A month of Mindfulness: July 2024
Daily blogs from the Kiwi Yamabushi for July 2024
Here is a collection of daily blog posts about mindfulness and mindful living in Japan from Tim Bunting, The Kiwi Yamabushi. Sign up for The Kiwi Yamabushi Newsletter.
It all counts
Everything is cumulative
Everything is cumulative. No experience can be discounted as it all comes together to form who we are as people.
We can’t always win. This means we can always learn.
It all counts.
Back to Zero
Or is it?
You never can go entirely back to zero. Until now all of the progress you’ve made it all counts for something. And this is precisely why we get so emotional at the end of a story, fictional or otherwise. We’ve invested ourselves into the stories, and we’ve seen how far the characters have come. That puts perspective on the story, and that’s where we feel the emotion.
It’s the same with back to zero. It may be a new beginning, but it’s a beginning with an emotional backstory, one we need to remind ourselves of as we get started.
When does the action start?
Experiment. Experiment. Experiment.
Today I tried something familiar but new. I had written a draft for my newsletter, and while it was still fresh in my head, I recorded it on video.
My newsletter was originally a way to share my blog. I quickly started to use it to generate ideas and test them. These seem to be well-received, relatively speaking, of course. Eventually, I want to take all of these ideas and turn them into videos.
Eventually.
But eventually turned into ’I’ll do it when I can’ too many times. It’s gotten to the point where this year I’ve only produced two videos, despite having multiple in the pipeline.
So I’m switching things around. I’m focusing on output and turnaround, on getting the videos out into the world as soon as possible after coming up with the idea.
Hence today. And hence the rather rash approach.
The truth is, with YouTube, you need to be producing content. There’s no two ways about it. I haven’t been producing content. I’ve been stuck in a vortex of ‘when I get around to it’, and never getting around to it.
So I’m getting around to it. This may well be at the cost of the editing, but out in the world is the only way to push things forward. Editing can wait.
It’s about increasing your chances, learning, and then applying what you’ve learned to your videos. Without videos, you have nothing to base your progress on. And more videos give you more chances to learn.
The time for procrastination is over. Now is the time of action. Action that starts by filming, in my case, like I did today.
Everyday another, different chance
Take it.
It’s the same chance, only it’s different. It’s the same chance, only you are a different person. It’s the same chance, only the challenges are different. It’s the same chance to have a good day, and all you have to do is take it.
The irony that is Japanese money
Cash truly is king here
I got some money out from the ATM yesterday. I was surprised to find the recently released new 10,000 yen bills. I took a photo of them as a memoir, and promptly folded them so they could fit in my money clip.
I felt like a criminal.
In all likelihood one of the first people ever to touch those notes and straight away I do something to ruin their pristine appearance.
But that’s the thing (and it’s the same with US bank notes). The notes can easily be ruined like that.
New Zealand’s can’t. It’s almost impossible to rip New Zealand bank notes. In fact, I think it is impossible. New Zealand’s notes are made of polymer. They are largely indestructible, well besides purposely ruining them by burning them (I guess, I’ve never tried) or cutting them with scissors or something.
But people in New Zealand don’t use cash. Cash is a remnant of a bygone era. It’s gotten to the point where if you deal in cash, you’re probably dealing in something more sinister too.
On the flip side, although it has changed markedly in recent years, people in Japan can’t get enough of cash. I know of a few shops here who exclusively only deal with cash. I don’t think they’re doing anything sinister, maybe it’s a convenience thing? Or the fees involved with electronic payments cuts into their profits too much for their liking or something? Some of these were places that did in fact accept electronic payments in the past too, but stopped for some reason.
Either way, I was really hoping that with the update would come more robust notes. Yet Japanese cash remains as easy to ruin as it’s ever been.
And I don’t see it changing anytime soon. I hope they don’t mind me ruining the new notes one by one.
Invest in yourself
We notice it when we do
Invest in yourself. It makes it much easier for us to tag along. Not only that, it’s more worthwhile for everyone involved.
Invest in yourself. We notice it when you do.
The ‘right’ path
Right for who?
