I saw a documentary about Seymour Bernstein who was a pianist. And his impactful words and his lace-like piano sound touched my heart. I was especially impressed by these following words: “I remember I became aware when practice went well, everything in life seemed harmonized. When it didn’t, I was out of sorts. The real essence of who we are resides in our talent, whatever that talent is.”

When he felt that he was satisfied with being a pianist, he decided to quit and started to live as a piano teacher. I thought that such a way of living was something I should pursue.

I could feel the love he had for discipline was his way of living. Sometimes amateurs start something which they love. But professionals try to transcend love for their job, so they think that discipline is important and pushes them. Discipline is essentially different from punishment. Because discipline comes from inside of us.

And also I think that we don’t have love in us. Love is like the air. When we love something, it is like being wrapped in air which is called love by us. It is mostly the same as wrapping a gift. So we cannot rely on that. But discipline holds us like the arms of a father. It is more reliable and realistic.

Do you have any ideal vision which you want to pursue as a human?

初出：2019年9月29日

今回もゲリラ投稿です。（新しい記事の意味です）

クレジットカードの明細など、請求書の明細を見るのが怖いと「私はお金が苦手なのかも」「これからお金で苦労したらどうしよう」と、お金の前で無力な気がして、妄想が膨らみやすいかもしれません。

そういう方は「5,000円でやりくりして」「14時までに仕上げよう」のように、限度があると、自由を奪われたような感覚になるから「せめて自分のお金くらい」と使っていたら、請求書の明細を見ると、驚くようになったのかもしれません。

そんなみなさんに、朗報です。限度を決めて何かに取り組むと、あなたの意思が強くなります。立派な脳トレの一つで、脳のとある部分がメキメキ成長します。

もしそれで、どこか嬉しくなったなら、これからは予算という限度を持って生活できるでしょう。予算を決めて、予算内に収めようとすると、いずれ「計算しないでカゴに商品を入れていたのに、全部で4,951円！5,000円の予算内だった」となっていきます。そして、必要に応じて、予算を上げたり下げられるようになります。だから、予算に縛られなくなります。

「請求がこわい」「お金が苦手」という方は、予算組みしましょう！「一番不透明な食費だけ、予算を決めよう」「カード払いの今月の予算は、〜円」のように、小さく始めるのがコツです。そうして、自分の脳を成長させてあげましょう。

冷静になればわかると思いますが、予算なしの感覚だけで「これくらいなら大丈夫」ラインを狙っていれば、そのギャンブル感に驚いたりこわくなって、当然です。ガソリンの量を確認せずに、秘境の地へドライブに行きますか？

I have been annoyed by noisy and stinking neighbors for three months. And also this year my area was often covered with a photochemical oxidant. So I was in a hard situation.

But when I went to an ophthalmologist this May, my longtime primary care doctor told me that surprisingly my allergy had gone. She was astonished at it and she recommended me to write a book on how I recovered from my allergy. She told me that she couldn’t explain it medically.

I didn’t try to recover from hay fever. So actually I don’t know how I made it happen again. But at least, I always strived to reveal wholeness in me or in someone. So I think my passion for wholeness kicked away my allergy.

初出:2019年5月23日

I have used essential oils for almost 20 years in my daily life. I have preferred mild ones like neroli for a long time. But this June I instinctively bought rosemary and cedar oil. They are strong especially for our skin. I decided to mix them a little bit into my shampoo and hair conditioner. Both promote blood circulation in your scalp and make your hair healthier. They made me feel refreshed as if I got a scalp massage.

And also both are bug repellents. Aromatherapists often recommend basil to clean my home because it purifies the air and the energy in the room. But basil attracts some bugs. What is more, when I used it in my room, I felt that I was living in an Italian kitchen. So I stopped using basil for cleaning.

I tried cedar and rosemary for cleaning. Rosemary helps with concentration. Cedar prevents respiratory infections. I thought that this did help me with concentration and respiration, and it repelled bugs during the rainy season.

I am becoming familiar with other kinds of strong essential oils. I am looking forward to being supported by them this coming summer.

