In the Usui Reiki Ryōhō lineage I'm studying, there is a simple set of Reiki precepts or principles that are often used as a way of orienting awareness. They’re framed with the phrase “just for today,” which offers a gentle reminder to meet life one day at a time.
There’s something really beautiful in that framing. It softens the pressure of trying to live up to lifelong ideals and brings things back into the immediacy of the present. And still, I’ve noticed that even “just for today” can feel like a long stretch when you’re right in the middle of being human. Life moves in waves. Emotion moves in waves. Experience doesn’t stay still long enough to be shaped neatly by aspiration.
I don’t want to bypass what’s actually here. Anger is real when it’s here. Worry is real when it’s here. Grief, joy, confusion, tenderness. All of it belongs. What matters to me isn’t overriding these states with something more acceptable, but remembering what’s underneath them while they move through.
So in that spirit, I’ve started developing my own precepts. Not as a fixed system. Not as something to succeed or fail at. More as a way of gently returning to what feels most true.
Here are my precepts:
Just for this moment, I am here.
Just for this moment, there is space.
Just for this moment, I am being held in unconditional love.
For me, these aren’t instructions for how I should feel. They’re reminders of what’s already here. They point me back toward the simple truths of presence, awareness, and abiding love.
From that place, there’s a kind of zero point. A settling into wholeness that’s always here underneath the surface movement of experience. It’s not separate from emotion and it’s not above it. It’s simply prior to interpretation. It’s from here that I like to begin a Reiki session, a shamanic journey, or a coaching session. Not because everything is calm and positive, but because everything is already held.
And I stay open to this changing. These aren’t permanent principles. They’re living ones. They can expand, dissolve, or shift as I do.
If you developed your own precepts, what would they be right now, in this moment?