Every time I faced hardships, my level of consciousness was raisedandmy inner self immensely changed.

(Updated on July 14, 2005)

No170714

Hello, everybody, I’m Fuyo Haruna.

It has been raining since the beginning of July.

I can’t tell you how serene the view of foggy mountains from my window is and howgrateful I am for being at ease. I’m now happyindeed.

When I look back on my life, I cannot help but thank Nature for how far I’ve come,being supported and guided by Nature.Throughout my life, a sense of gratitude hasalways been with me, forming the foundation of my heart. This may be partlybecause Iwas physically weak. I’ve always found a deep joy in being alive at anymoment of my life.

When I was younger, my husband and I were running a kimono (Japanese traditionalfabrics and textiles) shop. While putting up theshutters every morning, I felt joywelling up in my heart; “I can open our shop today, too. What a blessing!” While Iwas wiping floorsand corridors with a damp cloth, I was so grateful that my familywas in good shape that I often found myself in tears.

Every time I heard about people suffering in various ways, I could imagine how muchpain they were going through and I felt theirpain as if it were mine. This shook anddisturbed my heart. At the same time, however, I was again grateful for my owncircumstancesimmune from such hardships.

Being this way, I had many things to be thankful for every day. Whatever I saw andheard, a sense of gratitude welled up in my heart.From some point, besides feelinggrateful for specific things, I came to feel the existence of an invisible great powerthat was leadingme to happiness. When I came to sense the existence of such apower, my joy deepened. I couldn’t help but be moved with theperception that Iwas supported by the love of Nature and that great Nature was always there forlittle me.

I’m not saying that my life was free from hardships; like everybody else, I hadproblems that I had to face as a wife, as a mother, andas an individual person. Butnone of these problems were ones that could change my life forever?like beingcrippled in an accident orlosing my loved ones. They were all things that I couldsomehow cope with in my mind.

It was more poignant for me to lose my grateful heart because of a hardship, ratherthan to suffer from the hardship itself. I thoughtthat I shouldn’t let things get medown because I’d been so securely protected by the great love of Nature. I wantedto be a personwho was never bothered by anything. I wanted to be a person whocould go beyond things. Having such a wish, I reflected on myself,being at that timeeasily disturbed or worried. I tried to get rid of things that were annoying me frommy mind. I would say to myself,“Nature is now trying to make me grow”. Before Iknew it, I often found my worried heart had gone. “Oh, my suffering is gone.Howcan I give thanks for that?” Then I became even more grateful.

In doing so, I noticed that every time I faced hardships, my level of consciousnesswas raised and my inner self immensely changed. Iwas happier to see my heartgrow. The joy was much greater than the joy of seeing some visible things fulfilled.

Now I am deeply convinced that it is out of love that Nature gives us hardships; shewants us to grow. But how does she intend todo so?

She urges us to raise the level of our consciousness by building up energy in ourmind to reach the point where we can be gratefulfor anything.