Transforming our intentions and daily habits one step at a time

Kaizen is a compound of two Japanese words that together translate as good change or improvement. It is a process of action-oriented doing rather than results-oriented thinking and was used by the Japanese after World War II as part of a worker-participation initiative called The Toyota Way. The aim was to instill a culture of continuous improvement with a built-in strategy for learning and growing that had everyone's best interests in mind.

Kaizen, The Japanese Method for Transforming Habits One Small Step At A Time is a helpful and beautifully presented book that sets out the core principles of Kaizen and how it can be applied to gradually improve all aspects of life from Health, Work, Finances, Home and Relationships to Habits and Challenges. It concludes with advice on how to deal with stumbling blocks on the journey of making changes for the good.

The author, Sarah Harvey, talks about her experience of discovering Kaizen, its roots and history, how it was used as an organisational theory, and how it is used for personal development, sport and cultural transformation. With artistic images and steps highlighted in coloured boxes thoughout, Kaizen provides a wonderful checklist with tips for reviewing where you are so that you can start to make small changes that will have a big impact over time.

Sarah was living in Tokyo working as a freelancer and publishing consultant when she fell in love with Japanese culture and started to experience the benefits of adopting Kaizen methods. Now living in London, Sarah shares all she has learned to help others transform our habits so that they are working for rather than against us, and that will accommodate life's changes and challenges along the way.

Kaizen for health

The Japanese have a phrase - shinshin ichiny - which means body and mind as one. It describes the process of developing a deep innerconnection with our body, mind and spirituality based on the practice of self-love. It is where negative self-talk is banished and we feel more resilient when challenges come our way.

Using Kaizen for health is about finding time to be by ourselves and enjoy quiet time away from the high tech, low frequencies of the material world. Kaizen is used as a motivator to become our most healthy and vibrant selves by doing things like eating a little better, exercising a little more and spending more time outside in Nature.

Sarah talks about starting with small steps and working towards short-term goals to establish a sense of continuity until new habits are formed. This includes things like preparing for a good night's sleep, meal planning, mindful eating, drinking water throughout the day, breathing deeply, exercising and establishing pleasant morning and bedtime routines. 

Expecting big results too soon causes us to over-exert ourselves and we run out of steam more quickly. Sarah provides guidance on how to incoroprate gradual and beneficial change into our daily lives and how to explore possibilities that give us new ways to improve various aspects of our lifestyle - one step at a time.

Kaizen for creativity

It is a sad truth that we work such long longer hours for more years with less time for creative pursuits, rest and reflection. We need these things to stay productive, alert and motivated over the long term. The less time we book out for proper relaxation, daydreaming and down-time, the more this will have a detremental effect on our creativity, health and general wellbeing.

Feeling tired and drained all the time, weakens our immunity and makes us more susceptible to illness and burning ourselves out. When we don't get enough rest and restorative sleep, our minds become clouded and our bodies automatically go into overdrive to compensate and keep things in balance. This constant state of fight or flight takes away vital energy needed to keep us in a vibrant state of health.

We know by now that depriving ourselves of loving self-care and quality nutrition while bombarding ourselves with unhealthy non-foods, pharmaceuticals, stress and other invisible toxins that cause harm over the course of time, is not going to result in optimum health and fitness. Kaizen provides an ideal way to gradually replace things that are bad for us with natural things that cleanse, sustain and heal our bodies, and keep us in good health.

The Kaizen way

Kaizen is about making changes for the good. It's about adopting the philosophy of continuous improvement when we are open to reviewing our performance, acquiring new skills, learning new things and letting go things that no longer serve us well.

Being mindful of our energy levels, thoughts and behaviours is the only way to identify where beneficial changes need to be made and how best to approach them. We need to be kind to ourselves as well. We live in a culture of fast service, digital convenience and immediate results so it can be hard to slow down and take a longer term perspective.

While Kaizen helps us to up our game by tracking our habits, stepping out of monotonous routines and working out what we need and what might best work for us at any given time, it also reminds us to take a breath, take things steady and enjoy the journey.

Let your natural curiosity lead you so that each day is a new beginning and each moment an opportunity to discover something new on your unfolding journey. 

Thank you for being Kaizen and I look forward to seeing you again soon.   

Sue Cartwright

Spiral Leaf