「幸せのものさし」の種類が少ない日本 ― オーストラリアで知ったこと

「日本は、幸せのものさしの種類が少ない。」

　男ならたくさん稼いで成功すること。
　女ならお金持ちでイケメンでやさしい旦那さんをもらって子どもに恵まれること。
　日本人の幸せは、大きく分けてその二つしかない。

　そして、その二つのものさしで、自分を測っては、　「わたしの人生ってイケてる！」「俺の人生終わった...」　と一喜一憂をしている。

　これはあまり良くない状況かもしれない。

　昔、オーストラリアに長期滞在したとき、
　「日本に帰ったら、また現実がはじまる。帰りたくない」
　と海辺で仲良くなったオッチャンに愚痴ったことがあります。

　そしたら、オッチャンは、ビールを片手に
　「元気だしな。幸せは一つじゃない。もっとたくさん種類がある」
　と完全に酔っ払った状態で教えてくれました。しかし、その言葉には真実味があって、とても胸に響きました。

　そこから先は、英語だったので、あまり覚えていないけど、たぶん次のようなことを言われました。「誰かが決めた幸せのものさしにハマらないからって、落ち込むな。幸せのものさしは、自由に決めて満足すればいい。」

　目からウロコでした。

　たしかにオーストラリアを見回すと、そうでした。
　いろんな幸せな人がいました。自給自足を楽しむのもアリ。男が子育てを楽しむのもアリ。ホームステイで世界中から子供招くのを生きがいにするのもアリ。昼から浜辺でビールを飲むのもアリ。会社を4時に終えて、そのあとサーフィンを楽しむのもアリ。バーベキューを生きがいにするのもアリ。

　日本でも、こういう人はいると思いますが、まわりから認められてなかったり、痛々しかったりします。

　オーストラリア人は、それを心から楽しんでいる感じでした。
　幸せのものさしを、みんながそれぞれ作って、尊重しあっている。

　早く日本もそうなって欲しい。壊れたものさしは捨てて、みんながそれぞれ作ってしまえばいいのに。そうすればもっと、幸せになる人が増えるかもしれない。

http://www.earthinus.com/2011/06/happiness-ruler.html

Parking Tickets That Make You Smile Prank

It's so sweet to sometimes make random people smile:)

There are always lots of love around there in the world.

centre of yourself.

It was not until 29 that I finally found out the true meaning of such kinds of messages.
Things link everywhere. Truth sometimes is different from what it seems.
It's about the core part of yourself.
All the random different visible things actually have its own theory.

Note to myself:
Don't look at the surface. Always try find its true nature.

Giving Is the Best Communication

A commercial from Thailand.
They make really good commercials!

Live Your Life

Check out from 66:00:00.

These guys made my day.
Norwegian guys going crazy, living their lives.
Rafting naked, diving from the bridge, camping in someone's back yard in below-freezing temperature, taking their "chicken pet" everywhere they go.
Cannonball into a freezing river in winter, naked!

They are living their lives.

Pay It Forward II

There must be lots of this kinds out there, but I would never get tired of watching.
Human could be this good.
Hurray for our people!

Why Is "Living in the Now" So Hard?

“Live in the now. Stay present.”

It’s one of the big pieces of advice we get when we want to feel better about our lives. Many of my clients express great frustration with their inability to do just that, though. So, for me, just trying to be present isn’t enough.

We have to go to the heart of the matter—why we aren’t just staying present automatically?

People say that not living in the now is a result of our focus on either the past or the future, instead of the present moment. That’s a good start, but I still ask why we would feel the need to do that.

The core answer is that we feel that there is something wrong with us.

So, we either look back and lament. . .I wasn’t good enough, I didn’t get their approval, I didn’t fit in, I didn’t win, and on, and on. Or, we plan or worry about how we can do things in the future. . .how to be more perfect, how to win others’ approval, how to plan things carefully enough, how to make good things happen, and so on. (And if you’re like me, you’ve done a lot of both!)

You might be someone who is pretty good at refocusing yourself to the present. Or, you might be like my clients who either have never been able to do that (no matter how hard they tried) or whose ability to do that has fallen apart. If you’re in one of the two latter categories, it might be time to address the core of the issue, the feeling that there’s something wrong with you.

Even when you know that this negative feeling is the root of your inability to stay present, it isn’t as simple as just letting go of it. (I wish it were!)

That’s because this feeling that something is wrong with you has been with you from early in your life. From conception until the age of two and a half you absorb this negative feeling, which I call Learned Distress, from your parents, siblings and others around you. Learned Distress gets embedded in your sense of self, which becomes the generating force behind every moment of your life. Learned Distress is also largely how you learned to survive and fit well with your early surroundings. So, your brain doesn’t easily let go of this negative feeling, even when you begin to realize how counterproductive it is to feel this way.

