#FirstCoffeeThoughts

I've mentioned before that I have many friends who Japan, some of whom are in Japanese business. I once ran a business that brought me in contact with Japanese people and I made a lot of friends and learned a great deal from those friendships over the years.

I have spoken here before about many of the Japanese business concepts that also align with my practices and beliefs as a stoic and also ones that I often taught when I was teaching an adult communications class.

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I've talked about #hansei (反省) and #kaizen (改善) before, which are two subjects that also come up often in #MediaTherapy

Han (反) means “change”, “to turn something over”, “to see something from a different perspective”, and Sei (省) means “to review”, “to examine yourself”. Kaizen (改善) is "improvement" or "change for the better" which is the inevitable outcome of properly done hansei.

I was thinking about another related concept that is especially relevant in our current times.

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"saihatsu boshi" translated literally, this means “prevention of reoccurrence".

The first step in saihatsu boshi is “genin wo mitsukeru“, which translates as getting to the root of the problem.

𝘐𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.

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𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥. - Rochelle Kopp

Once the root cause has been identified, “taisaku” – countermeasures – need to be put in place. This is part of the kaizen process of making change that is for the whole.

In Japanese business having a problem is a bad thing, but letting the same problem happen again is even worse. It shows a lack of self-awareness and lack of care for others.

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The processes of hansei, kaizen, saihatsu boshi, and taisaku are helpful in business but even MORE useful when it comes to personal development and well being not just on an individual level, but also on a societal level.

All of these processes involve honesty, self-reflection, accountability, and solutions over blame. They focus on DOING things and making CHANGE as opposed to blaming and wasting time arguing about who is at fault. They focus on the present and future, not the past.

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𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥. - Epictetus

Instead of worrying about what other people think, it is important to be honest with yourself if you plan to make any kind of forward progress. It's equally important if you want to not get in the way of other people's forward progress, much like what is happening in the world today.

There's a lot of people incapable of looking INWARD so instead they blame OUTWARD.

Self hatred is never limited to the self.

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In #MediaTherapy the focus is on what people project into what they experience, not what they take out of it. This also happens in every day life; people see things through the lens of their own bias, damage, self-disgust, unresolved trauma etc and it taints what they see and how they react to it.

If you don't know yourself well, you won't ever be able to know anyone else. If you cannot see yourself clearly, you won't ever be able to see anyone else clearly.

Self care also helps others.

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Know who you are.
Know your wounds.

Make sure you are not hurting or hindering others because of your own unresolved issues.

genin wo mitsukeru = discovering the root cause

Instead of spending so much time looking out at the world, at strangers, at everyone else, you should be spending your energy looking at yourself and resolving your own issues that are perhaps tainting how you see everyone else in the world.

The call is almost always coming from inside the house.

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So remember:

Hansei and Kaizen

Han (反) means “change”, “to turn something over”, “to see something from a different perspective”, and Sei (省) means “to review”, “to examine yourself”. Kaizen (改善) is "improvement" or "change for the better" which is the inevitable outcome of properly done hansei.

Genin wo mitsukeru = getting to the root of the problem

Saihatsu Boshi = prevention of reoccurrence

SelfNESS is about being your best self so that you can be your best for others.

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress ... just as trauma is simply 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙢𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙚, mental illness is 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡, 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡, 𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙙.

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