Compass for a 'Way of Life' Vol. 130

The Scale of the Heart

Hello everyone! This is Yoshiyuki, your paper counselor.

First of all,
Kishakoku-sensei introduced my article.

Our 'true selves' are formed amidst the rough seas of life; some people polish themselves in these rough seas, while others try to save only themselves in distorted ways.
However, those are words and actions meant to 'protect oneself,' and perhaps our perspective on others changes depending on whether or not we can understand that.

Kishakoku-sensei, thank you for the introduction!

Now, let's get to the main topic.
This time, we will be talking about the scale of the heart.

Some of you might be wondering, what is the scale of the heart?
Perhaps it can be described as a 'ruler' born from your own values.

In general society, if you can obtain things like a high income, social status, power, academic background, qualifications, or high name recognition, you are sometimes called a so-called 'successful person'.

Many people want to obtain such things and likely want to become successful people.

Conversely, if those things are hard to obtain or do not materialize, hardships and worries can arise from that.

What can we do to escape this suffering?

You know,
when work goes well, you achieve results, receive good evaluations, or earn a high income, anyone would be happy, right?

Even if you don't go so far as to be called a 'successful person,' when you 'succeed,' it leads to motivation for your next job, doesn't it?

For company employees or self-employed people, I wonder if they hope to succeed through their work.
Shall we think a little about the essence of that 'success' or 'successful person'?

If, for you,
your driving force is wanting to receive good evaluations that lead to high income, wanting to get promoted, wanting to become famous, or wanting to be looked at with envy, then that's fine if what you are currently working on goes well, but if it doesn't, it's painful and difficult, isn't it?

Perhaps that is because you are trying to measure your own worth using a scale of the heart that is generally talked about in society.

What about people who are truly successful?

Perhaps their driving force is something like focusing on one thing they can do to develop their talent, working on something, thinking thoroughly about how to be useful to people or society, or having a stronger-than-average desire to do something about a problem someone is facing.

I wonder if the scale of the heart is something like, 'How can I use my abilities for the sake of the world and others?'

Perhaps, as a result, 'success' is something that follows afterward.

Wanting to earn a high income, get good evaluations, get promoted, or become famous—these are 'desires,' aren't they?

On the other hand, wanting to be useful to something or someone, or wanting to help those in trouble—are these also 'desires'?

Depending on the scale of your heart, I wonder if these desires change from being just for yourself to being for someone else or for the world.

I think that just by how you hold the scale of your heart, the way you see various things changes.

How about the scale of your heart?

This time, the topic was about the scale of the heart.

Thank you for staying with me until the end.