Recently, I found great food. That is canned fish, called “Saba kan” (Canned mackerel) in my area. That is tasty, affordable in my area, and easy to cook. But I used to think of it negatively for a long time. So today, I’ll talk about this topic: what we feel negatively sometimes gives us a great idea.
How to break through our limits
We sometimes want to change our lives due to stressful things, such as disgusting work for money, relationships with people we don’t like, or less freedom in life.
But we often feel the limit of possibilities because we don’t know how or what to change. In other words, we often want new ideas for a better life.
At such times, try looking at things we feel negatively. Sometimes, they give us great ideas.
My experience with canned fish
To explain that, let me talk about my experience. These months, I wanted to reduce my frequency of grocery shopping to reduce the cost of groceries. But it was difficult for me because I like to eat fish. Fish spoil quickly. And frozen fish tastes not so good. So, I needed to go to the grocery store frequently to buy fresh fish.
At such a time, I started to discard unnecessary things over the past month. One of them is canned fish. I stored it for emergencies. But I noticed it was too much. And I didn’t want to throw away as many edible things as possible. So I decided to eat these canned fish.
I used to think of canned fish negatively. Perhaps the word “canned” gave me a bad image, such as an old way and not fresh feelings.
But after I tried it several times, I noticed it was great food. It had so many good things. It was fresh and tasty. It was affordable—almost the same price as the fresh ones in my area. I was able to store it at room temperature. I was able to eat it soon because it was already cooked. And it was also easy to cook.
It gave me a new idea for my lifestyle
Then I noticed that I could reduce my frequency of grocery shopping if I used these canned fish. I can use it for everyday life.
These canned fish helped me a lot because this summer was hot. The cold fish soup in the summer was delicious and refreshing. We can cook it easily with canned fish. I enjoyed it frequently, but I never got bored. So, I was able to consume a lot of stored canned fish.
Positive and negative waves
By the way, I can describe this way of thinking with a wave. It’s easy to understand when we explain something that changes. I call this the “Wave Theory.”
We assume that we are living in waves of positive and negative. Both are neither good nor bad. They are only relative directions we feel. When we feel that getting something is positive, discarding something might be negative. When we feel that starting some activities is positive, stopping might be negative. There could also be many combinations, such as creating and consuming, moving and resting, or changing outside and inside.
And usually, the activities we are doing now are positive. We feel it positively in our lives, so we are trying it.
Our “limit” means the peak of the current approach
We need both ways to accomplish our goals in general. In other words, there are many ways to achieve our goals.
When we feel our limitations, it is time to take other approaches. It is the peak of the current wave. This is shown in the following figure:
To take other approaches, we look at negative things. That could be another approach to accomplishing our goals. In other words, the direction of “the positive thing for our lives” often changes with our situations. We need to change the thought of “what is positive” based on our states.
Conclusion
So I think that what feels negative sometimes gives us a great idea.
When we feel our limitations, it is time to take another way. I call it “riding a negative wave.” To be more precise, “riding a new positive wave that looks negative now.”
If we can understand this way, we might be able to break through our limits.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you at the next one.
