Today my family received a lots of belated Christmas gifts. There were a variety of items as always. We appreciate the senders to think of us. To be honest, though, I feel overwhelmed being surrounded by lots of items which are not my favorites, proper size, nor preferable color. I prefer to receive cash for gifts. We already mentioned our honest feelings about material gifts to the senders, but the situation stays the same.

I know it is just the different habit and culture. The senders simply enjoy the holiday season process; buying lots of items, wrapping them up, and gifting them to family and friends. It is how they have spent the holiday seasons for years. They feel comfortable with their lifelong custom, and most likely they are not going to change their custom.

On the contrary, I am not used to receiving a lots of material gifts. I used to receive only one item for my birthday and Christmas gift. I am far from a material person.

I think it is all right on having the different habit and custom. We all are equally important.

If everybody is like me; does not like shopping, the economy does not flow. The society needs people who love shopping so that the economy system will be stimulated.

It is my small step toward the world peace to accept other people who have the different habit and custom from mine.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today my daughter took day off from school due to tummy ache. The reason was obvious. It was too much sweets she ate last night.

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. She brought back a bagful of chocolates and candies from her teacher and classmates. My daughter is generous. She shared them with my husband and me. Still, she had a plenty left for herself.

This morning she woke up with tummy ache. She needed to go to bathroom throughout the day. And throughout the day, all she had was a little amount of tea and a small portion of rice soup. By the night she got well.

She almost fasted all day long.

Although she suffered from the pain, it turned out beneficial for her organs to have enough resting.

Maybe I should do the same. I should rest my organs by fasting for one day. My organs might appreciate me for that.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Recently we had hot sunny days for many days. I was even thinking about switching the heater to the swamp cooler. Some days the temperature went up to 77F (25C). As usual, we seldom have rain in this area.

Yesterday when I was in the back yard, one bird was really talking to me in a loud voice. I felt she was talking about the dry air and heat. I automatically replied to the bird aloud, “I know right? I too wish to have rain tomorrow.” Then the bird replied to me with her cute chirping, as if it was saying “Yep! Agree!”

Today is a valentine day. Ta-da! Guess what? My wish came true. We are having a cold rainy day today.

I know some skeptical people will say it as a coincidence. I am not saying that though. I honestly feel my small wish was heard by heaven.

Technically speaking, it was not only my wish but also the wish from other living creatures in nature.

I know they are all enjoying today’s rain as a valentine gift from heaven.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

I finished reading the book of Spirit Junkie written by Gabrielle Bernstein. Her book is easy to read for me. This is my third book of hers. Next, I am going to read her newest book of Judgment detox: release the beliefs that hold you back from living a better life. This book was just published on January 2nd 2018.

I would like to share one part from her book. It was resonated with my soul.

I stopped feeling responsible for saving people; I understood that I could best help them by maintaining my own miracle-minded way of being. Accepting my own peace was the greatest gift I could offer the world. ** Cited from Spirit Junkie on page 238.

This is exactly how I feel. We don’t need to change others. All we can do is change ourselves into the most peaceful state and keep the state. Just being true yourself is actually the best help to others. 

Happiness is contagious. When you feel happy, let’s share it with others. You don’t need to go out and preach people in order to share your happiness. You don’t need to do anything in particular. It does not matter where you are or what you do. As far as you stay in your inner peace state, the happy energy penetrates everywhere. You are already in the process of sharing your great energy.

On the contrary, if you feel drained or depressed, or simply put, unhappy, take a deep breath. Bring in your true self. You are originally whole. You are originally happy. Embrace yourself. Please know that you are great as you are. After a couple of deep breathing thinking about all the good things about yourself, you are ready to share your happiness. It is just that easy.  

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today I saw a 3D printer for the first time at the local library. They let me use it, so I tried out.

Their 3D printer was a mini version. It was about the same size as a microwave. First you have to create an account at the certain webpage. Then you can create your own design at the computer screen.

