BECOMING MY OWN BEST FRIEND

The word is “becoming”. It’s an ongoing process. Five best friends that I had for over 50 years left me last year. My soulmate best friend left this world seven years ago. For those last seven years, I have spend hours listening to YouTube videos to assuage my loneliness, avoiding daily news and choosing movies and conversations that make me “feel better”.

This morning, I’m listening to Rick Archer give the analogy of “The sun is always shining”. A practice of meditation for him blows the clouds of life away. Therefore, he has had enough practice so he is able to find more moments of “bliss” regularly in his day. He is also clear that he is not “there”. It is an ongoing practice.

Archer and I have another example in common. Over 10 years ago I read Malcolm Gladwell’s book OUTLIERS. Gladwell, explains the concept of 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill, citing examples of people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs putting in their hours to get to the successes they accomplished in our world.

Fifty seven years ago in 1968, I had the privilege of learning about the Suzuki Method of learning to play a musical instrument. Dr. Suzuki’s method of starting at the age of three, was to get in ten years of practice before the child get’s busy with high school activities. With this skill, the child is ready to tackle other goals in life for which they have the practice to accomplish.

Back to becoming my own best friend. It’s clear that seven years of listening to various mentors and choosing which podcasts I resonate with, has brought me to a place that I am not feeling the loneliness as much of losing my soul mate. I am learning a lot about myself.

I have learned that Sam and my goal to pass on our Japanese heritage values is being fulfilled. I like blogging to keep writing.

Thank you to those who read my blog!