I recently had a mother tell me they were worried that their child spent too much time playing music. Too much time on one instrument or another, and that this was getting in the way of their schoolwork.
I’d be more worried if they didn’t have any other way of spending the time.
The chid already knows at least one thing they want to, that is a big challenge for a lot of people. Sure it might not be easy at first to make a living out of it, what I guess is the main concern, but they have their whole life to figure something out. And if they are so obsessed, one way or another, they will.
Parents don’t make decisions for their children. Children make decisions for children. That’s the only way to have a chance at true satisfaction.
A function of your willingness to challenge
Exactly.
If your results were a function of your willingness to put yourself to the real test and really get out of your comfort zone, how would you approach any task?
Exactly.
Is it prioritising yourself
Should it be?
There are times when we absolutely need to prioritise ourselves, but when you’re looking after someone else or in charge of something bigger than yourself, you have to ask yourself whether something being in your best interests is in their best interests.
Again this comes down to simply stopping and pausing, well, any chance you get.
Why Japanese people always reverse into the car park
It’s easier on your later self
It’s something that once you notice, you can’t unnotice. I could be wrong, but nine times out of ten, Japanese people reverse into their car park.
The theory goes, and remember it’s just a theory, that you’re going to have to reverse in sometime, so why not make it easier for yourself later? I.e. when you leave? If you have to leave in a hurry, say there’s an emergency, this way you’ll more easily be able to start driving again. It’s easier on your later self, in other words.
Are you serious about that?
Because your actions say otherwise
If you were serious about it, your actions would follow.
Why aren’t they?
How serious are you actually?
A once in a lifetime moment
You mean like now?
Now will never happen again. It’s gone, and that means we aren’t getting it back no matter how hard we try.
A once in a lifetime moment happens at every moment.
But will you treat it as such?
Waiting for the conch
Patiently or not?
For newcomers to yamabushi, waiting for the conch can be a true challenge.
The conch is used kind of like an alarm clock, only you don’t know when it’s going to go off.
If you get caught up in waiting for the conch, you can very easily literally lose sleep over it.
The key is to essentially forget it exists. Know in advance what you need to do when it does, even do ‘image training’ when you picture yourself doing it, and then just sit back and relax.
Or enjoy the moment before it is blown.
Up to you really.
Remember the ridiculousness
It’s a shame about your face
I learned Mandarin at university for about 9 months. I have since forgotten upwards of 99% of what I learned, but there is one phrase I still remember.
Ni de liao zao gao.
’It’s a shame about your face.’
In all honesty I’m not sure if this sentence is grammatically correct, but it did help me remember the phrase for ‘it’s a shame’ (zao gao).
Things that are memorable are by definition easy to remember. Ridiculousness, for the most part, is memorable. If you’re not hurting anybody by doing it, and if it can in fact help you learn, be ridiculous.
Just my luck
When it rains it pours
When it rains, it pours.
This is all the more reason to take your emotions out of it. It’s not the thing itself that affects us, it’s how we perceive it. And if we perceive things as having an exponential effect on us, just because of luck, we become adversely affected.
Nip it in the bud. Take the emotion out of the reaction.
That’s my escape
It’s part of my life.
Escapes are good. A place to check your head. A place for a spot of mind maintenance. But if you find yourself wanting to escape too much, it can be cause for concern.
Know what your escapes are. Know when they are taking control of your life.
Take a step back. Take a breather. Make this a regular part of your schedule. Or if you can, make your escape your life.
Just one step
Zero to something.
It’s amazing the difference one single step can make; that first step. The one from inaction to action.
Once taken, your only focus is to keep the ball rolling until it meets its logical conclusion.
Just one step, and you can make huge change.
Your first standard
Is ’out the door’
Your first standard is ‘out the door’. If things don’t quite meet your other standards, that doesn’t matter. This standard has to be met for anything else to make a difference.
Make a difference with your first standard, and you give your other standards a chance to make a difference.
What it takes
This is what it takes to win
And this is what I’m going to do.
You know what it takes. You know you have it in you.
