Trip to Osaka Area 070720 - 26 (1)

(Rose Garden in the Nakanoshima Island inside of Osaka City)

This is the 3rd time I came to Osaka this year. Still cannot believe that I'd fall in love with this "addicted-to-express-oneself" city only at the end of my 4-year stay in Japan.


Actually I've seen nearly most of tourist attractions in Osaka city during my last two visits (still need to put them in my blog ;-)) except for the supposedly famous aquarium and Universal Studio. As it's easy to find substitutes for both, they simply cannot get any appeal in my visiting schedule. I came back here this time for a special reason - TENJIN MATSURI (天神祭, i.e. festival of heavenly deity).

(Tenjin Matsuri - chariot carried out from Tenmangu Shrine)

Apart from 2-day matsuri, I took the chance to visit the earliest Buddhist holy mountain in Japan - Koyasan (高野山) and explore the 21.5 km pilgrimage track (Choishimichi, 町石道) used by numerous devout Buddhist monks and religious Japanese since around 900AD. It's a very refreshing 2 days of sun & forest bathing, and I felt recharged with energy.

(The Kohondaito - Essential Pagoda - in Koyasan)

Well, all in all, Osaka area (incl. its neighbouring Kyoto, Kobe, Nara and Wakayama prefecture etc.) is a region where one can always find something interesting to do and frequently gets oneself surprised by novelty. If you are curious about what kind of city it is, stay tuned for the coming stories...

May We All Be Coffee

A life-inspiring story to share with you~

Princess Rose

MAY WE ALL BE COFFEE

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how
things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make
it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It
seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and
placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she
placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she
placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a
word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the
carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and
placed them in a bowl.

Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her
daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did
and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to
take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the
hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter
smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What does
it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same
adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in
strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the
boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile.
Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior , but after
sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The
ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seem s strong, but with
pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the
heat?

Did I have a fluid spirit, but after an illness, a death, a breakup, a financial hardship OR some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?

Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water,
the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it
releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things
are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you
elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you
a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?


May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything;
they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The
brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go
forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

May we all be COFFEE.

God Bless