This Moment Will Never Come Again: The Power of Japanese Philosophy, Ichigo Ichie

This Moment Will Never Come Again: Ichigo Ichie & the Power of Presence | Dream Nation Breakfast Club

Host Josh Valentin welcomes viewers to the Dream Nation Breakfast Club and shares the Japanese philosophy of Ichigo Ichie (“one lifetime, one meeting”), emphasizing that every moment and encounter is unique and unrepeatable. Originating in Japanese tea ceremonies and connected to Zen Buddhism, the concept is presented as a framework for living with gratitude, urgency, and reverence—especially with family and children, noting a study that by age 18 parents have spent over 90% of their in-person time with their child. Josh contrasts presence with modern autopilot living—phones at dinner, distracted conversations, and achievement without fulfillment—and offers practical ways to apply the idea: be fully present (eye contact, no phone, listening), romanticize daily rituals, create anchor reminders (wallpaper, prayer, memento mori coin), use a five-second presence reset, adopt a “last time” mindset, and remove one distraction daily. He closes by inviting viewers to comment, share, and DM “coach” for complimentary coaching sessions and five-day challenges.

00:00 Welcome and Overview
00:54 Breakfast Club Origins
02:08 Meaning of Ichigo Ichie
04:58 Family Time Wake Up
07:22 Present Moment Lessons
10:14 Mortality and Autopilot
13:31 Presence as a Gift
15:21 Time Is Nonrenewable
18:59 Nineties Nostalgia Shift
21:24 Applying It Daily
22:42 Conversation Presence Tips
24:05 Undivided Attention
24:36 Romanticize Daily Rituals
25:08 Walking for Happiness
25:55 Purpose in Your Work
26:46 Create Anchor Moments
29:20 Five Second Presence Reset
30:12 Last Time Mindset
35:13 Remove One Distraction
35:51 Ichigo Ichie Origins
37:27 Why Presence Boosts Joy
40:32 Better Relationships Through Presence
41:13 Moments That Mattered
43:45 Coaching Offer and Farewell

https://calendly.com/javalentin/30min

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Dream Nation Breakfast Club. I'm your host, Josh Valentine and the Dream Nation Breakfast Club is brought to you by the Journey Podcast. Happy to be here with you all as we gather together every single Tuesday morning at 7:00 AM Eastern Standard Time. And for those of you who are hopping on for the very first time, welcome to our community where we gather together and cover everything centered around personal development life. Coaching things that could essentially make your life better. Every single week is something different. And this week I'm gonna be covering something that I've been really passionate about lately, and that is the Japanese philosophy of Ichigo Ichi. And today's session is titled, this Moment Will Never Come Again. The Power of Japanese Philosophy, Ichigo Ichi. So. For those of you who are hearing about this for the very first time, it's gonna be a really great session for you all this morning. And just to give you a, a quick. Brief history on the Breakfast Club actually started this community, uh, roughly about a decade ago. And it was originally, uh, a community that I was nurturing in The Bahamas. We would gather together every single, uh, day, Monday through Saturday, we would get together at a coffee shop and we just kind of would share different things on personal development. I was running a community that was. Uh, essentially like into entrepreneurship, traveling around the world, mindset, personal development, all these different things. So, uh, it was a, it was a great way to provide mentorship to our communities to gather together every single morning. So this used to be in person and right before the pandemic we ended up transitioning online and it was. Probably the best thing we could have done at the time, uh, because the world shut down. But we were able to reach so many people around the world, not just people that we were gathering, gathering together with in person. So, um, happy for those of you who've been, you know, tuning into the Breakfast Club now for all these years. It's definitely, uh, greatly appreciated. And for all of you who are hopping on, uh, for the very first time, or maybe you're new to this community, welcome. Happy to have you. As well. So let's get into it. Ichigo, ichi, Ichigo, I, and basically what that means is one lifetime, one meeting. One lifetime, one meeting or one time, one meeting. And the idea is this moment exists only now and will never happen again. So it originated from Japanese tea ceremonies where these emperors or, or leaders in Japanese culture would gather together with a lot of, you know, people that they would normally sit down with, uh, for a tea gathering. And it was a, it was a really great philosophy to adopt because. Uh, during that time, you just never knew when it was gonna be your last tea gathering. So they cultivated this, this idea of like every single gathering was significant, every single gathering held value. And it, it's, it's a, it's a really great philosophy for just even today's day and age, whether it's a tea ceremony or you're just hanging out with your family. Um, think about this. How many people do we meet throughout the course of the year that will