初出：2015年7月5日

I bought 20kg of zeolite. Because my neighbors use fabric softener which lasts longer than perfume and because they also smoke, I need to absorb it somehow while I use an air conditioner for summer.

Most air conditioners don’t circulate air from outside to inside. But according to the manufacturer of my air conditioner, there is a possibility that I get air from outside through the drain hose. The strong and long-lasting smell of softeners are toxic to the neural system. It includes addictive ingredients which are the same as illegal and psychotropic drugs. So I don’t want to breathe it in.

Before buying 20kg of zeolite, I used 2kg of activated carbon to absorb volatile organic compounds. It helped me, but I found an air purifier which uses zeolite to clean the air. That’s why I though I should use zeolite instead of carbon. It is strange to see 20kg of zeolite in my room. But anyway I hope it works. We need clean air.

初出:2019年5月22日

In Kyoto, the temperature dropped below zero on the second week of March. We had unseasonable snow as if the season was rewinded. And in the following week, temperature reached over 20℃.　The temperature difference of a day was almost 15℃. And such things are happening all over the world.

Riding the roller coaster of temperatures may keep you from feeling even keel. In such a case, the concept of Yin and Yang will help you to choose right.

On a sudden warm day, there is more yang than ying energy. So we need to add ying energy or diminish yang energy. To add yin energy, slowing down, meditation, staying indoors and stretching at night time will work for you. For example, to reduce yang energy, instead of reading books in a sitting position, read books with laying down on the sofa.

On a sudden cold day, there is more yin than yang energy. So we need to add yang energy or reduce yin energy. To add yang energy, do a heavy workout rather than yoga in the morning, drink regular tea rather than spiced tea and go outside. For example, to decrease yin energy, please read books in a sitting positon and have some conversations about that book.

Basically yang energy helps us to do something speedy and move forward. Yin energy helpes us to feel spacious and deepen ourselves.

On a day which is filled with yang energy, you can be productive. On a day which is filled with yin energy, you can cherish who you are and how you are. Both are equally important for us.

If you can use those two different energies appropriately, you don’t need to be afraid of the roller coaster of temperatures. Just use it to be happier!

初出：2015年3月24日

I do house cleaning every month. And I think that you will especially benefit from spring cleaning because our body is usually covered in coldness during winter. Cleaning is a good exercise to awaken and stimulate our body in a healthy way.

Our body is shifting to a spring one now. In each season, different internal organs play a main role in detoxification. In spring, the liver and the gallbladder lead detoxification.

If you drink or eat too much, your liver and gallbladder cannot concentrate on spring detoxification. You give extra work for your liver and gallbladder. You hinder their most important work.

If you have a low appetite and don’t drink, your liver and gallbladder can concentrate on spring detoxification, because you do not sabotage their functions. And even so, it will be easier to feel frustration and anger than in other seasons.

Even if you don’t hinder your liver and gallbladder, they have a lot of tasks during the spring. The liver and gallbladder are deeply related to frustration, upset and anger. Metaphorically speaking, our liver and gallbladder feel easily overwhelmed.

In other words, spring helps us to face our hidden frustrations, unseen upsets and cover anger. You will be released from those emotions and take their energy back as a part of you. For that, sometimes light body work or physical movement work like cleaning.

I recommend wiping walls and ceilings as we do before moving day. If you have lived in your current home for many years and haven’t wiped them, you will be astonished by the dirtiness. And you will feel satisfied.

Please enjoy your spring cleaning in your house and in your body.

初出：2015年3月9日

This year I started to pay attention to the ground while walking. And I was amazed at how much the ground was filled with flowers.

This autumn, I realized that I could find garlic chives everywhere, even in parking lots. Or at least it looked like garlic chives. But was I right? This question was my starting point to be passionate about field flowers.

One day, one of my friends shared an app which uses AI to identify the exact names of plants. So I downloaded it onto my iPhone while walking. I just needed to pass my iPhone camera over the plants.

I remember the first moment I used it, because it showed a lot of names one after another through my iPhone camera. I felt like Helen Keller. Suddenly I could know many names and those names opened a new world to me. Suddenly the ordinary became extraordinary.

