Have you ever observed the pulse trace on the ECG machine? No matter whether the heart is beating reassuringly steady or dangerously wild, for every ascend there is a descend and it goes on and on.
The moments we live our entire life has a similar pattern. We too experience ups and downs and it is all impermanent. The only permanent thing is CHANGE.
So, how do we make sure to embrace our BEING regardless the lives’ frenzy?
Story of my ignorance……
While I was in Osaka, Japan, its culture and aesthetics left me awestruck. I saw people sitting in the park drawing flowers, sketching birds in the zoo, sitting motionless for the last hour gazing at the setting sun, indulging in forest bathing, honouring hanami (cherry blossom viewing) and hanafubuki (cherry blossom rain), arranging flowers with precision (Ikebana) and many more.
Back then, I did not understand the obsession.
In 2015, while I was visiting Sapporo, Japan, I came across a phrase ‘Ichigo-Ichie’ in the airbnb I was staying at. It phased out of my memory quickly because of my nature of rushing at things around me.
My Eureka moment….
In 2019, when I was juggling between hospitals and treatments, I stumbled upon this phrase again during my quest to find THE balance in everyday living. Gosh! It was a eureka moment for me. Straight away I knew what I had seen in Japan was basically people living ichigo ichie lives. It was their way of experiencing perfection in the imperfect world. I was thrilled!
Ichigo Ichie (one life , one encounter) ,to put in simple words, means to be REALLY alive in the moment and seize it to cherish for lifetime because it will never get repeated EVER.
To fuel my thoughts, I read Ichigo Ichie by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles, celebrated authors for their work to introduce Japanese aesthetics to the world. This book beautifully captures the essence of the phrase and explores few ideas to experience it.
Our first ‘mindful’ ichigo ichie moment…
I coined the concept to Delnavaz who too had similar encounters while traveling in Japan. Our memories started playing like a bond movie in front of us and at that moment we both got an adrenaline rush. I am sure our pulse must have had spiked unmannerly.
We both saw the meaningfulness of being truly present in the moment and hence decided to mindfully practice it and share it through our writing. We started to pause-admire-reflect in our day-to-day lives and ipso-facto found joy in simple moments which otherwise would have been overlooked.
In our writings and captured moments you will find how we are embracing Ichigo Ichie regardless of where we are – in a far off land or right here in our backyards.
