I've heard this Reiki Principal stated in many ways. I will honor my parents and teachers. I will earn my living honestly. Be honest. Devote yourself to your work. Personally, I say, "just for today, I will live with honor.” I feel it encompasses more than some other phrasings.

I believe that living with honor helps to keep us in balance and alignment with a healthy life. I keep this precept close to me throughout the day. It guides my decisions and helps me to remain in touch with my morals and ethics. I won't say I never slip up and make a decision I don't later regret and wish I had made differently, but with each decision I try to have honor.

What exactly is honor though? According to the Oxford Online Dictionary, honor is the, "adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct." Adherence to what is right...I really like this definition. Honor is simply doing what is right. We are faced with decisions every moment of every day. Sometime the right thing is not always the easiest thing to do. It may not always look like it will be the most advantageous thing for us to do, but it always is.

The right thing is, without fail, the right decision. Even when it seems at the time that a less than honorable path might lead to more gain, when we consciously choose to do what is right, we are keeping our spirit healthy, and in turn will have better mental and physical health. When we choose to do something we feel is morally wrong, it will cause an imbalance within us that can effect us adversely resulting in symptoms such as stress, anxiety, headaches, fatigue, aches and pains, and more.

When tempted to do something that may not be the most ethical choice, I remind myself that, just for today, I want to live as honorably as possible to stay in alignment with my ultimate goals. I remind myself that doing what's right, will bring more of the same back to me. I will benefit immediately from the sense of joy that comes from doing what is right, as well as long term, by putting those good vibrations out into the world and setting the right tone within myself to have them cycle back to me.