Today I want to talk about coffee.

Previously, for years and years, I had a habit of drinking coffee. I drank coffee throughout a day, every day.

Up until the age of 22, I had lived with my parents. They had a habit of drinking coffee after every meal. I naturally took their habit. Even after I left their house and started living by myself, the habit stayed with me. I drank coffee after every meal for years.

To be honest, I never loved coffee. I drank it every day due to the long history habit.

***

I recalled the time of my age 30. I traveled alone in America for the first time.

I stayed one night at a hostel in Sedona. There, I met one Australian girl. We had many things in common. We are just one year apart. We came to America alone for one week vacation. We both were heading to Navajo reservation. Naturally we became friends and traveled together for the rest of our vacation days.

The girl was gifted to hear messages from other people’s guide spirits. While we were chatting, abruptly she asked me a permission if she could convey one message from my guide spirits. I was willing to hear it.

The message was beyond my expectation. I expected their message to be something big, big enough to drastically shift my life.

But their message was simple. It was more like a gentle advice or suggestion.

They said coffee was not good for my body. They didn’t tell me to stop it, because they always respect my free will. I didn’t stop drinking coffee. But for some reasons, their advice stayed with me for years. That is why I still remember it.   

***

Years passed, fast-forwarding to the year of 2018. It finally happened.

Starting from May 2nd of last year, I had stopped drinking coffee to increase any potential health benefits. Nothing drastic, but I do feel comfortable without coffee in my body.

***

Why am I talking about coffee today? It is because I drank coffee this morning.

Recently one of my friends gifted me a pack of coffee. Since it was a new flavor for me, I was curious of the taste and flavor. I decided to make today as an exceptional day of quitting coffee, and I made the coffee.

I finished the cup of coffee. The rest of my day, even after I brushed my teeth, I felt the coffee taste and smell in my tongue. I didn’t like it.

Conclusion: I will stop drinking coffee due to my preference.

Please don’t get me wrong. Coffee might be beneficial for some people, and I am not saying everybody should stop drinking coffee.

In case coffee is not good for you, one of these days you might realize that you don’t like coffee. You might realize you had drank coffee due to the long history habit.

The most important thing is to feel your own preference by your intuition. Then, you can create a new habit based on your preference, saying good-bye to your long history habit.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

In my dream of this morning, somebody gave me a lily. It was just one lily, but its size and color was impressive. It was huge as the flower was the same size as my palm. The color was clear blue-ish purple.

I don’t know what the message of this dream, but I felt calm and relaxed.

***

Today my family and I attended at the annual Japanese festival in Tucson.

Last year when we attended for our first time, we enjoyed everything there. They had a Japanese drum playing, songs, dances, food stands, martial art demonstrations, and a mochi pounding demonstration.

Since this year was our second attendance, we noticed everything was pretty same as last year. We didn’t enjoy as the same way as last year. We kind of felt disappointed. If we were a performer, we would have enjoyed reconnecting with other performers and friends, though.

Right before we left the venue, my daughter and I went to the bathroom. On the way back to my husband, I saw in a far distance, one woman smiling and waving at me.

She approached to us and greeted me by calling my name. She looked familiar but I could not remember her name instantly. After several seconds of my thoughts wondered, I finally noticed it was my old friend in this land.

When my daughter was still a new born, one of my Japanese acquaintances set up a meeting with a Japanese woman. She was a new mom with a new born. Her first baby girl was born four months before my daughter. We met on the day and became friends. I believe she was 4-5 years younger than I.

We started visiting each other’s house once a week or so. For the first one month or two, I enjoyed spending time with them. But after a while, I started feeling some type of stress for spending time with her.

She was much more enthusiastic than me, when it came to making new friends and mingling with many other people. There was a Japanese community where 10-12 Japanese women gathered for a potluck lunch every month. After I attended it twice or three times, I noticed I felt uncomfortable mingling with many others. I gradually stopped attending any kinds of gathering. And that was how I lost contact with my old Japanese friend. Nobody was a bad guy. It was a natural process.

My old friend and I chatted for a while. Her family and she have lived in Tucson for five years. She was holding a new born who was recently born as their second baby. I didn’t know any of them.

Right before we ended our short catting, we looked at each other. We quickly felt we didn’t need to exchange our contact information. Even if we did, we would not contact each other. Our relationship was completely ended. There was no connection left between us, which was fine with both of us.

***

It was good for me to run into her at the festival. In the past years, I sometimes blamed myself for not keeping in touch with any of Japanese old friends on this land. But today’s running into my old friend clearly told me I did the right thing.

