Category: Nature and Life

A reflective time getting ready for the new year

Photo by Niketh Vellanki on Unsplash

Everybody on Medium spends so much time writing their articles.  Time is the most precious thing in life.  Why do they write? 

Everybody on Medium also expects many people to spend their precious time reading their articles.  Why do they read?

As this year is coming to an end, I decided to spend some time asking myself this question seriously.  The clearer I am about why I write, the stronger my motivation should be to keep on writing the next year as well as have people read my writings. 

Let me explore using what is called Five Whys method. 

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Why do I write?

Because I want to introduce Japan’s traditional culture to people in the modern world.

Why?

Because I believe Japan’s traditional culture holds something of value that is different from what people in the modern world are used to.

Why?

Because many people in the modern world now have doubts about the way they have lived for a long time and have started seeking alternatives to their way of living.

Why?

Because many people are concerned that they are heading in the wrong direction if they continue their way of living.

Why?

Because many people in the modern world feel that their way of living is making their environment (both ecological and social) detrimental to them, not better.

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I’m one of the people who live in the modern world.

As a person living in the modern world, I have long believed that economic growth will lead to the prosperity and happiness of the people in the world.

However, I’m concerned that our current way of living is leading to ecological and social perils, not for the better.  I’m now seeking if there is an alternative. 

Japan’s traditional culture, some I’m familiar with, some are totally new to me, might give us hints for an alternative way of life that is not detrimental to our lives.  It’s worth taking a significant portion of my time exploring it. 

If you have a similar concern about the way we live currently and are seeking alternatives, I hope you follow what I write.  I also welcome your thoughts on the comment. 

“Thank you”

Photo by Courtney Hedger on Unsplash

It’s quiet on Christmas day morning.  Did you have a nice party last night?

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My husband started the day with the following conversations.

“Thank you for starting the coffee machine.”

“Thank you for taking out my coffee mug.”

“Thank you for starting the fireplace.  It’s warm!”

“Thank you for cleaning the dishes last night.” 

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I felt good about our choice of the words.  I would like to expand to you.

Thank you for reading my article. 

Thank you for being you.

The icy road has taught me the power of nature.

Photo by max fuchs on Unsplash

The whole US was significantly affected by the winter storm right before Christmas.  Many flights were canceled, and a lot of people lost power. 

Normally Seattle has relatively mild weather, but the city was also covered with snow.  In our neighborhood, after the snow turned to drizzle for a while, the surface of the snow became shiny ice, due to the unusually low temperatures that followed.  The main roads were salted and sanded so that buses could run, but the street in front of our house was as slippery as an ice-skating rink.

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 I really wanted to go shopping, so I first sprinkled salt on the driveway, waited a couple of hours, and started breaking the thin but hard layer of ice with a shovel.  The outside was biting cold, but soon I was sweating from the labor. 

I managed to clear ice on the two tracks where the tires of my car would follow.  I was able to get my car out of the garage and the driveway, but the moment I hit the street, my car slid sideways. 

It was less than 30 yards or so from my house to the salted, cleared bus route. I tried and tried to move my car forward.  I let my car running for a while, hoping the ice underneath would melt.  No luck.  After wasting gas and polluting the air in vain, I gave up.  I managed to slide my car to the shoulder and parked there overnight. 

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When I woke up the next morning, it was raining pretty hard.  The temperature was well above freezing point. The air was no more biting me. 

The layer of ice on the street that disabled me from driving was… all gone.  No trace of it. 

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Who am I to think that I’m capable of fighting against nature?  All I had to do was to be patient for several hours.  The forecast was saying it would get warmer starting the following day.

While driving to the grocery store in the rain the next day, I was comparing the nice grip of the tires with the lost control on the ice the night before. What a vulnerable existence I am compared to almighty nature, was my realization.

In response to Dancing Elephants prompt 12 of 52

Photo by asap rocky on Unsplash

It was my husband’s birthday yesterday.  We went to a nearby Italian restaurant for a celebration. 

This morning, I’m recalling the time we spent together yesterday, as well as our first date over 28 years ago.

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On our first date, my focus was all on him.  What kind of person is he?  Where is he going to take me?  What drink does he like?  Does he like what I’m wearing?  I was trying to find every sparkle between us.  He looked to be doing the same.  

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Yesterday’s main conversation was not about us.  My husband got a message from the daughter of his best friend.  Now she lives in Toronto working but is back in Seattle for Christmas.  She was asking if we could get together for lunch before she heads back to Toronto.  “When is a good time for you?” he asked. “What about 26^th?” I replied.  “Oh, yeah.  That’ll work.  I will respond to her.” 

My husband’s best friend, whom he had known before I met him, became our closest family friend.  The friend’s daughter became like our own niece.  Unfortunately, the friend passed away a couple of years ago, but our friendship is kept alive. 

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Over the 28 years, my husband and I accumulated mutual experiences.  We met new people together, explored new places together, and faced new challenges together.  Of course, we have many disagreements, and we argue a lot.  We are still two distinct individuals. But the overlapping part of his and my experience has become larger. 

And this overlapping part is becoming my treasure.  How much larger will it become? To be continued…

A lesson from two totally different sources.

Photo by Katt Yukawa on Unsplash

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change

“Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson, lyric by Siedah Garrett

In college, I was a fan of Michael Jackson. The main media of my music back then were cassette tapes, not even CDs.  You can guess how old I am.  I used to play the tape so many times that the music eventually sounded quite different from the original.

I remember I once skipped going back to see my parents in Osaka for the New Year because I got a ticket for Michel’s concert in Tokyo on new year’s eve.

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“Man in the Mirror” was undoubtedly my favorite song.  It was different.  It was not about a girl who claims the father of the child, zombies, or about street fighters. The song was down to earth and penetrated into my deepest emotions.

For the longest time I forgot about this song, until recently I came across the quote below:

It is easier to change your thinking than to change the world.  Changing your thinking will definitely change the world.

by Sadhguru

Sadhguru is a yogi from India.  I like his messages so much that I have his app downloaded on my phone and listen to his talks occasionally. 

Sadhguru and Michael Jackson… It was a surprise to find out these different figures have a similar message.  Today this message strikes a chord with me deeply, I just want to share it with you. How are those messages striking your chord?

Village Bookstore in Fairhaven, Bellingham was a magical place.

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

Fairhaven is an old part of Bellingham City, Washington State.  It takes only two hours by car from Seattle, but I had never been there until this weekend. 

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The historic district of Fairhaven stretches no more than several blocks.  After having lunch at the hotel restaurant overlooking Bellingham Bay and Lummi Island, my husband and I parked our car on 11th street and began meandering.  Getting lost was our main purpose for this weekend’s getaway.

“I’m cold.  I want a cup of coffee.”  “Oh, it says there is a coffee shop upstairs.  Let’s go in.”

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We didn’t even know that the building was a bookstore.  We got in the elevator and went up to the second floor.  There on the left-hand side was a display of a huge chocolate cake and the counter for ordering drinks, and on the right-hand side were shelves and shelves of books. 

While I was waiting to order our coffee, my husband went ahead to find a table for us.  He got a small table by the window.  Next to ours, I found a larger table with nobody sitting.  Why not enjoy the larger space? 

I walked up to the table and found the sign.  It said, “THIS SPACE RESERVED for writing workshop tonight from 5:45 – 7:30.”

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

Beyond the large table was a counter also overlooking the window. It was “Writer’s Corner.”

Just because I’ve been writing on Medium for just over 70 days, I felt as if this coffee shop was MY place! 

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I just remembered somebody wrote on Medium that you have to read twenty times as much as you write.  OK, it’s a sign.  I have to buy books here!

Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

I have never been an avid reader of English literature. It still takes me twice as long to read in English compared to reading in Japanese. Fictions have never been my cup of tea.   But my compulsive reaction was to purchase two classics by Mark Twain. 

The magic of Village Bookstore in Fairhaven. 

What is your definition of health?

Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

Only a day after I visited my doctor for an annual checkup, I received an email from her. 

The email was encrypted, and I could read it only after I logged in to my health vault. On the website, there was a list of test results.  Thirty-five items altogether.

Three items were flagged.  Two of them were about my cholesterol.  Both values are high, which makes the ratio to be normal, so it’s not a concern.  My white blood cell level is a little low, but it has been low for over several years.  It might be due to my genetic tendency, so don’t worry.

