Art! Working on my new work. :) We all are creating something everyday.

Earth Goddess Collection

 

Simply having good time working on my new panel.
It feels great to follow my heart and do what I love.
Create whatever I want and feel great about myself.

It can be said to anything, not only art. “Create” is not only for art. We all are creating something all the time none stop. We create relationships, we create work environment, we create comfortable home, we create great meal… and so on. It can be any form of creation.

Just follow your heart, create what your heart and soul desire!

Everything else will follow!

My wood panel I am working on now, is the very beautiful and special piece for me and all the mothers. Pure beauty of feminine kind energy.

I just finished the base drawing! 🙂
So you too, create something, anything, just for your life.
Forget about what others want you to create, just follow your soul and heart, that will be the best thing you can create in your life.

 

 

 

 

Find what you love to do in your life and live your life to the fullest.

Qi Art Nozomi “Earth Goddess” Collection Pyrography 2012

I just had an exciting weekend!

I had my very first ART Show! It is simple step out in Art world, but it was HUGE for me personally as my personal growth.

The event was called “Chocolate and Art Show” held just outside of China town, LA at KGB Studio.

I had never taken my art pieces outside of my home, I had never shown my art works outside of my close friends and family. So what a tickling experience to see many people stare at my wood panels closely and talking about it. I saw many people took my cards,(it has my panel images printed on it, so card itself is small piece of my art ;)), many people took their time just looking all over my panels, many people taking photographs with their phones and many people came talked to me and being amazed how different and beautiful my work was.

I am soooooo grateful.

I stepped into public as an Artist this weekend and I feel confident and I feel so right about where I am.

It is huge deal to me and major life experience.

Because… I had so much  struggle and fights until I came to this point that no one knows.

There are so many people struggling trying to find what they can do to be successful? What they love to do? What kind of jobs or work they can do for their career and they can truly enjoy it.

This is always a major problem and stress for so many people. and for me as well. I am sure some of you who are reading this went through, or going through it now. I know how stressful it is, I know how serious it is in your life, I have been there, and I was there for LONG TIME and yes, I cried for being lost and I just felt so horrible.  But I did not give up keep looking no matter how people was not interested in what I was doing. I kept looking and trying. Years passed, still not found one yet. I’ve tried being Manicurist, got licence, but first day at work, I HATED it. I was stupid enough to think of only beautiful design of nails part that I love, but reality was different. (but I wouldn’t know if I didn’t try it. So I do not regret of my effort.)  I was working at the restaurant just to pay my bills for long time. Working at restaurant was actually so much fun, but I never feel right working as server. But pay was better than most of regular jobs and I continued to working there because I had make living and take care of my son as a single mother.

It was so hard to look for my life time career that I can truly love as being single mother. Because my son was my focus and priority and it restricted me from trying new things and jumping out to risk our lives to do things. I always had to make sure I will be there for him and I will continue to bring money home so my son’s life is taken care of. If I was a college student without child, I probably would have done so much challenge and just jumping into the new world, but things are funny, when I was a college student, my focus was not building my career, it was more trying to make my life set in America.(I am immigrant from Japan) Also, too young to recognize how important it is to have career you LOVE.  I was typical international college kid who was just focusing living in America and learn culture and languages.  But after I had my son and went through divorce and grow older, it is different story. I hit the reality, I had to take care of my son as single mother and can I work at the restaurant rest of my life!? NO! and… especially around the age getting closer to 30 years old, all of the sudden, I felt horrible that I am  grown up age and still don’t have any career I can proud of. Until that point, I put all my time and energy into raising my little son and taking care of my husband and home. I was devoted housewife but I was not being myself. I killed my identity and I became a Housewife.  I really had nothing but Art as my hobby and my son, working at the restaurant. It was very high end restaurant I was working at, so I learn so many great things but at the end of the day, serving job was not the job I want to do in my life. For 5-6 years I was in this journey of “finding myself”.

Going through problems, this 5-6 years is long time. I broke down so many times. I was lost but did not give up. I had my nature I love, I go out to the nature talk to them. They taught me, showed me so much about my life. They helped me to stand where I am today, They helpled me to find my goals and love.

