We recently connected with Elaine Riley and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Elaine, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?
Self care is something that I have come to take very seriously within the last few years. I think a lot of that focus comes from my journey of learning and practicing Reiki. I used to look at self care as things like getting a massage once a month or going out with friends every couple months. Now I have come to realize that it is something that should be practiced daily. Self care is the little things that you do each day that keep you in alignment and operating at your best energy. For me personally, it’s waking up early to have my coffee, meditate and do a Reiki session on myself before the kids wake up. I am at my best when I put focus on my own energy before using my energy to help others. It’s about filling your own cup up so that you have something to fill others up with. Putting on your own oxygen mask before doing it for someone else. It’s so hard to get into the habit of doing that because we often feel like we’re selfish to put ourselves first. If you’re doing it from a place of love though, a place of knowing that you will be able to provide so much more support to those around you by taking the time daily to pour into yourself, then its not selfish. It just makes sense.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My business right now is focused on spiritual development for both myself and others through avenues like Reiki, Crystal Healing and Astrology. I have also started teaching on these areas as well. Teaching Reiki wasn’t something that I saw myself doing when I started my own Reiki journey. However, it has been such a transformational component in my self healing and spiritual development that I want to inspire others to start their own Reiki journey. My Reiki Master Teacher, Beth Blair, and I have started teaching Reiki classes together this year and have started several in person groups that are focused on cultivating a community around healing ourselves through spiritual practices.
We just launched a hybrid style Reiki class with both online and in person options that we are really excited about. The hybrid style includes pre-recorded content that you can watch on your own time and a face to face portion that we do over Zoom or in person. This helps with information overload, time commitment and the energetic overload that can come with a full weekend of learning energy work. We tried to break it up into more bite sized pieces so that you can really focus on the energy and the information of what Reiki training entails. This is also a great option for those with ADHD or problems focusing for long periods of time. It’s something that I myself struggle with and it’s a goal of ours to bring spiritual practices forward into a more ADHD friendly place.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Developing a strong mindset is one thing that has helped me a lot on this journey and it wasn’t something I’ve always had. I truly believe that we create a lot of our own reality. The more you focus on the good things, the more you see good things. The opposite is true as well. The more negativity you focus on, the more you see. So training my mind to not go to an immediate place of lack or negativity when something came up was a huge mindset shift that has absolutely helped me thrive.
Overcoming imposter syndrome was another lesson that I’ve learned and I feel like can be a big dream killer in the world we live in. It’s amazing but also so hard that we live in a time where all of the information we could hope for is at our fingertips. With the technology that we have access to, comes an awareness that there are so many other opinions, options and people possibly doing something similar to you. I feel like we’re programmed to compete and compare ourselves to others and not only is that not healthy, it can be detrimental to your mental health as well as your business. My best piece of advice here is to put your blinders on, reconnect to why you are doing what you’re doing and just go for it. No one is going to have the same life experiences, or outlook on things that you do. So you will put your own unique style on whatever you are doing, whatever niche you’re in.
Being able to balance it all is a skill that is hard to learn, but that I think is key to not only your business success but your personal success as well. This was a lesson that I struggled with a lot in my early days of business. I was a stay at home mom when I started my business and I carried a lot of Mom guilt in the beginning. Then I swayed too far the other way and found myself working way too much and not spending enough time at home. It took a bit but I finally found balance between following my passions and running my business. I try really hard now to be present and connect with my family when we’re all home together. That means focusing and getting as much of my work done while the kids are in school. That takes planning and an awareness to how you’re spending your time that for me doesn’t come naturally. It is a balancing act for sure and there are times where one area gets more energy than the others. It is always something I try to stay conscious of however and bring back to center if needed.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
My answer to this one is so simple but can be so complicated to do. If I start feeling overwhelmed, I stop and I take a break. This is usually when I know that I have to give myself a day off. I feel like we are conditioned to be on the go all the time. We always have something that we need to be doing. Something that needs our time and energy so we don’t take breaks as much as we probably should. For me, this is something that I am still working on for myself. I want to do so many things and help all the people I can, that I often burn myself out. My cure for this is a full day off where I do nothing that requires too much brain space. I indulge in a season of something fun on Netflix and I just zone out. Allowing my body and brain the time to rest. A lot of my work includes tapping into my higher consciousness and doing energy work that can be very taxing, both physically and mentally. It’s imperative that I give myself these days to just rest my energy. Even though it feels counterintuitive to take a day off when so much needs to be done. I know I will function so much better after I do. It’s another part of my self care that I am trying to make more routine.
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