Sunday, November 13, 2016

"Arigato" and "kansha"

"Arigatou" is one of my favorite words.  We say "arigatou" to express our feelings of "kansha"(gratitude).

When I say "arigato", nothing is in my mind, but I feel warmth in my heart, thinking of someone or something who has touched my heart. I am so sure that everyone says "arigatou" with a SMILE.

What I'd like to share with you today is the original meanings of kansha and arigato in kanij, which touched my heart when I learned about them.

Kansha consists of two Kanji CHARACTERS; KAN and SHA, as you can see below.
First, let me explain the meaning  of each one.

Kan means to be moved, or to feel.  
Kokoro is "heart".

Sha is to express thanks, or to apologize.
Iu means to tell, say or express.
Iru means shoot.

Arigatou has two kanji characters: aru and nan.
Aru means to exist and nan means to be difficult.
So, Arigato's ordinal meaning is that it is difficult to exist or it is rare and precious to exist.



What touched me?
Well...it is difficult for me to explain in English, but if I try, these original meanings gave me the following sense: 
Living in this world in this moment is rare and incredibly precious. We are not alone in this world. We are connected to everything around us; family, friends, society, world, nature, universe.  We are alive with gratitude to everything around us.

I also find this saying "arigato" to be a beautiful cycle of energy.
We are moved by someone or something, and express our thanks or send them our gratitude. This is never one way. When you say arigato with a smile, the energy of your smile reaches someone else and will be returned to you someday.

Thank you so much for reading my writing today. Arigato:)
Sachi

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Pure and simple

First, I would like to apologize for having been silent for a long time. 
Yet, I have kept feeling this blog was a treasure. 


The purpose of this blog, as set at the beginning, was focusing on to beauty and peace and sharing them across national borders.  I am still so sure that it will bind us all together and also, give us hope to change this complicated world to be beautiful and peaceful. 
Today, for the first time after a long silence, I’d like to share two videos. 
With lots of love to you all:)

I think we all have the sacred place deep inside our hearts, searching for beauty, peace, and love. So I'm back too, to restart sharing some with you. I am so grateful to Val for allowing me to do that.


The older I get, the more I learn from pure and simple things. I'm always told that we sometimes put too many unnecessary thoughts in our minds. Once we get rid of them and become more pure and simple, we'd be able to recognize a lot of beauties and peace.


*Hug Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLTD5_7Pl6Y

*The Charlie And The Seal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoJTbfnCVkA


As for my writing, 
I sometimes use unnatural expressions or uncommon words...
Could you please let me know when you find any?

Sachi

Friday, October 7, 2016

We're never there, are we?

Before sharing my readings, my musings, my craftings...I'd like to share a video I stumbled upon a few months ago, and that has deeply shaken me.
Mainly the video explains things I knew already, but...in a different way, and I had a kind of epiphany. I realized most of the time, in spite my intellectual understanding and awareness, I still am not there. I always am somewhere else in my mind.
My mind, like most of us, is a wild horse, taking me to another place where truly I should just...be there.
Yes, I know life is short. Life is precious. We all say that, don't we?
I know, I know...but hell, I mustn't know much, to keep moving forward in my mind.
In the video, we hear a brilliant mind, Alan Watts. I heard so many of his talks, but this one brought me back to my centre and my essentials. It is beautiful. It is true. I daresay it is useful.

