The Spiral Path.
The spiral of the CKR symbol marks a pathway. It is a pathway of the energy itself as it enters us from above and radiates out in widening circles, the pathway of the energy through the symbol as we draw it to call for healing, and the journey of life entered into at birth and traveled with increasing awareness to journeys end. The Reiki principles, too, offer us a pathway, a journey that we can take in a moment and travel moment by moment, as path-work, over the course of a lifetime.
When we refuse to anger, we hold back the intense energy of that negative emotion. We withdraw or retreat within. When we refuse to worry or become anxious, we check the impulse to scatter energy in negative emotion. We shift our attention away from whatever provokes us and focus on the feeling of the energy, remembrance of the principles, the movement of our own breath, and the consciousness of peace within. In that awareness of inner peace, we find sanctuary. Gratitude fills us. We are renewed. We choose to focus our energy in positive ways. We do our best. We are kind. We have traveled the spiral pathway, withdrawing to center and expanding form center. The Reiki principles guide us within, support and strengthen us, and then encourage us to reenter the world with grace and wisdom, as shelter and pathway, they show us a way of being in the world.
We can make considerable progress on the path of Reiki simply by doing energy healing. When we claim that strong, clear connection to Spirit that comes through doing Reiki, we generally manifest more of our spiritual nature, we radiate peace, feel calm and serene, readily appreciate the good in our lives, aspire to excellence and work toward it with integrity, and find many ways to be kind. This enhances the overall quality of our lives, making it easier for us to feel content and happy. We may even find that we have attracted some greater good.
Sooner or later, however, we will be faced with a difficulty, challenge, or crisis, find ourselves involved with others who have problems, or remember an issue that stills needs healing. During such times, even if we remain steadfast in our commitment to do Reiki each day, happiness is likely to seem fleeting unless we make additional effort to live by the principles. The principles become invaluable tools for claiming – and reclaiming – health, well-being, and happiness. When we adopt them and allow ourselves to be guided by them, we bring healing into the world in another way.
It's not always easy to walk away from anger, to set aside preoccupation with worry, to be grateful for life just as it is, to be honest and honourable, or to be kind. Yet those who make the effort to do so – to accept the Reiki principles as guidance for achieving a better way of life – are rewarded with peace of mind, contentment, and a sense of personal integrity that are to be valued as much as any spiritual treasures.
For those who learned Reiki in the Western tradition, Usui Shiki Ryoho, the principles are a bit like five small, rough diamonds given to us at the start of the journey, we're told not to worry about them, put them in a back pocket, go on our way, and practice Reiki healing daily. For practitioners who learned Reiki in Japan, through the Usui Ryoho Gakkai, the principles hold a far more important place, for the complete principles, with titles and the founders recommendation, are widely known. Reiki practitioners are encouraged to recite the principles, morning and night, to foster mindfulness throughout the day.
So check your back pocket. Are those five rough diamonds still tucked safely away there? Dig them out. Hold them in your hand. Think about what they might be worth to you tumbled and polished. It's up to you to do the spiritual work, to look at the principles and recognize their value in your life, to consider them until you have a refined understanding of how they help you to heal yourself and to bring others greater healing through Reiki. This the prospect that opens before you, a clearer path to miracles – and to happiness.
Whether we casually reflect on the Reiki principles from time to time or make a ritual of reciting them morning and night, we eventually come to appreciate their practical value in facing the challenges of our own lives. We learn to apply them quickly, the same way that we apply our hands to an injury. Instead of reacting to difficult situations with aggressive anger or defensive blame, we make the choice to respond with calm. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by worry, we learn to catch ourselves before we get caught up in fear, to stop the stressful thoughts by reminding ourselves “Just for today, do not worry.” We breathe, relax, let go of worry, and look for the good.
