Blessings for New Year 2024! Tradition is to make new year’s resolutions but few people I know are able to keep them all year long. I know I rarely do! While on a retreat in early December, I got the chance to play with some building blocks and it gave me an idea. Why not gather proverbs to live by as the building blocks of my new year? They provide a framework for how I want to live my life, with its joys and also difficulties. Proverbs leverage the wisdom of centuries of humanity. What better guideposts for me this year, and every year!

I’m featuring Mexican and Japanese proverbs listed in the book “Sylvia & Aki,” written by Winifred Conkling, a fiction based on fact book and a perfect story of multicultural friendship for young children and elementary school ages.

It quite amazes me how proverbs from 2 distinct cultures align so well with each other and with our Munemitsu/Mendez story! The proverbs speak of wisdom across generations and cultures, as well as promote beautiful human attributes in each of us. Since these speak for themselves, I’ve just noted some quick thoughts. (I’ve listed them below with page numbers from “Sylvia & Aki” for reference.)

Read on, and pick a few that you’ll use to encourage and give you hope this year.

He who doesn’t look ahead remains behind.
-Mexican Proverb p.3

Perseverance and keep moving forward - a core theme of so many of these Mexican and Japanese proverbs.

Fall seven times; stand up eight.
-Japanese Proverb p. 19

Perseverance - here it is again!

He who labors and thrives spins gold.
-Mexican Proverb p. 33

To me, this speaks of the hard-work ethic in both cultures. I saw this first hand as a kid growing up on our farm with so many Japanese and Mexican Americans working side by side.

If you stand up like a nail, you will get hammered down.
-Japanese Proverb p. 47

This feels very traditional Japanese to me. It can be an effective way to survive difficult persecution for a while. An example was my family in the incarceration camps. They felt obeying a Presidential Executive Order in the camps was obeying the President, in essence, being a “good” American, eventhough they were unjustly imprisoned. I also respect those who voiced the injustice and went to the Supreme Court to fight for justice. Sadly, you often get beat down for justice.

That which isn’t in books, life will teach you.
-Mexican Proverb p.59

So true - the wisdom of aging, the wisdom of those who have seen decades of life and remember the lessons.

Adversity is the foundation of virtue.
-Japanese Proverb p.67

This one is also VERY Japanese to me. Though culturally it is not spoken of, the gambatte spirit of perseverance in the midst of adversity is assumed and held as a badge of honor. Without adversity, what virtue, what human character can truly be developed and mastered?

Do the good and don’t look at who receives it.
-Mexican Proverb p. 79

The majority of people I wrote about have no idea that what they did made it to the pages of a true story book! This is humility. Doing the next right thing without thinking of ourselves.

One kind word can warm three winter months.
-Japanese Proverb p. 85

Let’s warm other’s hearts and souls with our kindness. Be intentional with our kindness in words and actions!

God does not hear if you do not speak.
-Mexican Proverb p. 91

There are times when we must speak up, speak against injustice, stand for those who cannot speak or stand for themselves.

Love and a cough cannot be hidden.
-Japanese Proverb p. 99

Love is caught, just like a cold and cough! People know, they can feel if they are respected or rejected, seen or unseen. This is the language of the heart.

Talking about bulls is not the same thing as facing them in the ring.
-Mexican Proverb p. 107

Courage…this is definitely a Mexican one - no bull fighting in Japan (although they have rooster fights). But I’ve been in a bull ring with a 9 month old bull chasing me around and it isn’t the same thing as talking about it or watching it (student trip to Spain in high school when they did not worry about lawsuits).

Continuance is strength.
-Japanese Proverb p.117

Perseverance - “Gambatte” is so very Japanese. Keep going no matter what! This is in my Japanese DNA.

Hope dies last of all.
-Mexican Proverb p. 121

Keep Hope Alive - this is one of my favorites. Without hope, what do we have? I want to hold HOPE for you and let’s encourage each other along life’s way with HOPE!

Bad and good are intertwined like rope.
-Japanese Proverb p. 121

This is one close to my heart! In 2010, my mother passed away suddenly at age 86, after making breakfast one day at her home. Sudden death is a whole different grief experience than an illness. I grieved her passing, but her greatest prayer was to die at home and not suffer an illness, and God granted her that blessing. I always say, “Grief and Joy intertwined” and that was even before I read this proverb.

There is no bad that something good doesn’t come from it.
-Mexican Proverb p. 131

We wish this wasn’t so, but good can come out of bad, blessings out of adversity, and joy out of grief. From “The Kindness of Color,” trusted friendships and equal education came out of unjust incarceration, prejudice, and segregated schools.

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Which proverb(s) stood out to you? Any feel most relevant to your life right now? Which proverb(s) do you want to claim for 2024? I’d love to hear which ones you’ve chosen if you want to email me back!

And here’s a proverb I just thought up!

Cultivating Kindness is like planting seeds that always thrive - it brings hope to all.

Janice Munemitsu

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