The five principles of Reiki given by Dr. Mikao Usui are the following:

Just for today, I shall be in the Attitude of Gratitude
Just for today, I shall not worry
Just for today, I shall not anger
Just for today, I shall be honest and sincere in everything I do
Just for today, I shall love and respect all creations, living and non-living

Even though they look simple at first glance, as you start applying them in life, you will most likely run into resistance from within. For one, anything that asks for a lifelong commitment is scary. Your fears immediately create a delusion of erecting a wall that feels insurmountable. Your ego-mind says, “No! I cannot commit to doing this for the rest of my life, that’s so difficult!” This is why you are only asked to commit for today. Tomorrow you can make a choice again, but that’s not something to worry about for today. And once you commit yourself for today, it will likely keep prompting you throughout the day to keep the promise; thereby keeping you present in each moment, and aware of each thought and action in the here and now.

However, the biggest part played by the observance of these principles is in making you mindful and present in your everyday life. The first principle reminds you of radical acceptance: even when you are going through the most trying circumstances and the most difficult struggles of your life, if you can remember the good things you still have going for you, it will shift your focus and anchor you, enabling you to endure the storm and wait for more peaceful times. But in order to remember those good things, you have to repeatedly bring your mind back into the present moment and be in a state of awareness. Being in the Attitude of Gratitude is to be fully present in and aware of the here and now.

The second principle is about stopping the stream of thoughts that cripple you and keep you trapped in illusions about the past and future. For time and the linearity of time are merely illusions created by the third dimension consciousness. In the quantum or fifth dimension consciousness, you will realize that there is only ever the present. Everything that seems to be in the past or the future actually coexists “at the same time.” Worry traps you in these illusions of past and future: making you regret your past or fear the future, effectively preventing you from being aware of the present moment. Imagine worry as a virtual reality game helmet you are wearing, while walking on an open ground which is your everyday life. Your senses are only taking in the information being provided by the virtual reality game. So when the game shows you a huge wall or a deep, bottomless abyss in front of you, you stop walking, without realizing that in your actual reality it is just flat open ground in front of you and you are perfectly safe to walk on. Hence detaching from the worries and focussing your awareness in the present moment is basically you taking off the virtual reality helmet, allowing your senses to guide you properly.

The third principle about anger asks you to identify the cause of the anger: what made you feel powerless and want to lash out? It essentially asks you to pause, look clearly into your internal world. Become aware that at this present moment, something triggered a feeling of powerlessness in you. Most likely this trigger also reminded you of a similar situation in the past where you were unable to control the situation. These triggers are basically showing you what requires healing in the present moment. In order to practice this principle, then, you will have to bring your awareness from the trigger into the cause behind the trigger, and instead of pushing your energy out to react to the external circumstance, pull it in to heal your internal wound or trauma. You will see that your anger, the will to lash out, automatically dissipates. This principle also asks you not to suppress your anger, for suppression is merely postponing the expression of it. Instead, face the situation, ask your anger what it wants to show you, take a look at the internal wound that it is highlighting. This will allow you to heal the wound, and a similar external circumstance will no longer trigger the same emotion of anger again.

The fourth principle is about honesty. Honesty in everything you do is a mark of self-respect: being honest in everything is to assert to oneself that you deserve honesty from yourself and others. Any form of dishonesty will leave a reminder in your subconscious mind, producing guilt, which is the most negative of all emotions. Not only will it not let you trust others (if I can be dishonest to myself, others can be too!), but also it will keep nagging you from the back of your mind, effectively disallowing you to remain fully in the present, because your mind is constantly being dragged back to the time when you were not honest.

The fifth principle recognises that everything in the Universe has its function and purpose. Thus everything, however big or small, deserves your love and respect. This principle allows us to be non-judgmental and unconditional towards everything including ourselves. When you are unconditional, you are open to multiple viewpoints, you understand that there may be a hundred reasons for why things don’t go your way or people don’t act the way you expect them to. It allows us to keep an open mind, which only observes without evaluating. It helps us detach from our ego that only clamours about “I, myself and me”, allowing us to see the beauty and connectedness of everything around us in the here and now.

The five Reiki principles lead you towards better attitudes and outlook to life. They help you change how you respond to your external world, making Reiki the “secret art of inviting happiness” that Dr. Usui claimed it to be. Adopting these principles as foundation for your everyday conduct involves looking within, coming face-to-face with yourself, and facing your shadows. They help you cultivate self respect, authenticity and compassion, which automatically serve to inspire the same in the people around you. But most of all, they teach us the most valuable lesson of mindfulness.