【The Happiness of Giving】I composed this poem with gratitude for the thought, 'I am who I am today because of you.'

Gratitude, gratitude, a chocolate feast of gratitude
I am who I am today because of you

Sorry for being so noisy right from the start~!
I'm Tsuda, delivering 'word amulets' every day to lighten your heart.

Since today is Valentine's Day, I composed this poem.
I write a tanka poem every day, but this theme had me stumped.

Above all, I have no connection to Valentine's Day (lol)
Even so, I tried to squeeze something out
and while I was going through trial and error, this poem came to me.

When I refine tanka, I always find lessons and realizations.
This time, the realization was that 'I am who I am today because of you.'

Is that obvious? You think so?
I have no intention of being preachy at all, so
please let me share today's realization with you all🙇

'Because of you' (blame) vs. 'Thanks to you' (gratitude)

We meet various people throughout our lives.
Those encounters aren't always with good people.

Sometimes, we might even meet people who could cause us trauma.
I had a time like that too.
Even now, when I think of that person, my heart tightens.

Even so, I don't think, 'I wish I hadn't met them.'
That encounter gave me a great lesson.

By knowing pain, I was able to understand the pain of others.
This has become a great support for me in living my life and continuing to create.

I currently have depression, and even 12 years after the onset, I still have recurring moments where I want to die or cannot get out of bed because my body won't move. I can't do as much work as I used to, and honestly, I have no money. And I am all alone. Even so, I live feeling happiness.

That is because I have met so many people. For example, on note, there are many companions who are living through their days while also having depression. By reading their articles, my heart was supported by knowing that I am not the only one with depression.

On note, there are many companions and readers who are interested in someone like me, read my articles, sometimes leave comments, or introduce my articles.

And old friends who still treat me the same way even after I got depression and give me smiles. Wonderful people I met after I got depression. My family who supports me without change. I am truly grateful from the bottom of my heart.

But what if I thought, 'My life is this way because of you'? If it were 'I became happy,' that would be fine, but in many cases, what follows is 'I didn't want to live a life like this.'

If that were the case, I might have committed suicide by now, living in the darkness of unhappiness and loneliness while resenting people and the world. And perhaps even when I was much younger.

The protagonist of life lives with 'thanks-to' thinking

There is a word called 'protagonist' (shujinko). That originally comes from Zen Buddhism.

Your life is your own.

Thinking of it that way, doesn't the mindset of 'because of you' (blame) mean you are handing your life over to someone else?

On the other hand, the mindset of 'thanks to you' means you are living your own life as the protagonist while entrusting yourself to the power of others. The ease of living is completely different between 'because of' thinking and 'thanks to' thinking.

If I were to express this in a tanka, it would be a poem like this.

Treating the bonds we encounter as a blessing, benevolence reaches its peak, and luck begins to change.

By thinking of the bonds we encounter with a sense of gratitude, benevolence (kindness) is born in the heart, and luck (life) begins to change. I wonder if that is what it means.

Although there are painful times, I am happy.
There are many people I have met only because of this life I have lived, including both the good and the bad. And it is because I believe that luck can be changed.

Perhaps you, who are reading this article now, are in deep darkness. I have also spent such a time. So, if I may say one preachy thing at the end, I would like you to know that there is a moon in every darkness.

Life can be started anew at any time, as many times as you like. And I believe that no matter the situation, people can always climb back up and grasp "their own kind of happiness."

May these words become
a kind of amulet for you.

And for all of you,
may tomorrow be a good day✨

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always encourage me.
Thank you so much!

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https://x.com/toto_books

For everyone,
I will continue to do my best so that
this note becomes a "place to heal your heart and support your fresh start."
I look forward to your continued support.🙇

Thank you for reading until the end.

[I also write articles like this]