8 Tips for Dealing with Spiritual Skeptics

In an ideal world, our friends and family would always encourage our spiritual pursuits.

In reality, they can often be skeptical, dismissive and antagonistic.

This can be a challenge, and it can easily lead to self-doubt.

We doubt the validity of our practice.

We doubt our values.

And we question the things we hold most dear.

This then destabilizes our healing confidence and, at times, can even lead to us giving up on our spiritual practice altogether.

To help overcome these challenges, today’s article offers you eight tips for overcoming Reiki and spiritual skepticism – tips that will help you both deepen your practice and better navigate relationship challenges with those around you.

Tip 1: Trust Your Personal Experience

Personal experience – not theory – should be the foundation of all spiritual practice, and if you’ve been working with Reiki (or other spiritual practices) for some time, you should have a body of personal experience that leaves you in no doubt about its effectiveness.

So you need to learn to trust this experience, not the chatter and opinions of others.

This is the rock upon which you should build your spiritual ‘faith’.

You’ve felt things.

You’ve seen things.

You’ve had moments of clarity.

You’ve had moments of heightened emotional balance.

You’ve experienced what it’s like to be brimming with energy.

And this should give you confidence.

These are your truths – truths no skeptic can take away from you.

2. The Value of Journaling

As much as I’m sure you’ve had plenty of meaningful spiritual experiences, I also know it is easy to miss many of the deeper changes that go on within us.

That is why journaling about your Reiki/spiritual practice can be so valuable.

It not only helps give you confidence by documenting (and thus consciously remembering) your spiritual successes. It also helps you spot potentially encouraging things that might otherwise slip by unobserved.

For while it is easy to notice the big spiritual moments, the epiphanies, the times your body is aflame with energy, the times where, in a single moment, you overcome an issue that has been troubling you for years, much of the time, the benefits of what we are doing happens incrementally.

And that means that in any given moment, it is easy to miss.

To spot it, we often need to look back over a period of time and compare our old self (say from six months ago), to our new self.

For do that and you’ll typically notice a lot has changed.

But trying to be aware of the tiny changes you’re experiencing in any given moment can be far harder to notice.

It is like if you bump into someone you haven't seen for ten years. They look so much older, so different. But with the people you’ve seen regularly over the last decade, nothing dramatic ever seems to happen. For them, the changes are so tiny and continuous, you barely even notice them.

But taken together, these changes are actually immense.

So keep a journal. Spot those little changes, and be encouraged by the progress you are making.

Over time, it will really add up.

3. The Necessity of Self-Care

Stop – or reduce – your practice, and you'll likely become less balanced.

Become less balanced, and the negative, skeptical comments of those around you will almost certainly cut deeper.

So, ironically, the more opposition you face to your practice, the more important it will be to continue it!

For that will give you the best chance of meeting it with equanimity.

So nurture yourself.

Give yourself the spiritual self-care you deserve.

Raise your vibration.

And note how the troubles and inconveniences of the world around you affect you less and less.

4. Set Boundaries

Spiritual practitioners often struggle because they take the 'easy' road by giving in to the pressure of those around them and either stopping or reducing their practice.

But if you do this, it always feels as if a little something dies inside of you.

Just as bad, give up on what you love, on what is meaningful to you, and resentment will inevitably build within you.

This can ultimately be devastating to your relationships, and it can even set them on a path to extinction.

So it's essential not just for you, but also your partner, family and friends that you set clear boundaries.

Let them know that your spiritual practice is a non-negotiable.

Let them know that you need to set aside some time for it.

Then enjoy the heartwarming sense of integrity that comes from acting in alignment with your beliefs.

Do that, and you’ll shine more brightly.

Do that, and you’ll get on better with those around you.

Do that, and you’ll experience greater levels of self-respect.

Of course, chances are your new boundaries will meet with some resistance.

Humans find change challenging, and those around you will most likely try to shove you back into your ‘usual box’.

They might do this by firing supposedly ‘logical arguments’ at you.

They might do this by trying to guilt-trip you.

They might just get mad and emotional!

But if you can weather the storm, you’ll find that most people, after a period of initial disturbance, will also quickly get used to the new you, to your new way of operating.

So while the initial resistance might be strong, it will typically fade soon enough if you stand firm.

5. Be Patient with Skeptics

This leads us to the next point: the importance of being patient with friends and family.

