Gratitude And The Miracle Of Water – Online Gratitude Journal #9
August 8, 2008 by akemi · 27 Comments
Dr. Masaru Emoto maintains the water molecule changes forms according to the message we send.
The Japanese love water. The country enjoys abundant rainfall, which allowed the early adoption of agriculture and therefore rich cultural evolution. I think it is very fit for a Japanese scientist to study the mystery of water. (Yes, I am being partial here because I’m Japanese, too.)
Dr Masaru Emoto has written several books on the topic, including The Miracle of Water
But he is not the only one who advocates the mysterious power of water. This week, I was reading a Japanese magazine and saw an article by Seikan Kobayashi. He says he started saying “Thank you for restoring me to youth.” every time he drank water and other fluids when he was forty-nine. That was ten years ago, and his hair was turning gray. Within a month, he says, his hair recovered color and it is still youthful dark hair now.
I was intrigued. I have a few gray streaks, so maybe I can try for myself! So I started talking to water. It feels very good and “right” to say gratitude to the water I’m drinking. I find it hard to remember doing this, though – new habit is hard to adopt properly. It’s sad how so often I’m in a hurry and eating and drinking without paying attention to the foods and drinks I’m taking in. I’d like to be more in the now, and this gratitude to the water – and beyond – helps me.
Link Love
When Tom wrote about past lives, I just had to comment because reading people’s soul records is what I do to help them and myself. We don’t always remember our past lives, and usually that is a good thing – we can start a new life with fresh mind when we come to this world. On the other hand, it is empowering to learn our past strengths and the mistakes we made – provided that the information comes in a way that is clearly intended to improve the current life, not just to satisfy the curiosity.
What do you think? I used to be a complete non-believer of past life, so I totally understand if you are suspicious about this topic. Please share your thoughts without reservation 
Jenny at Heal Pain Naturally celebrates her first anniversary by listing her blogger friends. What a great way to celebrate! And I see so many of my favorite bloggers there – we are all interconnected 
My Law of Attraction Dream Money Project, Week 8, $12,800
Wow, this is like several months living expenses for me. How much precious metals can I get with this? (Of course, I’m talking about the rising price of gold, silver, copper, platinum, etc.)
This is more than enough to trade my Civic to Prius. The light green one. In addition to being environment-friendly (now the Prius is coming with plug-in option, too, I heard), it’s just a very cute car. Nothing wrong with Civic, it’s just I’m ready to step up when the time comes.
Okay, everyone, enjoy the rest of the summer! Next week, Yes to Me will have another great Interview With Successful Entrepreneur – with ProBlogger Darren Rowes. Stay tuned!
What’s The Best Thing That Can Happen?
August 5, 2008 by akemi · 25 Comments
The empty time can be the most productive time
Happy August! I guess many of you are enjoying your vacation – especially those of you who work the corporate jobs. It’s a special time away from your busy daily life. Are you going away? Staying home to relax?
The vacation time is one of the most productive time. And I don’t mean “recharging” your battery. I say this because many of us are so busy doing what we are used to be doing, things we think we need to do because we always did them. We seldom take time to assess ourselves and our tasks. This keeps us busy, but it doesn’t necessarily make us productive.
By putting yourself away from your daily routine during the vacation, you have the opportunity to detach and review yourself. Is what you are doing something that you enjoy doing? Or is it a step to the goal you are heading to achieve?
We are always growing. Is your routine up to date to the current YOU?
The biggest waste of time is not watching a movie, not chatting with your friends, not even taking a nap. It’s living the life of someone else. Say, you have an executive position with a well-known company. You work hard, make great achievements, and get promoted. To the people looking at you, this may seem to be a wonderful life, and you are certainly productive. But if the true you is dying to express your artistic creativity, do all the busy work and consequent achievements even matter?
Perhaps the high social status was something you really wanted when you were younger. So you got your business degree and started working in suits. It worked well before – you had your wins, you learned how much you could do, all so exciting. Somewhere along the way, however, there was an internal change . . . a subtle, but real change. You grew out of that version of YOU.
Here are your choices:
1. Ignore the new YOU growing from within and stick to the YOU you and your friends and family knew.
2. Notice the new YOU and try halting its growth. Overloading yourself with busy work may work for this. Temporarily.
3. Notice the new YOU, notice it is growing, but . . . hey, what can you do? Everything is set up already for the old YOU.
4. Accept the new YOU and change your life to fit to the new YOU.
The paradox of nothingness
Is it scary to change your life to fit to the new YOU you are becoming? Do you hate the newness?
So here is your vacation. You are away from your daily routine anyway. Now don’t do anything. Really. Experience how nothingness feels.
Wherever you are spending your vacation time, embrace nothingness as much as possible. Don’t read. Don’t work on your to-do-list. Hey, you can even plug off your computer and not check the internet for the time being.
When you are completely rested and cleared, do one thing you want to do. Not something you feel you have to do. You are still in vacation, do something that is meaningful to you. The one thing that came out of this nothingness.
There. Now you are truly productive. That is the paradox of nothingness – by letting go of things, you discover the most valuable.
The question “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” is overused these days.
I’d rather ask, “What’s The Best Thing That Can Happen?”
