Our life is necessarily based on goals – they give us direction – almost any sort of activity that we do, for work or pleasure, has goals, from acheiving revenue goals in sales, to scoring points in tennis and soccer, to ascending ranks in Aikido. We invest an incredible amount of time toward acheiving goals [...]
Saturday a week ago, I went to Roppongi to dance salsa, but the place I usually go to was empty. A lot of Japanese have left from Tokyo to the west, and a lot of foreigners have left Japan altogether, fearing nuclear contamination. I wholly avoid watching the news because it’s covered with speculation about [...]
“Yochan, Otsukaresan” Jason, good job today. Said Sensei. “Arigato Gozaimashita.” I sais, and bowed in thanks. I was surprised to see how happy I felt, and I am reminded of how special a role Aikido has played in my life.1. 1. Commune: Unlike Chinese Taiji or Wushu, which can be performed alone, the forms in [...]
I climbed Mt. Fuji last Friday with 12 friends last Friday. It was my third time up the mountain. Here is an excerpt of a letter to friends about the climb: Climbing Mt. Fuji is can be an anticlimactic or harrowing experience, depending on what you went on to the mountain looking for. Before there [...]
I had a dream in which I was picking coconuts, and dropped them down to a friend below, who caught them, and then we enjoyed the coconuts together. As we refreshed ourselves on sweet coconut juice and soft meat, I thought – when picking coconuts alone, the coconuts will shatter if they are thrown down. [...]
I was at a bar with a friend of mine at a Spanish bar near my house. She is a few years younger than I, who was surprised that I had just had my 29th birthday. “I think one of the things that makes you seem young is the way you emotionally engage with the [...]
In a recent conversation with Bernie, he helped me to solidify some concepts related to forgiveness. There are three levels of forgiveness: First, there is forgiving others for bad things they have done to you. Then, there is forgiving yourself for bad things that you have done to others. Finally, there is forgiving all others [...]
From my private journal, an entry on gratitude dated April 19th 2010. My commute involves walking through Ebisu Garden Place, a plaza on a hill flanked by an office building and an upscale shopping center. There is a covered skywalk that leads from the plaza, which is at the top of a hill, to the [...]
