念ずれば花ひらく If you are heartful, flowers will bloom

Where do we find the faith, hope, courage that keeps us going in our work, in our lives? Steve Jobs famously said that "You have to trust in something--your gut, karma, life, destiny, whatever--because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path and that will make all the difference."

Many others have passed on this same wisdom; for me it was my grandmother, who guided me to live from my heart--to be present in the here and now, having faith that everything will be alright. Living in that way I found the flowers within me mysteriously blooming. Our neighbor poet in Japan, Sakamura Shinmin 坂村真民, captured this beautifully in the poem 念ずれば花ひらく.

If you are heartful

flowers will bloom

When I was suffering my mother always said these words And one day I too

became able to say them

And then

miraculously, my flowers

one by one

began to bloom

念ずれば花ひらく

念ずれば

花ひらく

苦しいとき

母がいつも口にしていた

このことばを

わたしもいつのころからか

となえるようになった

そうしてそのたび

わたしの花がふしぎと

ひとつひとつ

ひらいていった