#UnBlockYourself

Finding New Soil

It’s easy to get stuck in our ways. Our routines will have us dig a little hole and plant ourselves snuggly in our little rut. New concepts and ideas come into our space, and if we’re not careful, they will pass us by. Remember you are only one thought away from your next life changing breakthrough!
 
Decisions to act may be a little uncomfortable, because you maybe going in a direction that you have never gone before. It’s like deciding to find new soil to settle into. But can a plant do it on its own? It needs help. 
 
Step towards the future but still in the now. 
Remember to not be pulled into the futre through worrying, but acting on ideas and working your plans are taking Steps towards it, not thrusting yourself into a false reality. It’s more like you are creating a true reality as you go along in the moments. 
 
God gives and inspires ideas outside the box. He seems to place them right on the Outer edge of the comfort zone. So the decision has to be made, do I stay here, or will I move forward? 
 
Let’s move forward to new soil!
 
#ikigai #moai #wabisabi #ichigoichie #wabikigai #zaizen #UnBlockYourself #mindset #kinstugi #ikebana #newsoil #Newlife

Scaffolding Your Thoughts

Scaffolding is breaking up the learning into chunks and providing a tool, or structure, with each chunk. When scaffolding reading, for example, you might preview the text and discuss key vocabulary, or chunk the text and then read and discuss as you go. -Edutopia.com
 
In my words, scaffolding is when you teach a simple idea or concept, and then you add on to it gets deeper and more complex. The core idea is there, but it gets buried by advanced concepts and meanings. 
 
Think of math, we learned 2+2=4. Later on we expand our knowledge on the concept and see that 2x2=4. On further down the road we learn that 2 to the 2nd power is 4. 
 
Today’s thought is a switcheroo tactic. When faced with a lie or negative thought concerning you. Switch it with a truth. Not only switch it, but also start bury it with a ton of truths, that will weave a complex web of truth. 
 
It’s almost the same principle behind a web of lies, you tell an “untruth” to get out of something, but you have to tell another one to cover that lie and then another one to cover this lie, until the person has been so swallowed up they don’t even know what happened. 
 
Say if someone says an untruth about you: “I would like myself if I had this feature.”
*switch it with a truth: “This is me and I like me“
Start to bury it in truths: I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
 
Fortify yourself with positive thoughts and true inner strength. 

Quality of Life

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:8-9 NIV
 
Here lies a progression that I’ve talked about before, but today in my devotion time it was laid out simple from this scripture.  
 
thought (“think about such things”) to
action (“put it into practice”) to
experience (“the God of peace will be with you”).
 
This applies to just about everything when dealing with our thought life and the reality we live in. 
 
Just by our thoughts we can be sucked into a hole of negativity and no one will know why. This happens often when we look at someone else’s standards, and we try to adopt to their ways instead of being inspired to adapt and adjust. Wabi Sabi is about our uniqueness, and how we are fearfully and wonderfully made. 
 
Reverse engineering this talk:
Our experiences with God and others are the results of the actions we take on our thoughts. 
The actions we take are the results of the options available to us because of our thinking. 
The thoughts we have are the results of the kind of brain food you feed yourself, what you are putting into your head. 
 
Raise the quality of your thoughts, you will have better quality experiences in your life. 

Behind the Tea

There are a few things working behind the scenes as we have our tea together:
 
The making of the tea transports you into place of peace where you are able to release the troubles of the world. If you watch the tea release into the water and see it go from clear water to whichever tea chose, you see the water become different. You become different.
 
Water has no nutritional value, adding tea adds value. Tea transforms the water into something entirely different.
 
Having tea together creates a bond between people. That bond formed through an inner peace when experiencing the tea, and experiencing it together. It is like a communion or shared experience to sit inside of a moment. A chance to slow down and just be.
 
Experiencing tea and time having it allows you to focus on meeting your guest, and /or God through all five senses, where the mind and body can have a place to have a peaceful conversation.
 
These conversations between the mind and body, friends, and inner peace, builds strength… In your in the connections with God, yourself, and in bond with the people you spend time with. Especially if you take it as an Ichigo Ichie.

Thinking Small to Gain Big

Ask Small Questions - be specific and reverse engineer the thought process to answer the question. 
 
Think Small Thoughts - be so detailed in the thought that you engage all 5 senses. 
 
Take Small Actions - break down into small tasks, do each step one at a time. 
 
Identify Small Moments - being able to see opportunities or notice victories along the way. 
 
It may seem counterproductive, but thinking small can have a snowball effect. Dave Ramsey starts you off in financial peace with “Baby steps”, and then “snowballing” your debt. Taking your debt head on may be overwhelming, but being strategic and little by little the job can be done. 

Value the Process & the Accomplishment

The Zaizen approach addresses continuous improvements and Ichigo Ichie is focused on the moment. The here and now. Both combined makes every moment a continual change for the better! It also attaches an emotion to what is happening, and placing value on each step along the way in the process, instead of waiting until later at the end of your accomplishments to feel validated. 
 
Most of us focus on the goal, and say something like, “when I lose 20lbs, I will feel great.” But when you are in the moment, you say to yourself, “today I lost half a pound! Now I only have 17 more to go! Let’s celebrate with a walk in the park!” 
 
The mindset is different. The first doesn’t think to enjoy life until the goal is complete. Stuck in the future. 
 
Is there something that has you stuck in the future when you should be celebrating now? 
 
A step forward is one step closer to your goal, be proud of it! 

Kakushin: Face to Face with your change.

Today’s concept is pretty simple. But. It may be the hardest thing to deal with and face in your spiritual, mental, and physical life. 
 
Once you have gone through the five degrees of why, and look at what lies buried beneath those layers of superficial things, to correct the issue there has to be the decision to change. 
 
Change the behaviors, change the results. 
 
The concept is simple, but the entire process hurts. Each layer of a why digs deeper and deeper into a problem that we’ve taken such good care of to cover up and blame others, and now we have to deal with the repercussions of it.  Some things will have to break. 
 
It reminds me of kintsugi, where the end result is far more beautiful than the beginning, each scar telling a story, a story of the piece evolving into something stronger and more valuable because of the brokenness it had to go through to get to where it is today. 
 
If you have the courage to face whatever it is, and allow God to walk you through the process and be your strength, you will find meaning through behind it all, and how the scriptures say that “all things work together for your good” - Romans 8:28

10 Commandments of Kaikaku

Kaizen – slow, gradual change of an existing practice, system, or process.
Kaizen Event – a time set aside to make rapid changes of a targeted aspect of a system or process.
Kaikaku – complete upgrade or replacement of a system or process
 
“Out with the old, in with the new”
Using Kaikaku breaks existing paradigms (tradition) and throws out old ways of thinking (we’ve always done it that way). It is focused on achieving improvement like kaizen, but not gradually and slowly, but ramming the whole system with a wrecking ball. 
 
Many companies use Hiroyuki Hirano's Ten Commanments of Kaikaku, but we will apply them to our personal lives (aka your business, remember you are the CEO of your own company). 
 
They are:
Throw out the traditional concept of what you are doing. (You want to change your results)
Think of how the new method will work; not how it won't work. 
Don't accept excuses.
Totally deny the status quo, be ready to start new.
Don't seek perfection. A 50% implementation rate is fine as long as it is done on the spot. “Done is better than getting it perfect.” 
Correct mistakes the moment they are found.
Don't spend money on Kaikaku.
Problems give you a chance to use your brains.
Ask “why” five times. (The 5 degrees or layers of why)
Ideas from ten people are better than one person's knowledge.
 
*Sources: Reverscore.com, and Graphicproducts.com