So you, if you are going through this kind of problem, do not give up. Keep seeking. But do not force yourself to do something. Just keep your mind open and do your best to be sensitive to how you feel and what you like. Listen to your heart and follow with energy. Because it WILL come at the right time. In mean time, everything you go through and experience, it is not waste, everything you do in your life has positive affect in your life and you need that experience to learn the lesson, gain knowledge and wisdom.

How my case was…

I knew, I always love art, being creative and make something. I knew, since I was kindergarten, my mother was proud of me because my drawing was outstanding naturally and so many other parents were impressed of my talent.  BUT once I grow up being adult age, no one encouraged me to be an Artist. Instead, people tell me “Oh It is just too hard to make money being a freelance artist.” “Oh Painter? How can you make living?” “Art should be just a hobby. It is not a actual job”. And my family and people surrounded me suggesting me to be an Art teacher, hired comic artist, hired artist for some companies, work at galleries… so on but nothing was my interest and nothing was really creative “my way” to me.

Also, even though I always loved being creative, somehow, I could not find my “Style” that I can  feel so right with.

I painted oil, acrylic, water, I tried cartoon art, I draw using pen, charcoal and different medias, I tried sculpting with clay, I did digital art…

I could not find “MY Style” art. I did not feel right with none of the media I tried. I had good time working with any art, but I did not feel “This is it!!!”.  A couple years ago, some how, all of the sudden, I don’t remember how this idea pop out in my mind,  and it was just a right timing. It was toward the end of my stressful struggling life term of searching of my goals and what I love.  I knew I had the special talent to draw.

Before:  I had artistic talent, but it cannot be a job or I cannot make money being freelance.

NOW:   I have artistic talent and I know, I will be very successful if I put all my passion and “Myself” into my art.

How my view was changed all of the sudden? I met a right person. My boyfriend was a freelance photographer but he was very successful for what he does. He was very professional, he was amazing at what he does, he loves what he does and he was very confident. He is a freelance artist who is very successful, I had never met artist like him and he inspired me and encourage me for the unlimited possibilities for being artist.

About the time I was determined to walk as an artist myself finally after years of struggle, from somewhere, I had wood and beautiful burned color of wood in my mind and I so wanted to try to work this media. I have never tried before and I did not know how this style of art called. I didn’t  even know what kind of tool I use of What was the process of this kind of art style.  Once I searched, I found out, it is called “Pyrography”.

I did not stop, I got cheap tool (I could not afford to buy expensive one especially when I had never tried it and not sure if I would love it), and got some small size wood and started working. and I LOVED it. There must be a reason why this art technique pop out in my mind all of the sudden at such a right time. It must be true universal energy force(or you can call it God) that gives me this idea. I always love nature and woods, rocks…. and this art style is ME, and I created my style of Pyrography, and became today’s my “Earth Goddess” collection.

It is beautiful, peaceful, graceful, earthy, spiritual, soothing, calming, and healing.

I feel so right and so happy to be where I am today. Nothing changed, just myself changed. I found myself. I did not give up. I kept looking and trying. and I know now, for sure, I will do very well with what I do. Nothing is promised, but I just know. I am doing the right thing for my life.

Please do not discourage because of what other people say. Always stay strong with your passion and keep trying and going.

Right thing will come just at the right timing. Everything happens in life is for reasons. Nothing is the waste. It always take some positive role in your life and we need that struggle time in our lives to grow.

Love yourself, and believe in yourself. Be yourself and always try your best to listen to your heart. 

Interesting incidents this weekend… Seat Belt and Stingray

I had such a full weekend filled with fun and friendship.
It was just great weekend and weather was just like hot summer days.
At the same time, interesting incidents happened also!
But both incidents, I can say someone can feel related or people can be mindful in the future.

Friday, my friend invited me to the BBQ at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Orange County, CA.
It was very HOT day and perfect day at the Beach.
Good food, Good friends, Beautiful Sun, at the sunny beach in California.
One of my friend took my son to jump in the ocean.
My son was so happy, he went in water and enjoy playing in water in shallow area.
I was watching them from the distance and I saw them they were having great time.

After a little while, my son come back. Little behind him, my friend was walking toward us funny way. Looked like he was in pain.
We asked him what happened.