never meet again for the rest of our lives? There are these just chanting counters sometimes, or sometimes we just meet people randomly and we forget to, uh, that, that we, we just forget the idea that, hey, I may never see this person again a day in my life. This is the very last time I'll ever see this human being, and you could apply that to. Random encounters, you can apply that to just even being with your family. You never know when your time is up. So I love this, this Japanese just philosophy of, of Ichigo Ichie because it, it really is a reminder that. Life is precious. And you guys always hear me talk about how rare and precious life truly is. The, the, the odds that you'd even be born in today's day and age is so, so rare and we, we tend to take life for granted. And I, I feel that if you truly wanna maximize the joy that you have in this life, it is important to learn how to live in the present moment. And that's what this framework really does, is it's a, it's a reminder in fact. Uh, recently what I did was I, I put on my wallpaper, uh, this, this ichi that has a samurai on here, and it, it says Ichigo Ichi. And on the bottom it says, this moment will never come again. And I said it as a wallpaper to remind myself. To just slow down sometimes. Remind myself to be present, remind myself of the, the, the fragility of life and how precious life really is, especially for those of you with children. I remember coming across a study, and you guys probably hear me talk about it all the time. They did a, a study where, um, they analyze. Just the lifetime of parenthood and what that looked like and what they discovered is by the time in today's modern day and age, by the time a child is 18 years old, you would have exhausted over 90% of the in-person time you'll ever spend with that child. Think about that for a second. Some of you, your child is 12, 13 years old, and you don't even realize, you only have about four or five summers left with them. And we tend to just take this for granted how many times we, we hear of people who had just lost a loved one or, or their loved one passed away. And we hear, we hear it all the time. I wish I would've spent more time. I wish I, I wish I knew how much time we had left together. I wish I, I took, I didn't take them for granted. I wish I would've taken advantage of those moments, and this happens all the time. But imagine if you could really get to the point in your life where every single moment is precious and every, every ordinary moment is sacred, because that's really what it is. It's, it's not just those, those peak life experiences, it's also the ordinary moments. Understanding that even just a casual walk for the day is very rare. No walk is the same. No encounter is the same. No tea ceremony is the same. And, and that's what I love about this, this, this concept is it's sort of beautifies the ordinary things that, that you, you normally would take for granted. You, you beautify it because in in your mind you have this understanding that, you know what? This moment will never come again. It'll, it'll never be arranged in this way and every single moment, even though it may feel monotonous, even though it may feel mundane or just ordinary. The reality is in that moment, it's very, very unique to every other moment, um, compared to every other moment. So having an understanding of this and living like this, I, I feel like it, it truly is a great way to maximize the joy that you have in life. One of the biggest takeaways. That I can recall, like throughout my personal development journey was learning how to live in the present moment. I remember reading the book, the Power of Now, by Eckhart Toi, and for the first time ever I had an awareness that I was not living in the present moment. I had an awareness that I was constantly thinking about the future or thinking about the past and never truly in the present moment. Just taking a lot of things for granted. And the crazy thing about that is that as much as we get caught up in the past or the future, we tend to forget that the present is all we really have. It's actually, it's very difficult to suffer when you're living in the present moment, because when you think about it, what, what's the, the typical reason why people suffer is because they're either anxious about the future or worried about the future, or maybe they have some type of regret or shame about the past. But that's usually what leads to suffering is not understanding how to live in the present moment, or not even having a, an, an awareness of it. So that's what today is going to be all about. I Chi Ego iea. Let's jump right into it. Now the the beautiful thing once again, is when, when it comes to this Japanese philosophy, every encounter is unique. Every moment is unrepeatable. So you wanna treat every moment like it matters because it truly does. Now, most people aren't living life. Think about this. They're rushing through it, thinking about the next deal, the next goal, the next level. And, and not truly living present. So I, IGO, IEA is really a wake up call to the world to stop waiting for someday and start experiencing today because the reality is nothing is promised to us tomorrow, isn't