The Book of Ichigo Ichie: The Art of Making the Most of Every Moment, the Japanese Way
Rate it:
Open Preview
Kindle Notes & Highlights
5%
Flag icon
ichigo ichie is something like this: What we are experiencing right now will never happen again. And therefore, we must value each moment like a beautiful treasure.
6%
Flag icon
each meeting, everything we experience, is a unique treasure that will never be repeated in the same way again. So if we let it slip away without enjoying it, the moment will be lost forever.
7%
Flag icon
If you don’t seize the moment, it will be lost forever.
8%
Flag icon
This note or highlight contains a spoiler
every meeting has a unique essence and will never be repeated. Perhaps we’ll run into the same people in the same place again, but we’ll be older, our situation and our humor will be distinct; we’ll be carrying the weight of other priorities and other experiences. The universe is in a constant state of flux, and so are we. That’s why nothing will ever happen again in the same way.
8%
Flag icon
Treat your host as if the meeting were going to occur only once in your life.
10%
Flag icon
Ichigo ichie makes us aware that each time could be the last.
13%
Flag icon
Sakura is visible proof of how the most beautiful things in life are fleeting and can’t be postponed.
19%
Flag icon
if you’re brave enough to do what you love, every day could be the best day of your life.
21%
Flag icon
This note or highlight contains a spoiler
if we look at the people around us, or even at ourselves, we’ll see that it’s often difficult to stay in the present. Our thoughts wander in all directions, and it’s hard to keep them focused on where we are now, on what we’re doing now, and on whom we’re with right now. If you’re alone, the person you’re with is yourself.
23%
Flag icon
Fear is an emotion that projects us into the future. When we live in fear, it’s impossible to enjoy what we do and what we have.
24%
Flag icon
happiness with a cause and happiness without a cause.
25%
Flag icon
When we stop projecting ourselves into the past or the future, we can recover the happiness of the present.
28%
Flag icon
The present is always here, and it is offered to us from moment to moment, so that it is unforgettable. However, like any gift, first we must open it.
33%
Flag icon
Savor this moment as if it were your last breath. You can live only one day at a time, and no one can be certain that they will wake up the next morning. So let’s not postpone happiness. The best moment of your life is always this one.
33%
Flag icon
Life is a thrilling adventure through which it’s best to travel light, so every day, whenever you feel overburdened, ask yourself, What can I let go of?
33%
Flag icon
Be your own friend. Rather than comparing yourself to others and worrying about what other people think, assume that you are unique in the world.
34%
Flag icon
You are a miracle, and there has never been—nor will there ever...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
34%
Flag icon
Each person acts according to the moment of personal growth in which they find themselves. Even when they behave in hateful ways, it’s the best they can do with what they have.
34%
Flag icon
Let go of your expectations. Making predictions, waiting for certain things to happen, is a guaranteed way to kill the moment.
34%
Flag icon
“that slight anxiety and dissatisfaction that all living beings constantly feel inside, because we know that change is inevitable.”
35%
Flag icon
Especially when we go through a crisis or suffer a loss, we seek ways to distance ourselves from that sense of impermanence that’s so characteristic of our existence.
35%
Flag icon
Nothing lasts forever, neither good nor bad. Accepting this fact is the key to taking full advantage of the sublime moments life bestows on us and to not losing hope when we go through a rough patch.
35%
Flag icon
There is no way to protect ourselves from the first arrows, because life is an adventure full of constant risks, but what we can do is avoid shooting ourselves with the second ones, which are the worry and anxiety that arise from thinking about the first.
36%
Flag icon
“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.”
39%
Flag icon
when we grow used to something, we often lose interest in it.
39%
Flag icon
once our desire is quenched, we feel unsatisfied again, because we automatically want what lies one step ahead of us.
53%
Flag icon
The damage is part of our history and has brought us to where we are.
53%
Flag icon
“With the new cracks highlighted in gold lacquer, it’s not just restored, it is elevated.”
53%
Flag icon
Having problems is part of being alive. It is our difficulties and how we face them, more than our periods of contentment, that shape us throughout the course of our lives.
59%
Flag icon
It’s difficult to find someone who truly listens, since between someone else’s words and our ears, there are all kinds of filters and obstacles.
60%
Flag icon
The bottom line is when we are listened to, we feel connected. When we’re not listened to, we feel separate.”
79%
Flag icon
If we want to be able to look back on our lives with happiness and nostalgia, we can’t allow the present to be just a succession of days. We have the magic of our will to turn every encounter into something special.
83%
Flag icon
Just be with people. Often, what other people need isn’t our opinion or even our questions. Some people need only company, and to know that we’re there with them, sharing their pain or worries.
87%
Flag icon
when our mind travels into the past, where pain and resentment reside, or the future, a place of fear and worries, we are pulled away from the present moment.
88%
Flag icon
This note or highlight contains a spoiler
Distractions. We can experience the present fully only if we aren’t trying to do several things at once. A man strolling through the forest and updating social media on his phone is not living in the moment. In fact, he’s not even in the forest.
88%
Flag icon
“If you want to be happy, don’t analyze everything.” When we try to dissect the moment, we’re in danger of killing it. Why must we search for the meaning of everything? Wanting to understand why what we’re experiencing makes us happy immediately ruins that happiness. The joy of the moment can’t be defined, dissected, understood; it can only be lived.
93%
Flag icon
“If you don’t like reality, create another where you can live.”
95%
Flag icon
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”