Jun 27
2009
2009
Archive for June, 2009
Ever since we have taken a weekend course called “Loving Yourself and Others”, my husband and I are both “evolved” in theory, meaning that we accept that we choose how we feel. Nobody can hurt us without our permission, and no one is making us feel a certain way. It’s all in our control. We choose to not say things like “you hurt my feelings” anymore. We both decided to adopt the philosophy that one does not have that much power over the other. If I say “I am hurt by what you said”, what I really mean is “I am choosing to feel hurt by what you said”. (more…)
Jun 20
2009
2009
Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind
I don’t remember when I watched the movie “Nausiccaa of the Velley of Wind” for the first time. I must have been in elementary school, maybe in 4th or 5th grade. I watched it on TV, on video, and also on a big screen when my junior high school 
had a showing in a brand-new concert hall they’d just built. At that time, the movie was still somewhat difficult for me to understand, but I watched it many times over the course of many years. Every time I watched it, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The creator of this movie Hayao Miyazaki made many movies after this one, some of them became famous in the U.S. Recently, a friend of mine talked about his favorite Miyazaki movie “Spirited Away”. He had never seen “Nausicca of the Valley of Wind” so I recommended it, saying that this is my all time favorite. After watching Nausicca, he asked me why I like this one so much(as he preferred “Spirited Away”), and suggested that I write about it.
Jun 13
2009
2009
How to Love Being Afraid
About a month ago, our younger son was taken to an emergency room after falling and hitting his head on the edge of a cabinet in our living room. He was bleeding heavily, crying and screaming. It was obvious that he was in 
much pain and shock. My husband tried to hold him tightly and wash the wound but soon realized that the cut was too deep for us to adequately handle. (more…)
Jun 10
2009
2009
アメリカのほめ教育
アメリカでは子どもをほめる教育をすると言われています。Redirecting Children’s Behavior (RCB)コースの初回で、まず最初に教わったのがこの「ほめ教育」の弊害でした。例えば、いい子にしていたらポイント(ステッカー、シールなど)をあげる、ポイントが貯まったらおもちゃを買って
あげる、いい成績を取ったらご褒美としてどこかに連れてってあげる、あるいは何かを買ってあげる、などです。英語ではほめることをPraise、ごほうびは Rewardなどと言いますが、学校でもこのようなやり方をしているところは多いと聞きます。確かに、よく勉強をする、「いい子」にしている、など、奨励したい振る舞いを、このようなやり方でさらに続けてもらおうとすることは自然な考え方だと思います。
Jun 6
2009
2009
Taking Risks
A friend of mine who lives in Japan once wrote in her blog about her friend who had been stuck in a dead-end job. My friend described how her friend had been “made” to do mundane, non-exciting work for many years, such as making coffee for her bosses, making copies of the documents, filing etc. and not given more challenging tasks at her job. Her friend thinks about leaving that job from time to time, but finds herself trapped because she doesn’t have any transferable skills. 
The blog post continued with, “Of course, the reason why she doesn’t have many transferable skills is because her company does not give her tasks through which she can learn those skills”. I had a very strong reaction to that sentence. I didn’t comment to that post – I did not agree with her at all, but I didn’t know how to offer a different point of view without sounding like I am attacking her or belittling her friends’ trouble. I kept thinking about that statement and wondered if the majority of people who consider themselves stuck at a dead-end job feel the same – in that they can’t get more skills because their employers do not give them more interesting, challenging tasks. (more…)
