peace – Notes from Ladybug

How to have a better life

Japanese style- a better life

There goes without saying that no country in this world is better than another, but Japanese may come pretty close. The Japanese way of living is a very balanced way of living and all we can do is learn from them.

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Contrary to Hector Garcia and Frances Morales’s book, the Ikigai Encyclopedia by Ken Mogi defines “ikigai” as being in harmony with the environment and those around yourself. He describes in this book, that in order to live a happy life, Japapnese people enjoy eating something sweet/enjoyable in the morning. You do not need to do something enjoyable for work but you can find something that you enjoy to do every day after work, you can pursue you passion after work hours. You can find meaning in every situation.

Another Japanese concept is Nagomi-this refers to balance, comfort and peace for the heart& mind, the equilibrium of multiple factor. In this other book- The way of Nagomi, Mogi suggests that in orders to find nagomi you need to forgive yourself your past mistakes and forgive others for the things they made against you.

You do not need to love something in order to find an ikigai, you only need to find small enjoyable things around yourself- you need to search for the activity you do without caring what others think of you. In order to remain yourself, as he suggests, you need to embrace change and leave the past behind.

I hope that in this new year you will learn to love yourself, to take one step at a time in the direction of your dreams. Believe in yourself.You are strong. YOU CAN 🙂

How to change your life

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Since you’ve found this article, maybe you need something to change in your life. Believe me, I was in your shoes and I still am. Let’s say that this blog is my way of doing so.

Acknowledge where you are at this point in your life. Is everything alright? Did you want to achieve something by a certain age and you didn’t. That’s okay, there’s no time limit to your dreams. Check in first your mental state: are you angry all the time-why this may happen? Are you happy? Are you okay?…Check and list your emotions that you are going through at this stage.

After you have acknowledged your emotions, try to find a reason why you are feeling this way-did you suffered from a heartbreak, or maybe you’ve lost your job? In many case, the reasons may be superficial. As psychologists say, suffering may come from your childhood; you were conditioned to behave or act in a certain way. I recommend you start reading the book “How to do the work” by Nicole LePera to help you in that area. Dig deep down into your condition and you may find yourself starting to change. It will be messy, you will be angry towards those who have raised you, but nobody’s at fault here. You have to break your old pattern and evolve into a new human being. The next step- your reinvention. After all, humans constantly evolve and change during their lives, you were not the same person you were 10 years ago, but that’s okay. Nobody expects that.

Dare to dream. What do you want to do with your life? Do you want to switch careers, do you want to find the love of our life? Start breaking your major goals into small ones: changing careers – such as figuring out what you are good at, taking some classes; finding love-meet new people, don’t judge people so easily. Find your “ikigai” ( your meaning in life). I recommend you read the book “The Ikigai Journey: A Practical Guide to Finding Happiness and Purpose the Japanese Way” by Hector Garcia.

I know that this blog post, probably didn’t help you a lot, it may be only a superficial recommendation from my part, but I hope that you will be able to transform your life for better.

Finding balance in your life

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You are not multidimensional, you are multidimensional. Your story is not entirely bad if wrong, is a succession of lessons, people, loves, bad & beautiful things. It’s every second that your heart is beating.

One day you are happy and the next the day you find yourself, crying your eyes out of head, your heart is beating fast, you feel sad and you wonder what you did wrong. My dear, something is clearly wrong, maybe you put work on the top spot in your life priorities while your health was declining and you didn’t had anyone around because you were too busy working. Or, maybe you put someone’s else needs first that you have forgotten that YOU, yes actually YOU are also a HUMAN BEING in this world. So, WAKE UP. The world needs you to be yourself and the world needs you also to be healthy and happy. It’s time to rethink and redesign your life.

Your mental well being starts by acknowledging your emotions. How an I feeling? Am I being stressed? Am I angry?, Am I happy? These questions may not be easy at first to ask yourself, but with time you will be an expert at recognizing your emotions.

You may say that you are OK, but are you really? You will find yourself after work constantly browsing through clothes website buying everything juts because it was on sales or it was a nice color. So, when you are going to wear that dress/shirt if you are all day at work. Take it from me, I was there buying things just to fill in a void that I was feeling. Putting too much effort on solely one aspect of your life can cause anxiety ( you constantly feel that that you are not doing the best at work even though that is the only thing you do) or depression or both. You can spiral quickly into depression after you were in burnout and then you only realize that there is more to life than work. So, my darling make a list of what you value in life and start prioritizing your well-being: mentally & emotionally. Remember that one person is your life that is always there for you is YOU, your body and soul. You may have a beautiful soul, but that souls needs a healthy body to live in, not a train wreck that war overworked until your bones come out of it. Being kind means being kind to yourself first and then to others. Take care of you, not one else will.