On jumping, eating and breathing

This post will answer the prompts 25 (Photo), 26 (Soul Food) and 27 (Ordinary Joy)  of Reverb10. Join us and reflect on your year 2010…

Prompt 25: Photo

Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.

(Author: Tracey Clark)

{Future tool: Soul Biographies: Thoughts Become Things. For the next 7 days as you round out your year, we’ll share one tool each day to help you plan your year ahead.}

This photo on the left was taken by Fernando Ramos in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Fernando gave it a name – “Jump for Life, Joy and Everything Inbetween”, and I think this title describes this jump very well. I jump for life, joy and everything inbetween. I jump even if no one is jumping. I jumped because I wanted to jump.

What do you do when you are happy? Do you jump? Or dance? Or sing?

By the way, Fernando runs a photo meme called SnapStory1000. The most basic rule is that you take a photo, write a short story based on the photo, and display them online. If you are interested, check out his SnapStory1ooo page here.

Prompt 26: Soul Food

What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?

(Author: Elise Marie Collins)

{Future tool: Sark’s MicroMOVEment Support Sheets. For the next 6 days as you round out your year, we’ll share one tool each day to help you plan your year ahead.}

I love food. I love cooking as well as eating. But when it comes to soul food, I’m inclined to think what really matters is who you share the food with, because that person or those people can make the dining more enjoyable and the food will be more memorable if not tastier.

What do you think?

In any case, sharing food can be what I’ll do more next year.

Prompt 27: Ordinary Joy

Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year?

(Author: Brené Brown)

{Future tool: Tara Mohr’s The Next Steps After Vision… For the next 5 days as you round out your year, we’ll share one tool each day to help you plan your year ahead.

I’m grateful that my life is filled with such joyful moments. I can pretty much be happy and feel joyful about being able to breathe.

I practice Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and choking techniques are part of the core techniques of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. So, when I’m good, I choke others. But when I’m playing with people stronger than me, I get choked and I tap.

Since I practice this style of martial arts and choking has become an ordinary thing for me, it didn’t occur to me how people rarely gets choked in their daily lives. If you practice yoga or something that teaches you the importance of breathing, you know breathing gives you positive effects. But do you know how amazing it is that you can breathe? You will know, if you’ve been in a situation where you can’t breathe even if you want to.

This very simple realization that I got by reflecting on what I practice makes me appreciate the fact that I can breathe. It’s joyful.

If you want to be able to appreciate these tiny moments more, be curious about what’s happening around you. Also, it helps to imagine what would happen if you couldn’t experience those moments at all.

This prompt’s author Brené Brown gave a great talk for TEDxHuston. This talk is one of my favorite talks that I’ve ever listened to. Make sure to check it out (I wrote a post in relation to her talk. Go to that post and scroll down to the bottom of the post for a clip of the talk.)

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What’s your thoughts on these prompts? Tell me, because I’m curious. If you enjoyed reading this post, please share it with your friends by clicking the like button or the tweet button below. You can subscribe to this blog via RSS or e-mail, too. I’m looking forward to connecting with you!

Photo: Saitama-Rama

Having a sense of wonder, letting things go, and making – #Reverb10

What was 2010 like for you? I am reflecting on my year 2010 by participating in Reverb10. In this post, I’ll answer prompts #4 (Wonder), #5 (Let Go), and #6 (Make). You can find other Reverb10 stories by searching the hashtag #Reverb10 on twitter, or you can check the Reverb10 official site.

Prompt #4: Wonder

How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

(Author: Jeffrey Davis)

My answer to this question is somewhat circular, but I cultivated a sense of wonder by having a sense of wonder.

What helped me have a sense of wonder, though, is my desire to experience beautiful moments in my life. You can’t make beautiful moments happen and perhaps the beauty of these moments would be lost if you could control everything about them. Having said that, however, I believe you can make it easier for you to notice such moments  by focusing on what’s happening around you (or perhaps by worrying less about what’s not happening).

