We humans can learn a lot from dogs such as unconditional love, loyalty, and mindfulness. Dogs appreciate the present moment, one of the key teachings in Buddhism, in that we must have gratitude for our lives, loved ones, and opportunities. With gratitude, we can overcome the challenges of life, and achieve peace and happiness for a great majority of our precious life.
When I was a baby, my mom would talk and read to me.
As a toddler, she made me do math and English workbooks by rewarding me with a penny for every page I accomplished.
As a kid, my mom drove me to soccer, baseball, Aikido, cub scouts, and many other activities until my dad could meet us after he finished work.
My mom and dad attended all my soccer games and watched me progress from an average player to one of the State’s highest scorers.
While I struggled to find out who I was during my teenage years, my mom helped me through it.
On the day I graduated from high school, my mom and dad that was there.
When I broke up with my first girlfriend and saw my college grade point average drop, my mom comforted me.
When I made my college comeback by raising my GPA and graduated from the University of Hawaii with a B.A. in Political Science my mom and dad was there.
My mom and dad flew to Washington State to see me graduate from Gonzaga University School of Law, and later that year they saw me sworn in as a lawyer under the Hawaii State Bar Association in the Hawaii State Senate.
A year later, my mom and dad witnessed me get sworn into the Hawaii State House of Representatives.
When I was in jail for DUI, my mom and dad was there to be bail me out.
When I got attacked by the media, political opponents, and haters, my mom and dad stood by me.
Every time I was feeling down from angry people, power hungry politicians, tyrant and tantrum-filled judges, and selfish business persons, my mom was there to listen.
With every plan and goal I came up with for my business and political endeavors, my mom always told me to give it a try.
Even now, my mom is alway there to cheer me on. Through her I’ve learned that when we strive for what we want, anything is possible, and that having empathy and compassion is the best way to live.
I dedicate this song “Be As You Are” by Mike Posner and remixed by Jordan XL to my mom and to all of you mothers out there.
On Sunday July 24, 2016 at 2:00 p.m., I served as the MC for my Great Aunty May Fumiko Akimoto who is my mom’s baby sister’s mother-in-law. The service was held at Hosoi in Honolulu, Hawaii. My cousins Chelsea and Jill gave a nice remembrance speech, and it was touching to see the little ones, Tatum, Zoe, and Parker say their “Thank you” to the guests and “I love you” to their late great grandma, May Fumiko Akimoto. I will miss her.
When I listen to this song, I can picture us in the worlds where only my characters exist – Walking through a Japanese garden filled with white and pink cherry blossom trees and a trickling stream with a crystal clear waterfall; Dancing to a song on a cliff overlooking the dark blue ocean with two small islands placed in it; Swimming in the warm ocean as the shooting stars streak across the sky; Admiring the snow capped mountains from the white palace’s balcony; and Running and stumbling through the snow past the glowing ice sculptures and into the forest so we can lie on our winter coats to gaze at the stars beyond the evergreen trees.
“Oceans Where Feet May Fail” by Without Words: Synesthesia
Death has always loved Life like a boy who knows he can never be with the girl he loves. Rather than being jealous of us for having Life, he wants us to appreciate her.
As I mentioned in my “Positive Living Practice and Stages Practice” post, I’m creating a Positive Living Practice series that highlights products and services that can help us with our health, wealth, and happiness so that we can live a happy and fulfilling life. By “health,” I mean good physical, mental, and spiritual health. For “wealth,” I define it as time, knowledge, and ideas. And “happiness” is the wonderful joy we get from gratitude, compassion, and love.
Today, I’m discussing a challenge that we all face within our lives – “Stress.” Have you ever received another person’s wrath because of that person’s weakness in not being able to handle his or her stress? Or worse, have you ever directed your anger at another person and blamed your bad behavior because of the stress your were going through?
How often we experience stress is within our control. I personally believe that 99% of all challenges we face are either minor or can be resolved. In regards to the 1% of challenges that we can’t control, we can become stronger by accepting it, learning from it, and moving on.
Studies have shown that stress can cause us emotional and physical problems. Further, if we manage it in the wrong way, we could hurt our relationships and reputation. Instead of handling stress in a destructive way that hurts ourselves and others, we can address it in a positive way that spreads waves of positive energy to others. In this post, I will share with you my strategies to reduce stress. I also include a poster on how to beat stress and boost happiness by Happify, a company that helps you to develop happiness skills through its online activities and articles. You can check out Happify at http://www.happify.com.
If we can reduce stress, we will be healthier physically, mentally, and spiritually; and be stronger in our practice of gratitude, compassion, and love. With good health and happiness, we can make the best use of our time, absorb more knowledge, and come up with more ideas.
The following are some of the things that I like to do to reduce stress:
Exercise: Run indoors or outdoors and lift weights.
Dream of what I want to achieve.
Type my ideas.
Write down and update my goals.
Envision the outcome of my goals.
Listen to music.
Spend time with my family.
Be around positive people.
Have gratitude for all the good things I have in my life.
Meditate.
Self-Reflect.
See the positive in every failure.
Try to get a good sleep and take a nap when I need a boost.
Listen to podcast shows that highlight positive and successful people.
Write fictional stories.
Read novels.
Learn through reading or practice.
Watch a television show or movie that inspires me.
JON RIKI KARAMATSU 