And the plant which was similar to garlic chives was actually another kind of plant which we cannot eat. However I could find many medicinal plants near my house. And some of them were rare. I also find very toxic plants which are common here. And some leaves were used to make kimonos in ancient times. It is still used for making kimonos. That was surprising!

初出：2020年10月21日

Happy Valentine’s day！

Continue reading →

Do you feel that it is hard to tune your body under this climate change ? If so, it is helpful to train your iliposas. This muscle mainly works for flexing hip joint and anteflexing spine.

Especially after passing therties iliopsoas starts to become weak. If we have weak iliopoas, automatically our gluteus maximus starts to become weak. So we easily have a sagging butt and slight stoop. And we suffer from sensitivity to cold temperatures.

To train iliopsoas, easy and famous two ways are as follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbg5QpjSMyQ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1f4swCZMzw.

If you get strong iliopsoas, you will feel as if winter is more freindly to you than before. Our body is clever. We just need to awaken that cleverness with small effort.

初出：2014年12月23日

Do you know that you already have a natural corset in your body? Your transverse abdominal muscles are your natural corset.

If you feel that your transverse abdominal muscles are tight like an armored warrior, please try the triangle pose in Hatha Yoga. This pose helps your backbone release from gravity, so your transverse abdominal muscles will also release from being an armored warrior. You will feel longer than before between the pelvis and the rib cage.

If you want to have good posture, please use your natural corset. This also helps to decrease lower back pain.

初出：2015年1月30日

The effect of PM2.5 is serious in western Japan. When I moved to Kyoto, the spring haze on the mountains was so beautiful. Japanese bush warblers sang in operatic voices. I was usually wrenched from sleep by their loud voices before the alarm clock went on.

But only after five years, sometimes I cannot see the mountains because of PM2.5. Japanese bush warblers sing in smaller voices than before as if they have smaller lungs. Now, I strain to hear their voices. I guess that they naturally suppress their breathing to save their body from dirty air.I involuntarily keep my laundry inside. And I change how and when I do the laundry. It disrupted my daily habits like a domino effect. There is the sun and wind just outside, but it feels far away.

When the level of PM2.5 is low, usually it means rain or snow. But amazingly, these last two days have had a low level of PM2.5 and almost always sunny. I could happily put my futon outside.  I could wash my big blankets, carpets and many other things because the sun and wind can make it dry quickly. I was so happy.

I knew that some plants like sansevieria can decontaminate chemicals such as formaldehyde. And I found on Google, some curtains with similar functions. I have a big Blueair, which is a good, famous air purifier, in my room. I know they work. But it is not enough for all livings to inhale and exhale healthily.

We definitely need clean air. And for that we need to shift our lifestyle to one which is good for all plants and animals. Because none of us can live without breathing. This year I have supported some activities to clean up air. We must act more.

初出：2015年3月29日

Few weeks ago, I saw a documentary of wolves “Living with Wolves”.  Three years ago,a photo of extinct wolves by human activities caught my heart. Since then, wolves has been a special exisistence for me. I respect them and admire them. Their existence sometimes encourage me to live on this dirty gray Earth which is totally far away from blue planet as this photo by Japan Meterological Agency’s Himawari-8 satelite. Blue planet is our ideal and unfact vision of the Earth.

quote from: dailymail.co.uk

“Living with Wolves” shows us how we can build a healthy relationship between wolves and us. Also this reminds us to remeber a natural life rythm like living with sunrise and sleeping with sunset. Artificial separation creates lots of diseases, fears and anxiety. It pushes us to forget our humanity. We need to remember that who we are ,as a part of the Earth.

Let’s change our lifestyle to the one which does not disturb Earth rhythm. Let’s have some clear distance from anthropocentric living way. When we centered our humanity in our life, naturally we will be back to the life which harmonize with the Earth and other living things including wolves.

We humans also have such a beauty way the same as wolves in this documentay. We need to go back to be human from chunk of greed.

初出：2015年1月16日

When I was a child, I needed a camera to take photos, I needed a CD player to listen to music, I needed a ruler to know the length of something . Each of them exists for one purpose. So we needed to switch our consciousness to go to the next thing without missing a beat. It helped us to decide whether we liked something or not rather than whether we could make something or not.

