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Just for today..... Don't get angry.....Don't worry.....Be grateful.....Work hard.....Be kind to others

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chi_solas
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    Words "Don't" used in first two Gokai - Any thoughts please ?

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    Post by Lambs-Wool Wed Oct 12, 2011 5:48 pm

    hi all :

    Reiki percepts are a wonderful way to change our mind/psychological culture... to change addictions, bad habits, negative thoughts, etc., we find that Gokai, along with ample self-treatment sessions, do a miracle for most people if applied consistently over time...


    reik percepts are, in some way, in nature of continued affirmations to oneself... it is something like auto-suggestion (although they are much more than that)... however, we are told by mind scientists today that our habits change when the suggestion goes deep down to our sub-conscious mind (or unconscious mind, for that matter)... thats why during SHK treatments, we tend to talking to sub-conscious mind of our patient/client....it would be interesting that many mind scientists, psychiatrists believe that our sub-conscious/un-conscious mind does not 'recognize' negative commands... for example : if you say "don't smoke" or "don't take drugs", our mind will only take snapshot of the very act we want to refrain from... and in effect, the commands like "don't smoke" may prove futile.... we have to reword the command so that it can be 'absorbed' at those deep levels of our mind....


    likewise, when we translate Gokai, we say "don't worry" and "don't be angry" or something like that... i was wondering if we have alluded ourselves to wrong translation ? i know some seniors here like James, Colin and if i remember right, Buck too, have been good at Japanese Language (sorry if i missed out other names).... i want to ask whether the translation "Don't be angry" is in line with original japanese text... if even if it is, can we dare to change that to something like "i will be relaxed and calm at all times" instead of saying "i will NOT be angry"...


    this might be hitting bad on our attachments to the ORIGINAL sayings of Usui Sensei, but incorporating something which present day experts suggest, might be a good idea ???


    take care

    salman
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    Post by LuvSoulJah Wed Oct 12, 2011 6:09 pm

    hehe, we seem to be on the same page there Salman. Check out my post "My Reiki Rant"

    I'd say use whatever works best for you. I don't think Usui will be angry at you Twisted Evil Smile . The idea of the five precepts has roots in other spiritual practices and belief systems.. for example in buddhism.... these being slightly stricter than the one's we practice in Reiki. But they are supposed to be guidelines, whatever spiritual connection to Usui people might attatch to them... Let's not create Dogma. We honour him and the guidlines by embodying the message that they are supposed to convey and not by reciting them word for word. They are useless anyway unless we are living by them. So I think what kind of words we use does not matter as long as we represent/embody the message that the Gokai are meant to contain. So if one way of formulating the words helps one better achieve that goal compared to the other than that way is surely the right one.

    And welcome back! Cool [i]
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    Post by Rlei_ki Wed Oct 12, 2011 10:06 pm

    Lambs-Wool wrote:...when we translate Gokai, we say "don't worry" and "don't be angry" or something like that... i was wondering if we have alluded ourselves to wrong translation ?

    Salman, hi


    while subtle nuances may well get lost in translation, in this case, the particle -na な on the end of the first two principles is clearly indicating the 'prohibitive'

    i.e. "Don't ..."



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    Post by LuvSoulJah Wed Oct 12, 2011 10:35 pm

    If things wouldn't move on or change they would become stagnant... there would be no evolution. We probably have a better understanding these days of how our brain and minds work than people did during Usui's life. For getting messages anchored into our subconscious mind...,(ones that serve us)positive affirmations are definitely best..., without a doubt. While our subconscious mind may not make sense of "Do not anger", and will possibly/probably just fish out Do and Anger. our conscious mind does very well understand the concept of "Do Not" so it will have a positive effect when we feel some anger emerging... when we then remind ourselves to....just for today, do not anger! Once we reminded ourself... an inner-smile sunny might work wonders... The subconscious mind is also rather visual than linguistic... (unless you dream in words Shocked) .... So remind yourself to not anger and then remember something calming or relaxing or joyful (count your many blessings) to bring you back into mindfulness.