He replied, “Something stung me…” in pain.
We immediately thought about the Jelly fish, we felt like that is something we hear in common. He said he did not see anything but he got stung on his foot. He said it is very painful. I felt bad, this incident happened when he took my son to the ocean. My son was fine.
I went to Life Guard asked for help.
They easily said…

“Oh that must be Stingray. You can go to the headquater and soak his foot in Hot water.”

They said it like it is nothing. So somewhat, I felt better that it is nothing major, but I was surprised that people can get stung by stingray this easy at the shallow populated beach.

When I took my friend to the headquarter, we were stunned.

SOOOO MANY POEPLE soaking their foot in hot water!

I could not help myself asking the person works at the headquarter how many people get stung by stingray everyday. She said “Oh, maybe 80 to 90 people a day, maybe on the weekend.”

WOW! That is many people! That means that is how many stingrays are right there where people swim. and There were NO signs about the stingray anywhere!

My friend was in BIG pain, he was bleeding, he was swollen. If he was allergic to venom, it could be serious. I think there should be the major sign warning about stingray at this beach, or any beach where many people get stung by stingray everyday! It was funny there were sign everywhere that says “No Alcohol” but there was no sign says “Be aware of Stingray”

This beach was “Bolsa Chica State Beach” in OC, California.
I am not sure how common it was, but it was new to me and I was suprised how many people get stung by it. So everyone, please be careful!!

Other incident that happened this weekend was…

My son and his seat belt.

I was driving to the gas station and all of the sudden my son, in the backseat, started to scream calling for help. I looked back, he was tearing in fear. I could not see what was so wrong. I asked him what happened. He said

“Seat belt!! Seat belt is so tight on me and I cannot loosen my seat belt!!”

He was panicked and deep in his fear.

I told him to calm down and I pulled over to look at what was wrong.

I looked at him…. His seat belt was buckled off, he said he buckle himself off when he realize he was stuck and he wanted to release himself.

He is still panicked and crying and screaming. I had to tell him so many times to calm down and stop crying, not to worry.

I looked at it closely. His seat belt was unbuckled but he is still stuck. Looked like the seat belt was wrapped around his waist and it looked very tight.

He was screaming “It hurts It hurts!! Please help me!!”

I am very calm and I hardly panic. But it is painful to see my son screaming.
I was doing my best to figure out how I could release him and I had no idea how. I cannot describe it, seat belt was tightly wrapped around his waist and it seat belt was totally locked. I tried to loosend seat belt by pushing back (that means I had to make it even tighter for my son), but seat belt just tightened and it did not loosen. It was totally locked! My son screamed even more because it got tighter. I called AAA but since it was child regarding emergency, they called police and fire department.

Oh wow, how this incident seemed to be big deal.

I hear siren and immediately two police cars and two fire trucks arrive surrounding us.

What a crazy moment…(I have never had this experience…)

Police man who first arrive at the scene tried to figure out how he could release my son, but he could not figure out. Soon Firemen looked at it and tried figure out, but they did not know what to do but cutting seat belt.
I told them to cut it so my son can be released.

SNIP!

My son was freed! (I wish I could show everyone how he looked at that moment!)

Oh Thank these fire men for releasing my son… I know seat belt only cut by special tool…

After a moment, Yes, I thought about the cost of repairing..lol But I was so happy my son was ok. It was kind of silly, I knew, my son must be playing around with seat belt in the backseat some how he made himself wrapped in the seat belt, and some how seat belt tightly locked and it did not loosen.

Police suggested me to go to the dealer to report this incident. It could be car malfunction.
I went by the dealer today and I did so.

Yes, all the parent(s), If I experience this, or if I see my son playing with his seat belt, I know many of parents must seen their children doing the same.
I always tell him not to play with it and I guess he still did. Now he got good lesson but it cost us to call police and fire department. and seat belt repair. (Most likely dealer will pay for it)

Parents, please make sure strongly tell your children not to mess with seat belt. Always wear seat belt properly, always sit straight. Not only for in case of car accident, unexpected things can be happened any time!!

Those two were main unusual incident that happened this weekend.

Safety is the best! Off course, no one can prevent every incident, but at least we can minimize the incident by being aware and extra careful about it.

Great lesson I got this weekend!

Cultural Identity

Are you multi-cultural? Do you have international friends? Have you dated someone from international countries? Have you lived over seas? Have you experienced cultural shock?