For me, human relationship and material items are the same in a way. I feel comfortable with only the necessary human relationships and items. I don’t want to feel heavy in a situation where there are a whole bunch of unnecessary relationships and items.

But of course, this is only my preference. You might have your own preference in terms of human relationship and material items. I believe the important thing is to know our preference and act accordingly, so that we always feel comfortable with what we have and what we don’t have.     

As of now, I am feeling comfortable with what I have and what I don’t have. It matters to me.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Every Friday after school, my daughter attends at the club activity at the library. After the club activity, one of her classmates asked her to play with him at the park.

We went to the park located next to the library. My daughter and her classmate started running around in the park. So far so good, until the boy classmate asked my daughter to follow him to one of the playground equipment. It was a huge tube. I believe kids are supposed to play by going inside through the tube. But the boy climbed the tube and stood on top of the tube. He urged my daughter to do the same as he did.

Just looking at him standing on the tube made me feel sick. I worried about him falling down. My daughter was standing on the picnic table, just about to move to the top of the tube. I run to my daughter and told her not to stand on the tube. On next second, the boy who was standing on top of the tube disappeared from my view.

When I quickly moved to the other side of the tube, I saw the boy fell on the ground, crying.

I felt a sudden pain in my tummy. I felt like somebody just squeezed my stomach.

I asked him what happened. He answered he tried to jump and failed to land with his feet. He fell from his cheek. He was still laying down on the ground.

I asked him if he could sit up. He said it was too painful form him to do so.

I was not sure if he broke any bones in his arms or legs. I don’t have any medical knowledge to assist somebody who is in emergency needs.

He said his older brother and his friend were in the skate park, which was located on the other side of the park. My daughter and I called out their names. When they came, I asked the boy’s brother to call their mother. I let him to use my cell phone.

When his brother talked to his mother over the phone, he finally put a smile on his face. He told us their mother just parked at the library parking lot. We all looked toward the parking lot. I saw a woman walking toward us.

My heart started pounding. I scared what if the mother was a “monster mom”. She might blame me for her son’s injury.

But on the next second, I saw her smiling toward us. Her first word was a greeting to my daughter by calling her name. I was surprised that she knew my daughter’s name”. Her second word was said to me. She said heartwarmingly “thank you for staying with my son”.

After we introduced each other, I found out the mom works at the cafeteria. That was why she knew my daughter’s name. She has three children. My daughter’s classmate boy was her youngest. She knew enough about her youngest. She knew enough that I was not to be blamed for her son’s injury.

***

After we came back home, I still concerned about the boy. I texted the mom asking about her son. She quickly replied back to me. She thanked me for asking about him and told me he was doing fine. I was glad to know that.

***

Today I was just lucky to have such a thoughtful mother. She could have been a monster mom and blamed me for her son’s injury, even though I just happened to be there. I learned from today’s incident. When the boy started climbing up on top of the tube, I should have warned him because it is dangerous.

Everyday there are a whole bunch of learning opportunities for me.            

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Two days ago I was chatting with my new friend after we dropped our children off at the school bus stop.

She and her family moved in this area on July of last year, right before the new school year started. She searched around the elementary schools for her two young boys. She found one charter school in the neighbor city and applied the enrollment online. One boy was approved, but unfortunately, the other boy was in the waiting list. Since she didn’t want her two boys to go to the separate school, she enrolled them to the local public school. Her older boy has been having some issues with other classmates, and so, she started thinking about transferring her children to the charter school from next school year.

While I was listening to her, one idea strongly popped up in my head. It was the idea of transferring my daughter to the charter school from next school year.

Starting from this school year, my daughter frequently mentions she hates school.

Her main reason is about classmate friends.

For the previous three years started from kindergarten to second grade, she had four good friends in class. All of her good friends transferred to a different school. Two girls moved to another state, one girl left the school and started homeschooling, and one girl moved to the next city and transferred to the different school. My daughter said it is hard to get in to the girls who had already built a group of friends. I know exactly what she means. Since the school very rarely has a new student, the group of friends are firmly fixed and hard to get in.  

As a parent, I have some reasons I don’t like this school very much.

First reason is about the entire school buildings. Everything, including classrooms, cafeteria, kitchen, bathrooms, and gym, are very old and dirty.

Second reason is a combination class. My daughter’s grade has two classes, and one class is a combination with the lower graders. The principal and the teacher always say they don’t have any issues. However, what I have heard from my daughter, other classmates, and their mothers are completely opposite. It seems to be a big issue to have the different graders in a class, doing different things at the same time.

