English translation: “The pursuit of harmony”
All of us have our own pursuit that we are on, whether that be our personal pursuit to find meaning in our lives (ikigai) or our professional pursuit to find meaning in business (kokorozashi).
Akemi Tanaka in her book The Power of Chōwa, talks about how the meaning of chōwa can really be thought of also as to search for harmony in one’s life with themselves and the world around them. Similar to how you might search through your closets for something in particular.
You can think of this word both as a noun and a verb. I think for me, I really try to keep this at the forefront for how I move through the world.
My balance with myself and how I present myself to those in my life is extremely important to me and is something that I consider as much as I can.
It is similar to the process that I use when I am trimming my bonsai trees. You need to find the branches and dead growth and trim it out so that the tree can give all of its energy to thriving.
When I look for ways to improve upon my pursuit of harmony I look for the parts of me and the things that I am doing that aren’t helping build that harmony in my life.
One such way that I search for this balance is that I recognize that sharing my opinions with others can have a negative impact on them if they didn’t first ask. And so I do my best to share my point of view without intentionally offending others.
If for any reason I have offended you, please let me know I would like to have the opportunity to correct that.
#ikigai #kokorozashi #harmonyinbusiness #lifeharmony
Steve Beauchamp 