I have been dyslexic my entire life, but I did not have a healthy understanding of my experience until Reiki gave me a better perspective. Learning that dyslexia is a different learning style, and not a disability helped me become more self-confident. Reiki helped me become more open to learning ideas and seeing this as a gift, rather than “something wrong.” I hope hearing my story may help others in a similar situation, recognize and use their special abilities.
I grew up in Alaska during the ‘50s and ’60s. We lived in a remote area of Alaska, on a 150-acre homestead. My sister and I used a dogsled to get to the bus stop and then rode a bus 40 miles into town. It was the ideal life for an active, curious boy. I never sat still to do homework or to read a book. I had too much else to do, hiking and running and wandering all over the entire area. Back then, schools and teachers were not as advanced as they are now.
At the start of my second-grade year, we came home from school, and my older sister, Caralee, announced to our parents, “Mike is in the dumb group at school.” Considering it was my mission in life to make her life miserable, I can look back and see this must have been a joy for her to announce. She did very well in school, and it was one significant area where she excelled above me. I was the one who knew all there was to know about the outdoors, the plants, the animals, and running fast over the rugged terrain.
My mom was shocked and upset. Caralee explained there were two reading groups: one for the smart kids and one for the dumb ones. My mom asked if that was Caralee’s interpretation of the names, “No, that’s what they are called.” I was unusually quiet during this exchange. There was a great deal of shame and frustration, even though I was aware it was true. In my mind, I thought, “I AM dumb.” I had a lot of trouble reading, which impacted all of my other studies. My mom was so angry she went to the school the next day. She learned they were starting a new program for remedial reading, and she was instrumental in changing the groups’ names. She also had me moved from my current teacher to another teacher to help me with reading.
School was a struggle for me until I graduated from high school. I found activities to keep me interested in school, most significantly, track. All that time running around the homestead and in the wilderness made it easy to run around a school track. This area was one in which I excelled.
Life continued, and several years later, Chellie and I married. Chellie is an avid reader. Her love of reading was so much a part of her that she had difficulty understanding why I wasn’t interested in it. I was definitely interested in learning new things, but not reading about them. By then, I had learned how to cope with my “dumbness.” I had succeeded in business with perseverance and by using my intuition.
One of the main reasons our marriage works is Chellie and I have our areas. She takes care of all the paperwork in our household. I am in charge of maintenance. This situation isn’t uncommon, and we fell into each of our roles. I can fix almost anything. Chellie can pull out a file from five years ago with the specific information we need. We accepted a long time ago that we think and process information differently. It helps that besides our self-Reiki, we both daily send Reiki to our relationship as a separate Chellie/Mike composite.
This is an excerpt from the complete article that appeared in the Winter 2020 issue of Reiki News Magazine. To read the whole article, please subscribe.
