Releasing Impatience and Resistance: Exploring the Reiki Principles

October 12, 2020 by Lisa Guyman
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What if we gave up worrying and were grateful for our lives exactly as they are? We might not need anything else to be happy! As human beings, our minds create about 99% of our suffering.

In the wisdom of Mikao Usui, the founder of Reiki, he incorporated five Reiki principles (worry, gratitude, diligence, and kindness).

This month, the Reiki Principle we’ll explore is:

“Just for today, I will not anger.”

Impatience, righteousness, and irritability all fall into this category. This principle is not about denying when we are angry (or impatient or frustrated) or about dampening our emotional antennae, but recognizing that most anger results from the dialogue in our minds, a resistance to the moment, an unmet need that accumulates stress.

Reiki and meditation are about being in the now instead of pushing against what has happened in the past (even yesterday is the past) or hurrying toward the future (even the next errand is the future).

To be in a hurry or impatient is to negate the now (this gift of life) for some future moment.

When we feel “off,” we can choose to see this as a call to reflection and action, and we can:

Look at Self Care – A buildup of stress from over-stimulation or under-stimulation can result in irritability or impatience. This indicates an opportunity to change our priorities, re-balance some aspects of our lives, establish better habits, or adopt a new perspective. When our self-care is grounded, we tend to enjoy life a lot more, take ourselves a lot less seriously, and ironically get more accomplished.

Create a Bridge – Being hurt, offended, or angry often comes about when a need we have isn’t being met. It is too easy to create a story in our minds (good ole assumptions) about how someone should have done something or said something different. (They should have read our minds).

Instead of solidifying our one-sided story, we can re-evaluate the situation and have an actual conversation with the other person (instead of just in our own heads). Personally, I’ve nearly always found within myself the qualities I am upset about in the other person. When we recognize that this other person is a reflection of us… we create a bridge instead of a wall.

Embrace What Is – Our thoughts create most of our stress, anger, and frustration. When I’ve done “The Work” with Bryan Clark, it’s almost laughable how it’s not life itself (or something that happened or didn’t happen) that is causing my greatest distress but my thoughts about life.

Ask yourself if you released whatever story you are reciting internally…how would you feel now?

Recognizing that it’s not life “out there” that creates our inner experience can be daunting and freeing at the same time. A traffic jam isn’t an inherently bad thing. Objectively, it’s just cars stopped or slowly moving — that’s all. We can be frustrated with traffic, be at peace, or happily sing a song or listen to a program.

During the World Series in San Francisco, when roads were being repaired (because of the earthquake), commutes took 2-3 hours instead of an hour. A reporter was interviewing commuters about their frustration.

One commuter rolled down his car window and said, “I love this! I finally have time to listen to books on tape.” It’s all OUR perspective. We upset ourselves. And we make ourselves happy.

Granted, it is important to acknowledge feelings of anger (or other emotions, for that matter) when they arise, and it’s equally important to look beneath the surface to see what is going on.

Check-in to determine: