The heavy December rains were falling as I made my way in to work on a soggy Tuesday morning.  I was bundled up for the weather as it is my only defense against the cold.  I looked as if the sun would never burst through the clouds, but I was wrong.

Soon after lunch the sun did finally struggle to make a brilliant appearance.  Off to the west the sun’s rays blasted though the clouds while the east was still gray with rain.  The two opposites quietly inhabited the same space.  This is when I found myself wandering through a peaceful temple’s garden gazing at the wondrous momiji (japanese maple).  The colors were reaching their fulfillment as they ripened to hues of burgundy.

The momiji’s colors contrates with the yellow ginko leaves that carpeted the ground.  I was able to steal a moment of stillness.  A moment of just myself enveloped in their hues.  The young children and their mothers no longer entered into my consciousness.  I was at one with the hues.  The hues were as silent as I hope my my soul could be.

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.

I was happy to spend some time with my close friends on Sunday.  We were riding into Tokyo with their young, almost 3 year old child Tobias, aka Toby.  He is full of energy as young ones go; however, he was out cold on the train ride into the city  He is usually on the prowl with his shark fin hat, but not this time.  So quiet, so peaceful as he slept, the world of Tokyo spun by station by station.

I too, try to see the world through the eyes of a child.  To see things fresh and for the first time, even if I have seen the same thing for the millionth time.  Be childlike, but not childish.  Be young without being naive. We must learn to be comfortable with our selves so that we to can sleep as quietly and soundly as Tobias.