When we learn history, we learn the messages of the ancestors. We can apply these messages to our daily lives, in the hopes of a better outcome in the future. Learning a second language is like learning history in this regard. When we learn a second language, we also learn the history of that language […]

What do you remember from stories of old? What do you remember from Brothers Grimm? What do you remember from the stories of your childhood? The message. The facts can be all made up if the message itself is strong enough. Humans have been passing on stories since we've been able to, and the main […]

These past few weeks have been hectic to say the least. I haven't had a whole day off in a while, and I won't for the next week at least. I think it's taking its toll, and I really need to consider why I'm so busy. What need am I trying to address with this […]

Yesterday I posted about not following my own rule. Well, I just went for a swim so I guess that doesn't hold true for this week. Actually, I went for a swim in the ocean. Japan has a stupid norm (it's not a rule, it's a norm, see Seth Godin's podcast) where they generally only […]

I'm breaking my own rule. This week I was only able to go swimming once. I've just had too much stuff pile up slowly and it's culminated I'm not having enough time to do stuff. Yesterday I had set aside the day for a break, but something came up that it would have been rude […]

In Yamabushi training, we don't write things down because humans write things down to read them later, and this means we aren't practicing living in the moment, one of the main aims of the training. When I do the Akinomineiri Ritual in August, I'm going to have to decide how to continue this blog. Should […]

At the start of class in Japan, the students all stand up, now to the teacher, and sit down before lessons start. Supposedly this is to show their respect to the teacher. I have no problem with students showing their respect to the teacher, but I'd rather they did it by putting in the effort […]