I’m not a guy who has a sense of wonder about absolutely everything, because I do prioritize some things higher than others, but I choose to be curious about things I want to experience.

Choosing to be curious is the key, I believe.

When I met Mr. Satorialist at his meet&greet event in Tokyo this April, I asked him what he sees through his camera. “Ignorance is a bliss,” he said. He finds something interesting about people he wants to take photos of and he makes up stories about them. He sees what he wants to see in these people.

I plan to cultivate a sense of wonder more in 2011. Having a sense of wonder is, I believe, one way to make the world more romantic.

What are you curious about? What do you want to experience?

Prompt #5: Let Go

What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

(Author: Alice Bradley)

As far as the practice of letting things go is concerned, I actively let go of things this year.

It all started as part of exercises in The Artist’s Way, and I continue to let go of things that don’t fit in with the kind of life I want to lead. I got rid of old clothes, books, CDs, old photos, documents that I don’t need to keep, other redundant items, creative blocks, worries, negative thoughts and the like. I’m sure these things will keep coming back like Tetris, but I’m also sure that I can handle them without accumulating them next time.

So, I will keep letting go, because my ideal at the moment is to own only what’s necessary. The motive is not so much about becoming a minimalist, but it’s about maximizing experiences by reducing physical as well as mental distractions.

It’s possible that nothing is going to stay with you forever. I can’t see any reason why you should try to keep it to yourself when it needs to go. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t welcome it when it comes to you, by the way. You can appreciate it when it’s there with you and let it go when it needs to go. It’s simple as that.

(Now I’ve finished answering up to prompt #5 of Reverb10, I sense Reverb10 helps me prepare for letting go of 2010! You were a beautiful year, but go… go!)

Prompt #6: Make

What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

(Author: Gretchen Rubin)

If we are referring to something substantial here, my answer will be my NaNoWriMo novel, but the last thing I made in a more straight forward sense is stirfried eggplants. I used vegetable oil, eggplants cut into finger size&shape, miso paste, mirin, and soy sauce.

There are some things I want to make. I want to make a mini e-book that explains the concept of location independent business and introduce people who run such businesses to Japanese readers. I want to make a manifesto about making the world more romantic. I want to translate Leo Babauta’s e-book Focus into Japanese. I will make them happen.

But now I’ve mentioned food as an answer to this prompt, I came to have baclava and apple crumble in mind as well…

How about you? What’s the last thing you made? By the way, it’s important to note that you don’t need to set the hurdle too high when we talk about things we made. If you doodled something, you made something. If you cooked a meal, you made something. If you became friends with someone new, then you made something.

Or say hello to me and you’ll have made a new connection if you are new to this blog!

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If you enjoyed reading this post, please share it with your friends. You can subscribe to this blog via RSS or e-mail, too. I’m looking forward to connecting with you!

Photo: *Zara

In search of a nomad cafe

An interesting concept came to my mind during a conversation with a great friend of mine: a nomad cafe. Given how unconventional people operate in the world, I wouldn’t be surprised that there be a vagabonding soul that does what I will describe in the following. I would love to know if there’s such a person. If there is, please let me know.

So, here’s what a nomad cafe involves. Let’s say you run a nomad cafe. What that means is simple: you have cooking skills, you love traveling, you enjoy cooking for other people, and there are people who are willing to have a cafe experience with you. You advertise yourself on your website or other similar platforms and let people know that where you are going to run a nomad cafe next time. People who like to have a cafe experience with you respond to you–some might have a kitchen they can let you use, some might have ingredients they can offer you, or others might simply be happy to pay you for the food and experiences you provide.

This person might sound like a couchsurfer with cooking skills, and essentially, that’s correct. I would add and emphasize social media skills to that description though.

Do you know of anyone that fits the description above? Since I’m interested in becoming a vagabond and traveling around the world, I’m curious about this way of exploring and connecting with the world.

I guess it would be a fun way to fund a travel as you go as well as a great way to make great connections with local people. Food bonds us together.

photo: kamshots