    That is probably why they are the first 2 of the five precepts... the first two remind us... bring us back into focus and clear the path for the following 3 positive affirmations...Try telling urself to be grateful for all your many blessings while your wife is telling you she forgot to play the winning lotto jackpot numbers of which you are just holding a copy of in ur hand.... the same numbers you had given her and asked her to play for you that morning.... lol!

    Actually come to think of it, Usui knew exactly wehat he was saying and doing.... shame on me...!!! silent lol going off to do penants now!!.... 100 x hatsurie ho and recite precepts x 1000 Rolling Eyes
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    Post by Colin Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:10 am

    Hi Salman

    The Japanese don't seem to have a problem when using what we would consider negative words when talking to the subconscious!

    When Takata was teaching the SHK method in a Reiki 2 class, according to a tape I have she says, in the case of someone who wants to give up smoking: "Smoking's not good for you! Bad for your lungs, so do away with cigarettes! When you do away with cigarettes, food will taste better and you will have better health!" Not some positively worded affirmation such as "You are free of the smoking habit!"

    Hayashi also apparently taught students to use a very strongly worded phrase to scold the subconscious into changing its way of thinking.

    Although I do tend to say the Gokai in Japanese myself nowadays, at my Reiki shares when we recite them together we chant them in English but I do use a more positive translation:
    Just for today,
    I let go of anger,
    I let go of worry,
    I am grateful,
    I work hard,
    I am kind to others!

    Smile
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    Post by LuvSoulJah Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:25 am

    That makes most sense to me too. If we leave everything up to our subconscience our whole lives would be on autopilot. IMO we have to take some responsibility of our own too. So I think the intention with the precepts was no accident and very well thought out. And that's a perfect example Colin mentioned there, of how to self-talk and get through to our subconscience. So we tell ourselves what we want to do and then we tell our subconscience what the rewards those actions or in-actions will have for us. When we are addressing our logic minds we use logic and when addressing our subconscience we use words that stimulate our senses... i.e "the food will taste better.." that is something we can imagine straight away and the subconscience adds all the sensual flavours to it then.. making it more palletable for both the conscious and subconscious mind.
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    Post by Rlei_ki Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:21 am

    LuvSoulJah wrote:..While our subconscious mind may not make sense of "Do not anger", and will possibly/probably just fish out Do and Anger.

    I've always has issues with the whole pop psychology idea that the subconscious - which supposedly processes all and every piece of information and sensory stimulus (and for that matter extra-sensory stimulus) we receive/experience, can't (i.e can not) handle negative concepts.

    If this were so, then every prohibitive statement eg: "Do not ..." statement would be accepted as a positive!

    Just for today:
    Do NOT be Grateful
    Do NOT work hard
    Do NOT be kind to others

    silent
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    Post by LuvSoulJah Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:36 am

    And if prohibitive laws/statements were infact made to prevent people from doing things they were not supposed to do, then there would be no need for Law enforcement. Most people if you ask them why they did certain things, maybe deemed unacceptable by most or some of society then they will tell you it was because they were told not to. It's all subliminal. Or atleast has a subliminal effect... atleast the suggestion to "not do something" contains the suggestion to "do it" at the same time on a subliminal level.

    Say if I told you to not think of a nice cold glass of Carlsberg. The suggestion is already made there and what the subconscience is getting is cold, glass and carlberg.



    It's subjective vs. objective.
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    Post by chi_solas Fri Oct 14, 2011 12:32 am

    reversed Pshycology.
    Twisted Evil Rolling Eyes
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    Post by rzukic Fri Oct 14, 2011 4:50 pm

    Hi All,
    Salman,
    Great post as always! You said something very interesting :
    Reiki percepts are a wonderful way to change our mind/psychological culture... to change addictions, bad habits
    ,

    And I am wondering if you do not mind to share which precept specifically do you have in mind and how do you use it?

    Perhaps we should even challenge the whole idea that reiki precepts were primarily designed to work on our subconscious mind ( I emphasize here “primarily” since almost anything could be said to affect the subconscious mind in some way)
    It appears to me that precepts are also supposed to “flex our conscious mind muscle” Very Happy

    For subconscious we already have SHK and Mental Treatment.
    It is our conscious mind that says it is impossible to commit to changing habit(s) etc but if we use the principal of “chunking it down” to a single day (just for today) than all suddenly it seems doable (for some people even a single day may still be unacceptable to commit to do/or not to do something and it may be a good idea to chunk it down even more until it feels “doable”)

    IMO precepts help us create so-called “dominant thought” and as they say “As a man thinket in his heart, that is what he is”. This is very important considering that as per some sources we have between 12000-60000 thoughts per day and some 80% thereof are said to be negative.

