Doodle Card

 

Live with why.
「なぜ」と共に生きよう。

 

“Always assume that you are wrong.”

This is the biggest takeaway from what I’ve learned this week. We can be wrong about anything in any way. We have to have a system to check our own thoughts and actions.

One of the effective ways to do that is to keep asking ‘why’ to ourselves. Especially about the things that no one has a concrete answer. Asking ‘why’ questions doesn’t tell us the destination, but it gives us a direction.

Write everything down when asking ‘why’ questions. Review the writings — a few days, weeks or months later. It gives us a new perspective that helps us move forward.

 

 

Friendship is a state of mind.
友情は、心の状態。

 

When I was a kid, I wanted to play with my friends all the time. Being together was a proof of friendship at that time.

Nowadays, my friends are living around the world. We rarely are in the same place. But they are still my friends — no matter where they are.

Even if we haven’t heard each other for years. Even if we might not be able to meet at all for the rest of our lives. Even if they have already passed away.

If we remember them, that’s a proof of friendship.

 

 

You are alive (& see this). It’s a miracle.
あなたが生きている（そして、これを見る）ことが奇跡。

 

You are here — it’s a miracle.

A recent study shows that the average human male is made of 30 trillion cells and contains about 40 trillion bacteria. We don’t even know how exactly these cells and bacterias help our body function. But we are alive and kicking. At least now.

According to Instagram Blog article on June 21, 2016, Instagram has 500+ million users, and 300+ million Instagrammers use it every single day. You might be one of such active users. They post millions of photos every single hour. And you just find this doodle card.

Being alive is itself a miracle. Finding this post out of zillions can be called a miracle.

Let us live today like a miracle.

 

 

Use your own words.
自分自身の言葉を使おう。

 

A quote can be a good start when you generate ideas or think deeply. But when you start a conversation, using a quote can’t be so good. People would see it boring or feel that you have nothing to say in your own words.

Use your own words when talking to others. Don’t just quote someone else’s words, no matter how authoritative the words would be — it wouldn’t help you look good or smart.

 

 

Embrace your biased view.
偏った見方を利用しよう。

 

When people say something about me, it is always a bad thing.

It is a biased view, but I realized that it exists in my subconscious mind when I woke up during the night on the other day.

I know where it came from. At one of the companies I worked before, people talk about bad things of others more than good things. People often make fun of others and rarely appreciate what others did. As you can easily imagine, people kept leaving from the company. Especially good ones.

This biased view was, and perhaps still is, the way to protect myself. If I believed that people always say bad things about me, I wouldn’t be shocked even when it happens. If I had no expectation, nothing would hurt my feeling.

Is this a victim’s mindset? Probably it is. The good thing is that, since I’ve already noticed this perception, it can be changed.

Finding unfavorable perceptions is not a bad thing, although it can be a tough experience. Once we know them, we can change them. We don’t need to deny them — even if they seem inappropriate now, these perceptions might have helped us a lot in the past.