promised to us. How many times we hear about it all the time and gone too soon. People passing away and, and again, we live. In regret because we didn't really take advantage of the time we thought we had time. And I think that that's one of the downfalls to the human condition is we oftentimes think that we have time. And the reality is, I mean, none of us really know when, when our time is up and your time may not be up in terms of when you depart from earth. You don't know how long you're gonna have optimal health, something can happen to your health or your body that, that hinders you from being able to maximize in your quality of life. So you just never know something can happen to a family member where they're no longer present. So it is, it is very essential to learn again, how to cultivate a lifestyle where you're, you're, you're constantly anchored in the present moment. I remember years ago when I first started studying stoic philosophy, I had bought this coin, and the coin had an ancient Latin phrase on it called, uh, the, the, the phrase, uh, said, memento moori. And Memento Moori is the idea of remembering that you will die. It was a constant reminder every time I would go in my pocket, this big coin that said Memento moori on it would be there. And it was a constant reminder to myself like, Hey, you're not gonna be here forever. There will be a point in time that you and all your loved ones will no longer be here on Earth. So it, it was a reminder, not, not a, in a sense of being all depressed about it, but more so having a sense of urgency. Having deep reverence for the present moment and reminding yourself of your mortality can be very helpful because you don't want to take any day for granted. You just never know. Okay, so the problem with with most of society today is that we're living on autopilot. A lot of people, when you think about it, are kind of plugged into the matrix and just living on autopilot and living life by default and not living with intention. So when you think about it, people scroll instead of genuinely feeling. Conversations without presence is very prevalent in today's culture. Think about how many families, for example, if they even get together at a dinner table at all. Think about how many family members genuinely are on their phones while eating dinner. Or not even sitting at the dinner table anymore. So it, it's unfortunate, but it, it is super, super important again, to go back to living in the present moment, going, going back to making those ordinary moments truly sacred. Think about how many people have success without fulfillment. My mentor would always say that success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure because there, there's a science of, of, of achievement, but there's an art to fulfillment. And a lot of people kind of get caught up on the achievement part of things, but not necessarily on the fulfillment side of things. And there are certain things that you can do to really ensure that you're not only. Successful, let's say financially or whatever that means for you, but also a, a deep sense of fulfillment. Think about how many people are physically present, but mentally somewhere else. I've got clients all the time that they'll go on vacation with their family and they, they do not enjoy the vacation simply because their mind is on their business. Their mind, the entire time is thinking about all the work that they have to do or the, the customers that they're not serving or just. Just things that, that are fires that, that have to be put out in a sense. And I see this happen all the time, physically being somewhere, but mentally being somewhere else. How many of you can relate to that where you're, you're trying to be present, but you're so caught up and stressed and anxious about everything going on, right. Maybe the bill's a bill in life is life and, and you can't just mentally be somewhere. And you see a lot of people go about parenting these days and it's unfortunate because. A lot of children can sense that children know when a child is present. The other day, um, I'm with my, my, my son and he wanted me to watch him play this game, and I'm getting text messages from business partners and clients and things like that, and I'm, I'm looking at my phone and I can see him glancing at my phone. While looking at the game, and he'll just constantly glance at the phone. And then he finally is like, like, who's messaging you? What are, what, what are they saying? Right? And I, I, it was a reminder for me to, you know, Hey, you gotta slow down. You gotta be present. You gotta, you gotta remind your children too, that you do care. Right that you are in the moment. Children have a strong sensitivity to presence. They know when a child or they know when a parent children truly know when a parent is, is present in their lives or if their mind is somewhere else. So one of the best gifts that you could ever give. And I believe that's why, as corny as it is, that's why we call it the present moment because it truly is a present. It is a gift to give someone your presence. All right, so I, IGO, ichi explained How does this thing even work? Remember, every moment is a once in a lifetime