Kaizen

Everyday in everyway I’m getting better and better.-Émile Coué

How is it that we go about bringing change? Do we rip the bandage off all at once? Do we climb the haphazard razor’s edge one foot at a time?

We can imagine the results of the alcoholic quitting cold turkey. The cigarette smoker has more time. A heroine addict must sometimes rely on powerful psychedelics, or locking himself in a room.

What about those that wish to lose weight? From one dawn to the next, do they just forsake sugar and pick up the mantle of exercise? Their existence forever condemned to two-thousand calorie or less days.

The Japanese philosophy of Kaizen is one that means change for the better or continuous improvement. There is a Chinese anecdote that tells that the Empire prospered when they had a fresh horse for every hundred li instead of waiting for the legendary horse that could run one-thousand li in a day.

Perhaps for the person that wishes to lose weight, the solution is to walk around the block. But it must be done every night. And perhaps he may begin to leave a portion of all his meals uneaten.

The idea behind this philosophy is that life is responsive. It morphs and adapts to the conditions it finds itself in. It respects prayer. And the prayer it respects the most is when wilful intent and wilful action combine. Every fire begins with a single spark. Every rebellion with the airing of a single voice representing the opinion of multiple dissatisfied dissidents.

Know the place you wish to go. Then begin the movements that will take you there. The Greek youth became a strongman by carrying around a baby lamb. Each day the cow got bigger and each day the boy got stronger. Somewhere out there could be a Japanese ninja young and strong. He begins his morning practice by backflipping over the same newly sprouted stalk of corn.

Originally published at https://transcendentalist.substack.com on October 24, 2022.