But, when people are able to access their sense of self and permanently peel away layers of Learned Distress, not only does the brain let go of the negative feeling, but it also starts to generate moments from natural well-being. When your situations are generated automatically from well-being, you just feel good now.

The need to refocus is gone and instead of using lots of energy to try and be present, you get to just enjoy wherever you are and who you are at that moment. My clients who have been able to refocus themselves (despite it being difficult) are amazed at how much more energy they have to just enjoy their lives when they don’t have to work so hard. They say it’s like getting to sit back and enjoy the scenery for the first time, instead of just having to focus on driving and staying on the road.

For my clients who have felt unable to stay present, the outcomes are even more dramatic. Just a couple of days ago, a new client described how incredibly different he felt about the day he had just been through. He started the day with a teaching presentation that he gives often. Despite the fact that he has always gotten high praise and excellent feedback on it, he is usually thrown way off balance both before and after it by worry that it won’t be/wasn’t good enough. He is unable to communicate well with his family in the morning or handle anything well after it. But he said that this day just felt more normal. Instead of the day running together in one anxious blur, he presented and felt good about it, then moved on to a list of diverse tasks he rattled off to me, saying that he just ticked each off his list and felt complete and unhurried at the end of the day. He said he just felt more capable, without having put any extra work or planning towards that goal.

Does any of this ring a bell for you? Have you struggled with trying to stay present?

The feeling that something is wrong with us so often gets in our way, but really getting rid of it clears the path for us to enjoy each moment as it comes.

(Sited from Elephant Spirituality)

Some Things Are More Important

(Japanese Translation followed by English)

SON: "Daddy, may I ask you a question?"
DAD: "Yeah sure, what is it?"
SON: "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?"
DAD: "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?"
SON: "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?"
DAD: "If you must know, I make $100 an hour."
SON: "Oh! (With his head down).
SON: "Daddy, may I please borrow $50?"
The father was furious.
DAD: "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish behavior."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?
After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think:
Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $ 50 and he really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

DAD: "Are you asleep, son?"

SON: "No daddy, I'm awake".
DAD: "I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier. It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $50 you asked for."

The little boy sat straight up, smiling.
SON: "Oh, thank you daddy!"
Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

DAD: "Why do you want more money if you already have some?"

SON: "Because I didn't have enough, but now I do.

"Daddy, I have $100 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."
The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness. It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $100 worth of your time with someone you love? If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family and friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family.

Some things are more important.



息子：パパ、ひとつ訊いていい？
パパ：なんだい？
息子：パパの時給はいくら？
パパ：ほっといてくれ！どうしてだい？
息子：なんてもいいから教えてよ。パパの時給はいくら？
パパ：そんなに言うなら…う〜ん、時給１００ドルくらいかな。
息子：えっ！（うつむきながら）パパ５０ドル貸してくれない？
パパ：くだらないオモチャを買うために？いますぐベッドに入って反省してなさい！
　　　パパはそんなことの為に働いているんじゃないんだ。

男の子は静かに自分の部屋に戻りドアを閉めました。
ぶしつけな質問にカッとなったパパも、しばらくして少し冷静さを取り戻しました。
お金を借りたいなんて、あの子らしくない態度だったな。
彼は息子の部屋の前に行きドアを開けました。

パパ：起きてるかい？
息子：…うん。
パパ：さっきはきつくあたってすまない。ほら、ここに５０ドルあるよ。

男の子は笑顔で立ち上がりました。

息子：ありがとうパパ！

そしておもむろに枕の下からお札の束を取り出し数え始めました。
男の子はもういくらかお金を持っていたのです。
パパはまたしてもカンカンです。

パパ：どうしてお金を持ってるのに貸してだなんて言ったんだ！？
息子：だって足りなかったから…。でももう大丈夫！
　　　パパ、ここに１００ドルあるよ。パパの１時間分。
　　　だから明日は１時間早く帰ってきて、夕ごはん一緒に食べようよ！

パパは打ちひしがれました。
男の子を力いっぱい抱きしめ、許しを請いました。

ただがむしゃらに働き続けているあなたへ。
時間は私たちの指の隙間からこぼれ落ちていきます。
愛する人との時間は１００ドルで買えますか？
もし明日死んでしまうとしたら、会社には我々の代わりになる人がいます。
でも家族や友人は、残りの人生を喪失感と共に生きることになるでしょう。
そのことを思えば、もっと家族との時間を大事にできるかもしれませんね。

人生にはもっと大事なことがある。

What Would You Like to Do If Money Were No Object?

