A word of appreciation

2020 has been a really strange year and I know that I’m not the only one who feels this way.  From a worldwide pandemic to social justice riots to a historic political election, it almost seems like the world is being thrown into chaos and things that most of us never could have imagined are suddenly our reality.  It’s hard to believe that less than seven months ago, I was really enjoying meeting new people from around the world everyday while I was selling my jewelry at markets.  At that time, Covid 19 was just some vague notion that I remember hearing about on the news, but it was a problem in a country far far away from me, so I didn’t think that it would have any effect on my life.  Who knew that all of that was to change almost instantaneously when it was found that the virus was spreading all around the world, causing many places, including Hawaii to have to lock down and enforce social distancing?  Suddenly, the things that seemed so foreign to me were part of my immediate reality.

Like so many others, going into lock down meant that I no longer could go out to work anymore since all of my fairs and events were shut down, so I found myself feeling confused and frustrated.  I often felt like I didn’t know what to do with myself as I sulked at home in my pajamas all day.  Thanks to my Buddhist practice, I was given so much support and encouragement and I found the will to pick myself up and move forward. One of the biggest things that I gained during this time was that having gratitude and appreciation is one of the biggest keys to happiness and it’s up to me to cultivate those feelings within my own being. Every morning when I wake up, rather than thinking of all of the things that are wrong in this world, I think of all of the things that I have to be grateful for such as my health, a roof over my head, food to eat, and great family and friends. It’s always so easy to take such things for granted, but at a time like this, we are often reminded that any of those things can disappear at any moment.

My mentor, Daisaku Ikeda said, “Those who always have a sense of appreciation and gratitude never reach an impasse in life.” It’s part of my practice to pray every morning and evening and for the first time in my life, I focused my prayer solely on having appreciation and gratitude. When I started doing that, something remarkable happened. I stopped complaining, was actually able to break through the depression that I struggled with almost my whole life, and I was able to blaze a new path forward towards achieving my dreams in a way that I never could have seen prior to the world turning upside down. Joy emerged from within not because the universe had changed for me, but because I was changing, which allowed me to move my own universe into the direction of happiness. This sense of gratitude and joy pushed me to greater levels of creativity and wisdom that I never could have imagined before and it also gave me an even stronger sense of my mission in life…I want to create a jewelry brand that makes people happy and feel good about the pieces that they are wearing. I want people to be able to wear pieces that have special meanings for them that they can treasure for a long time.

With a new feeling of appreciation and mission, I truly feel that I’ve been able to take my design process to a whole new level and for that, I am so thankful to all of you out there who have given me the opportunity to be part of your life through the things that I make. I’m not going to lie, this moment in time is still very challenging and as an entire civilization, we still have many obstacles to face, but I am so grateful for all of the opportunities that I have to create value in this world. I truly hope that I can continue to share joy in the way that I can do best and everyday, I pray that my own personal story encourages others to be able to do the same in their own lives.