Starting the 'Finding the Good' Magazine. el viaje: Let's travel through our daily lives.

Nice to meet you. I'm chihiro.

Thank you for reading el viaje, a magazine where I introduce the good places, good things, and good people I encounter in my daily life.

el viaje means 'journey' in Spanish.
When you're traveling, everything feels fresh and sparkling, doesn't it?
Doesn't just waking up in the morning make you excited, wondering what you'll do today?
I think that even in our daily lives,
there are actually many such things hidden away.

So, just like traveling through daily life,
to help even a little bit of new emotion sprout,
I would like to introduce the 'good things,' 'good items,' and 'good people'
that I feel in my daily life.

This might be sudden, but what is the emotion we call 'like'?
I think there are many kinds of 'likes,' but
if you break that emotion down into its factors,

Intensely attracted,
Excited and wanting to skip,
Wanting to run out and embrace it the moment you find it,
A 'like' that is intense like a volcanic eruption, like love at first sight, and

Alternatively,
Comfortable, calm, without any disturbance in your feelings,
Like the silence in the crisp air of the morning,
Not pulled tight, not slack, but floating gently,
A 'like' that warms your heart like the flame of a match,
A 'like' that feels like the sense of security you have when you're next to a childhood friend.

I think there are broadly two types.

As I go through my days, what I seek now is the latter.

Things that maintain my feelings,
Not right or left,
Not shadow or light,
Things that keep me in the middle, in a state of moderation,
I think those things, items, and people
are what 'like' and 'comfortable' mean to me.

When I started to see those things clearly,
I began to see commonalities in what I am attracted to.

I love traveling, and during my student days, I literally became obsessed with Central and South America,
visiting Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Peru, and Bolivia.

The local people there were not wealthy, but they lived their daily lives resiliently and calmly,
without ever forgetting to smile.

The way they had their own livelihoods and wove their days together
was powerful and full of energy,
and those are still some of the major memories that shape my values today.

And the things created by those hands were beautiful.
They weren't art pieces, but the daily tools and things that color our lives
were things where you could see who made them and how.

Yes, those 'things' have a story, a narrative.
I realized that I am strongly attracted to things with that kind of background.

When those things are nearby, my feelings somehow soften.
The 'people' who create comfortable 'things,' the 'places' where they are placed,
I feel that their existence helps me.

Since I have a nature that is good at finding the good in things,
I end up liking almost everything (laughs).

Something that makes the reader's heart feel a little softer
but
not writing that stays in your head after you finish reading
but something that lets a new feeling sprout, even just a little

I would like to share content like that.

thank you for reading!
thank you for reading!