encounter. Isn't it true? Think about today. Think about how precious today is even, and you may go and let's just say work at your job. You may go on that normal commute, you may take that normal walk, you may pick up your kids or spend time with your kids. But think about it. Every single one of those moments are truly special and sacred and unique. In their own way, even the orientation of our planet to the sun, right? This, this planet is, is spinning 17,000 miles per hour. A a around orbiting around the sun. And even the very placement of this planet in our cosmos will never be the same. Like it's, it's always moving. Life is always in motion. So it's taking the ordinary. And having a deep reverence for it and truly treating it like the sacred moment that it is. Even repeating events like dinner with your kids are never the same. Every dinner that you have with your, with your children, or every get together you have with a really good friend, there's something different going on in their life. Something unique about that moment. And remember this time. Is the most precious commodity in this world. The most valuable thing that you have is your time. And time is not renewable. You don't get it again. It's, it, it's, it's here, and it'll never come again. So you don't get this version of today ever again. So that's why it, it is truly precious to maximize on the moment. In fact, in a lot of Japanese culture. And you'll find that they'll have these, these little, uh, plates of food and they're very big on the aesthetics of the presentation of the food. Like they'll add a little flour even though it doesn't really make sense economically speaking. It's like, why would you put something that's not even edible on there, just for the presentation in the western world, especially in America. We have this tendency to make everything efficient, everything cost effective, right? And if you go to a lot of Eastern cultures, you'll notice that it's actually very different. It's about the present moment. It's, it's not just the food and the taste of the food or the cost-effectiveness of, of that meal, but it's the presentation. It's embracing that moment when whenever you put together. A beautiful meal. And when I say beautiful, I'm talking about even the presentation of that meal. It's a reminder to live in the present moment. It's, uh, a reminder to take in the beauty of that moment and the sacredness of it. So there's an emotional shift to this idea of ichigo Ichi. Remember this, your kids won't ever be this age again. So whenever you do get together with your kids. It may feel like an everyday ordinary experience, but what you fail to understand is that you or your child will never be that same exact age again. Another thing is your current struggles also won't last forever. This too shall pass. As scripture states, no moment lasts forever. We live in a universe of entropy, so things are in a constant flux of change. And, and, and no matter if it's a good season or a very difficult season, the reality is no seasons last forever. Okay? And remember this specific season that we're in right now, right in this age of AI and all these things happening in the world, all this technology happening in the world, social media, all of this stuff, none of this right, will last forever. It's all temporary. Who would've thought back in the nineties, right? There was this, this, this viral actually did a, a, a piece of social media content creation on the nineties. And the, the, the question was like mom or dad, like, what were you like in the nineties? And then you have all these social media posts that went out and it's just pictures or videos of people and how they were in the nineties. And it's so crazy how we can look back. With a sense of nostalgia of the nineties, and we can reminisce about those precious moments and some of us. Did not even realize that some of those moments were so precious, so much so to the point where it's like we had no idea technology would look like this today. We had no idea we'd all be glued to our phones and almost enslaved to our phones. We had no idea that those intimate gatherings that we had with our family members were never gonna look like that again. We had no idea that we were leaving. Like, uh, uh, the end of an era where people genuinely just got together and there was no distractions. It was like you were forced to do life, life with people. You, you, you were there, you had conversations. You, you went outside, you hung out. You spent a lot of quality time. You weren't glued to your phone or devices or social media. It was never any of that, right? Who would've thought that those were the last moments? That's how precious it is. And one day we may look at these moments like that. So the power of the Ichigo I a framework or outlook on life is that it creates a sense of gratitude and urgency. A sense of reverence. Again, it makes the ordinary sacred. Think about how much more urgency you'll have when you're like, you know what, tomorrow's not promised to me. Let me, you know, in the words of, uh, the la the Latin saying, you know, seize the moment, right? Um, carpe diem to seize the moment. Like, that's the idea. How can I seize the moment? How