Alan Watts - Life is a dance, not a journey

I am a project girl. I live for hope and strive for improvement.  But that shouldn't stop me from enjoying the dance. Yet, I believe I have so many times thought about the ending.
I have so often seen my life as a journey. Not as a dance.
In our society, I feel most of us are in a mad rush. We are rushing our kids in this mad race.
In my civil life, I am...a teacher. I know see so many young people. Great, funny, ambitious, bright. But I see so many focused on their future career, their grades, their successes. Some of them told me they hadn't really considered what they liked, they had only considered what they should do, what was the likeliest path to success. Many told me money was necessary for them to be happy.
I am a mom and my eldest has entered junior high...and I see the mad rush there too. So many parents doing their best so that their kids... are the best.
We take our kids to leisure activities that have become a source of medals and certificates (not that I am against them, but are they the ultimate goal?).
But...are we there? Are we there to cuddle and kiss, breathe the fresh air, enjoy this morning sunset when we set off to work?
Are we there to taste this meal we're eating? Do we really feel this coffee we're drinking?
Do we have time left, in our lives and in our minds, to enjoy the security of this roof over our heads?
Worse, are we there to listen to our kids, I mean, really?
Our lives are short, but don't we shorten them by getting lost in a maze of thoughts and prospects?
Don't we miss out way too much?

Since school year started (beginning of september in France), I've made a point to stop hurrying. I've been determined to be slower. I've found that I am still on time at appointments, that people seem to smile back more often, that my body unwinds in a much needed way, that I don't get angry so much. That I am more present and that it feels good. That I realize even more how much is missed out and what mad pressure we undergo in our modern busy active lives.
I find I do enjoy the dance. And I'm done with the journey.

Lots of love to you all,
Val



Monday, September 26, 2016

We never stop growing up, do we?

As this blog is now a place I come to to share, look for and shed light, I'll share my thoughts today.
I've just read this post by Kelle Hampton:
The middle place
It has struck me recently how much I have changed. Maybe not as much physically as mentally. I've had hopes and illusions to throw away, I've had a new skin to grow, I've had deaths to accept... I have changed, and maybe I am a puzzle now of all the 'me' I've been. I feel our minds never stop expanding then shrinking then expanding again, depending on the events we live, the place we are in, the people we meet or live with, the destiny that befalls us. What's the point of growing up though, if it is not to evolve and try to be a better person. Better for oneself and better for others.
Right now, I am in that middle place. My babies have grown, and I feel just the same as Kelle.
How amazing isn't it, that no matter whether we are French, American, Japanese, Chinese etc etc,  we are so alike and so diverse.
Kelle has things in her life that I don't have. I have things she doesn't, probably. We don't have the same life at all. She doesn't know me. I've never met her. She shares openly so much about her life. I don't. We are so different. And yet, so alike. And I feel my heart echoes with the same tender vibrating notes as hers.
I feel the babyhood slowly and steadily receding (clothes are being passed on to younger ones, conversations become philosophical, and hey, worries appear and evolve too). I feel it is demanding sometimes to face a life where, for my part, parents are not here anymore, and babies turn into young kids...this is all so harsh and yet so beautiful. It is an amazing thing to watch your kids bloom into little individuals who want to explore the world and understand it all! It is difficult, sometimes, to be the grown-up, to be the first on the battle line. Yet I wouldn't stop for a second being this mom pursued by her kids from the break of dawn to far after nightfall. With or without the 'helping hand' of the grown-ups before me. As Kelle says, let it last, let it last, let it last!


Monday, September 19, 2016

And so, I'm back

And so, I'm back, because recently I've remembered this blog, and realized I had missed it. :)
Because in the past, I guess I was somehow expecting that maybe, we'd get more readers, more comments. That we'd find a way to help. A way to add a tiny drop of beauty and peace to the community ocean.
And now I think I may just need to share some thoughts.  Sure, I'd still kill for a comment or two. For new opportunities or ideas to pop up. For new ways to share. ;)
But mainly, I've been missing Sachi's posts. I'be been missing these little criss cross posts born of a friendship bound across the oceans; I've been missing the wisdom and refinement of my Japanese friend. And missing the sharing of my own little thoughts.
Also because the net has allowed me to discover a few beautiful people.
You don't always know well the people you see. With the net, you get access to thoughts unshared in daily life. And this unveils the true beauty of  some souls.
So I am back. To share my thoughts and feelings. And to read yours.
Because the littlest acts of benevolence already make a difference. I have learnt that in this past year.
Lots of love to you all.
Val