It is sometimes hard to view myself as a survivor, but being part of life is a struggle. Being able to maintain, strive and hopefully thrive is surviving. I may have not have gone through some of what life’s more terrible dishing outs, but that doesn’t mean that our own personal troubles are any less real to us.
I think of this flower here on the edge of Tokyo bay. It has somehow manages to wiggle its roots between the cracks in the concrete. Not only was it able to get its roots in where there is no soil, but it has managed to be whipped by the winds, battered by the storms, and somehow bloomed in the middle of winter. Now that is what I call a survivor. If this weed can do it, so can we all.
I have been a bit in a deep funk. It is hard to describe it other than that producing work, and thinking clearly. It took talking to my childhood friend Jerry Kolber to snap me out of the funk, and to start the process of lifting that brain cloud that settled over my spirit. We do need people around us to tell us like it is. Sometimes they will tell us what we don’t want to hear, but things we need to hear. That is what Jerry did for me. He gave me the proverbial “kick in the ass.”
My mindset this morning was so different than the last couple of weeks. I was clearer in thought. I had some guidance in what I wanted to accomplish today. I sat down and wrote up some questions for an upcoming Lucid Thoughts post. Did some emails, caught up on some tasks that needed doing.
I knew that I needed to get outside and do some photography. Darkness comes so early these days, so I knew I wanted to head out to the bay at the time the sun would start to dip towards the horizon. I live only minutes away from Tokyo Bay. In fact I am in walking/biking distance from Kasai Rinkai Bayside Park.
Ever since growing up in Miami, I have always lived near the water. The water is calming for me. Therefore, today I walked down to the edge of Tokyo, and could look off out into the bay. I could see all the way to Tateyama in Chiba. I watched the airplanes far off in the distance taking off from Haneda. I also watched the sun hit the fishing boats as they headed back to Urayasu. Some of the boats even carry the same name as my wife’s family, Yoshino, no connection but shows my family’s long time roots in this area.
It was quiet. I was there just watching the sun go down, listening to the waves, hit the rocks. Peeping the lonely fisherman casting their lines out into the waters. It had been so long since I had gone out into my own neighborhood, sat down on the rocks and just soaked the ambience in.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of the cleaning out of my mental funk. I pray that things keep progressing from here, and that I may be able to help myself, and help others in the process. We all need that proverbial kick in the ass. Mine happened at 4 o’clock in the p.m. at the edge of Tokyo Bay.