My small project was the size of slightly smaller than my cell phone. It took almost three hours to print out my project.

I was amazed that this kind of advanced technology has been entering to our daily life, very quickly and naturally.

I thought back of my previous years.

When I came to America for one month staying at the host family’s house in 1990, the high technology was not available for everybody. I still remember that the high cost of international call. They charged me $31 for 3 minutes. Now we can talk internationally freely with Skype with free of charge.

When I was dating with a man who lived in America in 1998, I used to communicate with him via an airmail. It took about ten days to arrive. Now we can communicate by chatting instantly with free of charge.

So, the same thing goes to the 3D printer. The price used to be very high, but now we can casually buy a mini version with only $160 or so.

Right now I cannot think about the life with an AI because it costs high. But very soon, it might be available to everybody. And, every family will have an AI as a house maid, as a friend, or as a tutor.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

I read the news about one waitress at one of the biggest chain restaurants. She posted her complain about not being tipped for serving a take-out order. She posted the actual amount and the actual customer’s name in her Facebook. Since the restaurant bans the workers to disclose any private information through SNS, they fired her.

There was other similar case in the past. When one celebrity gave a tip to a server for the take-out order, the server didn’t like the tip amount. The server disclosed the photocopied receipt with the celebrity’s name to the public.

When I read this kind of news, I feel sad. At first I was not clear on what was bothering me, so I meditated about it for a while.

After meditating, I understood. I was bothered by these people’s dependency.

This is what I think.

We all need to be independent in the matter of energy. Leaning on somebody or depending on somebody is not healthy. In the above cases, the servers depended on customers to pay them a good amount of tip. They depended on customers to make them happy.

This is not only in a restaurant. There are plenty of people who depend on others to make them happy. But the truth is: the happiness is within ourselves. We cannot depend on outside factors to make us happy.

So, here is my suggestion.

If you don’t like the job as a server, please look for other job. There are plenty of other options. Other job pays you at least the state minimum wage with benefits. You don’t need to at least depend on customers to make you happy.

Food is energy. A server plays an important role dealing with energy. If a server does his/her serving job reluctantly (meaning, just for money and expect too much on customers for tipping), such reluctant and negative energy will attach to every food they serve. It is not good for both parties of a server and a customer.

On the contrary, if you love a serving job, please keep doing your great job without expecting tipping. If you offer great service from your true kindness, a customer will be willing to offer the same amount of positive energy in return, as in the form of generous tipping. In this case, it is beneficial for both parties of a server and a customer due to a fair energy exchange.  

My desire is to make this world a better one. It can be achieved by everybody in this world. Everybody can contribute with their small daily basis efforts. One of such small efforts is to choose the job that we love.

Finding out where you love the current job or not is easy. Pay attention to your gut feeling. Before going for work, if you feel heavy in your gut area, then you don’t love the job. Please ask yourself. Search deep within you regarding what you love. If you feel good about going for work, you are on the right truck. Please keep on your great job.

When each single one of us keeps our vibration high (aka, stay being happy), we really contribute to making a better world. This is my sincere desire to make it happen.  

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

I made my homemade miso. It was my very first time. I always wanted to try it making, but I thought it would be difficult. Today I finally took a leap and tried it.

In my childhood days, our house was located in front of a rice store. With the help of the rice store neighbor, my mom used to make homemade miso as well as amazake. I remember I liked the fragrance of making these at home.

Although miso is originally made from soy beans, nowadays many people share their experiences and recipes making miso from other beans. Since I cannot buy soy beans from the local store, I made my first homemade miso from black beans.

As a trial, I made with a small sized ingredients. I boiled 300g black beans with a slow cooker and mashed the beans. I mixed well of 300g koji (fermented rice) and 150g salt by hand. I combined the mashed beans and the mixture of koji and salt. After I put it in a container, I sealed the top with some extra salt to prevent being molded.

