The Space in My Heart That the Snow Taught Me

I love summer.
The intensity of the sun, the scent of the sea, the temperature wrapping around my body—everything feels alive.
That is why, if I am going to surf, I prefer it to be warm.

Even so, I also love the snow.

I am not good with the cold.
In fact, I would rather avoid it.
And yet, when it snows, for some reason I want to look outside.
The same town, the same streets, the same buildings.
But just by having snow layered over them, the world shows an entirely different expression.

The scenery that is always the same turns into something else.
My heart wavers a little at that fact.
People assume that what they see is reality, but
in truth, reality changes its form endlessly depending on the state of one's heart.

If you look at it with a heart at ease, the snow is beautiful.
If you look at it with a heart that is cornered, the snow is a nuisance.
The same snow, the same place, the same time.
The only thing that changes is what is inside me.

In the end, how we see the world
is not a problem of the world,
but a matter of the state of our own hearts.

Busyness, impatience, anxiety, anger.
When those things occupy the heart,
people lose the scenery, lose the space, and
gradually lose the very 'power to feel'.

Looking at the snow,
the version of me that can think it is beautiful is still here.
Just by that, I felt a little saved today.

……Even so, the snow is incredible.