2012 is almost here. It is a year that has been highly publisized as a profound time of human potential. Whether you believe it is the coming of a new consciousness or the time of global destruction, or no change at all, you have the opportunity to enter into this New Year awake to your own potential. One way to do that is to reflect on the past  year and let go of what is not in the best interest for your future.

The Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony is a beautiful ceremony that will help you release what you don't want to take with you into the New Year. I first wrote an article about it for Reiki News Magazine, and I have the complete free instructions for the ceremony and the article on my website, reikilifestyle.com. Last year I began using a different method of burning the paper during the ceremony. In my original instructions, I used dirt in the bottom of the bowl and placed a lit candle in the center. During the ceremony people wrote what they were letting of on paper and then burned the paper using the fire from the candle. That works great for 1-10 people, but if you are having a larger ceremony, it is very slow and quite a bit smokier than what I use now.

I facilitate a Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony for the New Year for my January Reiki Circle for about 35 - 40 people. So I needed to change the way we burned the paper. First, I found a really large stainless steel bowl. It is made to hold ice and wine bottles so it is a nice size. I line the bottom with aluminum foil, pour Epsom Salts into it, and pour 99% alcohol over the salt. I use a long lighter to light it because it has a little "poof" when it is first lit. It has a pretty good fire, but it doesn't smoke very much. You should practice it at home before you do it so you know what to expect. I give the people a regular piece of paper that is long and narrow. about 1/3 page, cut vertically. (I found some at the Dollar Store in a pad of paper) That way the people can hold it for a moment while it burns if they want to. And the paper has enough room to write down alot of things to let go of! I like the fire in the bowl to be somewhat strong, so the paper burns fast. Sometimes I have had to add more salt and alcohol in the middle of the ceremony when the fire burned out before we were finished, so have some ready just in case. When the ceremony is over, you can add water to the salt, then bury it, or it will disolve in the water if you want to wash it down the sink. Make sure you dispose of it safely. I have placed a photo of the supplies I use for the ceremony on my home page of my website, reikilifestyle.com.

I have the complete instructions for the Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony if you want to hold the ceremony for yourself or your friends. It is a nice way to usher in the New Year. The ceremony also includes what you want to empower for the New Year. It gives you time to go into your heart and listen for your intentions. I like to have the people attending the ceremony write their intentions on a card, I collect the cards and place them in my Reiki room with a Reiki Crysal Grid over them, and then I send them back to the people on the solstice in June. It is always a wonderful surprise when they receive them. It gives their intentions new life. Here is the direct link to the Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony, and also the Reiki Burning Bowl Article.

However you spend your New Years, I wish you wonderful blessings for 2012!

The holidays can increase our busy-ness with family gatherings, shopping, cooking, travel, etc. We often feel too rushed take the time to activate the Reiki Symbols by drawing them and doing our full activtion process. Remember that it is ok to activate Reiki just by thinking about it. The symbols will activate simply because you invite them. They don't need your full attention when you are too busy too spend alot of time. Reiki will adapt to your schedule and help you in whatever way you need it most.

Reiki makes your day flow easier because it aligns you with higher thought and increased vitality, which gives you the ability to think and act from a balanced perspective. One of my personal favorite "higher perspectives" is that I don't engage in all of the opinions at the holiday family gatherings. I just sit back and watch and enjoy. It has given me so much freedom! I don't have to say everything I think. Consider trying it, it is really great. Reiki makes it easy for me not to be attached to it all. I also think Reiki is directly responsible for my front row parking karma. Seriously, I always get the best parking spots! I think about the Reiki Distance symbol, and the direction I need to drive to get the parking spot highlights in front of me. It seems as if serendipities follow me, (or I follow them, I don't know which) and I get to watch the small ways my day is easier. Reiki seems to open my mind so that I can notice. They probably happen to everyone all the time, but Reiki seems to make the small blessings visible to me. I get to experience them and notice their presence. It helps me to look for them too which is a nice way to spend my time.

I could go on and on about the advantages of inviting Reiki into your holidays, but this is a blog and I try to keep it short. I think my main message is to remind myself and any of you that this is helpful to, to simply invite Reiki in whatever way you have time for. It is a wonderful feeling to activate Reiki by drawing the drawing all the symbols into your hands and the room, but if you don't have time, invite Reiki with your thoughts while you are in the middle of your busy-ness. It will help you stay centered and in the flow of your own inner guidance as you do all the things you have to do to make your holidays happen.

