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I have always hated being asked Who inspires you and why? It’s always sounded like a cliché question and a kind of judgment since most people annoyingly say The Dalai Lama or Mother Theresa or some other icon of sycophants’. Sound cynical enough for you? 🤷🏽♀️ In my reality and view of the world, I think independence and self-determination includes not looking to anyone else to motivate or ‘inspire’. I believe these should…
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What Goes In
One of my goals this year is to read more. Though I do read a relatively good amount most years, it is usually done in a binge-style manner on holidays like a plant 🌱 soaking up water when it’s soil is dry. So, to avoid this pattern and to shift what gets inputted into my mind, I’ve made a bit of a reading list based on recommendations from FB friends (thank you!!! 🙏)…
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Sumo January 2019 Tokyo Tournament
Back in the day, I used to really love sumo. I would watch it regularly on Japanese TV as something of an oddity in the culture. My early days of studying Japanese was challenging because I really had no appreciation for much of its culture despite learning the language. Perhaps it was too close to my own unknown mother culture that I thought it a betrayal to both my native and adopted ones.…
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Flexible Inflexibility
It has been a while since I have checked in about my ups and downs. Somehow, they seem to be less frequent or, at least, less obvious to me. Perhaps, I should ask my husband, though! 😛 Actually, with my middle-aged body changes, I really don’t know if my moods and energy levels are related to hormones or the bipolar tendencies. What I do know is that I need to maintain balance and…
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Responsibility
A conversation with a friend has stayed with me when she once asked her father why he didn’t force her to learn Spanish even though it was her parents’ mother tongue. She shared her father’s response as: he was too busy trying to make a living and needing English to care for the family that it was up to her to learn the language or not. Along the same vein, I have often…
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What’s Your Sign?
Cancerian Red Dragon. Oh, and I’m an INTJ. You may not be a believer of horoscopes or zodiac characters or the Myers-Briggs personality types. You may be one to say that every horoscope or description of a ‘type’ can fit just about anyone. Or, you may just not like being typecast to fit into one stereotype. The reality is that whether we like it or not, we do fit into certain sets of…
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Keeping My Head Up
It’s been a number of years since I noticed that I was suffering from numbness and tingling in my extremities. It was always more noticeable after I had imbibed too much, so I chalked it up to my body’s way of telling me to lay off on the vice. However, as time went on, I’d feel numbing now and then even when I hadn’t drank anything. Still, rather than think anything of it,…
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Turkey for Turkeys
My all-time favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. Although there is some controversy in recent years around the origins of the holiday, I ignore all the politicking of it and focus on what it means to me. Some people argue that they like Christmas better because, in the US, it’s not that much different from Thanksgiving except that we exchange presents. However, for me the consumerism attitude is not necessary. Therefore, I prefer the third Thursday in…
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Retreating
When the sun and moon align, people gather together to view the phenomenon with the promise of each time being the ~est in our lifetimes. Yet, it is this equilibrium and balance that awes us and, despite all the fanfare and build up, lasts mere moments. Our life experiences are similar. Though we do not always see the build up or understand the fanfare (aka drama) that we go through, we do live…
Creative Meanderings
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