I have a beautiful son who is 9 years old. He is half of me, Japanese, and his daddy is African American. So he is mixed and multi Cultural child. I am Japanese, born and raised in Japan, so I still have accent when I speak English, I still make lots of mistakes when I write English.( You should see my mistake all over my blog!lol) But I am proud mother of a son. I am bilingual, multi-cultural, global and beautiful. 😉  I have lived in this Country for over 15 years. I am very Americanized, but very Japanese at heart. I love and tend to eat Japanese food, sushi and all kinds of asian food(Asian food culture is strong!!lol) all the time.

My son’s daddy is understanding when it comes to cultural difference. He always respects me as Japanese and he understands that I am Japanese. He agree that we should take advantage of the fact our son is multi-cultural and make sure to raise him bilingual and have a global knowledge. I raised him in the U.S. so he naturally gets all American culture and English as he grow up, so I have to work extra strong to let him know his other half of blood and he is half Japanese and he has another home and family in Japan. I always speak to him in Japanese so he is bilingual. I want to make sure he can communicate with my family also.(None of my family live here and they do not speak nor understand English)

But… his american grandparents are traditional African American family and they are NOT familiar with eastern culture(off course Japanese culture included) at all. I am the only real Asian person in their family and they are not ready to accept our cultural difference. They are great people. I know. I know their heart is really nice but they just are not familiar with international cultures and co-existence of different cultures.

 

Every once a while his granddaddy comes to me and tell me this uncomfortable words. The other day, he said it again. He said…

 

“You have to forget about all Japanese stuff, it is America here. You cannot tell your son about all Japanese stuff. He needs to do American way. You need to follow American way. This is what we do…(Continue long story…)”

 

Yes, I felt VERY disrespected and very uncomfortable.

I let him say a few words but I told him “I am Japanese and I cannot forget about my own culture, myself. My son is half Japanese and I will teach him about his own identity. He is thinking of moving to Japan for his high school and he will need to learn his culture for his future.”.

 

He did not like to hear it. He did not want to accept that his grandson is half Japanese. He knows his grandson is half Japanese, but he wanted him to be just American. Not Japanese.

 

 

I understand, all of us, we want our identity to be protected. We believe our culture is the best(or at least most comfortable). So as being grandparents, who are not exposed to different cultures close to them, they just don’t know about other side of the world. They simply cannot understand there are so many different cultures out there and how different they are. I was not angry but I felt upset to hear those words that sounds very disrespect to my identity.

 

In instant moment, I felt they deny my identity. I felt they were disrespecting me and my whole culture.

 

But spiritual self knows that was not true. They did not mean to disrespect me, they just wanted to have their grandson as close as they can have because they love him so much.

 

So I was not angry, but at the same time, I cannot let them talk like that either. I wanted to educate them about the different cultures and in this world, we all live together in one country and we all co-exist together in the world. It is simply nice not to deny other cultures. Instead, we all should respect each other and live in harmony. That is what I have been doing and what I will always do.

I have not talked to them about this matter yet, but I will send them email about it.

 

If you are an American, or you are from all other international countries who lives over seas, you know, in the world, there are so many different cultures and people. You cannot deny or disrespect different culture because you are not familiar with them. Just simply respect different people, different cultures.

Cultures are your identity. It is strongly part of you, so if someone deny the culture, you feel you are denied.

 

I would ask his grandparents this question, “If your grandson goes to Japan and start his new life there now, and Japanese grandparents tell him to forget about American stuff, it is Japan and you gotta forget about all American things, How would you feel?”

 

I know they will not like it if my parents teach my son how he should forget about American culture.

I nor my family will NEVER do that. Because we know how precious it is to co-exist together this way.

 

If someone deny your culture, you feel very sad.

If someone say something disrespectful about your culture, you feel frustrated.

Same as other way around, if someone push their culture and language to you, you feel disrespected.

 

Cultural difference is beautiful. Skin color difference is beautiful. Different custom, food, language is so beautiful.

 

We are all beautiful equally.

We all live together.

We all are connected as basic humanity.

We exist together and educate each other.

We are all one! So let’s stop having strong wall between us.

We will live in harmony with full of goodness.

 

 

To all hard working mothers in the world…

Lotus Earth Art by Qi Art Nozomi

This is actually Re-post from my previous blog.