Send Reiki into the following days, again you can just send it quickly with your thoughts, and ask for it to guide you to easy holidays. Set your intention that they are easy and that you enjoy them. Remember the Reiki Ideals. They are really helpful during this time. Just for today, I will not anger, or worry, I will be filled with gratitude and devoted to my work, and I will be kind to all others. When you read them, you can see how they align you with a different perspective. Do self-Reiki by just thinking about Reiki and placing your hands on your body wherever you are, you can be very inconspicuous. I also sing and chant the names of the Reiki symbols to call them in. I like to do this while I clean my house and it fills the house with Reiki. Most of all, use Reiki the way that it works for you. Make it easy on yourself. Reiki doesn't ever want to be the "one more thing you have to do," it will come because you invited it. It always shows however you activate it.

Blessings for wonderful holidays!

Colleen

PS, I am turning off the ability to post comments on this blog because I get so much spam. The people who really want to comment just get lost in the middle of it all. You can send me an email at colleen@reiklifestyle.com if you want to reach me or comment.

The Reiki Gratitude Ceremony is a wonderful ceremony for Thanksgiving and holiday dinners. The Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony is great for the New Year celebrations.  I have written free instructions for each and posted them on my website, making it easy for you to create your own ceremonies. Just go to my Reiki Ceremonies page and download the instructions, prayers and easy instructions for everything else you need. I have the link to the page below. I have tried to emphazize the word easy so you know that this is something you can comfortably add to your celebrations. They are meaningful, enjoyable, and can be adapted to be appropriate for all belief systems.

I have also written articles about Reiki and Gratitude and the Reiki Burning Bowl and they are here on the website too. I have also placed that link below.The articles add depth to the understanding behind each of the ceremonies. Dr. Usui's Reiki Ideal, "Just for today, I will be grateful," inspired me to meditate, pray and focus on gratitude. I was inspired to create the Reiki Gratitude Ceremony during my meditations. The holidays were coming up and I could envision people gathered together with family and friends and adding gratitude to their homes and out into the world. And if we had the ceremony all over the country and in other parts of the world, there would be a powerful vibration of thanksgiving broadcast all over the planet. The gratitude and love from ceremony is sent to the World Peace Grids and they in turn send the power of the collective prayers all over the world.

The Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony was inspired by a ceremony I had heard about from the Unity Church years ago. I adapted it and added Reiki.  It is a method of letting go of what no longer serves you. The things that you don't want to take into the new year. This ceremony uses Reiki to release and heal the energy and limitations that hold you back. It then empowers your life force which helps you manifest your intentions and goals.

I hope these ceremonies add beauty and love to your holidays!

Here is the link to the instruction page for Reiki Ceremonies: Reiki Ceremonies.   And here is the link to my articles page: Reiki and Gratitude and Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony.   Click here to read about the World Peace Grids: Reiki.org. Ioffer my Reiki Articles, Ceremonies, Craft Projects and Photo Galleries for free on my website: www.reikilifestyle.com.

Love and gratitude to you all!

Colleen

Yikes! The news, the opinions, the rants! I have to turn it off. Some people say I need to stay informed by watching the news, but I find that the stories occupy my mind. I try to clear my thoughts, which works for a while, but inevitably the conversations around me bring it all back up again. Yesterday, I posted my article from Reiki News Magazine, Spring, '10, about using Reiki to clarify my opinions. I am appreciative of my own information today. Now I know I posted the article because I am the one who needed a reminder to use Reiki to release all of the opinions playing around in my head. It feels like they have taken over my thoughts and I have other things I would rather think about.

