I am from western Japan. In western Japan, we have a typical greeting.

When we see somebody, we ask the person, “儲かりまっか？”, then the person replies “ぼちぼちでんな”.

This conversation can be translated as “How is your business going?” “It is going”. It sounds like talking about business (making money), but I believe this conversation has deeper meanings.

We say “it is going”, but we don’t say “going well” nor “going bad”. I think it is Japanese ancestors’ wisdom. Almost similar to the topic that I wrote yesterday. It is about moderate level. Not too good or not too bad. It is going. And I believe, as long as it is in progress, it’s great.

This reminds me of another common way of thinking of Japanese people. On the New Year’s Day, it is our custom to visit the local shrine to greet to the local god. We appreciate for their support for the land and the people. Also, we draw a written fortune (O-mikuji in Japanese) to learn our fortune for the new year. There are seven different fortunes. 大吉, 吉,中吉, 小吉, 末吉, 凶, 大凶. Starting from the best fortune (dai-kichi, 大吉) and ending at the least fortune (dai-kyo, 大凶).

I heard many elders saying that the middle one, 中吉, is the best. Because it is not too good or not too bad.

I believe O-mikuji is not just to check your fortune but to receive the tip to live a daily life with the harmony with other people and surrounding environment. If you draw the best luck, it means everything is going well for you, so you should keep sharing your good luck with others; family members, relatives, and friends. On the other hand, if you draw the least luck, it does not mean it is the end of the world. It means you should pay more close attention on what you say and what you think. When you don’t have much good luck, all you need to do is to make some efforts to draw good luck.

Also, I believe it is Japanese culture, which is based on our ancestors’ agricultural culture, to share with others. When somebody has more than others, the person is supposed to share the excess one to somebody who does not have. We can receive it with appreciation. Then, next time when we have excess, we can share the excess with others.

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Today I was chatting with a Japanese elder woman. After our conversation, I became loving her of her humble life style. I was amazed that she preserves the Japanese traditions even though she has lived in America for more than 60 years.

If somebody asks me to describe about her, one word “humble” really fits her. I think it is awesome. I wish somebody will describe about me in the same way. I would like to live my life in a humble way as she does.

The Japanese traditions that she preserves every day are based on simple and humble life. When I was small, I was told some tips to live simple and happy life by many adults. The tips are to keep clean at the house entrance area. The house entrance is the place where other new energy comes into our house. We want to have nothing but good and pure energy to come in to our house. That is why we keep our house entrance area clean. We sweep dirt off and wipe dust off our entrance area. Our cleaning process is like our prayer for ourselves and our loved ones who live in the house.

Regardless of her old age, she is in a healthy state. She does not take any medications. Her face skin looks shiny with pinkish warmth. I asked her how she could maintain her good health. She said she maintains everything in a moderate amount. Even when she was young, she never went too far in her eating or drinking amount.

I thought this is a great lesson. When we eat something, especially the food that tastes good, we want to have more. If we eat more and more, eventually we cross the border line that we will never appreciate the taste anymore. Overeating will affect each of our organs.

However, if we always eat in a moderate amount, we appreciate the taste of every food that we eat. And each of our organs can function properly.         

Maintaining a moderate amount can be applied to everything in a daily life. We can do so for the time for watching a television, the frequency of having a lunch at restaurant, or the time for talking on the phone with your friend. When we keep them at the moderate level, we will never get bored. We can always appreciate them.

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When I was in my 20s, my dad told me to go see a doctor a diabetes checkup. I didn’t see any symptoms for diabetes and I was reluctant to go to the hospital. But my dad insisted. He loves me and he wanted me to prevent any unpleasant experiences that my father had from his diabetes. So I went to see a doctor and had a diabetes checkup. The test result showed my glucose level was within normal range. 

With my health checkup result, the doctor came into the room and we had a small conversation. I became liking the doctor instantly. He had a calm smile on his face and greeted me.

He asked me if I felt myself healthy or not. I answered “Yes I feel I am totally healthy.” Then his second question was why I decided to have the checkup for diabetes. I answered “because my dad insisted.” My dad was told that diabetes is a generational disease and it passes down to children and grandchildren inevitably.

Then the doctor faced to me in his serious face and kind of whispered to me. He told me like this. He did not believe diabetes was generational disease. He thought it wrong as a doctor to scare patients. It is like imprinting fear to the patient and the fear will bring disease.

And he said “病は気から”. (Yamai wa Ki kara). It is Japanese old saying. It means “your mind controls your health.”

He warned me to be careful for health checkup. Even though he is a doctor, he is against of having a health checkup every year. He believes people pay attention to find something bad in a health checkup and it can be dangerous. Once people find something bad, then disease will start from there.

He told me to focus on my good health, and not to scare of upcoming disease that has not come to me yet. I thought what he said was philosophical. What he said was “Focus on now, don’t worry about future.” So, as long as we focus on our good health and appreciate it, we won’t create disease. Our thoughts create the reality.

The doctor told me “Don’t come see me again, because you are totally healthy.” I replied to him “I definitely won’t. I don’t need to see you again, because I am healthy.” We laughed together out loud.