We become deliberately aware of the blessings in our life, reviewing them on waking, before sleep, and in between, whenever we want to claim gratitude's power to shift our moods from downcast to upbeat. Feeling empowered, caring, and cared for, we commit day by day, sometimes hour bu hour, to do our best, and discover that we enjoy feeling good about our efforts. At peace with ourselves, we find that it's easy to be kind to others – and to ourselves. These many small changes in our way of thinking and behaving help us to feel harmony in mind and body, creating health and inviting happiness into our lives.
The principles are conceptual tools for changing consciousness that have a very interesting relationship to the Reiki energy.
In attempting to practice the Reiki principles and bring the values they express more fully into your life, you may, at times, feel acutely aware of your own need for mental, emotional, and spiritual healing. Remember that you can use Reiki hands-on and distant healing methods to address this need. For example you can call in yourself as a client and offer Reiki to heal your quick temper, your habit of worrying, or your inability to forgive someone.
“Just For Today” This brief phrase appears in all the direct translations. The simple words “just for today”, invite us to be gentle with ourselves in attempting to live by the Reiki principles. Those words center us in the present moment. Whatever our faults, whatever our past wrongs, we are encouraged to set aside our sense of failure and begin to be who we truly are, at our best – now. Whatever difficulties we face, however overwhelmed we may feel, we're urged to set aside all worry for the moment. Let us appreciate all that is good in our lives now. Whatever our hopes and ambitions, let's do the best we can today. With heartfelt gratitude for the good in our lives and with self-respect and integrity, surely we can be kind to everyone we encounter today – including the person we see in the mirror.
The phrase “just for today” helps us to narrow our focus to the present moment and our attention to the creation of good. We can use this phrase to remind ourselves that we are not limited by the past, nor are we necessarily freed of all limitations in the future. We are what we are – right now. We can best address whatever challenges we face by being willing to be present, to be fully conscious of all the facts, aware of all the feelings. When we're willing to be fully present to each moment of our experience and do our best, each day offers us many satisfactions, many achievements, many simple pleasures and delights.
However much we might enjoy reminiscing about the past or daydreaming about the future, now is the moment when we're fully conscious. It's up to us to practice peace, serenity, integrity, and kindness “just for today” in order to discover what difference such a day makes. Do we find that we've made a friend of an enemy? Does a solution to a problem come to mind? Does joy awaken in us out of appreciation for the blessings in our lives?Do we feel a sense of kinship with a stranger because we've made an effort to be kind? When we practice the Reiki principles “just for today” the impact of that choice in the moment ripples out like a wave across the surface of water, changing the quality of our interactions with everyone and ourselves for hours or even days afterward. Practicing the Reiki principles moment by moment changes and heals us, improving the quality of our lives.
Sometimes difficult situations in the present seem like echoes from the past. This can occur when the past situation has never been fully resolved, the emotional wounds never healed, and the individuals involved never forgiven. A single traumatic event, such as an assault or robbery or rape, can result in this kind of psychological and spiritual pain, but having to cope with ongoing difficulties, such as an alcoholic or verbally abusive parent or partner, can also create emotional wounds that are difficult to heal.
In order for us to become whole and enjoy health and happiness, we must be willing to heal the past and to find a way that brings us a sense of closure. Although we must accept that we can not change the past, we can use Reiki to lessen it's hold over us. Being freed of shame, guilt, anger, or depression that's rooted in decades old trauma can make a dramatic difference in the quality of our lives, enabling us to be at peace with ourselves and reclaim a strong sense of self-worth. While this healing is usually a gradual process, once it begins, we may find ourselves taking pleasure in the present moment more and more often. This, too, restores and refreshes us. Healed, at peace and empowered, we discover that our positive attitude attracts even greater good.
