This is one article of a series about living life according to the 5 Principles of Reiki.
I see work in this context as referring to our actions here on Earth, in this lifetime. I believe everyone who is alive right now chose to incarnate at this time, to help raise human consciousness to a more expanded, aware, and communal state (Unity Consciousness). Taking action based on what we hold to be true according to our feelings, instincts, and our best judgement of what is true, is working honestly. This will facilitate raising consciousness. Taking actions based in fear, revenge, spite, anger, or going against what we know to be true, is not working honestly, and will result in being less aware, ie. less conscious. In my own personal experience, I have learned that when we tell the truth, we allow for the natural flow of energy. Nature ALWAYS flows according to what is true, so if your actions are not in harmony with what is true, you will automatically be experiencing disharmony in your life, which can manifest in a variety of ways, usually unpleasant. Emotional disharmony, for example, could manifest as feelings of guilt after lying or cheating, or becoming emotionally “cold” or “numb” after prolonged exploitation of others. Since we are physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual beings, we can experience positive or negative effects in any of these aspects of our being.
The tricky part with this principle is that quite often, we are dishonest with ourselves without fully realizing it. Denial is a common example of this. Fortunately, once we realize we’ve been dishonest with ourselves, there’s not really any going back. Once the bright light of awareness shines into the dark corner of denial, whatever was hiding there can no longer hide. And so comes the work.
Another way we can be dishonest with ourselves is to deny our true thoughts, feelings, emotions, and desires. We all WANT to be kind happy normal people, but let’s face it, we all have bad days. Consider how many thousands of thoughts and emotions course through our minds everyday, and how much information we have coming in from the outside world; they can’t all be love and light all the time. The problem comes when we deny these thoughts or emotions. If you’re sad or angry about something, accept it. To deny it, would be dishonest with yourself and would thus bring disharmony. Yes, using mindfulness techniques and/or being dedicated to a spiritual practice can help to reduce negative thoughts and automatic/unconscious emotional reactions, BUT in the meantime, embrace the truth of how you’re ACTUALLY feeling.
Living by this principle was a huge challenge and lesson for me this year as I struggled with clinical depression. I finally realized I was making things more difficult for myself by trying to deny my true feelings (depression) and pretend like I was ok, when I really wasn’t. Interestingly, after I started sitting with my feelings more and allowing myself to fully experience them, instead of trying to do anything to push the negative thoughts/feelings away, that’s about the same time I started to gradually feel better. My experience with depression this winter/spring was life-changing, and I will be writing more about it in future posts. For now, I’ll just say that even though it was a very difficult time, I am grateful for the experience and how it has changed my perspective.
So, to re-cap, it’s not always easy being honest, but as a Reiki master, I have learned that life will kick your ass if you’re not. Once you’re attuned to Reiki, it’s like you have a strong pre-disposition to be flowing in the natural flow of life, and things seem to fall apart pretty darn quickly if you’re up to no good. Any other Reiki masters out there experiencing the same thing?? I should say, I’ve always experienced this to a certain degree throughout my life, which I attribute to my natal astrological chart. I’ve never been able to get away with anything! (which is perhaps why I don’t like breaking rules.)
Namaste~
Pauline