***

After I came back from chatting with my new friend, I called the carter school and made an appointment of the school tour.

***

In the tour group, there were two other families. One mom had two children. She already applied online, and both children were approved. The other family had a little girl who will be a kindergartener. They came with the mom, and the grandmother, and the grandfather.

The principal and the vice principal escorted us to a variety of classrooms, cafeteria, gym, and playground.

The entire school buildings are clean and newer appearance. The local branch started in 2016. No wonder everything looks still new. They have many young female teachers.

The one hour tour was pretty informative. I liked the school very much.

Before I left the school, I made another school tour appointment. Next time I will come back with my husband and daughter, so that they can see and feel the school on their own.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

This morning my fasting glucose level was 178. It was worse than yesterday. I just had the acupuncture treatment yesterday. Taking the fact into consideration, it is obvious the acupuncture treatment is not working great for me.

My thought suddenly went back to the beginning of this year, January 1st. I had a dream where my current acupuncturist was in.

In the dream, my current acupuncturist and I were sitting in the car. I was at the passenger’s seat, and she was in the drivers’ seat. Both of us saw the location of our goal. Even though the goal was straight ahead of us, my driver did not drive straightforward.

The way she drove was abnormal.

She stepped on a sudden accelerator toward the slant direction and hit an obstacle. The corner of the car got damaged. After the hit, she made a sudden back-up. Then again, she stepped on a sudden accelerator. This time she forwarded toward the other side of the slant direction and hit a new obstacle. She repeated this pattern, going zigzag.

We eventually reached to our goal. The car got damaged by her sudden forwarding and backing up. If she had driven straightforward from the beginning to the end, we would have reached to the goal much faster and smoother, without making any damages to the car.     

***

After I woke up, I asked my family spirits about the message from the dream.

Instantly I received a block of thoughts like this.

This dream showed my mind status. I am counting on my current acupuncturist too much. Since the goal is to recover my good health, I should be the driver. I should take lead toward my goal. Anybody else including my current acupuncturist can be the passengers who give me advice from time to time, but they cannot be the driver.

***

Now that I knew my body did not show any improvement from yesterday’s acupuncture treatment, the message from this dream really stood out.

I should keep in my mind that I am the driver toward my goal. It is time for me to review my life style of the past few months and correct any of my wrong actions. I am responsible for my health.

I should stop counting on acupuncture treatments or any other outer factors. They can be just one of the supplements to support.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today I had my ninth acupuncture treatment. This was the third treatment from my new acupuncturist.

I liked today’s treatment. It was relaxing. I felt my energy started flowing better with the treatment.

However, unfortunately I don’t see any improvement in my body in terms of actual numbers.

My morning glucose level at 6 am was 163. When I came back home after the acupuncture treatment at 11:30 am, my glucose level was 148.  

Today’s recommendation from the acupuncturist.

– Swishing month for 15-20 minutes with coconut oil to prevent dry mouth and teeth decay (and hopefully to fix my small cavities).

– Coenzyme Q10 (Coq10) supplements to raise my High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol

– Get enough vitamin D: getting sun light during daytime. Sunlight at sun rise is the most powerful.

***

There was one thing I didn’t like. At the payment, my acupuncturist announced the fee increase. I felt it unfair to be informed after the treatment. I believe all the patients would like to be informed of the fee increase in advance. We don’t like such kind of surprise.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

This morning right before I woke up, I heard a voice. It said “Don’t forget your Oyakume in Navajoland”.

“Oyakume” is a Japanese term meaning a duty or a responsibility. In my case, it is my life mission that I had been told many times while I was in Japan.

With the message, my thoughts went back to Navajoland. I was thinking about Navajoland and the people whom I met and interacted with for a while.  

***

Around 9 am, I received two text messages. One was from my husband, and the other was from my mother-in-law. It was about my dad-in-law’s older brother. He passed away around 8:30 am.

Maybe it was him who visited me in the morning. That was why I was thinking about Navajo people and the land.

I sent a good prayer to him. I thanked him for his kindness and help to me. I sent him good thoughts and images that he was now free from any pain or regrets, and that he was with his family spirits safely.

He was a good man. He was one of my good old friends.

When I was single, he let me stay at his house for certain nights. I offered some grocery in return. Those days he wanted to write his own story, a memoir, so I shared my knowledge about how to input and edit in Word file. I still remember his friendly smile.

I appreciate him for spending time with me. I wish him for an easy and smooth transition to the spirit world.   