So I called on Reiki this morning. Reiki has a remedy for unwanted thoughts. The Usui Power symbol, CKR, gently releases what isn't serving us from our body. The Mental/Emotional symbol, SHK, clarifies our thoughts and empowers our creativity. The Distance symbol, HSZSN, takes it all to the light for healing, and connects us to our pure heart. I had a busy morning, so I called on the Reiki symbols as I was making breakfast, I sat and ate quietly, and I listened for a minute. I remembered the freedom I feel when I am not engaged in the negative thought waves broadcast on the news. I thought about the opinions I had collected as my own and whether they were really mine, and decided that mostly they weren't, so I asked Reiki to release me from them. I felt lighter quickly. I was reminded that Reiki heals effortlessly and I don't have to struggle to be free of my negative opinions. I remembered Dr. Usui's Reiki Ideal, "Just for today, I will be grateful." I remembered that gratitude changes my thoughts and my feelings. I took a moment to be thankful and asked Reiki to empower my gratitude all day. Once I connected to my gratitude, my thoughts automatically changed. I realized that unless I was going to take action with my negative opinions, they will just stay in the realm of disturbing mind chatter with no where to go except into my body. If I stay in the thoughts of gratitude, I feel good, and my mind is peaceful and creative, and that is the energy that will go into my body. I am grateful to Reiki, it is truly miraculous in so many small ways.

I am going to go enjoy the day now. It is the second day of summer, perhaps the sun will shine its beautiful face on us today! Just for today, I will be grateful. Tomorrow I will remember again.

Click here to read the article, Reiki Clarifies Opinions.

Opinions.pdf (1.47 mb)

Together, we can invite the power of Reiki to help the people, animals and land in Japan. Invite the Usui Distance Symbol and connect into the power of Reiki that is being sent to Japan by people all over the world. Mt. Kurama in Kyoto was the birthplace of Reiki. The land in Japan remembers Reiki, invite it to help. Dr. Usui spent tireless hours giving Reiki to earthquake victims in the 1923 earthquake in Tokyo, and his love is still present there. Send Reiki to the World Peace Grid located in Hana, Hawaii, the North and South Pole, Jerusalem and Michigan. Invite love and peace into the world and send it through the Peace Grids to spread out over the planet.

There are many ways to activate Reiki even if you are working and very busy today. Reiki works by invitation, so all you need to do is ask it to help. Simply think it in your mind, or if you have time, draw the Reiki symbols, spend time in self -Reiki and send the healing to the people of Japan.  Call on the power of the love given by Dr. Usui during 1923. welcome the power of the land and the mountain. Ask that love and grace surround all. We remember today that the world is one community. Blessings to everyone.

I was so skeptical about Reiki when I received my first Reiki attunements. My horse had gone lame and I decided to learn Reiki in order to help him heal. I was told that I would receive the ability to give Reiki through an "attunement." But I admit, the idea that a person could receive the ability to heal themselves and others through a simple inititiation  was completely outside my belief system. Through a series of seredipities, I decided to get my Reiki training anyway. (now I know that is how it happens all the time!) So I was completely surprised when I had a physical reaction to my Reiki I attunement! My hands and arms tingled and my hands were incredibly hot! I knew that something extraordinary had happened. Reiki really worked! I remember thinking, "If a simple Reiki attunement can give a person the ability to give healing energy, then what else is true?" The Reiki attunement completely changed my beliefs about spiritual possibilities.

Now that I have taught Reiki and worked as a practitioner, I realize that a Reiki attunement works because the person receiving it has asked for it. "Ask and you shall receive" is a spiritual truth. Even when you don't believe in it. I have meditated and asked my spirit guides why it works this way, and the answer I have been told, is that Reiki works through the power of Grace. Grace happens when we ask and allow it to come into our lives. It only needs an invitation.

"The Amazing Grace of Reiki" is my new article in Reiki News Magazine, Winter 2010. I was humbled when I reread it today. My articles are always channeled and I often don't know what I have written until they come out in print. The power of grace surely inspired this one.

Please share your experience with the vibration of Grace in your life. We will enjoy your stories!

My head didn't blow up after all! I was lead to believe that if I didn't write my blog every week, and stay in touch on facebook and twitter, my Reiki Lifestyle website would be lost in obscurity and my world would abruptly halt! I don't know where I came by that belief, must be from the "theys" out there, but I am here to say that I have survived after two months without a blog and social networking!

Three months ago my mother broke her pelvis in three places, and my priorities had to change in a day. I have to say, it has been very disorienting. One day my Reiki clients, classes, website, blog, writing, making Reiki craft projects occupied my thoughts, and the next day, hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, insurances and my moms pain were all I had time for. Everything else had to go to the bottom of the list. Blogs and social networking ended up last! I admit, I worried about it. I was just starting to really understand how it all works. Everyone I consulted with, told me that I had to "stay on top of it" to be successful with my website. I have spent a good deal of time creating a new website this year, so I was very dedicated to doing everything I was told.

