simply reiki has moved
I am pleased to announce the launch of my new site at peaceandtruth.com.
If you are not automatically redirected, please go to http://reiki.peaceandtruth.com.
The Reiki Principles
An important part of the system of Reiki are five principles, which are simple yet powerful. By no means are they rules. They are points to bring your conscious awareness to. A personal rendition of the principles follows:
Just for today,
I will let go of worry,
I will let go of anger,
I will receive gratefully,
I will work honestly,
I will be kind to all.
Just for today...
This brings our attention to the here and now. In the words of Jesus, each day has worries enough of its own. 'Just for today' helps us remember that the past is gone and the future not yet with us. By overly focusing on the past or future we rob ourselves of the present moment. It is quite enough effort to apply these principles to one day at a time, without worrying about times we have failed in the past or how we might use them some time in the future. Today is enough for anybody.
...I will let go of worry
Worry is an energy that will spiral around you, going nowhere but providing a lot of agitation in the process. Worry never helped anybody. Letting go of worry brings instant relief. The key to letting go of worry is in a fundamental sense to trust yourself to Reality. This is no small step.
I say 'let go' of worry because to say I 'will not' worry can sometimes be a hurdle too high to jump. However by watching the worry rise in you, to understand its roots, and to let go of it, is a more realistic aim.
...I will let go of anger
Anger is not necessarily negative, as it is a powerful energy that can be harnessed to beneficial effect. However, what can be achieved through the power of anger can be achieved as well without it. Seeing deeply into a situation we can feel compassion for the perpetrator of violence as well as the receiver. This compassion will lead us to do what we can to end the violence. Through not losing our cool we can act in a way that is less likely to sting deeper than we really wished.
On a deeper level, anger at the perpetrator fails to recognise the violence within each one of us, because it creates a radical divide between myself (holy) and the perpetrator (wicked). The truth is that we react with such anger towards negativity partly because we unconsciously know that it is part of us too. By directly our angry unacceptance of this shadow side of human nature towards someone else, we do not have to do the hard work of integrating the shadow side of our own personality.
...I will receive gratefully
It is easy to be grateful to Reality when life is happy, but how about when everything goes wrong? To recognise and accept that profound difficulty is part of our journey as human beings, and that without it we would never fully grow up, are the first steps to being grateful for every detail of our lives.
...I will work honestly
Living with integrity requires working honestly. On a surface level this means not stealing from the office, but on a deeper level it is being grateful for your work even when it is unfulfilling or painful, and giving yourself as fully as you can to doing a good job. Think how the world would look if everybody, no matter how great or menial their work, lived this principle.
...I will be kind to all
All religions bang on about being kind to our neighbours etc, so I don't need to re-iterate the golden rule here.
When you are kind, do you expect something back? Good karma? Do you do it to feel good about yourself? Do you do it to feel needed? There is nothing wrong with these reasons. But to be able to live a life of kindness to all, and to give with no strings attached, will really make people want to go to your funeral. It is a beautiful thing. The big one a lot of people miss is being kind to your own self. To do kind things purely to yourself requires a sense of self worth that many people lack. A life of wisdom and compassion inherently involves a degree of self love and generosity, for the needs of others will often conflict with your own needs, and if your own needs are neglected too much, you lose the ability to give at all. Kindness requires a heart that is open outwards as well as inwards, and finding a balance of give and take.
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