What I wanted to tell my mom and dad

Last year, my mother got seriously ill. It was a brain tumor that progressed very quickly. The disease was discovered in June, and her condition worsened at an accelerated rate. By the end of June, she was no longer able to stand on her own, and my family had to take care of her. My younger sister also had a newborn baby, and I was due to give birth to my fourth child in three months, so I was caught between caring for my parents and raising my child, and I spent the most difficult days of my life. Looking at my mother lying there unable to move, I cried as I held her hand and said, "I'm glad you're just a normal mother, I wish you'd stayed with us longer."

Fortunately, my mother finally decided to have surgery, and now I can move almost as well as I did before I got sick. My parents ran full speed through the Showa and Heisei eras with us in their arms. When they found out about their illness, my mother was 65 years old, and I lost my father at the young age of 54. Even as a child, I saw my parents as good, earnest people, and wondered why they had to go so soon. My mother's illness made me think about how I live my life.

What's more important than seriousness

My father worked hard and diligently at his company, and my mother at the organization she was a part of. There were days when my siblings were home alone. As the eldest son, I often spent the day looking after my younger sister and brother, and when I was in elementary school, I would cycle to pick up my younger brother from kindergarten. Words my parents would say to me, like "I trust you" and "I believe in you," carried a lot of weight, and before I knew it, I found it difficult to open up to them honestly. And even now, I'm not good at relying on older people. What I wanted to say to my father and mother back then was, "You don't have to try so hard, just spend more time with your family."

I have no complaints about my father, who allowed me to study without worrying about money, and my mother, who gave me the freedom to make choices in life afterwards, but the thing I wanted to convey to them when I was young remains in my heart to this day.

The happier your family is, the better your work will be

Growing up with such parents, I may be essentially a workaholic. Nevertheless, I was fortunate to become a business owner in my 30s, and by being able to address work-related and emotional issues early on, I was able to realize the importance of family matters, which are on both ends of the spectrum from work. I feel that the happier my family is, the better my work goes. Interacting with nature and family creates spiritual richness, which in turn allows you to work more smoothly. This ties in with my previous blog, which said that the way you are is more important than the way you do things.

Two Smile Circulation Models (Enriching at Home and Work)

My father and mother's generation's idea of ​​prioritizing work and putting family on the back burner is a big difference from the idea we are creating of circulating work and family matters through the heart. The human heart is a difficult issue to measure, so here I will treat it as a rich heart = smile. I believe smiles are contagious.

[A model of the circulation of smiles within the family] Family activities: My smile → My wife's smile → Children's smile → My smile

[Smile circulation model at work] Work My smile → Smiles of coworkers → Smiles of customers → My smile

At the center of these two circulation models is my richness of heart = smile. By fitting this into the two circulation models like the movement of the moon and the sun, I think we can affirm a way of life that values ​​"family matters," which were often neglected in the Showa era. I would like to create many models in which people who value "family matters" will be successful in "work."

Our minds and bodies are natural

I have the utmost respect and gratitude for my father and mother. When my mother got sick, the emotions I had been suppressing came flooding out, and I had a really tough time in the latter half of last year. Life is about making delicious lemonade from sour lemons. I am who I am today, and I have a family, because my father and mother worked so hard. I will never forget my gratitude, and I will try to become an adult who doesn't try so hard. I will go with the natural rhythm and relax my body and mind.