Someone online shared with me this little phrase in Japanese. Ichigo ichie (一期一会), which means: one time, one meeting. It says that every encounter including every conversation, every smile, or every shared silence, is entirely unique. It won’t ever happen in quite the same way again.
At first I can't really comprehend how it applies to my life. How do I make sense of the quote? Isn't that just how life is? Now I can’t help but feel how it correlates with the emphasis on intention, on being present, and doing good even in the smallest of things. There’s this Hadith that says:
If the Final Hour comes while you have a shoot of a plant in your hands and it is possible to plant it before the Hour comes, you should plant it.
[Al-Adab Al-Mufrad | Book 27, Hadith 4]
Even when the world is ending, you plant. We might think it's ridiculous because "there's no use, everything is over anyway". But that's the point.
You do because you honor the moment you’re in. Even when nothing seems to "count", even when the outcome won’t return to you. It’s choosing to show up for the present, not for the promise of tomorrow.
The hadith teaches me that now matters. That no act is too small. That nothing is wasted.
Maybe that’s the heart of ichigo ichie too. To slow down, to see, and to treat the moment like something precious, because it is.
It can be a random grab ride, a passing question from lecturer in the middle of class, or a job we hate going to. But what if we saw it all as a meeting we’ll never have again? Would we leave kindness undone or let anything unsaid? Would we treat it as a routine?
Or would we slow down, appreciate it more and maybe be a little more intentional and happier?
0 Comments