by Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac ~
Peacefulmind.com
Mikao Usui, the founder of Reiki, was an admirer of the literary works of the Emperor Mejii. While in the process of developing his Reiki system, Usui summarized some of the emperor’s works into a set of ethical principles, which later became known as the Five Reiki Precepts from the Buddhist teachings (against killing, thievery, sexual misconduct, lying, and intemperance). It is common for many Reiki teachers and practitioners to abide by these five precepts, or principles.
1. Just for today – I will not be angry
Anger is the feeling we experience when events in our world are not going according to our plans. Anger is one of the most common and destructive delusions affecting our minds. Because it is based on an exaggeration, anger is an expression of our belief system and how we defend it. It’s as if we have an inner idea of how things, events and people should be for us. When we get angry and either feel frustrated or try to change them, we tend to give away our power! Many of us remain a victim to our tempers all of our lives. In essence, anger is the feeling we get when we want to control the world around us.
According to Japanese and Chinese traditions, anger is most prevalent in the Spring. It is considered the emotion of Spring. Although we can and do experience anger at any time or season, it is Spring when we are most easily angered. This is believed to be due to the changes of light and dark and the balance between them.
It is very important to identify the actual cause of whatever unhappiness we feel. If we are forever blaming our difficulties on others, this is a sure sign that there are still many problems and faults within our own mind. If we were truly peaceful inside and had our mind under control, difficult people or circumstances would not be able to disturb this peace, and so we would feel no compulsion to blame anyone or regard them as our enemy. To someone who has subdued his or her mind and eradicated the last trace of anger, all beings are friends.
Learn the techniques to eradicate anger.
Attunement Meditation: Walking
2. Just for today – I will not worry
Worry can only serve you well if you worry and recognize that a plan of action is needed, in a stressful situation and then you act on it. Sympathy and nurturing are traits that make up our personality, but excessive worry becomes a state of restlessness and agitation, producing mental uneasiness, foreshadowing, anxiety, and painful uncertainty. The “what if” syndrome is a constant pattern that is played out in the mind of someone who worries too much. The emotional aspect of earth can carry a deep sense of emptiness.
This tends to make worry or over thinking even worse. This downward spiral creates a destructive behavior that makes the earth personality seek out constant reassurance and a sense of neediness. Worry is a destroyer of the soul. Left unchecked, worry lends itself to hysteria.
Every system in your body is affected by worry. It affects the respiratory system and aggravates asthma. Since the lungs are related to the skin, it affects the skin by causing rash, itching or hives. It affects the circulatory system raising blood pressure, increasing blood clotting and your risk of heart attack and stroke. Muscle tension can lend itself to headaches, back and body aches. Of course, the related organ, the spleen and stomach, will increase stomach acid, affects your intestines and can lead to stomach pain, constipation, diarrhea, gas or heartburn. Since much of the immune system is apart of the digestive tract, there is growing evidence that suggests chronic worry can compromise your immune system, making you more vulnerable to dis-ease.
Learn the techniques to stop the worry.
Attunement Meditation: Instant Calming
3. Just for today – I will be humbled with gratitude
Gratitude is the thanks you give yourself and others. It is the recognition that you are constantly grateful for every small blessing you receive each day. The gift of sight, a meal on your plate, a productive work day, your relationship. The possibilities are endless…and so should your gratitude be.
Happiness is an expression of gratitude. Research has found that a great deal of unhappiness stems from negative and ungrateful thoughts. Happiness is not just a life lived by accumulating moments of pleasure. Happiness is a rhythm, an order, a balance. We choose to be happy and truly grateful.
Remember: Energy follows thought. Program thoughts of gratitude and your energy will reflect it!
Learn the techniques to be more grateful.
Attunement Meditation: Letting Go
4. Just for today – I will be and do my work, honestly
Being honest with yourself in all that you do and think is very important for you as a person. To Thy Own Self be true. You cannot fool yourself. You have to live your life and see that person looking back at in the mirror. When we are honest with ourselves it can change our life and the lives of the people around us.
When I give a Reiki treatment I ask honestly for Reiki to be given for that person’s highest good. It makes me feel so happy when someone comes back after their Reiki and say they feel better and calmer and feel more in control of their lives and what happens in it.
I have looked back on my own life and faced the times when I was being dishonest with something or someone and realized I was only hurting myself. At the end of the day I have to live with the person I see in the mirror every day.
I will act with professional responsibility and integrity in my dealings with clients, employers, employees, and the community in generally. By this I mean:
Understand the code to honesty and professional ethics.
Attunement Meditation: Connecting
5. Just for today – I will be kind and compassionate
Compassion is a virtue, one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy (for the suffering of others) are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism – a foundation to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and humility.
There is an aspect of compassion, which regards a quantitative dimension, such that individual’s compassion is often given a property of “depth,” “vigor,” or “passion.” More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another’s suffering. It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the social context as altruism. In ethical terms, the various expressions down the ages of the so called Golden Rule embodied by implication of the principle of compassion: Do to others what you would have them do to you.
Learn the path to compassion.
Attunement Meditation: Rose Quartz Meditation