Now I need only one device like an iPhone to take photos, listen to music and measure. I realized that the feeling that I could do many thiings at once with my hands deprived me of aliveness or life force. Because everything starts to be treated as data. So the world changed from a sphere to pixels. It is like eating chicken soup in separate parts, like carrots first and chicken broth second. In that way, I don’t savor chicken soup in a harmonized way. It is the same as only seeing broken up pixels instead of seeing one picture.

One day I determined to graduate from the pixelated world. For example, I will listen to music as music not data. I want to enjoy music as a whole not as disassembled parts. At least when I was a child, many musicians paid attention to not only to the music but also to the jacket or liner. So I could imagine its music from the liner notes and its work consistently had a clear intention. And feeling the musician’s intention sometimes helped me to go forward. But only streaming digitized music cannot make it.

So I bought a CD player and stopped copying music from a CD to iTunes. Each time I listen to music, I feel like bowing to that musician. They poured their passion into the music, so it is worth bowing to. This also helps me to take back dignity in my whole life. I received conveniences from data, but it is not my future, it is my past.

初出:2019年1月14日

I have worn outfits by Petit Bateau of France often for over 20 years. Their philosophy is to never be out of fashion. Their lines are always simple, precise and beautiful. They keep their shape well despite repeated cleaning.

When I was in my early twenties, I poured my energy into being in better shape. I endured 90 minute workouts three days in a week. I tolerated drinking strawberry-flavored protein drinks, too. I loved to dressed down in a simple t-shirt and skinny jeans paired with stiletto pumps. I tried to fit into that kind of style.

And I found out that it was impossible to wear “12 ans” size shirts. I wore a Japanese size 7 or 9. But “12 ans” was too small for me. To wear “12 ans”, I would have needed to compress my skeleton.

Many years passed after that and I forgot all about it. I loved my natural body. I discovered yoga and Pilates were suitable for my body. I learned that I didn’t need to control my body based on my preconceptions. I just started to love who I was and to love my body. I started to respect my body.

Two years ago, I learned how to take back subtlety in my body while practicing shamanic training. I have continued my efforts since then. Last autumn, I started to feel that “14 ans” was too big for me. This winter I really felt that they were baggy. Finally, I was determined to wear “12ans” which had been too small for me.

But amazingly I could fit into it and it was the right size. Now I never hanker after wearing a small size like “12 ans.” But now “12 ans” is my size, as if my subconscious never give up fulfilling my wishes.

Sometimes we say, you have to let go of something to get it. It happened to me for some reason. Anyway, I have a “12 ans” body now.

初出：2015年3月6日

When you were a child, who did you aspire to be like?

I remember at least two people who I aspired to be like.  One was Kukai. He lived between the 8th and 9th Centuries during the Nara and Heian Period. Another one was Seishonagon. She lived between the 10th and 11th Centuries, also during the Heian Period.  In this post, I will focus on the fomer one.

According to many history books, Kukai was talented, worldly, strategic and eccentric. He is known as the originator of Shingon Buddhism. He is also known as one of the three best Japanese calligraphers. I learned in elementary school that he repaired a big reservoir.

His name means sky and sea. When he reached enlightenment in his twenties, there was only sky and sea around him. So he decided to name himself Kukai.

Kukai was born in Kagawa Prefecture and moved to Kyoto to go to a university. Amazingly, there was a university system which was similar to the current university system. During this time he lived and studied near my current home. When I moved to current my home, I had forgotten this fact. But now I remember it, and that made me wonder.

When he was thirty, he was chosen as an envoy to China.  Chinese records say that his Chinese was very fluent. It’s a mystery why he was chosen to be an envoy.  But it reveals that he was a strategic and eccentric person.

When I was an elementary school student, I did not know why I aspired to be like him. But now I know.  His faces,  worldly, strategic and eccentric, are my faces, too. I unconsciously knew it, so I aspired to be like him. Now he often inspires me. His life give me some hints on how I should live.

Who inspires you?

初出：2015年2月12日

Do you know that your big toes have seven pressure points corresponding to your head, nose and neck?