Thank the universe for Reiki! I gave myself Reiki and I also received Reiki treatments from others. Reiki reduced the stress I was under so I could think clearly and know what foot to put in front of the other each day. Reiki helped me surrender my personal needs and focus on my mothers needs. It helped me prioritize her first. On days when I felt anxious or worry about the work I wasn't getting done, missed deadlines, and unwritten blogs, Reiki could help my mind let go and return my focus to what was important. The Reiki symbol SHK, helps us feel joy on the inside, even when our emotions are difficult on the outside. It is the mental/emotional symbol and it directly balances the right and left side of the brain. It helps intuition and logic work together. It aligns the chakras iin the body with the mind, so our physical body and mind are in sync so we can listen with heightened awarenss. I called on this powerful symbol everyday. Usually I only had time for short Reiki treatments, and I often only had time to invite the Reiki symbols on the run, but I invited Reiki into my situations all day long. I could feel its support under me and through me. I have been emotionally and mentally strong throughout this time. I attribute so much of my clarity of actions to the inner guidance I received when my stress was reduced by Reiki.

Today is the first day that I have had time to sit down and write like this. I do love it and am really glad to be back now. I also plan to start posting on facebook and twitter again. It has been great to be away from the demands I was placing on myself over my blog and social networking. I have come back with a whole new perspective. I really appreciate having the time and luxury to sit and write my blog. I also look forward to talking with all the people on my Reiki facebook pages, Colleen Benelli and Reiki Lifestyle. I love the opportunity to meet and talk to people all over the world about Reiki! 

Warm Blessings on this beautiful Autumn afternoon!

Colleen Benelli

Please share your experiences with creating priorities in your life!

Contact Colleen by email at colleen@reikilifestyle.com, or by phone at 503 668-3308.

By Guest Writer: Maila Davenport PhD.

The places of our world are asking for healing, and Reiki is a compassionate power to answer the call. As I write this entry, I sit on my front stoop and watch four orange goldfish dodge under water lettuce in our above ground garden pond. Sometimes our pond gets cloudy from algae and waste grit; if I let it go too far we can no longer see the fish. But this attention is not about wanting things to look good.  Water debris interferes with the oxygen intake for both the fish and plants so no matter how healthy the creature, if its environment is debilitated, it cannot thrive. When I add two teaspoons of clarifier to this 100-gallon pond, it clears instantly and these aquatic beings can breathe free again.

Our lives are not so different from a goldfish’s life. We walk daily through a “pond water” of stories and events that are suspended in places: the street corner of a car accident, an illegal dumpsite, or the last place a missing child was seen.  These places can be cleared and healed so that the people, plants, and creatures living there can breathe free. Quite possibly the ratio two teaspoons per 100 gallons applies here as well—a little Reiki goes a long way.

Reiki taught me that the Long Distance Symbol HSZSN is the loving arc both to carry the painful stories away and align local places with natural places of power here on earth. The power places of the world are regions already highly charged (think about the Grand Canyon, the Artist Paint Pots in Yellowstone National Park, our own Mt. Hood).  With HSZSN we can clear the area and simultaneously join the renewed spot to a wilderness that is thriving.  Just imagine, rainbows of Reiki crisscrossing our planet. 

If this is a practice you feel called to do, ask Reiki to align you with a particular power place. This may be somewhere you have visited or a landscape you that draws you. You can also let Reiki choose this spot for you. Experiment sending Reiki to this site and notice what this spiritual connection brings into your work. Once you have an active relationship to this sacred place, you can begin this place-healing practice in your neighborhood and community.

From here go forth!  I figure if enough Reiki rainbows are lit, we shall all swim in the Light of Love right here and now, maybe we shall all be golden-fish too.  If you are interested in joining a community ceremony dedicated to healing the places of our world, I am starting Healing Places for Peace Reiki Circle in the Portland Metro area. We will send Reiki to local and global places of our world at the feet of a World Tree Altar. All Reiki lineages are honored. Please click the link below for more information.