For if you can be patient with them. If you can understand that change can be challenging (even if it is positive!), then you’ll navigate the challenges far more quickly and smoothly.

We’ve all heard the saying ‘What you resist, persists’, and it’s true here. The more you push back against difficult family and friends, the more they’ll hunker down and fight for their position, and the more energy you’ll waste.

But if you calmly play the long game, things will typically settle down nicely.

I’ve seen this pattern play out so many times in my classes and have witnessed dramatic transformation after dramatic transformation in the partners and families of my students.

For instance, on several occasions, I’ve taught Reiki to the wives of monumentally skeptical farmer husbands.

These husbands initially thought their wives were doing some sort of weird voodoo.

Or that they had got sucked into a cult.

Or that they were getting ripped off by some mumbo-jumbo fakery.

But so many times, after a period of skepticism (and yes, it can take a while), they found themselves with a headache or pain that a Panadol couldn’t fix, and then, desperate, they asked their wife to try their Reiki thingo.

The Reiki then did the trick. It took away their pain, and after that, bit by bit, they started to appreciate it.

Ultimately, this appreciation often even turned into pride. They came to see their wife as a healer, and they were proud of what she could do!

So be patient. Give your friends, partners and family time to change, and remember one additional point: it’s seldom arguments (i.e. logical reasoning) that change people, but your energy and example.

So if you show them you're changing, that you're calmer, clearer, more energized, and more balanced, then bit by bit, even if they take a while to fully appreciate this, they will notice it on some level, and as a result, will almost always come to a fuller appreciation of the work you're doing.

6. The Need for Self-Compassion

The 5th Reiki precept is often translated as 'Show compassion to yourself and others'.

More accurately, the translation would simply be 'Be kind'.

But in either case, the emphasis is as much on you as on others.

Be kind to yourself.

Understand that at times, you might lose your patience with those around you.

Understand that, at times, those around you might knock you out of inner balance. But that's life.

The sooner you can forgive yourself, the more you can be kind to yourself, the easier it will be to regain a high-energy state and be the best person you can be.

But if you are harsh with yourself, if you judge yourself for your inability to always maintain the emotions you desire, then you will only stay stuck in them longer.

What you focus on will grow.

Your energy vibe will lower.

And you’ll find it harder to be the kind of person you want to show up as.

But be kind to yourself. Let go of the past. And you’ll enjoy the present without the baggage of the past.

You’ll enjoy being a lighter, happier version of yourself

7. The Value of a Good Course

It’s easy for the busyness of our everyday life to consume us.

It’s easy to put all of our focus on the demands of our day without any thought to learning more and growing.

But if you have to deal with spiritual skeptics, then learning more by attending a good course will help in at least three ways:

1.You'll learn new skills which will boost your confidence.

2.You'll immerse yourself in positive energy for a day, a weekend or more (energy that will hopefully carry over into your regular life).

3.You'll meet like-minded souls who will encourage you both through their words and presence.

What’s more, seeing other people following a similar path to you will make you feel less alone on your journey, and it will help validate what you’re doing.

It will make you realize that you're not 'crazy' or 'weird', you just move to a different beat than mainstream society

8. The Value of a Healing Community

On a similar note to the value of 'continuous learning' is the benefit of joining healing communities.

Finding a healing community will give you a place to practise your healing craft, and it will help you make like-minded friends who can provide emotional support and practical advice.

It's easy to feel emotionally isolated when those around you don't support your spiritual journey, but joining a spiritual community will give you a place where you belong, a place where you go from being an 'ugly duckling' to a 'beautiful swan'.

If you don’t already have a spiritual community, I'd encourage you to get in contact with other students from your classes, to attend our Reiki practice nights, and to consider going on one of our Reiki retreats.

These are a great way to meet people who value more than a simple 9-5 material life.

Conclusion

It can be a challenge to stay true to yourself in the face of spiritual skepticism and pressure from those around you.

But we all know what it is like to lose ourselves to the demands and emotional needs of others, and that clearly isn’t a good solution.

So while it might be tough, there is only one path in life that is ever worth taking, and that is the one that is true to ourselves.

So be bold. Live free. And watch as the people around you ultimately respect you more

Reader bonus: My novel, The Call of the Silver Cockatoo, is about the challenge of staying true to yourself in a world of responsibilities and social demands. It’s a passionate read. A page-turner, and for this week, I’d like to gift it to you.

To get your audio version, click here.

To get your digital copy, click here.