On the big toe, the area which faces the second toe between the interpharangeal joint and the metatarsopharangeal joint is for the neck. If you have some kind of neck pain, please massage this part gently.

The area facing away from the other toes, which is on the interpharangeal joint is for the nose. For improving hay fever, massaging this point will help you.

Other places in your big toe is all about your head except the ears and eyes. Pressure points of the ears and eyes are on other toes.

I think that most people think too much. While you are taking a bath in a bathtub, please massage your big toes gently and precisely every day. It reduces your headache problem, too.

These are simplified instructions. It’s actually a lot more complex. But I think that the first steps should be easy. So I won’t write those things. If you try it over one week every day, you will feel that massaging your big toes is helpful. In that case, you will seek the next steps by yourself.

There are many books and a lot of infomation on the internet. Your curiosity will guide you to the second step smoothly. Anyway, mesasge your big toes everyday.

初出：2015年2月4日

Do you know where your sacrum is? It exists vertically between the coccyx and the lumbar region. Horizontally, it exists between the ilium bones and connected to the sacroiliac joints.

According to my experience, many coaching clients believed that the pelvis is made of one big bone. The facts are contrary to that image. The pelvis is made of many bones including the sacrum, the ilium bones, the sit bones, and the pubis.

Above all, you need to be conscious of your sacrum in your pelvis. For example, the second sacral vertebra of the sacrum is the key point for tuning women’s bodies. If you are a woman, tuning the second sacral helps to decrease your stress.

To decrease the effect of a burn injury, the second sacral vertebra of the sacrum is also a vital spot. The whole sacrum is deeply related to the genitals.

Before asking others about your body, please be conscious of it. You may tune your body by yourself to some extent. You will be amazed at that experience.

初出：2015年1月18日

What I will write will make you feel like it’s a dream. But I am sure that everyone can experience it if you make a long-term effort to take back subtlety into your body patiently and humbly.

After you take back subtlety into your body, you can experience a vertical time travel by just standing on the ground or staying in some space. It is very similar to old Italian buildings. Some old Italian buildings were made in different eras, like Roman times, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance Period the same as sections of layer cake.

We have dreamed of time travel for a long time, like time machines in comic books. But we can time travel without a time machine. And if you experience it, it’s not an easy experience. It is not so interesting and fun as it is tough and challenging.

Just a few of my clients have successfully approached this level because of their continuous sincere effort. If you truly can commit to it, I would be happy to coach you. You will start to take back subtlety into your body, and someday you will experience a true vertical time travel.

初出：2015年1月28日

Some of you change your daily rhythms during the long winter vacation. If so, you struggle to get back into your normal life rhythm. Neroli essential oil can support you in regulating your life.

Neroli essential oil has been historically known as an ingredient of perfumes and expensive cosmetics. It is also know as a rejuvenative oil.

In addition, neroli tunes your sympathetic nervous system. So it helps to regulate your rhythm like when you recover from jet lag.

Sometimes neroli is called a natural tranquilzer. When you feel that you lose your mental balance, this also helps you.

Many plants help us as neroli does. We need to act correctly for the Earth to co-exist with plants. And for that use neroli essential oil can be your first step to get back into your nomal life and work in a better way for the Earth.

初出：2015年1月12日

Although life expectancy has increased, the age at which people reach menopause has not changed. And as you know, when women reach menopause, estrogen production decreases.

This leads to a decrease in muscle strength. In addition, some tight fascia can prevent the pelvic floor muscle group from working well. In this case, myofascial release can help.

In addition, the diaphragm and pelvic floor muscle group work together. In other words, there is a close relationship between breathing and the movement of the pelvic floor musculature.

The pelvic floor musculature is composed of three layers. The most superficial layer is responsible for sexual functions such as vaginal tightening and erection. The innermost layer is responsible for controlling urination and defecation. Poor posture can result in poor control of urination and bowel movement. So, training the most superficial pelvic floor muscle group does not lead to better control of urination and bowel movement.

The composition of the pelvic floor musculature differs between men and women. In women, the pelvic floor musculature consists of twelve muscles. Men’s pelvic floor musculature consists of ten muscles. Since humans have become bipedal, our pelvic floor musculature is a collection of many muscles in the shape of a tunnel or dome.