can I make the most out of today? Because today is all I really have the moment, the here and now, now. Here are a few ways that you can apply. I, I, ego I to everyday life. The first thing is be fully present in your conversations. Remember, there are random strangers that you will meet, that you'll never talk to again. You'll never see them in this lifetime again. And think about how incredible that is, how, how rare it is just to even be alive today. You get to talk to a soul that is also a part of this miracle that we call life. The, the universe, God, our creator, whatever you wanna refer to it as. Selected, this wonderful person to be alive in this day and age with you at the same exact time. How rare it is. And we, we tend to take these things for granted and there's every day encounters that we have. Uh, with people that will never, ever see again. And imagine if you went into every conversation with a stranger with that mentality, like, you know what, this is probably the last time I'll ever see this person again. The last time I'll ever speak with this person again, let me make the most of it right. Because it, it truly is sacred. It truly is present. It truly is rare. Now when it comes to being fully present in conversations, what are some basic things that you can do? First and foremost, eye contact. Look people in the eye. Let them know that you give a damn. Let them know that you truly care. You'd be surprised at how many people just genuinely need to feel seen. They need to feel heard. They just need an ear to listen. And it's just so unfortunate that, again, we live in a day and age where you can be talking to someone and they're like, yeah, yeah, I got you, I got you. And they're, they're on their phone the entire time. And remember, two thoughts can't occupy the main, the mind simultaneously. So if you're on your phone looking at your newsfeed or your timeline, there's no way you're fully processing what someone is telling you. So eye contact is everything. No phone during conversations is everything. In fact, whenever I'm talking in a group setting, I oftentimes just put my phone face down so that there's no distractions. How powerful is that to know that someone cares enough to give you the most precious thing that they have, the two most precious things they have, which is their time, but also their attention. Attention is, is, is honestly, I mean life is attention. How valuable is attention. In fact, we're in the attention economy. Billion dollar companies are fighting for our attention every single day, and, and our attention is, is super, super important. And, and that's why it is one of the most important things that you could ever gift someone is your undivided attention. But you have to actually listen. Listening is, is everything. I believe it was Epictetus that said, we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Because you should listen twice as much as you speak, as cliche as that is. Secondly, not only do you wanna be fully present in conversations, but you also wanna romanticize your life. What does that even mean? Romanticizing your life. So for example, your morning coffee. It could be a sacred ritual for you in the sense that that's your peaceful time. That's you. That's time for just you, and maybe it's your spiritual life that you integrate during that time, whatever it is for you. But your morning coffee can be some kind of a daily ritual for you. Your walk could be a moment of peace. I know for me, whenever I go for my walks, I, I walk for not only just health, but just happiness. Happiness for whatever reason. And, um, I shouldn't say for whatever reason because there's a lot of just biochemistry going on. When you, when you walk, for example, it's like when you're taking in the sun outside, there's vitamin D, there's serotonin benefits. Just, just doing that. The, the, the. Power of walking also releases endorphins, which mask pain and it's responsible for a lot of happiness, dopamine, all of that stuff, right, is produced when you go for a walk. So that's why you tend to feel a lot better. A body in motion stays in motion. Okay, now, uh, a walk can be a moment of peace, or even your work could be part of your purpose. Whenever you do your work, especially if it's in alignment with what you love to do, or maybe maybe you just work a, a regular job, but you know what? That income and what you do with that income is part of your purpose. Maybe it's not a job that you're necessarily fulfilled in, but you know what? That job is taking care of your family. It's allowing you to pay your bills. It's allowing you to tithe them to your church or give back to the poor, or to a nonprofit, a charity. So it could still be a big part of your purpose. It's not just work for the sake of work. It's, it's the meaning you derive from it and you get to create your meaning. That's the beautiful thing about life. You get to create the meaning of anything. Now, next we have create anchor moments. So I shared with you guys my, my, my most recent. Wallpaper on my phone. And the reason why I said it as a wallpaper is because my phone is one of the things that I look at the most in this lifetime. I know that if I have it as a