Reiki can, indeed, heal depression over time, and it can also heal feelings of guilt, shame, self-doubt, and self-loathing. One of the most effective ways to bring about this healing is by committed effort to send Reiki back in time. Whether we send it to ourselves or a client, Reiki can bring healing and release from the spiritual and emotional impact of traumatic events. (Modern Reiki incorporates a permission step into the distant healing method, rather than requiring the practitioners to seek the clients conscious permission, the wording for the permission step might be as follows. “I offer you Reiki healing. You are free to accept or reject it for your own highest good and for the highest good of all concerned.” This acknowledgment of the clients free will and release of outcome are considered sufficient in terms of seeking client permission, and its understood that healing will be accepted or rejected on a soul level.)
Is such healing always necessary? It is certainly possible to live a good, moral life without reviewing the details of a painful past, but happiness and fulfillment are likely to remain elusive unless the need for healing on all levels is addressed in some way. As for attaining spiritual wisdom and peace of mind, is this possible for anyone who is at war with ghosts? We must learn to forgive the past, to forgive those who have injured us, and forgive ourselves if we hope to move forward with our lives.
Addiction and addictive behaviour patterns, which are usually rooted in the past, can be treated successfully with Reiki, particularly when Reiki is used as complementary medicine. As much as society celebrates the ideal of a happy childhood, few of us manage to survive to adulthood without having to negotiate some fairly treacherous waters along the way. Alcoholism, drug addiction, problems with debt or gambling, illness and unemployment, marital difficulties and divorce, can all cause the stable family, so important to the development of healthy children, to become unstable and dysfunctional. In order to “fix” the broken family, many children go through the process of recognizing that they can't change mum or dad, so they must change themselves to keep the family intact. They may accept various enabler or codependent roles, including those of caretaker or peacemaker. They may attempt to rebalance the family by becoming underachievers or overachievers, or struggling for mediocrity to escape all attention. At some point, they may blame themselves for the family problems and become self-destructive but then later reverse this by casting blame on the parents and acting out in anger.
The problem with developing such unhealthy coping patterns in childhood is that they often endure into adulthood. If a behaviour works once, it's repeated, if it works often, it becomes a habitual coping style. Children who develop such patterns to survive in dysfunctional family environments grow into adults who are prepared for more dysfunction, and they tend to have difficulty forming long-lasting, loving relationships with healthy partners.
Reiki can help heal these old emotional wounds as well. Distant healing, directed back in time can help to heal the hurt, angry inner child who still exists in repressed memories and who often hides within the heart and mind of the mature adult. Practicing the Reiki principles can also offer a way to form new healthy patterns of behaviour. Remembering the first principle, “Just for today, do not anger,” can be as helping as finding the oars in a boat that's out of control,floating downstream in a fast current toward the rapids.
The Reiki principles offer us gentle guidelines for returning to the awareness of our connection to Spirit throughout the day, no matter what challenges we face or what blessings come to us. We are granted free will. We may choose to recite the principles morning and night, to be mindful of them throughout the day, or both in order to accelerate our own mental, emotional, and spiritual healing. The principles may become a touchstone for the kind of consciousness we want to experience and express in the world, peaceful, serene, appreciative, honourable and kind. When we are able to embody these qualities, to live the principles, we demonstrate something in the nature of Spirit that we've come to know through our experiences with Reiki, and we bring healing into our world. This is satisfying to the soul and delightful to the mind. This invites happiness.
The Reiki principles guide us to behave in ways that express the energy. When we meditate on the principles or remember them throughout the day, we remind ourselves to choose peace over anger, and calmness and serenity over worry. We allow ourselves to feel gratitude for all the blessings of our lives. We do our best, and we learn to know ourselves better so that we'll understand what it means to do our best. We look for ways to be kind to others and ourselves.
Being able to bring healing to others is humbling and awe inspiring and being able to receive healing is a great blessing. When we attend to the feeling of the energy flowing through our hands each time we practice Reiki, we deepen our understanding of it's nature and recognize it's origin in Spirit. This connection to Spirit is comforting, tender, and joyful. Practitioners who come to this awareness sometimes realize that in learning Reiki and channeling universal life force energy through their hands, they've fallen in love with Spirit and life.