Now that you know this, how do you feel? You will be impressed when you learn more about how your body works. If you try to be more curious about yourself, you will be more impressed in your daily life.

This month, I attended an online symposium on nature. Fishermen and hunters spoke vividly about their experiences. They inspired me. And a fisherman who lives on an island shared with us that garbage washes up on the island. It shocked me.

He lives on the island which is designated as a national park and is located right at the entrance to the bay. The island receives 3,000 tons of garbage a year, including dead animals and lighthouses. Immediately I imagined a lighthouse lying on the beach in the morning. What do you think of it?

And he said that when he caught the best lobsters, he no longer wanted to wholesale them to the market because he could no longer ignore the unpleasure of being converted into money. Instead, he chose to send them to hunters who live upstream from the river that flows into the bay. He thought it should be the best option worth the effort of getting the best lobsters. Likewise, when the hunters caught the best boar, they sent it to the fishermen. I could sense respect for each other’s work.

They showed the essence of living with a few simple words and a lovely smile. Living upstream of a river means living in the mountains. And living downstream of a river means living in the sea. Their choices underline the river between them rather than both mountains and seas.

Everything is interconnected. They behave as if they made sense of it. And it was a beautiful time for me.

I came up with ideas of writing a short story in English for my nephews as part of their Christmas gifts. Before, I have written short stories in Japanese for them as gifts several times.

When I get an idea, I act on it immediately. So I have already sent it to my nephews. However, I was concerned that I had only read a few children’s picture books in English. For example, I didn’t know what tense picture books use. I wrote them using the past tense. But should I have written them using the present tense?

So I went to a small, rural one-story library in my neighborhood. Surprisingly, there were English picture books. When I found the ‘Guri to Gura’ and the ‘Daruma-chan’ series in English, I couldn’t help smiling. They are among the most popular children’s books in Japan.

Anyway, I checked their tenses. It seemed that they used the present tense. The translations of onomatopoeic and mimetic words were also helpful. Above all, “Guri to Gura” and “Daruma-chan” which I read for the first time in decades, enriched my heart.

I had a fulfilling time as if it was my Christmas gift to myself. What kind of time do you feel as if you have been given a gift?

I am deeply grateful to the many people in Japan, USA, China, Ireland, Australia, Mexico, Hong Kong, Germany, and Ecuador who read this blog this year. I am delighted to have met you through this blog.

From that place of appreciation and joy, I looked back at blog posts this year and noted the top three which were loved by readers. Were any in the following list included among your favorites?

1. A Citizen, Nothing More, Nothing Less
2. Nuggets of Wisdom for Ears
3. If You Have Loved Ones Who Are Girls or Women

I hope that each of you is excited to see what the future has in store for you.  And I feel joy to start a new chapter of my life with you all in the coming year.

In the past few years, silicon scalp brushes, similar in appearance to the ”kenzan” used in Japanese flower arrangements, have become very popular in Japan. I have been using it as a pressure point-pushing product to promote blood circulation on my scalp.

One day, I felt a tugging sensation on the skin of my back, just behind my heart. I picked up that scalp brush without thinking and placed it between my back and the back of the tub. After a few minutes, the sensation disappeared. It helped to loosen up the places that myofascial release with a stretch pole would not have loosened up.

Another day, I made an error when I booked an online Pilates class as usual. Somehow I booked a Pilates class using stretch poles. Fortunately, I wanted to know more about myofascial release variations using the stretch pole. It was as if what I wanted had just fallen into my hands.

Now, what do the two stories above have in common? These two stories illustrate how the unconscious mind works. The unconscious mind makes happy choices for each of us that the conscious mind cannot come to mind. The unconscious mind works at two main times, as indicated above. One is when we start doing something without thinking. The other is when we make some errors.

Roller coaster weather has been the norm these days. And it has caused mosquitoes and horseflies in my area this November.

I shook the laundry on the balcony before taking it in. But every day, they came into my room. After a week, I came to admire their willingness to take any opportunity to survive. They valued their chances!