The following is the script:

"So I always ask the question: What would you like to do if money were no object? How would you really enjoy spending your life? Well it's so amazing as the result of our kind of educational system, crowds of students say 'Well, we'd like to be painters, we'd like to be poets, we'd like to be writers' But as everybody knows you can't earn any money that way! Another person says 'Well I'd like to live an out-of-door's life and ride horses.' I said 'You wanna teach in a riding school?'

Let's go through with it. What do you want to do? When we finally got down to something which the individual says he really wants to do I will say to him 'You do that! And forget the money!' Because if you say that getting the money is the most important thing you will spend your life completely wasting your time! You'll be doing things you don't like doing in order to go on living - that is to go on doing things you don't like doing! Which is stupid! Better to have a short life that is full of which you like doing then a long life spent in a miserable way. And after all, if you do really like what you are doing - it doesn't really matter what it is - you can eventually become a master of it. It's the only way of becoming the master of something, to be really with it. And then you will be able to get a good fee for whatever it is. So don't worry too much, somebody is interested in everything. Anything you can be interested in, you'll find others who are.

But it's absolutely stupid to spend your time doing things you don't like in order to go on spending things you don't like, doing things you don't like and to teach our children to follow the same track. See, what we are doing is we are bringing up children and educating to live the same sort of lifes we are living. In order they may justify themselves and find satisfaction in life by bringing up their children to bring up their children to do the same thing. So it's all retch and no vomit - it never gets there! And so therefore it's so important to consider this question:

What do I desire?"

- Alan Watts

Pay It Forward

Things I used to be shy about.
I'm grown-up enough to be able to speak out loud.

Google Commercial

love the google TV commercial.

Essence of Learning English

Mogi Kenichiro is one of the most admiring individuals in Japan. At least to me.

He talks about the essence of learning English in his recent blog post.

I like his perspective and attitude toward the world.

Please check his blog post here: Reading for Pleasure

茂木健一郎氏は日本で私がとても尊敬する人の一人です。

彼の最近のブログに、英語学習者に是非知って欲しいエッセンスが書かれていたので紹介したいと思います。

ブログへはこちらから：Reading for Pleasure

Buy from Independent Artists

I respectfully support independent creators and their products and services!

You know, San Francisco is famous for this! Look at their less-Starbucks city! There are many independent cafes, restaurants, shops, artists, creators, and fabulous people in the city. 

I do respect them and really want to support those people, and I wish there are more people like them in Takao, too.

Worst X'mas Ever...

This is so cute and funny.
Hope they got a real present for the X'mas day!

とても可愛いです。
クリスマス当日には本物のプレゼントがもらえるといいね....

Nick Vujicic

I love the moment when High school girls give him huge hugs in the video, and of course he is hilarious.

このビデオの中で、女子高生達が彼に大きなハグをする瞬間が好きです。
もちろん、彼のジョークも。

You Are What You Eat

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the restaurant named Roppongi Nouen, literally in the middle of the Roppongi area, right near the Roppongi Hills building.

It was my first time to go to fancy restaurants in Tokyo, so I didn't expect much but just really expensive stuff.
After walking through beautiful Tokyo Midtown illumination, we were cold, tired, thirsty and pretty hungry. As soon as got there, I started off with a glass of orange juice, and that just orange juice was amazingly fresh and flavorful! I silently exclaimed. "Oishi!!!" Then the simple raw salad. I didn't know until then the raw Japanese carrots are so sweet and tasty. Another silent exclamation. Then we had Japanese yam John which was soft and "mochimochi", and yu-dofu in lotus root's soup. Tofu had a touch of sweetness of soybeans. Then there came the main dish, pork shabu-shabu. Since I am not a big fan of shabu-shabu or any kind of meat, I told Kanta "you can go ahead and take all the meat," but I picked a small piece to at least try. And that meat, called "Miyaji-buta", was the first pork to make me say "Oh my goodness!" actually out loud finally this time. Soft in mouth, rich in fat, so juicy even after shabu-shabu, it was just heavenly good! We had really happy time there with heavenly great food that lasted for all that night.

So, during and after this dinner, all we were saying was "good food don't just make a good body but great soul." Though it might cost a bit more than fast foods, you get much more eventually. "You are what you eat" I saw the slogan on other restaurant's webpage, and now I realized they meant not just physically but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

