So I am travelling in Japan for work and then leisure. To the right is a night shot of Tokyo from the hotel room.

A few observations I have on the Japanese frugality, or rather I should say, effective use of resources, that’s worth mentioning…

• Automatic door — The sensor is a lot less sensitive, meaning, it will only work when someone get much closer than the ones in the U.S. That means a risk running into doors if unprepared.
• Air conditioning — A/C is turned on at warmer temperature than in the states and also if turned on, is moderate and not full-blown such that it turns the room into a freezer. (me like!)
• Recycling — I think most people had heard of this one already. In Japan, recycling is done for more materials and more categorically and had been implemented way before the U.S.
• Toilet flushing — For most toilet, you can choose to flush with a “weak” or a “strong” flow of water. One for… each type of toilet business we can do, I presume, heh. Preservation of water, how clever!

I am still travelling and will stop for now. More report on Japan later. Here is a picture of me when first arrived at Tokyo, but grossly underdressed compare to the [real] white-collars in Tokyo, though overdressed compare to the [unreal?] white-collars in the States, ha!

Oh yeah, did I say this is my first time in Japan?

I’m sure that’s what all the banks think. “If only we can somehow make it 0% interest and still get people to deposite their money…”

This post is provoked as I am doing my monthly accounting and noticed this in my ING Direct Saving account.

So 1.5% is not low enough and they make it 1.4%, whaaaa….

They are really being unhelpful for those of us who are saving their money.

There are those people who think, “I will lose my money if I put them in stock market. I will not make any interest if I put them in saving. I will also lose money to inflation if I put them under my mattress. To hell with it, I’m going to spend it all.”

For sure that is not the right mentality to have, respective to saving and being frugal, but surely, we can all see why people feel that way, no?

PS. Hope everyone had a good July 4th weekend.

Productivity is a hot topic these days.

Whenever productivity is discussed, time management is the focus of it.

Let’s throw it out the window for now. It is more effective to think about it as attention management.

It’s more effective because of one basic premise — that at any given moment, our attention can only be of one thing.

When we talk about multi-tasking to increase productivity, we are doing multiple things within a given period of time, but we are not multi-tasking in each moment. It is not possible.

In geek terms, we are in fact only doing program switching or multi-threading, which is fake parallel processing, instead true parallel processing. To parallel process, you need multiple CPUs… well, each person is like one CPU, and one person cannot be more than one person.

Our attention cannot go two place.

You can try, but it is not possible.

Attention is the key in everything we do. To do something well, is to have your attention with it. Hence the phrase, “be one with what you do”.

When you are talking with someone, is your attention on that person? And that your attention is not on what you think about him. Not on what others had said about him. Not on what you are going to have for dinner. To communicate and truly connect, your attention is to be on that person.

When you are doing a task, is your attention on the task? And that your attention is not on how tough it is, how long it will take you, how frustrated you are, or worrying about not doing well. To do the task well and as efficient as possible, your attention is to be on that task.

Be one with what you do.

Pay attention in the moment.

When we don’t pay attention to what we do, or rather pay attention to everything else, physical or mental, but what we do, we do not do well and we make a mess of things.

Consequently, instead of how to allocate time, it makes more sense for us to pay attention to allocate where our attention goes. We can also have a good idea of our priorities, which when said is what we truly care, by seeing where our attention goes.

On a personal note, whenever I became aware that I am paying attention to my worries, frustrations, and other thoughts and emotions with the task on hand, I realize I am off track. Then I acknowledge, accept, and take note of those thoughts and emotions, and move my attention back on to my task on hand — things that are of priorities to me.

I end today with a story that goes something like this…

A serious student visited a Zen master and said, “Master, I know you are busy, so please write on this scroll some maxims of the highest wisdom for me to study.” And the master wrote, “Attention.”

The student was puzzled, and said, “I don’t understand.”

And the master wrote “Attention. Attention.”

“But all you’re doing is writing ‘attention’. Isn’t there anything else?”

And the master wrote it three times running: “Attention. Attention. Attention.”

Exasperated, the student demanded, “What do you mean by ‘attention’, anyway?!”

“Attention means attention,” the master replied.

Where does your attention go?

I am being sent oversea for work in July. That got me thinking about travelling and vacation.

I actually find it quite enjoyable to stay around home, and I got everything I need here. I want to be here. I enjoy being here. But of course, if I must go somewhere, then I will enjoy being here over there too.

This is as opposed to the common desire to take a vacation to have a good time, to escape from it all. The I-want-to-be-there attitude. So really, instead of being over there, we can all learn how to be here more often.

The feeling is, that I want to be here while everyone else wants to be there.

The truth is, as long as I can be totally here, then I can be everywhere with no trouble.

The consequence is, if a person always wants to be there instead of here, then everywhere he goes will still be trouble.

See what I’m sayin’?

I am amazed. Why? Because I have yet come across any article to realize and articulate the fact that our health care crisis is not actually a health care crisis. Perhaps because it sounds politically incorrect, blasphemous, and anti-Obama? That aside, I am also amazed that no one seems to realize the one simple underlying fact to this crisis, which is merely a symptom of this simple underlying fact, is in fact…

Our health!

Long Lost Health

We have gradually come to behave the ways we are today such that we have forgotten what it means to be healthy. We have forgotten that our body has amazing intelligence to do what is best for us. We have become oblivious to when our body tries to communicate to us. It is the same as how we have become unaware of our own thoughts and emotions and mistaken them as who we are.

