📚81【Designing Your Mood】Taking Care of Your Own Mood 1245

*The header image is the cover section

Designing Your Mood
A simple way of thinking that isn't swayed by those around you

Michio Akita (Born in Osaka in 1953, product designer, visiting professor at Kyoto University of the Arts, winner of numerous awards including the top prize at the German Design Award in 2020, which is considered the most difficult in the world to win)

Diamond Inc. 253 pages
First edition March 28, 2023

I think keeping yourself in a good mood is a matter of etiquette in social interactions.
Well, there are times when you aren't in a good mood.
We are human, after all.
But just because of that, there's no need to spread your bad mood around, is there?
Your mood isn't something for someone else to fix.
You take care of your own mood.
I believe that is the mark of an adult.
Oh my, I ended up writing something that sounds like a 'conclusion' right away.

I wonder when the word 'Fukihara' (bad mood harassment) was born?
Actually, when words ending in 'harassment' started appearing one after another, I started calling it 'bad mood harassment' or 'Fukihara' on my own.
Because, you know, audible muttering, sighing, and clicking one's tongue really wears out the person listening.
So, Wataru (pseudonym, my younger sister) asked me, 'What's that? Did you make up a new word?'
It's widely recognized now, though.
Oh, I ended up writing about myself again.

Michio Akita is an active designer involved in the design of public equipment and daily necessities.
He has been writing a blog for over 20 years, and since March 2021, he has been sharing his thoughts and feelings on Twitter (X).
In this book, he introduces 'a simple way of thinking that isn't swayed by those around you'—which wasn't discussed on Twitter (X)—in a conversation format with interviewer Eriko Miyamoto.

I would love to include the table of contents, but it's 9 pages long just for the contents.
Anyway, try reading just the table of contents first.
You'll understand that this is what 'thinking simply' and 'simplifying your thoughts' means.
Let's at least include the chapter titles.

I really think that 'to keep a good mood, don't have expectations of those around you' is true.
Because you have expectations on your own, you get disappointed on your own when they aren't met, and you put yourself in a bad mood on your own.
Having expectations was your own doing, after all.
You should just accept it as 'well, this is how it is,' and if you don't have expectations in the first place, there won't be any disappointment, right?

To maintain a good mood at work and in life, what Michio Akita keeps in mind is 'if you feel like something is a bit unpleasant or tiring, step away from it.'
I understand this, I really do.
Rather than struggling and suffering in a place where you aren't comfortable, it's quicker to change your environment.
It's best to stay away from unpleasant places and unpleasant people.
You don't have to go out of your way to see or hear unpleasant things.
You don't have to stick your neck into turbulent matters.

Let's stay away from people who make us feel uncomfortable.
You don't have to get close to conflicts.
You don't have to go and pick chestnuts out of the fire.
You don't have to endure school or work until you get depressed.
If you block them, you don't have to read them, and you don't have to reply to aggressive comments.

In the first place, even if you argue with someone who keeps spouting baseless things, it has never worked.
They will just develop their own theories further.
If they were the type of person who would listen to a counterargument, they wouldn't have started saying baseless things in the first place.

When we think, 'Oh, I envy them,' we aren't picturing the process that led to that 'envy' or the effort required to maintain it.
Even though that 'envy' is built upon the 'difficulty of daily maintenance.'

The book is filled with words that make you think, 'I should think about it that way' or 'Maybe I should give that a try?'
I think it's fine to keep it close by and just flip through it occasionally.
Before worrying about other people's moods, I want to get my own in order.
Why not start with things like 'having several ways to refresh your mood' or 'trying to pretend you're in a good mood'?
Yeah, let's do that.

2025.8.31

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