The Five Reiki Principles: A Daily Practice for a More Peaceful Life

Most people first discover Reiki through the experience of receiving energy. They may feel warmth under the practitioner's hands, a sense of calm, or simply notice that after the session they feel different from when they arrived.

But Reiki was never meant to exist only during a healing session.

When Mikao Usui developed the system we now know as Reiki, he also gave his students five principles to practise in everyday life. In Japanese they are known as the Gokai, and although they are remarkably simple, I believe they are one of the most important parts of Reiki.

I learned the Reiki Principles as part of my own Reiki journey many years ago, but I really began to understand them by applying them in my everyday life. They have helped me through stress, frustration and insecurity, and I have returned to them during some of the most difficult moments of my life. This is when I discovered that they are much more than five beautiful sentences we learn during Reiki training. Their real value appears when life is not peaceful, when things don't go as planned, and when it is much harder to practise what they teach.

You can receive Reiki and feel peaceful for hours. The harder question is what happens when you return to your normal life and someone annoys you, something goes wrong, you begin worrying about tomorrow, or you are simply tired and have no patience left.

That is where the Reiki Principles begin to make sense.

They bring Reiki into ordinary life.

Reiki Principles in Everyday Life

What Are the Five Reiki Principles?

There are slightly different English translations, but the version most Reiki practitioners know is:

Just for today, I will not be angry.

Just for today, I will not worry.

Just for today, I will be grateful.

Just for today, I will do my work honestly.

Just for today, I will be kind to every living thing.

When you first read them, they may seem almost too simple. Of course we should try not to worry. Of course gratitude and kindness are good things.

Living them is something else entirely.

And for me, the most important part of all five principles is actually the part we repeat every time:

Just for today.

Why “Just for Today” Matters So Much

Imagine telling yourself, “From now on, I will never worry again.”

How long would that last? I bet not very long…..

“Just for today” asks something very different from us. You do not have to promise what you will feel next week, next year or for the rest of your life. You only work with the day you have in front of you.

Today, I will try not to feed my anger.

Today, when I notice myself worrying about something I cannot control, I will bring myself back to what is happening now.

Today, I will notice something I can be grateful for.

Tomorrow I can make the same choice again.

This is one of the things I love most about the Reiki Principles. There is no reason to turn them into another standard we use to judge ourselves.

You will still become angry. You will worry. You will have days when gratitude feels very far away and kindness requires more effort than usual.

The point is not to become perfect. It is to notice what is happening, return to the principle and begin again.

The point is not to become perfect. It is to notice what is happening, return to the principle and begin again.

Just for Today, I Will Not Be Angry

Instead of fighting my anger, I started observing my reaction and asking myself a simple question: What is making me angry, and why?

Anger became a mirror, and in many ways, it became one of my teachers. Sometimes it showed me that I was afraid to speak up. I would stay silent when something bothered me, avoid saying what I really thought or needed, and then become angry because I had allowed the situation to continue.

Other times, anger showed me how much I was trying to control the outcome of a situation. I had already decided how something should happen, how another person should behave or what the result should be. When reality did not follow the picture I had created in my mind, frustration and anger followed.

And then there were the times when anger taught me something even simpler: I was giving far too much importance to something that did not deserve it. A careless comment, somebody's opinion, an unpleasant person or a situation that had very little importance in my life could occupy my thoughts for hours. My ego would keep the story alive, while I continued giving my energy and attention to something that actually meant very little to me.

Learning to observe anger in this way changed my relationship with it. Instead of asking, “How do I stop being angry?”, I began asking, “What is this anger trying to show me?”

Sometimes the answer was that I needed to speak. Sometimes I needed to let go of control. And sometimes I simply needed to stop giving my attention to people, words and situations that did not deserve such an important place in my life.

For me, “Just for today, I will not be angry” does not mean that anger should never appear. It means that when it does, I can listen to what it is showing me, make the change that is mine to make, and then let the anger go.

Just for Today, I Will Not Worry

I spent years worrying about almost everything and everyone. I worried about what might happen, about the people I loved, about situations I could not change and problems that had not even happened yet. I carried so much worry that eventually it affected me physically and left me feeling weak.

At some point I began asking myself what I was actually doing when I worried, and the answer surprised me. I was trying to control.

I wanted to control the outcome of situations. I wanted to protect people I loved from making mistakes or getting hurt. In some way, I was even trying to control life itself by mentally preparing for every possible thing that could go wrong.

When I finally saw this clearly, it actually made me laugh.

Who am I to control everything? I can hardly control myself sometimes.

That realization changed something important in me. I began to understand how much energy I had spent trying to manage things that were never mine to manage in the first place. Worry had given me the illusion that I was doing something useful, when very often I was simply exhausting myself over something I could not control.

Life does not ask us to know in advance how everything will turn out. We make the best decisions we can, we deal with what is actually in front of us, and then we have to allow life to unfold.

For me, “Just for today, I will not worry” became a lesson in flexibility and trust. I still care deeply about the people I love. I still think about the future and take responsibility for what is mine. But I have learned that caring does not mean controlling, and worrying does not protect anyone.

Sometimes we simply have to take life as it comes, adapt when things change, and trust that somehow, even when we cannot yet see how, things will be all right.

Sometimes we have to let life flow instead of trying to control where it goes.

Just for Today, I Will Be Grateful

This principle became very personal to me during some of the most difficult moments of my life. There were times when the pain felt unbearable and my mind could easily have followed it into a downward spiral. This was the principle that helped me find my way out.

