I used to be a skeptic. Anything I couldn’t physically see or touch had to be proven before I would believe in it although I always seemed to believe in some sort of spiritual connection. Are you the same? Or maybe you were before you discovered your spiritual calling. Long before receiving my first level Reiki attunement I spent a lot of time researching the subject of Reiki, the five Reiki principles and energy healing. The funny thing is, like many spiritual practices, Reiki requires you to TRUST in the process, one you can’t see.
Stumbling across the five principles of Reiki I started to see their power. Once understanding, you begin to realise you must ALLOW yourself to live a truly, happy life. I put ‘allowing’ in capitals because I see now that harboring thoughts and connecting emotional responses towards situations and maybe other people in our lives in fact comes from only ourselves and not dealing with how we handle triggers internally. ONLY YOU create your emotional states, based on what situations present themselves to you. It is how YOU CHOOSE TO REACT to that situation that deems it good or bad to you, not the situation itself.
So what is Reiki?
Reiki translates to the “Universal Life Energy”. As a Reiki Master practitioner I am able to be a channel for this life force energy. Primarily this energy is used to heal others in the form of balancing the body’s energy centers and removing energetic blocks creating harmony for the mind, body and spirit. The path of a Reiki healer and also receiving Reiki healing creates transformation at all levels; spiritual, physical, mental and emotional. By removing energetic blocks in one area of your body or life you are then allowing your body to focus healing other areas. However, I do not feel you have to take the path of a Reiki practitioner to invite happiness and flow into your life by following the five principles of Reiki.
Do you agree that social standards and influences program us from a young age on how to act and feel when certain situations arise? We are told from babies how to control our emotions, what to be afraid of, to laugh when people tell jokes, not to cry when we fall down.
I’m guessing if you’re reading this blog then you are ready to channel that inner emotional warrior. You are ready to kick ass, to conquer your emotions and the way you react to situations, to take back your own life and stop feeling like you have no control. When all of these principles are implemented together you’ll discover the type of inner peace and happiness you didn’t realise you were missing. You attract what you put out into the world and when you are following these principles everyday from a place of truth and harmony then watch out you! All of the good things will be drawn to your energy and life will flow oh- so- easy!
The 5 Principles
The five principles of Reiki all begin with “Just for today”. I think this is really beautiful and no doubt the key to changing your mind set. Especially if you have been thinking a certain (shitty) way for a long time. Just for today, you will try to follow these principles of Reiki.
I know we are all human and it’s nearly impossible to change something overnight and or stick to resolutions (new year, new you! lol) But when you put a little ‘just for today’ in front things become achievable. And if in fact you fail at it one day (and you probably will – human right?), that’s COMPLETELY OK, you’ll just try again tomorrow. Unless you’re a complete psycho nothing bad is going to happen, you will just acknowledge it and move on, big deal.
So what are these golden principles? Let’s go through them.
1. Just for today I will not worry.
This one is probably the hardest to follow. I’m not trying to be sexist but if you’re a woman not worrying is harder to do than men as we are mentally programmed to nurture. Our motherly instincts constantly take over and are always there wanting to make sure everyone and everything is safe and happy. When you stop and think about ‘worry’ what is it in fact that we are doing? What does worry do to that someone or something that we are worrying about? That’s right. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Apart from maybe making them a little uncomfortable, worrying does in fact do nothing for what you are worrying about. It’s not going to make them happy or keep them safe. You can’t control their life. If you voice your concerns you may save them from making a mistake or hurting themselves but the act of actively worrying does nothing. All worrying does is cause for YOU more stress and anxiety. Worrying takes you away from the present moment. You are missing out on YOUR LIFE right now by worrying about something that is yet to come and will probably never happen. When you accept the act of you worrying does nothing, it’s time to view the obstacle, action or set back as a positive lesson to learn from. Turn your worry into courage. What will happen when the thing succeeds? When you accept this principle you will instantly feel lighter and more relaxed.
2. Just for today I will not anger.
Anger… We all possess it, of course some of us tend to be snappier than others. For me personally the smallest things would piss me off but not for very long. I would then tend to bottle up my feelings into a big “stew” pot, throwing all of these little issues into it every time I got angry. In the end I realised it was only me that had to deal with my anger boiling away. Why? What did I carry around this stewing pot of turmoil for? I have no idea. Why do we do anything? So have you ever considered what happens when WE get angry? What happens is now the person or situation that made you mad has now taken all the power and control from you. They have literally taken some of your energy. In reverse, if someone is angry with you, you have taken some of their energy. Once you realise anger is an exchange of energy, you wont want to let go of any of your own. How dare you allow someone to annoy you and take from you! So how do you make the switch? You must be more observant, be more accepting of someone’s issues (they are not your issues), and not react negatively to the situations that arise. It can be hard when the issue is personally directed at you but you must learn to be able to take a step back and realise the other person is the one not controlling their emotive reactions, not you. Why would you give away your energy so freely? Holding onto anger will cause more stress and frustration and eventually cause you physical dis-ease. Don’t get me wrong, you can still yell “Fucking idiot!” to the car that’s just cut you off, but stop harboring anger like someone else cares over situations and people that quite frankly don’t deserve to be sucking your energy. Rise above it. Just for today.. it get’s easier.