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Yesterday’s tire exchange event reminded me of my recent dream. This event was related to my dream of January 2nd.

In the dream I was in a car. I was sitting on the rear seat of the driver’s seat. My daughter was sitting next to me, on the rear seat of the passenger’s seat. I could not see the driver’s face, but it was a man.

While we were driving the car, all of a sudden the cars before us started rolling over or bumping each other. The scenery was just like that of the movie Bird Box (2018) streamed by Netflix. Then I noticed we were in the middle of a huge earthquake. The roads were cracked. Houses and buildings were collapsed. I saw fires everywhere.

In such a drastic environment, our driver kept on driving skillfully. He avoided all the unexpected flying objects and obstacles on the road. We finally reached at a safe place like a sanctuary. When we arrived, our car was unharmed. Three of us were all safe. 

Then I woke up.

***

After this dream, I meditated and asked my family spirits for meaning of the dream. I got some block of thoughts like this.

This is a warning that something drastic might happen to me. However, with the help of somebody (the driver in the dream) will help me out from the issue. In the end, we all would be fine.

***

I thought back the event of yesterday. Maybe the driver (the helper) was my husband. If he didn’t notice the nail in the tire of my car, I would most likely keep driving the car. I might get involved in an accident or something. With the help of my husband, I’ve been able to avoid the drastic event.

I appreciate my husband and my family spirits to let me avoid any possible accident.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

In the early morning I got on my car to go the grocery store alone. I noticed the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) warning light was illuminated. I got out from the car and checked the tire appearances. All four tires appeared fine, so I took off to the store.

After I came back home, I mentioned my husband about the light. He went to the garage with a flashlight and took a thorough look on each tire. He found a nail in the rear tire on the diver’s side. Sure enough the tire air pressure was low as 17 PSI, which was supposed to 30 PSI.

Back in 2002 in America, I experienced a flat tire caused by a nail for my old cars a couple of times. Every time when I took it to the local tire store, they fixed it for free of charge.

Without thinking anything more, I asked my family to go to the local tire store with me. I thought they would fix it for free. In case the nail went through, I didn’t mind to exchange the tire to a new one.

I should have known better.

The tire store worker told me since the nail went through the sidewall, it was not repairable. He naturally gave me a quotation for all four tires.

I was shocked with the number of the tires. I didn’t mind to buy one tire, but I didn’t expect to buy all four tires.

The worker insisted I was required to exchange all four tires. Since my husband does not like arguing with anybody, he was ready to pay for all four new tires. I didn’t fully trust what the tire store worker said. I wanted to get the second opinion.

I took my car to another tire store in town. There, the worker said the same thing that I needed to buy four new tires. The second store’s price was much higher than that of the first store.

There are some more tire stores in town. I called three more stores to get the quote for my four tires. After my efforts, I found out the first store was the winner. Their price was the lowest.

I was embarrassed to go back to the first store, but I had no other option. I went back to the first store and bought four new tires.

By the time we came back home, we were exhausted. If I had known better, I could have saved my family’s precious time and energy. I feel sorry for my family to drag them around here and there almost all day.

***

I still regret for what happened. My car did not have many mileage yet. It was still 36,000 mile. The tires had still enough tread left. If I had known better and took the appropriate action earlier, I could have saved my four tires.

I believe my TPMS warning light illuminated on December 14. On that day I didn’t check the tires thoroughly for any nails. When I added tire air, the warning light went off, so I kept driving my car. Possibly on the first day of the light illuminated, the nail was not deeply inserted. If I had noticed the nail on that day and brought my car to the store to fix it sooner, the tire could have be repaired.

Next time, I will be more careful when the light comes on. At least I learned from this experience.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

One of my favorite bloggers reported her success in losing weight.

Compared with her heaviest weight, she succeeded to lose 8 kg within 9 months. I think it was an amazing success.

I admire her the most was that she succeeded in winter.  

As for me, my body tends to enter to a hibernation mode in winter. I tend to eat more sweets and do less exercise in winter than in summer.

Right now in the middle of winter, I weigh 62 kg. I don’t like my current weight at all. I lose weight in summer up to 57 kg. Thus, my weight varies up to 5 kg in a year. I want to change my pattern so that I can stay in my preferable weight all year around.

Every time I read somebody’s success in losing weight, especially about the people who have succeeded in winter time, it motivates me.

I believe we all can benefit from other people’s success. All we need to do is to imagine their happy smiling energy and feel it. Then, we can adjust our energy to the same level as theirs.   

It feels good to celebrate other people’s success.   

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