I began to understand that gratitude does not have to be about something big. Sometimes it is simply noticing a beautiful smile on a child's face, watching a sunset, feeling the warmth of a loving hug, or becoming aware of the simple fact that I am alive and able to feel all of it.

Those moments did not make the difficult things disappear. They changed where I placed my attention.

When everything felt painful, gratitude reminded me that pain was not the only thing present in my life. There was still beauty. There was still love. There were still small moments worth noticing, even on a very difficult day.

This is why I don't see gratitude as forcing ourselves to be positive when we are hurting. I have experienced it as something much more real. It helped me remember what matters when my mind was telling me only what was wrong.

Sometimes one small thing was enough to interrupt that downward spiral and bring me back to life as it was actually happening around me.

For me, this is the meaning of “Just for today, I will be grateful.”

Just for Today, I Will Do My Work Honestly

This principle has always been closely connected with integrity for me.

I spent many years working in the corporate world, and I know how easy it is to get caught in competition, ambition and the pressure to succeed. When everyone is focused on results and winning, the line between what you can do and what you should do can become surprisingly easy to cross.

For me, this is where the real meaning of this principle begins.

Doing your work honestly is not simply about telling the truth or doing your job properly. It is about knowing what you believe is right and wrong and having the courage to stand by it, especially when doing so is inconvenient.

Integrity is easy when it costs us nothing. It becomes much harder when speaking up may create conflict, when refusing to participate may put us at a disadvantage, or when everyone around us seems comfortable doing something we know is wrong.

Over the years, I learned that success is never worth losing myself for. There will always be another goal, another competition and another opportunity to prove something. But if achieving it requires me to act against my own values, the price is simply too high.

For me, “Just for today, I will do my work honestly” means being able to look at my own choices and know that they are aligned with who I am. It means doing my best, treating people fairly, knowing where my boundaries are, and standing up for what I believe is right even when that is the more difficult choice.

At the end of the day, what matters is not only what we achieved, but who we became while achieving it.

Integrity means staying true to who you are, even when the easier path asks you not to.

Just for Today, I Will Be Kind to Every Living Thing

For me, this principle goes hand in hand with the one before it. Integrity influences how we choose to act, but kindness and respect influence how we choose to see others.

One of the most important things I have learned is actually very simple: we are all much more alike than we think.

We all seek love. We want to feel safe, accepted and understood. We want happiness for ourselves and for those we love. Our lives may look completely different, our beliefs may be different, and we may make very different choices, but underneath so many of those differences are the same hopes, fears and needs.

Understanding this changed the way I looked at people. It became easier to be kind when I stopped seeing only someone's behaviour and remembered that there was another human being behind it, carrying a life and a story I probably knew very little about.

Over time, that understanding grew beyond people for me. I began to feel the same respect for all living beings. Whether it is another person, an animal crossing my path, a butterfly resting on a flower, or even the smallest creature we barely notice, each is part of the same living world.

When you begin from that understanding, kindness becomes much more natural. Respect does too.

It does not mean that we have to agree with everyone, accept every behaviour or allow people to cross our boundaries. We can disagree, walk away or say no and still recognise the value of the living being in front of us.

For me, “Just for today, I will be kind to every living thing” is a reminder of connection. We are all here seeking, in our different ways, many of the same things: love, safety, happiness and a life that has meaning.

Once I truly understood that, kindness stopped feeling like something I was supposed to practise. It became a much more natural way to meet the world.

How Mikao Usui Intended the Reiki Principles to Be Practised

The Reiki Principles were meant to be practised, not simply learned during a Reiki course and then forgotten.

Usui taught his students to recite them in the morning and evening, traditionally with the hands held together in Gassho, the prayer position.

There is something very different about speaking words aloud rather than simply reading them.

When you begin your morning with “Just for today,” you are setting an intention before the day has had the chance to carry you in twenty different directions.

In the evening, the same words can become a moment of reflection.

Where did I become angry today? What did I worry about? What was I grateful for? Did I act with integrity? Was I kind?

These questions are not an examination, and you don't receive a Reiki score at the end of the day. They simply help us become more conscious of how we are living.

If you are new to Reiki itself and would like to understand more about its origins, principles and what happens during a Reiki session, you can continue with my guide What Is Reiki?.

Kindness becomes natural when we recognise that every living being is part of the same life.

Reiki Is Also About How We Live

I sometimes think we have made Reiki more complicated than it needs to be.

We talk about techniques, symbols, attunements, chakras and energy, and all of these have their place. But some of the deepest Reiki teachings fit into five sentences that can be understood without knowing anything about energy work.

Don't carry your anger. Don't live tomorrow before it arrives. Remember what you already have. Live with integrity. Be kind.

And then Usui placed something very important in front of all of them:

Just for today.

That changes everything.

You don't have to transform your whole life this morning. You don't need to promise that you will never worry or lose your temper again. You only have to become a little more conscious of how you live this day.

Then tomorrow morning, you begin again.

After many years with Reiki, this is one of the teachings I value most because it reminds me that healing is not limited to what happens during a session. It continues in our reactions, our choices, our relationships and the way we speak to ourselves when nobody else can hear us.

I know this because I have had to practise these principles when my own life was difficult. It is easy to believe in “Just for today” when everything is going well. Its meaning becomes much clearer when you are stressed, frightened, frustrated or unsure of yourself and still have to decide how you are going to meet the day in front of you.

For me, this is how Reiki becomes part of life rather than something we occasionally receive or practise.

And perhaps that was the wisdom behind those first words all along.

Just for today.

Blessings,
Maria