But I encounter “Being a mother is not easy but amazing” moment this week and I wanted to post this again.

To all hard-working mothers in the world….

I am so thankful for you and so proud of you.

Mothers are one of the hardest work in the world. Off course, you see “mothers” everywhere in the world everyday, and seeems like it is nothing special. But…

MOTHERS ARE ESSENTIAL TO ALL OF US.

Without mothers, we are not here.

Without mothers, we cannot be existed.

Without mother’s hard work, we cannot grow healthy.

Without mother’s love and care, we cannot be happy.

Without mother’s smile, we do not feel comfortable.

Without mother’s touch, we feel empty and cold.

Without mother’s hard work, we cannot be good grown adult.

Without mother’s love and care, we do not know what is the true love.

Without mother’s love, we are lost.

And I know just how hard it is to raise a child(children)…. how hard it is to raise a person…

I myself  a mother. I have a 9 years old son. I can proudly say that I am proud of myself as a mother.I am not a perfect mother, but I am still proud. No one is perfect. No mother is perfect. At the same time, I am a perfect mother. Every mother is perfect.

I am a mother, so I know how hard it is to be a mother.

I am a mother, so I know how miserable you could feel going through hard time raising small children.

I am a mother, so I know how much joy and happiness you can get from raising children.

I am a mother, so I know how people look at you as a mother.

I am a mother, so I know what kind of struggle you go through as you raise your children.

I am a mother, so I know…

Even though every mother go through different experiences, one thing in common is, mothers are mothers.We went through pregnancy and we gave birth to our child(children). If you adopted a child, it is the same.  You went through hard time to get to the point where you can hold a child in your arms.

Mother’s existence is like a existence of our mother earth.

It is always there for us. It provide us place to live. It is there all the time so we don’t think about how important it is for earth to be here holding us in its body. Without mother earth, we cannot exist. Without mother earth, there are no lives in our world. Same to our mothers.

Mothers are just like our mother Earth.

Some people did not have opportunity to feel “Mothers” as they grow up. Even if you grow up without a mother, you still have a mother. As long as you live on this planet, you have a mother. Someone had you, and if she was not around as you grow up, this mother Earth is always here for you. If you don’t understand the feel of the existence of Earth(You cannot feel Earth when you are in the city or” people’s habitat box(city, towns..)”, go to any national parks or anywhere there is truely untouched nature, Or even just watch “Planet Earth” DVD and instead of just watch it as your entertainment, watch it thinking it is the REAL WORLD, Real Earth, the planet we live on, Our mother Earth that you can feel, touch anytime. As you feel our Mother Earth, Open your heart and feel the bottomless love and the beauty of this mother Earth. If you are in the middle of nature location, You will feel good to breathe the air this Mother Earth provide. You will feel good to see the true nature that surround you. When you feel good and happy, you are connected to your mother earth. It will always be there for you. I love my mother Earth. I have all my love for my mother Earth and I will do all I can do to love and care of this planet.

Also everyone has a mother in their heart. We all have mothers in our hearts regardless man/woman. Mothers can be inside of us. It is not your physical mothers. Our heart mothers are in our hearts.

I am a  mother but I am a child. I have a mother. and I love and care of my mother so much. I have so much respect for her to raise me and my sister. I am so thankful for her hardship she had to go through to raise us.  I am who I am because of my mother. I have a beautiful child because of my mother. I am standing today and feel the beauty of the life and this planet because of my mother and mother Earth.

Crystals and gem stones are the piece of our mother earth. Everyone knows how powerful this planet it can be. Crystals carry the strong energy(vibration) of this planet. That’s why I love working with crystals. My bracelets always give me the courage and strength, also loving heart and confidence. I feel close to my mother Earth and I feel protected. If you love the stones, you will love my collection of the gem stone energy bracelets! Visit my Crystal store,  CORE -Let Your Spirit Glow-

Yes, stones make my spirit glow. Yes, mother Earth make my soul shine.

Cheers to all mothers and mother Earth!!

Presidential Election. Conventions and the future America.

I am not political at all.(it does not mean I do not care about the country). I live in United States but I am an immigrant from Japan.

I am born and raised in Japan and I came to this country when I was 17 years old as an exchange student.

I have been living in this country for over 15 years now.

