In this post, I will answer the prompts 13 (Action), 14 (Appreciation) and 15 (5 minutes) of Reverb 10. It’s not too late to join Reverb10 and reflect on your year 2010 – join us and share stories with other participants!
Prompt 13: Action
When it comes to aspirations, its not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step?
In the previous post, I wrote about my possession. The last time I counted how many things I have, I had about 126 things. Now, I’ve decided to let some of them go, including this T-shirt I am attached to very much. The story behind this T-shirt is about my 18 year old self, my friend Tatsuya and this hardcore punk band called Reach the Sky, from Boston. 8 years ago, Tatsuya brought Reach the Sky to Japan on a DIY basis, and I got to be involved in their Japan tour as an interpreter/tour manager/person-to-have-fun-with-them. I still remember this great adventure we had and this T-shirt means a lot to me.
But I’m letting it go. I cut out the logo of Reach the Sky printed on the T-shirt and will keep it, though. The T-shirt will go, but memories will stay.
I’ve put this T-shirt as well as other items in a garbage bag and it’s ready to be collected tomorrow morning. I will minimizing physical as well as mental distractions from my life and focus on creation. This is one of the very first steps.
If you are interested in having a lifestyle in which you minimize stuff and maximize your experiences, you can start identifying things you don’t need, but you possess, and start eliminating these things as well. All you need to do is to take action, to take one small step.
Prompt 14: Appreciate
What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?
One simple thing that I started believing this year is that I have enough resources that lead me to almost anywhere I want to go, metaphorically or literally. It may take years to get to where I want to go, but I know I can make one step forward, another step forward and yet another step forward. What I already have is enough for satisfying what’s required to make this step. By resources, I mean everything and everyone that comes to my life. I appreciate them for helping me move forward.
The question of how I express gratitude for them is a tricky question, but I suppose I can simply live my life with this attitude of appreciating everything and everyone that makes my life enjoyable and that way I can express gratitude for them.
Prompt 15: 5 minutes
Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.
My 2010 in 5 minutes. What do I want to remember? This year was probably a year I experienced a big shift, and slow as well as fast. It was slow in the sense that I felt frustrated with how little progress I made when I could make more progress. It was fast in the sense that I nevertheless had great experiences, such as unblocking my creative blocks, learning Argentine Tango, climbing Mt. Fuji, winning at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Asian Open Championship, making a lot of new friends, going to Kyoto and other small things I can’t write in 5 minutes.
So, that was my 2010 in 5 minutes of writing.
This prompt makes me think… I wrote 101 words for my 5 minute summary of 2010. If I live for another 60 years and write a 100 word summary every year, then these 60 years can be summed up in about 6000 words? But then, I feel I’d rather want to be able to sum up my life with something simpler like “I had an awesome life and I love you all”.
By the way, I’m having an awesome life and I love you all.
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