt want the other employees to know he was coming to my house.

Having started at six in the morning, work for me was over by two, and I drove home. Soon after, the Italian man showed up at my door. He walked into my hallway, and White Buffalo Woman entered immediately. I touched the mans shoulders as he stood in the entryway. Without warning, my hands went into wildfire mode. Something energetically kicked in, and my hands passed like lightning all over his frame. He felt instant relief and exclaimed that his bodily pain was gone.

He said he would check back with me in a couple of days at the bagel shop. After a few days, he showed up, telling me in amazement that the pain had not returned.

These first healing experiences brought solid reinforcement that something extraordinary was emerging and unfolding for me. I could only wonder where everything would lead, but a few people at a time kept acknowledging that I really could help them in my non-traditional, hands-on way.

A seed of confidence was planted in me, as well as a wonderment about a potential, newfound purpose. Loose pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall into place. Most of the work that I had been doing on myself and also random-seeming events from my childhood and young adulthood now came into a spiritually-meaningful focus.

The healing sessions I did for others continued. They were exciting in two ways. What I felt in my body, during those sessions, was not only a reinforcement of my burgeoning healing ability, but also clear evidence for me of the existence of many other beings in dimensions beyond this normal physical dimension, who are guiding and helping us mortals. All of the energies and their influences began to broaden within weeks of those first events in the bagel shop.