 

I love America.

I love Japan, my home.

 

Right now, there is presidential election war going on toward November. I heard Romney and Obama speaking. And there were so many more amazing speeches by other people as well.

I have no right to vote,  Because I am Japanese citizen.

But I love this country with all my heart. That is why I live here and had my son here. As I am international person, I have much of international view about this country. There are so many things that can be corrected. There are so many great things that no other country in the world have. Every country is the same way. It is just like no person is perfect, no country is perfect. Existence of Ying and Yang. It is the universal law.

 

I truly wish the best for America.

 

Equality every way, Harmony, Peace, Happiness, Health, Rights, Great Education, Taxes, health care, and costs that make senses to people, Best for the future generations, Special care for the  Environment and the Earth, Good leadership to have great foreign relationship, Equal respect for elderly, young, children, rich, poor, middle class, any races and any nationality, LOVE and CARE  and so much more I cannot write all.

I can tell the same thing to any other countries in the world including my own home, Japan.

 

Yes, I am a person who wish we can all live in harmony together under the same roof named Earth, as United Nations of Earth.

 

Most of all, Fundamental part of humanity,  we all should receive equal respect, equal rights, always respect each other and care and love for each other and the Earth that will promote peace and harmony to our lives and the planet. And please, please NO WAR no matter what. War is one of the worst thing we can do as humans. It is simply mass killing event that has no care and love for each other. 100% negative and there is no positive reasons to have war.

I may sound like I am talking about such unreal dream, but I think it is really fundamental part of us.

 

We all live on this one planet, Earth. We all are connected. Out of billions of planets in the space, We all live together on one planet. and we all call it home. We feel pain in our heart when we see children ding other side of the world. When one major country hit economy crisis, rest of the world will be effected. We all depend on each other some way and we all support each other many ways.

 

I simply care about the Earth and people.  and I want all of us to be happy and have a great environment so we can live our lives to the fullest.

I want my son and our future generations to have great lives and I want our beautiful Earth to be healthy forever.

 

 

Do not compare yourself with others. Helpful hint to make your life better.

Have you had experience feeling weird or down thinking of how other people seem to be blessed to have great things and you are not? Have you felt like you are the victim of life?

I have been on my spiritual awakening path for past six years. As I am going this journey of spiritual awakening, I notice a lot of things I was doing or I am doing. Time to time, I realize myself being negative and I meditate to correct the source of it. I do not just release stress doing some fun things. I correct source of problem that lays inside of myself.

I say “Do not compare yourself with others”. When you pay close attention to it, so many people do it all the time without knowing and make themselves feel bad, start hating others, or make other side of people feel bad. That always causes trouble.  There is two different ways of people’s action regarding comparing with others. One is making themself feel miserable and the other is making others feel disrespected. Some may be both.

For example, first one’s case, It starts from childhood. I see my son ( 9 years old), he saw his friend had Ipad and the cell phone. He told me he wants them too and asked, if his friend can have them, why he can’t have them. He is comparing himself with his friends and making himself feels like he is less than his friend because he does not have Ipad or cell phone. When… He has so many amazing things in his life he has so much that his friend does not have. It always balances some way. We are all equal.  He become blind of other amazing things he has and he started only focusing on comparing himself with his friends negative way.

In common adult’s case, some people may admire others for having amazing talents, some may envy others for the beautiful appearance, I have heard someone say “I wish my parents were rich like his parents. He was born rich and he has everything. He never has to struggle financially.” and it can go on and on and on… People tend to compare themselves with others and feel bad or miserable.

Second one’s case, Many people use this comparing habit as the tool to be the victim of the life. For example, saying… “Oh it must be nice that you have a great job and great pay, My paycheck is not good and I cannot do things i want to. Oh how nice, your life must be fun and exciting, mine is not. I have so much stress and struggle.”  Now, this do not make the other person good. and actually, it is very disrespecting because this person who is saying this, do not know everything about the other person and talking like this person’s life is nothing but fun and exciting when it may not be really true.

or I have my friend said “Oh She always meet good men and I have no luck on finding a good man. I always get wrong men and end up being hurt. She is lucky.” I feel, it is not about “Luck” about the finding the good man. It is about what you really want and how you find them. She should not compare herself with her friend by simply using “Luck”.

