"Sorry, I said too much... I'm really sorry... Ah?"

One day, while riding the subway, I noticed a young man sitting next to me talking to someone using an earphone microphone.
If you think about it, in recent years, you've seen fewer people holding a cell phone to their ear while talking on the phone.
It seems like there are more and more people who appear to be muttering to themselves, but are actually talking to someone on their smartphone.

Hands-free is more convenient for long phone calls, and it leaves your hands free so you can talk while working.
The young man mentioned earlier was probably having a hands-free conversation while walking around town and then getting on the subway.

The last "Huh?" is just my imagination, but it seemed like the person on the other end suddenly disconnected the line.

And then, for a while, the man next to me who had been standing shoulder to shoulder on the train said,

After "Ah?"

"Emi-chan? What?!"

He spoke into his smartphone while checking the screen.

Is Emi his girlfriend?

Judging from the circumstances, it seems that he may have made her angry and she unilaterally hung up the phone.

Burning out too early?

I have a condition called May sickness.
It is said that the term originated in the 1960s when university students would become so stressed from trying so hard to take exams, pass, and enroll that around May, shortly after starting their new lives, they would start to feel unwell both mentally and physically and be unable to attend university.

It is said that people who are prone to burnout are serious people who have a habit of pushing themselves too hard.
It seems that May sickness, which occurs in people with burnout syndrome, has recently come to be classified as an "adjustment disorder."
Do you know anyone like that around you?

Serious people are honest.
You may overthink things and end up suppressing what you should say, or you may be too honest to keep quiet about things that should be left unsaid.

If you, the reader of this article, have ever tried too hard and ended up exhausted, it may have been caused by May blues.

May 18th is "Word Day." Let's think about the power of "words."

May 18th is "Language Day," but it may not be widely known. I only learned about it after I started working as a lecturer.

The four things never come back
1. The words that come out of your mouth
2. The Arrow
3. Past Lives
4. Missed Opportunities

This Arabic proverb is very apt, so I sometimes introduce it in my seminars. If his girlfriend Emi felt angry because of what he said, then his words correspond to the first point of this proverb.

The impression we get from hearing words is transmitted from person to person, from memory to memory, just like light.

There is also the idea that words contain the values ​​of the person who speaks them, and this is referred to as "Kotodama."

In Japan, there has been a saying since the Manyo period that words have spiritual power.
The etymology of the word "kotoba" is said to be "kotoba."

In the Kokin Wakashu,
It has been said that "waka poetry is something that grows from a seed in a person's heart, and then like leaves, grows and becomes words."

Furthermore, in ancient times, words and matters were both expressed as "koto," and it seems that this was interpreted as either "koto no ha" (leaf of words) or "koto no ha" (the edge of words).

The words that come out of your mouth start the process, and those words then spread down the branches and become lush trees.
The words that come out of your mouth become seeds that take root in the other person's heart and spread out.
Those leaves will then become seeds for other people, and so on...
When you think about it this way, words have a big impact.

If the man who sat next to her on the train were to meet Emi again some time later, and be able to comfort her with "Kotonoha," which gently resonates in her heart, perhaps the "events" in their future would change.

Let's stop in May

You can't undo or take back the words that come out of your mouth, but you hope that maybe the wind will blow and carry the leaf away.
If he could wait until Emi's memories had faded a little, maybe something would change between them.

In May, if you feel tired from working too hard, stop and gently place a soft seed in your heart.
Here are three recommended words to accompany the seeds:

*"Are you okay"
* "Let's do what we can now"
* "I'm sure I'll still love myself three years from now."

Gentle, easy-going words soften the mind.

"I'll do my best! I can do it if I try! I have no choice but to do it!"

These tense words are like a leaf that turns into a seed of anxiety and fear, its shadow engulfing the mind.

During this season when May blues are likely to set in, use the power of words to make your leaves shine.
The branches and leaves provide a pleasant shade, which may be soothing to your loved ones.