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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Reflection

As I watched birds fly-in and out of my backyard, I relapsed into "self reflection" mode. I begin to think about the past, the present, and the future - how I can learn from past mistakes and apply "lessons" to the future.

Sometimes it's good to slow down and reflect.  And sometimes nature reminds us how important that is.

Hansei (反省?, "self-reflection") is a central idea in Japanese culture. Its meaning is to acknowledge your own mistake and to pledge improvement. (Similar to the German proverb "Selbsterkenntnis ist der erste Schritt zur Besserung" where the closest translation would be "Self-awareness is the first step to improvement").


Hansei also means greeting success with modesty and humility. To stop hansei means to stop learning. With hansei one never becomes so convinced of one's own superiority that there is no more room or need for further improvement.

This footage is from backyard.

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