Breath by Breath

Thanks to Jason from The Seminal for participating in the Naikan Challenge!  Here’s his response:

I’d say overall the experience was very interesting. I’ve always considered myself a generally happy person, so I wasn’t expecting to see a huge change in the way I looked at life. However, thinking about the questions you posed did affect my outlook in some subtle, but interesting ways. I took to writing down general observations about the challenge in addition to answers to the three questions.

In the first couple days, I found myself feeling a bit dismayed at how bland and boring my life was. The things I was coming up with to answer the questions seemed really small to me. Certainly, I didn’t save anyone’s life, and people didn’t do me any great favors, instead I did small things for people, and they returned the favor. Another thing that struck me was that things tended to happen in pairs. I would do something for someone and they would do something in return. Or even more connected, I would appreciate that someone had a good conversation with me, but I would also recognize that I was brightening their day at the same time.

Later on in the week, I found myself thinking about the challenge during the day, at odd times. I would be talking to someone and realize that this was an example of someone doing something for me. It was an interesting experience to start cataloging my life in that way. Also, as I was answering the questions in the evening, I would always be jumping around. I would try and concentrate on one question for a full 10 minutes, but I would think of something that would go under another question, and immediately write it down so I wouldn’t forget.

Finally, by the end of the week, I think I’ve come to appreciate, at least a little bit, what the Naikan challenge has done for me. Though I am generally happy, I’ve never really taken a close look at my experiences throughout the day in an organized way. By the end, I think this technique was helping me appreciate what I had done throughout the day. It did actually make me feel a bit proud sometimes.

Those are my observations. All in all, it was a very positive experience! I’d love to know your thoughts on my experiences and some more background on Naikan in general. I know it is Japanese (and I have a bit of a love affair with Japan after visiting a couple years ago), so I am interested!

This website is a great resource for learning more about Naikan in the west, as well as a little of its history.  For more background, you may also want to check out the book by the author of the website as a place to start.