It’s okay? That’s wrong?

Japan. Just writing this word gives me a great feeling of peace, integrity and spirituality.

I was a year old when I came to Japan with the intention of studying my sixth language.

I could never have known that I was about to acquire one of the most powerful weapons I could ever have imagined: living in a country where culture was intensely contrasting with mine.

A culture that put me on the verge of one of the most important questions one might ask: “Is it okay or is it wrong?”

For the first twenty-one years of my life I had been taught that an educated person does not sip when he eats; that when drinking you should take the glass or the glass with one hand, and that women are given their way as they pass through a door; that a wife should not allow her husband to flirt with other women let alone have an intimate relationship… etc., etc., etc….

As the days passed, my subconscious began to rebel against so much “aberration,” putting me in a situation where I felt bad; something practically unknown to me.

Until one night, I burst into tears all night, waking up another person: I had understood that I was not in my Mexico that I had seen myself grow up, but in a place far away, on the other side of the world, where customs and uses were really opposite to mine.

As if by magic, at dawn, I saw the world clearly, and my heart felt free as the wind again: I am not well or wrong, it is simply a different point of view.

I’ve learned now that if a situation makes me feel in a contraction, it’s a sign that I have to change my direction. And if I feel expanding, it’s a sign that I’m on the right track.

I learned that I would feel in a state of expansion if I was feeling feelings such as love, compassion, tolerance, joy, interest, curiosity, creativity, generosity, etc.; on the other hand, I would feel in a state of contraction if I allowed sentimiments such as anger, guilt, destructive criticism, always wanting to be right, intolerance, fear, etc.

I learned to enjoy life without judgment; neither blame nor regret. Simply knowing that everything is as it should be at all times and everywhere.

Thank you so much my dear Japan…

Doumo arigatou gozaimashita.

*Honorable Mother

It really matters if it’s right or wrong?

When you’re communicating with someone during a contrasting event, you think it would be better for you just to observe, without judging; listen, just listen, and just allow you to feel, without thinking?