A public apology...

Day 13 prompt -  Blogging every day in May challenge: Issue a public apology. This can be as funny or as serious or as creative as you want it to be. 

I apologise for the name of my blog.

Originally this blog was partly inspired by my reaction to the words of a fellow reflexologist Kevin Kunz, and I wanted it to reflect that the art of reflexology deals with the reactions between the body and reflexes found on the feet, hands, ears and head.

I apologise that it doesn't really mean anything if you don't know the back story.

I apologise that it's a bit of a tongue twister.

I apologise that the title is ambiguous and I want it to mean more than I can be bothered explaining.

I apologise that I am asking you to help me decide whether I should change the name of my blog to 'Ida knows', or 'Ida know' which is a play on the words 'I don't know,' and hopefully reflects that I don't pretend to know everything but what I do know I am certain of, at least until I know different.  I'm sorry that I haven't made people give me a dollar every time they said 'I dunno,' when referring to the pronunciation of my name, because I really would be rich, or at least have shouted a few extra rounds in bars all over the world.   

I'm sorry if my frank admissions about my own failings and abilities makes you feel insecure or jealous, because that is never my intention, I am sorry that I can't find a way to communicate my intention better, but I really don't understand the language of closed minds.

I am sorry for every time I have lost my temper with people who lose their temper with me or become defensive and rude -  especially if they should have just said "I'm sorry."  I am sorry that I go on and on or ignore them until I hear those two simple words. My ego wants them to realise how easy it is to say 'I'm sorry,' but some peoples ego's are just so big that they consider an apology to be either beneath them or an admittance of a character flaw, when in fact it's a simple recognition of greater understanding and growth.  Many people have become wiser by saying I am sorry and thank you in the same sentence.

I'm sorry that I'm not sorry for hurting or betraying other people, when their beliefs weren't true to me.  I simply don't know how to pretend they are right when they are wrong - e.g. bigots.

I apologise for getting frustrated with people that refuse to admit they are wrong. If I was a better person I would be like a lion that doesn't care about the opinions of sheep, but truthfully I love sheep just as much as I love lions and I do care. Deep down I know that sheep are scared of lions even though they are just as valuable and they need love, understanding, education and acceptance too.

I'm sorry I haven't thought of the worlds best song lyrics that changed the world, because I would have changed the world...  but maybe I can start with a good blog title.  

Cast your votes...  

1. Stick to original title - Reflex Reactions
2. Ida knows
3. Ida know
4. Something incredible that you think of...

I am sorry that I don't know for sure if there should there be an apostrophe in knows... Ida know's - Ida knows ??? - don't worry about answering that one - spell check just gave me the answer - but then again - Do you think I can claim poetic licence for using the apostrophe? - Or is it just to ambiguous?

Lots of love and laughs.  

A timely reminder. Coincidence, luck and miracles.

Writing my thoughts comes naturally to me, so does sitting on the sofa and doing nothing at all, it's all to easy for me to get distracted by my thoughts. I almost forgot about this blog.  This time I received a reminder from Kevin Kunz, find his blog here, a leading authority in reflexology, for more info here's a wikipedia link.  Kevin also has a very interactive facebook page, and his latest status about how 'all reflexolgists should become writers or risk their experiences being lost forever', provided me with some much needed inspiration. Call it coincidence, synchronicity, miracle messages or luck, but just as I was filing enthusiasm for my newly created blog to a blind corner of my brain, he posted that status update.

I thanked him, then upon reflection, realised once again, that most of my experiences are in fact a collection of co-incidences. Including recently one of my new friends in Denmark knowing a woman, who is about to open a new massage clinic, 5 minutes from my home, and just happens to be looking for a reflexologist.

Reflexology is quite popular in Denmark, my Søren even recalls his mother taking him to one when he was a child, over 30 years ago.  My decision to move here was made even easier knowing that my speciality is somewhat understood here.  In Melbourne I had struggled with the idea of where to set up business, again my sense of never really knowing where I belonged took over, so I preferred to do home visits, saw a few clients in my own home and also the few different clinics where I worked, as either a nurse or colon hydrotherapist.  I would often meditate or ponder the question of where to set up, and would only ever get the vague response that I should head North. Well Denmark is about as for North on the planet as you can get from Melbourne, and it still amuses me that I never guessed this far North was the answer.

I started reflexology in my late 20's, at a time when my stress levels were affecting my mental health, grounding myself and learning how to relax was a neccesity and became my number one priority.  I, like so many other people, once hated my feet with a passion, but working the feet seemed as logical a place as any to start the process of grounding and a much needed change because my head, heart (and hormones) were too messed up. As I was searching for the right course I co-incidently found a course for a hospital based nursing traineeship, that also paid me to study. So I studied nursing and reflexology at the same time and discovered that neither would have made much sense to me, if I had not balanced what I refer to as, health and healing, the science and art of medicine and wellbeing.  

Even though there is plenty of valid research, there is also a lot of skepticism about reflexology. I guess it makes no sense to some people that everything is connected.  A lot of what we do is felt, and it is not so easy to describe a feeling, but with a bit of practice it is a skill that anyone can learn to do. There is relatively little scientific evidence that supports the reflexes on the feet, however fMRI scans have proved that working an area of the foot activates the part of the brain that corresponds with the specific part of the body related to that reflex, fMRI test results. Simarlarily, Father Josef, another leading reflexologists, discusses in his courses the chinese autopsies that have also revealed a hardening of specific reflexes related to illnesses people have died from. Perhaps for some, everytime a reflexologist pin points a significant ailment or emotion, through the feet, can be described as miracle or coincidence, but the accuracy of these so called coincidences is a science in itself.  Like the time I could only feel one kidney reflex on a client and discovered later that she had her kidney removed some 50 years earlier, to name just one example.

Coincidences, luck and miracles really are the same thing.  Meeting someone at the right time is  both a co-incidence and a miracle. We can brush these situations aside and realise nothing or embrace them as opportunites to learn from ourselves, the people around us, and perhaps even make a difference to the lives of many.