SMALL IMPROVEMENTS EVERY DAY!
What does it mean to seek small improvements every day? Each and every human life is more important than the world. People are given a special privilege to live a precious human existence.
Similarly, Ike chose Tofu as a representation of the basics necessary in personal development. My banker, Lissette, recently returned from a visit to Japan and suggest that one of the highlights of her trip was to dine at a place in Kyoto where they serve nothing but variations of tofu from appetizers to desserts.
Yesterday, we had lunch at the Katsu Burger in the Factoria center. Our 12-yr-old is partial to Carbs and regularly leaves a lot of protein on her plate to be wasted. She had a Tofu Miso Burger and ate the whole thing! A small dietary improvement???
![Birthday Greeting & Break...]()
Birthday Greeting & Breakfast for Grandma Dee
Celebrating #81
Dee's present is a poem. Sam must have written it in the 1980s, on his blue Lab desk placemat, when Alice was secretary and the girls were gone. Kelly found it in the basement yesterday sorting and cleaning out the GOK (God Only Knows) room and put it in a frame.
A DAY WITH DEE
by Sam Goto
A day in the life
of Dee Goto
Awake in the morning
about seven or so.
Tells Sam, her husband
about a dream or two
Then does the things
that we all do.
Shaklee Makeup
gives her skin a glow
Vitamins and Slim Plan
and she’s ready to go.
Phone orders to fill
customers to call
Sets the answer machine
so she can do it all.
Alice, her secretary
can hardly talk
She’s our of breath
after her morning walk.
Counseling a man
about his life
A teen age boy and
a Japanese wife.
Teaching English
can be fun
Then a music school meeting
keeps her on the run.
Chairs a Japanese
history project meeting
Then on to U.P.S. cause
time is fleeting
Delivers products
along the way
Smiling and talking
like she’s got all day.
Loaning and borrowing
from Kay and Fran
Helping everyone
the best she can.
Stopping to rest
she reads instead
Can’t seem to get
enough into her head.
![Living Well!!]()
Living Well!!
Today was Sam’s earthly birthday, January 13th. It’s snowing and the girls are throwing 13 snowballs at the representative dogwood tree. They are making snow figures as well as snow caramel & hot chocolate to savor like “Little House On the Prairie”.
The ten-year-old was staying home from school with a fever & headache, but she is having no problem fully “LIVING” this snow day. She is providing a model to creatively alleviate suffering - putting the energy into something fun?
Without “suffering” we would not have most of our inventions and conveniences? It’s suggested that: “SUFFERING IS LIVING”
![NECESSARY OR UNNECESSARY ...]()
NECESSARY OR UNNECESSARY SUFFERING?
Crescendo through to the end! And More?
Just passed, is the December 31st anniversary of the day my husband died. Sam’s goal was to live well to the end and he accomplished that. We keep finding quotes on stickies, drawings from high school and notes on things Sam saved as we sort what we want to keep ALIVE.
I'm looking at one of the drawing pads. It's an action sketch of a "dog chase". One summer, when our girls were in grade school, we spent a few days on Shaw Island, taking my parents and our dog, Abigail. The Herards brought their dog, Rags. Under the drawing is the remarks of our 7-yr-old: “Rags is trying to get Abigail to have babies, but she’s spayed; all that work for nothing?”
I’m listening to BJ Miller - Executive Director of San Francisco’s Zen Hospice Project - and his TED talk. “Most of the fear of dying is the fear of suffering.” Dr. Miller survived “the early death of his legs” in a random and stupid college antic. He chose to become a palliative care physician with the ALIVE parts of his body.
Dr. Miller talks about his patient, Frank, who had Prostate Cancer, HIV and end of life issues. But Frank chose to water raft the Grand Canyon and was elated to experience freezing waters and the excruciating fatigue of being ALIVE.
Again, how we take “life” all depends on our perspective? Research is proving we can change our brain and our responses! "DIE WELL, BY LIVING WELL"
![GRATITUDE MIND SET FOR A G...]()
GRATITUDE MIND SET FOR
A GREAT AND FULL LIFE!
It’s New Years Eve and one might say we are following our Japanese Heritage tradition of cleaning up to start a new year - making sure all our obligations are satisfied and we are prepared with affirmations for the new Year, 2020.
In cleaning up to make room for our new life we found a six-year-old’s attempt to keep up with her older sister’s inspirational quotes.
A lot of unfinished choices ahead???
![WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE P...]()
WHAT DOES IT MEAN
TO BE PROACTIVE?
BEING PROACTIVE means taking responsibility for MY life and actions rather than just watching how things happen. Being proactive takes time, since I have to consider MY options, weigh alternatives and make MY own decisions in order to achieve MY goals that include respect and consideration of family and community.