My daughter asked me to cook miso soup with my homemade miso. I told her to wait for at least nine more months. She thought I was joking. No, I was not joking. Homemade miso takes nice to twelve months to be fermented. The duration may vary depending on the location. Since my area stays warm and hot in temperature, it might be ready earlier than in Japan. 

I look forward to my homemade miso will be ready to eat nine months from now on.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Yesterday and today for two nightｓ in a row, I dreamed about my dad.

In yesterday’s dream, my dad has already passed away. I was informed by my family several days after his funeral. I could stay calm when I was informed of his death. In a way, I was happy that I did not attend his funeral. It might sound like I am very cold-hearted person. But the truth is if I attend his funeral, I probably won’t be able to even stand up. I will keep on crying for him.

My dad and I are close. He is very wise and knowledgeable person whom I can always count on. He taught me a lot about the tips on living peacefully with others. The first and the last person whom I can fully trust and ask for advice was my dad. He never got emotional. He always stayed calm and listen to me carefully. Then he would give me advice. His advice was to the point. He would always add extra bonus to me. Every time he would tell me he was proud of me. He often told me all the good stuff about me, such as I am intelligent and I am specially gifted. With his encouragement and trust on me, I could survive my tough younger days.

When I woke up from the dream, I emailed my mom asking how they were doing. She mentioned about my dad recently fell down unconsciously twice, but now he is on the recovery.

Then, in today’s dream, my dad and I were climbing up the steep uphill. I was holding my dad’s hand and leading him the way. From time to time, I encouraged him to keep on moving his hands and legs. Finally we reached the top of the steep hill together. There, we were welcomed warmly by our family spirits.  

Then I woke up.

I felt this dream indicated my dad’s will. I feel he decided to live longer and his family spirits respected and agreed his will.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

These months, February and March, are the entrance exam season for certain graders in Japan. I experienced this season twice when entering to high school and university. Both two years were stressful years. I don’t want to experience these again any more.

I grew up in a family who values the higher education. I felt I was in a constant competition. The competition was both in school and family.

I was a constant loser in the family competition regarding studying. My brother was a constant winner.

My brother was born smart. I never saw him studying at home. I mean it. Never. After school he would always engaged himself with something fun. The majority of hisclassmates attended at the private cram schools after school, he never went to a cram school. He would take good scores in tests in school no matter what. He easily passed the entrance exam at the highest leveled high school in our area. I don’t think he ever felt stress regarding studying. He already had all the knowledge, I guess.

As for me, I somehow managed to pass the entrance exam at the high school of the third from the top. I was far away from my brother’s smartness. I had felt stress regarding studying. I made efforts in memorizing. At least, I spent lots of time studying.

While I was young, I was not matured enough to decide my own way of life. My parents suggested me to go to the higher leveled high school and the higher leveled university. So I just followed their suggestion without thinking much.

If I were smart enough to know myself in my youth days, I would choose to learn something more specific, such as massage therapy or cooking, or even art.

Based on my experience, I want to be open for my daughter about her options. I don’t put much emphasize on higher educations. Rather, I want her to be open to discover her unknown abilities and possibilities. In my personal opinion, higher education is not the only option. It suits to certain people, but to everyone. Everyone deserves to discover their unknown abilities and possibilities.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

This morning I had a dream of my Japanese friend. She and her daughter visited us at our house. We went for a picnic with our homemade bento (Japanese lunch in a box).

When I woke up from my dream, I thought it would come true soon. My dream was very vivid and everything seemed to be so real in detailed.

After I came back from the bus stop, I checked my emails. I received an email from the friend. She mentioned about visiting us in this summer or next summer.

When I read her email, I was not surprised. I thought to myself; yes, I was informed already.

I like this kind of wonderful synchronicity.

I often experience things in my dream beforehand. It is like a rehearsal for the real life. My etheric body always goes before me.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