The present is a gift to be opened!!

Recently a friend (Thanks Deepak Pal ) introduced me to the concept of Ichigo Ichie and it got me hooked to being present to the moment

Ichigo ichie is a Japanese concept (the book is written by authors of famous book Ikigai) which literally translates as “Once, a meeting”. Basically what this means to tell us that each meeting, everything we experience is a unique treasure that will never be repeated in the same way again. So if we let it slip away without enjoying it, the moment will be lost forever.

The author related this concept to Sakura flowering season (more relevant as currently it is Sakura festival in Japan), where Japanese await the once in a year event to celebrate the event of flowering of Sakura and enjoy the cherries blossoming on the streets and the gardens. Relating this to the concept of being aware about our emotions and emotional intelligence

We often feel the range of emotions within us which could be fundamentally translated into 4 basic emotions, for sake of simplicity, - Anger, Sadness, Fear and Happiness.

Now explaining these emotions, in reference with Ichigo Ichie.

• Anger: As an emotion, is linked to our survival instinct that originally helped us face danger that threatened us or our near ones. That’s why our muscles become tense and either we are in mode of defending or attacking. The basic problem with anger is that apart from being socially undesirable, it is rarely linked to any real threat, especially on a normal day.We get angry when we believe we are victims of either wrongdoing or something that has happened to us is unfair. If we go on the attack, we often lose control and make the problem worse. If we repress our anger, it’s harmful for us.Now looking at this from the concept of Ichigo Ichie (being present in the current moment), when we get mad – it’s almost always due to our interpretation of something that has happened or that someone has done. Therefore, “anger keeps us tied to the past, preventing us from enjoying here and now”
• Sadness: This emotion, often comes from a sense of loss. We feel sad when we lose a loved one and we go through a grieving situation as we adjust to our new situation. We also feel sad when we lose a useful or valuable object.There is more existential kind of sadness which invites us to reflect and find ourselves in a state of apathy that leaves us belittled.When, sadness is healthy, it allows us to understand what has happened, to say goodbye to what we loved, and to prepare a new strategy to move forward in life. From Ichigo ichie Point of view, a person who is sad doesn’t pay attention to what’s in front of them- they aren’t present and that’s why we say that they have a “blank stare”. Sadness keeps us tied to the past because our attention is focussed on what we lost, what no longer exists, and what we wanted we didn’t get.
• Fear : Just like anger, this emotion is connected with our survival instinct and serves us to warn us of threats or potential harm. Just like anger, the problem is that our fear alarm often goes off when no predator or real threat is present. We are afraid of things which might happen but that are not an immediate threat, like losing our job , partner, friend’s affection, health etc. ?Fear is an emotion that projects us into future. When we live in fear, its impossible to enjoy what we do and what we have.
• Happiness : Lastly, this is the least studied emotion. It is an emotion that conjures a celebration of life, light-heartedness and optimism. Happiness makes us effusive, which explains why, when we experience it , we want to share it with others. When we feel happy, we become more empathetic, generous and human.

Out of the four basic emotions we examined, only happiness belongs to the present and is the home of ichigo ichie. ?Precisely because we know that it’s happening only now, we celebrate it by fully giving ourselves over to savouring the moment.

To achieve Ichigo Ichie and bring yourself to the present, consider asking yourself following questions every time you feel unhappy:

• Are you angry/sad? You’re living the past – Come back! / Wake Up!
• Are you afraid? You’re living in the future – Come back!

According to the various studies done, when one starts living the present, they experience timelessness (varied called as concept of Flow coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi).? ?One feels that they have more time available or were less impatient – results of such experience illustrate why present also means gift and not just in English.

The present is always here and it is offered to us moment to moment. However, just like any gift, first we must open it.

(Adapted from “The book of Ichigo Ichie by Hector Gracia and Francesc Miralles)