When we control the impulse to react in anger or quiet the anxious thoughts, we calm fear-based feelings 'just for today”. This discipline requires an act of will, but it may also be performed as an act of love that arises from self-knowledge, devotion, and wisdom. The refusal to anger or to be anxious sets our feet once more on the spiritual path. Standing centered in the awareness that we are showered with blessings, we are cleansed of negativity. Positive thoughts and feelings flood us. Steadied and strengthened, we move forward again with grace and ease. Now we respond to challenge and confrontation guided by the best impulses of our being. We are inspired, we perform well, we produce work for the highest quality, and we do so with graciousness and generosity. We radiate love into our world. We light the way for others to follow, even as we make out the next steps we are to take, just ahead. This too, is a way of listening to the energy.
As we listen to the energy as we do hands-on and distant healing, we learn about the nature and source of healing, over time, we gradually come to understand that we are learning about our own essential nature and it's origin in Spirit. Practicing the Reiki principles invites us to learn the same lessons in the school of life. We need not chose between energy healing and the principles as spiritual path-work, for they teach and reinforce the same lessons. When we integrate and understand and understand these lessons, our lives become illumined by the awareness of the values Reiki teaches, peace, serenity, integrity, and wholeness, kindness. We begin to understand that greater healing than we have imagined is possible in this world.
Mikao Usui's experiences on Mount Kurama changed him from a man seeking enlightenment to a man who sought to serve humanity. His spontaneous attunement enabled him to share with humanity the great spiritual gifts that he had received. Now, generations of people have received healing through Reiki and experienced it's power to transform their lives in countless positive ways. Remembrance of the principles, Mikao Usui thought so important, is not only a way to bring healing into the world, it is a way to honour him, and it is a way to express gratitude to Spirit. The energy is the healer, but we may make the effort to align our individual consciousness with the purpose of healing out of love for the energy. In this way, too, as we walk the path of Reiki, we may join with others around the world to contribute to world healing and peace.
The spiral of the CKR symbol marks a pathway. It is a pathway of the energy itself as it enters us from above and radiates out in widening circles, the pathway of the energy through the symbol as we draw it to call for healing, and the journey of life entered into at birth and traveled with increasing awareness to journeys end. The Reiki principles, too, offer us a pathway, a journey that we can take in a moment and travel moment by moment, as path-work, over the course of a lifetime.
When we refuse to anger, we hold back the intense energy of that negative emotion. We withdraw or retreat within. When we refuse to worry or become anxious, we check the impulse to scatter energy in negative emotion. We shift our attention away from whatever provokes us and focus on the feeling of the energy, remembrance of the principles, the movement of our own breath, and the consciousness of peace within. In that awareness of inner peace, we find sanctuary. Gratitude fills us. We are renewed. We choose to focus our energy in positive ways. We do our best. We are kind. We have traveled the spiral pathway, withdrawing to center and expanding form center. The Reiki principles guide us within, support and strengthen us, and then encourage us to reenter the world with grace and wisdom, as shelter and pathway, they show us a way of being in the world.
We can make considerable progress on the path of Reiki simply by doing energy healing. When we claim that strong, clear connection to Spirit that comes through doing Reiki, we generally manifest more of our spiritual nature, we radiate peace, feel calm and serene, readily appreciate the good in our lives, aspire to excellence and work toward it with integrity, and find many ways to be kind. This enhances the overall quality of our lives, making it easier for us to feel content and happy. We may even find that we have attracted some greater good.
Sooner or later, however, we will be faced with a difficulty, challenge, or crisis, find ourselves involved with others who have problems, or remember an issue that stills needs healing. During such times, even if we remain steadfast in our commitment to do Reiki each day, happiness is likely to seem fleeting unless we make additional effort to live by the principles. The principles become invaluable tools for claiming – and reclaiming – health, well-being, and happiness. When we adopt them and allow ourselves to be guided by them, we bring healing into the world in another way.