3. Just for today I will give thanks.
Aargh, gratefulness. We are always hoping and wishing for things we don’t have. But how often do you stop and think, “Damn I am so lucky to have _____ in my life!”? It’s the metaphor we all know, we often only realise what we have when it’s taken away from us. Take a second everyday to be grateful for what you have. We ALL have something someone else would want above all else. Job, home, animals, sun, flowers, health, family, friends, education, food, plates, cutlery, phones, pens etc etc When we start to look at the wonders of life and let go of all the materialistic wants in our life we begin to enjoy everything around us more and more. When we give thanks spirit recognises this and will begin to send you more of what you have and want (think manifestation baby!). On the other hand if you do not show gratitude for the things you already have in your life spirit will see this as a sign you are not happy and wont send you anything else, the generosity stops there. Uh hell no! If you don’t know where to start begin a gratitude journal and every morning jot down five things you are grateful for in that moment.
4. Just for today I will be kind to every living thing.
When you think of kindness you should think of karma. Sending out love, kindness and generosity we receive and attract those things back into our space. Never underestimate the power of being kind to someone. You may not realise even by sharing the smallest smile with someone, a stranger in the street, you may have made their day and then they may have gone on to change the course of their path and that of others. To be kind always requires the removal of judgement. This can be a hard hurdle to jump for some of us, especially if we grew up surrounded by or have been heavily influenced by other judgmental people. As humans we must realise that each of us is living our own life path with different stages of growth. We all have different morals, values, needs, likes, dislikes, we should not judge, or enforce our opinions on others without their wishes. Removing judgement and sending kindness will make you feel gooey inside. Try it. And keep trying it until it’s automatic. Acknowledging this principle will make it easier to not anger.
5. Just for today I will do my work honestly.
Everyone is dishonest at some stage of their life. There is a great line in one of my Reiki books; Honesty lives inside of you and doesn’t care to be placed where others can view it. Only you know when you are being honest and everyone’s degree of honesty will differ. Some people will view taking a pen from work as being OK as the business can afford it, while others would see that as theft. You can steal from yourself by not embracing your talents and denying others the fruits of those gifts. You can also steal from your sacred time on Earth by allowing yourself to spend hours on the net or watching TV. There are many ways to view honesty through all areas of life and it is up to you to embrace them as you see fit. Whatever you do, excel at it. By reaching this last principle you should be able to see how these five ways of changing can ultimately serve you and help you rock your soul path.
Within DAYS of embracing these five principles myself I had people telling me I’d changed! That I was more relaxed and down to Earth, which is funny because I’d always thought of myself as being pretty damned chilled to start with. I started to realise conversations I no longer wanted to be a part of. I stopped responding to judgmental, gossipy conversations and started un-following and not replying to hurtful posts and people on social media. People that no longer served my highest good are no longer sitting front row in my life. That’s a choice you too can make now! I reduced my TV time dramatically and found I was more into spending that time on myself. Although it’s important to keep up with what’s happening in the world, I stopped watching news programs filled with negativity. My time and energy was spent getting back into nature, reconnecting with my furbabies, my friends and family and appreciating all the positives in my life.
Through releasing and then realising I have a choice in how I react and choose to live I have created a life filled with positivism and freedom. I am safe in the knowledge I now have an endless capacity to choose how I feel when confronted by people and situations based on these five principles of Reiki. With this is mind, to follow these precepts is a CHOICE. Not everybody is ready to change the way they think, and it is very much an individuals stage of growth in all; mind, body and spirit, to accept that they can control the way their life is unfolding and influencing their thought and emotional processes.
If you are keen and ready to follow these principles remember to create a judgement free bubble around yourself. It’s OK to accept your faults and it’s OK to mess up, the best part is it’s ‘Just for one day,’ you just start again tomorrow. Say the principles everyday, write them down, journal about them, stick them on your fridge until it’s a natural way for you to think and live. Once you begin this mind shift you’ll notice everything and your perceptions of everything change around you. Watch how you energetically attract the things you want into your space. Watch how you are hardly ever stressed and things just become easy, life just becomes fucking easy. Just allow and trust.
If you begin living by these Reiki principles or if you have been living by them for a while now I’d love to hear about it and how they’ve changed things up for you in the comments below.
Happy wandering x
