For two years, I wasn’t sure what direction to take. After my partner had a heart attack, the gift shop we owned together had to be closed, and I found myself without work, a single mom with two children. Then, the year was 1983. I was driving my 8 year old son to his Kung Fu lesson. Across from the Kung Fu school was a small store called “The Crystal Dove”. My son, to my surprise, said he’d been there, “It’s a cool store mom, I think you should go and see it.” After he walked into the Kung Fu school, I walked closer towards The Crystal Dove, thinking, “this must be a fanatic Christian store”, associating the dove with religious significance. I turned in the opposite direction, towards my car. On my way home, I heard a voice, asking me, “Why was I so judgmental of a store name?” I hear the voice so clearly, even now. So I went back to the store, knowing it would make my son happy to know I took his suggestion.
I still remember the smell of myrrh and sandalwood when I walked in, I saw a sign there that read “Reiki Treatments, $25.00, by appointment only”. So even though in the store there were crystals, incense, and essential oils on display, that small sign just held my curiosity. I inquired with the store clerk, “What does Reiki mean?” she told me, “It’s an energy medicine.” When I heard this, I was instantly brought back to my upbringing as a Greek Christian Orthodox, I’d never heard of such a thing as energy medicine. So I made an appointment. The clerk suggested, before I get to my appointment, to read a book about Reiki written by Diane Stein. When my appointment came, and I received the universal life-force, feeling the floating in my body, I said, “This is what I want to do…” And that was my eureka moment, I realized I wanted to make other people feel just like that. Nothing could stop me. After two years without work, without inspiration, I found bliss in finding work in alternative medicine, energy medicine, and wholistic psychology. I found myself in such demand, taking clients from 7am to 10 at night, I just knew I was on the right path that was leading me towards success. I would not change it for the world, I practiced for 43 years before I retired and continued the next part of my journey – which is writing scripts for feature films and teaching about my experience.
Thalia Alexiou is the author of “Gratitude=Increase” available on Amazon.com