It's not always easy to walk away from anger, to set aside preoccupation with worry, to be grateful for life just as it is, to be honest and honourable, or to be kind. Yet those who make the effort to do so – to accept the Reiki principles as guidance for achieving a better way of life – are rewarded with peace of mind, contentment, and a sense of personal integrity that are to be valued as much as any spiritual treasures.
For those who learned Reiki in the Western tradition, Usui Shiki Ryoho, the principles are a bit like five small, rough diamonds given to us at the start of the journey, we're told not to worry about them, put them in a back pocket, go on our way, and practice Reiki healing daily. For practitioners who learned Reiki in Japan, through the Usui Ryoho Gakkai, the principles hold a far more important place, for the complete principles, with titles and the founders recommendation, are widely known. Reiki practitioners are encouraged to recite the principles, morning and night, to foster mindfulness throughout the day.
So check your back pocket. Are those five rough diamonds still tucked safely away there? Dig them out. Hold them in your hand. Think about what they might be worth to you tumbled and polished. It's up to you to do the spiritual work, to look at the principles and recognize their value in your life, to consider them until you have a refined understanding of how they help you to heal yourself and to bring others greater healing through Reiki. This the prospect that opens before you, a clearer path to miracles – and to happiness.
Whether we casually reflect on the Reiki principles from time to time or make a ritual of reciting them morning and night, we eventually come to appreciate their practical value in facing the challenges of our own lives. We learn to apply them quickly, the same way that we apply our hands to an injury. Instead of reacting to difficult situations with aggressive anger or defensive blame, we make the choice to respond with calm. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by worry, we learn to catch ourselves before we get caught up in fear, to stop the stressful thoughts by reminding ourselves “Just for today, do not worry.” We breathe, relax, let go of worry, and look for the good.
We become deliberately aware of the blessings in our life, reviewing them on waking, before sleep, and in between, whenever we want to claim gratitude's power to shift our moods from downcast to upbeat. Feeling empowered, caring, and cared for, we commit day by day, sometimes hour bu hour, to do our best, and discover that we enjoy feeling good about our efforts. At peace with ourselves, we find that it's easy to be kind to others – and to ourselves. These many small changes in our way of thinking and behaving help us to feel harmony in mind and body, creating health and inviting happiness into our lives.
The principles are conceptual tools for changing consciousness that have a very interesting relationship to the Reiki energy.
In attempting to practice the Reiki principles and bring the values they express more fully into your life, you may, at times, feel acutely aware of your own need for mental, emotional, and spiritual healing. Remember that you can use Reiki hands-on and distant healing methods to address this need. For example you can call in yourself as a client and offer Reiki to heal your quick temper, your habit of worrying, or your inability to forgive someone.
“Just For Today” This brief phrase appears in all the direct translations. The simple words “just for today”, invite us to be gentle with ourselves in attempting to live by the Reiki principles. Those words center us in the present moment. Whatever our faults, whatever our past wrongs, we are encouraged to set aside our sense of failure and begin to be who we truly are, at our best – now. Whatever difficulties we face, however overwhelmed we may feel, we're urged to set aside all worry for the moment. Let us appreciate all that is good in our lives now. Whatever our hopes and ambitions, let's do the best we can today. With heartfelt gratitude for the good in our lives and with self-respect and integrity, surely we can be kind to everyone we encounter today – including the person we see in the mirror.
The phrase “just for today” helps us to narrow our focus to the present moment and our attention to the creation of good. We can use this phrase to remind ourselves that we are not limited by the past, nor are we necessarily freed of all limitations in the future. We are what we are – right now. We can best address whatever challenges we face by being willing to be present, to be fully conscious of all the facts, aware of all the feelings. When we're willing to be fully present to each moment of our experience and do our best, each day offers us many satisfactions, many achievements, many simple pleasures and delights.