This experience was long time ago, but I still remember our laughter together. I appreciate this doctor for his great tip about good health.

In a daily life, we tend to forget this. We tend to be influenced by what the society tells. Regardless of what the society tells or ordinary doctors tell, the important thing for us is trust our own vital energy. As long as we believe we are in a good health, our mind creates good health.  

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Today was valentine day. It supposed to an expressing love day. However, I was surrounded by harsh energy here and there all day today. I wonder why. Did anybody feel the same way as I did?

In the morning I went to the interview and found out the discrepancy of the offered pay rate. It dropped to half price. I couldn’t mention it was different from what I heard. I didn’t have courage to say it.

Then I had a lunch with the new people at the restaurant. I wanted to turn it down the offer because I don’t like eat at the restaurant, but I could not say that. All the experiences at the restaurant were not fun at all. The restaurant owner told me “the food doesn’t taste good, right?” At first, I thought she was joking. But she told me the same thing twice with a serious face. She was not joking. She meant what she said. I still don’t understand the restaurant owner says such thing to the customer? What was her intention? I totally don’t get it. And most importantly I don’t like the comment about the food that I was eating.

One of us didn’t get her food after 1 hour waiting. We found out her ordered food was completely forgotten. The waitress was unbelievably rude. The waitress blamed her that she didn’t order clearly. But I heard she ordered cleary. No apology at all. I just wanted to yell back to her “what is wrong with you?” but I didn’t.

In the evening, when I went to the bus stop, I encountered another turbulence. One girl came out from the bus crying. She was sad because nobody gave her a valentine card although everybody else except for her received valentine gifts from classmates. The other boy who lives on the same street of ours was furious for his brother. He kept on complaining about his brother all the way back to our house. I wanted to tell him to stop talking about that to me. I wanted to talk to my daughter. I wanted to ask her how her day was. It was not pleasant to hear the other boy’s complaint. But I could not ask him to stop.

Now I am writing this article thinking back about today. I take today’s uncomfortable experiences as lessons. Today, in each scene, I could have chosen the better option. I didn’t feel like eating out at the restaurant, so I should have chosen the option not to go to the restaurant. And I should have asked the boy to let me talk to my daughter. Whenever I don’t feel comfortable, I should stand up for myself. Before I say anything, I should take a deep breath in and out, and connect to my inner peace. Then I should be able to find the best option to turn down or voice out, not in a harsh way but in a peaceful way.

So, today I learned the importance of connecting to my inner peace and selecting the better option in every moment. I will live better tomorrow. I will select the better option at any scene to protect myself.

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I just experienced an interesting synchronicity. Two days ago, I asked my friend for advice regarding the pain on my left shoulder, arm, and wrist. She recommended me about Tapping. And this morning, Hay House sent out the tapping mediation video, so I did the tapping meditation.

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is the psychological acupressure technique. It is derived from acupuncture, but EFT tapping does not use needles. EFT Tapping uses fingertips and gently stimulates meridians to release energy blockages and negative emotions. And not to mention, it regains the natural energy flow.

Tapping definitely helped me. I shed lots of tears. My memories flooded into me. It was great opportunity to heal the fear emotion.

During the meditation, I noticed the root cause of my overwhelming feeling. My soul believes, when I speak up the right thing in public, bad people will take away my loved one (my family) from me. I experienced similar traumatic life events many times, not in this lifetime, but in previous lifetimes.

Although I know it won’t happen in this lifetime, my soul remembers the hurt. I think that is why I pretend being shy, even though I am not originally shy. I am in a way trying to be invisible from people for my safety and my family’s safety.

I admit that I am scared of being in public and having my voice to be heard. Maybe this is the reason of the pain in my left shoulder, arm, and wrist. My friend mentioned the pain on the left side can mean I am receiving but not processing it out. I thought about my fear about sharing the messages and visions that I have received so far.

My ego filters them to the folder of “not safe to be shared in public” and hides the folder deep inside.

I will keep on the Tapping to heal myself and to release my fear.  

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Normally I don’t pay much attention to the world news especially to sad one, as I don’t want to get caught in concerning about something that I cannot do anything for. However, regardless of my small efforts, while living in a daily life, sad news and unpleasant information inevitably come in from someone somewhat. If you are like me, you probably feel that way too, right?

Nowadays there seem to be more and more movements and actions to make people hate one another. I feel somebody or some group have been manipulating or guiding people to bring hatred one another. The current situation is getting similar to that of before world war.

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer shared the story of his childhood days in his audio lecture The Secrets of an Inspirational (In-Spirit) Life. His story resonated with me well, and I wanted to share with you.

When he was small, one of his baseball team members didn’t like the fluff of a dandelion. So, he beat them up with a baseball bat hoping to get rid of them. However, on the next year, there were more dandelions in a wider area because the boy scattered the seeds to wider area.