Blessings, Maila
http://www.altarplaces.com/healing-places.htm


Bio: Dr. Maila Davenport is a shamanic Reiki practitioner, archetypal mythologist, and peace activist. Pairing her personal 18-year journey as a Shrine Tender with her PhD in world religion and mythic imagination, she weaves deep story with altar building for community action to heal the torn Places of our lives.

I love all the comments on my Reiki Lifestyle blog. Thank you for taking the time to share. It makes a difference when we can learn from each others experiences.

Reed, I agree that it is important to share with others how long it can take to build a Reiki practice. It takes a while to develop and implement a business plan, and there can be lots of delays and obsticles as well as successes. (Just to be clear, I have never created a formal business plan.) I use Reiki to help me navigate through my days and my priorities.  I start with a plan and the Reiki Ideal,  "Just for today, I will devote myself to my work." Some days my work shows up as planned and other days life tells me what my work is. For example, I have had delays in the plans for my Reiki practice for the past few weekes. My mother injured her back and instead of working on my website, writing blogs, keeping up with social networking, and writing my next Reiki News Magazine article, my work has shown up as taking care of her. The work I thought I would be doing was delayed and I missed a bunch of deadlines.

At first glance, it would seem that taking care of my mother was not in my business plan. However, my business is Reiki healing and healing begins with family. As my shamanic teacher Jan Engels-Smith taught me from day one, "Heal family first, then community, then the world." In the past, I have sometimes resented the delays I have experienced when I plan to get things done for my Reiki business, and instead have had family to care for first. However, the longer I have been a professional Reiki practitioner and teacher, the more I know that taking care of my family is my priority. It is my spiritual practice and my Reiki practice, and it is my Reiki training and my Reiki business. I have learned that time for healing my family and friends is in my Reiki business plan. It would be strange to put all of my energy and attention into offering healing to others and not to those I love most.

I can't say that I am always perfectly selfless in these situations. I would like to think I am, but I experience stress, frustrations and impatience at times. I use the Reiki techniques and tools to manage my feelings when life changes my plans. In some situations it is best to only think of today and devote myself to my work however it shows up. In those cases, I put one foot in front of the other, and do what needs to be done next. I give myself Reiki to help me let go of the stress so I can graciously move into the work I am given. Today, I am grateful that my mom is feeling pretty good so I have time to write. My daughter-in-law is going to see her with my granddaughter so I have even more time. Now I can work on my next article for Reiki News Magazine, "Reiki and Power Animals."

When I get to my moms this afternoon, I will leave behind the things I didn't finish, and any worry I may feel because of it. I will shift my energy and focus to my mom and remember that this is way harder for her than it is for me. She is the one in pain and her life has also unexpectedly changed. I will give her Reiki to alleviate her pain, and also the stress she must feel at having her life halted. She is a very active senior who volunteers alot and has a very busy social life. I am grateful that I can help her and that Reiki has given me the skills and tools I need for her healing. And my own!

So when you plan on your Reiki business practices, leave room in that plan for healing of family and friends. If you get frustrated by delays, give yourself Reiki to bring you back to clarity about your spiritual and Reiki practice, and to bring you patience when it all takes longer than you thought it would.

Please share your Reiki stories, challenges and successes with us. We all learn from each other!

Facebook, Twitter, blogs, websites, and smart phones. Who knew they would be such an important part of a Reiki practice? When I started my Reiki practice, I knew I need a Reiki website, but I had no idea that so many people would interact with me through the internet. I would say that 95% of my students and clients register for classes online, and we talk through email. I get very few phone calls now.

Many of my Reiki students intend to be professional Reiki practitioners and teachers. I try to convey the importance of business practices to them in creating their business. Typically, a professional Reiki practitioner is going to be self employed and all of the same business principles apply to a Reiki practice as any other small business. In today's world that means marketing, using the internet, having a website, and using the benefits of technology such as social networking if needed. It also means scheduling appointments, if you teach then setting future dates for workshops, and bookeeping and filing the appropriate tax forms. I know many people intend to have a small Reiki practice so many of the business practices I mentioned can be simplified. However, if a person plans to work full time as a Reiki practitioner and teacher, doing all of the above is likely to be necessary.

