Lessons from a Strained Back: The Importance of Posture and Safety

 

Earlier today, while bending down to place some light luggage in the trunk of my car, I felt a sharp, electric-like pain in my lower back. I had strained my lower back slightly. This experience reminded me of safety slogans related to back pain at construction sites in Japan, such as, "What you do depends on your posture both mentally and physically," "Don't try to carry heavy items by yourself; have two people carry them," and "I didn't want to be friends with my back pain, but my back pain became my friend." These slogans resonated strongly with me. Fortunately, after taking a nap, I recovered about 50%.

Popular posts from this blog

Rediscovering Purpose in Retirement

Image
  The other day, I received a message from one of my social media friends saying, “I have just retired, and to be honest, I do sometimes feel a lack of purpose.” Immediately after reading these words, I felt sympathy for his despondent mood because I have been through a period of experiencing a sort of burnout syndrome, even though I eventually found relief from heavy work stress. During that time, I learned from another social media friend that it is very helpful to ask oneself three questions to create a bucket list for post-retirement life. These questions are as follows: 1.     What have you enjoyed doing the most? 2.     What have you been doing that made you shine the brightest? 3.     What things have you left behind so far? Surely, asking these three questions worked effectively and enabled me to discover new reasons for living in the rest of my life.
Read more

The Power of Mind Mapping

Image
When I used to receive an oral briefing on something unfamiliar or entirely new from someone, I made it a habit to create my own-style mind map instead of simply taking traditional verbal notes. This allowed me to quickly grasp the overall concept. To be honest, it took me several years to develop the skill of creating practical mind maps through hands-on work experience. However, once I acquired this skill, it significantly improved my abilities in explanatory presentations, fact gathering, problem-solving, and strategic project planning and execution. This is because visual representations, such as diagrams, matrices and graphs, provide strong reinforcement for verbal and numerical information.
Read more

The Wisdom of Japanese Proverbs: Leading by Example in Parenting and the Workplace:

Image
There is a Japanese quote, “Ko wa oya no senaka wo mite sodatsu,” which can be literally translated into English as “Children grow as they look at the back of their parents.” This suggests that parents should lead by example, both in their words and actions, when raising their children at home. In this context, reflecting on my experiences at work from the perspective of my personal growth, I believe I have learned much more from observing my bosses' actions and attitudes than from their verbal advice. Returning to the Japanese quote, from my own interpretation, the reason it uses “the back of their parents” rather than simply “their parents” is to emphasize the importance of actions over words. In this sense, I am now pondering whether I can serve as a good role model to my younger colleagues by setting an example through my own actions.
Read more