After returning from a trip to Japan and recovering from jet-lag, I have lots to write about - too much to fit in one blog post! So I'm going to order my thoughts and write about something that has been on my mind for some time, and is perhaps tangentially related to my experience with Japan.
I recently started reading Dale Carnegie. In the jaded ignorance of my college years, the idea of reading someone like Carnegie would have seemed somehow laughable, and I've maintained a skeptical view of all things that smack of "self-improvement" with which he'd become associated in my mind. But when I picked up How to Stop Worrying and Start Living off a shelf in the office a couple of months ago, I was immediately struck by the power, simplicity, and wisdom in his writing.
One of the more powerful images in this book is the idea of living in "day-tight compartments;" that is, not allowing regrets of yesterday or fears of tomorrow leak into the day. The phrase was borrowed from eminent Canadian physician William Osler, who advised sealing off each day like a water-tight compartment. You
could also look at it as employing fire-doors on the past and future. In any case, I found Carnegie's emphasis on focusing on the present, the facts, on matters-at-hand to be feel almost Zen Buddhist or Taoist in spirit.
I recall my Tai Ch'i teacher talking about the importance of focusing on one thing at a time, and while this isn't exclusively Eastern wisdom by any means, nevertheless I have found that practicing Tai Ch'i and meditating have made me more sensitive to taking things "step by step." Actually, Carnegie has a great gift for organizing the wisdom of sages from many ages and cultures, combining them with real-life stories from his contemporaries and students, and using these words and anecdotes to crystallize a very powerful philosophy of life around the threads that run through his books.
One of the more surprising passages in How to Win Friends and Influence People is another quote, this time from a contemporary publisher named Elbert Hubbard, on the importance of smiling:
" Whenever you go out-of-doors, draw the chin in, carry the crown of the head high, and fill the lungs to the utmost ... greet your friends with a smile and put soul into every handclasp...Try to fix firmly in your mind what you would like to do...Thought is supreme. Preserve a right mental attitude..."
I'm sorry, but this entire passage just exudes a martial arts ethos. The first sentence in particular describes with uncanny accuracy the correct position for holding your head in meditation. Again, the words aren't Carnegie's, but he seems to have this interesting inclination towards a Buddhist outlook.
Hence the tangential relation to Japan.