The adjectives I want to be known for in pursuing proactivity is - kind, courageous and physically, mentally & spiritually balanced.
![NO TALKING DURING PROBLEM ...]()
NO TALKING DURING PROBLEM TIMES!!
![USE THE AGE OLD "COUNT TO...]()
USE THE AGE OLD "COUNT TO 10"
DURING STRESSFUL TIME
1. NO TALKING DURING PROBLEM TIMES!!
2. REMEMBER THE AGE OLD STRESS REACTION? "COUNT TO 10"
3. HAVE DISCUSSIONS DURING NON-PROBLEM TIMES.
4. TAKE THE DIFFICULT DISCUSSIONS ONE-ON-ONE TO A PUBLIC PLACE.
5. BE PROACTIVE!!!
![WISHING YOU HOLIDAY SMILES...]()
WISHING YOU HOLIDAY SMILES!!
THAT CAN INSPIRE A NEW YEAR!
Cousin Connie was in Virginia Mason Hospital and she was surrounded with her family - hand to hand and heart to heart! - until she passed this week.
Two years ago, I was sitting at this same desk as we were surrounded by family and friends saying our last goodbyes!
It keeps my heart warm as these thoughts of “time for family” become cemented as part of the season as it gets dark at 3:30pm.
The room is brimming with Christmas paper, red ribbons and presents for next week. I’m smiling as I fortify my body with a cup of tea and Vitalized Immunity of 16 oranges bubbling up in my drink; along with Christmas Hungarian Beigli walnut cookies that Bea and I made last week.
I’m making a list to get grocery ingredients for Butternut squash soup and Tiramisu so we can STAY WARM and enjoy time with friends and relatives.
![GOOD ADVICE FOR MY NEW LI...]()
GOOD ADVICE FOR MY NEW LIFE!
The credit for these ideas go first to Ike Ikeda and his philosophical principles. Second, to Sam Goto who illustrated these principles in his comic strips. It helps to think of how we as humans are not only made up of at least 70% water, but have power like water with our actions.
The first cell suggest we "go with the flow" and I like labeling the wave as "family" in the ocean of humanity.
We have carved a life here in America like the Grand Canyon.
As individual stones, our ideas and choices have shaped us and the legacy that we leave.
It's a comic strip, ending with Sam's focus and observation of the beauty of our humanness. I like being left with a smile!
!["LIVE A LIFE A LITTLE BIGGE...]()
"LIVE A LIFE A LITTLE
BIGGER THAN YOURSELF"
-John Kasick
The “loud voice” is becoming a constant medium between physical violence and passive aggressiveness? I will work to live openly, responsibly and truthfully with dignity & respect for all, even those with whom I disagree.
There was an evening at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center on October 23, 2019, for the presentation of the book WE LIVED HERE - interviews of 20 diverse heritage individuals who live and lived in Seattle’s Central area. Madeline Crowley collected stories from her own neighbors and it was published by Chin Music Press.
As the over 70 of us sat to hear the presentation by Madeline and her facilitator, someone sitting in front of me on the left seating area, who was black, kept interrupting with the repeated comment about “appropriations” that were used inappropriately by Madeline, a white person, in publishing the stories.
The meeting was hijacked and orchestrated because the interrupter was echoed by someone sitting in the right section of chairs on the other side of the room. The interrupters were seated in the front areas and clearly took the role of “victimization”, stating, “Madeline, you are not the first one or the only one collecting our stories. You took grants that could have been used by people who are already collecting stories.”
The disrupters emphasized that a “white person” was telling the black people’s story and that was not acceptable. William Lowe, one of the black story tellers in Madeline’s book, stood up to defend Madeline and clarified the fact that the stories were transcriptions of his own words and only collected by Madeline, saying, “I was born and raised in this Central Area and had a comfortable relationship with all the ethic groups, including whites. I am comfortable with who I am.”
My first thought was to wrinkle my forehead and wonder,”Why am I being hijacked of my Japanese Heritage being part of the Central District?” I’m at times disappointed when white people tell our story, but mostly I’m irritated that we are not telling enough of our own stories. Therefore, at least these stories are being collected and there are times when others tell it better. We need both.
As I discuss the evening, a friend’s take is, “We have a long way to go.” I disagree. It’s here and now and always has been. The black person took it upon herself to attack Madeline with “racist comments” because she can. She lives in a free country and has a right to be a “victim” who speaks out and takes it upon herself to victimize others. But it was uncomfortable, uninspiring and I did not sleep well.
As a colored person myself, I choose not to stay away from these episodes. I will stay emotionally non-reactive, be a positive leader, get plenty of healthy sleep and continue to live freely.
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