“There are
No Coincidences in Life Just
Unrecognized Patterns”

When I was twenty-one years old and a senior at San Jose State University, a wise samurai told me, “We are all ordinary people, it is what we do with ourselves that can make life exceptional.”

That one sentence supported by simple habits, Kaizen, ingrained into me by that samurai helped me find my ikigai (in Japanese this word represents what is your purpose in life, why you get up each day, and what brings you joy) and create an amazing life. Ikigai is so important that it is one of the nine elements supporting the Blue Zone phenomenon where people typically live 100 or more years.

My ikigai journey has guided me through three distinct overlapping phases in my life:

First Phase - doing what I was suppose-to-do: build a solid financial base while working in the technology industry from which I can stand, create, and rest upon.

Second Phase – doing what I was meant-to-do: become an educator and lifelong learner.

Third Phase – doing what I want-to-do: share stories that make us smile, wonder, and bring us together.

CONSIDER,

• What if we could see, hear, read, and experience real stories about real people* without the noise of confusing rhetoric? Might this change our worldview?

• Should we ask ourselves, “What if” more than stating “What is” so that we can see beyond the horizon of our lives?

• Are there no coincidences in life, just unrecognized patterns?

• When is The Age of Contribution (#AgeofContribution) and does it matter?

• Or, what is The Age of Contribution and how will we know?

• What is Common Sense and what happened to it?

• Could we all be samurai and inherently mystical if we study Bushido philosophy and training?

• Will human evolution be purely biological, or will future technology intertwine with our DNA?

• Will robots be capable of humanistic social presence through a human-computer interface (HCI)?

• Can we retain our identity, culture, or beliefs and create a #BalancedHumanity where we share an authentic reciprocity of respect and friendship with others?

• Can we solve the world’s loneliness problem by sharing stories?

• These questions and more will be explored in my upcoming books and blogs.

Let’s take this life journey together,

Richard Y. Okumoto, Ph.D.

* Interested in Real Stories about Real People – please visit: www.Digital-LifeStory-Project.org