That was what I did a year ago . . . after the summer, I quit my fulltime job and moved myself across America from Tennessee to Oregon. I’m so happy I made that change.
And I keep growing. There is always new ME forming from within, in the bubble. At this time, I don’t know what my new ME would want in life, I just hope I have the courage to follow her growth.
Bonus clue to your growth: Growth doesn’t always come in linear manner, and we don’t always have to “work” to receive something. My last week’s post was about a mini example of how the Universe provides in surprising ways. Further, I see in my business that new clients seem to show up in very timely manner.
Have you reinvented yourself before?
Gratitude And The Surprise Present I Got – Online Gratitude Journal #8
August 1, 2008 by akemi · 4 Comments
Do you feel like some invisible power is supporting you?
And from time to time, it shows off its presence in a way you can see clearly?
I was having a lousy day on Monday. I spent a few hours toiling over a blog post, and finally decided it was going nowhere. I ditched the draft. I was extremely tired. I felt anxious to do something without really knowing what it was. Aaaaagh!
After dinner, I went out to take a walk. There was a house with a pretty garden. The garden had white picket fence and arched entrance. I could easily see the garden inside but the fence made it seem like the inside was some special world. A woman was working on the flowers on the border, so I said something in the line that I liked the garden. She was pleased with my compliments and we started talking.
She turned out to be a big pro-Japanese who hosts Japanese students every fall. Then she cut a huge bunch of lavenders from her garden and gave it to me. We exchanged numbers so that we can talk again. She decided I should have another bouquet of flowers and cut her daisies, dahlias, phlox, and so on. So I went home with two huge bouquets. I was filled to the brim with gratitude. The best walk I ever had, I guess.
Do you think this is synchronicity? Some magic?
I’m looking at the beautiful purple, magenta, and pink of flowers. It makes me smile. The Universe surely made it clear its abundance and how easy it is to reach it.
But that is not all.
Two more things about the lavender come to my mind. One, after my inner child wrote a guest post last Friday, she actually wrote another mini post, but I rejected it thinking it’s too much. (Yeah, Yes to Me has strict editorial standard, you know.) In it, she was talking about lavenders from the neighbor’s garden. Really. Here is part of her post that didn’t get published before:
“Well, I like writing, but I like doing other things, too. And in addition to my daily playing, I now go around the blogs to see other bloggers’ inner children who want to be comforted and healed. I think Steve and Leo‘s inner children are getting bored so I’ll see if they want to come out and play. And I want to send Naomi‘s inner child the lavenders I picked from my neighbor’s garden. That kind of thing. . . So I think I’ll let Akemi write for this blog most of the time.”
Okay, Naomi, the lavenders are on your way. Hope they help you sleep well. (I just checked her blog ans she is back to posting regularly. Hurray!)
Two. It’s about the Law of Attraction. After I heard the audio CD of The Secret last summer, I was doing a lot of meditation and visualization. (This is when I was still in Tennessee.) One of the visualization was about my dream home. My dream home is brick, standing on mid hill that overlooks a big river, and the house is surrounded with fragrant lavender. . . (There are a lot more details about the rooms, settings, etc.) Later last year, I decided to move to Portland, Oregon. I heard Oregon rains a lot, and I knew lavender likes well drained soil, so I thought, “Well . . . maybe I won’t have lavender around my dream home. That’s okay, just a small detail to give up.”
This is my first summer in Oregon. And there are lavenders everywhere. Perhaps because the heat is mild, they are in bloom all summer. So maybe I will have lavenders around my house when I’m ready to buy a house.
My Law of Attraction Dream Money Project, Week 7, $6400
Before I go on to this week’s spending spree . . . remember what I wanted to do with my first week’s $100? Yeah, I wanted to go to the coast. Being close to the ocean was one of the attractions of moving from Tennessee to Oregon, and yet I kept postponing it. Yesterday, it finally dawned on me.
“What the heck am I waiting for?” I don’t need the money to fall from heaven . . . maybe I already have it. So I drove to the west – to the wild wild west, across the mountains, through the woods where elks roam and it is advised to keep the light on for safety even during the day (according to the road signs). And there, the Pacific Ocean, my mother ocean!
It was very windy and cold. I walked along the seaside, playing with the gentle waves. The water was icy aqua blue. I picked some pebbles and seashells. I got a live shellfish, too, but I let him go. Then I dared to go bare feet . . . oooh, it was so cold that it gave me a brain freeze for a second . . . and it was nice ^_^
After awhile I noticed I was dead hungry so had late lunch at a seafood restaurant. Next time, I’ll go overnight so I can enjoy the sunset!
So the $6400. One way I define being “rich” is not have to worry about money when I see something I really want. For example, I love fine arts. I love visiting art galleries. There were many occasions before, however, when I spot a new artist at a local gallery, really wanted one of the paintings, and just couldn’t. Now that I’m settled in Oregon, it’s time to do this. I’ll go gallery hopping, and when I see the picture that talks to me, I’ll get it. Because I love it.
Today I’m grateful for all the flowers in the world and my friends, new and old, who support me in their own unique ways.
How are you enjoying your summer? (I mean . . . if you are in the northern hemisphere) What do you think about this dream money project?