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Thank God that my doctor interpreted them all. The list is all Greek to me. Without my doctor’s message, I would have had no clue how to read any of them.

Once again, my health has been assured, thanks to my doctor.  I assume I’m healthy until another checkup occurs next year.

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These test results are vital to detect any symptom of disease, I understand. But looking at this long list of incomprehensible terms acronyms and numbers, I started to wonder about my own health.

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Years ago, the list must have been a lot shorter.  As time goes by, more research will find more things to be measured.  And I’m sure they will find some “abnormal” values in my result.  The longer the list becomes, the more possibility that I’m categorized as “unhealthy”?

What is the definition of “being healthy”, then?  Do I have to rely upon those numbers to prove to me that I’m healthy?

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So I began consciously asking myself if I’m healthy.  How? 

Every morning when I wake up, I silently ask myself, “am I healthy today?”  If I’m full of energy and ready to get out of bed to start a new day, I tell myself “Yes, I’m healthy.” 

I may be tricking myself.  But, you know, I’m a control freak.  I want to be in the driver’s seat about my health, too.  What’s wrong with trusting my own sense to check if I’m healthy? 

Once a year, I rely on so many numbers of different components in my blood to tell me if I’m healthy.  But every day, why don’t I rely on my own sense to declare my health?

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This morning I stretched my arms, and I heard my inner voice telling me, “Yes I’m healthy today.”  I trust this inner voice. 

The ever-changing season is always the wonder

The Sunset on July 16: Photo by the Author Akemi Sagawa

The large window in our living room is facing west. 

Weather permitted, from this window, I can see the roofs of the neighboring houses, evergreen trees that have grown so tall in the last 25 years, the quiet surface of Puget Sound, the shore of Bainbridge Island, and the snow-capped Olympic Mountains.

Enjoying the sunset from this window is one of my secret joys.  I love traveling and am always mesmerized by the beautiful sceneries of every exotic place I visit, but the sunset from our living room remains top of the list. 

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In Seattle, whose latitude is 47.60 N, the sun doesn’t set until 9 pm on the summer solstice, and it sets at 4 pm on the winter solstice.  The contrast between the long days in the summer and the short days in the winter is so much greater than that of Osaka, my hometown (the latitude is 34.68 N). 

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Not only the length of the daytime but the contrast of where the sun sets is also drastic. 

I wish I had better photos, but I hope these three photos taken from the same window in my living room help you get the idea.

When the days are long, the sun sets further north in the mountains, on the right side of the photo. (See the photo above taken on July 16.)

The sunset on September 19: photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

Near the equinox, the sun sets in the middle, due west.

As the days are getting shorter, the sun sets further south in the mountains, on the left side of the photo.

The sunset on October 27: Photo by Author Akemi Sagawa

The ever-changing position of the sunset with the change of the season reminds me of the impermanence of life.  For billions of years, this cycle of sunset has been continuing.  

Compared to this almost eternal cycle, my life on earth is so minuscule.  How lucky I am to be able to experience this awe, considering how minuscule my existence is. 

What I found in my tiny backyard today.

Flowering Broccoli: Photo by Author

Broccoli

Early in the spring I sowed broccoli seeds directly on the ground, and I forgot about it. My tiny backyard is full of such what I call “experiments.”  I sometimes “buried” potatoes that have sprouted and harvested a bucket-full of potatoes later in the year. 

Broccoli bud: Photo by Author

By any gardening standard, my broccoli was a total failure.  I never harvested a big round broccoli, but only bunch of small buds like the photos came out.  Whenever these buds came out, I plucked them before they flowered, tossed them into my fried rice.  It was tasty enough.

Then we went for a trip to Vienna over Thanksgiving.  By the time we came back, the tiny buds grew large and yellow flowers blossomed all over. 

The bright yellow flowers showed sign of full life in the shivering cold weather.  But a sudden gust knocked off the tallest stem right after I took the picture.  Oh no!  It will wilt soon!  Before it wilts down, can I enjoy the flowers a little longer?

Brown Leaves of Spirea

Spirea bush: Photo by Author

The spirea leaves were turning colors to orange and brown (yes, Brown!), so were maple leaves.  Why not combine these to capture the end of autumn/ the beginning of winter?

Here is my tiny Ikebana arrangement taken from our tiny backyard.  I hope you enjoy it, too.