wallpaper, it's gonna be a constant reminder to live in the present moment. And that's why I have it like that. And maybe you can have something similar. Maybe it's an affirmation, something that's an anchor for you. Okay. But really the most beautiful anchor. Is the fact that you, you get to anchor yourself in the present moment. Like those are the most beautiful anchors when, when you're reminded. Another great anchor is just gratitude. So whenever I eat meals, for example, a a a, a really great way for me to be anchored in my faith and my spirituality and gratitude is really just. Praying before a meal and paying homage. Right? So all of those who sacrificed for me to be able to even have that meal, there were farmers and, and, and cooks and, and longshoremen and, and merchant mariners who transported that cargo across the seas and a lot of people that were involved just for you to have that one meal. So again, every moment. Truly is sacred, and what anchors do you have to really anchor those moments and, and remind yourself to be present. Just like I had the anchor of the coin in my pocket, memento Maori, remember, you will die. And, and that was a really great anchor for me. And there's so many ways you can go about these anchors but have have some kind of a reminder. To just slow down because sometimes life is notorious for grabbing at our attention and everyone is trying to grab our attention and we forget to slow down. We forget how precious life really is, and that the present moment is truly all that we have. So the anchor moments is really about pausing during the day and recognizing this is one of those moments. Yesterday I reminded myself when I went for a walk like this is one of those moments. I'll never get this exact moment again. Let me be intentional about this walk. Okay. And it builds awareness and memory. That's the big idea, is having those anchor moments. It's, it's a constant reminder to be aware right now. Here are some really great life hacks for you guys. First life hack is the five second presence Reset the five second presence reset. So at random points in the day, you can just remind yourself to pause, take a breath, and ask yourself, am I actually here right now? Am I actually here right now? One of the best ways to really anchor yourself is think about the very ground that you walk on. How many times do we really ground ourselves? We're, we're so head in the clouds that we forget, like, Hey, I have a ground underneath me. Right? And, and that's a, that's also another way of anchoring the present moment is to ground yourself. You're here, you're right now, you're living right? And this instantly brings you back into the present moment. Life hack number two. The last time mindset. The last time mindset. Ask yourself, what if this was the last time I experienced this? Any of you have any moments that are beautiful memories and you had no idea? Maybe you used to do it frequently, you had no idea it was officially going to be the last time like that you ever experienced, like I remember in high school. That like it was my very last game and how emotional it was. Everybody who was a senior and even coaches are like in tears because it was the last moment we'd ever gathered together as a high school team and some of us had spent four years of our lives blood, sweat, and tears to get to that moment. And it was the last time. And most of those high school graduates were, would have to go off into the real world. And live a life where now they're providing for themselves paying bills, working jobs, and that moment would never come again. It would just be a distant memory. Again, these things we tend to take for granted, but there are many things in the past that were the very last moment, okay, so you, you can live in that way where you always remind yourself that, you know what? This may be the very last time we ever do this now. Last time, think about this, there'll be a last time of picking up your child, a last time you ever have a conversation with a loved one or just anyone, a last opportunity at something. And when you remind yourself of this, you just show up differently. You tend to not sweat the small stuff. You tend to not get caught up with the nuance. You don't get caught up with the small things right in, in a sense where you're dwelling on them. You tend to not be as irritated. You tend to have more patience, more respect, more appreciation for that moment because you have this deep understanding that, you know what, I only got a certain amount of moments like this left with this person. Right. I never know when this is gonna happen again. I, I, I don't even know if I'll get tomorrow with this person and you just show up differently. Okay. It's not to have a doomsday mentality or, uh, a pessimistic outlook on life. It's just, it's real. All of us. In a hundred years or so, we'll be off this planet. Every human being that we know will be off this planet in just a few short years, and that's why it is important to really look after one another, right? Care for one another, care for the planet. Do everything that we can to really maximize the joy that we experience, and minimize the suffering in the world. I think if there's any