However much we might enjoy reminiscing about the past or daydreaming about the future, now is the moment when we're fully conscious. It's up to us to practice peace, serenity, integrity, and kindness “just for today” in order to discover what difference such a day makes. Do we find that we've made a friend of an enemy? Does a solution to a problem come to mind? Does joy awaken in us out of appreciation for the blessings in our lives?Do we feel a sense of kinship with a stranger because we've made an effort to be kind? When we practice the Reiki principles “just for today” the impact of that choice in the moment ripples out like a wave across the surface of water, changing the quality of our interactions with everyone and ourselves for hours or even days afterward. Practicing the Reiki principles moment by moment changes and heals us, improving the quality of our lives.
Sometimes difficult situations in the present seem like echoes from the past. This can occur when the past situation has never been fully resolved, the emotional wounds never healed, and the individuals involved never forgiven. A single traumatic event, such as an assault or robbery or rape, can result in this kind of psychological and spiritual pain, but having to cope with ongoing difficulties, such as an alcoholic or verbally abusive parent or partner, can also create emotional wounds that are difficult to heal.
In order for us to become whole and enjoy health and happiness, we must be willing to heal the past and to find a way that brings us a sense of closure. Although we must accept that we can not change the past, we can use Reiki to lessen it's hold over us. Being freed of shame, guilt, anger, or depression that's rooted in decades old trauma can make a dramatic difference in the quality of our lives, enabling us to be at peace with ourselves and reclaim a strong sense of self-worth. While this healing is usually a gradual process, once it begins, we may find ourselves taking pleasure in the present moment more and more often. This, too, restores and refreshes us. Healed, at peace and empowered, we discover that our positive attitude attracts even greater good.
Reiki can, indeed, heal depression over time, and it can also heal feelings of guilt, shame, self-doubt, and self-loathing. One of the most effective ways to bring about this healing is by committed effort to send Reiki back in time. Whether we send it to ourselves or a client, Reiki can bring healing and release from the spiritual and emotional impact of traumatic events. (Modern Reiki incorporates a permission step into the distant healing method, rather than requiring the practitioners to seek the clients conscious permission, the wording for the permission step might be as follows. “I offer you Reiki healing. You are free to accept or reject it for your own highest good and for the highest good of all concerned.” This acknowledgment of the clients free will and release of outcome are considered sufficient in terms of seeking client permission, and its understood that healing will be accepted or rejected on a soul level.)
Is such healing always necessary? It is certainly possible to live a good, moral life without reviewing the details of a painful past, but happiness and fulfillment are likely to remain elusive unless the need for healing on all levels is addressed in some way. As for attaining spiritual wisdom and peace of mind, is this possible for anyone who is at war with ghosts? We must learn to forgive the past, to forgive those who have injured us, and forgive ourselves if we hope to move forward with our lives.
Addiction and addictive behaviour patterns, which are usually rooted in the past, can be treated successfully with Reiki, particularly when Reiki is used as complementary medicine. As much as society celebrates the ideal of a happy childhood, few of us manage to survive to adulthood without having to negotiate some fairly treacherous waters along the way. Alcoholism, drug addiction, problems with debt or gambling, illness and unemployment, marital difficulties and divorce, can all cause the stable family, so important to the development of healthy children, to become unstable and dysfunctional. In order to “fix” the broken family, many children go through the process of recognizing that they can't change mum or dad, so they must change themselves to keep the family intact. They may accept various enabler or codependent roles, including those of caretaker or peacemaker. They may attempt to rebalance the family by becoming underachievers or overachievers, or struggling for mediocrity to escape all attention. At some point, they may blame themselves for the family problems and become self-destructive but then later reverse this by casting blame on the parents and acting out in anger.
The problem with developing such unhealthy coping patterns in childhood is that they often endure into adulthood. If a behaviour works once, it's repeated, if it works often, it becomes a habitual coping style. Children who develop such patterns to survive in dysfunctional family environments grow into adults who are prepared for more dysfunction, and they tend to have difficulty forming long-lasting, loving relationships with healthy partners.
