Ichi-go Ichi-e

I have a very strong fascination with Japanese phrases with deeper meaning. Somehow they have a word or a phrase for everything and I love it.

In this age and time, it seems to get harder and harder to be in the present, in the now. There is always something else that we think about or something else that is fighting for our attention.

It was not always about what’s happening and who’s in front of us. Kind of sad isn’t it?

And what’s even sadder is that we blame our gadgets, social media and everything else there is, other than ourselves.

Perhaps, at the back of our minds, there are always these thoughts that there will be many times that I get to do this with this person/s or I get to recreate this moment.

But is there really?

“Ichi-go ichi-e speaks to the idea that no one encounter can ever be recreated: Each moment and each convergence of time, space, light, mood, thought, and circumstance is singular and unrepeatable. As such, every encounter should be met with one’s full, attuned senses. Some encounters plant seeds that take root over time, while others change the course of one’s life in a single moment.”  

I believe it to be true. I believe that every single moment that we get to share with someone, every conversation and circumstance is unrepeatable. This goes for family, friends, colleagues and strangers alike.

And in all these one time – one meeting, whether it be with the same group of people or with someone that we won’t meet again, we are given an opportunity to be in the present, to plant seeds or to change the course of one’s life.

Are we missing on it?

Until next time,