philosophy, any world outlook that's the most appropriate, that's an incontrovertible. Truth is the fact that life is precious and if we're going to live this life and none of us truly know exactly what's going on right after we have ideas, but none of us truly know. Right? And if there's anything that's an incontrovertible fact is we have this one lifetime. You can make a decision to maximize on the joy that you experience in this lifetime. And notice I said joy and not happiness, because happiness is kind of fleeting. You'll have moments of happiness, right? Just like you'll have moments of sadness. But joy is a lot more sustainable. Joy. Joy can stand the test of time. Joy has a deep fulfillment to it. And then there's a difference between pain and suffering. Pain is also temporary. Pain is inevitable. Pain is a big part of life, but suffering can be a choice. It's like you get to choose how long you hold on to pain, but what if you can orient yourself in such a way where in this lifetime you have a deep reverence for it? You have a deep respect for this life and for other people's lives because you understand that they're also a walking miracle. And we appreciate one another. We love one another, right? We appreciate this life and we respect it. And we respect our planet because it's also not gonna be here, you know, another 4 billion years or so. If we even are lucky enough to go that far, like at some point in time the sun is gonna burn out. Even the sun that shines upon us every single day, one day will not be here. Right? And I. Having more awareness around this, we'd all be better human beings if we truly appreciated this fact and had a deep respect for this fact. Okay? And we'll just show up differently in this world and for one another. Now, here's the last life hack. Remove one distraction daily. One distraction. So it could be no phone during meals, no scrolling before bed. No multitasking during conversations. Remember, you could probably multitask, but you can't multi focus. There's no multi focusing. One thought can occupy that mind at a time. And remember, presence increases instantly when distraction decreases. So when you decrease those distractions, you're gonna have more presence for that, that specific moment. Now here's some really great fun facts. Ichigo Ichi comes from Japanese tea ceremonies where host would treat each other or treat each gathering as a once in a lifetime event, even if the same people meet again. So if you were an emperor, for example, and you're in a war, you have no idea whether or not that's gonna be your very last tea ceremony. And that's why there was such an emphasis placed on the overall experience, the aesthetics, the feel, the ambiance, all of that stuff, right? You can beautify the moment when you, when you have that level of respect for that moment. Fun fact number two. The concept is actually deeply connected to Zen Buddhism, which emphasizes mindfulness and awareness of the present moment. Shout out to all my Buddhists who are tuning in. We have people from all different religions and walks of life and cultures, and Zen Buddhism is truly a, a special, uh, religion and a lot of it is living in the present moment, having that mindfulness and. The, the Zen Buddhist tends to be some of the most peaceful people on the planet, and because of this deeply embedded philosophy that they live with Fun Fact number three, studies in psychology show that people who practice mindfulness and presence report higher happiness, lower stress, and better relationships. Why is that, though? Why are you naturally happier when you're in the present moment? Because think about this, sometimes in life it's, it's not about adding stuff, it's about removing stuff. So for example, when you think about the sun and how the sun has been shining on us for billions of years, like you can literally go back a billion years ago and the sun was still shining just as it is today. 2 billion years ago, same thing. Now the sun is always shining, but sometimes we have different climate. Sometimes we have different shades of sunlight. Why is that? Is it, is it because the sun is shining less? No, the sun just radiates the same all the time. It's, it's the conditions of the sky. It's, it's the things getting in the way of that sunlight that cause us to experience the weather the way that we do. And the climate the way that we do, but the sun just naturally radiates and people at, at our very purest form, right? Think about babies. Babies naturally bubble with bliss. It's their natural essence. Just like children, children are naturally happy children. Like why? Why would children be miserable? Their, their natural essence is, is joy. Really what brings the misery and the sadness is when, again, when you're caught up in the future or the past, right? You're having anxiety about that, right, or something that happened. You're not truly in the present moment, and, and that's why when you are present, you tend to have more happiness because you're not caught up in what's going on. Think about this very moment. You may have life. Life and you may have Bill's billing. You may have so many things that are, that are causing you to feel stressed and