The lesson at the Kansas City Center for Spiritual Living this week was about perfectionism. Rev. Mike Irwin spoke about the way that perfection creates isolation and that it is our imperfections that bring us together. He taught that our imperfections help us to cultivate courage, compassion, and connection. As I left the service, it came to my mind how the Reiki Principles give allowance for our imperfection and gently guide us back to a place of self-improvement without placing pressure on us to attain unrealistic perfection.
The Reiki Principles do not tell us never to anger or worry or to always be thankful, honorable, and kind. Instead, they tell us to do these things just for today. Saying the principles each morning and night brings them into our daily practice and keeps these goals always in our sight but stating “just for today” allows for our imperfection. It gives us the much more attainable goal of right living one day at a time and encouragement to start fresh each day.
While the Reiki Principles allow for our imperfection with the attainable goal of just today, they also ask us to forgive ourselves for our imperfection through their call for kindness. We are to be kind, to show love and compassion, for all life, including ourselves. We are not to anger or worry about our imperfection, because under it all, we really are perfect expressions of health and wholeness. We are to be grateful for all that we are right now, just as we are, even as we work toward growth and self-improvement.
The Reiki Principles are our daily guide to happiness that can be applied to all areas of our life. In applying the Reiki Principles to my imperfections, I find them to be perfectly imperfect. I am able to accept myself in each moment, even when I feel awkward, overwhelmed, angry, anxious or any other lower vibrational emotion. I know that even if I fail to meet my goals of staying calm, hopeful, grateful, diligent, and kind in a given moment, I can start again in the next moment, striving just for today.