Our Silent Body

Actually, our body is not so silent. Here is what we do. When our body feels pain, we pop pain killers. When our body makes us sneeze, cough, diarrhea… we pop anti-histamine drugs. When all else fails, we swallow antibiotics or remove the ailing parts of our body. But alas, there is always a reason why our body feels that way. There are reasons for symptoms to happen!

Instead of trying to help, we do everything to tell our body to shut the hell up, and we wonder why we are not healthy. We silence our body.

Basics of Supply and Demand

We wonder why are health care costs going up?

Well, we are paying a shit load of money because on the average we are un-healthy and are on our way becoming un-healthier. And we will continue to get un-healthier if we don’t stop and reconsider what it actually means to be healthy.

As the un-healthy trend stated above develops, there becomes no wonder that health care cost is shooting up exponentially. There are many factors involved, but we play a part in the increase because we are increasing our demand because we need them (actually, it’s that we THINK we need them). Because we think we need them, they can push the price up on us. Basic supply and demand rule in capitalistic society.

Perverted Capitalism is not Helping

Today, our capitalism has become perverted in the sense that profit is of higher priority to quality products and services. Therefore, on average, it is not in the medical and health care industry’s best interest to make you healthy. I said on average because there are still good doctors and kind physicians out there.

My Skeptical Mind…

And let me say this… that one cannot help but wonder, if the medical field today has deterred from the true meaning of doctor, if we read the original Hippocratic Oath, and then we look at the side effects and deaths related to drugs, and then we also look at the health care system being one of the leading causes of death.

Wait, what about “never to do harm”? I don’t think that is one thing too much to ask for from a doctor… Hmmm, yeah, I do wonder. Doubts aside, I know one thing for sure, which is intuitive, and it is that drugs are not to be a norm in everyday life, and doctors are best performing their jobs when they are least visited.

Back to Health

Let’s set aside my skeptical mind. And Yes, if you broke a bone or have some serious conditions, do go to a doctor. However, it is your responsibility to ask intelligent questions, to learn about what’s happening to your body. Your health is your own responsibility. That is the truth, and it is worth repeating.

Your health is your responsibility.

Only you can help yourself to be healthy.
The key is not health care.
The key is our health.

Therefore, no policy, no plan can solve our “health care” problem because our problem is not “health care”. That is missing the point.

And therefore, we must re-establish the concept of health. First, let us revoke what we seem to think it is but not.

Health is NOT Non-Disease, Non-Illness

We need to truly start looking after our health, which again, does not mean non-disease or non-illness. More technology, medicine are not going to make us healthy. They probably can keep us alive longer. They probably make us feel better in short term, which is synonymous to our irresponsible and instant gratification desiring mentality that also is manifested through our subprime mortgage, consumerist-related issues.

But technology and medicine making healthy for us? Nope. They can help, but for now, they are not really helping because of our misuse.

By the time you start having symptoms, and full-fledged illness, you are already quite far from being healthy, and one last stress factor to the body has brought you over the edge.

Real Change

We need to change. We don’t need the health care system to change for us. We don’t need change that creates a health care system that allows and validates our indulging behaviors in lifestyle and diet. We need to accept that we have developed a lifestyle that is against our own body’s nature, our health.

We need to stop delegating our responsibility to experts. And definitely stop using our genetic disposition as excuses. (Yes, there are unique and extreme cases but most of us are not.)

Being Kind to Others

You may ask, what about being kind?

I understand the concept of being compassionate and charitable. That is why I would ask you, “Is validating other people’s bad behaviors, enabling irresponsibility of one-self a compassionate and charitable action?”

100% Responsibility to Health, to Life

Until you take full responsibility for your health, for yourself, you will always be in trouble. Until you look at your life holistically — body, mind, and spirit — your life will always be “in pieces” because that is how you are treating it. So we have a unique different approach/pattern to treat each piece; meanwhile, we completely overlook that those pieces are all connected. Life is all aspects as a whole!

Final Summary

Health is not difficult. If I must sum up what one needs to do to become and stay healthy, I’ll say 3 things and a few sub-points for each:

1. Balanced lifestyle
   • Are you constantly stressed out?
   • Do you spend more time working than sleeping?
   • Do you vegetate in front of TV for many hours and claim you don’t have time to exercise
   • Do you take time to connect with others (while not worrying about other things)?
2. Balanced diet
   • How much processed and junk food (mostly empty calories) do you eat?
   • Do you rely on supplements and disregard your regular meals?
   • Do you drink enough water?
   • How much real and/or organic food (useful calories with things body can use) do you eat?
3. Thoughtful and sufficient exercise
• Do you exercise regularly?
• Do you exercise with mindfulness (vs. just going throught the motion)?
• Do you challenge your body to fix your physical weakness?
• Do you ever dig deep enough to understand what exercise you need? (ie. knee pain could be caused by incorrect use of the ankle or hip joints, etc.)

Health only requires a bit due diligence on our part, related to the 3 aspects above, to assist and support our body in what it does. Each of us has to realize what health truly means. Each of us has to rediscover what healthy feels like. Each of us has to relearn how to listen to our body.

And nope, no one else can do it for you.

PS. You don’t have to agree and believe everything I wrote, but don’t you think at least some of them are worth considering? Your health is up to you.