先日六本木農園というレストランに行きました。六本木のど真ん中に位置し、東京でお洒落なレストランに行ったことの無い私は、高いだけでしょ、とあまり多くを期待はしていませんでした。
夕食の前に東京ミッドタウンのイルミネーションを見に行ったり、結構歩いたせいでレストランに着いた頃には、寒いし喉は乾いたしお腹も減ったしで、とりあえずオレンジジュースをオーダー。そしたらそのとりあえずオレンジジュースのおいしいこと！「おいしー！」と目を丸くして、かんたにひっそり声で訴え、次に頼んだのは、よくある生サラダ。これまたスライスされた人参や赤かぶなどがすっごく甘くておいしくて感動。それから山芋のちぢみ、れんこんスープに入った湯豆腐をいただき、もうどれもこれも素材の味がし〜っかりしていて甘い。でメインの豚しゃぶしゃぶ。私はもともとそんなに肉狂ではないので、肉はかんた食べな〜と言い、でも一応一切れ食べてみると、まあ脂のおいしいこと！ジューシーでやわらかくて甘くて、お肉の脂をこんなにおいしいと思ったのは始めてでした。お肉はみやじ豚と言って、お米で育てられているんだとか。（ここの店員さんは、全ての料理に対して、どこでどんな風に育てられて収穫されたものか等を丁寧に説明してくれ、お米一粒、葉っぱ一枚残っていたらお皿を下げないのです。農家の人に対するリスペクトなのだそう。）その後雑炊に出て来た卵も、色がすでに全然違って本当においしかった。レストランを出てからも後をひく幸せを提供できる食事というのは、お金や時間と引き換えにできないものだなぁと感じました。今度は家でみやじ豚を取り寄せてみよう！
以前他のレストランのウェブサイトで「You are what you eat」をいうメッセージを見ました。つまり、「あなたは食べた物できている」と。身体もそうですが、心や魂も食べ物が大きく影響するということなんでしょう。ファストフードも便利でいいですが、たまにはそういった考える時間を持つことも大事なことかもしれませんね。

Logical Reasoning?

You think you are discussing with the idea which is derived from logical reasoning?  Reason first, then the result?
Well, brain scientist, Mogi Kenichiro, says the different.
People are tend to rationale the idea based on their original biases or emotional prejudice.
Read the whole article: Here is the website (The article in Japanese) ... and I just found out that the URL was invalid. So the part of the article is below.

みなさんは何か議論をする時、正当な理論の上に、自分の意見や立ち位置があると思いますか？理由が先で結果が後？

実は脳科学者の茂木健一郎氏は逆を唱えています。

人は論理的に考えているようで、実はその論理は感情や先入観の後付け論であることが多い、と。私自身、思い返してみると、大人になって自分の立ち位置や立場が確立され始めて、その傾向は自分自身でも強くなったような気がします。

こちらから全文をどうぞ：Here is the website ...と思ったらURLがすでに無効になっていましたので、一部抜粋で以下に載せます。

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ＴＰＰに限らず、どんな議論でも、多くの人は、こういう点がある、ああ
いう点がある……と論点を挙げていき、「だから私は賛成である」「だか
ら私は反対である」という結論を導き出しているつもりになっているわけ
ですが、実はそうなっていません。

はじめに、「感情」から導かれる結論が決まっていて、そこからその結論
にあった事実を選択的に選び出している人がほとんどだと思います。

例えば今、インターネットなどの文明の発達によって、グローバリズムが
否応なしに押し進められているわけですが、このグローバリズムに対して
「適応できないんじゃないか」と将来に対して漠然とした不安のようなも
のを感じている人がいるとします。実際にこういう人は多いでしょう。す
ると、そういう人は、自分の心の「不安」を、「それは不安に思っても仕
方が無い」とみんなが納得するような情報なり論点を引っ張ってくること
になる。

We Are With You

And responding to this video, tons of message videos from all over the world were uploaded. 
One of them is the below.


これに対して世界中からたくさんのメッセージが寄せられました。
次のはその一つです。

What Adults Can Learn From Kids

Believe or not, she is only 12.

信じられないかもしれませんが、彼女はたったの12歳です。

Make THE Difference

"TMB bank have launched a new brand vision "Make THE Difference" by making a film to inspire people to start thinking differently. With a hope that they will start to Make THE Difference to their own world. It doesn't have to be big, but a little can create positive changes. This film is based on a true story. In 1986 a football team that lived on a little island in the south of Thailand called "Koh Panyee". It's a floating village in the middle of the sea that has not an inch of soil. The kids here loved to watch football but had nowhere to play or practice. But they didn't let that stop them. They challenged the norm and have become a great inspiration for new generations on the island." - Sited from the description on Youtube


”タイのTBM銀行が「違いを作ろう」という新しいビジョンを持って作った動画です。大きなことじゃなくていい、小さな違いが良い変化をもたらすのです、と。これは、1986年にKoh Panyeeというタイの南に位置する小さな島にあった、地元サッカーチームの実話に基づいた話です。その島は海のど真ん中にある浮いている島で、まともな土壌もなかったため、島の子ども達はサッカーを見るのは大好きだったけれども、練習をする余裕はありませんでした。しかしその現実は子ども達をサッカーの夢から遠ざけることはなかったようです。彼らは後の世代に素晴らしいインスピレーションを与えることになりました。” - Youtube の説明より引用