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April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
T S Eliot, The Wasteland
In the middle of all the uncertainty about Fukushima and nuclear dangers and radioactive food and water life goes on. Every April in Japan new students start schools and colleges and new employees put on dark suits and start their new jobs. Entrance ceremonies will be subdued this year. Some industries will be severely affected. But reconstruction and rebuilding will continue for years providing jobs and economic stimulus.
In budo we talk about beginner's mind, shoshin or shoshin no shin, 初心 or 初心の心. Beginner's heart is a good translation. It means always to keep the feeling of when we started. We didn't think we could do things then. And we didn't do things routinely.
A beginner is full of energy and enthusiasm. Those first months were thrilling. That excitement is a feeling we should try to keep for ever.