Dr. Wayne used this example to teach us a lesson. When people want to get rid of something from their hatred feeling, such as in war by killing people or destroying countries, actions based on hatred (which are seeds of hatred) will just spread around even to a wider area. Hatred will attract more hatred. It gets worse and bigger, and comes back to the original person who sends out the hatred feeling and action.

I agree with him. We have to shift from hatred to love, from war to peace.

I strongly believe that world peace is achievable only if each of us works on it. Each of our action and thought matters to it. Nobody cannot be just an observer. We are all involved.

In every moment, we are equally given an opportunity to choose. Is your action or thought a seed of hatred or a seed of love? If you notice it is a seed of hatred, let’s shift it to a seed of love intentionally.                    

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Today I went in the sauna at the gym. I was the only one in the room and I could enjoy my relaxing time sweating a lot. It was so comfortable. After sweating a lot, I felt refreshed and detoxed. I really hope I will have my own private sauna room in my house in the near future.

Going in a sauna reminds me of a Native American’s sweat lodge ceremony. My debut to a sweat lodge attendance was when I was 29 at Navajo land. My female Navajo friend conducted the female sweat lodge and I was invited. It was very mild and not tough at all.

My second one was in Okayama Japan. The Japanese man conducted it in a Lakota way. It was very, very hot. Some of the songs that they sang, even though it was my very first time to hear the songs, were somewhat familiar to me. I burst into tears as my soul shone with happiness.

From the third, I lost count. I have been blessed to be able to attend some in Navajo land and in Lakota land.

My best memory of sweat lodge ceremony was one that I had in Lakota land. I was the age of 35. I helped the Japanese tour customer as an interpreter.

During the ceremony, I was somewhere in between the material world and the spirit world. I could see myself as in spirit and communicated with my family souls freely. I saw the blight and shining blue energy in front of me. I knew somewhat it was myself. My soul. My spirit. I don’t know which term is correct. Maybe my spirit.

My family souls told me messages one by one. The message were like this.

“You are the chosen one.” “You are the divine messenger.” “Be confident in yourself.” “We are enjoying everything with you, through you.” “Everything is going as we planned, so stop worrying, be happy.”

These messages can be applied to everybody. YOU are the divine one and chosen one too. Please be confident in you.

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A great news came up to me this morning. One of my Ki Gong classmates introduced me a Japanese elder who needs a little help. I talked to the Japanese woman on the phone. She speaks a very little English but is fluent in Japanese. She sounded very excited to meeting me. I am excited to meeting her too.

After I hung up the phone, I noticed that I was in a very happy state. Because I could speak my own language with her.

Even it is my 9th year living in America and using English on a daily basis, my mother tongue is Japanese and I am still comfortable speaking and listening my own language. This fact will not change for the entire of my life.

When I comes to my mother tongue, I can do two or three different things simultaneously. For example, while I am talking on the phone, I can still read a magazine article and listen to somebody talking behind the scene. However, when it comes to English, which is my foreign language, I need to focus on only one thing. When I speak on the phone, I cannot do anything else beside the conversation on the phone.

Most people take it for granted that they live in a place where they are surrounded by their mother tongue, but it is actually very blessing thing. If it applies to you, you should feel yourself as a very lucky person just for that.

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Yesterday I listened to the audio lecture of Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. He mentioned his routine that he naturally woke up at 3:13 am and devoted the sacred morning time to write his book. In this lecture, he mentioned that the morning time of 3am to 4am is the divine time. It is the time when the majority of people are asleep. Also it is the best time to communicate with God.

He recommended the students if you wake up between this time; 3 am to 4 am, consider this as a calling from God. In this case, utilize this divine time for something that you have sign up for, before you were born. He lovingly warned that if you are awaken naturally between 3 am and 4 am, don’t just go pee and come back to bed and back to sleep. Instead, get up from bed and listen to God. Meditate or write a book, or something you think it divine.

Then, here it goes. I woke up at 3:45 for some reason this morning. I naturally took a look of the time, so I remember the time. However, I completely forgot about Dr. Wayne’s message. I went to bathroom and came back to bed and back to asleep.

When I fully woke up at 6 am, my conscious was back, and I thought “Oops!!” It might be the calling from God. If so, I was supposed to get up and write.

Oh well, maybe next time. I will try to remember his suggestion and get up and use the quiet time for writing.  

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This morning I had a dream of myself being a pupa. Before I woke up, my family souls told me to remember this dream. I am at the pupa stage. Last year, I had a dream of myself being a caterpillar. Considering that, I am in a progress to transform to a beautiful butterfly, and the time for me to become a butterfly is really coming closer.

So, I think the message for today is like this.

You are doing well. Keep going. You start seeing the goal clearly. It is little bit further and you need little bit more efforts to put into your daily actions. Trust you can achieve the goal. Feel assured that you are in the right track.

I think this message can be applied to everybody. When we set a certain goal, we go through the process of a life cycle of complete metamorphosis just like a butterfly goes through. When you are the stage of a caterpillar and pupa, you might need being patient on achieving enough nutrition that body needs for a transformation for the time being. In this stage, trust yourself and your own strength, you can wait for a glorious day in achieving the goal.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