Ichigo Ichie: Living In The Moment

Ichigo Ichie: Living In The Moment 

Ichigo Ichie is a very intriguing concept for enjoying your ikigai, living out your purpose. 

To enjoy living out your reason for living, we need to understand that it’s the reason for living in the moment. 1 hour from now the circumstances may change, and your reason for living at that moment may be different, so we have to be mindful of now. 

 

Simple terms, mindfulness is the awareness of yourself in the present, the here and now. Ichigo ichie is that fully, plus the understanding that being in the moment is so important, that if we don’t take full advantage of it, we lose it forever. 

 

It reminds me of the story of the Gates of Shambhala, that only open once in a lifetime. 

 

Ichigo ichie is basically translated as “once, or one time, one meeting” the meaning is roughly “in this moment, this is an opportunity”. So we must take advantage of the opportunity now, or lose it. 

 

The one of the main concepts to being in the moment is actually BEING in the moment. Being present in the present. Your emotions hold you in certain stages of time, and the present is the ONLY place that NOW can exist. 

 

Sadness is caused by something we’re missing in the PAST.  We can be sad now, but that will mean that sadness we are experiencing is holding us in past moments and we are not in the present. 

 

Fear is caused by something that hasn’t happened yet. So now we are being held in the future by something that might not even happen. Since we are holding on to something that may or may not happen, we are not in the present. 

 

Happiness is an emotion that we can actually have in the present. Enjoying the now, enjoying the person in front of you, the time being spent just being. 

 

The time spent in the now lasts longer when you take advantage of it. There is an old saying, “a minute in an argument lasts hours, but hours being with the one you love only seem like minutes.” The amount of time could be exactly the same, but being the present, and enjoying the opportunity of the now will be fully lived, and that’s what the frame of mind I want you to have in your ikigai!

 

““Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

Matthew 6:34 MSG

 

As we part ways, I say to you, “Ichigo Ichie”, because I treasure this moment, as a once in a lifetime opportunity!