And December came. Watching Japan beat Spain in the World Cup reminded me of these bugs because they were good at seizing golden opportunities like bugs. Also, in my eyes, Japanese players seemed to live in the time and space they hoped for as if it were right there. It is what bugs can not do.  I thought they valued their future, too.

And now we are invited to have golden opportunities to live in the time and space each of us hoped for as if it is right there.  It is the most precious gift from the World Cup in Qatar. Don’t you think so?

When I moved to this city, I was annoyed by bat droppings. It opened a door to know about bats. And in August, I went to a bat observation event at night. It was held by a bat museum located in-between Nara and Kyoto.

Bats looks like birds, because they fly freely. But in fact, they are mammals, so their wings are actually their hands. One quarter of mammals in the world are bats. And one third of mammals in Japan are bats. But I still haven’t seen flying bats.

I learned that bats are very beneficial to humans. Because they eat 500 mosquitoes in one night. Summer time is their breeding season. And luckily I could see a rescued baby bat. It was shaking by our glance. Bat detectors informed us its echolocation sound which is around 45hz.

Roughly speaking, their sonar sound is a trace of survivor in the Jurasic period. They live in dinosaur’s shadow. It sounds like they are weak. But in fact, they are enough strong for survive rather than dinosaurs. That is the key to evolve for us, too.

初出:2019年9月27日

If you want to be loved or esteemed by someone, it can make you vulnerable. Because you need to maintain your self image of being loved or esteemed by someone, you may be in denial of other parts of you, And when you are criticized by someone, even if it is very valuable to you, you may need to underestimate it to maintain your image of a good girl or boy.

These movements in you intterupt your inner integration. And the person who you wanted to be loved or esteemed by will be an oppressor. You will start to feel deprived of your inner space by that person. And when you lose your purpose, you will face your fragility.

I hope that you stop turning your loving person into an oppresor and your life be filled with happiness.

初出:2019年7月17日

In my area, the rainy season has started earlier than usual. We have lost the usual delicious weather of typical May. Rainfall has continued for a week on green and small hydrangeas which means nature is not ready for the yearly rainy season. I often hear the sirens blaring to signal the release of water from dams.

Under such circumstances, I needed to stay home. So I listened to a lot of podcasts. Listening to podcasts is one of the easiest ways to learn English, because we can do it while cleaning our room or doing some stretches. Listening to the top news in different countries was very interesting and they tell me about a variety of political situations.

And in one of the most interesting programs they were talking about some tips on how to learn English for non-native English speakers through the lens of experts. What I remember is the following two tips. One is “You will never be a native English speaker, accept it!” I laughed! And another one is, “Learning English is doing, not knowing.” I nodded a lot.

Also in other podcasts, there were great nuggets of wisdom such as, “Humor comes from truth” and, “To write well, read texts of economists, because they write it clearly and simply.” I never thought that I could read economists’ writings to write well. I really want to do it. Rainy days which made me stay home opened a lot of doors to live richly.

I’ve started reading a book called “From Outrage to Courage: The Unjust and Unhealthy Situation of Women in Poorer Countries and What They Are Doing about It” written by Anne Firth Murray. Under the world affected by COVID-19 for over a year, I wanted to have a wider lens to see myself and the world. Even if we can’t go far away, we can have an adventure with many new lenses to see the world objectively.

At first, I was very impressed by Anne’s presence because she looked someone who walks the talk. She has devoted her life to supporting women’s human rights. And she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. So her words touched my heart, even if they are just describing some data like “79% of females over the age of fifteen are literate.”

And also when I read her observations about the “son preference,” I cried. The preference for sons over daughters exists both in my family, my mothers’ family and many coaching clients’ families. I was very familiar with it through my work. In the first chapter, she wrote “their births are all too often something more to be endured than to be celebrated.” When I read this sentence, I said “Yes”. Objectively, Japan is not a poor country but the “son preference” still exists and I witness it almost every day in my life. And this issue is deeply related to sexual trauma.

I just finished 10 percent of this brilliant book, but I can recommend it to you, if you have loved ones who are women or girls. We can see many things around women not only from the perspective of the social and economic system but also from human rights and many more. It will help you to love your loved ones more. And Anne’s dignity which is shown in her writings is also worthy of being respected as a way of living for all humans.