No more excuses, get it done.
Now you know it’s yours
Put your mark on it
No need to be a carbon copy. No need to do what’s gone before. If it worked before, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will work again. More to the point, it won’t have your mark on it.
Put your mark on it. Now you know it’s yours.
If it can’t be helped, don’t help it.
Don’t turn your regrets into even bigger ones.
Life throws you lemons. That’s what life is for. It’s how you react to the lemons that counts.
Some things can’t be helped. Don’t let them be helped. Don’t give them the time of day. Find something else to do while you simply focus on forgetting about them.
Keep at it, but let bygones be bygones. Don’t turn your regrets into even bigger ones.
It’s just a bit of life
It’ll be over soon enough
Change has a habit of happening. And when it doesn’t, we have a habit of changing to meet the change.
Nothing lasts forever, not even our feelings about a given situation.
It’s just a bit of life. It’ll be over soon enough. And if it isn’t, it’ll at least be over in our heads.
The Fog
Seeing is believing
With the fog you can’t see far. But what you can see, you appreciate.
Your attachment machine
In your pocket
You know the one. The one you let get the better of you more often than not. The one that has a lot more control over you than you’d like to admit.
Your attachment machine is designed as such. It’s designed to keep you glued to it. But we humans are not designed as such. We are not designed to be constantly attached to anything, to anyone.
It’s time we took back control. It’s time we detached ourselves and stood on our own two feet. It’s time we left leave our attachment machine behind and learn to detach again.
It’s not their race
It never was
There’s one thing you need to understand. It’s no-one else’s race but your own. The competitors are there only to provide some sort of benchmark, but there can be no better benchmark than your own.
It’s not their race, it never was. It’s yours. And it’s up to you to prove it.
Two things to keep in mind when trying to teach something
Things I always abide by
Don’t lie to people you’re trying to teach by praising them prematurely. They’ll find out sooner or later, and when they do, they’ll lose faith in you. No need to be a dick about it, but it’s always best to keep it honest.
Same goes for when you don’t know something. Say you don’t know it. You can hazard a guess, but you have to say that it is only your best guess. Either way, it’s usually easier to say you don’t know the answer.
Action even more so
Trying something new
How much emphasis does the actually doing the thing part get?
How much emphasis does the trying something new thing happen in your project?
Balance is important. Action even more so.
What’s the good part?
Do more of that
What’s the good part? Do more of that.
This is what it’s all about. Doing the good part time and time again. However, do it in the knowledge it’s only deemed the good part because of the ‘relatively-speaking not good’ part. And that at the same time, something that is deemed ‘relatively-speaking not good’ now could be a completely different story when given enough time.
What’s the good part?
Do more of that.
Getting my life back
Taking my life back
This is me getting my life back. This is me going beast mode. This is me on my own path on my own adventure.
Too much outside influence. Too many times giving in to distraction. Too many times giving in to others. Now’s the time to take control. To show the world who’s boss, and to get things done.
Getting my life back. Taking my life back.
The best you can do
Is the best you can do
You can prepare your coffee as well as you like. The best scales, the best kettle, the best grinder, the best water, the best timing… but in the end, it’s the beans that matter.
And for that, you need the best nature, the best climate, the best weather…
The best you can do is the best you can do, and that’s all you should ask for too.
Unashamedly Myself
Unashamedly.
The coach of the Māori All Blacks, Ross Filipo, said something on The Breakdown that I felt reflects greatly on the New Zealand psyche: being unashamedly yourself.
Filipo is in a difficult position leading what you could consider NZ’s B Team. He has to lead the team but with the knowledge that it needs to be for the strength of the All Blacks. However, the All Blacks coach Scott Robertson, made the right technical decision and that was for Filipo to have full reign, to do whatever he feels is best for the team.
The answer? Did you read the title?
Unpredictability breeds
The key is to let it
Unpredictability breeds angst. It breeds frustration, and it breeds insecurity.
But unpredictability also breeds expectation. It breeds excitement, and it breeds hope.
Unpredictability is not to be feared. Like everything else, unpredictability is to be embraced.
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