I had someone told me something similar. when we were talking about divorce, “Oh you are lucky you and your ex-husband is doing great as friend. My divorce was very bad and I went through much more hardship than you did and still bad now.”   I felt like this person was easy looking  hardship I went through. Because of my spiritual understanding, I did not get angry at this person, but I had to let this person know not to compare that way. This person does not know how much effort I made to come to this point. That effort was extremely hard and I was in enormous pain everyday for years but I went through it and only vision I had as goal was to establish great new family friendship with my ex-husband for our son. The best for our son was to be in marriage however when I realize it was impossible to keep that way, next best thing for our son is to be able to have both of his parents close to him and show him that we all care and love each other and we are family, and we all love him, we are all there for him. and I made it happen after years of trying and struggling.  Stress killed me then, but it made me open the door to amazing spiritual journey. Now I am thankful for that hardship. Because of that hardship, I am where I am now.

I felt very funny when someone easily said “Oh you are lucky, my experience was harder than you.”  I would never tell anyone “My experience was harder than yours” nor “You are lucky”. Because I know behind every story, there are so much more than I know. I will not under-estimate what the person go through on this person’s face.

 We are all equally given some good things and hard things.

In our lives, we all go through hardship. Not matter how it seems at a moment, through out our life, everyone is given equal good and hard.

Also, important fact about this hardship is…

Hardship is NOT the negative experience.

It is amazing experience that holds the key to make your life better. I almost can say… without hardship, your life will progress slow. But with hardship, your life will fly to have much better life as long as you are able to get the correct message from the hardship. So you should not be upset going through hardship. Use it as the tool to make your life amazing. If you simply take it as negative and be the victim of life, you will never gain amazing wisdom to make your life better.

The more hardship you go through, the more your life become rich. 

It is up to you.

You have to believe and activate your ability to gain wisdom through hardship. 

So do not use your energy and precious time on comparing yourself with others, use them to gain wisdom to make your life better and enjoy the journey of amazing life.

Love yourself, Be yourself, Be proud of yourself. All the positive things will follow you!

Let me tell you Who I am… and I want you to do the same, write down who you are for yourself. Or you can even share on your Facebook or social media you are using to share about who you are.

I (or I am)…:

Love nature, Love beauty of spirituality, Love self discovery, Love earth, Love friends and family, Love my man, Love eating good food!, Love being alone sometimes, Love going out, Love ART, Love photography, Love being an artist, Love silly jokes, Love being silly, Love to laugh, Love outdoor activity, Love positive people,  Enjoy reading great books that educate me and help my life, Enjoy inspiration from good people, Not good at negative people, Not good at math, Not good at studying from text books, Not good at narrow viewed surroundings, Not good at being on the computer all day, Not good at greedy people, Not good at selfish personality, I am multi cultural, bilingual, international, immigrant from Japan, have great global view, I am a mother, Have a beautiful son, I love my little boy with all my heart and soul….

Can’t describe myself all… It is endless!

People, don’t forget your identity.

You are who you are and you should be proud of yourself for who you are no matter what others tell you good or bad.

If you have hard time loving yourself, sit down and close your eyes. Forget about physical and material world for a moment. NEVER compare yourself with others because everyone is so different, you cannot compare with each other. Everyone has their own positive and negative. Just face your soul and think of all the positive things you have and have done. If you feel like nothing is positive in yourself, you need to look deeper. The fact you are making effort to think of positive things about yourself is positive side of you.

More than anything else, Be truly truly truly HAPPY for who you are. Believe, you can really be happy about yourself without changing any material or physical world simply by practicing to see positive things about yourself. Everyone has positive side and negative side. When you are  lost and not being able to feel confidence in yourself, it is hard to see the positive things. But it can always change by having your heart strong and keep practicing to see all the positive things you have in your life.

Yes, I have been lost and have felt like I am nothing a few times in my life.

Yes, I still get lost sometimes occasionally.

It is normal. We, as humans, it is simply the flow of life. Everyone goes through some down time and feel lost.

So if you feel lost, you are not alone. Look at the person next to you, this person go through the same thing in his/her life. You just don’t know.

Practice loving yourself. It will work. Believe in your inner beauty and strength. Believe in yourself.

When you are truly happy for who you are, everything else will follow in positive way.