    In addition it helps us reduce the number of thoughts and some may remember that top athletes pay great attention to reducing their thought numbers.
    One interesting twist to affirmations is instead of saying “I am happy” (to what our conscious mind usually responds with “Who are you kidding buddy?”\ unless we are in alpha state or deeper) we ask a question “Why am I so happy?”. This way our mind goes out to find reasons why we should be happy.

    Best Regards

    Resko
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    Post by Lambs-Wool Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:28 pm

    hi buddies Smile

    thanks for the ongoing discussion :

    @James and Ben

    thanks James for reassuring us that Japanese words used in first two gokai are in nature of prohibitive (i.e., don't) and yes, as you have said, there might be issues in accepting the concept to a degree called 'gospel' that subconscious mind does not recognize the prohibitive element (i.e. don't - portion) of a suggestion.... but nevertheless this concept is quite so vocal these days... so for general discussion sake, we might think how we can incorporate the incoming new info in our reiki practice or, at least, in our reiki understanding....

    Ben says something very useful here... our subconscious mind actually doesn't act on words since words probably are gadgets used by our conscious mind primarily.... when we say Do Not Anger, it is said for our conscious mind, but if we want to put a little emphasis on what we are saying to our conscious mind, we may have to develop a mental image (free of words), an imagination, a meditation state, etc so that the concept is imbibed into our subconscious.... perhaps no one would disagree that reiki percepts are to live in, not to just recite only (since this is the start point to an end objective)....

    on this premise, it is generally difficult to imagine something that we are actually supposed to cure/refrain from... for example, Do Not Anger... this is fine for Conscious Mind, since it incorporates its processing through words, but when it comes to sub-conscious mind, it needs an accompanying image or analogy/picture/imagination... how would i imagine that i m not angry ? of course by doing the opposite... so if i have to 'play' with sub-conscious i have to imagine something 'doing' that has the potential 'undoing' effect of the very act i want to refrain from...


    portraying myself in my mind that i m calm and very happy, might sit well with subconscious mind which, in turn, will respond something to bring about happiness, and in effect the very objective i.e., anger, will be gone automatically without mention... this is how i try to understand the stuff under discussion Smile


    @ Resko

    here you are Smile like always!

    of course, reiki percepts were not meant for sub-conscious mind primarily, but when we see that repetition daily is intended, we might think that one of the purpose of repetition is that they go deep in sub-conscious gradually... driving a car is an example : when we learn driving, we consciously think about pressing clutch pedal, adjusting speed, changing gears, etc. and we have to issue 'commands' to our organs to articulate all that act, but once we are used to driving, we do all the things without thinking about them (maybe unconsciously)... this applies to many things in life... with repetition, the contribution of conscious mind in doing an act, is gradually replaced by subconscious mind... and we gradually start doing things 'automatically' Smile


    @ Colin

    yes buddy, that was something i was interesting to know... "i let go of anger, i let go of worry" is a phrase that might be used in chanting precepts, and for mental imagery, imagining the opposite of worry/anger, is something that will augment the effectiveness of the whole process !


    take care

    salman



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    Post by Juli.VIP.Bernlohr Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:52 am

    Do Not Get Angry

    I think not getting angry opens us up to a whole slew of positive emotions.

    You can be happy, neutral, joyful, ok, focused, observant, and anything else that isn't anger.

    I agree it's good to think about all those other things, but perhaps we should think about how we react to things that stress us out as much as we focus on things that make us happy.

    I thought about switching, "Don't get angry" with "Do be happy" but I can't be happy all the time. I would prefer to use the statement "Be compassionate." I can be compassionate when I am happy OR sad, but not when I'm angry.

    Do Not Worry

    I would like to change this (for my own meditative purposes) to say "Remain calm when under stress." However, I need more instruction for myself than "remain calm." How does one do that? Don't worry. It really does say it all. Perhaps I should say "Don't worry, remain calm."