overwhelmed and anxious. But think about this specific moment. Think about the ground beneath your feet. Think about this, this, this moment in time. What do you have to worry about right now? Is anything threatening you at this very moment? Probably not. You wouldn't be listening to this breakfast club. So having happiness, happiness is our natural essence, but things tend to get in the way of that. And oftentimes it's, it's getting caught up in our thoughts. It's thinking about the future, thinking about the past, but when you're in the present moment, you're naturally going to be happier. Think about when you're, you were the happiest in your life. Typically, you were the happiest when you were in the moment, maybe with your family and your loved ones, or maybe you were experiencing a peak life experience and you were truly in that moment. Now, another benefit to living in the present moment is lower stress. Why do you have lower stress? Your cortisol levels are naturally gonna go down because your cortisol levels go up. The stress hormone in your body goes up when you're overwhelmed with everything going on in life. Better relationships. Think about giving someone the, the, the present of your presence. The gift of, of your attention, right? Your, your relationships are naturally gonna thrive more because people know that you genuinely care. Remember, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. So just you giving someone your undivided attention, your relationships tend to do better, even as a leader. Think about it. If you're leading people. Right, and they know that 100% you're, you're giving them your undivided attention. You're present, you're in the moment. You care that that relationship is naturally gonna thrive more. Okay? So there's a lot of of science that backs this concept of I ego, iea, EA. Now, as I close out, remember this one day, you'll realize that the moments you rush through. We're actually the moments that mattered. Most life isn't made of big events. It's made of small moments that you either notice or miss Ichigo. I reminds us this moment right now will never come again. So my hope for you guys after you hopped onto today's episode is that you take the time to really maximize your life and the joy that you experience in this life by reminding yourself to be present, whether it's with your children, whether it's with your work, whether it's an ordinary walk, because the reality is there's nothing ordinary about it. We are walking, breathing, living miracles, and life is truly a gift, and it's precious and it's sacred, and we have to remind ourselves, even in spite of everything happening in the world, it's easier said than done of course, because sometimes life does get very challenging. It, it does get very difficult, but you have to remember that this is all we've got. This one lifetime. Yeah. You may have your, your, your belief in the afterlife, which I have that same belief. I believe that we're going somewhere, but the truth that that remains true no matter what is the fact that. It ain't gonna look like this. This is the one precious life we have here on Earth. And why not make the most of it? And the way you do that is by truly embracing the present moment. And that's why I love this Japanese philosophy of just reminding yourself that this moment will never come again. Every moment is precious, just like every person is, and it's sacred. And if you can anchor that in your day, I can assure you that your life would just be a lot more vibrant. It'll be a lot better. The quality of your life, the quality of your experiences, your memories, all of that will be so much better. When you can truly anchor yourself in the present moment. So I hope that this was helpful for you guys. If it was, please drop a light, comment, share, tag, subscribe. Thank you for all of you who even share stars on Facebook and, and you know, Instagram and all that good stuff. Definitely greatly appreciated. And uh, thank you so much guys. And by the way. For the rest of the month, I'm, uh, offering complimentary sessions. I'm doing five day challenges with our community as well, one-on-one for those of you who can use some coaching in this season, uh, life coaching, business coaching, things like that, or maybe you just need some advice. Um, and you need an ear to listen. You need someone, uh, to just kind of help give you some guidance. Someone who's done it before, um, I'm opening up my schedule. Just DM me the word coach. I'll send you over my Calendly link. Uh, but do it right now. Do not put it off because it's not every week where I do offer that. Um, so I would take advantage of it, especially for those of you who haven't met with me in a couple of months. But this is my gift to our community. You know, whenever I can, I do have, uh, some openings in my schedule for this week and next week. So looking forward to catching up with you guys. And thank you for those of you who share the Breakfast Club. Truly appreciate it. Drop a comment if this was valuable for you. Drop a v in the comments. I read through all of the comments and, uh, appreciate you guys. Breakfast is officially served. Take care. God bless, and I'll be seeing you all next week.