Yūgen

Presently I find myself at the lowest ebb in my life and career. My finances are dire, my relationships extremely limited, and almost no one seems to want or need to even discuss my ideas for more effective organisations, let alone implement them.

And yet, I also find myself more content and happy than I have ever been. Some strange paradox, here? How to account for this state of mind?

I put it down to a mantra I find myself using numerous times every day:

“One day at a time, Bob”

(I don’t actually refer to myself in the third person, but for clarity, here…)

I was reminded of this just yesterday via the film “Annie” and the song “Tomorrow” – in particular, the line ”The sun will come out Tomorrow”. Which I choose to interpret as “Make it through today and don’t give any thought to / worry about the days ahead.”

You may be familiar with this philosophy from Zen Buddhism, or from Eckhart Tolle’s blockbuster book “The Power of Now”.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

~ Buddha

Here’s wishing you find your own way of living with today’s misfortunes.

– Bob

P.S. Yūgen (幽玄) is a concept from traditional Japanese aesthetics. The exact translation of the word depends on the context. In the Chinese philosophical texts the term was taken from, yūgen meant “dim”, “deep” or “mysterious”.

Yūgen is generally taken to mean “a profound, mysterious sense of the beauty of the universe… and the sad beauty of human suffering”.