Slowing Down & Taking Time

Perhaps it's just me, but lately I have been noticing something which, quite frankly, makes me a bit uneasy. Whether it is someome whom I know personally or someone whom I have come across while blogging, it would appear that rushing into ones' ambitions is the "in" thing.

I am speaking about the people who apparently believe that it is a good idea to go from a Reiki Level I to the title of a Reiki Master in less than two months or the people who think that reading a few books makes them an expert in any field (i.e. High Preist or Priestess, Pagan clergy member, etc.) with little or no time to gain any real experience. It is almost as if these titles are no more than a "notch in their belt" or something? (or perhaps even just a way to make what they think is"easy" money?)


For example, last year I had a student who literally begged me to take him on. I agreed, and it wasn't long before I realized that, for whatever the reason, he thought that I would teach him everything he wanted to know in just a couple of weeks. During the first week of his classes, he told me that his goal was to become a High Priest and by the end of the second week, he expressed his ambition of becoming a Reiki Master!  About a month later, he stopped attending classes all together because I refused to rush his studies and because of the fact that he did not have enough patience with himself or me to slow things down.

I am not at all suggesting that one should not  pursue what they honestly feel in their heart, I am merely saying that common sense tells us we must have a controlled balance between both knowledge and experience. Taking short cuts not only ensures that we are not performing to the best of our abilities, but it also essentially robs us of the true enjoyment of our experiences on our journey to get where we wish to be.