The Japanese Art Of Acceptance: Embracing Vulnerability

For the Japanese, being devoid of everything at a specific moment in life can be a step towards the light of incredible knowledge. Assuming your own vulnerability is a form of courage and the mechanism that initiates the healthy art of resilience, where you never lose perspective or the will to live.

In Japan, there is an expression that began to be used frequently after the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This expression somehow regained remarkable significance after the tsunami disaster of March 11, 2011. “Shikata ga nai” means “there is no choice, there is no alternative or there is nothing to do.”

Far from understanding this expression from a defeatist, submissive or negative perspective as any Westerner would, the Japanese are nourished by it to understand it in a more useful, dignified and transcendent way. In these cases of vital injustice, anger or anger is of no use. Nor that resistance to suffering where one is eternally captive to “why me or why this misfortune has happened.”

Acceptance is the first step to liberation. One will never be able to completely undress from grief and pain, it is clear, but.

“Shikata ga nai” or the power of vulnerability

Since the 2011 earthquake and the subsequent nuclear disaster at the Fukushima plant, many Western journalists have traveled to northwestern Japan to discover how the traces of the tragedy persist and how its people are gradually emerging. of the disaster. It is fascinating to understand how they cope with the pain of loss and the shock of being deprived of what had been their life until then.

However, and as curious as it may seem, the journalists who make this long journey take something more than a report to their countries. Something more than some impressive testimonies and photographs. They take wisdom of life, they return to the routines of their western worlds with the clear feeling of being different inside. An example of this existential courage is offered by Mr. Sato Shigematsu, who lost his wife and son in the tsunami.

reference to scenes from nature or to everyday life. Mr. Shigematsu finds great relief in this kind of routine, and doesn’t hesitate to show reporters one of these haikus:

As this survivor and at the same time a victim of the 2011 tsumami explains, the courage to embrace his vulnerability every morning through a haiku allows him to connect with himself much better to renew himself just as nature itself does. Also understand that life is uncertain, unforgiving at times. Cruel when he wants it.

However, learning to accept what happened or say to themselves that of “Shikata ga nai” (accept it, there is no choice) allows them to put aside the anguish to focus on what is necessary: ​​rebuilding their life, rebuilding their land.

The keys to vulnerability as a way to achieve vital resistance

According to an article published in the newspaper “Japan Times”, practicing the art of acceptance or “Shikata ga nai”  generates positive changes in the body of the person : blood pressure is regulated and the impact of stress is reduced. Assuming the tragedy, making contact with our present vulnerability and our pain is a way to stop fighting against what can no longer be changed.

• After the tsunami disaster, most of the survivors who were able to fend for themselves started helping each other by following the motto “Ganbatte kudasai” (don’t give up). The Japanese understand that to face a crisis or a moment of great adversity, you have to accept your own circumstances and be of use to yourself as well as to others.

• Another interesting aspect to look at is his concept of calm and patience. The Japanese know that everything has its times. No one can recover from one day to the next. Healing a mind and a heart takes time, a long time, just as it takes time to rebuild a town, a city, and an entire country.

. Because no matter how many times life, fate, misfortune or the always relentless nature with its disasters brings us down: surrender will never have a place in our minds. Humanity always resists and persists, so let’s learn from this useful and interesting wisdom that Japanese culture gives us.