    I realize that Usui's principles also include "Just for today." Remember, even if a worried thought crosses your mind, that's ok! The point is not to dwell on it for long. Acknowledge the worry, remain calm, and have faith that things will progress for the good of all good as long as you are truly in favor of that. I don't feel like I have to start all over every time I think about how I hope my brother with a bad driving record won't crash his car today. I acknowledge the thought, and spend time thinking about his personal safety and hope he matures more today than yesterday.

    In addition to all my thoughts about this, I acknowledge that Usui was a very compassionate man with excellent intentions. He wrote all of this for himself because it resonates with him. He shared all of this with his students to help them understand his ideas. I think it is perfectly ok to meditate on these ideals and think about what they mean to ourselves. I think it's fine if I change the words so that the meaning shines through for me. I aspire to be a reiki teacher and I will definitely use Usui's words along with my own. I will encourage my future students to think about the meaning of the Gokai.

    ********************************
    Thanks for the subject matter! This is one of the few things that has not totally made sense to me while learning reiki. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Words "Don't" used in first two Gokai - Any thoughts please ? 307123
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    Post by chi_solas Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:56 am

    reminders even in the music world cheers Arrow



    Don't Worry, Be Happy
    Lyrics by Bobby Ferrin

    Here is a little song I wrote
    You might want to sing it note for note
    Don't worry be happy
    In every life we have some trouble
    When you worry you make it double
    Don't worry, be happy......

    Ain't got no place to lay your head
    Somebody came and took your bed
    Don't worry, be happy
    The land lord say your rent is late
    He may have to litigate
    Don't worry, be happy
    Lood at me I am happy
    Don't worry, be happy
    Here I give you my phone number
    When you worry call me
    I make you happy
    Don't worry, be happy
    Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style
    Ain't got not girl to make you smile
    But don't worry be happy
    Cause when you worry
    Your face will frown
    And that will bring everybody down
    So don't worry, be happy (now).....

    There is this little song I wrote
    I hope you learn it note for note
    Like good little children
    Don't worry, be happy
    Listen to what I say
    In your life expect some trouble
    But when you worry
    You make it double
    Don't worry, be happy......
    Don't worry don't do it, be happy
    Put a smile on your face
    Don't bring everybody down like this
    Don't worry, it will soon past
    Whatever it is
    Don't worry, be happy

    lyricsondemand
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    Post by Rlei_ki Sun Oct 23, 2011 2:34 am

    chi_solas wrote:reminders even in the music world cheers Arrow

    Don't Worry, Be Happy
    Lyrics by Bobby Ferrin

    And Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds":

    "...Rise up this mornin',
    Smiled with the risin' sun,
    Three little birds
    Pitch by my doorstep
    Singin' sweet songs
    Of melodies pure and true,
    Sayin', ("This is my message to you-ou-ou:")

    Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing,
    'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
    Singin': "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing,
    'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"



    Interesting how, in both these songs, the "Don't Worry" hook makes you feel positive / happy.

    The songs are infectious - they get under your skin. And hours later you can suddenly become aware that the lyrics have been playing on autopilot - on a continuous loop in your mind...

    So IF [and I'm not convinced] the subconscious does not normally cope well with negatively phrased instructions, i.e."Don't...", perhaps all that's needed in order for the instructions to be accepted is for them to be presented with an upbeat backing track?

    Smile
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    Post by artlovelight Thu Sep 20, 2012 3:40 am

    Is there anywhere to hear the Japanese precepts? I think that would be fun to learn but I would need to hear them before pronouncing them.
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    Post by Colin Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:08 am

    Hi artoflove

    Here is a Japanese Reiki practitioner reciting the Gokai (Five Precepts) in Japanese:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlwTyubfXRY

    ...and here is me singing them in Japanese and English Smile

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re6SZz1O5DU

    enjoy!
    Smile
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    Post by artlovelight Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:13 am

    Fantastic! I am clicking on them now!
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    Post by Milarepa Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:44 pm

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    Post by artlovelight Fri Sep 21, 2012 5:42 am

    and thank you Milrepa as well Smile

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