I do want to say though, that it has taken me years to learn the technology skills I need. So I want to encourage people who are just starting out with their Reiki business to just get started. At the beginning of my Reiki practice, I was completely computer illiterate and had no idea about social networking or the important role these would play in my Reiki business. It has taken me a long time to understand how it all works. Actually, I am aware that I only moderately know how it all works. This is only the fourth blog I have written, and I accidently deleted all the comments people made on the last blog! But I am determined to try to keep up with technology and the benefits it provides my Reiki business.

The first step is to create an intention for your business. What is your foundational purpose in being a Reiki practitioner? What kind of clients and students do you want to have? What kind of work do you want to do? I did self-Reiki, meditated, and listened for a long time to understand my answers to these questions. I discovered that my intention for my Reiki practice is to co-create a future where Reiki, Shamanism and other energy medicines are available as a mainstream profession and spiritual practice. I would like children to grow up knowing that these types of practices are available to them as a style of personal development and/or as a profession. So many of us in older generations had to go through years of forgetting our divine life force and our connection to the enlightened spiritual realms. Healing ourselves with divine love was only for the eccentric. Many of us were literally taught to forget. Underlying all of my business practices in Reiki is of intention for the children and future generations. I have also asked and set intentions for the types of Reiki students and clients that come to me for Reiki training and healing. I have asked Reiki to guide those who have the integrity, authenticity and the heart to heal, learn and grow in their daily lives. These intentions have formed as the foundation of my Reiki business. The clients and students that come to me are just the type of people I dream about coming. My classes are full of people who are seeking their inner truth and guidance. My clients truly want to heal and rejuvinate their lives.

The next step is to create your business name. Reiki can help you do this. After your intention is set, ask Reiki what your business wants to be called and listen. Your spirit guides are there to help and they are guided by your intention. My business name Reiki Lifestyle®, was channeled by a friend of mine. I really wasn't sure about it for a while. But I trusted the way the information came through my friend, and so knew that I had received divine guidance and needed to listen to it. My Reiki guides were on the job and the spirit and name of my business was born through my intentions. I now consult with the spirit of Reiki Lifestyle and it is a source of guidance in my business practices. I ask questions such as how Reiki Lifestyle wants to look. How do I make that happen? What and who are my resources? I have also asked that my business supports me financially as well as it supports my personal healing and spiritual development. I know some Reiki practitioners have to reconcile their belief that creating Reiki as a business changes its integrity, and they have a hard time believing that it is ok to succeed financially. I had alot of healing work to do in this area and I had to do alot of healing around this really powerful and limiting belief system. One day I was talking to William Rand and he said something that really made a difference for me. He said, "Reiki needs to be created as a mainstream healing profession. If we don't envision it that way, it will always stay in the background and only for people with certain beliefs." William has written alot on the subject of Reiki and business practices. You can read his ideas and suggestions in his Reiki manuals, books, and in Reiki News Magazine. He has posted many of his articles on the subject on his web site, www.reiki.org.

After you have decided on a business name, go to the internet and make sure it is available online as a .com, .org, or .net. If it is already taken, then choose another name and try online again. There is no point in using a name that is already being used, it is just confusing to the people searching for you. In addition, the person who is already using the name has probably spent a good deal of time creating their business with that name. If the name is already used, it may also be trademarked which means it can't be used by someone else. I did trademark Reiki Lifestyle®. I wanted to make sure that I didn't put years of effort developing my name, and then have someone else use it with intentions other than my own. However, this it was expensive so I am not sure everyone wants to go that far. It is a personal decision. To check online to see if a name is available as a .com, .org or .net, go to www.register.com. You can find out immediately if a the name is already taken on the internet. You can then register the name on that website, which is $35.00 per year, or you can go to other sites that register internet names such as www.godaddy.com. I found register.com easier to use, but godaddy is cheaper. It was worth it to me to pay the extra $20, for the ease in using register.com.

There is more to say about the subject of Reiki business practices, but today is  my "Grandma day," that I spend with my 3 year old granddaughter Eva. So I am posting this now and will add to the subject in the next blog. I think blogs are supposed to be short anyway!

Please share with us some of your experiences with your business names and practices. We can all benefit from each others experience. As my teacher Jan Engles-Smith says, we are the pioneers bring energy medicine into the 21st century. Our work today, will create the future of Reiki. We are a Reiki community sharing ideas and practices that help each other succeed in every way.