Just for Today: How the 5 Reiki Principals can improve your art and your life one day at a time
Written by Adie McDermott. Inspired by Leisa Kelly from Soul Magick

It is said (and I totally believe) that if you want to change the world, you need to change yourself first. In-turn is also said (and I believe) that to create your most beautiful authentic art you work past self-judgement and be comfortable to totally be and express yourself. This takes self-acceptance. A major shift in how you think about yourself and your life.
We don’t do many things in life without thinking and yet thinking has a habit of holding us back. You don’t feel good enough because you think you are not, you worry or feel anxious because you think you do, you feel pain or fear because you think you do and if your life sucks it is most probably because you think it does. The good news is THINKING CAN BE CONTROLLLED and that you can change how you think and what you focus on.
Two people that come to mind to illustrate to enormous power of our minds to survive great suffering and trauma and are Viktor Frankl and Edith Edgar, both survivors or Nazi prison camps during one of the most evil times in the world has ever known, The Holocaust. If you like, you can read more about how Edith found meaning in suffering and now teaches others freedom from their thoughts, in her books The Choice and The Gift, or start by watching her YouTube interview with Oprah here .
The five 5 Reiki principals can change our thinking and our lives
There are soo many ways we can change our thinking and we work through my favourites in my Recreate creative wellness courses. Today I would like to talk about the 5 Reiki principals/ideals and how they can help transform your whole life and as well as your art one day at a time. I will also introduce you to a mediation you can do that uses these principals or ideas as mantras.
There is nothing not to love about the Reiki principals. What I truly love about them however is they are so simple and so beautiful and if everyone practiced them daily, the world would truly be a better place. Secondly, they teach us also to live in the day, to be more in the present. And lastly but not least I LOOOVE the fact that you only have to commit to them for one day at a time. Afterall committing to something for a lifetime is something our mind resits, whilst committing to one day at a time however is easy.
Discovering and accepting your unique beauty through the creative process
Through the recreate courses (link to more info here) you find out what I have always known…that the creative process reflects life, mostly directly how we see, feel about and how we treat ourselves. This discovery is of great benefit to us as it not only allows us to create more beautiful work, it allows us to gently uncover and let go of, what is holding us back from expressing, accepting and loving ourselves. I like to call it discovering and accepting your unique beauty!
Let’s face it releasing and changing beliefs you have carried around about yourself all your life is not an easy even with all the tools I share. It takes years to do. Healing is like an onion. There is so many layers to it. You take off one layer and there is another underneath.
It doesn’t help also that our minds actually don’t like change. They don’t like change or to be out or control and feel safer remaining the way that they are, even if that is unhealthy and debilitating. You may have found through the work we do that your mind puts up road blocks to feeling good about yourself. Your mind and your negative thoughts become stronger before they get better. It may try to tell you (even louder than normal) that what you are doing is not right and that you could never be how you are saying you want to be? I have found this many times and have sometimes found it really frightening, but I have learnt that if you hold onto the fact that “your thoughts are not the truth” not matter what they are saying about you and keep going through this, you do get to the other side.
If you can, embracing and paying attention to the things that come up is beneficial as they may be really strong believes that need to be released. For me a strong shadowy part of me (stemming from a belief that was not true) came up that I was trying to hide. This belief told me I was not only not good enough but really dark and dangerous to be around. This belief has caused me such strong self-hatred and over pleasing all my life. Although it is still there, I can hear it now and not react. Sometimes, I even smile at it.
I call the process of recognising your shadowy side, the parts that you hide from others as bringing the darkness to the light and making it beautiful. You can read more about this in my blog post ‘Becoming more YOU’, which is inspired by the shadow work of Carl Jung.
Thoughts and beliefs we have about ourselves are not always the truth!
Tara Brach and Ekhart Toll are two modern proponents of the theory that our thoughts are not the truth and don’t make us who we are. And how being in the moment, the NOW not the past or the future is the way to freedom from our minds. Yes you heard that right…….FREEDOM FROM OUR MINDS!
They also talk a lot about how watching your thoughts instead of paying attention to them is the way to free yourself. I love the theory that thoughts are like clouds. They come and go in our minds and we do not need to pay attention to them all, infact we have so many we can’t and so we have a choice which one we listen and give power too. I introduce you more to mindfulness and the work of Tara Brach and Ekhart Tolle in Recreate Wild and Free.
I have spent many years healing from my self-loathing thoughts and limited beliefs. I have learnt a lot along the way from healers around the world. I have also tried out many things. Energy healing is something that I totally recommend, something like cranial oestoepathy or reiki. I found reiki to be so powerful in helping me to shift old beliefs, in-turn feel good about myself and transform everything in my life, that I am now studying to be a Reiki practitioner and Reiki Master.
Believe it or not Reiki is VERY powerful when sent over distance and a healing can be sent over zoom or a phone call. I know that as I experienced it during Covid 19 lockdowns. And excitingly soon I will be offer it anyone, all over the world.
The 5 Reiki principals or Ideals
For today however, I would like to introduce you to the 5 Reiki principals or Ideals and share with you to a Mediation you can do that uses these principals or ideas as mantras. What I love about these mantras is they are so simple and so beautiful and if everyone practiced them the world would truly be a better place. What I love about doing them in a mediative state is that science has proven this to be the most absorbable, mind-altering state to be in and you will you start to implement the things you are saying very quickly.
The original principals written by Mikoa Usui have been adapted in a few different ways but basically go like this:
Just for today I will not anger
Just for today I will not worry
Just for today I will be grateful for all that I have
Just for today I will do honest work
Just for today I will be kind to all living things.
It sometimes does not come naturally to live without anger, worry, live with gratitude, do your best work and be kind to every living creature. If you say the mantra to yourself every morning it does however train you to catch yourself not doing these things and stop them. Worry is a big one for me, and so if I feel myself worrying I simply say, “Just for Today I will not worry” and the anxiety and worry lifts and I automatically feel calm in my body. This also helps in the middle of the night, when thinking and worrying about something that hasn’t even happened yet is keeping from sleeping.
And you know what? Anything else you want to change or give up an be added to this list:
Just for today I will to be kind to myself
Just for today I will allow myself to be imperfect
Just for today I will allow myself to dream big
Just for today I will love myself like I am the most precious and valuable being on this earth
Just for today I will live as if there is no tomorrow
Just for today I allow myself to receive
Just for today……….insert what you need here!!
The last thing I am going to do today is share a link to a mediation by Tiara Wiggins and 4 Wise Monkeys. Click here to try it out on YouTube
Happy creating whether the creativity is used to make art, idealise and problem solve, change your reality or design and create a life you love. And don’t forget authenticity is true beauty, so make everything you do, including this mediation practice your own.
To try creating something for yourself check out my classes, holistic online courses and creative wellness workshops. Join my creative facebook community to connect with like mined others, try out my FREE mixed media ‘gratitude’ project or watch me make an artwork and learn more about the healing power of creativity here.
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