Reiki can help heal these old emotional wounds as well. Distant healing, directed back in time can help to heal the hurt, angry inner child who still exists in repressed memories and who often hides within the heart and mind of the mature adult. Practicing the Reiki principles can also offer a way to form new healthy patterns of behaviour. Remembering the first principle, “Just for today, do not anger,” can be as helping as finding the oars in a boat that's out of control,floating downstream in a fast current toward the rapids.
The Reiki principles offer us gentle guidelines for returning to the awareness of our connection to Spirit throughout the day, no matter what challenges we face or what blessings come to us. We are granted free will. We may choose to recite the principles morning and night, to be mindful of them throughout the day, or both in order to accelerate our own mental, emotional, and spiritual healing. The principles may become a touchstone for the kind of consciousness we want to experience and express in the world, peaceful, serene, appreciative, honourable and kind. When we are able to embody these qualities, to live the principles, we demonstrate something in the nature of Spirit that we've come to know through our experiences with Reiki, and we bring healing into our world. This is satisfying to the soul and delightful to the mind. This invites happiness.
The Reiki principles guide us to behave in ways that express the energy. When we meditate on the principles or remember them throughout the day, we remind ourselves to choose peace over anger, and calmness and serenity over worry. We allow ourselves to feel gratitude for all the blessings of our lives. We do our best, and we learn to know ourselves better so that we'll understand what it means to do our best. We look for ways to be kind to others and ourselves.
Being able to bring healing to others is humbling and awe inspiring and being able to receive healing is a great blessing. When we attend to the feeling of the energy flowing through our hands each time we practice Reiki, we deepen our understanding of it's nature and recognize it's origin in Spirit. This connection to Spirit is comforting, tender, and joyful. Practitioners who come to this awareness sometimes realize that in learning Reiki and channeling universal life force energy through their hands, they've fallen in love with Spirit and life.
When we control the impulse to react in anger or quiet the anxious thoughts, we calm fear-based feelings 'just for today”. This discipline requires an act of will, but it may also be performed as an act of love that arises from self-knowledge, devotion, and wisdom. The refusal to anger or to be anxious sets our feet once more on the spiritual path. Standing centered in the awareness that we are showered with blessings, we are cleansed of negativity. Positive thoughts and feelings flood us. Steadied and strengthened, we move forward again with grace and ease. Now we respond to challenge and confrontation guided by the best impulses of our being. We are inspired, we perform well, we produce work for the highest quality, and we do so with graciousness and generosity. We radiate love into our world. We light the way for others to follow, even as we make out the next steps we are to take, just ahead. This too, is a way of listening to the energy.
As we listen to the energy as we do hands-on and distant healing, we learn about the nature and source of healing, over time, we gradually come to understand that we are learning about our own essential nature and it's origin in Spirit. Practicing the Reiki principles invites us to learn the same lessons in the school of life. We need not chose between energy healing and the principles as spiritual path-work, for they teach and reinforce the same lessons. When we integrate and understand and understand these lessons, our lives become illumined by the awareness of the values Reiki teaches, peace, serenity, integrity, and wholeness, kindness. We begin to understand that greater healing than we have imagined is possible in this world.
Mikao Usui's experiences on Mount Kurama changed him from a man seeking enlightenment to a man who sought to serve humanity. His spontaneous attunement enabled him to share with humanity the great spiritual gifts that he had received. Now, generations of people have received healing through Reiki and experienced it's power to transform their lives in countless positive ways. Remembrance of the principles, Mikao Usui thought so important, is not only a way to bring healing into the world, it is a way to honour him, and it is a way to express gratitude to Spirit. The energy is the healer, but we may make the effort to align our individual consciousness with the purpose of healing out of love for the energy. In this way, too, as we walk the path of Reiki, we may join with others around the world to contribute to world healing and peace.